Yeah yeah...thank you Amanda for reminding me exactly how many days, hours and minutes it has been since my last post each morning.
I know it's been forever, so I'm going to explain the delay as best I can and then give some details about what I've been doing / ways I've been acting a fool (and man, did I ever).
So why no post? Well, honestly, I think it's some combination of (1) being overwhelmed by work and (2) underwhelmed by social aspects here. Sometimes blogging lets me unpack and laugh about things, but sometimes I'm just in a pissy mood and not really wanting to relive such emotions.
~PART 1~
Overwhelmed with work - EEK, the term started up and I am super busy. Taking statistics for the fist time in 8 years, a seminar class, teaching duties for a very intense class, 2 posters that I need to analyze data and prepare for the next few months, and lots of meetings with new lab members. It's freaking exhausting.
Also, my officemate and I got paired with a brand new professor and a FUCKING RETARD graduate student for this research methods class which is adding like 2-4 meetings a week to my already packed schedule. Essentially, fucking retard student (I talk about him often, he has never taken a psych class, he can't put words into a sentence, he has no social skills, and he refuses to take helpful feedback and use it to correct problems....oh right, and he has one of the most prestigious fellowships in the country because his adviser wrote it for him) has no idea how to handle his lab section. This shouldn't be my problem, but since new professor doesn't know how this class works and because there are 10 students in his section that can't fail just because he is stupid, it is now my problem.
The only plus side is that I get to regale the rest of the graduate students with stories of these epic disasters that constitute him teaching his students.
~Part 2~
Underwhelmed with my social life. You might be thinking "well shit, what else is new?", but the last few weeks/weekends have been particularly annoying. I feel like I work really hard to throw together plans and come up with things for people to do and make all the arrangements. Instead of people appreciating that I am trying to bring people together and figure out what to do, everyone just bitches, constantly, and is super negative about everything. Were I anywhere else, I would just give this social a little space and take a break from the negative, but I only have one group of friends here.
So instead, a typical conversation goes like this:
Friend: Is there anything going on tonight?
Me: Not that I know of, did you have anything in mind?
Friend: No
Me: Well how about we do X?
Friend: No
Me: Well how about Y? Z? Q? R? P?
Friend: No, no, no, no, and no. Oh, and you're stupid for suggesting those.
Me: Okay, well, what if we cook dinner and hang out?
Friend: Well, what will we make?
Me: How about this? or this? or that? or this?
Friend: No, no, no, no, and you're stupid for suggesting those.
I take all this, make some sort of decision anyway, send out emails and arrange the where and when of the night, and once everyone arrives they basically say it sucks. Well, maybe I should just go fuck myself?
~Part 3~
Let me give you the rundown of concrete things I've actually be doing that I typically blog about.
Two weekends ago was pretty low key. Lots of dinner/drinks. We did a nice little bonfire on Saturday night and had a good time (I know, could I be any more vague?).
One funny thing - I went to my first eye doctor appointment and found out that my eyes are FUCKED. I can't even explain what is wrong with them, but essentially my two eyes aren't focusing together. I am going from glasses at night to needing bifocals at all times for at least 3 weeks. Fun. At least my glasses are super cute (they are metallic green, the people refused to let me get silver or boring).
Last week was lots of happy hours and meetings. All good things.
Last weekend we did a game night on Friday that ended with a good amount of boozing and enjoying the beautiful and unseasonably warm weather.
Saturday was a big dance, which was actually a great time. Cute dresses, too much drinking and lots of slutty dancing that we have no outlet for any other time of the year.
But what would a dance for me be like without something embarrassing? Here is the story of The Israeli.
***I met The Israeli 9 or 10 months ago because he is a friend of a PBS person I go out with often enough. I was instantly attracted to him (he has a great, asshole personality just like me) but he had a serious girlfriend. Oh bother. We continue to see each other at various places, always have fun, all good.
