With every breath that I am worth here on earth
So as you may recall, I've had to keep the fact that I've gotten into Jason's lab a secret from the people who it affects, i.e. other people who want to get into his lab. But it's been driving me nuts, having to lie directly to my best friends. So today this happened:SCENE: Sidewalk, University of Michigan. STEFFEN and ANNE have just left FRANCISCO after lunch.
ANNE: Can I tell you a secret?
STEFFEN: Okay.
ANNE (rushed): I got into Jason's lab.
STEFFEN: I didn't think that was much of a secret!
ANNE: Oh! Why?
STEFFEN: Well, you haven't slit your wrists yet.
Touché, sir. Touché.
We (meaning my whole program - 14 people) had a conversation with our program director yesterday. He's kind of a douche, and we haven't had much contact with him, but he asked us for our feedback on the first year of the program. The issue of how hard it's been to get into labs came up, and we had a pretty good discussion. He highlighted explicitly that we are the first class in this program to run headlong into a fucking recession, and that it's affecting us profoundly, via how its affecting the professors. Everyone's tightening their purse strings, and we're getting a lot of the fallout of that. I personally hadn't drawn that concrete of a connection between the two phenomena, but it was really helpful, I think, because we've been resentful of the older students who are like "Oh everyone always finds somewhere they're happy! Don't worry!" but no, it's a genuine worry this year. Fantastic students are caught in limbo and honestly have no home yet. It's very sad. I am incredibly, INCREDIBLY lucky to have gotten exactly what I wanted. I'm a quite humbled by it, to be honest. Jason had an array of great students to choose from, and he... chose me. I only hope I live up to that huge vote of confidence. (Can I share one amazing statistic? Jason published SEVENTEEN PAPERS during five years of graduate school. SEVENTEEN. Seven in 2002 alone! INCLUDING 4 first author papers! INCLUDING A FIRST AUTHOR NATURE PAPER. How is he real?!???)
Francisco's still up in the air. I'm so sad for him, and sad for me likely losing him. Sigh. :(
More cheerful things! THE AMERICAN IDIOT BROADWAY CAST RECORDING HAS BEEN RELEASED! Yay!!! I just bought it and I'm currently basking in my first full listen-through. It's amaaaazing. *___* I might be a little biased, but my favorite so far is Are We the Waiting - STARK. His voice has this beautiful, subtle rasp to it and unffff. I also really love the Last of the American Girls/She's a Rebel mashup, with the gorgeous cello weaving in and out. Favorite Son is beautiful - it's nice to have a song that I haven't heard before. And Whatshername is exquisite. AW HELL THE WHOLE THING IS AMAZING. I know what I'm listening to for the next month. :DD
valmontheights found a super awesome preview video of the musical, with clips from some of the greatest numbers. UGH IT LOOKS SO AMAZING I WANT TO SEE IT TWENTY ZILLION TIMES. STARK SANDS YER FACE AND YER VOICE OMG. AND YER BICEPS OM NOM. <333
OH AND: A FANGIRL HEARD FROM JON HUERTAS HIMSELF THAT THE GEN KILL BOYS ARE PLANNING A TRIP TO NYC TO SEE STARK IN AMERICAN IDIOT. MY HEART GROWING TEN SIZES, LET ME SHOW YOU IT. :DDDDDDDD
ANNE: Can I tell you a secret?
STEFFEN: Okay.
ANNE (rushed): I got into Jason's lab.
STEFFEN: I didn't think that was much of a secret!
ANNE: Oh! Why?
STEFFEN: Well, you haven't slit your wrists yet.
Touché, sir. Touché.
We (meaning my whole program - 14 people) had a conversation with our program director yesterday. He's kind of a douche, and we haven't had much contact with him, but he asked us for our feedback on the first year of the program. The issue of how hard it's been to get into labs came up, and we had a pretty good discussion. He highlighted explicitly that we are the first class in this program to run headlong into a fucking recession, and that it's affecting us profoundly, via how its affecting the professors. Everyone's tightening their purse strings, and we're getting a lot of the fallout of that. I personally hadn't drawn that concrete of a connection between the two phenomena, but it was really helpful, I think, because we've been resentful of the older students who are like "Oh everyone always finds somewhere they're happy! Don't worry!" but no, it's a genuine worry this year. Fantastic students are caught in limbo and honestly have no home yet. It's very sad. I am incredibly, INCREDIBLY lucky to have gotten exactly what I wanted. I'm a quite humbled by it, to be honest. Jason had an array of great students to choose from, and he... chose me. I only hope I live up to that huge vote of confidence. (Can I share one amazing statistic? Jason published SEVENTEEN PAPERS during five years of graduate school. SEVENTEEN. Seven in 2002 alone! INCLUDING 4 first author papers! INCLUDING A FIRST AUTHOR NATURE PAPER. How is he real?!???)
Francisco's still up in the air. I'm so sad for him, and sad for me likely losing him. Sigh. :(
More cheerful things! THE AMERICAN IDIOT BROADWAY CAST RECORDING HAS BEEN RELEASED! Yay!!! I just bought it and I'm currently basking in my first full listen-through. It's amaaaazing. *___* I might be a little biased, but my favorite so far is Are We the Waiting - STARK. His voice has this beautiful, subtle rasp to it and unffff. I also really love the Last of the American Girls/She's a Rebel mashup, with the gorgeous cello weaving in and out. Favorite Son is beautiful - it's nice to have a song that I haven't heard before. And Whatshername is exquisite. AW HELL THE WHOLE THING IS AMAZING. I know what I'm listening to for the next month. :DD
valmontheights found a super awesome preview video of the musical, with clips from some of the greatest numbers. UGH IT LOOKS SO AMAZING I WANT TO SEE IT TWENTY ZILLION TIMES. STARK SANDS YER FACE AND YER VOICE OMG. AND YER BICEPS OM NOM. <333
OH AND: A FANGIRL HEARD FROM JON HUERTAS HIMSELF THAT THE GEN KILL BOYS ARE PLANNING A TRIP TO NYC TO SEE STARK IN AMERICAN IDIOT. MY HEART GROWING TEN SIZES, LET ME SHOW YOU IT. :DDDDDDDD