Can I grow an ulcer in four days? I think I'm up for the challenge.
One of my professors has been trying to arrange an internship for me in Prestigious Internship Program (PIP) at a government agency where he has many connections. My school requires that we complete an engineering internship in order to receive our engineering degree. The internship I'd get through PIP is the best in the offing. Already one of the slots my professor arranged for me has been cut because of a lack of funding (or the researcher took one look at my application, decided I was too much of a whack job—despite the fabulous grades and light emitting references—to work with, and told a little white lie about his funding situation to my professor). Yes, I'm a little insecure.
Today I received this email from him:
This was the whole entire email. Even if he tried, he couldn't have written anything more perfectly calculated to get me munching on Rolaids and engaging in paranoid fits of textual analysis.
What does he mean? Is this good news or bad? Am I in at PIP, or do I need to start applying at Cigarette Company That Uses Cartoon Characters to Sell Carcinogens to Children? (On the bright side, Cigarette Company pays its interns double what anyone else does, including PIP, in order to help them overlook any sticky ethical concerns. I could use the money…)
If I don't stop thinking about this, my stomach is going to climb up my throat and beat me senseless in sheer self-preservation.
269 words | March 18, 2004 08:14 PM | Ivory tower