Traffic wasn't bad at all. It only took me 35 minutes to make a 33 mile drive. The Manifolds were awesome, Deerhoof was awesome. I met a few more people through Justin. I drove home, fell asleep. Woke up cold once. I don't remember my dreams. I got up early today and headed to campus for orientation. Today was just for mechanical engineering grad students. There were over 100 people there, only six girls. I thought the percentage was closer to twenty? WTF UCLA? Where's the girl love? We got split into two groups to go look at the labs, and I was the only girl in my group. Normally, I don't notice stuff like this, but I was the only girl! It was really awkward and some of the guys kept pushing to be at the front. I wanted to hit them, but like I said before, that's normal. Engineering kids get weirder the farther up the ladder they are. I suppose that's because the normal people switched majors freshman or sophomore year. The school is so big. Engineering alone is almost half the size of UM. It's something I will have to get used to. I might see my fellowship money by Saturday. I pray to Ruler of the Universe it comes soon. I'm running out of money, soon I won't be able to eat. Now I have this dilemma: It takes nine courses to get a masters. That would be a year if I took three classes a quarter, which is really hard if you're doing any sort of outside work (research, T.A.). But, it turns out I don't have to write a thesis. The policy is a thesis or a comprehensive exam covering five of the nine classes I just took. I'm a much better theorist than experimentalist, and writing a thesis takes longer anyway. So technically, I could get the masters in one year. But I would have to postpone the work I'm supposed to be starting right now on my research. And, the comprehensive exam is given on the same day for the Ph.D. entrance exam. Bam, bam, one day. I suppose I can take a year and a half with the coursework, but take both exams in the spring to get them over with and not deal with a thesis at all. I'll just start the research now that will go towards my Ph.D. dissertation. It doesn't really matter, but I was looking forward to having my masters at the end of the year. Now I'll have to walk after fall or winter quarter of next year. Tonight is going to be quiet, more orientation tomorrow. Listening: The American Analog Set |