Today I found a non-ice object in the ice machine…

A keg.

… That’s grad school :D

a warm gun. Haha… I hope not.

My number one goal in life is to be happy. For once in my life I can claim it so. My future (at least the next 5 years) is set, I enjoy what I do, I’m actually making (very little) money, and I have a wonderful boyfriend and supportive friends. Although grad school requires tons of work and ridiculous hours, it’s exactly what I signed up for. Work hard, play hard. My free time has become more precious. Although my stipend is just enough to cover living expenses, what little I do save I can indulge myself in petty consumerism… which is always fun.

I love San Diego. The never-changing weather may be monotonous to some, but for me, it’s nice to know it won’t be raining at the end of the day when I leave the lab. It’s always sunny, but never hot. There are so many things to do on weekends… although I still have a fear of the traffic. Besides, the gas prices are so high!! Driving west, the gas prices decreased from the Midwest, to Texas, to Arizona. The price was $3.60 in Arizona and as soon as we hit San Diego, it was a whole dollar more! I would really like to cut my gas down to one tank a month, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen.

Since I only brought half a car of items, there was definitely no space for any furniture.  Upon arriving, I had to buy all my furniture.  Luckily, my roommate brought everything for the common areas except a couch.  Hence, I just needed a couch and my room.  Refusing to pay full prices and not caring whether it was used or not, I ended up getting everything off Craigslist.org. Many of the items were IKEA, but at less than half the already low IKEA prices.

I also feel like a real grad student now for dumpster diving. I got a full length mirror, a floor lamp, and a checkers set where the pieces are shot glasses. Anyone want to play a round?