This is going to be an exhausting week.

Last night, I got everything ready for "The Old Switcheroo" (read an excerpt) and sent it off to the ICFA. I wrote up a 600-word abstract at lunchtime yesterday, and finished it off last night. I feel good about this essay. Wish me luck.

I took a GRE practice test last night from the CD-ROM that was sent to me in the mail, and I did pretty well. I scored 650 on both the Verbal and Quantitative sections, which put me in the 92 percentile for Verbal (which is excellent, since I'm getting my M.A. in English) and the 64 percentile for Quant. (which really isn't that great, but I don't think the English deparment at NCSU is going to care about my math skills). I also got some good experience with the Writing Assessment as well, trying to form four- and five-paragraph arguments in 45 or 30 minutes. I'll take another practice test tonight to see how I compare, then tomorrow night I'll look over the vocabulary list in the GRE book to keep those words fresh in my head.

Some good news: the October issue of LOCUS is finally out! The periodicals guy at the Borders near my apartment called this morning and said it was in, and he would hold two copies for me. Yay! The entire Clarion 2002 class is in there, and you can see me grinning like a big goof. Kinda like I am right now.

I'm currently listening to The Last DJ, the new album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I've listened through it twice already, and it's one of his best yet. It includes a bonus DVD with a half-hour of behind-the-scenes footage into the recording of the album. You really should buy it.