trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)trouble ([personal profile] trouble) wrote,
@ 2011-01-11 04:27 pm UTC
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Current mood: calm
Entry tags:don: don health updates, grad school apps, personal: adventures of anna & don, personal: all about me
Crossposts:http://troubleinchina.livejournal.com/613424.html
I'm just popping my head up a bit to share some good news, in chronological rather than order of importance.

1) The Student Loan issue has been "solved" in that I now owe thousands of dollars to family and not to a collection agency that will randomly have my bank account frozen. We've also ending our banking relationship with the previous bank. Not because they froze my bank account on the 30th of the month. That bit I disagree with but understand. No, because I called them up to have them take money out of my account to apply to the loan, they took the money out of my account electronically and then froze my account for 10 days to see whether or not the money would clear. This was not what was discussed over the phone, and it makes no sense because the money was taken from my account before they froze it again. So, you know. I bank elsewhere now, and most of Don's investments have been moved as well. (The only things not moved are long-term investments that are locked in for another year, but those will go as well.)

2) Don's vocal cords are getting better! He saw the doctor, and this is what he says: "Whet he thinks is happening is that the nerves have come back but the ones that tell the cord to close and the ones that tell it to open are all firing at once. This is resulting in the chord mostly staying rigid which is why its worlds better but not 100% of pre surgery. The nerves might sort them out a bit more so that the chord starts to move a little more but the important thing is that its not going to get weaker." I know I've mentioned this before but having actual medical doctors say "yes, it's getting better, no, it's not a fluke, and it won't get worse" has been a huge weight off his mind.

3) My PhD apps are almost ready to go. I've got two more days for my UofA transcripts to arrive, but all of my letters of reference are packed and ready to go, as is my writing sample, CV, various bits of paperwork, thesis proposal, statement of intent, etc etc etc. The post office tells me I can have it shipped Priority Next Day AM if I get to the post office before 4pm Thursday. (The technical deadline for both universities is January 15th. [The last one is January 31st.] January 15th is a Saturday. *sigh*)

So, yay for me. Things are coming along nicely. Chapter 2 is doing really well. My sleep is a bit screwed up (I stayed up too late last night and thus couldn't get myself out of bed this morning to hit the Leg Library), but generally things are Good. My wee laptop is totally a goner, but I'm taking advantage of the university's computers. (Right now that's irritating me because there are many students here who have confused "quiet conversation" with "Make a lot of noise" but I just need to wait them out.) I'm a bit lonely (I misssssss youuuuu) but I've been working and reading a lot, so I guess that's good.



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challyzatb: A blue background, featuring vague puffs of white clouds in a ring. (bluepaleclouds)


[personal profile] challyzatb
2011-01-11 08:32 pm UTC (link)
:)

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-11 08:41 pm UTC (link)

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callie: young willow from buffy looking happy (happy willow)


[personal profile] callie
2011-01-11 08:42 pm UTC (link)
\o/ I am glad things are getting so much better for you after that horrible time of it last year.

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-11 08:44 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! Things seem to be getting back under control. :D

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susanreads: a basket of flowers hanging on a wall (flowers)


[personal profile] susanreads
2011-01-11 08:48 pm UTC (link)
I'm glad things are looking up! Hope your transcripts arrive promptly.

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-11 08:49 pm UTC (link)
I hope so too since I paid extra money to get them here quickly! But I suspect they'll arrive tomorrow.

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annaham: illustration of a skeleton with speech bubble; inside are miniature skulls (skull talk//timepunching (LJ))


[personal profile] annaham
2011-01-11 09:14 pm UTC (link)
I am glad that things are going better for now! I miss you too.

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-11 09:18 pm UTC (link)
♥ We really need to... um... find some time at some point to chat about the problems in academia. <3

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ironed_orchid: pin up girl reading kant (Default, intellectual hottie (green))


[personal profile] ironed_orchid
2011-01-11 09:47 pm UTC (link)
I'm glad about all these things.

