How To Disappear Completely

PDF Blues

Last night, around 10pm, I received an email stating that a reference I needed for an upcoming scholarship deadline had still not come into the grad office. I then proceeded to spend from 10pm till 2am trying to 1) contact the professor who had filled out the reference, 2) being informed he was leaving for the weekend for a conference in his discipline, 3) trying to email the form to him so he could refill it out and email it back as an attachment before he left, 4) discovering that the form was only available in pdf, 5) trying to figure out how to transform the format into something edit-able, 6) asking friends who were online to help out, 6) running into dead ends at every turn, 7) realizing that I should have been praying about this a lot earlier into the process, 8) praying, 9) finding a fillable version of the form, but one which had to be locked in order to save any changes, 11) giving up in despair, 12) sending in the one-time use form, 13) going to bed.

The next morning, the reference had not come in, either by the Canadian mailing system (which has been experiencing severe delays through October--are the ponies all on strike?) or by the email version (which I hadn't been expecting anyway because I knew that the professor was leaving). The professor overseeing the scholarship applications had also handled my entrance application process, and thus offered to fill out a reference himself in lieu of the one from Covenant. Whew. Crisis averted.

Unfortunately, this delay in the mail means that I have also not received my absentee ballot and will be unable to participate in the local El Paso County elections this year. I feel politically irresponsible right now and patriotically depressed.

On the bright side, I passed a Jewish bakery shop on my way home from campus, and after purchasing a loaf of eggbrushed bread and exiting back to the street, I had the hardest time convincing a passing man that I was not Jewish nor from Poland.
"Do you keep a kosher house, then?"
"No, I just like the bread. I'm from Colorado, and I'm a Protestant."
"Colorado? I have a cousin from Ohio. That's near Colorado, right?"
"Well, actually it is about an 18-19 hour drive."
"Oh. What's Ohio near, then?"
"Pennsylvania and Indiana."
"Ah!" His eyes brighten. "Pennsylvania, eh? And you are from Arizona?"
"No, I'm from Colorado."
"That's near California, right?"
"Sort of. It's closer to Arizona."
"Oh, I see. And you're not Jewish?"
"No. I just like the bread." By this time the crosswalk sign displayed the icon of an androgynous person walking, and I bid the man adieu.
"It was really nice talking to you."
I smiled, and somewhat amused by the entire exchange, I continued on my way to the grocery store.