I was talking to my sister today about the people who happened to be in her life because of the job she works. She is a smart gal who was always the favorite of her teachers at school. She finished the school of dentistry, but decided that she didn't want to spend her life doing this job. So she found a job at a company which imports dental equipment mostly from Europe.  She is the only one in the company who can speak fluent English and with a common sense. The job she landed in made her deal with people who would not improve her in any way. She was the one who always elevated others to a certain level. Anyway, the conversation with her reminded me that how people around us influence our lives to a great extent. When I was in middle school or high school, people defined me as quiet and introverted. I was quiet alright, but it was because there wasn't many people around I enjoyed to talk to. I was definitely not an introverted person. I guess when you don't talk much, people put you in that category. I thought I didn't like talking much. Then I got into college. Finally I felt like I belonged to a place. I finally found the place that made me feel like I'm home. I found out that I'm not much of a quiet person at all. There were extremely smart people around me and being around them motivated and inspired me to improve myself even more. I was friends with people who were going to be the head of the country, CEOs of big companies, very successful musicians, writers, and scientists. I was in love with books, but I started reading even more. I liked music a lot, but I started learning more about music that increased the joy I get from music. I always liked reading about science, but I experienced how it is to be a part of it. I am so lucky to still have the people that I met in college in my life today. I wish I could tell the same thing for the people I met here. I'm extremely lucky to find the perfect guy to marry (even though he left me in Seattle), but the friends at school just don't match my real friends in any way. It is not a very nice thing to say, but I pity many of the people who surround me here. They are dull. 

Well, I shouldn't be to critical of them. Some of them are not as lazy as I am and I think they make more progress than I have been making at school. Well, I'm still ahead of them in the way in terms of my accomplishments. I think I need to keep the distance. Unfortunately, being academia is like being in a race. We always have to watch our backs to see if some one is approaching. That's been said, I think I should hit the bed with my book. I'm reading about how Obama won the election. It's exciting.

I don't know what goes wrong. I came home early today to work a little bit more efficiently than I would at school. However, I ended up recipe hunting, cooking, cleaning up, and watching TV. It's the pattern with me. I have tones of work to do. Here is the story. I'm an international PhD student who worked so hard to get here and do the things that I have opportunity to do now. I chose to come to Seattle, because my boyfriend (at the time) was a navy officer stationed out here. I started to work as a research assistant at the University of Washington. I liked my academic advisor so much. He convinced me to apply to UW for my PhD. I was a little bit hesitant, because I always wanted to go to the east coast for graduate school. After getting a signal from my boyfriend that he would stay here with me after he was done with the navy (he had two more years to go), I applied to UW and got in. I accepted their offer (obviously). Through the end of my first year at the school, my fiance (at the time) applied to graduate school on the east coast. He got into Harvard and decided to go there for three years leaving me here. Last summer we got married. Of course this long distance didn't work especially because I moved to Seattle for him. So, he's taking the next year off to come here to live with me in Seattle. After that, I'll take a year off and move to Cambridge and finish my degree there. Since I have such a limited time, I have to be more productive. Instead, I'm being the laziest person in the world. The things I have to do in the next year are very overwhelming, but with a strict schedule, I can manage it. I've also been upset about my productivity. Before I came to the US I was socially 'super active'. For example, I was singing in a choir and I was a director of an audio recording  of children's fairy-tale project in addition to organizing some concerts and other music related projects. My social life ended after I started to the graduate school. 

Anyway, I guess I need to be more determined and realize the importance of the time that's passing fast. Nudge nudge Serap!