To answer your question a few entries back, Kate -- yes, anyone misguided enough to pursue higher degrees goes through some sort of mindbending shift in social skills that makes them insufferably weird, annoying, clingy, or just downright insane. It has something to do with the low pay, the late hours, asbestos-filled offices, the ancient microwaves in the faculty lounges, the financial rape executed by just about everyone making six-figures at the university, and who knows what else. Ramen noodles and cheap wine. Socks with holes. Threadbare couches. Slow internet connections. Whatever. It makes us higher-degree types have a hard time processing simple things like "she stepped out." In fact, having just spent a night (on a second camping trip) with three other English majors, I can say that we were sufficiently strange and awkward in every form of communication that night. From Paul creating a mammoth fireball with the camp stove to me initiating a serious conversation about what was funnier -- saying "I was a bug for a minute" or "I was a bug for a year." No air guitars were played.
posted by Jen at 7:36 PM link/comments
