TODAY: Was a Saturday, my day of vacation between one summer class and another. The class starts Monday, and it's physics, so I'm working tomorrow so I don't squander any of my precious vacation time on the Fourth of July holiday, when I need to sqaunder it on pretending to study at some later date. The 24-hour Vacation went something like this:

--Because I am basically a flake I picked up a stray cat at work Thursady night. I was sitting there read my Norton Anthology to World Literature and I see this cat lying in the middle of the sidewalk. He's acting all submissive and docile, the way tame cats do when they want to get taken in (or at least they do in my experience.) Unfortunately, he also looks in really bad shape: Scrawny as hell. Little, too; in that awkward feline adolescence. One eye shut, reasons unknown. Drool trail hanging off mouth, so you're stepping away from him as he's trying to rub up against you. I tried to give him some of my tuna sandwich but no go, which makes me think he must be really sick. In my head I say, "Cat, I have a final tonight. For me to fail my final on your account--taking you to a shelter or whatever--would be a gross dereliction of my duty to myself. But if you're still here when I get back, I'll do something for you then." And of course he is still there when I get back, sitting on the same bench when I walked away from him, head down, not looking at anybody as they come by--if cats look depressed they look like this cat. So I cut holes in a copier paper box and take him home. My intent is, "Okay, the shelter is closed now, but I'll take him there in the morning. That will end my responsibility to a suffering fellow creature." Until my brother tells me they kill the cats at shelters. And my mom thinks the cat is really tame and he really is tame...

So of course I took him to the vet today. There's really nothing wrong with him after all, the eye was fused shut due to gunk, which is being discharged due to his respiratory infection which is forcing him to breathe through his mouth so that's why he's drooling. He is a sound cat. If we're stuck with him, then that's our fifth cat and we officially become "those weird people with all the cats."

--Worked on my applications for med school. Need to figure out which schools to apply to, so I'm not just, like, applying to the couple schools I really like and like two others. Thinking strategically. Which is not one of my natural gifts.

Also gathering ideas for the personal essay. Lessee here...nontraditional student, has worked in hospital for years, hospital environment led to interest in medicine, greater maturity than the wiseass punks you're letting in now--can't you tell?--lifelong interest in science, how it all ties in with my Bachelor's in creative writing, living with a baboon heart since age 5....scratch that last part, actually. But there's an essay there somewhere.

--Sat on the porch, enjoyed the day. It was quite the idyllic day here in South Jersey. My stinky new cat needed attention, too, and he's in quarantine on the porch.

--Reloaded ESPN's NBA page every five minutes. Just waiting for that T-Mac deal to go through.

This is Radio IROB, signing off for the broadcast day.