It's good to finally know what you want.

Some of you who've known me for awhile (and many of you who haven't) will know me as the girl with one foot out the door. It seems I can be happy doing almost anything--a great virtue, I'm told--but my attention span for any particular activity is quite short. This probably explains how, since I graduated college in June 2004, a mere three years ago, I have accomplished (or half-accomplished) the following:

* employed as an academic adviser by the UD honors program (six months)
* employed as a waitress at TGIF (eighteen months--and it kills me that this will be the longest entry)
* drove across the country and back
* spent a summer learning Russian (in Moscow)
* spent a summer backpacking in South America
* moved three times
* earned an associate's degree in photography
* completed half of an M.A. in journalism (one year)
* applied for and accepted a doctoral program in English

Yes that's right, folks. Three years. I'm like an avocational floozy. Where is this going, you ask? Surely she's not doing it again... she's not once more hauling out the old bag of excuses--poorly informed past choices; lack of life experience; this time it feels right; I can't go on living unless it's as a taxidermist; &cta. Well, I hate to disappoint you, but it's true. I've dipped my big toe in the Ph.D. program and I now see what was wrong about everything I've heretofore decided to do...

It was all about doing something. Yep, this time it's for SURE. I know I've got it nailed. I'm dropping out of school (again) to do nothing. It's going to be great. I'm going to sleep in all day, and watch movies until Kevin comes home and makes me dinner. I'm going to drink beer in the shower and go for long sits in the park. I know it's the right choice, because... well, it just feels right. Like nothing I've done before.

"I feel like I'm getting a glimpse of Undergrad Jessie"

Oh, hello. It's you again. What are you doing here? Me? Oh, no. I haven't been hanging around this whole time waiting for you, no. I have stuff to do. I'm cool.

But since we're both here, let's talk. I haven't blogged in a thousand years. Literally. But now that I have a soul-crushing amount of schoolwork again, I'm going to need all the procrastination devices I can get. I thought a good way to kick it off might be to cover my spectacular weekend. Yeah, I know. Snoozefest. Everyone blogs about her fucking weekend. But you know what? My weekend was cooler than yours.

Exhibit A: It was my birthday. Which I share with one of the coolest grad students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of English. Oh, hell. I'll say it. One of the coolest people in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of English. Yeah, that's right. Kristiane is a goddess. Not only did we celebrate with a giant table full of tikka masala and vindaloo... not ONLY did we throw a fantastic party complete with cake and car bombs and Coolio and me being called a "birthday whore"... No, not only all of those things. But my long-lost and darling-beloved Erinn showed up unannounced at dinner. IN THE FLESH! No, she wasn't naked. Well, she was half-naked, but that's beside the point. Her sneaky (and covered) little ass just waltzed on into Maharani in Madison like she never left. Like a cold-blooded gangsta.

Exhibit B: Erinn made apple tart. Yeah.

Exhibit C: I got to have dinner last night at a prof's house in the arboretum (read: smack in the middle of nature) with a Pulitzer prize-winning author. I will leave him (Damn, I've revealed his gender! Damn, I've done it again!) nameless. But if you ever get to hang out with a famous author who's a little flamboyant and wears tight black t-shirts and gets a little tipsy and starts slamming all of his least-favorite contemporary authors, you'll know just who I mean. Did you know that reading Don DeLillo is like being rammed by a huge dick? Me neither. (For the record, that's apparently a good thing. I'll spare the good names of the authors he eviscerated, because they were some of my favorites. :-X)

So, all of that makes the fact that I'm completely screwed this week somewhat bearable. Also the knowledge that my weekend was better than yours. That helps ease the pain a little, too.