Ahh, Saturday...

Saturday was good for non-scholarly things.

I got an awesome haircut which I promised myself for submitting the first draft to my co-authors. This is the first US haircut that I actually like! I've always asked for the same haircut, yet the results were always pitiful. At first I blamed it on my poor explanation, but lately I've decided that it is really the hairdressers who are bad, not me. For the first time, the hairdresser actually touched my hair and asked questions BEFORE taking me to wash and shampoo it! Anyways, I really like the result, although it was a bit pricey.

In the evening I met with my two friends from the department. I haven't seen them for a really long time, especially since I almost never show up at the department or departmental gatherings. We had good time eating, drinking and talking about our research, dissertations and advisors.

We all have different problems and different successes. One of the girls' advisor is quite sick, to the point that he is rushing her to finish within next few months because he is not sure he will make it for much longer. Given how much all grad students suffer it could almost be seen as a good thing (if we distract ourselves from the human tragedy of this sickness), yet many grad students do need their advisor's support and recommendations to get a postdoc or faculty position. This relationship is not designed to end abruptly.

Both of the girls are doing quite well. They attend conferences and workshops around the world, apply for fancy prestigious grants and chat with ubersmart people. I'm proud of them and somehow dumbfounded as to how they got so smart almost all of a sudden. I remember us studying religously for the written exams (and yet failing some of them), sweating over tough problems and topics while some other students in the department blasted through the exams with no apparent difficulty. We didn't seem that smart then. Yet somehow, today we are?

Well, at least they are. I'm not sure about me. I'm yet to convince myself that I do know the stuff that can make me a PhD candidate.

For some reason, I am not feeling well today. I'm noxious and have a splitting, light-sensitive headache. I'm sitting at work. Not working. Not studying. Maybe I should.