I'm so so old.

I'm spending a lot of time with undergrads and it's making me feel old and used up. They're all chipper and fresh-faced. I have to work really hard not to point out to them how old they were when I was going to shows or to advise them harshly about their under-achieving boyfriends. I also try not to ask them if we're still wearing Sperry's or if it's still okay to wear boot-cut pants. I have the same student ID photo that I had when I started my PhD and, I swear to you, I don't even look like the same person. I looked like a freaking gelfling and if you know how that movie progresses, you can only imagine who I've cast in the role of the Skeksis. I guess it's really just time but I feel that the life has been sucked out of me. You know what other movie it reminds me of? The Princess Bride. The part where Westley is being tortured by Count Rugen on that machine that takes years away from his life. That or Rip van Winkel. Like I suddenly woke up as an old person. I guess that I'm only 31 and that's not really old but it's definitely adult status. And these other people are 10 years younger. I started my PhD seven years ago, people. The undergrad in my lab is on the Georgia Tech dance team. So, I say to her, "My freshman roommate was a Georgia Tech cheerleader." The undergrad says, "Really? What's her name?" I blink at her and say, "That was in 1995." She got a horrified expression and big eyes and said, "Oooooh....right..." The only things that can cheer me up are the following comics:


nataliedee.com


nataliedee.com

Have you missed me?...hello?...hello-o?

Okay, so, the chances that anyone is reading my blog or cares that I'm not keeping up with it...not good. I mean, I could just be emailing it straight to Emily (thanks, buddy). But, it's not really polite to send people emails where you just go on and on about some stupid life phenomenon, so, here's my next installment:

I'll start by putting up some comics that made me laugh all afternoon the day that I read them. It was actually sort of an embarassing situation, wherein I was washing dishes in the lab or walking down the hall or whatever, in front of people, when I would just burst out laughing in memory of these comics:


nataliedee.com


nataliedee.com


nataliedee.com

What's funny about these comics is that you scroll scroll scroll, just sort of mildly smiling, when suddenly you get to one that makes you fall out of your chair, it's so funny. And why? What makes it so funny? You show it to an officemate and they sort of smile, chuckle, can't figure out why you're having trouble breathing. What's worse, you burst out laughing while washing dishes so your lab mates want to see what's so funny. You waste everyone's time, logging into the lab computer, opening up Firefox, trying to find the right day ("Hold it, oh, yeah, that one's funny...it must have been in February...look at this one with the bear..."), and then, tah-dah, you find it, burst out laughing again, and the labmates are just standing there. The polite ones pretend to laugh. So, then you attempt to explain, "Look at it, it's squishing her eye...[interrupted by laughing/blowing snot]" Now, at this point, they're laughing, but it's not because of the comic.