5 minutes

I only have about 5 minutes before I have to head to the gym to play racquetball with Mike. So, somewhat out of curiousity and somewhat because I don't post enough, I'm going to see what I can do here in five minutes. I've just set the timer. GO!

First and foremost, congrats to Amanda who, yesterday, heard from her first PhD program. She applied to ten programs which cost her about a grand and my favorite line from yesterday was, "That thousand dollars was so totally worth this feeling." How true.

I remember that--waiting for a letter. I remember fearing the mailbox. And this was for my Master's program which is now a handful of years ago. I've got a bit of that going on now as I wait to hear about the dissertation fellowship. I fear the mailbox but am disappointed when there's no letter. Last year I got the rejection letter sometime next week. I'm not sure that'll be the same this year (time, I mean. Hopefully this year it's an acceptance letter, or whatever the proper fellowship terminology is), but I'm working off of the assumption that it is. If I have to fear my mailbox until April, I might get a bit grumpy.

Also, I'm a right idiot. Both my ears are mildly frostbitten. Yep. Good call Ab. You're from Northern Wisconsin and you didn't wear a hat when it was 10 below? Nicely done. Serves me right. Normally I'm not particularly vain. But the hat makes my hair look atrocious and I had to teach that afternoon. I figured it was worth cold ears not to hear "my hair looks stupid, my hair looks stupid" in my head while I tried to talk a bit about embodied rhetoric. But I was wrong. I should have gone with stupid hair. Cuz my ears HURT.

I have one more major story to tell but I clearly don't have time. I'll tell you this instead: tomorrow night two friends are taking me out for sushi. Here's the plan: they're ordering what they love and I have to try some of it. Sushi scares me. I always get the cooked version. But Amanda is ordering eel. She loves it. I am afraid. But happy about it. It was my idea. I will never try eel on my own. Nicola's is more tame as she's off fish: I think she's getting yams, which I don't tend to love, but will try. I'm also ordering something Ab-style, i.e. cooked. But it should be fun.

There's the bell. Not bad for five minutes. Off to throw myself around a very small room in search of a little ball.