If there was an academic horoscope, mine would read: Today is an auspicious day for research.

So many good things are happening for my research projects today! 

I can finally complete and finalize my research poster for ABCT this weekend. I found a way to get it printed for free thanks to my super awesome boyfriend, and SHE EMAILED ME BACK! 

I have the hugest research crush on Dr. Nolen-Hoeksema, who does research on rumination and other cognitive processes and their relationship to depression. I have a binder on my bookshelf dedicated to articles with her name on it. So lo and behold, while preparing the materials for my honours project (on rumination, of course), I had the opportunity to email her for rumination inductions! I waited for a week and she still hasn't replied, so I decided to email her again to follow up and within an hour her name popped up in my email! I'm so excited for so many different reasons:

1. She emailed me back so quickly. 

2. I just need to put in the rumination instructions into Remark and my study materials are practically complete.

3. Applying for ethics is just right around the corner.

That will be two major milestones for my academic career! Definitely an auspicious day for research =)

Poster Submission and Conferences

I'm really excited because I'm submitting a poster for the ABCT Convention this year (as mentioned in previous post). I'm going through the whole submission process right now and life feels so unreal. I don't feel like just a student doing the same thing everyday. It feels like my dream of becoming a psychologist from 11 years ago is finally falling into place. My goals feel like they are within grasp. It's all happening. It's really happening. My heart is pounding. I can't believe it!

I've also just heard of the ISSS (International Society for the Study of Self-Injury) conference in June recently. It's another area that piques my interest so I'm starting to look at the possibility of heading down to New York for this one. I'm also looking for other potential conferences that might be of interest.That being said... I need more money so I can actually go and attend these conferences.

Research, ABCT Poster, and treasure hunts.

Update

So I know I haven't blogged for a while, but I've been busy... REAL busy! I'm taking 3 courses this semester to give myself a breather but it's actually been a lot busier compared to my usual 5 course semesters. So just an update, I'm in Couples Research and Therapy (I actually don't NEED it... but it looked interesting and I wanted a 3rd course), Applied Gerontology, and Health and Illness in Later Life. It's been a pretty good semester so far. All work, no exams to that makes me happy.

Research

I've been working on several research projects lately, which is really exciting. One is for my Applied Gerontology class where we are looking at predictors of vaccination status and other potential mediators that might fit in there. I'm still working on the meta-analysis project on suppression for the lab and also our treatment study is starting up at the end of March! I'm really excited! I get to code videos of treatment sessions! 

ABCT Poster

After attendng ABCT last year, which was probably the most exciting thing event I have ever attended (Yes, 10x better than cheerleading competitions), I started really thinking about contributing to research. So now I'm working on a poster to present at next year's conference. My topic is rumination as a mediator in the relationship between the socialization of emotion and depression. Originally, it was supposed to be rejection sensitivity and social avoidance but the measure for rejection sensitivity was really bad and things got too exciting when I was analyzing the data in the lab today so I could only choose one part of what I found to present. 

Treasure Hunt

Analyzing data in the lab today made me realize that research is like a treasure hunt. You're not going to hit jackpot everyday, and that can get frustrating, but you have to celebrate little successes along the way. A tiny piece of gold, is still gold. When you start making constant findings, you're suddenly obsessed and you need to find that next piece. You'll probably find something small, then something bigger, and bigger and bigger. Then you put everything you found together and there it is: your treasure. Raw data is your map and syntax is your compass. To Keyne several years down the road in grad school: when you're feeling hopeless and tired in graduate school and reading this blog to procrastinate. Remember this feeling today. Remember to celebrate those little pieces of gold. Remember, it's worth it!

APA Style.

I recently confirmed that I really hate doing group projects. I'm in Applied Gerontology this semester, and this requires us to do conduct a study on our own. I'm in a group with a social loafer, an older woman, and a nervous wreckball of a "team leader."

I was recently accused by this "team leader" of PLAGIARIZING and not knowing how to cite properly using APA Style. If I could have sent her a slap via email, I would have. Those who are in psychology know that EVERYTHING we do have to be in APA (speaking of which, did you know that new APA guidelines call for two spaces after each period?). She had "edited" my portion of our lit review for our research proposal and added citations where "she thought was needed." I had already cited my sources, and the paragraphs were basically summaries of the study and how I interpreted the graphs and data. She later changed the back to back citations of the same article to Ibid. to "eliminate some of the noise" in our lit. review. When I rebutted and showed her proof that you can indeed paraphrase and summarize things without citing every sentence (as long as the author has been credited) she told me "she stands corrected" and fears that if she didn't "fix" my citations we would fail our project on the grounds of plagiarism. She then emailed our group and commented on how "some of the members in our group" are "inadequate" in their ability to write in APA style leaving her to do all the work. The worst part is the rest of my group just follows her like blind sheep. This is a woman that also freaked out over the order of the prof's powerpoint slides.

I really hate group projects. I really hate being told I can't write in APA style even though it's all I wrote in for the last 4 years. I hate sheeple. Oh, and I hate being the youngest person in a class of people who all have a degree already. Nobody listens to me, and nobody takes my suggestions seriously.

I need more days off.

I don't think my family understand the amount of work I have on my plate. I hate how my mom expects everyone to work around her schedule and how she's not in the very least accommodating or understanding of other people's situations. My dad just thinks that I'm lazy and that I don't care about the family.

This is really frustrating. Neither of them have been in university, so they don't understand the work that comes with a degree. They don't get that I'm working hard to get into honours or to boost up my CGPA to get into grad school. All they know is: I'm never home for dinner, washing dishes is my last priority, and I do nothing but "my own stuff." I don't think they realize how hard it is to get into grad school and that this is what I need to focus all my energy on. I do what I can around the house already. I clean when there are people coming over, I clean my own room, I wash the dishes, I do the laundry and when I have time I try to help out wherever I can. Then my dad comes into my room and starts a screaming match with me because I haven't done the dishes tonight yet and so that means I don't do shit around the house because I simply don't care.

My mom also recently got me a gig of typing up transcripts for the dermatologist she works for. I'm sorry but this gig is probably the second last thing on my mind right now. The last being the dishes. All my parents do is scream at me for not caring about their shit but do they care about mine? I really wonder. I really just want to move out  so I can focus on my work and actually use my spare time to do something for myself. I just wanted a breather after dinner and my mom started bitching at me for watching tv, then I come into my room to check my email and my dad comes in and bitches at me for not doing anything.

I used to think that once I'm successful in my career that I'd take care of the two of them and get them a house near my own... now I'm not so sure. Why should I take care of people who don't even think I care about them? Why should I care for stupid selfish people who think that everything they know is right? Why should I give a shit about two people that never even really gave a shit about me.