6:30 am Wake up and lie awake in bed.
6:31
Realize you spent $18 on last night's dinner, means no eating out
for
the next 6 weeks.
6:32 Hit
snooze button. Go back to sleep.
7:00 Wake
up suddenly with heart in mouth when you realize you didn't
hit
the snooze button -- you turned it off.
7:01 Fall
asleep again.
7:44 Wake
up with heart in mouth again.
7:45 Get
ready to go to school, will shave tomorrow, will eat early
brunch at (Denny's/Penny's/Lenny's/Dinko's whatever cafeteria).
8:03
Arrive at school. Realize your
foreign office mate arrived
earlier today must have got more work done.
8:04 Pass
by Advisor's office, chat with Secretary to find out if he
is
coming in today. He is, darn. Need to start work on the
draft
due this afternoon.
8:15 Read
electronic mail.
8:20
Delete mail from students taking CMPSC201 regarding questions
about
the class. Hate your TA job.
Depression: too much
work
to do today.
9:00 For
jump-start: go to Pepsi machine.
9:05 Kick
Pepsi machine; promise yourself to call up the company
and
ask for your money back. Wonder why
they would believe you.
9:33 Start
printing out loads of stuff that may be vaguely related to
your
work.
9:41 Early
morning stupefaction. Mutter racist
comments to yourself
about
your office mate.
9:43 Curse
your office mate in a low tone he would not comprehend.
Feel
good about him not grasping English well.
9:58
Finger everyone in the department and most people half way
around the world (using the "finger" command, of course)
10:19 Feel
sleepy, should not have stayed late playing Tetris last
night.
10:31
Momentary panic attack!!!!!!!!!!!!
10:43 Edit
.plan file. Write a shell program to
edit .plan more
easily.
10:59 Drop
in at advisor's office and borrow something you don't
need
& and kinda make him aware you are working hard on your
project.
11:05
Perverted daydreams.
11:11 Read
electronic news. Midmorning yawn time.
11:34
Start typing junk at a very high key-in rate to pretend
you
are working hard as your advisor passes by from outside.
11:35
Press the BackSpace key for one and a half minute until all
the
garbage you typed in is erased. Realize
that you can type
more
than 256 characters per half minute.
11:41
Flirt with the new girl in the department.
11:45
Print out some slides for afternoon's draft + presentation.
11:47
Print them again, you forgot to change the date from last
presentation.
11:49
Print another copy in case this one gets lost.
11:51
Completely forget about suing the coffee machine company.
12:15 pm Hunger pangs:
12:20
BigMac/Fries time. Drink a
not-so-cold generic can of cola
from
your desk. Ch-Ching, you just saved 35
cents by buying
bulk
cola.
1:00
Group Meeting with advisor.
1:14
Sudden awareness of one's shallowness.
Resentment towards
foreign office mate for sucking up to your advisor. Get reminded
by
your advisor that you need to do some more work for your
literature survey.
1:51
Advisor hands you the reddened copy of your draft for
corrections.
1:51:02 The
49 second urge to murder advisor begins!!
1:51:52
Realize that he controls your assistantship/grade/
graduation possibility/graduation date/all job opportunities/
and
the rest of your life.
1:52:53
Thank him.
1:52:54
Thank yourself for not saying something stupid to your advisor.
1:53:00
Splitting headache #1.
1:59
Check electronic mail, don't reply though, you are too busy
to
do that.
2:06 More
generic cola.
2:17 Oh
No, it is my turn to cook tonight. :-(
2:30 Sit
through the class you were told to sit through.
2:39 Look
outside the window make unrealistic plans to quit this
degree program and take up a job.
Wonder why blonde girls are
so
pretty.
2:48 More perverted
daydreams. Close the office door and
open a
few
.gif files. Sharpen pencil.
3:06 Worry
about never graduating. Time to write a
letter -- NOT!
no
time for that. Rearrange desk. Call up bank; see if you
have
any money. Fear of losing aid next
fall. Read latex
manuals to figure out how to put &$%&% in %$^% format.
3:43 Watch
the clock. Make plans to do a
all-nighter tonight. Vow to
watch
only 2 TV programs
4:58
Notice Advisor leave.
4:58:01
Sudden sense of freedom. Go home
for quick, short dinner break.
9:00 Come
into the office.
9:01 The
hard working grad student you are, you have to come to the
office late at night to "get the work done."
9:03 Check
electronic mail. Decide it would be a
good time to attack
those
ftp sites since network won't be loaded.
Run into "since
network won't be loaded" traffic and get the pictures into your
machine. Compress all unwanted
research/class directories to
make
space. Back up all your pictures.
10:11
Admire pictures. Begin
work. Realize you need references.
Realize its too late today to go to the library. Sudden feeling
of
having wasted the day.
10:49
Sudden feeling of possibly having to waste the night. Decide to
turn
in early and come back very early tomorrow morning. Decide
to
play a Tetris on the system to put yourself in a good mood.
11:15 Play
game after game after game to improve your score and get on
the
scoreboard. Realize that your office
mate is still at number
6,
two notches above you on the scoreboard.
12:20 Play
until you beat your office mate into the 7th place. A sense
of
achievement!! Yes, today was not
wasted!! Return home to find
your
roommate watching David Letterman reruns on NBC. Tell him
about
the "hard working grad student day you had." Discuss
philosophy with roommate
1:09 Think
about becoming a philosopher and dining with 4 others.
Argue
with him about politics, why people prefer Japanese
cars
and whether it is better to set the heat to "hot" or "cold"
to
defrost the windshields faster.
1:49
Realize neither of you have bought milk today. Get reminded
of
the "too much milk problem"
2:04
Forget about getting up early.
Turn the phone ringer off and
go to
sleep.
(repeat)