more uncertainty: the crisis continues

[hannah]

Miles, good luck. Not that you need it. You just deserve it, is all.

[elpollodiablo]

 

[elpollodiablo]

Man, I probably won't apply to grad school again for another two years, but just reading all this is making me nervous as hell again.  I've applied before, didn't get in to any of the four places to which I applied (which were all way over my head, anyway).  I'm happy it happened that way, 'cause I honestly wasn't ready for grad school right after undergrad.  I'll be ready for it in two years, and I am going to kick the ASS of the applications I'll fill out then, but...yeah, it's pretty painful.

Good luck, Miles, seriously.  From what I can tell, you're a super smart guy and you should definitely be able to get in to one of the places you're looking at.

Thanks, morgan! The best of luck to you on your next go-round as well. My stated backup plan if I don't get in anywheres is 'Teach English in Korea/E. Europe," so at least I know I'll be following in the footsteps of greatness!

[morgan]

Hah!  Thanks for the flattery. 

[mriley]

Last night I bought a baseball bat.

When I got home from work last night I found that my wifes car window had been bashed in and everything inside the car had been taken.  Nothing too valuable but this is the third time in six months that one of our cars have been broken into.  I've witnessed a lot of other sketchy things in my neighborhood latley, and I have a kid now so this shit bugs me a lot more.  I went to the store to buy the stuff I needed to tape up the car window and ended up buying a bat.  After I got home I realized that it was a pretty irrational, and impulsive purchase but I was really pissed.

So, I have a bat now.  Maybe I'll join a softball team.

[das kranke Tier]

Aw, man, a bat's not a bad thing to have around.  I keep my old hockey stick around for precisely the same reason.

[Aglaya]

Better a bat than a gun in those kinds of situations.  Well, in my opinion anyway.

[SPACERACE]

rebar works 20x better than any peice of sporting equipment

a knife is about 78x better

[dieblucasdie]

I'm pretty sure I'd do way, way better in a fight with a bat (ie some reach).  I'd get owned pretty hard in a knifefight, I'm sure.

Point is, the best weapon is the one you're good at using. ie the least likely to be taken away and used against you.

[das kranke Tier]

Just to clarify, I think my dog would probably be the first line of defense...and I'd just feel sorry for the poor fucker that Raleigh got pissed at.

[Greg Nog]

I'm pretty confident in that whole "unleashing a blast of telekinetic energy from my chest cavity" technique. 

[das kranke Tier]

Well, not all of us are so lucky...

[dieblucasdie]

Mine is "throw wallet at him and run away."

[nonotyet]

I was told to call the people at the job that I got all excited about in the job thread last Wednesday if I hadn't heard from them, and they said "the hiring decision is taking longer than we thought, call us again if you don't hear from us by Tuesday." It is now 4 pm on Tuesday and I have heard nothing. I don't know if this means that they're interviewing more people or what is going on, but I am very very uncertain about it and semi-convinced that something happened and I'm not going to get it. I haven't gotten a thank-you-for-applying-BUT letter yet so I guess that's something, but guys, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate this.

 

[Gracelette]

Nah, it could just mean that the personnel manager is off sick with a flu bug so they can't sign anything off. Call 'em tomorrow and see.

Keeping my fingers crossed either way...

[slow west vultures]

, but once I heard a guy from Princeton mention "Hemingway's Great Gatsby" I realized everyone's human.

this is even funnier considering Fitzgerald went to Princeton, and tried so hard to live up to the all-american golden boy image. 

[Good Intentions]

rebar works 20x better than any peice of sporting equipment

a knife is about 78x better

If you have any idea whatsoever about how to fight, length beats anything else, up to about 4 feet in closed spaces and 9-11 in open spaces or corridors. A broomstick would be a really handy thing to have around for self-defence if it didn't just snap in half if you hit someone with it, but you can still get a lot of play out of it by thrusting.

If you have no idea how to fight, you really should not be planning to get in one, not even as a back-up plan.

[slow west vultures]

in his next installment, GI will demonstrate how to beat a man to death with his own shoe. 

i think you need your own show on the History Channel GI. 

[Good Intentions]

It's so much easier if your opponent wears loafers, otherwise you need to get him in an extra-good pin while you undo his shoelaces.

Anyway, while stuff I mutter when half-asleep would be more informative than the drock they have as weapons shows on the history channel, I wouldn't fancy my chances against this series.

[milesofsparks]

It's so much easier if your opponent wears loafers.

especially if you're wearing well engineered heels.  they don't call 'em stilletos for nothing.

[Good Intentions]

We're joking, but Father Burns probably has a chapter in his book about beating people with their own shoes.

Farmer Burns was a badass.

[morgan]

I guess this belongs in this thread more than anywhere else.  I just found out that a good friend of mine proposed to his girlfriend, and that they're getting married in November of 2008.  I'm really happy for him!  I mean, it's great.  I hope they have a long and happy life together, and I wish him the absolute best, because I genuinely want him to be happy.

At the same time, reading the news sort of made me feel like someone was knocking me to the floor, because this guy and I have a very long history.  He's been one of my best friends in the whole entire world for the past five or six years, and we've grown to know each other very well.  We've talked about how we would probably be in a relationship together if we lived in the same place (he lives in Colorado) and we even used to talk about getting married, though that was a long time ago and never very serious, anyway.  The point is, I have a really strong connection with this guy, and suddenly he's about to get married, and it feels really intensely weird.  Like I said, I'm happy for him, and I didn't really expect us to end up together, but...yeah, can't put this feeling into words.  Weird weird weird.  Also he wants me to go to the wedding, and I will probably go, and it'll be great to see him again but seriously strange to see him getting married.  Bittersweet, I guess.

I'm sure most of you have been through something similar.

[SPACERACE]

rebar works 20x better than any peice of sporting equipment

a knife is about 78x better

If you have any idea whatsoever about how to fight, length beats anything else, up to about 4 feet in closed spaces and 9-11 in open spaces or corridors. A broomstick would be a really handy thing to have around for self-defence if it didn't just snap in half if you hit someone with it, but you can still get a lot of play out of it by thrusting.

If you have no idea how to fight, you really should not be planning to get in one, not even as a back-up plan.

if you can lose a fight with several feet of rebar, i'm impressed

[Good Intentions]

I had to google rebar, but after having done so I've got to say that a good length of that would give you an upper hand. Lead piping is also a winner.

[girl]

I'm sure most of you have been through something similar.

Yes, actually. My best friend called me just before he was getting married (small wedding, no one was invited--it wasn't personal). Despite the fact that I was newly married myself, I still felt a huge pang at the news. Bittersweet is about right. Virtual hug?