I was driving up to my condo on Saturday afternoon and I thought I saw him bbqing with a friend. I had thought I had seen him here a few times before, so I thought there was no reason not to walk over and say hi. I round the corner but his back is to me, and suddenly I blanked on his name. I say "hi, you look like someone I know". He turns and says "maybe?". I am no longer sure it's him so I say "oh, sorry, nevermind...." and run away. A few hours later he sends me a Facebook message, we laugh over the whole thing, and we agree to say hi at the dance that night.
So we find each other, we're dancing and talking, and he tells me he no longer has a girlfriend. Hello! We keep dancing...moving ever closer...our lips moving ever closer...but nothing happens. He goes to see his friends a few times, but he keeps coming back to see me. Finally he tells me to come find him at Canoe Club after the dance. Sounds good!
So basically everyone from the dance goes to Canoe Club and it's totally packed. I saw him come in and sit in a table all the way in the back. Towards the end of the night, I went and found him and he got up to meet me and we moved to our own corner of the bar and were chatting some more...moving closer....hands on each others hips...but nothing more. He leaves to see his friends and tells me to find him at the after party. Sure thing!
The after party is a shit show. No booze. All the lights are off. There are dozens of people cramming into a super cramped living room. Awful. We pass each other a few times. We chat and then he parts to do something. I'm leaning out the window talking to a friend and he comes up behind me and sort of..leans up against me. He tells me he is taking off. Again, we're standing so close to each other that we are 6 inches from kissing...I'm trying to lean in..but I'm just not getting the green light from him.
At this point I basically told him that I thought he was a tease and he sort of shrugged and left. I went outside with a friend and 10 minutes later The Israeli comes out and is like "oh hey". I am clearly done giving him the time of day (being that he is a giant tease) so he tries to talk with me (because now he is interested since I'm fed up). I again tell him he is a tease, he says something like "well, you know where to find me", and I respond back with "actually, I don't".
Not the most graceful attack plan I have ever implemented. I do fault myself for coming on some strong, and I sort of wonder after the fact if there were some "not interested" signals I missed, but I really think he was just enjoying leading me on. Oh well, yet another disappointing man in Hanover.
But, fear not faithful readers. I cannot give up on the prospect of finding someone - so I am setting up a date with a rather promising plentyoffish.com guy for next weekend.
I also do solemnly swear not to go this long without posting again. Happy?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Booze Booze Booze
Ah summer must really be over if the booze level is increasing this dramatically.
Friday night I just knew was going to be fun. We started with $2 margaritas, went on to a free wine and cheese event, and then headed to Canoe Club. Margaritas were great and I got to meet one of the new grad students who is totally awesome and will make an excellent addition to the fold. Wine and cheese was ABSURD. It's a North Park-related event, so 70% of the crowd was Asian-speaking and they were all hammered and really ready to meet new people. KP was literally attacked by someone who could barely speak English but was INSISTENT that they have a conversation. Loved getting to watch that one from the distance. The only unfortunate thing is that many of the new psychology graduate students are also in the non-English-speaking North Park community. They were either completely disinterested in meeting their fellow psych colleagues or they were eager but lacked the means to communicate anything past their country of origin and the lab they would be working in. Again, the psychology graduate community is incredibly tiny so it will be interesting to see how this changes the dynamics.
Following this event, we headed to Canoe Club and it was a nice evening of strange new people and getting drunk. Strange new people who were extremely aggressive about engaging in conversation - slightly unsettling. I did recruit a smoking subject for my upcoming study though! Night ended with KP and I eating junk pizza and lamenting about the opportunities for love in Hanover. So, ya know, standard.
Saturday there was a massive tag sale I hit up with some friends and I got a ton of awesome stuff for my kitchen super cheap. Like, a complete, hand-painted wine glass set for $2. Love it.
KP was throwing a birthday party for my labmate and her roomate on her porch, so it basically meant that we started drinking at 6 pm and didn't stop until..maybe midnight. It was good bonding time with my labmates husband (he doesn't come out so much, and he can be a dick, so it was nice to see him drunk and being funny). He also told the story of The Alamo in such a grandiose manner that I am furious nobody had a camera to send it in as a Drunk History.
