A Crossroads

Dear Dad and Mom, I received your letter from March 16th. I also got your phone call the day before yesterday and was so relieved to 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 of my own chores now anyway. I’ve gotten really fast at cooking; I can whip something up in no time. Making rice is very easy—it takes about 20 minutes in the rice cooker, and then I just leave it on the "warm" setting. It keeps warm for up to two days, so I always have hot rice ready to go. If I have leftovers, I just pop them in the microwave for two minutes. Overall, it’s very convenient. 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 head out to a fast-food joint 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 burned everything, leaving the neighboring apartments completely choked with smoke. The person living in that 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 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 big rocks! There are also drunks who randomly pound on people's doors, which has a lot of tenants spooked and wanting to move. My current apartment is very safe. It's mostly professionals and students living here, and the entire complex has security gates that are locked at all times. The semester wraps up in mid-May, and after a short break, the summer term kicks off in late May. We have the option to register for summer classes or take the term off. However, if you want to work as a summer TA, the department requires you to take at least one class. Right now, it’s the time for deciding whether I want to pursue a Ph.D. If I decide to skip the Ph.D., get a Master’s degree, and head straight into the workforce, I need to start preparing immediately. The M.S. degree requires 36 credits, which translates to 12 courses, and 2 of those have to be taken outside our department. I’ve already completed 6 classes, so I have 6 left to go. If I go the Master's route, I’ll need to pick those outside electives, whereas the Ph.D. track doesn't seem to have that requirement. Finshing the M.S. in a year and a half is completely out of the question now; the earliest I could graduate would be next May. Taking summer classes doesn't impact my graduation timeline either way. My absolute best-case scenario would be finding a summer internship; otherwise, I’ll just have to register for a single summer class and keep TAing. While TAing brings in money, registering for the class means paying tuition and fees, and I'd miss out on gaining actual industry experience. I probably didn't think this through well enough before and wasn't aggressive enough with my summer job hunt, which is why I haven't heard anything back yet. I'm currently leaning toward just getting my Master’s and finding a job, but nothing is set in stone. The main issue is that I haven't found a research direction that actually interests me—most of the professors in the department focus on things that are far too theoretical for my taste. I need to think about this carefully, as it's a major decision that will impact my entire future. I still haven’t had chance to take more photos. For one, I haven't gone anywhere fun, and there’s also nobody around to snap a picture of me. It's nothing like when Dad went to England—he took so many photos it looked less like he was there for school and research, and more like a group vacation! I’ll catch up with you guys next time. Best wishes, Tong 04/13/96 P.S. I just received your letter from March 30th too!