Glee!

I got this e-mail today and promptly imploded with glee:

Dear Samantha,

The Graduate Selections Committee has recently reviewed applications to our graduate programs and we found yours very interesting.  We are planning to host prospective graduate students on Friday, February 27 and hope that you can arrange your class/work schedule so that you can join us.  Even though you are already very familiar with much that OU has to offer, we’d like to give you a chance to meet additional faculty, current graduate students, and other prospective graduate students.

Please let me know if you would be available to join us that day – we’re planning to start off with a group breakfast with me and Dr. Matthews, then assorted activities, before ending the day with a pot luck dinner for everyone involved (invitees do not need to bring anything).

Sincerely,
Rosemary Knapp
Chair, Graduate Selections Committee

Aaaaah, so happy / relieved…
I’m not sure exactly how I feel about a day-long introduction to the zoo department, but it should be nice (though probably tiring). At least since I live here I can go back to my room if there’s a lull in the schedule and pass out for a while. :)

It’s been a little weird to be in limbo since I sent in my application in December… I knew I could pretty much assume I’d get in, and Dr. Schlupp was saying stuff like “when you start in the fall” and whatnot and introducing me to new undergrad lab members as a probable Masters student but there was always that niggling little doubt in the back of my mind that occasionally came flailing out into the open shrieking in irrational fear.  My friends scoffed at these doubts and reassured me repeatedly of my amazing sparkle brain powers (which I really appreciate) but I’m still happy to be able to kick the irrational voice back into its cage.  Now I can beat it with this e-mail and go “Haha, see?!?!”

Oh, this means that Caitlin and I really ought to start apartment hunting soon…  Any suggestions of good places or places to avoid?  We’ll be aiming for cheap yet not overly shady, if that makes sense.

A Facebook Tag

25 Things About Me: In no particular order

1. I am only truly still when I am asleep (aside from breathing, obviously). If you cannot see me moving or fidgeting or wiggling my foot or messing with my hair or shifting sitting position every few minutes I am probably wiggling my toes inside my shoes. A lot of the people in my extended family are equally twitchy. If we stay still very long we go to sleep.
2. #1 gives me some trouble when I’m trying to concentrate on schoolwork. Treadmills are good places for me to do extended reading.
3. I fall asleep in class pretty frequently.
4. I love windows and brightly lit rooms. Dim/”romantic” lighting is nice in its own way, but I like to be able to see properly.
5. I found a small chunk of brillo pad in my food once in a dimly lit restaurant. Couldn’t see my food very well so I found the chunk by biting down on it. Ew.
6. Someday my home will be full of non-flowering houseplants and big fishtanks full of cool fish.
7. I am allergic to everything with fur.
8. I love reading.  When I was younger I’d check out 5-6 books from the library every week.  Eventually I had to stop doing this because I’d read all the books of interest in the children – young adults sections.
9. I do not  have a favorite book but do have several that I like more than others.  They’re mostly young adult fantasy novels and classics like Pride and Prejudice.
10. Manga and anime amuse me but I lose interest in most of them pretty quickly.  I only purchase Mushishi and Ouran volumes; everything else I catch on onemanga.com because I am cheap.
11. I love hugs and tend to get depressed if I don’t have enough physical contact with my friends and family.
12. I do not like it when people I don’t know very well try to touch me.  Entrance to my personal bubble is a privledge, not a right.  :P
13. It also bugs me when people wearing heavy perfume or cologne get all touchy because the smell sticks to me.
14. People ask me surprisingly frequently if I eat fish.  This question confuses me.
15. I do eat fish sometimes but prefer shrimp and shellfish in general as long as it’s cooked.  Canned tuna’s a good source of protein when food sources are limited and you have no kitchen.
16. I was actually tagged for “16 things” but I like the number 25 better so I’m going to do that instead.
17. I’m typing and posting this to my blog mostly because I prefer the posting system to FB’s notes.  FB eats my abbr tags. Haha abbr tag.
18. Sometimes my brain will only supply the Spanish counterpart to the English word I want.  I’m not that fluent in Spanish; my brain is just being contrary.
19. If you see me stop moving and stare into the distance for a bit it is because I am thinking about something and have forgotten that I was walking or the result of my thought process will determine which way I am going to go and I need to stop while I’m figuring things out.  Either that or I have seen a bird or squirrel and am watching it do something silly.  Don’t worry, I’m not broken.
20. I am completely fascinated by fish and am not entirely sure why.  I think it’s how they move…
21. I have a very dry sense of humor.  If you think I just made a joke I probably did.  :P
22. I worry when my friends disappear and I don’t hear from them for more than a day or two.  If you’re fighting dragons then please let me fight them with you; I’ll freak out so much more if I don’t know what’s going on with you.  The quickest way to convince me that you don’t like me (and that I should go away and leave you alone) is to keep me in the dark.
23. If you need my help then just say what you need straight out.  If I can help you I will.  If I cannot for some reason then I will tell you.  Trying to butter me up with small talk just irritates me and makes me want to refuse your request out of sheer contrariness.
24. I rarely watch TV and don’t listen to secular radio that often so many pop culture references go right over my head.
25. I accepted Christ as my Savior at the age of 7.  My faith in Him grows stronger the more I learn about His creation.

I was actually tagged ages ago but just now felt like doing it.  :)