Dear Dad and Mom,
I received your letter dated March 16, and I was so relieved to get your phone call the day before yesterday and hear that Mom's wrist is much better now.
Honestly, it's probably a good thing to let Dad handle some of the housework for a change—I do all my own chores these days anyway. I've gotten pretty fast at cooking, and now I can whip something up in no time. Making rice is especially easy. It takes about twenty minutes in the electric rice cooker, and then I just leave it on the "warm" setting. It stays warm for up to two days, so I always have hot rice ready to eat. If I have leftovers, I just pop them into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Overall, it's all very convenient.
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Day to day, I mostly eat pork and vegetables like spinach, celery, and broccoli. I always make sure to get some greens in, though my roommate Dave absolutely never eats vegetables. Whenever I get sick of my own cooking, I'll go out to a fast-food place for some pizza or a burger just to switch things up.
Ever since I moved out of my old apartment complex, the Brownstone, things there have gone downhill, and a lot of the Chinese students living there are planning to move out. First, a fire broke out in one of the units and completely destroyed it, leaving the neighboring units filled with smoke. The resident of the unit actually had to jump from the second floor to escape the flames. The Brownstone is on the cheaper side, so the tenant mix is a bit sketchy, and sometimes it definitely gives off an unsafe vibe. Some people have had their car windows smashed and their CDs stolen. In fact, someone even stole all four wheels off my former roommate's car, leaving the chassis propped up on large rocks! There are also drunks who randomly pound on people's doors, which has a lot of tenants spooked and wanting to move. By comparison, my current apartment feels very safe. It's mostly professionals and students living here, and the entire complex has security gates that remain locked at all times.
The semester ends in mid-May, and after a short break, the summer term begins in late May. Around this time, I need to decide whether I want to continue pursuing a Ph.D. If I decide not to continue and settle for a master's degree instead, I'll have to start making plans right away.
At this moment, I'm leaning toward just getting my master's degree and finding a job, although nothing has been decided yet. The biggest reason is that I haven't found a research area that truly interests me. Most of the professors in the department work on topics that are simply too theoretical for my taste. The master's program requires thirty-six credit hours, or twelve courses, two of which must be taken outside the department. I've already completed six courses, so I have six more to go. At this point, the earliest I could graduate would be next May, and taking summer classes wouldn't change that.
In the best-case scenario, I'd find a summer internship. Otherwise, I'll probably just have to register for one class and continue working as a TA. Although working as a TA would provide some income, taking a class would also mean paying tuition and fees while missing out on the opportunity to gain real-world work experience. Looking back, I probably didn't plan ahead well enough, and I wasn't aggressive enough in looking for summer jobs, which is why I haven't had any luck so far.
This is a major decision, and I want to think it through very carefully because it could shape the rest of my life.
Wishing you the best,
Tong
04/13/96