The only shitty part of the night was that we left the porch and headed to Canoe Club, and it was just an absolutely depressing scene. Something like a bunch of too nicely-dressed old people quietly having drinks, which was the opposite scene of what I was hoping for at 10:30 on a Saturday night. It was fine, just made me long for D.C. and the night life.
Sunday has been totally tame. I slept until noon and then got a text at 12:45 from my boss' boyfriend (who lives 1 apt over) asking if he could come watch the Pats game at 1. I got this while sitting on my couch, eating a banana, wearing only underwear. I said yes and then spent 15 minutes frantically cleaning my apartment and making myself look presentable. BUT, it was fun to watch the game with him and drink a few beers, and always nice to have another friend in the apartment complex.
So now I'm just doing a little work and watching more football. God I love Fall.
Friday night I just knew was going to be fun. We started with $2 margaritas, went on to a free wine and cheese event, and then headed to Canoe Club. Margaritas were great and I got to meet one of the new grad students who is totally awesome and will make an excellent addition to the fold. Wine and cheese was ABSURD. It's a North Park-related event, so 70% of the crowd was Asian-speaking and they were all hammered and really ready to meet new people. KP was literally attacked by someone who could barely speak English but was INSISTENT that they have a conversation. Loved getting to watch that one from the distance. The only unfortunate thing is that many of the new psychology graduate students are also in the non-English-speaking North Park community. They were either completely disinterested in meeting their fellow psych colleagues or they were eager but lacked the means to communicate anything past their country of origin and the lab they would be working in. Again, the psychology graduate community is incredibly tiny so it will be interesting to see how this changes the dynamics.
Following this event, we headed to Canoe Club and it was a nice evening of strange new people and getting drunk. Strange new people who were extremely aggressive about engaging in conversation - slightly unsettling. I did recruit a smoking subject for my upcoming study though! Night ended with KP and I eating junk pizza and lamenting about the opportunities for love in Hanover. So, ya know, standard.
Saturday there was a massive tag sale I hit up with some friends and I got a ton of awesome stuff for my kitchen super cheap. Like, a complete, hand-painted wine glass set for $2. Love it.
KP was throwing a birthday party for my labmate and her roomate on her porch, so it basically meant that we started drinking at 6 pm and didn't stop until..maybe midnight. It was good bonding time with my labmates husband (he doesn't come out so much, and he can be a dick, so it was nice to see him drunk and being funny). He also told the story of The Alamo in such a grandiose manner that I am furious nobody had a camera to send it in as a Drunk History.
The only shitty part of the night was that we left the porch and headed to Canoe Club, and it was just an absolutely depressing scene. Something like a bunch of too nicely-dressed old people quietly having drinks, which was the opposite scene of what I was hoping for at 10:30 on a Saturday night. It was fine, just made me long for D.C. and the night life.
Sunday has been totally tame. I slept until noon and then got a text at 12:45 from my boss' boyfriend (who lives 1 apt over) asking if he could come watch the Pats game at 1. I got this while sitting on my couch, eating a banana, wearing only underwear. I said yes and then spent 15 minutes frantically cleaning my apartment and making myself look presentable. BUT, it was fun to watch the game with him and drink a few beers, and always nice to have another friend in the apartment complex.
So now I'm just doing a little work and watching more football. God I love Fall.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
DC Trip Was Fabulous
Oh how I miss D.C. How I miss being in a city that I get with people who get me. A brief recap of the trip.
In my typical fashion, I left insanely early for the airport and had arrived, checked baggage, passed security, and was at my gate a full 2 hours early. The fight was uneventful and I got into DC around 8 pm and Mr. Big picked me up.
Now I will just say, I know that everyone is furious that I stayed at Mr. Big's house, spent a lot of time with him, and was REALLY happy seeing him. I know. I'm sorry. I'm going to move past that.
