U.S. Global Image Quiz

http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/10/22/u-s-global-image-quiz/
U.S. Global Image Quiz

Take this quiz to find out if you have any clue how the US is doing on the world stage.

It may help if you are a frequent reader of Scandinavia and the World. It might not help much, but you will be less surprised at the results. Of course, if you are not from the United States, you'll probably do fine.

I did not (quite) get them all wrong. 

Sorry, Fresh Out of Interviews, Try Again Next Year

Last week they got around to posting rejections for EIS.

Not surprising I failed to make the cut ("record number of applicants" is a phrase floating around), but it took me a couple of days to get over the sense, not of rejection, but that the potential was still hanging about in the air. Very odd. The last time I was deeply invested in an application that did not turn out, I felt terribly shot down the second I saw the e-mail saying, "Many qualified applicants..."*

This time was more: "Wait, was that it? Bit anti-climactic, muttermuttermutter..."**

Ah, well, it obviously is not yet my time to go into a public health fellowship of that magnitude. 

And yet and yet. It took a couple of days though to even start considering the possibility of doing something else. I mechanically signed up for the internship match program, although for the time being I feel far more pessimistic about my chances. I have started lurking by the door after class and asking professors about projects with more of a communications focus. And one night I spent a few hours browsing the internet on unrelated topics, ending in a pity-party during which I convinced myself that everything I thought about the world is wrong, there is no justice, yadda yadda yadda.

Then I got my hair cut, suddenly realized I look like Diana Rigg from the Avengers (at least have potential for it, if I can ever recreate what my stylist did), had tea with a friend who studies 19th century French literature (how about that for a different perspective?) and discovered that KT Tunstall is THE best music for when I'm feeling down.

Having recovered equilibrium and done some studying, today I was finally up to sending e-mails to the kind people who helped me prepare my application. And they replied with so much generosity, whether brief avowals of support or more elaborate advice on how to cope (cake decorating may have been mentioned), it was a lovely reminder that yes, I was applying to something that would have been a huge challenge, but they had faith in my ability to do it enough to support me and to continue supporting me now, whatever I set my sights on next.

*Of course, I immediately signed up for a three-week intensive art course which turned out to be the most personally fulfilling experience outside of vet school I've had, so it worked out okay...Forever raising the stakes on what I do after rejections, because it must live up to the bizarre expectations raised by the times my alternative plans worked out.
**Stretching the waiting out to 40 days (or thereabouts) may have had something to do with this.

Question: if it is impossible to know the true population mean except by theory, why does it show up in biostats intros so much? I ignore this question usually.

I am struck by the nice binding and spacious margins on this biostats book from 1964. Much easier to make tidy notes on the pages. More fun way to study.

Living like a Grown-up

In my perpetual avoidance of homework, I came across this lovely post: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/what-do-you-need-to-live-like-a-grown-up.

The author listed AA batteries, light bulbs, toilet paper, basic cooking supplies, and living things. All of which I've had...um...actually, I think I kept a stock of all of the above since I was a freshman in a dorm. Overprepared, maybe. And then I had one apartment for six years, which allowed for much accumulation. Even given that most of it was immediately lost to the winds of change when I moved, however, I did not and still don't feel like a grown-up. So I really enjoyed the comments, which opened up all sorts of possibilities.

• Art on the walls. That has been carefully chosen. I would add, that has nice frames. Definitely the most grown-up moment I've had was getting a print framed to put in my new place. Now I just need art for all the other walls...
• Space for guests. Visiting my sisters twice in a row made a huge impression on me. One was in the process of moving. I slept on the couch, surrounded by cardboard boxes, and listening to the wheeze of the geriatric pet rat. I had lots of fun, and the rat survived the visit, but I was definitely living out of my luggage! When I visited my other sister, I slept on the couch again, but the living room was immaculate, and there was a spot for my luggage to sit quietly out of the way. Having traveled excessively since then, I've gotten to see the really nice guest rooms and the let's-just-shove-this-off-the-couch-there! My old apartment had the space but not the organization. My new apartment has the space but not the furniture (discretionary income helps, it turns out), so I'm not there yet. 
• A full bed. 'Nuff said.
• Although...nice bed linens, a duvet with a nice cover, and three pillows more than you really need are a requisite part of any grown-up bed.
• Basic cooking supplies. I've been covered on this front for years, the trick has been not having so many cooking supplies they start to obscure each other.
• A dining table, table linens, and nice china. I don't know that I require the full china service, but a pair of wine glasses is a necessity. And a wine bottle. It's really easy when you drink wine maybe once a year, because then you just wait for someone to give you a bottle and you are set.
• Tea. Teapot. Teacups. Little plates. This is not the same as dining. This is TEA.
• Sad to say, a television and accompanying equipment. It's hard to host movie night otherwise. 

And the intangibles (so much more important!)

• A cleaning schedule
• A specific space for dropping all bags and coats that does not block the door and is NOT the middle of the living room. 
• Control over the placement of furniture. These days I visit my parents' house, look around, and go, "Hm, these chairs have been in the same place for fifteen years...they could be rearranged."
• This is very different from trading out old chair from the curb for new chair from the curb.
• Waking up before the alarm clock goes off.
• A morning routine
• Going to bed at the same time every night, before midnight.
• Having a savings account. Putting money in the savings account is a bonus.
• MAKING SUSHI!!!
• *ahem* From memory.

Please pardon me, it is autumn

The purple ash outside my apartment is being gorgeous. It's hard to be sad too much with such ridiculous beauty going unappreciated. If it weren't impossible to replicate the sun falling through the leaves and the gentle gradation from buttery yellow to illuminated burgundy with veins of green on every leaf, and leaves in bunches and the dark thin branches half hidden, it would be worth learning to paint this single tree. But even then I would still miss the sky's illusory blue, and the ability to reach out and touch the cool smooth rough-edged leaves. All I can do is sit and stare until a box elder beetle lands distractingly in my hair, life pulls me away, and fall passes, taking the colors.

Thankfully, too, or I'd never get anything done.

EIS wait wait wait Oh look a diversion

wait wait wait

One of those group exercises was inflicted in us during class today. You know, "take this quiz and then we'll split you up into groups and talk about a semi-arbitrary way to split hairs when describing personality types." It sounded an awful lot like the Myers-Brigg exercise we had at the beginning of vet school. Maybe doing a full Myers-Brigg analysis works better (or maybe not...thanks Wikipedia!) than the truncated versions you find on Grad School Orientation Day, but it always puts me in mind of reading the horoscope: omg my horoscope describes me so perfectly...and so do the other eleven! (Unless it's the Onion's horoscopes...)

 The questions on the quiz were not promising. All of them could have been answered by "It depends". And the arbitrary groups were maybe a tad arbitrary. However, it turned into a decent exercise nonetheless. Four groups, delineated by color, roughly broke down into:

 1. The talkative people who want people to be nice and get along and have a good time, and are we all on the same page?
 2. The pragmatic people who just want to get it done and get it done right. Also, punctuality is important.
3. The academic-minded who will pore over the details, are a little baffled by these emotions that other people make such a big deal out of, and want to think the problem through.
4. The energetic creative types who will move on a problem immediately, try out new things, and have no concept of punctuality (luckily they tend to get things done without it). Are we done yet?

 I liked the breakdown, surprisingly, despite past experiences with MB. I fell into the first and last categories most, which explains why my sister and I operate on such drastically different measures when it comes to farming. Meanwhile, the long wait continues. I figure all bets are off now, limbo is now installed for the month of October and anyway, in two weeks it will be time to start looking at internships for next year.