Get smart, or die tryin'

My title heading is a reference to Fifty cent, btw.

I've been hit with a mix of cool and not so cool school news in the last month. I got wurrrd yesterday that I am the recipient of my department's scholarship. Fantastic news on a fantastic sunny day. In September, I dropped into Campus to have a meeting with my thesis supervisor who told me that our department nominated myself and another classmate of mine for the scholarship. Our GPA's were exactly the same, down to the point something something. The recommendation was to split the money between the both of us but they were waiting for wurrrd from the University to approve the split. The email I got yesterday said it will be me, myself and I. Don't know how they came to that conclusion but I'm counting my lucky stars. Or as Oprah says: "Luck happens when fate intersects opportunity." What the hell does Oprah know right? She don't need no scholarship...

This is good news considering shortly before this, I received notification that I was in fact, not chosen by Bell Canada for one of their 5 major scholarships. I read up on my competition who won: 2 comp. sci geeks, 2 mba types and 1 communications dudette. Bell was looking for doctoral and masters students whose research centered around the awesomeness of technology, the internet, cell phones, multimedia communication etc. My proposed area of research was like the anti-christ of all those things, given I suggest that the internet is a breeding ground for hate and cyberstalking for vulnerable youth. Bell did not think I was awesome. That's ok.

So I didn't get the Bell $12, 000 scholarship. Total longshot, I should've known. But it was nice to have some people in my corner who rooted me on. At least my department thinks I'm awesome and although I only got one fourth of the amount of the Bell scholarship, I think I feel more validated by my department.

I know everyone's heard me say it before, that I never thought I'd end up in grad school but I'll say it again--so there. I can't help but feel a little weird, surreal and happy about my decision to be back at school. I know a masters degree is like the "nouveau bachelors" and overall, a pretty over-saturated, overly hyped degree but you don't go to grad school to impress others. You do it to impress yer damn self. It's always a little gratifying telling certain naysayers I'm doing my masters, because the look of shock on their faces with the expression "you? Doing your masters...Never would've thought...." Is priceless. Or as chEEse once said to me: "I always thought you would end up selling cell phones or something..." Is a good one too. And so what if I did sell cell phones for a living, I'm sure I'd work hard and eventually make employee of the month at some point. LOL.

I met a man recently who told me "In anything that you do in life, be humble and do it with dignity." I'm going to try very hard to remember that everyday.