It Was A Mutual Flogging

I took the GRE yesterday . . . wow. If that's not some form of torture, I don't know what is. The maths kicked my butt, but I kicked the test in general, getting just 20 points from what I went in aiming for. It's exciting, I feel like I'm one step closer to grad school now. Johns Hopkins, UC Santa Cruz, Boston U and MIT will all have my scores in 2-3 weeks and my applications within two months. March and April will have me being a wreck.

I also got the official thumbs-up to carry on at the newspaper next semester from the Student Publications Committee. It was awfully nice of them considering I didn't even show up to their meeting (I was off in a fist-fight with the makers of the GRE at the time). Next semester should be great--let the tyranny continue.

Speaking of tyranny, I feel like lately I've been bitching a lot about the job. Things have been breaking down here within the past week or so. Story deadlines are hazy, design is confused or inefficient, advertising can't count and I'm about ready for us to stop publication before things get worse.

Next week I get to go home (first time of the semester!) for Thanksgiving. Then I get back and do the last week of the paper, then I have last classes, finals and a crapload of other things to take care of before the end of the semester. With the end of the semester I can pack Noel up and go home for a while. Julie will be back here in Texas sooner than I and she'll watch the boys (it will be weird being home and not having Topper there), and after Christmas I can head over to the Midwest for a bit. It will be a riot, I'm sure. I'm excited at the prospect of spending New Year's doing something besides going to bed early.

Yesterday after the exam I felt like my brain had dissolved and left this little black hole in my skull. I still feel like that a bit. Everything seems slightly blurred and it seems like I'm having an out-of-body experience. I tend to get like this after stress disappears . . . stress fills you up and can make you explode at the littlest things, but once it's gone, you're left feeling deflated and just exhausted. The fact I stayed up wasting several hours last night before getting schoolwork done probably didn't help.

Dr. Inman having her way with my spine also doesn't help. I feel like I'm walking crooked again and listing to one side. I'm starting to think Jason's been right all these years, I will end up crippled by the time I'm 30. But if it's from riding, I'll accept it. There are few other things I consider worth the risk. Maureen said last year that if she'd died in that moment walking off stage after her dance piece, everything would be fine; I feel the same way riding. There's a couple other things where I feel like that too, but riding is the only one that doesn't involve other people. Sometimes you've got to have something selfish.

Oasis still rocks. I blasted it in my car yesterday driving home from the test. Tonight I'm a rock n' roll star.