Friday, October 10, 2008

Epiphany!

So I was thinking about Amelia Bedelia, as we all do from time to time. And then I realized!!! Amelia Bedelia falls on the autism spectrum! How could I have overlooked this?! She takes everything literally...figures of speech and metaphors are lost on her! Symptom of autism/aspergers!

Okay, this is a major pitfall of having a degree in Psychology (um, aside from unemployment and a lifetime of low pay, I mean. Don't get smart). You can't stop diagnosing. Fictional children's characters included. Realizing this ACTUALLY excited me. I really do belong in grad school, with the other nerds (but alas, grad school is reserved for those with trust funds. At least, the sole program that I got into was. Damn you, ivory tower!!!).

Remember the time Amelia Bedelia was supposed to trim the x-mas tree, so she cut the branches off instead of decorating it? And then she made a date cake by cutting up the calendar into the batter? Good times, Amelia. Good times.

6 comments:

Lucy said...

Oh, my gosh, I can only imagine you as a psychologist or psychatrist!
It's not easy getting a job right out of college, it's the 'got a degree but no experience syndrome', kinda sucks. My son is soon going to be there.
Here are his two degrees. Musical Theatre (whatever) and Political Science. Now, he has decided he is going to go to law school and he is off to Chicago this weekend for a Law School College Fair (whatever) he seems to think we grow the money on trees in our backyard, NOT.
We keep telling him, 4 years and he needs to figure out the rest, he laughs( he won't be laughing soon)

I hope you pursue grad school, it is worth in the end, tough, but worth it.

Just trust me on that one!

Sara said...

I'm totally with you on the diagnosing people (except I talk about polls and media framing, which isn't always fun at a party!)

Grad school is awesome (and hopefully I'll get accepted full time). But is certainly pricey. No tuition reimbursement through your company?

BigRed said...

@ sara: It's a long story, but the short of it is that I got accepted into a PhD program at a top school right out of undergrad, was told at the time that I would receive full funding (which is standard for PhD Psych programs), and then had the funding pulled out from under me and couldn't afford to go (we're talking 80-100 grand in debt, which is NOT worth it for a career in research). So now I'm unemployed and I blog.

@ lucy: I want to try again, but I'm a little jaded by the whole ordeal I went through this summer. I hope your son has better financial luck than me (although lawyers generally make enough money to make up for their law school debt).

Lucy said...

$80 to 100 grand, wow, I thought my grad school program was bad, but it was just for a masters in education, about 40,000, just to teach.

Now with the economy tanking things are looking dim but I always say, keep looking, maybe another program out there with some funding!

TLCastle said...

I am so sorry that your funding fell through. Of course, I paid for my Ph.D. with lots and lots of student loans as our funding did not cover living expenses and I had to eat. I hope you get back on track.

My undergrad degree is in Psych and I worked in community mental health for 4 years while in grad school. I hated it and knew I could never be a psychotherapist. I like the research part more.

We have a great program at our school but, alas, it is in VA.

BigRed said...

@WTA: Thank you. Of course, I was prepared for loans to cover living expenses, but not a steep tuition. The worst part was letting down my parents. Talk about the most painful phone call I've ever had to make.

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