GRE, Busy Weekend, and Signs I'm Aging

Well, the GRE is over! The day of was a bit nerve-racking, kind of that nervous/anxious/excited feeling that is difficult to define but makes it difficult to sit down in one place for very long. As one Andrew Freeman already reported via facebook, I did spend the morning watching The Great Muppet Caper while reviewing notecards. I needed something to help me relax a bit, and that was just the ticket! One of the things that I think is weird about the testing is that it is in the heart of downtown: 20 N. Clark Ave. on the 16th floor. I just figured this would be at some suburban community college or something. So, I took the el down, and to center myself/calm down I listened to my hymns mix on my iPod while reading Lord of the Rings. If that doesn't work, nothing will. The actual testing went well. My overall scores were in the range I needed them to be (besides writing, which you don't find out about for a while), so that is a huge relief. The thought of taking that thing again leads to daydreams involving excessive violence perpetrated against helpless notecards.

So, now two worship services to pseudo-plan (I mean, the one on Sunday I'm more than "psuedo-planning"), two classes to prep for on Monday, a conversation with a faculty member at one of my prospective grad schools, a super-fun wedding on Friday, a chapel on Saturday, and then church on Sunday. It should be nice and busy with hopefully some downtime in there somewhere for me to relax (and by "relax," I tend to mean something akin to "hibernating").

What can you say about the Vikings? What's worse than going 0-3 to start out the season? Answer: having big half-time leads in each of those games and then blowing those leads with a defensive meltdown matched perfectly with an offensive collapse. More kids should grow up as Minnesota sports fans because it will teach them how to cope with failure at an early age.

Today I was walking to school in my cardigan listening to Garrison Keillor's Pontoon on audio book, and I thought, "I am 80 years old!" Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Speaking of which, I was listening to the book and thinking, "These vignettes sure are strung together strangely." Then, I realized that my iPod was on shuffle; I was listening to the first three chapters with large chunks out of their regular sequence. The story makes so much more sense now!

I could use some sunshine in the near future. Cold fall days are so much more enjoyable with a bit of light rather than this constant, spitting rain that seems to be the system planted over us the last few days. Well, one more meeting with Aaron for the day, and I am free to work on church stuff for the rest of the night! Later.