Quarterly Notes

For five formative years, I attended a preppy New England boarding school. Much time has passed, but those ties still bind. The alumni association is on par to the CIA, perhaps even better. They know I have moved before I have, and always have my events calendar, fundraising solicitations, and other mailings waiting for me at my new mailbox.

The most notable mailing is the Quarterly. As the name states, it is issued 4 times a year. In it, there are small stories people have written, a summary of the school events, successes of the alumni, etc.. When I get the Quarterly, I am assuming I do what everyone; flip to the "Form Notes" section. Form Notes is a collection of "happenings" of all the members of your graduating class, with their names in bold print for easy scanning to find former friends and enemies.

Before the Quarterly goes out in press, a series of e-mails from our form secretary, comes streaming into my inbox soliciting news. I had stopped submitting notes when I realized that none of them were getting published. Apparently some high school rivalries never go away, but that is a story for another time. On a whim, I submitted an entry mentioning last summer. To my surprise my news made the notes. Sadly, T basically just cut and paste my e-mail, within the text of all the wedding/baby/job promotion news.

On Friday I got the following e-mail:

Hi ET#1,

How are you? I hope all is well.
I'm at work (grad school). I'm always at work. It's great. "I like it
here." I don't sleep so I can be here! Yay!

I think I read in the quarterly that you said you resigned yourself to
being a student forever or something like that - I can relate. Not as
much as some of my friends though (8-10 years in), so I can't really
complain.

Hope you finish soon, if you haven't already. My boss did it (Harvard
alum "with two young children and a husband..."). She likes to motivate
me by telling me that. It's wonderful ("wonderful.")

Anyhoo, I must get back to work. I just wanted to let you know, you are
not alone (or were not, in case you have graduated - and if that was you
who said that, my memory sucks LOL.)

Good luck and Happy Holidays!
"R's ridiculous nickname in high school" (2006 Journal of Not writing my abstract... Review. Keywords:
Grad school is long.)

PS If you happen to be looking to post-doc down here (Houston), or get
to a job, or whatever, and you need a place to crash, just let me know.
I've got a spare room with a queen size and its own bathroom (beware of
cats and live-in.) Although, I think most places around here will put
you up in a nice hotel. Later.


R and I were friends in high school, but not someone I think about in daily life now. Yet somehow getting this e-mail from him, has left me with a fuzzy good feeling all weekend.