mindlessly browsing the internet, i decided to check out swat's home page. and there, in the upper right hand corner, is a picture of leah deni, who graduated all the way back in 2001. but that smile is a classic. (who is leah? well...if any individual can be said to have founded higher ground, leah is that person. and so, unintentionally, she became an important figure in my history.) she was really old and awe-inspiring back then, and i had a particularly intense friend-crush on her. and now, in at least the sense of smiling really broadly in your cap and gown, i'm about to *be* her!

...well, "about to" is rather strong language. it's two weeks from this morning. or rather, since it's technically monday now, two weeks from yesterday morning. but for others i know it was today. or it will be a week from today. everybody's doing it.

also, as you may have guessed from the lack of panic in my prose, i finished the writtens. and while stat was painful, the exam itself was nowhere near as painful as the three days leading up to the exam. it is my hope that these three days will be lost entirely to history; certainly i hope never to experience anything like them again, and i think i'd rather not remember them too clearly, either. in any case, those -- the last big hurdle -- are finished; my laundry is finally done and the surging tides of clothing that had threatened to engulf my entire room have been vanquished to the drawers and closets; i even swept the floor. now all that remains is job-hunting and orals thursday and friday.

[and yes, i *have* been reading the news, very faithfully in fact. but right now i don't have anything intelligent to add. if i were either less or more intelligent, i might have something to say -- if less, perhaps the easy shot: some opposition i-told-you-so relating to the length and difficulty of occupation -- if more, maybe some actual analysis about the prospects for peace. at the moment all i can muster is a daily repetition of holy-shit-what-are-we-doing.]