go-to questions

I'm at that really awkward stage of packing where I'm not quite living out of boxes but I'm not living in a normal apartment either.

My tiny apartment has exploded-- half-packed boxes cover every available floor space of the kitchen/living room and drawers are pulled halfway open, serving as a constant reminder of how much I still have to pack. Of course, everyone around here keeps asking how the packing is going. It's the new go-to question. Of course, this makes me think back to various go-to questions for different stages of life. You know, the question that you get asked several to dozens of times a day. The question to which you might not have an answer, or maybe you have a five sentence spiel memorized since you have to spout off dozens of times a day. When the former is the case, it only drives home the underlying message: that you are stuck in place and need to move forward.

Let's take a walk down go-to question lane:

senior year, high school: So, where are you going to college?

senior year, college: What are you doing next year?

first year, grad school: What research group are you going to join?

fourth year, grad school: When are you going to start writing?

fourth and a half year, grad school: What are you doing next year?

first year, visiting ass.: How are classes going?

first year, visiting ass.: What are you doing next year? (from faculty)

first year, visiting ass.: You're leaving? What would you want to leave (from students)


Luckily for me, I do have a job for the fall, so those last questions have an answer. I can move on from this visiting ass. position.

I can already anticipate the go-to questions from my future colleagues: How does this place compare to TempCollege?

What go-to questions have you encountered?



scientiae-carnival