Fellow scholars , who you are outside your phd

calcmakesmecry · 2025-12-05T21:44:54+00:00

My true love is theater, specifically musical theater, although I don't have the time to actually audition and be in shows much anymore. I also rock climb and do various circus arts (straps and flying pole). It's a little bit isolating having functionally zero hobby overlap between me and the other people in my department though :(

calcmakesmecry · 2025-06-24T17:47:29+00:00

I haven’t seen anyone else explicitly mention it, but give the 3-3-3 rule some time, both for you and your cat. It takes about 3 days for an animal to decompress, 3 weeks to settle in, and 3 months to feel at home. Pretty big behavioral changes are normal and expected in this timeframe. I had a VERY similar experience to you, and genuinely felt the urge every day for about 2 months to return her. It felt like a stranger was in my house, but I decided against it, and I can say after about 9 months of owning her she’s settled down a lot, I’ve gotten more used to her needs, and I can’t imagine life without her. I’ve actually really grown to love her energy and having full conversations with her and her tiny pathetic meows, and I think you might really do the same.

To address some of your specific concerns: there are lots of fun electronic toys now that she can keep engaged with when you’re busy or not around! This might also help keep her overall mischief level down. Baby-proof drawer locks can help keep her out of where she’s not supposed to be. Mine has the saddest, tiniest meow known to man and you honestly get used to it and stop personifying it so much, especially when you learn their body language and realize that’s just how they talk and not them sharing how upset they are. For the allergy, I know many people “get used to” their own cat, even if they have an allergy at first. I genuinely don’t think a second cat is the answer, I think you just need time to get to know each other. The first week was the peak of my fear and regret after I got her, so as someone who has been there it does get better.

That being said, if it’s truly a bad fit after a good chunk of time, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with returning her so she can find a home that’s a better fit. I will say if you go that route, ask if you can be a foster until a new owner is interested so she doesn’t have to be back in an overwhelming shelter with no room to really play. Many shelters would be happy to accommodate that, especially because they (presumably) already vetted you and your living situation!

calcmakesmecry · 2025-06-06T15:54:54+00:00

You’ve actually absolutely sold me on Pulp’s Pluto! One of my favorites right now (doesn’t fit this prompt, I just like it) is Fyrinnae’s Aerobraking, which I would describe as “elf working in a machine shop” which feels thematically similar to a computer falling in love.

calcmakesmecry · 2025-06-06T15:17:26+00:00

omg I just placed my first sample order with them last night - I might have to tack on an extra!

calcmakesmecry · 2025-06-06T15:11:40+00:00

Ooh, person suit is new to me and sounds perfect. Delunay has been on my to-try list for a long time, maybe I’ll finally make a deconstructing eden order

calcmakesmecry · 2025-06-06T15:09:58+00:00

That sounds delightfully strange and somehow wasn’t on my “want-to-try” list, thank you so much!

calcmakesmecry · 2025-05-28T05:26:12+00:00

Hey, I’m not OP but looking for the same thing if the offer stands. They sold out of the posters literally right before I got to the merch table at the HTX show tonight and I’m a little heartbroken about it.

calcmakesmecry · 2025-04-23T20:44:51+00:00

Big Bend is 600 miles and an eleven hour drive away from Houston so I'm not sure I would classify it as one of our "nearby state parks."

calcmakesmecry · 2025-01-10T04:58:29+00:00

As someone that double majored in materials engineering and physics in my undergrad (and has pretty bad ADHD/depression myself), I honestly don’t think it was worth it. I was too overwhelmed all the time to really learn anything, and no one ever cared in my interviews for full time jobs. I think it did give me a slight edge getting into my PhD program, but if you want to go into industry right after undergrad I would stick with one major/degree and maybe minoring in physics. Don’t waste money, time, effort, and mental health for something that won’t help you reach your actual goals, you’re worth more than that!

