It's tooo freaking hot

This is truly the part of the midwest I like least: ridiculous heat with little rain. It means I don't sleep well. It means I feel sluggish. Now that I run, it means I have to wait until evening if I want to even CONSIDER running around without puking. Grrr. TOO HOT AND NOT MUCH AC.

23 days till preliminary exam. The crankiness is setting in, no doubt encouraged by humidity. There are so many awesome things waiting on the other side of the prelim: going to Florida with Andy to see family and lounge gratuitously, moving in with Andy, and the obvious being done with the last real exam (hopefully) I should ever have to take. It will not get easier after that, but that hoop will have been jumped through, and the only thing standing between me and a PhD will be gettin' the work DONE. I like that idea. I also like the idea of focusing on life for just a little bit.

The prelim is a good idea: it gives me reason to just sit and read and learn--and I already feel like I've learned magnitudes more in two weeks than I have in several months. But emotionally it's taxing. The continous curse of graduate school is that you can ALWAYS be working and thinking about science. You have to justify your free time to the harshest of task masters: your stressed-out self. Blargh.

Completely unrelated: Jonah! If you are out there and read this, I'll call you back in July! That kindof goes for anyone reading this as well. I'll be back to the world of the living in July. Much love to you all. Wish me luck and help me keep my business hat on until July 11th.