12 Feb 07

Time:

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Money:

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More interesting things:

Rode the train sitting across from one of those women you occasionally find in this city whose hairdo and general appearance make it clear that they are related to someone named Carmine. Not Guido - I'm not trying to be rude or to make some kind of unpleasant implication - but she just had a very no-nonsense look about her, in the manner of Mrs. Rossini from Who's the Boss. Black hair streaked with silver in a practical style, dark eyes, strong chin, so on and so forth. It amuses me.

Thought about two sets of information I have, for the first time as they relate to one another. To begin with, my decision to include the Portnoy paper in my application to this school was pretty deliberate: it wasn't the school's fault, of course, but by then I had pretty much had it in terms of the whole process, and I definitely remember thinking, "Fine - they want to know all this stuff, I'm going to show them exactly what they'll be getting if they take me!" The second thing is, I've recently learned just how carefully these guys examine the apps, and there is no supposing that maybe they didn't see the paper, didn't read it, didn't remember it, or didn't consider it. I mean, it's possible that not all of them got every word, of course... but it seems pretty clear that Professor Alpha probably did. How has that affected what has come afterwards?

Listened to the Abercrombie-pants professor talking about the Grammys: first, "I really liked those hot chili peppers"; second, to Professor Alpha, "But I couldn't believe there were no klezmer bands up there!"