8:42 a.m. - 06.25.2004
Should I?
So my diary is unlocked again. I locked it because I was going to redesign it, but who knows when that will happen. It makes me feel guilty because I haven't been writing here at all. I have another blog and I've been using that one, but not even that much. I don't know what my problem is. I haven't written a non-diary/blog word since school ended. One of my goals for next week is to get my writing schedule/projects for the summer sorted.
I've got a new car and I'm really happy with how things turned out. I got a brand new 2004 VW Golf and it's all cute and silver. I'll miss my Beetle, but my payment is now almost $100 less per month, which is exactly what I was hoping for. It's pretty sweet and I'm glad it's all over. They tried to pull a fast one on me at the dealership but I held my ground and acted like a hardass (heh) and it worked.
BIG NEWS: I could be moving in 9-12 months to Cincinnati to work/go to grad school at the University of Cincinnati. I've been making lists in my head of the pros and cons and it looks something like this:
PROS
1. Free grad school (all the way through a PhD) in a really good program. If I stay in Chicago in my current grad program I'll have to take out at least another $36,000 in student loans.
2. Financial security: A raise at my already overpaid, cushy job where I work part-time and get full insurance, which I really need because of my illness last fall. If I don't move I will lose that cushy job and my insurance and will be unable to get new insurance because of said previous illness.
3. Four of my really good friends will be moving, too. There will be a total of 21 people moving (including spouses) and I really like a bunch of them (well, maybe just a couple of them). The rest are the "just okay" kind of co-workers.
4. My expenses will go way down because it's a much cheaper cost of living (Chicago vs. Cincinnati). Plus, my two really good friends (that I've been friends with for about 15 years) who are moving (one of them is the doctor that hired me) are going to buy a really sweet house with a coach house/separate apartment for me to live in! My rent and utilities would probably end up being less than half of what I pay now. Totally sweet!
5. A more relaxed pace of life and less conjestion to deal with. Cincinnati is much smaller than Chicago, which is both good and bad. A few people have said Cinncinnati is just like a big college town and that sounds good to me.
6. It would be an adventure. And it wouldn't be permanent. I can always move back if I hate it.
7. Change. I crave change and new peoople and moving/switching schools would be exhilirating.
8. My move would be totally financed by work, including movers that would come into my place and actually pack for me!
CONS
1. I have to apply to school and all the hassle that goes along with it, including taking the GRE's, which I'm dreading. My MFA program that I'm in right now is a very "art school" program and the new one would be much more "academic", if that makes sense. I'm not sure I would like it as much, so I need to visit and maybe sit on some classes and meet with people in the department. There is no guarantee that I will get in, but it looks a lot easier than getting into my current program. I spoke to a secretary in the department and she said that 80 to 100 people usually apply and they accept 15-20. At my current program over 600 people applied when I did and they only accepted like 12 or so.
2. I would be moving away from my best friend, who knows me better than anyone in the world. There is a slight possibility that she would come with because she works from home and could live anywhere. We're going to try to convince her.
3. I'll be 4 hours away from my family, who I'm pretty close with. I'll have to drive home a lot for holidays and birthday parties, but it's really not that far. My parents have been really supportive of the idea because it makes such good financial/school sense.
4. There won't be as much to do, as in seeing bands, plays, etc. I've investigated this a lot and the situation doesn't look too bad. A lot of bands come through town and there are several other towns that are like 1-1 1/2 hours away where bands play as well. Of course it's not Chicago, but it could be much worse.
5. People keep telling me how conservative Cincinnati is. Yuck. But, maybe it's one of those places where the "others", the progressive types and those that don't fit into that straight, white, male, Christian mold really bond together and form their own tight community.
So, that's where things are right now. I'm about 70% sold on the idea, provided everything works out the way I've been told it will. We should find out in a couple of weeks whether or not it's a go (i.e. if they've offered enough money to the professors). If it's a go I'm going to start studying for the GREs and see how that goes. Oy.