I was up entirely too late Thursday night (you know how it goes, not home until 9:30 pm, need to eat dinner, need to have some bonding time) and then Friday morning had to be up at 6:30 am so Mr. Big could get ready and get into work.
Friday, of course, was amazing because I got to see AMANDA!!!! And we had the bestest day, albeit a very early day. We had breakfast at OHOP, did a ridiculous amount of shopping, had fantastic grilled cheese and then watched a terrible zombie movie curled up the couch. Bliss. That night Mr. Big had a show and I got to wear a ridiculous dress I could never get away with in NH, see all his bandmates (who I love), and do the general groupie rockout. Oh, and I got ridiculously drunk. God I love D.C. I also had a really good time spending the night with guys coming up to buy me drinks in said ridiculous dress, asking what I did, hearing that I was studying Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth, and just watching their mouths drop open. Nobodies mouths drop open in NH!
Saturday was a lot of chilling, some decent hiking (I know, I leave NH to go hiking), and then I got to meet up with Matty, Nick, Amanda, Joey and Dan for a super sophisticated dinner followed by unsophisticated drinks at Rocket Bar. Great to see everyone and hear ridiculous stories.
Sunday was another day of chilling, another long hike (death march), and then we had a bunch of people over for dinner and a late night of listening to music and boozing.
Monday I slept in forever and then FINALLY got to go eat Thai food. I LOVE THAI FOOD. I MISS THAI FOOD. SOOOO GOOOD. I spent the afternoon walking around Old Town and sitting on the docks, and then I met Kirstin at Matchbox for drinks. Kirstin had just flown in from North Carolina and I was pretty exhausted, so it was a sleepy mix of girly drinks and discussing all the ridiculously-professional sounding stuff the two of us are up to.
And that finally brings me to Tuesday. We had gone to bed around 3 am and had to wake up at 5 am to get up and get to the airport. There was a SHOCKING amount of traffic for 6 am on a Tuesday (okay, maybe there are some things I don't miss about DC), but I got on my plane, got home, slapped myself to stay awake for the 2 hour drive from the airport, and made it back to NH safe and sound.
So overall, it was an amazing trip, and I am happy to say that the usual depression which comes with me returning to Hanover was much less severe this time. I'm still sad, and I still feel like I don't really belong here, but I also know that I have really great friends here and really enjoy the work I am doing. So I will press on until I can get the hell out of here. I also will make sure that my next trip to D.C. doesn't take a full year. Maybe over Winter Break?
Today I hit the ground running at work and it definitely felt like summer was over and I was ready to get back to work. Which actually feels really good after a summer of not feeling real motivation to do much of anything. Here is hoping for a really solid 2nd year to counteract the really tumultuous first year.
In my typical fashion, I left insanely early for the airport and had arrived, checked baggage, passed security, and was at my gate a full 2 hours early. The fight was uneventful and I got into DC around 8 pm and Mr. Big picked me up.
Now I will just say, I know that everyone is furious that I stayed at Mr. Big's house, spent a lot of time with him, and was REALLY happy seeing him. I know. I'm sorry. I'm going to move past that.
I was up entirely too late Thursday night (you know how it goes, not home until 9:30 pm, need to eat dinner, need to have some bonding time) and then Friday morning had to be up at 6:30 am so Mr. Big could get ready and get into work.
Friday, of course, was amazing because I got to see AMANDA!!!! And we had the bestest day, albeit a very early day. We had breakfast at OHOP, did a ridiculous amount of shopping, had fantastic grilled cheese and then watched a terrible zombie movie curled up the couch. Bliss. That night Mr. Big had a show and I got to wear a ridiculous dress I could never get away with in NH, see all his bandmates (who I love), and do the general groupie rockout. Oh, and I got ridiculously drunk. God I love D.C. I also had a really good time spending the night with guys coming up to buy me drinks in said ridiculous dress, asking what I did, hearing that I was studying Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth, and just watching their mouths drop open. Nobodies mouths drop open in NH!
