Another Time Waster

I discovered Pinterest this past weekend, and it has consumed me. For those who don't know, it's a place to keep all those great finds on the internet in one easily accessible place. It's fantastic for someone so disorganized as myself. I can "Pin" sites that I find interesting regarding recipes (that I'll probably never make but tell myself I will), crafts (I will most likely never start or finish), and clothes or hairstyles that I find interesting and cute (but will never buy or make my hair do that). Regardless, I love it.

The School Debate

When I entered grad school last year my brother told me that guys were not interested in girls with Masters. Since then we've had many discussions about this topic. He claims that guys, especially guys in Utah, are intimidated by a girl with too much education, and that said girls will languish in single-dom. I steadfastly refused to believe this, claiming that I wouldn't want a guy who was intimidated by my education anyway. And he'd counter saying that I wouldn't find it in Utah.

My friend Summer and I discussed this same topic the other day. She concurred with my brother, saying that level of education is way more important to girls than it is to guys. She argued that it interfered with their natural desire/need to be the provider, and having a girl that could possibly make more than them was emasculating. Once again I tried to object, stating that plenty of guys want girls who are educated and that a Masters degree shouldn't dissuade them from asking me out.

There's a guy I know that has never asked about my school or what I'm doing. He asks about everything else, and when I mention that I'm busy with classes or doing homework, there are never any follow up questions. Yesterday this started to bother me, mainly because I did not want to be proven wrong, especially by my brother.

So I opened up a discussion on Facebook, and there were some great points made, many of them coming from dudes themselves! A lot of them said it depended on the guy, and that a guy would be insecure in himself to not appreciate a girl's educational achievements. One very interesting point made by my friend Jodee (a dude)made this great statement: Intelligence matters, not just the level of education completed. There are more than a few very dull minded people in the world with high level degrees. And my friend Greg made a good point that he doesn't care about a girl's education, but how she treats people, what she knows about events in the world, does she respect Veterans and others who risk their lives. Ya know, her character.

In no way do I think that getting a Masters degree means I am more intelligent than people around me who haven't. I may be more knowledgeable on the subject of planning, but certainly not in other areas. I struggle putting together coherent thoughts and sentences, and I have a hard time synthesizing large amounts of information. For me, getting a Masters degree was more a necessity; I was changing career paths and my Bachelors wouldn't get me anywhere. I could, on the slimmest of chances, get a job in a planning related field, but to move up at all and be considered a real planner I would need a Masters anyway. At that time (and still now) I had no prospect of getting married and knew I would need to support myself.

I currently do not have the option to have kids and be a stay-at-home mom. Even if I were married, I might still not have the option. Because other girls aren't getting their Masters (or already have them) does not mean they are not intelligent. Education and learning is life-long, and does not need to be in a classroom. It comes from reading and discussing, living and discovering, trying and overcoming. I think guys in general are attracted to that.

But on the point of guys being "intimidated" by a girl with a Masters degree, I still believe that any guy I would want to even consider marrying would have to think it was pretty cool. Are some guys intimidated by it, most definitely. Do I think the reason I am not married is because I'm pursuing a Masters, most definitely not. We just haven't found each other yet.

Planners vs. Engineers

This semester I am taking a class in Civil Engineering to get a different viewpoint of transportation planning and posit myself as a more viable hire when I graduate. Planners like to talk a lot, but it's the engineers that actually make stuff. My transportation class last semester was a lot of history of transportation in the United States, the various bodies that work on transportation planning, and lots of ideas about how better transportation options can improve quality of life and the environment. I loved it and learned a lot.

My engineering class is a complete 180 change. There were no introductions on the first day where you state your major and something interesting about yourself. The teacher just jumped right into it. We don't talk about people, but figure things out through numbers and formulas. Everyone has a PC instead of a Mac. I hope I come to love it and learn a lot.

My Baby

School is my baby. Most girls my age are posting about their kids and all the cools things they are doing. Since I don't have any babies or kids, you, dear reader, get a lot of posts about the most important thing in my life right now: school. I can already tell the Spring semesters will kinda suck, just with the way classes fall and such. I'm already way stressed out. I'm already super tired. I already wish I was done.

Moms must feel this way,too, right?? And there IS an endpoint, when the kid starts sleeping through the night, or they can feed themselves, or they go off to kindergarten. Just like that, there IS an endpoint with school as well.

It's just the whole getting there.

Midnight in Paris

Is there anything more lovely than walking in a city in the rain? This film was delightful. It's playing at the dollar theater in Sugarhouse. Check it out. Even if you're not a Woody Allen fan (I've only seen two of his films before this and only liked one of them).

New Year, New Bachelor

It's the start of a new year, which means, of course, the return of The Bachelor. I've chronicled my (shameful, guilty pleasure) watching of this show a couple times. But the girls on the show never cease to amaze me. I sometimes feel like I need to apologize for my gender after watching it. Although, The Bachelorette has proven that men can be just as crazy and catty. I find that comforting.

This will not be a rant like my previous post, mainly because the current Bachelor doesn't have all the baggage that Womack had. In fact, girls (and their grandmas) love him. He's apparently "sensitive" and "sincere". Maybe it's because he's a winemaker. Whatever the reason, many of these girls are "in love" with him, or, as one girl said, with the idea of falling in love. I'm currently rooting for the PhD student in epidemiology, mainly because she has an actual career path as opposed to blogger, cocktail waitress, and dental consultant.

So here's to a couple months of rose ceremonies, helicopter rides, girls crying and being catty, and general craziness on this journey of love.