Month: December 2009

Spring 2010

Nagoya Castle
Nagoya Castle

Wednesday morning, I returned home from my trip to Nagoya to find a letter from the folks at the TA program, which informed me that I was not accepted for the coming year’s group of TAs. (They were very friendly about it, explaining how the constraints of a limited budget meant they had less to work with, etc, rather than just saying “suck it, loser.”) The good news: that means I’ll graduate in the Spring! (Provided, of course, I bust ass and get my thesis finished!)

The trip to Japan was simply wonderful. I’m still fantasizing about going over there to live. All of the food was delicious, and the people I was with went out of their way to make sure I had a nice 29th birthday. In less than a week I’ll head back to Central Illinois for about a week and a half… which at the moment seems like much more time than I’d like to spend there. Maybe I’ll hole up at my mom’s house and work on my thesis the whole time 😉

On the Move

I saw kids on the corner last Saturday night, wearing bags on their heads.
I saw kids on the corner last Saturday night, wearing bags on their heads.

Tomorrow morning I’m hopping on a plane for Nagoya, just shy of three years after getting engaged in Tokyo, and just over a week after breaking off that engagement near LAX. While I’m in Japan, I’ll enter my thirtieth year here on Earth, my final year of trustworthiness. I guess my hopes of making my first $10 million before 30 are shot. :-/

I had the pleasure of reading some of my work for the Graduate Reading Series at CSUN last weekend, and I think it went pretty well. I could barely resist pointing out to the audience that the piece I read is a work-in-progress, and that there’s probably going to be a lot more to it at some point. I refrained, however, from trying to apologize for myself. I’m still waiting to hear about the TA program, at which point I’ll know whether I’m finishing CSUN this spring or the next.

Finally, I’ll be flying back to Illinois on Christmas Eve to visit with friends and family, and to collect all the countless books I left in Urbana three years ago. I’m even planning to get my own place so I have somewhere to store them. But then, maybe if some gets me some Nook-e for Xmas, I won’t need as much room? Come on, Santa. I’ve been good.