Went to Orchestra Hall last night to see the Minnesota Orchestra (go figure) and ran into none other than the infamous Dr. Ratledge. After recovering from the slight awkwardness involved in running into a professor while on a date, I talked with Dr. Ratledge about the courses I will be taking in the fall to begin my Master's program (including "Contemporary British Cinema" and "British Literature Post 1800 of the West Indies"). After listing the course names, he deemed my courses "weird" and then seemed more interested in discussing Tyler (Krista's boyfriend; he had run into them at a restaurant several weeks back). Tyler has recently been accepted to a doctoral program in Inorganic Chemistry at the U of M, has been given a full tuition waiver for five years and a $17,000 annual living stipend. Of course I am envious of his position (until I remember that he will be researching chemistry for five years), and I am glad that Dr. Ratledge has such interest in discussing him. But the most un-nerving part of the evening was having such a prominent figure of my past four years pop up out of nowhere when I had been doing such a good job at looking toward my future academic career. Now I have a tiny inkling of longing for the familiarity of professors whom I already know and who know my academic abilities and goals. Now I have to prove myself all over again to a whole set of new people. I suppose that is part of the whole process of "moving on." I kind of thought I had already done that.