5 more days…

Webcam photo of the male author.

As so many of you are engaged in a countdown until Yale releases its admissions decisions for the class of 2015, I am fixated on a countdown of my own: Five days until my senior thesis is due.

I willingly admit that given the amount of time left and the amount of work I still have left, I probably should be writing furiously about postmodern theories of identity and retail marketing strategies. But guess what, Internet acquaintances, I am writing y’all a blog post. :) Procrastination comes in many forms, apparently. 

The idea of writing a little abstract about my senior essay to show off all of the brilliant ideas in my head but I’ve decided to take a study break in order to give my mind a rest. Instead, I have decided to write out a brief overview of my week in order to organize my thoughts and to give the blogosphere a sense of what life is like as a second-semester senior at this fine institution. So, here goes!

Monday
Yesterday, I had two classes - one anthropology seminar and a meeting of my Arabic seminar. I was a pretty active participant in both meetings, probably because I was amped up on some pretty fantastic coffee from Jojo’s, the little coffee shop next to my apartment. I went for a run around New Haven in my attempt to “train” for a half-marathon. It sounds impressive but I haven’t really figured out when I am going to compete or in which race I intend to enter. In any case, I jammed out the new Britney Spears album as I ran north to Hamden, circled around East Rock, and trotted back down Whitney Avenue. My mom decided to fly-in into New Haven last minute, so I rented a Zipcar and picked her up in Hartford. It was nice to get out of the Yale bubble for a little while.

Tuesday
Today, I grabbed an early breakfast with my mom and went to a meeting I had scheduled at the Dean’s Office. I met with my thesis advisor, Prof. Inderpal Grewal in the WGSS department, and we discussed some rewrites I needed to do on the introduction of my paper. I grabbed lunch at Miya’s Sushi with my mom and went straight to Bass Library where I camped out and did some damage on one of the larger theoretical parts of my paper. I was so intense that I turned off my phone and signed out of Gchat. Ha! I picked up some chinese take-out and hung out with my mother again while we watched Dancing with the Stars (one of my first times watching the show). In case you were wondering, I’m rooting for Wendy Williams and Kirstie Alley. 

Wednesday
Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day. My mom is heading back to Missouri super early, so I’m aiming to be at least semi-conscious when she catches the shuttle at 8am. Then, my queer theory seminar with Prof. Michael Warner will meet for a couple of hours - we’re talking about the “Geopolitics of Sex” apparently. I just checked the syllabus and am going to power through those articles before I get to sleep. Afterward, I’m going to grab coffee with my friends Emily and Chloe at Blue State in the center of campus. Soon after, I have another Arabic class. From 5-7pm, I will be at the Silliman College Mellon Forum, which is an all-senior academic forum where each week two seniors present their theses over dinner, drinks, and dessert. After that, I’m going to get a little more work done until around 10pm when Tap Night for the all-senior a cappella groups, the Whiffenpoofs and Whim n’ Rhythm, begins. As an alum of the Whiffs, I’m really excited to see the newest classes get chosen on Old Campus. This year’s junior class just auditioned for the current groups and tomorrow night, each group will announce its fourteen new members who will carry on the tradition next year. 

Thursday
I don’t have classes on Thursday but I do have a job interview in New York. I’m gonna jump on a super early train to the City Thursday morning and head to SoHo for what I think is my third round of interviews with this particular company. I am applying to be a Practice Management Analyst for a really cool company. As I understand it, if I’m selected to work for them next year, I will serve as a liaison between my clients (media companies, biotech companies, firms in financial services) and the lawyers that are employed by the firm. I will be in charge of assigning lawyers to particular cases, maintaining good relationships with our clients, and helping to secure new accounts. The people that I’ve met thus far have been so smart and articulate and engaging. I’m crossing my fingers that all goes well on Thursday!

Friday
I’m anticipating that Friday will be the start of a pretty low-key weekend. My musical theater history seminar will meet in the afternoon but I’ll probably spend a majority of my time before and after working on wrapping my thesis. It’s due at 4pm on Monday so I have plenty of time to get everything done. But I anticipate a huge celebration on Monday night given that so many of the seniors on campus are going to be one step closer to real life!

This is a pretty busy week for me but I can’t even imagine how excited you all must be for decisions to be released. Feel free to leave any questions in the comment section and I’ll try to get to them as soon as I can. Good luck, all!

Back to writing!