I am in the grip of academic uncertainty. Even more perturbing — I actually care!

I finished my sucktastic research paper (that I survived only by the grace of God — a box of midol, many cups of tea, and an extension). Having the paper printed and packed neatly in a folder, I thought my biggest worry could resume being who will win Top Chef next week.

But when I went to drop off my essay yesterday, the building doors were locked. Work, plus some traffic caused by a World War II reenactment (WTF?), made me late. Everyone was gone for the weekend.

And to prove that my gravitation towards failure is not solely the consequence of my own self-damning behavior, Fate herself enlisted the aid of an excited weekend speeder to smite me on the way to campus. That is, I was almost squished by a careless SUV. I actually didn’t realize how close I came to road-pancake status until I was told, “He almost killed you!” and given smiley-faced fries to ease my trauma.

I like to believe I would have survived and lived sweet off my lawsuit money.

Actually, I’m pretty sure the time I almost got hit by a car in Phoenix (my fault, I sprinted across 4 lanes so I wouldn’t miss the earlier bus to school — the car was so close and moving so fast that it hit my purse and the passing momentum nearly knocked me off my feet) and the incident while walking home with Ambur in middle school (driver’s fault — that bastard ran a red light and then ran over the tip of my shoe!) were much closer calls. No wonder Fate has it out for me. I’m tempting! (Probably pissed I made that bus too.)

Anyway, I emailed my paper but I’m not sure if it will be accepted and I may not find out until Monday afternoon. (This means I still have to write that last essay, though it may be for nothing.)

But onto better things:

J.K. Rowling’s commencement speech at Harvard: “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination” If I quoted all my favourite lines I’d be quoting most of the speech.

And Neil Gaiman posted this link in his blog. 10 stories from the China Earthquake told through a series of comic strips by Coco Wang.