The Future, Conan?
Oh, the times they are a-changin'. I think I've decided to go to graduate school this fall. With application deadlines fast approaching and yours truly not yet having taken the GRE, it appears this fall will be busy and stressful, and not just in relation to the lab. The impetus for this decision had to do with the grant situation in the lab, which I wont really delve into. Suffice it to say, for a few days it seemed as though we would be without money completely for several months, but then the boss man did his magic and now we'll be ok. But even he still thinks I should go to grad school.
Now, the choices are wide open for fields and programs, but I think I'm going to try and find something that fits in New York City. I've always wanted to be a real city mouse, and I don't think there's another way I can afford to live there without cheap student housing. Just to keep my options open, I'll probably also apply to UW in Seattle and UC San Francisco. And the location I don't pick now could always be a post-doc in 5 years.
This all looks like a big plus on paper, but there's one tiny thing that I was hoping to be able to do before graduate school. I have this fantasy trip to Southeast Asia planning in the back of my head. The idea was to stay on another year, allowing me to amass the small fortune needed to stop working 3 months before grad school started and spend the entire time tramping around Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and possibly Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. I can't really forsee another point in my life where I'll be able to get away for that length of time purely for my own benefit.
That's not to say that it's for sure that I'll be in grad school next fall, just that I'm applying. And the first step is that this weekend I'm going to take the practice test on the computer for the first time and see how well I can do. Oh, and get home in time to watch the Hawks.