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-11 09:47 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. Things are going so much better. I'm very lucky.

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rainbow: text: I find your lack of buttons disturbing (lack of buttons is disturbing)


[personal profile] rainbow
2011-01-11 10:50 pm UTC (link)
oh, YAY! *happy hugs!* *sparkles*

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:41 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! I feel much better about the world, but I admit to having spent a lot of time picturing wee pink cow-polkadotted shields of happiness. <3

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laughingrat: A detail of leaping rats from an original movie poster for the first film of Nosferatu (Leaping Rats)


[personal profile] laughingrat
2011-01-11 10:50 pm UTC (link)
Glad things are going better, for the most part!

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:41 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! :D! I'm so pleased with life right now. Such a strange feeling! :D

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tea: Barbara Gordon/Oracle, pushing her hair back. (babshair)


[personal profile] tea
2011-01-11 10:52 pm UTC (link)
I'm in the midst of wrapping up grad school applications, and the 15th deadline confuses me too. I'm guessing they need to be there by friday, but why not just, I don't know, change the deadline to a sensible day?

I like Waterloo and it's deadline of FEBRUARY 15th. U of T isn't bad either, it's the follow-up documents that are the annoying part. (Especially when you need one from a university that has a terrible system for non-current-student-transcript requests wherein they take five days to put the thing in the mail and you have to call and wait on hold for half an hour because they don't notify you if they've even received the request. I'm looking at you, McGill.)

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:40 pm UTC (link)
Oh my gosh, I was just beside myself this week with the transcript thing. My UofA transcripts hadn't arrived but everyone else's had, including the ones that didn't allow you to pay extra to have them expressed shipped, and then I found out they sent them in the same sealed envelop as my AUC transcripts. Which makes sense, because AUC was bought out by UofA over a decade ago, but why didn't they tell me that????

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tea: Barbara Gordon/Oracle, pushing her hair back. (babshair)


[personal profile] tea
2011-01-13 05:46 pm UTC (link)
That's ridiculous, but also sounds totally par for the course. How are you supposed to know what's inside those sealed envelopes?

I finally found out that McGill'd processed my requests on friday, printed the transcripts on monday, but then for some reason wouldn't be mailing them until thursday. Because it really takes four days to put something in the mail box.

On the other hand, McGill doesn't charge anything. I've spent 60 bucks on uOttawa transcripts (last minute oh-whoops couriering not included), so I guess you get what you pay for.

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tea: Barbara Gordon/Oracle, pushing her hair back. (babshair)


[personal profile] tea
2011-01-13 05:47 pm UTC (link)
PS. Where did you end up applying to in the end? Just Toronto?

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:52 pm UTC (link)
York & McGill, actually. >.> Although your tales of woe are making me nervous!

I'm also applying at Dal as well (I know, I hate it here, but I wanted to apply to three places and Dal does have the appropriate stuff for my needs) but their deadline isn't until January 31st.

I only figured out what was in the envelopes because I ordered enough for Dal as well and our department secretary told me I didn't need to get them for Dal because they had all my transcripts on file and didn't need yet more copies (of course I'd already paid to have them couriered at that point) so I opened one of the envelopes for Dal. *sigh*

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tea: Barbara Gordon/Oracle, pushing her hair back. (babshair)


[personal profile] tea
2011-01-13 05:59 pm UTC (link)
Ah, right, I was remembering the prof *in* Toronto you'd talked about, not at Toronto. And I actually found McGill was better at supporting its students (at a first-year level, at any rate) with things like departmental advisors and whatnot, than Ottawa is.
I left mostly for personal reasons, but I think I would have enjoyed the university otherwise.

