cout << "Hello World!";

So I have become a citizen of the blogging world, partly out of sheer procrastination. Those 16 lab reports are still waiting to be graded for tomorrow morning, and several homework assignments are calling my name from inside my booksack, all to no avail. I blame Comma Splice for planting this idea in my head.

This blog will be episodes from my life, the life of a female graduate student in physics. Sometimes my venting space, in lieu of punching my pillow and screaming (which my apartment neighbors probably would not appreciate), sometimes a sounding board, sometimes simple procrastination or boredom, or the place for me to shout about how wonderful life is. And of course there is always a high chance of mental whiplash.

Life has been a whirlwind lately. I returned from a couple months in Europe working on research to another research offer on the same project but with a different professor. I have been deliberating since then, weighing the pros, cons, and feasibility of each option for several weeks. Late last week I reached a decision, after the prayers and advice of many friends, family, and the graduate advisor. I kept it tentative until I could sleep on it and pray about it for a few days, to make sure I wasn't suffering from temporary insanity. However my decision has only grown more firm in the last four days. I will be switching to the new professor. And one of the bonus features of this will be no teaching labs for the spring semester!

Well, I suppose I can no longer ignore the stack of lab reports waiting to be bathed in red ink. At least not if I want to get any sleep tonight. And I ALWAYS want to get sleep...