>> I guess it's just that I've spent my entire life surrounded by people 
>> telling me how stupid I am, 
> 
> They're wrong. All my teachers thought I was crap too. I was just bored 
> for the most part, and uninterested.

Heh. I still remember my science teacher's words: "Andrew, if you don't 
buck your ideas up, you're going to fail." I walk into the room holding 
my B-grade - the highest possible grade for that particular paper, I 
might add - and he's all "well I always said you could do well". WTF? NO 
YOU DIDN'T!!

Still... that guy really did love himself. :-P

Of course, if it was just some dump-ass teacher, it wouldn't matter so 
much. The problem was that *everybody* told me I was stupid. Throughout 
my whole life. Hence my self-evident mental issues. x_o

>>> Know what? My wife has a PhD too. Know where I met her?
>> Heh. What do you have a PhD *in* though?
> 
> Both our PhDs were in computers.

OK, that's pretty crazy...

...wait, are you that guy who has a Chinese wife?

>> I rather doubt there are many females who have a PhD in anything 
>> remotely related to computing. 
> 
> In my university, it seemed pretty close to even, IIRC. At least in the 
> PhD program.

OK, that's just mental. At college, we had 14 guys, 0 girls. At uni we 
had [approximately] 75 guys and 5 girls [almost all married with children].

>> Like I say, I couldn't figure out the application process. Maybe 
>> because I don't have a clear idea of how this stuff is supposed to 
>> work...
> 
> Oh. You mean, you were blocked by HR? That's not unusual.

More like, I read the webpage telling you how to apply, and I just say 
there going "wuh?"

> I'm serious. Don't look at it as a destination. You want to get out of 
> where you are, so think of the PhD as a place to go, have fun, meet 
> people, and do exciting stuff.

Heh. My mum's first reaction was "and what are you going to do after 
that?" Not that my mum's opinion is especially important. I was just 
wondering how much she'd freak out. ;-)

> It doesn't matter if you finish or not, 
> any more than running a marathon is about whether you come in first.

I never understood this... The ENTIRE POINT of a marathon is to finish 
it! How is not finishing it still OK? Weird people...

> That's fair.  Part of the fun is living in a different country, mind. 
> (Not that I did, but ...)   I can completely understand if it isn't fun, 
> tho. Do take advantage of the fact that you speak one of the languages 
> that ran rampant all over the world not too long ago, so you can get by 
> language-wise pretty much anywhere. China was the only place I've been 
> that people generally didn't know enough English to get by.

Ah. Is *that* why every country in the EU speaks English, but the 
English can't speak any damned language except English? :-} I often 
wonder about that...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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