last day before summer skool starts... i can hardly find the energy to steep a cup of green tea.

there are so many iddly, biddly things begging for my attention: wash the pile of rags, weed the front lawn, wipe the fingerprints from the door windows, change the sheets, throw away the junk food wrappers and newspapers in the backseat of the car, pay bills, file the infinite number of papers scattered on the floor, take out the recyclables, fold the clothes, etc. etc.

breathe. breathe. breathe.

hope that financial aid will post soon. rent is due tomorrow.

drum roll

wah. i got cum laude. a year of my life to write a 93 page honors thesis. straight A's. but my thesis was deemed well written but "not theoretically grounded enough." so just cum laude. i know. i know. complaining is bratty. be thankful. and when i realize i did all this while being a single parent of a special needs kid. plus18 months of being a foster parent of another special needs kid. without resources or any network of friends to pitch in. and then cum laude is pretty dang impressive. and now i am not being bratty, i am being proud. which is equally obnoxious. so i will just put on my honor cords and smile and say nada.

the good news

today i realized that being good, or wonderful, or fabulous

takes hundreds of thousands of little steps

and it gets depressing when you fail once or twice

and then you think i can never...ever... do it

and you give up and stay fat or have an explosive temper or talk too much

so the trick is to make allowances for many f*ups and keep going forward

exams are done

dancing queen1
Originally uploaded by thejustini.

and i can now do the happy dance

countdown until saturday

Global Cities: 20 page paper on Johannesburg and housing (check)
Anthropology thesis: 93 pages (check)
Social Psychology: brutal final (check)
Politics, Planning and Power: 20 page paper due Friday
GIS Presentation and Paper: 20 page paper plus maps plus powerpoint due Saturday

consumed: two pounds of dark roast espresso coffee so far. two reams of paper (recycled at least)

three tantrums. forgot to change clothes twice in the last two weeks.

prize: reading ordinary books. no academic tomes until summer!

See more progress on: Get through finals without having a nervous breakdown

did i mention

that the very important speaker was gorgeous, too?

Not so bright

When you go to anthropology shindigs, it is best not to find the sexual innuendo in the very important guest speaker's comments. i thought when he was talking about 14" he meant penis size, not vinyl records. i made him blush. and i have to apply to his grad school next year.