Pseudo-spontaneous Disneyland Trip

I have to admit, San Diego may not be as interesting as I expected, but the ability to go to Disneyland on a whim is pretty fantastic.
Although, it was terrible, the reason we were in the area was for a funeral. However, it wasn't someone we knew personally, the bf knew the husband so he went to be supportive, which I think was very kind of him.
Afterward we had the whole afternoon/evening to ourselves, so we stopped at Disney on the way home. We only stayed for 3 hours, but I actually find it more enjoyable to be able to go in short spurts like that. That way I don't have time to get annoyed by all the people, lol. I also got a ton of great pics, which I will be editing and posting over the next few days. (I have a bad ass camera now and I've been learning to use photoshop, even slight tweaks make my photos look so much more professional. But that's a post for another day.)
The bf took this picture of me. Not only is it awesome, but it is the first picture I've had taken of me in years where I didn't feel the need to crop the rest of my body out. I've lost about 35 lbs in the past year and I'm really proud of myself, it's a pretty amazing feeling. :)

I've started a new job :)

A job which actually requires some level of education and competency! This is (both fortunately and unfortunately) a big first for me. All the jobs I've had before didn't really require me to be intelligent or learned in any way. They were just jobs you got and they told you what to do, you did it and you got paid. End of story. Well, when I did sound design for theater it wasn't the same sort of mindless drivel.... however, I never considered it really special, b/c even though I loved it, I was literally the only person on campus who knew how to do it. So I was the only choice, lol.
However, this job is awesome. I feel a sense of accomplishment because I had to actually take a test and get a high enough score before they would even offer me the job. I also had to audition and do a standard interview. For those of you who don't know: I'm TERRIBLE at interviews. Absolutely dreadful. Yet, I still managed to do ALL of this and land this job. I'm pleased as punch. :) Although I'm really not sure how pleased punch could truly be... unless it's been carrying on a long-distance relationship with my small intestine and is pleased to have finally arranged a meeting. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "I want to be inside you."
I might have the sense of humor of a perverse, 15 yr old, nerdy boy....

Now all I need to do is navigate the labyrinthine company website where I am to access all my payroll, training materials and other important information. A tedious task in and of itself. Huzzah, none the less, mother fuckers. :)

I dream of Ph.D....

So, how long does it typically take to get a response on a graduate school application?? I know they usually take their good, old time with these things, but I'm extremely anxious! I submitted an application to UCSD, the application deadline was December 10. So, it's pretty much been a month now. BUT there's all those bullshit holidays in the middle there that take up everyone's time and tend to close down most university functions. GAH. I know they're probably only just coming back into the office this week and they probably have about 250 applications that the committee needs to review. That makes me wonder.... they started accepting applications in September or something, do they review applications as they receive them or do they just wait for them all to come in and deal with the whole fuck-ton of them? Neither way seems very efficient. :-/

I'm probably going to submit an application to UC Irvine in the next couple days here, as well. I wasn't initially planning to apply there. However, I was checking out the other schools in the UC system, since UC Riverside set me an invitation to apply, and I really like the program they have there. I'm intent on studying Political Theory, but there isn't much practical application in that; I'm ok with that, since I want to be a professor anyway (basically the ONLY application, lol). However, UC Irvine also has a Political Psychology program..... I hadn't really even heard of this before, but it sounds awesome. Literally, I'm in awe. I could even study it in conjunction with Poli Theory. Mmmmm. :) The ONLY problem is (and it's a big one) that UC Irvine is about an hour and half drive from my home. They also only offer full-time study in pursuit of a doctorate (as I have noticed, seems to be the norm everywhere). There is a possibility that I could schedule my classes in such a way as to minimize my amount of travel, but it's unlikely that this would work every single time. The complications are rather annoying....


If I do manage to get accepted into UCSD, I will definitely go there. They have one of the best programs and it's only about 20 minutes from home. I don't have any problems with it. Hell, I could even look into areas of study that focus more on a psychological aspect, if I continue to gain interest in that idea. I figure I will apply to UCI as my back-up, because, even though they're far, they have a doctorate program and offer funding. I'm also going to be applying to SDSU..... as my back-up back-up, lol. This was initially going to be my back-up school, until I found the program at UCI. SDSU is an ok school, I suppose. However, they only offer an M.A. Master's programs tend to have significantly less, if any, funding and that's a pretty big deal. Unfortunately, if I don't get into UCSD, I'm going to be stuck with the choice of a good program with funding and a long drive, or a shitty program with no funding that's close to home. Not an easy choice. While it seems obvious, the amount of money I'd spend on gas would be exorbitant..... and the man and I are probably going to need to invest in a 2nd car, which we eventually need to do anyway.

Ah, dilemmas.....