Good things.

A lot of good things have been happening recently. I wish that they would spread themselves out evenly over the year rather than happening all in ONE WEEK, but it keeps me on my toes or something like that.

Firstly, I am enjoying The Bookstore. There is usually only one person deployed to the café at a time, so I work by myself a lot. Sound stressful? It is so gosh-darned slow compared to Starbucks. I love it. I also make a wild amount of tips when I work by myself in the morning. Accordingly, I hate working nights.

Secondly, I went to gay karaoke with my friend Dan (not Wetzel). After a few gin and tonics you better believe that I was READY to sang, so I broke out "The Man That Got Away." Whoever says that alcohol isn't good for singing is a LIAR. I don't think singing ever felt so good especially that high. Lovely. That's not the best part of the night. The best part was the extremely GORGEOUS and tall doctor who came up to me after I sang to tell me that he loved it. I wanted him to stay and talk to me longer, but I think he thought I was with Dan. I should also mention that this place is a DIVE BAR...not in appearance, but in terms of the people it attracts AKA a lot of older bears. Okay, maybe that's demeaning to older gay men with facial hair. It's a nice environment and everyone's nice. The moral of the story is we were the only devestatingly gorgeous people in the bar. Gravity pulled us together.

I ended the evening by singing back-up with a middle aged black lesbian to a total man-Guidette's version of "Killing Me Softly." Perfect.

What happened next?

I got an e-mail from Rutgers saying that my Financial Award was revised. The last time I checked it my tuition remission wasn't included and there was about FOUR listed that I had no interest in taking out; I assumed that this was just a notification that this had been remedied.

WRONG.

I found listed: Work Study moneys, a subsidized loan (no thanks. been there. paying that), Graduate Tuition Remission (aka my teaching assistantness), and...A Graduate Fellowship for $12,500 a year. UM WHAT?!?!?! This was a Saturday so I couldn't call anyone to confirm or refute that Rutgers is now giving me a stipend, so I walked around in this daze of "ZOMG, I might not have to kill myself working and going to school for the fifth year in a row!"

After wading through a million busy signals, I finally got through to the Financial Aid office to confirm that yes, Rutgers is giving me a $12,500 stipend. Skeptical of people's competence as usual, I said "Am I listed as an in-state student?!" thinking that they had overlooked the fact that I've never lived anyone OTHER than New Jersey and were billing me for out-of-state tuition and thought that I needed the money to cover tuition. Nope, in-state status.

So. Good things for Steven. Now, I may quit Borders...