It has been nearly five months since I moved from Upper Michigan to the East Coast. I would be lying if I said I liked this move and that I have been enjoying my stay here in general. I would also be lying if I said I haven’t met cool/kind/friendlier people in this part of the universe. Such people and entertaining days have been very few and very far between. As much as I have previously found it easier to move on (from one place to another and/or one topic to another and/or so on…), this particular move has been painstakingly difficult to move away from.

This past week, a bunch of Physics Grad Students from Michigan Tech were traveling along the East Coast. Considering that this was the first such organized vacational activity that Physics Grad Students were undertaking since I joined the program in 2002, I was pretty excited to meet them and hang out. I had a pretty good time with them, although I may have smelt some feelings of my over-presence in their vacation - then again, the (bad) smell might have been solely due to my sweaty-self on a scorching hot day Roaming around the streets of New York City on back-to-back nights and at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the nation’s capital was a lot of fun. And I must confess to the vacationers for two of my screw ups - once for poor navigation skills (or poor GPS usage skills) that made them walk a lot more in NYC especially when they were very hungry & tired; once in DC when my tire had a vertical cut between treads making it nearly impossible to drive resulting in most of them not seeing the Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens. My sincere apologies.

As much fun it was to see them, hang out, catch up on a lot of things and clear some of their misconceptions about me (can you imagine - some of them had assumed I was mature, grown-up and well-behaved person, just because I graduated?), it was equally painful when we all parted ways in Washington, DC - knowing that they were returning to a more happier place while I did so to a not so happier one, was a hard pill to swallow

Knowing that every dog has its day, I am eagerly (read: desperately) hoping and waiting for mine!