Monday, April 16, 2007

Breathing easier

This weekend was terribly stressful, but things are starting to get ironed out now.
  • UVic initially refused my application(!), which worried me all week. But then I told them that must be a mistake, and they agreed that it must be, and would I please do my Master's there if they gave me $4000 on top of my SSHRC. The Master's program there will only take 12 months to do (it's course-based), so maybe I can look forward to doing my ARCT sooner than expected. But, I should really become semi-proficient in Anglo Saxon and Latin before September.

  • Work is getting crazy. Due to some political maneuvers and fatal errors, the ex-manager is now banished to the old store. This means I have been thrown into baristaing. It may also mean they will need me during the week rather than on weekends, which suits me just fine. But, for some reason I've been sliding steeply downward in all areas at work, and am no longer good at anything. It's very embarrassing.

  • Analysis exam is fast approaching.

  • I think I'm going deaf. Or maybe my hearing is too sensitive. One of the two.

    • Deafness: I can't hear what anybody says most of the time, which has caused me to pretty much be under order-taking-probation as of yesterday, which means I get severe flac(k) whenever I ring in drinks wrong. It would help immensely if people didn't have accents. I mean, if you ask me for "skeeeem meeelk," is it any wonder I give you steamed milk?

    • Sensitivity: I haven't been able to steam milk into proper microfoam consistency at all lately, because I can't tell when it "sounds" the right consistency. It's not the deafness, this time, it's quite the opposite. The owner keeps telling me that you can tell the milk is right when you hear the pitch change. Then, when he's demonstrating, he stops it at a certain point and says "there, did you hear the pitch change just then?" Actually, I hear the pitch changing the entire time. It doesn't just suddenly drop a pitch, it's a continual downward glissando from the moment you stop chirping. Like, beeeeeaaaaaaauuuuuuuoooooooooo-p, except much longer.
Anyway, all of this has sucked out any fun that was ever in work, and I'm afraid to do anything other than grill panini there. Although, I did make a London Fog for someone who said it was "the best London Fog [she'd] ever had."

I'm glad I got accepted to UVic, but that won't make September any easier.

2 comments:

Amy said...

Did you know that you can do your masters in anything you want, once you've finished an undergrad degree, as long as they accept your proposal and you're willing to do the work? As in, you could do a masters in classical studies if you wanted. And also that it's probably easier to get into something like classical studies because there's a lower enrollment in it for undergrad, plus they have fewer students applying to do a masters in it. The more you know!

I'm not deaf, I just have a hard time hearing over background noise. My brain misinterprets things, so I end up lip reading a lot in noisy places. And also saying pardon.

Perhaps you should let the guy know that you have perfect pitch and that you hear the continual pitch change. I would. It might help him understand that you're not stupid, just too enhanced.

Lapsura said...

Well, I don't have perfect pitch at all, but I have told him about the glissando thing. But I'm starting to get a better feel for it anyway.

I'm pretty sure I can't just do a Master's in anything... I applied to do English grad studies, the deadline for which was in February; it was the Department of English who had to decide whether to admit me to their program or not; plus the SSHRC is for English grad studies. UVic has a pretty great Classics department; I don't think it would be that easy to get into, not having a major in it.