The good, the bad, and in the meantime

If ever my life is or will be like a roller coaster, I think right now would put those past and future rides to shame. I mean seriously. I think in lieu of a wordy, and thus surely annoying, explanation, I will go with (partial) lists.

The Good

• I love CF, my friends, and of course my family. They constantly check in with me and offer an ear or support or help (mostly because they know I am unlikely to ask) :-)
• Visited CF over Labor Day in the midwest full of several nights at the county fair and his friend's wedding
• I have been cooking and baking more
• I had a nice visit with my grandfather, in spite of recent events.
• So many friends getting married, buying houses, and making babies - it is very exciting!!!
  
• Tutoring Fulbright applicants on their essays - they are so excited about their proposals and motivated!
• The undergrad who worked with me over the summer is back for work study: she's sweet, nice, kind, and any other word you would use to describe a good person
• I have a social week! Old roommates over for dinner, dinner with other friends tomorrow, drinks with fellow tutors Wednesday, dinner with two OTHER friends Thursday, off for a weekend with the family on Friday!
• I am almost done with revisions on my dissertation
• My post-doc advisor has funding she could have used to pay me, BUT I got on a University training grant, so I'll be a funded post-doc (does not change the money or responsibilities, but is a good thing)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• I looked into cost-of-living calculators and where I live now housing is 243% MORE expensive than where I will be living, plus I will be making a tad more money...I will feel like a millionaire (only make less money than an actual millionaire)
  

The Bad

• I will sum up one of the bads with one word: advisor. I do not even care to try to explain. I just wish she was more forthcoming and less of a beeeee-atch
• Reviews on one paper came back today. I actually do not need to do any more experiments I think (GOOD!), but extensive rewriting...and the word limit is 2500 so I might as well just rewrite from scratch
• Still waiting on reviews on THE paper that "has to be accepted for publication in order to defend"...My outside member thought the manuscript had interesting data but was premature. If she had liked it, my committee would have "been more comfortable scheduling a defense date" soon
• I still don't have a defense date
• I feel stuck. I cannot tell my landlord when I will move out. I cannot figure out where I will live. I cannot schedule a moving truck or PODS. I cannot decide if I will go on a family vacation at the end of October.
• I have to get my cat's teeth cleaned. I blame her bad oral hygiene on her previous owners
• I have a 60,000 mile check and brakes to do on my car
• I made my grandfather cry by telling him not to say mean things about my Mom and to call her instead of making stuff up about what he thinks she is doing with his money. (I made a joke and amde him laugh before I left)
  

In the Meantime

• I am trying to reclaim my life
• A long overdue and quite nice haircut
• An 80-degree day tomorrow that I believe calls for one last pedicure
• Dinner parties at home with different groups of friends
• Cleaning my apartment from top to bottom (I rather enjoy this)
• Cleaning out my office and filling the recycle bin several times with stuff I do not need to keep
• Cleaning out at home to make moving easier when I get to actually move (i.e.purging)