And Then There Were Finally Three

I finally received my third of three rejections from PhD programs today. I'm not quite sure why NYU decided to sit on the news for so long, but it's no big deal.

It was, of course, no surprise, but it is nice to have the battery of letters in a complete series on my wall. I intend on doing a comparative analysis of them just for fun. I can't promise anything anytime soon.

One thing I noticed right away was CUNY's "wish" for my "success in [my] future academic pursuits." Both NYU's and Rutgers' simply wished me "success in [my] future endeavors" and "in accomplishing [my] goals," respectively.

I think it's quite presumptious of CUNY to assume that academia is my life. The other two at least grant me the opportunity of pursuing my goals outside of the academy. In all seriousness, I have no hard feelings toward any of the schools and I am not against academia at all.

There is a purpose for it and I feel that my departure from it will not influence in any way its demise. It certainly played its role in my life. I came out to New York not knowing much about anything.

I don't claim to have any more answers about Hegel, Kant, Plato, Foucault, Butler, Marx, or Rousseau, but I do know a little bit more about how to use my brain to think in ways I never knew possible. This is a gift that I wouldn't trade for the thousands upon thousands upon thousands (believe me, there's more) of dollars that I owe the federal government.

I know a little too much about myself, and I have developed ways to figure out how it is I've screwed up all the times I have. I can only hope it will allow me to keep myself out of trouble in the future. There's nothing much else going on, accept that I had a good thesis-writing night that will let me sleep a little harder when I finally do hit my bed. Of course chapter two isn't finished yet. I still have to integrate the memoir stuff into it and I will certainly have to smooth the rough transitions that I'm sure run rampant throughout. But the important part is I'm satisfied for now.I saw Sarah Harmer on Ellen the other day. I dig her music. She's going to be in New York next week and I'm going to try and check her out. You should do the same if you like folky chick music. Check her music out, that is, not fly to New York if you don't live here to see her. And if you found it hard to believe that I have taken up the ukulele, the proof has arrived:

I tried to tune it tonight and had no luck. I'm sure I'll figure that out in time. All right, I'm tired of writing. I've written too many words. Well, there really is no such thing, but the journaling I did took it out of me. Here is to a life without academia. I'm almost there. Thirty-eight days till the cap and gown at Madison Square Garden.