if you see me, say congratulations.

i didn't get the grant -- i just heard today, which means i either need to rethink my summer or plow ahead regardless -- but i miss hearing that word.

on the brighter side of things, ben is a hero, as is reported in today's daily gazette. there will be much music in may because of him. and brigid and i got the two rooms we blocked for on the 2nd floor in parrish. the inimitable rajaa is going to be our RA. my fourth year and i've never had to go through the lottery.

for the first time in 2 years and 2 months, my parents and ben's parents are going to rumble. i mean meet. on sunday. we are very nervous about this. i mean excited.

another seminar paper due tuesday, this one about the decline of steel under vile mr. reagan. as i break from depressing deindustrialization reading, i get to read bonfire of the vanities, with which i'd like to start a bonfire on my own. how come nobody told me this book was (a) so badly written, (b) full of stock characters, offensive stereotypes, cliches and ethnic slurs, and (c) predictably paced and uninteresting? tom wolfe comes off as a smug snobby postmodern bastard. maybe it is a successful satirical send-up of the 80s and i'm too oversensitive to appreciate it. but i'd watch american psycho twice over anyday than read a page more of this ellipses-italics-and-exclamation-point driven drivel.

there: i've said my piece. now i just need to track down some money for this summer.