Daily Newsie

I just tried to write my married name at the top of my homework paper to see what it felt like. This has been a hot issue in the months leading up to the wedding — I’m just not sure how I feel about abandoning the last name I’ve had for 26 years. I like it. It’s my name, and it’s how everyone knows me. I refuse to hyphenate, nor do I want to make my initials R.A.W. by using my maiden name as my middle name. Besides, I like my existing middle name, and four initials is just too much.

So what to do? I want to take The Fiance’s last name because I love him and I want us to share a name, but I have always liked my name the way it is (good job, Daddy). I think I may use my middle name and his last name in every situation except in school, because I would really like to be recognized as “DailyNewsie MaidenName MarriedName” at my graduation next year. The Fiance’ says people will know me regardless of the name I use, which is true, but it’s more a matter of letting go of the rest of my family, almost. As my father’s only daughter, I’ll be the only one in my family without our last name. How will people know I belong to them?

I have a bit more than five months to decide. Thoughts?

For those of you not “in the know,” The Fiance’ and I are mulling a transatlantic move possibly as soon as next year, when my master’s degree is safe in my grubby little hand. He has always wanted to live in London, and I can’t say I hate the idea of living in a rowhouse with windowboxes in some quaint village called Richmond-Upon-Thames with a British dog who barks with an accent and is named Sir Reginald Twaddingsley Featherbotham the Third. However, upon closer inspection of the websites of a handful of London universities (one of which has a residence hall named Batavia Mews, which I love), there is nary a PhD in communication in sight. In fact, there is hardly a PhD at all, unless you want to study something scientific and therefore horridly boring and difficult. I may be looking in the wrong place — thank heavens these pages are in English — so I’m not panicking yet, but there may be full-blown panic later if I can’t figure out a way to somehow continue my education. As frustrating as graduate school is, I’m not done learning and I have the feeling I won’t be for quite some time.

Speaking of graduate school, I’ve been eating a lot of junk food to make up for the fact that I got a bad grade on my family communication midterm. I was just starting to enjoy that class, too. OK, so the grade isn’t horrible, but it isn’t an A and it dragged the class average down and I’m just going to go out back and die. The receipt of that grade sufficiently knocked down my ego after I received a fabulous grade on my liveblogged literature review — from my favorite professor, no less! — and her unsolicited assurances that I did a bang-up job. Maybe I should have knocked out my midterm in eight hours rather than spending several nights poring over my textbooks — or maybe I should have liveblogged it. I bet you’re all upset you missed that one.

I do enjoy being a graduate student, if only for the fact that now I have a reason to stay in on Saturday night rather than pure laziness. Seriously — if I wasn’t studying, The Fiance’ and I would be sitting here back-to-back at our respective computers, him blowing up aliens or some such and me blogging or ordering around my Sims. As soon as the semester is over, I’m instituting a one-day-a-week ban on video games so we can actually go out and do something, like use the custom bowling balls we bought ourselves as a Christmas present and which are currently gathering dust in the living room because then the semester started. We’re moving sort-of downtown to a new apartment complex (two bedrooms, a dishwasher and a private balcony!) next weekend and I can’t wait to be able to walk to places like the grocery store, downtown, and the ice cream parlor.

Especially the ice cream parlor. You never know when a bad grade will pop up next.