Welcome to Gaia! ::

Caveat, I'm coming from somewhere totally different in experience, since I never lived any single place for more than 2 years until I was finishing high school, and I went straight into living away from family. I was very used to moving around and changing my environment and social circle, so it was a lot easier for me.

I do think that it really helped my adaptability and from that perspective I do think it's a valuable experience to get away and stand on your own. On the other hand, even being used to all that change, I went through long bouts of depression after quite a few of the moves and there was definitely no shortage of anxiety in regards to some of the changes. sweatdrop

I'm in a really small town right now and a lot of the people I work with have never lived anywhere else and quite a few have never even left the state. For as odd as that seems to me, they all come across as really content with where they're at. They may never have been forced to adapt to moving to a new place with new people, but they've also never really needed that.

I guess I'd say that if your eventual goal is to live somewhere else, then it might be a good idea to try it out with graduate school. But there probably is a pretty good chance that, even if you don't have any trouble with that disconnect, there's going to be some emotional upset. I have to wonder whether graduate school is the best time for that. You're going to have a lot of stress on your hands with school, so adding a lot of extra emotional stress and having to deal with the change in environment might be too much all at once?

They closed tons of the Krispy Kreme places here, too. It was such a huge fad for a while, but the company apparently thought a little too much of their success and overexpanded. They ended up overwhelming the demand with too much supply, and then crashed when the doughnut fad fizzled. I wouldn't be surprised if the current healthy leanings contributed, combined with the rapid overexpansion.

I used to eat only cake doughnuts when I was a kid. I've started leaning more toward raised in recent years, though.

But oh man. There's a little mom and pop place here in town (sadly, on the very opposite side of town, so not too convenient) that has awesome doughnuts. I got one from there that was like a little German chocolate cake, but on a cake doughnut. crying heart It was like my tongue had an orgasm.

That's good advice, thank you! Especially about the additional stress... hmmm... I'm hoping doing a little traveling will help me see what I want to do. Even if I stay in this general area, I'll probably have a hard enough time transitioning.

Guys... I can't stop watching Full Metal Alchemist and do my homework! I keep telling myself, one more episode, or 7:30, then 8:00...
I'll start now, watch an episode, then do more! Let's see if that works.

Thanks a lot. crying I looked at that website. Now I'm going to have nightmares about her creepy smile.

emo

*secretly buys a Dr. Laura action figure and has it sent to Mala* ninja

Oh Dr. Laura. The only thing I've ever learned from her is to make sure there are never any naked pictures of yourself. Normally I would feel sorry for her on that front but since she's such a bitchy hack, I get my schadenfreude full on.

I would be tempted to respond that assuming you're not a good student tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy... negative versus positive correction and all that. The message can come across that they want you to be that way if they do it.

Though, it sounds best to just avoid the subject and if they press, hold firm that whenever you speak to them about it, they just hurt you, so you rather keep doing what you're doing yourself. Otherwise it sounds like you guys get along famously after all. heart

Anyway, I've met a lot of intellectuals and out of them a lot of intellectual bullies... but the people who always come off the smartest to me are the ones who are willing to develop the people skills too or at least try to make learning and knowledge an accessible and open endeavor. Because I've had the fortune to meet such people, I guess I'm a bit intolerant when it comes to people who aren't. It's never too late too change though. smile

In the long run, perfect marks aren't going to mean as much... it's what you're learning and what you will keep with you through and from grad school that will make your career. smile

Oh and one more thing, if they're ever saying things like "How could you not know that??" maybe it means that they assumed you would know because they -do- think highly of you... highly enough that you're their peer and should know what they know, despite the age and experience difference.