I can't imagine there are too many options for disability history in Canada, although I suppose that becomes true once you specialize enough in any field! The nice thing for me, now, is that I don't know exactly what I want to be doing, so I can apply most anywhere with a big enough physics department, but if I had picked a more narrow discipline I doubt I'd find more than three schools that would be right. (Unless it was one of the major, popular research areas.)

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staranise: A star anise floating in a cup of mint tea ([personal] Star anise)


[personal profile] staranise
2011-01-11 11:34 pm UTC (link)
I am so glad to hear that!

Would you be willing to name the evil bank, so I can make sure I never bank with them?

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:39 pm UTC (link)
The Royal. I've been banking with them for 24 years.

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st_aurafina: lotsa little rainbow hearts (hearts: lotsa hearts)


[personal profile] st_aurafina
2011-01-11 11:34 pm UTC (link)
Oh, yay, so glad that you've had some good news!

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:38 pm UTC (link)
Thank you so much! :D

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umadoshi: (Al and kitten (papermoon_icons))


[personal profile] umadoshi
2011-01-12 02:44 am UTC (link)
Many hugs and also YAY! *hugs*

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:38 pm UTC (link)
♥ I MAY BE MOVING TO TORONTO SOONER THAN YOU THINK! :D!

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umadoshi: (Middleman - Lacey and Wendy (meganbmoore)


[personal profile] umadoshi
2011-01-13 06:35 pm UTC (link)
How soon are we talking about here?

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 10:19 pm UTC (link)
Well, it takes six weeks to get an answer, so after that.

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umadoshi: (chibi Haru Kyo Rin (roostah))


[personal profile] umadoshi
2011-01-14 12:47 am UTC (link)
Sounds like you could very easily be moving there while I'm there! That would be so entertaining. ^_^

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ouyangdan: Anders with his game face about to get his V on for poor Ser Pounce-A-Lot (up to no good)


[personal profile] ouyangdan
2011-01-12 03:23 am UTC (link)
Yayes for good news!

xoxo

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:38 pm UTC (link)
!!! I'm so happy his voice is coming back, OYD. He has the sexiest voice ever, you know.

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jesse_the_k: Macro photo of my Blue Heeler Lucy's deep brown left eye (LUCY focused eyeball)


[personal profile] jesse_the_k
2011-01-12 03:35 am UTC (link)
Such good news! (I miss you too).

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:37 pm UTC (link)
♥ I wish I could apply to be your PA for FOGcon, woe.

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hypatia: (pink)


[personal profile] hypatia
2011-01-12 05:18 am UTC (link)
yay happy news! i've missed your postings as well. a giggle to share with you: my next disability studies project involves making some kind of art thing, and we have been exhorted by the prof to not write acrostic poetry.

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:37 pm UTC (link)
Acrostic Poetry is that bit where it spells a word going down, right?

I've missed you, too! I'm still really busy (I may not update properly again until I find out if my applications were accepted, which should be in six weeks), but it is all in a good cause. :D

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hypatia: (pink)


[personal profile] hypatia
2011-01-13 05:56 pm UTC (link)
*fingers crossed for applications!*

and yea, acrostic poetry is where the first letters spell a word going down.

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[personal profile] vito_excalibur
2011-01-12 07:35 am UTC (link)
Yay! I personally am uncomfortable mixing family and money (my brain always seems to go to a Fredo Corleone kind of place) but Lord knows I will and have cheerfully accepted "uncomfortableness" over "crippling debt to evil collection agencies".

Glad to hear good things are happening with you guys!

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:36 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! Yeah, I get really nervous about family & money too, but... *sigh*

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torachan: arale from dr slump dressed in a penguin suit and smiling (arale penguin)


[personal profile] torachan
2011-01-12 07:50 am UTC (link)
Yay! :D

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trouble: Sketch of Hermoine from Harry Potter with "Bookworms will rule the world (after we finish the background reading)" on it (Bookworms)


[personal profile] trouble
2011-01-13 05:35 pm UTC (link)
Things are going so much better, I'm so happy. :D

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