I’ve been so removed from writing and reading and doing anything artistic lately that I’m aching for a little sparkle. I have serious classroom withdrawal pains and I absolutely cannot wait to get back to school where imaginations are challenged and Professor Marcus gets to make his Daddy-said-go-to-rehab-and-I-said-no-no-no joke. It’s funny! (But I’m working on getting him new material… it’s time.)

In case you are wondering, all of my 27 graduate school applications are done and are on the way. Some needed to me mailed, some needed to be uploaded online, some needed to be uploaded AND mailed; all of them needed a writing sample and a personal statement while others wanted a writing sample and a statement of purpose with nothing personal on it. Some recommenders mailed in letters while others schools only accepted online recommendations. A few schools had cover pages to be signed while others wanted nothing to do with paper and email was king!

The GRE folks preeeeeeeeeeetty much screwed up on absolutely everything I asked them to do and mailed my scores to the wrong schools, failed to mail them to the right ones, decided that to change my date of birth on file and of course charged me over $500 which is a clear sign the world is indeed coming to an end. They wanted a faxed letter for everything because they don’t work online and if you needed yours scores sent to a different school, please fax in a signed letter. Toward the end of my frustration I actually said, “Do you OWN the GRE business?!?!?!? Get me someone who speaks human on the phone, please.” At least I said please, which was definitely NOT what almost slipped out.

Decisions will start trickling in late February through late April. I’m looking for five years of fully paid tuition plus a nice chuck of Benjamins for living expenses including but not limited to: eating, sleeping, studying and doing it all over again the next day… Yeah… *Fingers Crossed*

And so after all of this nerdy academic commotion plus the stress of a much needed full-time job… well… I’m craving a sweet story or a beautiful painting or a line or two of ANYTHING that makes my heart skip a beat. I cannot WAIT to read The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence and maybe… just maybe get up in front of a classroom and teach one of his short stories. I have the opportunity and I guess I’d be silly to pass it up. Might as well follow my own advice and sport my not-so-sexy-but-ever-so-useful Big Girl Panties.

Here’s a gorgeous piece by my friend Barry at Life in Quotations… it really touched me and I wanted to share it. If you love it just as much, stop by his page and let him know!

Released

What goes on in your good-girl mind
Hushed from temptuous thought and deed,
As if being done a favour.
“Please do tell me how to act," they think to hear,
"For I know not what I want.”
Oh, if they only knew of the strength of your desire
To unfurl your wings in their midst
And fly untethered.

But when night visits and your thoughts play alone
And you drift, freeing your will from another’s grasp
What do you dream as your eyes weigh heavy?
While The One beside you sleeps.
Do you welcome another to your door ,
To your bed?
Do you breathe his breath as your own,
Heart against heart
Feeling his life inside you.
Writhing beneath the weight of his mass,
Giving in to that beautiful release.
Breathless body strewn across crumpled sheets,
Spent, used,
But blissfully fulfilled.
And again.

And the hours pass unnoticed,
Their birth and decay measured only
In reckless heartbeats
Teeth-torn wrappers scattered around you.
Fading droplets in your glass.
This moment a lifetime.

All too soon the sun greets your window
And The One stirs,
Signalling a return to your world.
Accompanied, yet alone.

What goes on in your good-girl mind
What shadows lurk, what secrets to find?
Would you surrender yourself
For one night of sin
When the wind blows through your door
And the wolf creeps in?

(pictures via vi.sualize)

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