That's one giant leap for tenacity

I discovered on Monday afternoon that not giving up when faced with bureaucracy is the only course available to those who are in the right.

Case in point: an hour spent at the Admissions desk at UHD, refusing to accept their answer that UST didn't send the complete transcript that shows my graduate credit. By refusing to be worn down, I wore them down. It will cost me another trip to UHD with my stamped and sealed UST transcript, but if I can get another three hours' credit toward my degree without having to pay for it, I will be happy. Of course, I may regret this course of action when I start on my master's degree, but that is trouble I won't borrow for now.

I feel like I've struck a blow for sanity and intelligence.

BTW, tomorrow is my birthday. Can't decide if that's a drag or a good thing.

On my mind this morning

Serendipity . . . for some reason unknown to all but God, India is in my life this week. Yes, the country.

First: In Theatre History class (yes, there is such a thing, and yes, I'm taking it. It's my favorite class this semster!), the last two chapters have discussed historical theatre in India.

Second: I am reading Eat, Pray, Love, one-third of which, everyone on the planet knows by now, takes place at an ashram in India.

Third: In World Religions class, we are studying not only Hinduism, but a broad overview of the culture of India.

India is not a place I ever wanted to visit. Dirty, smelly, overpopulated, cows, snakes, incense, and heat. (Only I don't hold the incense or the heat against it.) But I'm now thinking of India in a different light, one of beauty and religiosity. I wish I knew what all of this means. There are no coincidences

Update as of 9/29. Still on India in both classes. Lost interest in Eat, Pray, Love when author was forthcoming with too many details about Love in Bali. Ruined a really good book.

So today I'm thinking . . .

. . . of the sacred spaces and places I would like to visit, that are on my life list. All because my World Religions instructor (because finally really graduating from a university is the top thing on my life list) posted an article about Angkor Wat, which made me realize that Angkor Wat is one of them. But . . . reality being what it is, I think I'll have to start a life sub-list of things that I know I'll probably never get to, but can always hope for. So far, the list is:

1. Chartres Cathedral
2. Delphi
3. Jerusalem
4. Serpent Mound in Ohio
5. Notre Dame in Paris
6. Karnak
7. St. Peter's
8. return to St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey (possibly could happen)
9. Stonehenge

(sub-list probably starts here)

1. Rocamadour
2. wherever it is they keep the Black Madonna in Poland
3. somewhere in India . . . kind of nebulous on that one
4. okay, Angkor Wat

In some holy/consecrated spaces, I can feel what's there and some, not. I don't know what triggers the brain to react to a place or not. Another one of those things I need to investigate further . . . in my spare time.

If there's anything I'm meditating on this week . . .

On one statement in class last week that stuck with me. "Primal man lived in a world lit only by fire."

Actually, humankind lived in a world lit only by fire until the last -- what? -- hundred years or so? That kind of puts all our burning (pun intended) problems in perspective. Yes, we have marvelous technology, including the machine on which I write this. The last hundred years have seen strides in science and technology, and a standard of living, that could not have been dreamed of even by the eminent Jules Verne. But . . . if we think of all the accomplishments of humankind in the previous millennia, we understand that we don't own the right to define our culture. Almost a thousand years ago, people who lived in a world lit only by fire built St. Denis, Chartres, Notre Dame, Salisbury. Chaucer and Shakespeare lived in a world lit only by fire. So did Columbus. And Thomas Jefferson.

So, all this is to say that it seems to me that life is not about a new smart phone, or a McMansion in a gated community, or a prestigious job. And it isn't about me, me, me! Because really, in a thousand years, what will the difference be between a Blackberry and an I-Phone?

What was I thinking?

Class on Wednesday nights from 7 to 9:30. Hmmm. Doesn't sound too bad, only one night a week. After all, Geology from 6 to 9 twice a week wasn't so bad last fall, right?

I must have aged since last fall. (Well, duh.)  I am unutterably tired. I am hoping this mantra will keep me going: Graduating next summer . . . graduating next summer. Like many other things in life, college is designed for young people. I've decided that it isn't actually a measure of how much you can learn, how bright you are, it's just an endurance contest.