11:38 PM:

One other aside: As much as I hate saying anything nice about any Microsoft product, I have to say that Expedia rocks. This was the second time I've used it, and the experience was even more blissful this time around. The prices were as low as I could find anywhere, I was able to build my own flight plan there and back (not a given on these bargain sites), it remembered that I wanted a window seat (not to mention kosher food), and I picked up my tickets at the airport by doing nothing more than swiping my credit card into an e-ticket machine and telling it how much luggage I had. Excepting when I went through the metal detector and when I boarded the plane, I never had to interact with an actual human being. Which is exactly the way I like it.

We interrupt the narrative in progress for a quick report from today's news.

Back on March 18th, I wrote:

I figure I'll probably manage to graduate with honors [in English], but that "highest honors" is now out of the question.

I suppose it's nice to know that I was exactly right. I just got the call today, and plain-vanilla honors it is. Fortunately, I'd already come to terms with that. Well, mostly.

In other news, over in Public Speaking, I got the results back from my first speech to the whole class, and contrary to what I wrote last night, I got a pretty much perfect score, scoring 3 out of 3 in every category being judged, and an "A" overall. Go figure.

In the meantime, I have a nutrition midterm tomorrow, and I still have to continue cleaning my apartment, and I need to be up early tomorrow morning to attend a siyum so I won't have to fast all day, so this is going to be interesting.

I should say, at this point, that this whole Michigan thing is Sibley's fault. She's the one who recommended that I check out the University of Michigan in the first place. On looking at their Web site, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that their English program did, in fact, look like it was right up my alley, and I can't thank her enough for bringing it to my attention.

In addition to that, I'm extremely grateful to both Sibley and Natalie for bending over backward to help me throughout the time I was there. Which started at the point where the last bit left off. Entering a strange city for the first time -- especially on one hour of sleep -- could have been a nightmare; it was reassuring to know they'd be there to pick me up and show me around.

Abridging slightly, 'cause I'll never get done otherwise, I dropped my luggage off at Sibley's workplace, then walked to the English department office, introduced myself to the secretary I'd been e-mailing for the past couple of weeks, had a cup of tea while looking over my itenerary, then decided to check in at the hotel before my first interview at three. Natalie drove me and my luggage over, and I unpacked and watched Sesame Street for the better part of an hour before returning to the school via bus, getting back just in time for my first appointment.

And I've gotta go to sleep now, so the rest will have to keep. Stay tuned.

So. This past Wednesday, I started by skipping my linguistics class again, which failed to bother me because (a) I was busy, and (b) I'm doing quite well enough even with the missed classes. I did attend my Public Speaking class that night, though. It started with going over the previous week's test; the class's scores ranged from around 54 through 98. I was the 98, so that much was good. Then it came time for a bunch of us to give our first speech to the entire class. Mine was on the villanelle form; it wasn't very well prepared, didn't have all that much content, and wasn't delivered especially well. But, hey, nobody's perfect.

From there, I went home and continued working on my latest column for the college paper, which I'd started writing the previous night. I usually write it on Thursdays, but that wasn't going to possible in light of the Michigan trip. I got done around 1:00 AM, after which I got to eat something and start packing for the trip. I got to bed sometime past 2:00 AM, fell asleep somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:00 AM, and woke up at 4:00 AM, so that I could get myself together in time for my cab ride to the airport, which arrived on schedule at 5:00 AM.

The cab people lied outrageously. I'd gotten their number from a leaflet stuck in my door, which should have tipped me off. But while I know the numbers of the cab companies in Far Rockaway, I'd never had occasion to call one in this neck of the woods before. So when the leaflet showed up a couple of weeks before my trip, I chalked it up to a useful coincidence. And the $1 coupon on the leaflet looked nice, and it said they took major credit cards, including Visa.

The trip cost $12, the driver wouldn't take the coupon, and he didn't accept a credit card. I did have $12.04 in cash on me, which I gave him. He gave me a blank receipt, claiming to be unable to offer anything more.

On the bright side, he did get me to the appropriate part of the airport by 5:15 AM, leaving plenty of time to spare before the 6:30 AM flight. The flight left on time, and arrived in Cleveland a few minutes early. After saying my morning prayers and waiting around for awhile, it was time for the connecting flight to Detroit on the smallest plane I've ever been on (19 seats, plus one apiece for the pilot and copilot). It, too, arrived a few minutes early, after which I proceeded to the baggage claim area, which seemed like my best bet for finding Sibley and Natalie, who were picking me up from the airport.

A Note on Nomenclature:

Referring to other escribitionists while maintaining continuity in the narrative can get complicated, especially when they switch pseudonyms. Long-time readers may vaguely remember that last May, I met another online diarist, who went under the name of Sibley. She's since gone on to write another journal, this time sticking exclusively with the first person and not using any name at all.

She and her roommate are about to become important players in this journal, so I figure I'd better settle on what to call them now. While the idea of calling her The Journaller Formerly Known As Sibley appeals to my sense of humor, it takes too long to type, so I'm sticking with "Sibley" herein, at least until such time as she starts using some other name in her journal. Her roommate's pseudonym, on the other hand, is being upgraded to the one currently being used, "Natalie."

Got that? Good. Now I can get on with the story.

I have plenty to write about, but no time to write any of it. Sounds kinda familiar, no? I even, sadly, missed A.S. Byatt's reading at my college tonight, a reading I'd anticipated for a couple of years. Oh, well.

On the bright side, Operation Clean Shmuel's Apartment is coming along, and may even get done in time for Passover. Stranger things have happened.

But what the heck. Let's see if I can run through at least some of the Michigan Report in the following entries.