Who's got next?

So a lot has happened since my last post. I finished grad school, completed an internship, dropped my keys down an elevator shaft and ate about 13 pounds of meat. Its a funny feeling watching one chapter of your life definitively slam shut. Its even more surreal when it goes by so quickly that you don't even have a chance to realize that its coming to a close.

There are a lot of things I'm going to miss about the last year. I'll miss my 4:30 power naps in the library, I'll miss sneaking in time to see Vanessa before or after class, and I'll miss randomly laughing at work and having Kate know exactly what obscure thought was on my mind. There are also quite a few things I won't miss including, but not limited to averaging 5 hours of sleep for 2 weeks at a time, missing "The Office" every week, and eating Subway 12 times a month for dinner (sounds great, but really, its not).

Anyway, its been a hell of a past 12 months filled with plenty of highs, lows, Panda Express and 4 new scars at various places on my body. So thanks to everyone that provided those highs, and even those that contributed to the lows. If you can't learn a few things from a year like this, you must have your head in the sand, which if you think about it would be a bad position in the neighborhood in which I currently reside.

Well, now that I'm done with that, all of you out in readerland can look forward to more frequent posts. The possibilities for the topics of these posts are endless. I imagine that at some point the following things will be covered: werewolves, force lightning, pork, acetaminophen, Care Bears, the DH, gerbil sociology, and much much more. Stay tuned.

That shrinking feeling

So I had my head formally examined for the first time this week. As the last part of the hiring process for a new job I'll be starting later in May (knock on wood), I had to trek out to Highland Park to visit with a Psychologist. The job is at the company I'm currently interning at, but will be a "real job." Anywho, after hearing horror stories about trips to this Psychologist, I was prepared for the worst. My sojourn began with a super-lame 5:30 wake up call in order to catch the Metra. Side note: The Metra ran like absolute clockwork, making the stop at each station at the exact time it said it would on the schedule. How can the Metra run so smoothly, but the CTA trains and buses are about as reliable as that shady 3rd cousin of yours that sells novelty backscratchers on the street. Am I crazy for thinking that? Actually, we'll get to my sanity a bit later.

When I got to the Psychologist's house (yes, the meeting was in his house), I had to sneak around the back to where I was informed his office was. I felt a bit uneasy about being a stranger wandering around in a backyard of a rich suburb, but whatever. The majority of the meeting was actually done on a computer, as I took numerous tests designed to test A. my intelligence, and/or B. my likelihood to randomly strip down and start yelling about the impending marsupial uprising that will doom us all.

At some point during a test that seemed like a watered down version of the SAT, I thought to myself, "hey, this is kind of fun!" It was at that moment that I realized I actually was insane. What sane person would enjoy waking up at a ridiculously early hour, traveling all the way across the Metro Chicago area just to take a few tests that I could gain nothing from? I decided to keep this revelation from the Psychologist.

Anyway, about an hour or so later, I found myself taking a test with in which I could only respond yes or no to the following types of statements: "You are deeply disturbed by the sight of a malnourished horse," and "The thought of bugs on your skin makes you feel 'creepy.'" It was after this test that the Psychologist actually sat down and interviewed me. It was a pretty standard HR type interview, during which I had the following thought during a casual discussion of my family. "23 years. Thats how long it took for me to be in a shirnk's office talking about my mother." I ended up finishing up a bit early and having a pretty relaxing rest of the day thanks in part to a (somewhat) unexpected pizza delivery from my beautiful, intelligent, and all around wonderful girlfriend.

On a completely unrelated note, the first "...but awesome takes practice" poll has closed with 8 votes in just over a week I think. Wow. I honestly thought there would be no more than 3 votes, so I'm very impressed. Thanks to all who voted...I'll try not to drive you away with posts as long as this one from now on.