I covered about five word lists today, which was a little over 250 words. Not bad for 6 hours of work, although I can pair it down to an hour a word list with enough practice. At this rate, I should be able to finish the 3,300 word vocab list with a week to spare before the general GRE test. I'll still need to keep re-reviewing and doing some math problems daily, along with more practice on writing essays. I have three more weeks, so ideally committing at least 6-7 hours a day doesn't seem bad.

There is the small problem of having a full on GRE psychology test 3 weeks after the general GRE. The only realistic thing I can think of--in terms of freeing up time--would be to look through the huge word list for just words I've never seen before...like sere. Granted, many, many english words have two or more meanings, but I'm not sure if 3 weeks is enough to study all of social and clinical psychology, brush up on my learning theory and learn me some dead (and not so dead) white people.

On the bright side of all this: I'm not bothered much by the studying. I'm scared as all hell about the actual test, but the major vocab push is sortof fun.

I'm contemplating whether I should drop doing that poster for the Society for Neuroscience. Granted, we have all the statistical results, the graphs (on excel sheets) and a general idea about what the fuck happened. I'd basically just have to write an introduction. I'm not sure still, though, so I'll talk with Dr. Zivago about it tomorrow.

I think the most important thing for me to remember is that I'm trying to make it into choosy schools. In a way it's gratifying, since I couldn't have ever imagined I would be competitive with the privileged creme of white bourgeois America and its subsidiaries. Not bad for a working class, one parent white/indian mongrel with ADHD and a zero tolerance policy for horseshit.

And I plan on bringing my caustic and baleful perkiness as far up as I can take them. Of course there will be many more asses to kiss and caulk in the meantime, not the least of which will be my own; academia and prison are a hell of alot alike that way. Even so, after all this shit is said and done, it'll only be four years until I get a doctorate. Some of you argue I should pursue photography, but if I'm gonna spend another four years in school it'll be to get some earning power and not another B.A. degree.

The funny thing is that even a Ph.D. means less than it used to. I'm severely doubting that I will be able to find an academic appointment, so I've given some thought to alternatives. There's always the government, foreign universities, research institutes, off-shore mad scientists, and even journalism. The latter one strikes me as cool. I enjoy writing and reading about science. To think I could make money trying to grab people's interest by using the former to make the latter fun and stuff. I can dream I guess. It isn't as though I know what I'm doing so why worry?

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But all the serious stuff aside, I want to share a sign of the impending apocalypse with you. As with all biblical and non-biblical signs, this one comes straight from Japan. You have been warned:

Yatta!

May God/Vishnu/Dick Cheney have mercy on us all...

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