gr8pumpkin

No, it's not fine. Libertarian philosophy, an outgrowth of Ayn Rand's adherents, arguably was responsible for the economic collapse of 2008. But what the hell. I loathe Ayn Rand with the passion of a thousand burning suns. "Wait, you got it wrong, selfishness is actually good! Altruism is actually bad!" Brilliant.

It's quotes like this that make me want to head the Committee to Allow Infinite Up-voting on Gradcafe.

Oh, I see someone beat me to it. And here I am out of upvote buttons.

I can handle pointlessness if I know I'm getting pointlessness. I just cannot handle pointlessness expecting some great point.

Any book where someone finds god in any way, shape or form can only be trite, not brilliant.

Not that I would ever say to someone they shouldn't read any book, but I tried to get through One Hundred Years of Solitude twice and couldn't.

Believe it or not--- and I know this is going to come as a shock to some--- not every fat person is fat through fault of their own. I know, right? There is this med they call the "dreaded pred": http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2193172/Prescription-drugs-Lupus-make-Napa-California-Jena-Graves-obese.html This happened to my wife, who has taken massive doses of prednisone for her Crohn's disease. It irritates me to no end that people will assume she's fat because she's just lazy or makes bad choices. Never assume. You don't know what's going on with the other person. ETA: Now me, I'm fat through fault of my own.

David Findley should write under his anagram name: Davy D. Infidel.

I have a similar interest in cults. I've lost several family members to them over the years, alas.

Thanks! As it happens, he did have some work for me. I always assume the negative and I shouldn't. I need to work on that.

Yes. They're probably hoping you wouldn't notice, too. Are you on opposite ends of the political spectrum maybe?

I also love comic art. I'm working on a graphic novel. I actually have a low-scale specialized publisher who has been waiting for me to finish it for two years. Sigh. I wish I had two or three more lives.

Okay, here's a rant. I *hate* it when people leave a message saying to call them--- but don't say why. This is one of my all-time greatest pet peeves. I just got one yesterday from a friend--- "Pumpkin, what's your number? I need to talk to you about something." Okay... what did I do wrong? Are we breaking up? Is it really that hard to just throw in one sentence to say "It's about x, y or z"? Because I still have yet to hear from this friend and I'm wondering, okay, what? My mind reels with possibilities, mostly negative, because that's just where my mind tends toward. And who knows. It could be something wonderful. Maybe he wants to hire me for something. But, you know, when I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear from a school, more vagueness and uncertainty is the last thing I need. Please just say what it's about. I promise I'll call back even if you think I'll think it's unimportant if you say what it is. (One thing that occurred to me is that, as he is a grad student, he's calling me to say, Pumpkin, we can tell it's you. You're not hiding your identity well enough on gradcafe and you need to be more careful!)

I'm in this boat. It scares me, frankly, and it's an immutable down-side. I have been told that I don't look my age and that this is a positive thing. I think it's terrible that anyone should have to rely on that. I'd like to think a little life experience and maturity would be looked upon kindly, but I guess in the end everyone wants the shiny new penny, grumble, grumble.

I would say no. Do everything you can to become Supercomposer. Spend your time that way. Here's some perspective. Check out the biographies of composers at University of Alabama. http://music.ua.edu/faculty-staff/ These people are eminent. Eminent. And the market has determined that their landing spot is at, let's face it, a state university in a location that not all academics would consider desirable. That's your market. If you want a tenure-track composition job anywhere at all--- even at the Alabamas of the world--- I would say focus on being Supercomposer and nothing else. The adjunct job won't pay that much and won't help your resume much. Spend your time sending Eighth Blackbird a piece every week until they call you back. ETA: This is not meant as a diss on Alabama. It's just that in the field of music they're not particularly well-known, and that's the kind of school eminently qualified music PhDs and DMAs wind up teaching. You have to have a stellar resume just to teach at a school like Alabama. So I'm definitely coming from the don't-waste-time perspective.

I would go with the higher ranked program. At some point a great school is a great school. UPenn and Vanderbilt are both great schools. So that being said, go with the higher ranked program. No one is going to tut tut a Vanderbilt pedigree.

I winged it, got 162 V, 154 M and never checked what my writing was.

I am just this close To tell third school forget it And just be done now.

Congratulations on GA Tech, and screw your "friend."

That's a good point. I've been laboring under the impression that Houston itself, being a cosmopolitan city and all that, is about as liberal as Texas gets, but I suppose I could give Dallas a try, as my one acceptance is near Dallas. Still, it's not the northeast which is where my top choice school is and which I'm still waiting to hear from. Long story short, waiting it out sucks. Has anybody or everybody here ever felt that way?

My wife and I are atheists, and we are raising our son not to be an atheist per se, but to think for himself, evaluate the evidence of things, and to come to his own conclusions. We live in a red state right now (Texas, as it says in my location), and he's getting picked on by *other six year olds at school* because he doesn't currently believe in God *or Jesus*. My Top Choice school is in a blue state and I can't imagine this going on nearly as often as it goes on here. This is actually becoming a factor in my hoping and wishing (though, heh, not praying).

I grew up in Michigan and heard USC called "Southern Cal" all my life. Then I came to realize nobody actually from USC calls it that, it's often just SC.

Contemplating this Awful process, I wonder, Will it ever end?

I would throw in Niles, MI as a place to consider looking for housing. It's adjacent to South Bend proper and potentially no more than a five to ten minute drive away. I too grew up in Michiana. I find it funny to hear people go on about how conservative South Bend is, because everything is relative. Of course it's not the diverse metropolis Chicago is, but if you drive up north to the sixth congressional district of Michigan, they haven't sent a Democrat to Congress in over a hundred years. At least South Bend is competitively bipartisan.

I think Cal Arts would be your best bet. I think if they could admit 100 of you, they would.