Saturday was a lot of chilling, some decent hiking (I know, I leave NH to go hiking), and then I got to meet up with Matty, Nick, Amanda, Joey and Dan for a super sophisticated dinner followed by unsophisticated drinks at Rocket Bar. Great to see everyone and hear ridiculous stories.
Sunday was another day of chilling, another long hike (death march), and then we had a bunch of people over for dinner and a late night of listening to music and boozing.
Monday I slept in forever and then FINALLY got to go eat Thai food. I LOVE THAI FOOD. I MISS THAI FOOD. SOOOO GOOOD. I spent the afternoon walking around Old Town and sitting on the docks, and then I met Kirstin at Matchbox for drinks. Kirstin had just flown in from North Carolina and I was pretty exhausted, so it was a sleepy mix of girly drinks and discussing all the ridiculously-professional sounding stuff the two of us are up to.
And that finally brings me to Tuesday. We had gone to bed around 3 am and had to wake up at 5 am to get up and get to the airport. There was a SHOCKING amount of traffic for 6 am on a Tuesday (okay, maybe there are some things I don't miss about DC), but I got on my plane, got home, slapped myself to stay awake for the 2 hour drive from the airport, and made it back to NH safe and sound.
So overall, it was an amazing trip, and I am happy to say that the usual depression which comes with me returning to Hanover was much less severe this time. I'm still sad, and I still feel like I don't really belong here, but I also know that I have really great friends here and really enjoy the work I am doing. So I will press on until I can get the hell out of here. I also will make sure that my next trip to D.C. doesn't take a full year. Maybe over Winter Break?
Today I hit the ground running at work and it definitely felt like summer was over and I was ready to get back to work. Which actually feels really good after a summer of not feeling real motivation to do much of anything. Here is hoping for a really solid 2nd year to counteract the really tumultuous first year.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
T. Neil Visits!!! and Final Emails with The Child
Monday was the most exciting! I knew T. Neil was in the state, but we had done that bullshit "oh hey, we should meet up....yeah...um...call me?". Well Monday evening he called to say he was in Lebanon and we should get dinner.
We met for dinner, ate and drank for hours until we closed out the bar, and then I got to show him my awesome condo. It was great to catch up, and is always nice when you feel like time has passed but the person and your relationship with them hasn't really changed. If this was Facebook, I would "like" this.
Also, after not responding to The Child's last email, he sent me the following today:
"by the way your friend needs to lighten up i think. was nice hanging out with you, and thanks for the homework."
No subject line - this kid is such a poet. Now, some may say that my response to him was mean and out of line, but I felt I really needed to nip this in the bud and put an end to things. So I sent him the following:
"I never said that my friend was annoyed or upset by your pick-up attempt, I just said that it happened (and honestly, I don't think she's all that cute, which lead me to believe you were throwing out lines to whoever would pay attention). She actually thought you were adorable in your awkwardness.
That being said, your last email was a terrifying disaster of ramblings, and I think it sort of cemented any doubts I had about things.
I'm glad the homework was useful and hopefully things will work out with you and Girl Number 1."
Too mean?
So yeah, that is what I've been up to. Working semi-hard at school, getting settled into the condo, and getting pumped for DC tomorrow. Can't wait to see many of you!!!!
We met for dinner, ate and drank for hours until we closed out the bar, and then I got to show him my awesome condo. It was great to catch up, and is always nice when you feel like time has passed but the person and your relationship with them hasn't really changed. If this was Facebook, I would "like" this.
Also, after not responding to The Child's last email, he sent me the following today:
"by the way your friend needs to lighten up i think. was nice hanging out with you, and thanks for the homework."
No subject line - this kid is such a poet. Now, some may say that my response to him was mean and out of line, but I felt I really needed to nip this in the bud and put an end to things. So I sent him the following:
"I never said that my friend was annoyed or upset by your pick-up attempt, I just said that it happened (and honestly, I don't think she's all that cute, which lead me to believe you were throwing out lines to whoever would pay attention). She actually thought you were adorable in your awkwardness.
That being said, your last email was a terrifying disaster of ramblings, and I think it sort of cemented any doubts I had about things.
