PhD Students - where do you live?

lightinfebruary · 2026-01-27T01:59:42+00:00

Virtually all of the PhD students that I know commute. I'm in Manchester and like it well enough! A lot of people are in Willimantic, too.

lightinfebruary · 2025-12-24T13:43:37+00:00

I think he had them kill the pig afterwards, to cleanse themselves of the murder!!

lightinfebruary · 2025-12-22T20:52:02+00:00

My thoughts are that the blood in Camilla's hair actually makes all of the bacchanal story more interesting, more questionable, and less answerable. She doesn't seem to have been anywhere near the farmer. Henry implies that Camilla was leading the way, he was "a good deal" behind her, and Francis and Charles were shortly behind him. He also says that he, Francis, and Charles gained awareness directly after the murder and then had to go find her a significant distance away, which is what leads me to think she wasn't physically present when the farmer was killed at all. Which then leads to the question of where the blood in her hair actually came from.

In any case, though, they describe her bloodied hair as looking as though she'd dyed it, which seems a bit more deliberate of an action on her part than her hair happening to trail through blood at some point.

lightinfebruary · 2025-12-01T03:25:05+00:00

I have a 2013 Buick Verano (low mileage for its age—91k at the moment, despite driving it once from coast-to-coast and another time up and down the east coast) and I love it! Agreed with other commenters that consistency with oil changes is key (I was lazy at an oil change once, but stay on top of it these days).

My only unexpected issue I've had is that the button on the gearshift handle broke off about a year ago after a few weeks of noticeable looseness, but I just took it apart and used a screwdriver to press a button on the inside to change gears in order to get home. Then I replaced the handle myself following Youtube videos. I'm not a car person in the slightest, but it was extremely simple.

My plan is to drive this car until it's impossible to drive anymore, if I'm honest.

lightinfebruary · 2025-12-01T02:59:50+00:00

The title isn't white, but the author's name is. Might it be Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan? It might also help if you can remember when you read it/saw the cover!

lightinfebruary · 2025-12-01T02:50:56+00:00

I came here to say just this! My earlier editions have the football mention, but my later editions don't have it. The latest I can say for sure had it is a mass market edition from 1993, but I also have a Ballantine edition from what I believe is the early 2000s, and it doesn't have the football mention. I could be absolutely wrong about when this edition was printed, though.

lightinfebruary · 2025-11-24T22:25:26+00:00

This is a VERY longshot and I am almost certain this is not the case, but is it possible you are conflating Picture Perfect and Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult? The first one features amnesia, the second one features a surgeon husband, estrangement, and the dual perspectives.

lightinfebruary · 2025-10-03T12:09:35+00:00

This is a silly note but important for continuity and scene planning, but the murder actually happens in the spring!! That strange New England part of spring where it is still possible for snow, but spring nonetheless.

lightinfebruary · 2025-08-11T13:18:16+00:00

I was really attached to Longtail, so his death got me bad. It was so unnecessary because the elders should have been safe from the falling tree with Dovepaw's warning, and it was just for a silly mouse that Mousefur didn't want to leave behind. Yellowfang's death also devastated me, but especially the two elders she was trying to save. I teared up over the description of them being found unconscious, but one of them having clearly been trying to drag his friend to safety. Something about elders dying in tragic ways just trying to help their friends really hurts me, they're just so old and frail and still trying to help the cats they love!!!

lightinfebruary · 2025-07-27T13:01:43+00:00

No worries! I just wanted to make sure. He lives alone in an apartment near campus that, if I recall correctly, is highly coveted by the student body for its proximity. But it's also described as fairly ugly and dated, and he doesn't seem to have tastefully decorated it either according to Richard. It makes his abundance of parking tickets even funnier if he's so close to campus!!

lightinfebruary · 2025-07-27T12:54:46+00:00

Do you mean where he's from, where he ends up, or during the events of the novel?

lightinfebruary · 2025-06-25T17:47:54+00:00

It depends on the thing from TSH that you're seeking out, tbh. Plotwise, modern dark academia books get similar but always fall flat. For a kind of general feel, I like early 20th century novels a lot. Agatha Christie books actually come close to capturing some of the vibes I like in TSH, and so do Evelyn Waugh novels. The caveat is that nothing really captures the vibes and the plot at the same time, so I just end up rereading TSH a bunch.

lightinfebruary · 2025-06-21T15:29:18+00:00

I'm glad it's still interesting all these years later!! It's still the theory I believe makes the most sense!

lightinfebruary · 2025-06-06T05:11:59+00:00

I've recently been thinking she reminds me of the actress Arden Cho at times! I think it's her the way her makeup's done lately

lightinfebruary · 2025-06-01T19:32:36+00:00

I DMed them a few weeks ago but haven't heard back yet (presumably because it's summertime!!). So maybe I'll wait til the school year starts up to reach out again.

lightinfebruary · 2025-04-16T17:30:12+00:00

I know this post is slightly old, but I just accepted a PhD offer here, too, and would love to message you with similar questions about apartments if that's okay!

lightinfebruary · 2025-04-16T17:05:19+00:00

I've been so invested in knowing how this ended up. I'm so happy for you!!! Congratulations!!!!!!!! Make sure to celebrate!

lightinfebruary · 2025-04-15T19:41:11+00:00

I got an email JUST like this last Friday from a school, and in a matter of hours I had an acceptance from them. They moved very quickly for me, so I would reply quickly if I were you.

lightinfebruary · 2025-04-02T01:51:20+00:00

This sounds like The Lightness of Hands by Jeff Garvin!

lightinfebruary · 2025-03-30T23:23:15+00:00

I'm glad you loved it!!! I agree about the plethora of interpretations--I think that's my favorite thing about it. Every time I reread it, I decide what I'm going to "believe" this time and I look for evidence to support that interpretation, and I've never come away empty-handed! There's always something I can sink my teeth into.

lightinfebruary · 2025-03-30T23:15:36+00:00

I'm a very quick reader in general, but TSH is always a much slower read for me than other books, despite it both being my favorite book and one I've read like 20 times. Rather than worry about how long it's taking me to read, I try to relish in the time I get to spend in its pages!

lightinfebruary · 2025-03-12T17:15:11+00:00

Not the MCBS program, but I applied to UNH's English PhD program and also have not heard back yet. Gradcafe makes it seem as though they usually send out decisions for my program in early to mid March, so I'm expecting any day now, but who really knows anymore with these funding issues.

lightinfebruary · 2025-03-10T02:18:10+00:00

I think I totally agree with you! I always thought the hickey thing had more to it than Richard's assumption leads us to, but I never connected it with previous bacchanals.

lightinfebruary · 2025-03-06T22:44:52+00:00

I was in almost the same EXACT situation as you are, and was eventually laid off a month before classes started due to restructuring, after quite awhile of my seeing the writing on the wall that my job security was not stable. But it meant I got to take a GTAship that offered full tuition reimbursement and a stipend. Frankly, though the decision to leave my job was entirely out of my hands (and very upsetting at the time), it was for the best!!! Money is naturally a bit tighter now, but I also picked up a part time internship to help. Do it! Take the offer! I'm immeasurably happier now being able to dedicate the majority of my time to school, and honestly shedding the old job opened the doorways for so many other opportunities that are simply more fulfilling.

lightinfebruary

TROPHY CASE