website.. moving?
andrewtchau.com

glass echoing in my head
i have the sudden urge to play some piano instead of writing my thesis. no piano in sight... so i guess its back to writing. i think nothing is happening until march.

a lesson on induction
last semester i didnt get my financial aid until november. i cant tell you how many times i was told that everything was fine, and that my check was in the mail or that it would be in the mail tomorrow or whatever. this semester, i called the first week of school to make sure everything was in order... they said it was fine and that my check had already been mailed. ... would you have believed them?

so my check still isnt here and i called back today. the financial aid office shrugged their shoulders at me over the phone and told me to call the billing office. they told me that the check was mailed THIS tuesday and that it should get to me by friday. i asked why i should believe them this time. they informed me that everything that was supposed to go out last week is going out this week. i still dont believe them. eventually theyll tell me the truth, but i think it will only be by accident. but really i could care less. really.

Settling Down
It looks like I've finished the usual first-week-shuffle of my classes and work schedule for the semester. My classes:

Political Philosophy - Nelson
Philosophy of Science - Weisberg
Masters Thesis - Johnsen

I'm a TA for two intro philosophy classes for Haaga. All this means is that I get to grade 900 pages of freshman pseudo-philosophical jumbles of words. I wanted to teach logic again, but there were - ahem - complications about it even though the professor teaching the logic class requested me as his TA. So I'm not happy about that, but I go where I'm told... I still work at Banana Republic, but not during business hours. I cut back to just working shipments so that I have plenty of time for schoolwork.

Now the clock is ticking. On the one hand I'm eager for March to come around so that I'll find out if I got accepted to any of the PhD programs. On the other hand, my thesis defense is right around the corner and I've got a long way to go before I'll be ready. glhf

wrapping things up
what's left? i need to finish final revisions for my consciousness paper today, then over the next few days i'll be finishing up my grad school applications. the final list:

unc
notre dame
yale
u mass
u washington
u miami
arizona state
u rochester

almost there. then i get to wait in suspense for three or four months before i find out where i get accepted.

note: at least i know my sofa is safe from bad spirits, as my two cats sit like gargoyles on each of the sofa-arm precipices to ward off all things evil.