On Monday, I left work early to go get some work done on my car, and after that I figured "what the hell, let's go by the library in Walhalla." I should emphasize that I left work with about an hour left to go, and it was past closing time when my car was ready after being fixed (just in case you're asking yourself "why didn't the lazy bastard go back to work?").
Anyway, I checked my email and there in my inbox was something from Clemson's graduate-school folks in the English department. Figuring it was a fifty-fifty shot (either I got in or I didn't), I opened the email and began to read. When I got to the first line, about how "pleased" they were to offer me an assistantship for the fall 2014 semester, I guess I could quit looking through my fingers at the email.
Yes, your hero got in, and I was offered an assistantship as well (meaning I get to teach classes or some other such things as the English department so desires of me, with a stipend and with tuition waived for the time being). You could say I was pretty darn happy with that.
All of this occurred on St. Patty's Day, so naturally it is now the best St. Patty's day ever (and I wore green to avoid getting pinched, though at this point I'm thirty-four-years-old and I'm guessing the likelihood of me running into people who still pinch others for not wearing green is pretty slim. Still, better safe than sorry).
I'm pretty stoked as well as terrified about the whole thing, truth be told. It's high on the list of "best things that ever happened to me so far." It's still sinking in, and I'm wondering now if I have what it takes for grad school. Specifically, if I can master the "too lazy to shave" stubble-beard of many a grad student I've known in the past, the carefully cultivated look of appearing not to care how I'm groomed. I kid, but it's really something pretty awesome (grad school, not facial hair).
I just hope the good people at Clemson know what they're getting themselves into by letting me back into their school.
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