Stuff, stuff, and more stuff.

I was asleep almost all morning because (thanks to my Fiance) I now have some sort of flu. I told him he didn't have allergies. So I'm taking Theraflu now, it's working pretty good but I just barely took it and am waiting for all my side-effects to subside before I start cleaning again.

I bought a 2" binder (or was it 3"?) to put all the Math Society paperwork I have lying all over the place to give the new president. I seem to have a lot more stuff than I thought I did, related to the club that is.

I would really like it if January was over and I didn't have to worry about completing a graduate application by tomorrow. I won't say which one, but I think (relatively) I have a better shot at this school than the others because I did some research there. Unfortunately, I did not ask the professor I did research with to write a Letter of Recommendation for me (yeah, I know - stupid) and I have not told her I applied there yet.

Let's cross our fingers that everything works out well and I can breath easy about my applications. I decided to do 9, although I can easily add to that list and I probably don't mind adding as long as my recommenders do not mind doing recommendations. Most of them want me to have a good run at the whole grad application process, so I don't think they will mind. I did supply them with ample information (I think) but I could have given them more. Oh well, they should know me well enough (our department has 6 faculty members and I was pretty active all-around, I really don't think these people will forget me any time soon).

Math GRE was funky, by the way, for those who are wondering. I sincerely think at least 2 questions were COMPLETELY weird and they should re-evaluate the answer choices they had available. They should have a "free-response" type of answer where you can explain how you got the answer you got because most math problems have to do with interpretation of the problem anyways, especially Discrete math type stuff.

I'd post a question, but technically I wrote a statement that said I wouldn't release any of the questions I got so I can't. Or at least I'd feel really guilty if I did. You can beg, and maybe I'll say yes ;).

Either way, I don't know what I got and won't know until late January I think. I will be super sad if it was a really low score/percentile, but I realize there are a gazillion other people taking the exam at the same time I did and most of them are applying to better schools than I'm applying to, so I'm alright with that.

I have recently thought of applying to as many schools as possible, I mean really pushing applications, and going to absolutely whichever one accepts me. I'd be really happy just to have a Ph.D. and personally do not think I will be a fifth-rate mathematician. I work pretty hard and get what I need to get done when I need to get it done, most of the time, and am a pretty good problem-solver, I'd say. My professors say I have a lot of potential and that it will take me far.

I guess one of the things that has made me think about what kind of mathematician I will be is a story on T,D&M about women in math. I do believe that some people will slack off when it comes to certain things, I am thankful that I do not believe I am one of these sub-par performers, which both men and women are sometimes.

There is one other student, a male, in our department who ticks me off in a major way. This guy is trying to choose the department he wants to go to graduate school to by picking those without language requirements. He wants to take the easy road, and I have found that he often does take the easy road when it comes to a lot of things. I fought and fought to have a topology class, independent study, just me and the professor. The next semester, the professor agrees to all him and another student to take it. Where did all my hard work go? Out the window, I believe. She would not have agreed to teach it to them had it not been for the fact I took it first and gave her a refresher. It angers me so much that he is not willing to put his neck on the line first, but he's willing to be the first one in line to get hot seats to the next great event, even if he doesn't understand what he's talking about - which he often doesn't.

Before I let off a lot more hot steam about this guy, I'm going to step away from the computer and go clean some, maybe file away some papers and throw out some crap. I want to be 100% organized before the beginning of the new semester so I can concentrate on the stuff that is important, the academic stuff instead of the "oh my gosh, how am I going to fit all this crap in the apartment?" stuff. If you don't hear back from me in a few days, assume that I'm buried in a pile of rubble.