the first week of class is over and I am still alive. survived the first floor meeting, which involved me getting up to talk about floor council in front of a giant group of strangers, turning bright red and sounding, of course, like a bumbling idiot. had a fantabulous time at the chinese lantern festival (i.e. massive picture-taking fest). spent $426 on textbooks for this semester alone. played with the baby rats whose brain reward responses and startle reflexes we'll be measuring later this semester with the help of amphetamine, atropine and scopolamine. the late-night quality textbook times have already begun. I have a paper due tuesday and seven journal articles to read, all filled with delightfully long and complex names of brain parts.


but what I'm looking forward to more than anything this week is when I get to start asking profs for references. it's going to be awesome. really awesome. so awesome, in fact, that I don't believe I have ever had such an awesome experience. if I were given the choice between getting braces put on every day for the next year and asking my prof for a reference, I'd be trekking it to the orthodontist without a second thought. I would prefer to consume an entire plate of beans without complaint. I would even rather spend 24 hours on a rocking boat. I just know I'm going to sit there shaking throughout the two hour lecture, then go up to him, draw a total blank, forget my mother tongue and take off at top speed in the opposite direction. and what if, assuming I manage to spit out some jumble of words bearing enough resembance to english to be adequately recognizable, he says no? what would I do then?


life would be so much easier if I were a hermit.