"I’ve not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

-Thomas A. Edison

That's like me not having started studying for my midterm tomorrow.

...Ok, maybe not. That connection made a lot more sense ten minutes ago. Now I'm clutching at the faint tendrils of smoke the thought left behind as it blazed through my brain in a bout of rocket-propelled insanity. Moving on.

Senioritis is kicking in like whoa. I spent most of today outside, because it was gorgeous + I had a legitimate reason for doing so -- I was having lunch with, then giving a tour to, Louis Foxwell, Dr. Foxwell's son. Dr. Foxwell is the Dean of Admissions at UMD Med School, and good friends with Wendy, so when his son, a high school junior, and two of his good friends wanted to look around UMCP and talk to some students, he set it up through Wendy, who roped me in. Not that I minded at all -- they were great kids, very well-behaved, polite, and well-dressed (they go to a private school, if that explains anything), and a lot of fun to talk to, plus did I mention it was GORGEOUS outside? Yea. =D

I also finally got a chance to visit Gene Ferrick, my committee letter interviewer on campus. He told me when he interviewed me that he would love to hear how the process went for me, since he never hears from his interviewees again. He was on my short-list of people to visit once I got my first positive decision back, and it was a fantastic half hour =) I love talking to him. In the same vein, I ran into my Honors seminar professor who wrote one of my letters of recommendation (I was looking for her multiple days last week, but because of the B/K events, her classes kept getting moved around and no one knew where she was), and shared the news with her, as well. I miss taking class with her. Quintessential quirky, amazing English prof.

Had a doctor's appointment this morning, where the nurses failed spectacularly at drawing blood. Trying to put that behind me =P For the record, I love my mom.

Also hung out with Maki for a bit, and caught RachelB at the end of her Peer Mentor office hours. We walked to McD on Rt 1, then I walked back to Courtyards. A lot of walking/outdoor time today, but I'm not complaining. At all.

Of course, the White Collar season finale was also tonight, which I watched, and it was AMAZING. So much love. Um, this means I still have to study for the midterm. And do my Business Law reading. And prep for my 9:30 class? I shot myself in the foot this time, but am having a hard time regretting it.

For our midterm (in the class with the professor whose voice grates on my ears; she is also spectacularly boring and a terrible teacher), the professor gave us the point breakdown, so this is how I am prioritizing my studying (also, we get a double-sided cheat sheet -- anything goes except actual problems):

20pts each: Duration gap, DEAR-VAR, RAROC problems --> mostly equations, shouldn't be terrible
15pts: Repricing gap problem --> this is a little trickier, but again, not terrible
5pts: Term structure problem --> very simple and straightforward
5pts: 2yr and 10yr T-bill info pulled from WSJ website; next FOMC meeting date; Fed Funds target rate --> she showed us this info in class during the midterm review on Monday...
5pts: Short answer on one of the CE articles --> she posted the five potential SA questions + the article links on Blackboard; just have to go through and look at all of them
10pts: 5MC questions, 2pts each --> two of them are on regulations from Chapter 2; the other three are from any of four chapters, so more of a crap-shoot

Basically, there's no reason I shouldn't do reasonably well (or at least passably well) on this exam. Except, of course, my own inertia. It's a lot of ground to cover, but the nice thing is, I know exactly what that ground is. Now to actually get down to it...

(I think one of the main reasons I'm moderately content and not freaking out at the moment is because I have essentially put Gems out of my mind for the next... I guess now 18ish hours. Sacrifices must be made. These sacrifices != unsheared sheep.)