so i just finished my birthday. it was really fairly void of significant birthday celebration but i do feel like an adult for having an actual life on my birthday rather than just using it as a day to eat cake until it comes out my ass. (that could have several meanings and i'm not sure which i intend)

so i passed my flipping jury. big whoop. i mean it was a relief though and it'll be nice to not have to harrass gus everyday of the week anymore.

also of note, my french teacher made a flourless chocolate cake with rasberry topping and brought it to my exam. she had the whole class 1/2 heartedly wish me "bon anniversaire" when i walked in the room 5-7 minutes late. anyway, it was probably the sweetest thing a professor has done for me in the history of my education - if i let myself i could probably cry - but that might be the severe lack of sleep i've accumulated over the past week.

after my exam i wanted to go to the sausagefest (otherwise known as 1910 sausage company) but unfortuantely they still haven't figured out that they should stay open past 7pm. so i ended up eating a hybrid dinner of culvers/mcdonalds and basically it just doesn't work for me anymore. and headache and serious need for a nap always follows eating fastfood.

anyway, to cap off my birthday i went to perkins to study with anni. and believe me perkins after midnight on a weekday is unbelievable. i mean basically its just the same scene as on a weekendend except it often includes young adult parents in the smoking section with their toddlers/infants. anyway there's definitely something funny about discussing the origins of complex civilization in the ancient world next to a table discussing the benefits of marine vs army basic training and another table of 2 people who i'm pretty sure hadn't left the backcountry for at least several weeks.

anyway, now i'm just procrastinating. i'm 3hours and 4 essays away from summer and it feels so damn good. 6 months ago i decided it was time to pull it together and here i am. unfortunately this is really the first long term goal i've accomplished since auditioning for music school 29 months ago. fortunately i actually pulled it off bc it was fairly absolutely my last chance on a lot of levels.

tomorrow after my final i'm going to start packing. also, plans are in the works for kelsey and anni to spend a night in chicago with kate and i next monday on their way back down to texas. which is pretty amazing bc the night before coming up here in the fall anni and i spent a night in that condo. overall things have certainly changed for the better but it is truly reassuring to see a least a glimmer of consistency in what has been... well for lack of an appropriate adjective... the last 9 months.

i smell like perkins/cigarettes (both odors are fairly interchangable).


4 things a society needs to become a state: plant/animal domestication for carb/protein/textile soure, major river and/or irriagation technique, powerful elite class with legitimacy based in state religion, significant trade/specialization/interdependce between farmers/merchants/bureaucracy. woot.