Explained: Oscar the Grouch, College, and Why I've Turned Into a Bear

Dear Readers,

Today I'm going to change it up.  Ok, no I'm not.  I'm going to continue to converse about things you never knew you wanted to know in the first place.

Topics of discussion today will be:  Oscar the Grouch, College vs Grad School, and Why I've Turned into a Bear.

As all of my loyal readers know, I'm in Grad school full time...getting my learn on.  I'm on the cusp of finishing up my first semester...and next week is:
FINALS WEEK.  And I'm a complete grouch right now.

Oscar the Grouch Explained:

Finals can turn an otherwise rational human being into a complete grouch.  For the majority of the time I feel like I'm rational.  Others may differ on their opinion, but I'm sticking with rational.


I'm a complete grouch right now.  But do you know who actually deserves to be a grouch??  Oscar the Grouch.  Why??  BECAUSE HE LIVES IN A TRASH CAN.  If I were him too, I'd be a little on edge.


Oscar the Grouch and I do have a lot in common.  We both eat out of the trash.  He does it because he HAS to...I do it because sometimes I throw brownies away. (If you missed the blog about my raccoon tenancies, CLICK HERE to read all about it.)


So, I'm grouchy.  And I probably will continue to be a little grouchy until this next week is over.  Hang in there with me guys, my apologies in advance.

I'm in Grad School/College Part II and I've noticed some differences this time around:
 One difference is that I'm a little older than I was the first time.  Now that I've been out of college for some time and have lived "in the real world"...I understand things a little more clearly.  (Trust me, I still get confused a lot of the times...)  However, there are some things I know for sure this time around.

College vs. Grad School Explained:

There are a couple of stunts I pulled in college that there's no way I could do now.  For example:

You can't wear your swim suit bottoms to class because you ran out of clean underwear.  You just can't.  At no point in time is it ever acceptable to wear your swim suit bottoms to class in Graduate school.  I say this because I often found myself doing this in college when I ran low on laundry.  Some of my girlfriends did too, so I know I'm not alone on this one.

Same principle applies to showering.  You can't just put a hat on and come straight to class after your Taekwondo lesson.  I took a Taekwondo class in college (because I could) and had this Political Science class right afterwards.  It was an upper level class and most of the other students were headed to law school the next year (I toyed with the idea but ultimately decided against it).  So they were all dressed like what you think pre-law students would wear:  pants, nice shirt...you know adult-wear.  Not this guy.  I came to the class a sweaty mess.  The only reason I didn't keep my outfit on was that it is disrespectful to wear outside of the dojo and I didn't want Master Pak to be upset.  So yeah, you have to shower in grad school. Or at least not show up to class still sweating and in a Taekwondo outfit.

**If my scanner was working right now I'd put up a pic of evidence of my mad Taekwondo skills.  So since it's not working, you'll just have to take my word for it .

Pulling an all-nighter isn't the same.  I can't do it now.  Back when I was 20, I did them all the time.  Now, yeah right.  That's just poor planning.  Have I had really really late nights while in Grad school??  Yes, indeed.  But I've never not slept.  I can't do that.  I cannot function like that.  This girl needs to get her sleep on if I'm going to be productive at all the next day.

You can't skip classes.  Like literally.  If you do, you won't pass.  So that's not an option in Grad school.  You can't just get notes from a friend.  There's few few people in your classes, and everyone notices if you aren't there.

You also have to have your homework done.  Not only done, but actually understand what it was.  You can't show up to class without reading anything.  There's no such thing as "cramming".  You can't cram 200 pages of the history of Disability Policy in one night.  Not only should you read the assigned readings for the class...but you should go out of your way to find additional readings, blogs, websites, books, articles, journals, groups, listservs, etc just so you can understand the material completely.  This was not the case in college.

You also can't order pizza with your friends at 4am.  Why??  First of all, all of your friends are asleep because they too are adults and most likely have a job that they need to show up to the next morning.  Second of all, I'm not even up at 4am.  So why would I order a pizza??  I just remember doing this a lot with friends in college...and not once has this happened in Grad school.  We are getting pizza next week.  But it's at 4:30PM not AM.

I could go on and on about the differences, but I think you get my point.  It's different this time around.  Well, at least it is for me.  As I progress in school I will share more of what I feel is different this time around, but for now I think we're good.

Why I've Turned Into a Bear Explained:
Normally, I'm a nice bear.  Like a Koala bear or a Panda bear.  Very peaceful.  Could be happy in a zoo.

But right now, these finals have me feeling like a Grizzly Bear.  So yeah, I'm a little grouchy.  Bear with me.









Let's Reflect, What Have We Learned:

• Oscar the Grouch is justified in his grouchiness.  Due to the fact that he resides in a garbage receptacle.  
• You can't wear your swim suit bottoms to class when you run out of clean undies in Grad School.
• I've turned into a Grizzly Bear.  It's only temporary.  After next week, I'll be back to being a Koala or a Panda Bear.  

So, I Ask You:
Do you feel like Oscar the Grouch has grounds to be grouchy??  Is there anything you did in college that you may not feel is appropriate doing now as an adult??  What kind of bear do you think you are??



Forever, Blogging About Things You Never Knew You Wanted To Know,
Miss Oakley


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