highlights of the evening

of course scrubs... no big comments, i just like that show :-P

otherwise, more application reading...

how weird is it to read a reference letter written by your own REU advisor -- craziness... i never thought i'd be on the reviewing end of one of his letters so soon, but such craziness is the stuff of life.

other personal statement highlights

"if you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?" a question like this can always encourage and inspire a person to think about how to live a meaningful life. if i were going to die tomorrow, i would do some math in the morning: maybe jot down some bold ideas, or maybe finish a proof in algebra, or maybe play with a matrix or some graphs, or maybe write a c++ program to solve some partial differenetial equations numerically, or maybe apply some math skill to a particular problem in finance or maybe just contemplate on the equation 1+1=2.

friends and even professors often joke that there are three ways to do things in the world: the right way, the wrong way, and "(insert name)'s way". this coined term refers to my distinctive approach to solving problems and understanding information. for a final exam, we were allowed to bring notes written on a single side of a sheet of paper. instead of following the standard method, i cut a sheet of paper to form a mobius strip, which only has a single continuous side, thereby increasing my surface area for writing notes by two-fold. impressed by the innovative idea, the professor allowed it on the exam.

it's interesting to watch how much (or not much) the applicants can make themselves come alive through writing... it'll be even more interesting to match the students with their essays when the accepted ones come this summer... it's an impressive group of students.

here's the other interesting thing this evening... after reading literally dozens of reference letters today, of varying quality and detail, i decided to write my two key professors at valpo who wrote countless references for me throughout undergrad, (both of whom i'm still regularly in touch with) to tell them thanks yet again belatedly for the excellent job they both always did for me, and that i have an even better appreciation of what their recs look like in the general pool.... anyhow, both are incredible mentors to me, and one responded with "Lara, Thanks for your note; it came at the end of a difficult day and made all the difference. (skip a few paragraphs to get to the main point) Before you hear from someone other than me, let me tell you that I have decided to retire from VU after this academic year. I enjoy what I do, but I'm finding that this job is taking more energy than I can develop to bring to it. And esp since I was not expected to live here on earth after 1975, I think that I should show my gratitude for the gift of living here by being prudent about how I receive and use the gift. In lots of ways, it would be less scary to just keep whistling and doing what I'm doing, but that's not even living mindfully, much less as someone who believes in God's continuing love and care and wants to respond with gratitude and with love."... wow... i mean, this is a well thought out decision by the professor in question (i'm not sure how public of knowledge this is, but if you know which professors i'm in touch with and which would write the above paragraph pretty sure you can deduce exactly who), and i respect the decision,... it's just a *wow... craziness*, kind of thought that someone who's been a MAJOR mentor to me for the past 5-6 years is leaving the only place i know them from. we'll still be regularly in touch, and i hope and pray the transition resulting from this decision (this professor will move across the state over the summer) goes smoothly... just not what i expected to read in my email this afternoon.

anywho, that's the deal with me... tomorrow's another long fun day of application reading... woohoo! :-P