If the world's at large, why should I remain...

Well it has been a largely successful break between semesters for me so far. I've spent the last three and a half weeks working at Gustavus as a Latin tutor, but have not been taking a class, allowing time for more racquetball, time with friends and frequent naps. The only downsides to my break have been #1 Crashing my friend's snowmobile into a tree, totaling it, and all of the lingering guilt over it, and #2 becoming the closest to broke I've been in my life, forcing me to sell my plasma in Mankato twice a week to pay for textbooks and gas. The upsides, though, have outweighed the financial cons: spending a weekend with good friends at a cabin (and being fully introduced to the Iron Maiden canon there), falling asleep watching Scrubs on 45 most nights, re-watching Tarkovsky movies that I didn't understand from the first viewing, time for lots of reading (The Crossing, The Education of Little Tree, Silence of the Grave, Collected Works of Florovsky volumes 3 & 4, Opium Season, Desert Solitaire, Love in the Time of Cholera), eating pancakes every other morning, getting to sub-teach the Latin class for a day, extra trips to see friends and family, and the exceptional fratern/soror-ity occurring daily around campus. I think, come a week and a half, I'll be refreshed enough to feel prepared to hit the books once again.

A week ago I finished two applications for possible post-graduation opportunities. One is for a federal government sponsored Critical Language Scholarship, which is an all expenses paid two-month trip to Russia to study Russian intensively. I met the applicant qualifications, so I went ahead and tried to produce a shining portfolio to attest to my previous language study. If I am accepted, I will be notified at the end of March, and the trip itself is from early June through early August. And, if accepted, I would most likely need to defer my Peace Corps acceptance (which hasn't actually happened yet, pending one vaccination that I don't have money for, cf. supra, concerning plasma donation). The other application was for a two year M.A. program in Early Christian Studies at Notre Dame in Indiana. I will find out about that at the end of February.

At this point, having diverse options for after graduation seems more important than deciding on one thing only, though this constantly puts my patience into use and my future-minded stomach at unease. I know, no doubt, that I always have the option of staying in the cities for a year, working (perhaps as a substitute teacher). It may be not just a great fallback plan, but, depending on how in debt I am come June, a stellar route to go.

I might be alone in this, but I really, really like the new JimmyEatWorld disc.

J.A.P. out.