Sharkbait's Local Spot

I'm in week 2 of the Linguistic Institute at UC Berkeley. This has been inspiring, intimidating, and ultimately, nerd heaven. Linguists don't shut up. Competition is high. Everybody is doing amazing research.

I've had some serious highs and lows. I've learned tons. I should probably be reading right now, but I can't do this 100% of the time. Even this, right now, is linguistics-related. At least I'm thinking of it that way. I can't help myself.

I'm living at my friend's house in Berkeley during the week. It's very weird to be back at Cal. It's like I get a big, fat do-over of my undergrad experience. Oh the things I would have done differently.

I made a friend who is a PhD candidate over at Stanford. She's amazing. And she just turned 23 last weekend. That was 8 years ago for me. I didn't even know what linguistics was back then. Unbelievable.

The competition around here is ridiculous. Not unlike surfing, where people start with "Where do you go?" and "What kind of board do you ride?" the general M.O. is "Where do you study?" and "What have you done?" I feel below the radar on this one, and therefore unaffected by it. Sadly, SF State doesn't have the cachet of these other places...it's almost like linguistics has a caste system, and I'm so low that I'm not even in it. The only narrative option here is a 'rags to riches' one. I fully embrace it. I'm fully determined to make the most out of my experiences, regardless of whatever happens with my school (outlook not so good). We'll see. I'm making connections and pitching my research ideas. It's unbelievable how accessible everybody is! These are heavies in the field. These are my celebrities. And I can just walk right into their backstage dressing room and have myself a little chat.

Speaking of celebrity worship, I need to go finish reading the book "You know my steez: An ethnographic and sociolinguistic study of styleshifting in a black American speech community"...the author is coming to visit and lecture on Thursday!

So many other things to say...must stop now...can't. stop. gah!