Where Fun Comes To Die

Grad School is a means to an end. It is purely about obtaining a degree. This degree is simply a work permit which hopefully enables a person to get into a higher paying career which carries a greater workload. Said career should also carry more stress and responsibility. Career may be or may not be more stable than current career. I am just about sick of it right now so I'm writing a blog post about some things that annoy me. Just some things about grad school from my experience.
1. It is boring. Very boring. The boredom of the work you will be doing cannot be understated.
2. Unless you come from very privileged circumstances you will be broke. I mean broke too. Being bored and broke both suck.
3. Everyone is competitive. Just competitive for the sake of being competitive. There is no rhyme nor reason to this phenomenon nor is there any reward for succeeding in one of these competitions.
4. Competition occurs in many forums. Grades are an obvious point of contention. Another forum is where you went to undergrad or other jobs/careers you have held in the past which were somehow "better" and more distinguished than what you are doing now. The prior career phenomenon is widespread. Making sure that all of the people in your program understand that you are an expert in managing multiple responsibilities is another place for competition.
5. The only acceptable responses to the question "how are you?" is "busy," "crazy-busy," "ugh," "tired," or some other similar response. Even if you manage your time well and perhaps are not that "busy" you cannot let on. This is a rule which cannot be broken as your peers will then resent you and seek to sabotage. Your outward facade of self-sacrifice should not be taken to the extreme of dressing in sackcloth and ashes waiting for the library to open on Sunday morning. No, you must be more suave with this one to make sure that all understand how much you have sacrificed to be part of the program. A caution about this, always let others feel as if they have sacrificed much more than you. Everyone's own personal case is more onerous than your own. See #4.
6. Social life takes a hit. Its not just the time, time can be managed, its the stress of always having something due. Believe me, there is always something due. I've found I've been by myself a lot since starting this. Starts to get old after a while.
7. Grad School is where fun comes to die.
8. One must be extra humble at all times. This gets old quick but transgressions of this can be very unpleasant and not worth it.
9. I am one class short of being full time which means that I cannot race collegiate.
10. Get used to hearing how to do things better. Lots of fault finding sessions about our current institutions.
11. Grad school is joyless. Joyless.
12. Getting criticized gets old. So does the term feedback. WTF: criticism is criticism.
I'm about done now. There will be more on this topic next Sunday when I cannot write any more stuff for school.