School orientation was today. It feels weird to say I'm a graduate student because that always carried the weight and presumption that said student was equipped with an arsenal of actual knowledge. Any concrete knowledge in my head has long since sunk to the depths never ? or randomly ? to be recovered.

Somehow, I still maintain the hope that I'll meet some good and interesting people at school during this program, but as I walked with a group of twenty or so new enrollees, that hope faltered. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise, since the dedicated students who actually aim for high achievement are in places known for it. Harvard. Yale. Columbia. What kinds of people did I expect to be attending a small, technical college in America's Bible Belt-Buckle? I stopped myself somewhere at this point in my train of thought.

After orientation, I bought my books and headed up to Denver to meet with Susanna, an intern of Jeff's who, coincidentally, is from the same city in Taiwan that my mother was from. We've written a few emails back and forth over the past few months, and decided it was time to actually go over some concrete evidence my mother left of her existence ? a few letters from her family ? and some of my Chinese lessons.

She made me rather uncomfortable, because she is so polite and impersonal (although extremely friendly and a good conversationalist). It is hard to explain unless you are familiar with native Chinese. Physical contact is unusual in Chinese culture, and when I went to hug her goodbye she stiffened slightly, obviously uncomfortable. I figured she'd just have to get used to it, but I also vowed to expand my personal bubble a foot or two outward.

After a quick jaunt around the city, I joined Lindsay for dinner. The usual dim sum and then some at Sien Sien, with a hefty side order of bitching. As much history as we have together, I'm starting to grow weary of her constant complaining but I'm not going to join her by making this a bitchsession about her, either. I know I accepted this as part of her personality when we became friends oh-so long ago, but right now I'm just exhausted.

A few more stops at a birthday party and a quick stop at a concert to see a friend, and I'm back at home. Truly exhausted. I can't imagine what the rescue workers in New York feel like right about now. I'm channelling my remaining energy to them. So sleepy. Good thing I can type with my eyes closed.

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