Snickers bars. Oooohhh Snickers.
I don't know why, but I can always go weak at the knees for a snickers bar and maybe some vanilla ice cream. The combo of caramel, nuts and chocolate is enough to send me over the top in saccharine goodness!
The best presents that I have ever gotten are Starbucks gift cards, time and again.
Once, for Christmas, my mom gave me a $200 string of pearls that I have been coveting for quite some times. Then, my brother handed me his gift–a $60 Starbucks gift card, and trust me, the look of bewilderment in my mom's eyes at how I howled, "OH MY GOD! THANK YOU!!!!!" at his gift in comparison to the relatively staid "Wow, thank you, these are beautiful!" I responded to the pearls with was hilarious.
On a daily basis, I cannot open my eyeballs fully, nor function at full capacity without a coffee from Starbucks, so naturally, I welcome any giftcards that I can associate with that energizing feeling 
My friend Cornelius got a job in San Francisco! His dashing element of “*Pow* Bitch! MBA!!!” paid off, and now he’s settled in the lovely San Fran Bay peptalking me through the home stretch of my first trimester.
LoveMeDeux: I was doing ok, now I feel dejected.
Cornelius: Awwww
LoveMeDeux: I’m in the home stretch…4 more weeks of school. Did you ever feel that way?
Cornelius: All the time, all the fecking time.
LoveMeDeux: I was ok for 10 weeks, trying to scrap. but no matter how much I study, the test is still only about 60% of sh!t I know and the 40% is just fecking nebulous bullsh!t you make up?! It happened to you too?
Cornelius: Of course it did. You’ll make it by. You’re not comfortable with just doing that but it’s what happens. I was so worried I was going to fail out of the program initially.
LoveMeDeux: It’s like…we’re all at the point where we’re like bargaining. Like “Feck…I fecked up that test, it was a 7/10..so I need to crank this paper..will you read it?” “Yeah I will read yours if you read mine?” “I will totally read yours…we need A’s on this.”
Cornelius: You’ll be just fine. Don’t worry. This is not one of those times to worry.
LoveMeDeux: Yeah, that’s 2 trimesters from now in Finance. Ugh.
Cornelius: Come on, LoveMeDeux.
LoveMeDeux: UGH.
Cornelius: Cheer up.
LoveMeDeux: OH CORNELIUS…I am sick of it already.
Cornelius: I know. Ok. You know how much MBAs get post school right?
LoveMeDeux: Were you sick of it after the first semester?
Cornelius: Mmhmm, but I didn’t have a choice.
LoveMeDeux: Yeah, I got my business cards. I’m locked in. It’s final. It says “MBA Candidate, 2011″ so I’m screwed.
Cornelius: No no. It means the end is imminent.
LoveMeDeux: Today I was thinking about the 15 weeks of pain that will start in September to December, the next trimester. And I felt like I felt the first week of classes…drowning. Panic.
Cornelius: No, no we all go through it. That’s part of the process. It’s not just classes.
LoveMeDeux: Those are some words of wisdom that I cannot process right now for some reason.
Cornelius: I know, because its tough to accept.
LoveMeDeux: Is it hilarious how having business cards locks you in? Like, “Oh snap! I had the official Pepperdine University business cards printed, I can’t back out and quit school now!”
Cornelius: LOL
LoveMeDeux: And the decal? and the sweatpants? I can’t give up the sweatpants. They’re like yoga pants. They’re blue. They say “Pepperdine”. I can’t.
Cornelius: Hahaha. I figured it was the student loans and sense of failure. But, yeah, sweatpants.
LoveMeDeux: Yeah. They’re comfortable.
Ha! “Student loans and sense of failure.” But no, I’m doing it for the business cards and the sweatpants.
That, and I don’t want to peel the decal off of my car if I drop out.
Cornelius graduated his MBA program this past week, and I am one jealous girl! Congratulations to Cornelius! I can’t wait to be over with it, and I have a long 2 years to go. Meanwhile, I have discovered another Grad School Truism. As communicated to Cornelius, there is no spoon*.
Cornelius: So, how’s life otherwise?
LoveMeDeux: Um, otherwise?
Cornelius: Lacking?
LoveMeDeux: Don’t you know? Can’t you tell?
LoveMeDeux: Life = School.
LoveMeDeux: School = Life.
*spoon = life outside of an MBA program.
The Most Important Thing I've Learned Recently: Try To Manage Feelings of Fear & Panic.
I learned that the original panic/fear combination one-two punch that one may feel when entering a situation as a fish out of water is not so bad if you take it in–one little bite-sized bit at a time.
I’m back in grad school after a 7-year hiatus from academia [I graduated from USC in 2002], and it’s a culture shock, emotional shock, brain capacity shock, everything shock.
Four weeks ago, at the beginning of the trimester, I felt ill after every quantitative analysis class, and even considered quitting the MBA program altogether. I thought it was a mistake that I got “let in”. I confess, I actually looked at the paperwork to see if it was too late for me to drop the classes and get a full refund, but I pushed down the nausea, and now I’m 7 weeks in, at the mid-way point in the 14-week trimester, and doing better, emotionally.
The panic/fear combination one-two punch is not 100% dissipated, but I’m feeling slightly better. The diploma is still two years and 5.5 trimesters away, but I have learned to worry about the mountain later, and work on crossing the molehill now.
Plus some classmates and I got a math tutor, so we *all* feel better.
