temporary insanity

I've been going a bit crazy in the past 24 hours, but I hope I'm getting better now. I learned only yesterday that I didn't get a graduate hourly position and was thinking I couldn't afford to stay in school another semester, so in the past 24 hours, I've also applied for a bunch of jobs in Chicago and asked my friend if I could move in with her for a few months if I land a job by mid-January.

However, I saw my therapist today, and she pointed out that it would only be a couple thousand dollars I wouldn't be making. (My assistantship was cut in half in the spring, and I picked up a second this fall, but that's not continuing next semester and so I'll be making half the pay, which wasn't a living wage to begin with....)

That's still a couple thousand dollars, but in the scheme of loans, it's probably not the biggest deal in the world. I'd be better off staying an extra semester and having a tuition waiver and health insurance and all that than manipulating people into letting me onto the graduation list this semester and going out into the world cold turkey with no insurance and no job and no money. And as luck would have it, I am now going to be interviewed for the second grad hourly I've seen posted in the last two months, for which I might also be qualified (I don't know too many other people on this campus who are qualified for the grad hourly I didn't get--and yes, I was quite qualified).

I am trying to decide if I'm going to Chicago this weekend--I just received an invitation to a swanky party, and my friend who's hosting it called me "Meatball." I think it's a good nickname. It can go down on the list of my others: Cookie, Doodlebug (an obvious one on this blog), Bug, Doodle, Bong, Chanandler, Katty Chan, Leggy, Lippy, and Busty. This particular friend calls me Meatball because I was one of the original organizers of the Swedish "Meet" Ball in Chicago and he thought that was just hilarious.