questions

There is no shortage of information that can be conveyed about my life. This is true even when including only the post cross-country move stage. In light of that fact I submit for perusal some of the questions people ask me. they are collected from those who I am meeting for the first time and those who I have failed to keep in contact with as well as I probably ought.

q: Where are you living now?
a: A lovely apartment in Cambridge, MA just minutes from the historic Harvard Square and within sight of the Charles River.

q: Where are you from?
a: California

q: California is a big state, where in California.
a: Southern California.

q: What city?
a: Laguna Hills.

q: Where is that?
a: Orange County.

q: Oh, like the OC?
a: Yeah, sorta.

Note: The where are you from line of questioning is obviously attributed to the people I meet and of course does not always follow this course exactly. I am just providing a middle of the road example. Sometimes it is far worse with the intimation that I lived in a house on the beach and drove an H2 or at they very least a BMW. Occasionally it goes better.

q: So why did you move here? (Usually asked with a tinge of skepticism and not the least attempt to hide their shock.)
a: To get out of my parents garage.

q: (strange look of confusion and something to the effect of this is kinda far to move to get away from the parents)
a: I will be attending grad school here in the fall.

Note: Depending on my mood, how much explaining I want to do, and present company I may reverse my answers to obvious differing response

a: Ahh, I see
q: Yes, after all there are quite a few great schools here.

q: What School?
a: Brandeis University to pursue a PhD in Condensed Matter Physics.

q: Here responses range from the reverent: That's impressive and just plain WOW to the more constructive what exactly does that entail and/or what do you hope to do with that?
a: 1)Basically it involves the physics of things that are not gases and is most often associated with superconductors, semiconductors, and more recently superfluids.
2)I would like to do research full time either in industry or in a basic science research capacity.

q: What are you doing in the meantime?
a: I am working at a heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration company in Wakefield as the dispatcher.

q: How is that going?
a: It's a job.

OK this has gone on long enough and I have laundry to do so:
To be continued...