Sour Grapes. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. An amazing calm has come over me since making the decision to postpose my doctoral work. No more financial stress or the added existential stress of traveling back and forth to IA and being away from Stephanie and Roscoe for two years. So I don't get a six year study session. It wouldn't have been one anyway if I was working most of the time to pay the rent in some squalid roach-infested shithole I forced to live in because I had no money. Who in their right mind would PAY $25-50,000 to leave a home, loved one, and best dog in the world just to live at half the quality of living and read things they could read on one's own and write about on the weekends. C'mon, now.

As for my last spit of fire, I should say that I know plenty of people in the PhD world who are brilliant, excellent scholars, and good people. I just also know that plenty aren't, and having a PhD is no guarantee of any of the aforementioned qualities.

The dog gets a teeth-cleaning tomorrow. Now THAT'S excitement!