--Bob Rivers

Before I begin, I should note that I have been told, rather emphatically, that Ann Arbor weather is not colder than Chicago weather. Quite the contrary, especially if you factor in Chicago's winds. I stand corrected.

I'd had a feeling that I needed to double-check my facts on that sentence, but it was late and I was tired. Sorry about that.

But getting back to the narrative...

Perhaps I ought to write a bit about that menorah here, not having done so anywhere else.

I haven't actually had a menorah, as such, since moving to my own apartment. Instead, I've been jury rigging them.

The hierarchy of menorah materials, from most preferred to acceptable, goes as follows: pure olive oil, non-olive oil, candles. The idea is to commemorate a miracle that happened with the olive oil in the menorah in the Temple, so the closer you get to the original, the closer the symbolic link.

I've usually gone with vegetable oil. It's perfectly legal, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than olive oil. For wicks, I've been rolling up bits of tissues or paper towels, that being an old family tradition. (Well, okay, not so old, but it works.) As for what to burn it in... two years ago, I used the metal cups from some travel candles; last year, I covered some bottle caps with aluminum foil.

This year, for the first time since my Bar Mitzvah -- and probably further back, but my memory isn't that good -- I went back to using candles. Much less messy, and I really wasn't in the mood to patchke around with bottle caps and tissues this year. I just stuck a line of candles onto a sheet of aluminum foil on the window sill, and voila, I had my menorah.

Maybe I'll pick up a real menorah next year and go back to oil. But I've gotta say, this was convenient...

I needed Professor J, for he was supposed to be writing me a letter of recommendation for my grad school applications, and I wanted his help in finding one or two other people for that.

And, indeed, he was ready and willing to help with both, typing up his own letter, and calling several other professors. He wasn't actually able to print out my letters that night, 'cause he was out of letterhead paper, but I had to be back the next day anyway, so we agreed that I'd be by then.

Otherwise, we spent the next few hours working on our respective paperwork; I filling out my forms, he working on some letters and stuff. Eventually, we left, and I walked home, discovering a few blocks from my apartment that while I'd thought it was in the neighborhood of eleven o'clock, it was actually a quarter to one. Well, I've never been known for my sense of time...

Oh, and I almost forgot. It turns out that I am getting the last semester free after all. Near as I can tell, it's like this: when I first applied, I did so as a transfer student, bringing with me 43 credits: 25 from the New York Institute of Technology, and 18 for religious studies. I hadn't actually taken any courses at NYIT; rather, the credits were given for courses I'd taken in my senior year of high school, in association with NYIT.

At the time, Queens College accepted such credits without a problem, which is one reason why I never took any AP exams. The problem is, I then waited a bit over six years before starting college. About a year before I finally started, QC changed its policy, and stopped accepting any credits given for courses taken in high school.

I found out that this was going to affect me when I got a letter in the mail partway through my first semester, informing me that the 25 credits in question had been struck down. Appeals through multiple channels failed.

That being the case, I was left with the 18 credits awarded for my religious studies, for study at what turns out to be a non-accredited institution. Which means that I retroactively wasn't a transfer student, so I'm eligible for that last semester free after all. Go figure.

How this is actually going to affect me, I'm not sure, considering that the government had been paying my tuition anyway. I may end up with some more cash, come February. Which would be nice, considering the size of the debt to my father I've been racking up since last month.

Anyway, I got letters of recommendation from three professors, one whipped up on the spot by someone who'd never actually had me as a student, but had seen me around a lot over the years. Hey, any port in a storm. Continued filling out forms and printing out writing samples. Got home, found my final letters and transcripts awaiting me in the mail, along with a lovely Hedwig ornament, from the Harry Potter series. I don't have anything to hang it on, true, but useless presents are often the best sort.

Later that night, I slept for a few hours.

Ran home, picking up my laundry, some bread, and some soda on the same block as the post office. Got home about three minutes after the preferred time to light the candles that usher in Shabbos, but still with fifteen minutes to the actual deadline, thanks to the line in the post office moving at a snail's pace, and the clerk taking ten minutes to process my five letters once I finally got to the window.

I note in passing that if, by some miracle, Iowa accepts me, it'll be in spite of my application, rather than because of it.

Anyway, all the applications but Chicago's are out, and I'll have that last one in the mail on Tuesday.

As an aside, I had thought that perhaps this Shabbos would be the one in which I finally visited the family. No such luck. Although perhaps just as well, I figured, given the expected snow storm.

Ended up shoveling a path from my door to the sidewalk, too, using a shovel provided by my landlord. After which I went back indoors, and have stayed there ever since.

I have to admit that if it was gonna snow, it was at least timed nicely. Coulda wrecked my week if it'd happened a few days earlier; on the whole, it's conveniently out of the way. Although my mother's birthday is tomorrow, and I'd planned to stop by. We'll see, I suppose.

I think I had more to say here, but my fingers are tired, not to mention my brain. This'll do. See you on the flip side...