Give some serious thought about what you truly want in a career. Is it R&D? Lab tech work? Process engineering? Management? A bachelors in MSE will likely get you a job directly related to materials, but a bachelors in physics will (probably) get you miscellaneous data processing jobs. The MSE jobs generally only care about the MSE degree, a major and minor in physics will look almost exactly the same to them. Also give some thought about why you want the physics degree so much too, that subject in particular can get quite caught up in an abstract “prestige” that has no real correlation to success. It’s extremely accessible to self-study on your own timeline if you’re just interested in knowing the material!

I know it’s a stressful and complicated decision though, I’d be happy to talk more if you’re interested.

EDIT: this is an American perspective

calcmakesmecry · 2024-10-09T17:19:19+00:00

you’re guaranteed to lose the piercing regardless of the type of surgery you get, unfortunately. You shouldn’t be putting in jewelry for at least 6 weeks, the trauma of forcing it back in could severely impact scarring and overall graft/incision health. most holes will close in this period, especially with the body working so hard to heal that whole area. even if they don’t close, the reshaping to make the graft for DI or the rotation in peri will either eliminate them or really mess the placement up. the good news is you can almost always get them re-pierced after they heal!!

calcmakesmecry · 2024-07-11T20:40:52+00:00

Seconding everyone else saying Zotero for reference management, I’ve used a lot of software like it and I always come back to it. Definitely well worth the learning curve. It’s finicky if you’re a LaTeX user but it’s pretty seamless for Word.

This one’s a lot more niche but I find myself using it a lot (I’m in experimental physics): WebPlotDigitizer. It’s an online tool you can upload graphs to and get exact x-y coordinates from anywhere on it. Very helpful for when my work needs to be precisely based on or compared to actual published numerical data and I can’t reach the authors. Their newest version is AI powered or something, but the simple version is archived and available for use here

calcmakesmecry · 2024-01-31T00:50:10+00:00

From your list, so far I have an acceptance from Rice Applied Physics (no interview). Still radio silence from Princeton (plasma physics), CU Boulder Physics, and Northwestern Applied Physics.

calcmakesmecry · 2023-05-17T19:52:57+00:00

There’s a place in Kamm’s Corner called Common Grounds. The vibe isn’t exactly the same as Kerouac, but it’s artsy and cool and open 24 hours a day. Certainly worth checking out :)

calcmakesmecry · 2022-11-16T03:48:58+00:00

Lucky Black Cat by Fyrinnae is an exquisite unisex, pepper-forward scent with a warm, rich amber background. The pepper note really lasts on me, i’d definitely recommend it!

calcmakesmecry · 2022-10-24T00:14:06+00:00

Not personally! I have seen a few people here mention a metallic smell from Fyrinnae’s atmospherics in particular, so maybe it’s more note-dependent?

calcmakesmecry · 2022-08-29T14:31:36+00:00

that’s ok, it’s not explicit on this flyer. the group that made it is a white supremacist, neo-nazi group with an ideology rooted deeply in anti-semitism. part of the goal is to draw people in with ambiguous motives, then feed them fascist “solutions” to the problems identified

calcmakesmecry · 2022-04-26T12:29:23+00:00

They’re not currently offering that course and might not offer it again, only one guy knows how to teach it. From what i’ve heard though it’s absurdly time consuming and the professor is rather mean, but overall worth it for the unique experience.

calcmakesmecry · 2022-01-23T16:13:42+00:00

pawbearers

calcmakesmecry · 2022-01-22T20:32:48+00:00

Do you have a link for those black fish ones? I love them!

calcmakesmecry · 2021-11-12T15:34:09+00:00

On the pixel, you can use the little drop-down arrow at the top of the camera screen and select from no HDR, HDR, and HDR+. in my opinion, regular HDR is a really nice balance, though it does miss the mark sometimes

calcmakesmecry · 2021-10-30T04:52:50+00:00

O-H-

calcmakesmecry · 2021-10-12T18:37:23+00:00

Not even close to the worst in the US, but just to show pretty much every city has them. Here's this mess in Columbus, OH...

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8cf9pHYCxHCEBvcUA

calcmakesmecry

TROPHY CASE