a brief update on the wonders of grad school:

classes are good. most are quite tiny, or at least feel that way. i am feeling all affirmed and shit about my ability to do formal modeling. so yay. one definite issue thus far: i have one seminar wherein grad students are outnumbered, and the discussion is...well, a little facile, shall we say. (choice quote: "i want to go to law school and be a prosecutor...don't these definitions of 'rape' seem a little lax?") but my comparative politics seminar looks like it's going to be particularly good.

for all of you swattie and ex-swattie readers: grad syllabi here include, on average, anywhere from 1/2 the reading of your typical swat seminar to about the same amount; seminars are only two hours long, however. it makes for some strange non-discussion, but i think most of us are learning the material better than we did as undergrads. (choice quote #2: "i've read this twice before and i never realized that was what she was saying!")

attended my first comparative politics workshop yesterday afternoon. it was an experience, to be sure. all or most of the comparative faculty, and all or most of the (self-identified) comparative students, critiquing two students' paper on african electoral politics. it was supposed to be just a statistical replication paper, but ended with a discussion around whether the authors were taking african politics seriously enough. very interesting stuff.

last but not least: we finished out of the money at trivia last night by ONE FREAKING POINT! aaaaaaarrrggh! it's ryan's fault for changing that one answer from snoop dogg to master p. never fear, for the wet dream team shall rise again.