Let's Do the Time Warp Again!

Among the many themes of this blog—applying to grad school somehow being among them—is reality and fantasy; escaping from the former into the later and then begrudgingly, forcibly departing for the former again.  I can think of no better example of this than Christmas break.

For students and those who work with students at academic institutions—yes, I know, we suck—Christmas break is actually just that: a break.  Unlike the rest of the world, which only gets a scroogey few days off, we get two or more weeks, thus allowing a true division from reality, into at least not reality, to occur.  Again, we suck.  I am aware.  

My break entailed me flying back to my hometown to spend it with my family and friends for a week.  Every time I come back to my hometown, like stepping into a timewarp, I revert to my high school self.

I'm the bigger one.

I slept in my old room, my old shared room with my little brother where I retook my top bunk perch.  I also had to share with/ fight him for our parents’ car, the TV, the computer (our parents’ still have our favorite games on it), just about everything else too.  You can throw my little sis into that equation and double it when it came time for fighting for the bathroom.

I hung out with my friends all the time whilst complaining about my overly-smothering family as per the high school usual, getting rides from my friends when I couldn’t get the car myself.  My mommy made me breakfast lunch, and dinner, but also wanted to know where I was going each night, who I was going with, and when I’d be back.  I got to take a break from being 27 and hang out as a 17-yr-old again with all the perks and drawbacks associated with it; a liquid variation of fantastic bliss and caged hell all at the same time that had little to do with the real world.

Thanks Mom!

Needless to say with four grad school application deadlines staring me in the face from only two weeks away now I did nothing over my break, as per the high school norm.  Not having to worry about grad school apps, now that is a true fantasy, which I hope will some time soon become a reality.