I'm glad the homework was useful and hopefully things will work out with you and Girl Number 1."
Too mean?
So yeah, that is what I've been up to. Working semi-hard at school, getting settled into the condo, and getting pumped for DC tomorrow. Can't wait to see many of you!!!!
White River Junction Triathlon
So I realize I am leaving for DC tomorrow, and likely won't post for a while, so it felt right to talk about something. Anything. Who is feeling lucky? Actually, I'll break this into a few posts.
So I know I talked about Creeper McRapist already, but Saturday night was another great example of me planning something that turned semi-to-epic fail. But so not my fault.
For months, we have been chatting about doing the White River Junction Triathlon. To explain:
Swimming = Drinks at a biker bar where we are clearly not welcome
Biking = Bingo at a giant bingo hall filled with scary old ladies (also not welcome)
Running = Drunk ass Karaoke at CJ's at Than Wheelers (scene of Dream Team in May)
This is how it was supposed to play out, with a big group of us. This is how it actually went.
Only 5 of us showed up (no big surprise). We headed to White River Junction, super pumped, to find that the biker bar was closed. Lame. We walk over to Bingo which was far scarier than we could have imagined. It started at 6:00 and we didn't get there until 7:15 - it was CLEAR you were not allowed to walk in late. Also, it was filled with 100 crazy old people who did not look up and persisted in dabbing their Bingo sheet in a scary, robotic nature devoid of any joy. So, with that failing, we headed to the bar way too early for Karaoke.
This could have sucked, but we got a deck of cards and played many many rounds of Kings while the most absurd people watched and/or joined in. To give you some idea, these are the people who are over 60, have been smoking since they were 10, and come to a hole-in-the-wall bar alone at 8 pm on a Saturday. Scary. Karaoke, however, was absolutely great. Two people who said they would NEVER sing wound up drunk enough to get up there and belt it out (especially the most shy, who go the most drunk, who owned "Before he cheats"). Lots of dancing and singing and drinking. And most importantly, I won a bet. I like winning bets.
Night ended in a typical (I hate that this is becoming typical) trip to Denny's to eat a grilled cheese sandwich filled with mozzarella sticks. Right.
Overall a great night...just not quite how things had been planned.
So I know I talked about Creeper McRapist already, but Saturday night was another great example of me planning something that turned semi-to-epic fail. But so not my fault.
For months, we have been chatting about doing the White River Junction Triathlon. To explain:
Swimming = Drinks at a biker bar where we are clearly not welcome
Biking = Bingo at a giant bingo hall filled with scary old ladies (also not welcome)
Running = Drunk ass Karaoke at CJ's at Than Wheelers (scene of Dream Team in May)
This is how it was supposed to play out, with a big group of us. This is how it actually went.
Only 5 of us showed up (no big surprise). We headed to White River Junction, super pumped, to find that the biker bar was closed. Lame. We walk over to Bingo which was far scarier than we could have imagined. It started at 6:00 and we didn't get there until 7:15 - it was CLEAR you were not allowed to walk in late. Also, it was filled with 100 crazy old people who did not look up and persisted in dabbing their Bingo sheet in a scary, robotic nature devoid of any joy. So, with that failing, we headed to the bar way too early for Karaoke.
This could have sucked, but we got a deck of cards and played many many rounds of Kings while the most absurd people watched and/or joined in. To give you some idea, these are the people who are over 60, have been smoking since they were 10, and come to a hole-in-the-wall bar alone at 8 pm on a Saturday. Scary. Karaoke, however, was absolutely great. Two people who said they would NEVER sing wound up drunk enough to get up there and belt it out (especially the most shy, who go the most drunk, who owned "Before he cheats"). Lots of dancing and singing and drinking. And most importantly, I won a bet. I like winning bets.
Night ended in a typical (I hate that this is becoming typical) trip to Denny's to eat a grilled cheese sandwich filled with mozzarella sticks. Right.
Overall a great night...just not quite how things had been planned.
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