Treading, re-imagining, Aerosmith with Dokken but I don't know which is worse, first solar flare

The books are here for me to read and the FAFSA and financial-aid inquiry emails are sent, one week later.  Time marches on!  The out-of-place feeling is still there and may amplify somewhat, as I turn 38 in less than a week and senioritis has arrived much earlier than I expected.  An inability to focus has permeated this whole workweek, and I'm somewhat self-conscious about writing, trying to remember why I started writing this: I've made a change, it's just not here yet; like a new plant waiting for the proper season that's currently soaking up what it can, I have to remember that I don't have a dead-end job anymore.  I just have a job, and that's okay.

Jen found the Broadway recording version of "21 Guns" on demand and it sounded really good.  A couple dozen singers teamed with the band to fully flesh it out, a nice reminder of the creativity that can be expressed with skillful song arranging.  I miss that, especially when my job is now mandating detailed scripting in the name of "providing customers with a more consistent experience" or something to that effect.  It seems to work, given that the mortgage industry is essentially flipping burgers, but it takes more time, and so much time is already stolen away every day, making me wonder how it is all going to get done.  At least I'm wondering on borrowed time (soon to be borrowed money!).

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After spending a few weekends crafting them, I only got my grad-school essays the day before the final February 1st postmark date for early decision, stitching them together only after spending about eight hours at the end of a weekend pruning the excess down to the essentials in order to meet the word-count limits.  The package was delivered on Groundhog Day, and about five weeks later, I got the news that set the next phase of my life in motion, sooooooooooooooo slowly.  (Did you ever get concert tickets to see a favorite band when you were in junior high or high school, and the months-long wait seemed agonizing?  This is the same, except it requires packing up my life and hitting the road with - hopefully - ready access to tens of thousands of dollars.)

They'll be the next post.  I don't think I've looked at them since I sent them off, actually, and it will be interesting to see what I cooked up under pressure, my statements of purpose that worked exactly as I needed them to, providing a golden key to an as-yet-unseen lock.  My child-like impatience for Part Two makes me smile.