March 2, 1996

Think of the last few weeks in February as my sabbatical. And let's just leave it at that. But my friends, today I thought I must write because now -- this very instant -- I am (although I don't suppose I am very good at estimating) thousands of feet above ground level, and since you know I am not one to frequently volunteer w/ NASA, your next guess is right -- up up & away in a jet plane! I'm on the return trip (it's about 9:45 PM or whatever) from the beautiful, but oh-so-frigid Minneapolis/St Paul area, as I was this morning competing for a scholarship at Hamline University in the latter city. But don't jump the gun, muchachos. There's a 90% chance I won't be going there. At least I hope not. But as I was advised, I kept my options open -- and they still are, for the most part. Yeah, I'm so indecisive. But as you may have guessed, too, I am starting to narrow down the BIG EIGHT that once were (smallest to largest, by degree of latitude): Hamline, Macalester (St. Paul, too), Kalamazoo (MI, which I visited last weekend with my dad to compete for a writing scholarship -- some shit about Frankenstein I had to B.S. my way through -- but some otherwise pleasant experiences, like driving there at night on a fast highway listening to Herbie Hancock jazz & talking with a student over lunch whose name is now curiously forgotten** -- he was a swingin' fellow, though, reminiscent of several characters I've met over the years, including a boy named Jesse who works at Record Swap), U. of Iowa, Washington U. (in St. Louis, which looks like it's my current favorite -- but then I probably shouldn't have written that, should I? Not when I haven't even been accepted or gotten any money or -- Jesus, I'm hunched over this dining tray with a plastic cup of ginger ale & I feel like a sportswriter drinking gin & tonic at midnight, pecking away at his typewriter, smoking his cigar -- anyway ... it was unwise of me to have said that lest I disappoint myself), University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill (or UNCCH, if you, like I do, prefer), Duke U. (hell of a long-shot -- there's one scholarship that I could possibly get, but if I don't, it's way out of our league), & last, and it might as well be least, too, since it's already out of the picture, Emory in Atlanta, to where I wasn't named a finalist in their Emory Scholar Program (made it somewhat easier on me, though, since the scholarship weekend was on one of the performance dates for the musical). That's without a doubt the most I have ever written in this book about my college plans; don't know why I've been so reluctant -- maybe cuz it would've been akin to talking about my family (although a) I'm not sure why, and b) I'm not sure why I don't like talking about them, either... -- not interesting enough? too embarrassing? hmmm....) I'm sure Kristy Rav3n has written reams about M.I.T. -- a whole page on the actual process of running to the mailbox & retrieving the envelope... but then again, I'm not Kristy. And even though I dearly love the girl, that's not necessarily a bad thing, either. -- JMC 10:35 pm (and right on-time too, for landing!)