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Finally finshed my grading today. Done. Finito. I have yet to physically turn in the grades, but I will do that tomorrow morning. And then I will drink.

This semester has seen highs and lows--I'm glad to see it finally over. My evals were good (at least the USF ones), but I didn't really feel "with it" until about late February. My writing has suffered, too. I've just been generally unproductive this semester, and I look forward to turning this mental page.

I have decided that SallieMae is by far the worst corporation with which I have ever had the misfortune of dealing. They seem to lose more things than not, and aren't very understanding of your situation. I have had two "customer service" reps yelling at me on the phone so far. I found myself making the payments they wanted today--even though I didn't really need to when they finally get the proper paperwork--just to knock a little bit off the balance of this deal with the devil. I'm moving to Paris: try to collect then, fuckers. (btw: does anyone have $18,000 I can borrow, so I can tell them where their In-school Deferment form should be filed?)

I sent two emabrassingly shoddy drafts of chapters off for comments to my co-chairs. I think there's an argument in there somewhere, beneath the shattered prose. I hope they can find it.

I spent a magical weekend with the New Rose. I find that in reflecting upon our short time together, she has at times opened me up to the world, forcing me to see it anew, from a fresh perspective; and consequently she makes me comfortable about being myself. I am doing things with her (and for her) which I have often cast off with knee-jerk ambivalence ("not my style"?) but I now find myself enjoying nonetheless. She seems to make me feel comfortable with myself as myself--without need to seek shelter in my intellectual attitude or my punk rock pretense. For example, this weekend I went to the beach. I even wore shorts and sandals, and without the awkward discomfort that usually accompanies thoughts of these things. Stagnation is death: here's to new beginnings!

Tonight I will relax and clean. Tomorrow I will drink. I will spend Wednesday nursing my hangover, and then Thursday I'll get back to work. And round and round we go in the "life" of a grad student.