A Poem a Day

I was watching “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” last night, and they had this poem that must be the funniest, nerdiest poem ever. Here is the text of the poem.
(Warning: spoiler!)

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

Brilliant!

In other news, I am happy to report that I finally got over my panic attack from the other day. I had begun to doubt my choice for graduate school, wondering whether I might have overlooked something crucial. These doubts had led to a full-blown panic attack. Well, maybe not so dramatic but I was pretty worried. After two shots of tequila though, I was able to calm myself down and reason it out. In my now calmer state, I rationalized that at the time I sent my one acceptance letter (and a few “ No, thanks but thank you for your consideration”), I had already weighed all the factors and decided that this school would provide me with the best opportunities to achieve my goals. I think with this reassurance, I am a lot happier now.

What if...?

Today has not been a very productive day. Okay, so I finally made my to-do list, but I was only halfway done before I got distracted.
Part of my distraction came from the fact that I am having some misgivings about my choice of graduate school, and I ended up spending a couple of hours digging up as much information as I could. As I mentioned previously, I did not get to visit my choice of graduate school before making my decision (I still plan to talk about this). Now I feel that I might have made a grievous mistake, especially considering the fact that I did visit some of the other schools that gave me offers. While my initial reasons for choosing this school, like a well-established research program in my area of interest and a strong faculty, still persist, I can’t help wondering whether I might have overlooked something and now it is too late to change things.
Maybe my fears are unfounded, but I guess only time will tell.

Roommate-to-be

Must admit I am demonstrating a lot of diligence with this blogging thing (it is only been two days, who am I kidding?). Let’s see how long it will last.

Today I heard from my new roommate for the fall. As I had mentioned in my last blog entry, I will be moving to a new town to start graduate school in about two weeks time. I went through my whole undergraduate career living off campus and I had hoped to do the same when I started graduate school. There are several pros and cons to living off campus. On the one side, you don’t have to deal with annoying RA’s and those campus regulations that seem to change with every new semester. The downside is that it does not do much for your social life, especially if you had to move to a new town for school. Unfortunately, living off campus has also meant having to plow my own snow in the wintertime.
This time though, I did not have much of a choice.
The cost of an apartment off campus in the mid-sized suburban town where my new school is situated is prohibitive, almost five times what I am paying for my current apartment. Left with no option, I decided it was time I gave up a few freedoms in the hope of saving a few dollars, by electing to stay on campus.
My soon-to-be roommate and I exchanged a little info over e-mail. I learned that his dad obtained a PhD in my field, something I thought was very interesting. I gave him my reasons for wanting to go into my field and asked him how he likes the school (his program started in the summer). There doesn’t sound like there is much to do there, which does not come as a surprise considering its suburban setting (in case you were wondering, I did not get to visit the school---more on that later).

Act One

So, this is my first *official post in the blogosphere and as you can tell, I am pretty excited about it. I have wanted to keep a blog for a long time but procrastination has always had the best of me. Anyway, I am glad that I am finally fulfilling one of my goals for this summer.

Talking of summer, I can’t believe it’s nearly over (well, at least for me). I start my graduate school studies in two weeks and while I am excited about the new changes in my life, I am also apprehensive, not knowing what to expect. I have never been one to shy away from new experiences, having spent the bigger part of my life away from home and family. This whole graduate school thing though sounds like a new ball game and I still don’t know what to make of it.

All in all, I am glad to be here and I hope to see you around.