Grad School Stats:
NYU: COMPLETE. Too bad I don’t really want to go there!
Columbia: Complete, although writing sample has to be mailed, because it can’t be submitted online like I thought; I have issues with bureaucratic nonsense, so…
UTexas: Basic app submitted, writing sample is done, SOP is done, but still being obsessed over. Have to be printed and mailed. This is my first choice school. I drool over the Professor line-up.
UWashington: Basic app submitted. SOP mostly done. Have to revise Feminist Political Thought paper. Can’t submit anything until I get my recs back from my professors because they are all like “Eh, we’re stupid West Coasters. We can’t deal with things unless it’s all in one envelope!!!”
UChicago: Let’s not discuss this.

The rest are due in February. I am getting mildly worried, because my professors have had my recommendation stuff since early October and none of them have submitted any of my letters. This is especially worrisome for UChicago, who also needs everything sent to them in one packet. I am trying not to think about it too much, because it will really, really stress me out. I’m also considering re-sending some of my GRE scores, because the schools I selected on test day don’t appear to have my analytical writing scores. I am also concerned, because all schools seem to be claiming my Skidmore transcripts are incomplete. Because they apparently cannot figure out that that I completed my degree requirements a semester early, and that date is DIFFERENT from my actual graduation date. Maybe it’s just the computer that can’t figure it out, and when the actual admissions committee sits down and looks at stuff they’ll make sense of it. And I do have a letter from the registrar stating that I finished all degree requirements early, but it’s now one more thing to worry about.

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I’ve been attempting to read Persuasion again, because I thought I owed Jane Austen one more chance. It’s going better than previous attempts, which means it’s taken me a week to get through 80 pages. I want to like Jane Austen; I just don’t. It seems I should, considering I adore Edith Wharton, although Wharton was a total Yankee and New Yorker and I feel her work reflects that. Next on the list of fiction-I-have-to-read is Middlemarch. I’m told I need to read it solely for the last paragraph. I love a good dramatic ending, but I’ve also heard that it’s a very tiresome book. We’ll see.

Depending on my motivation, Persuasion may remain unfinished, as I’m also reading Thomas Sowell’s Race and Culture. See, I also HATE Thomas Sowell. He’s a sociologist/anthropologist, (I’m sure there’s a condensed term for that, but I can’t think of it) which already spells trouble. (They think they have THE answer to everything, right Laura?) But he’s just…not smart…generally. His book Conflict of Visions can basically be summed up with “People from different cultures view the world differently and that is why there are conflicts!” I’m reading this, solely because the examples he uses are usually interesting. He doesn’t have any stunning insights, but he provides a plethora of examples to back up his paltry attempts at theory. Nothing he says is shocking, but the information is anecdotal, and thus interesting.
Can’t get through Jennifer Government, perhaps because I’m pretty sure The Evil Free Market will be defeated and Ms. Government will be triumphant. Yick.

I’ve also resulted to building temporary bookshelves out of crates, because I now I have maybe 1/3 of my book collection in my apartment. I could keep all my books in my apartment, because I have closet space, but somehow I don’t feel right about them being hidden away in boxes. I like them on display. I think I am an intellectual exhibitionist. Or something.

A relatively low-key weekend. Did not go see Bon Jovi cover band, but its Jersey so I’m sure they’ll be another in Hoboken sometime. Did some work on organizing my Russian history notes.

Friday night, I went out with the co-workers for a little while. Was home by eight, cooked dinner, and intended to go to sleep early. I was lying in bed reading when the fire alarms started going off. I check this out; the hallway is filled with smoke. There are clearly flames coming from the apartment down the hall. I grab my keys and shoes and get the hell out. It’s of course freezing out, and I’m in my pajamas. I went into the Duane Reede across the street until it closed and made phone calls, in case I needed a place to stay.

We eventually got back into the building, no damage to my apartment, just smells a little smoky. No one was hurt; the fire was the result of some idiot leaving a space heater on. And then I couldn’t get to sleep until around 3 AM.

Now, at work, and no one really wants to start anything new because of the upcoming holiday weekend. I cannot stand to edit my SOP anymore, so I’m wasting time, fretting, because I feel like I have a lot to do, both before Wednesday afternoon, and during the Holiday weekend itself. I am delusionally ambitious about how much I can get done, so I’m not even going to bother making a list.