Okay, so my rant for the day is about my roommate again. She's taking the LSAT. No problem with that. But she's taking everything so seriously. My take on the LSAT (and I could be wrong) is that it is roughly like the GRE. No specialized knowledge, just your average standardized test. Now I could see stressing over the MCAT or a single subject GRE. But the LSAT?

It's not that she's stressing, it's that she took 2 weeks off of work so that she could study and prepare. She takes practice tests about 3 times a week if not more often. The Friday before her Saturday morning test, we have a half day at work. It's the day of our company anniversary. No one actually works, there are just fun activities. Until about 1 p.m. I asked if she was coming (because seriously, how often does your company hand you money and say "do something fun with it and we'll judge at the end who had the most fun"?). She acted shocked that I would even think of asking - as if I had suggested that she stay out until 3 a.m. the night before.

Okay - how hard is this test? I mean, I took one practice test about a month before I was scheduled for the GRE. I almost forgot about the thing. And I still did fine. I bet roommate #1 took an SAT prep course too. (For the record, I think those are about the biggest waste of money out there - and I used to teach one!)

On the terrorist attack topic -- I was reading some posts here (on other blogs) and articles, etc. and I have to say I agree somewhat with the editorial in the San Jose Mercury today - so many people are taking this attack and using it to forward their pre-existing agendas and that's annoying. I just read one about how what we should learn from this is to be more environmentally conscious. How that came from this attack is still beyond me - and I did read the entire post. There are many issues here and so far I've had several conversations with my roomates and others on US foreign policy (a topic about which I am woefully uneducated), violence, spirituality (a word I generally hate for its blandness), and other topics that I generally avoid in polite conversation. Yet never once have I thought of pollution, except in terms of the dust in NY, or gender relations. (Someone apparently gloated about how it was the *men* who stopped the terrorists and caused the plane to crash in PA - how do they know? And even if they do, I don't necessarily think that proves anything about the vast majority of gender related issues. I don't think men and women are exactly the same. I feel that sameness and equality are too often confused. Harrison Bergeron is a story that I highly recommend. But I still think that if I do the same job as a male co-worker, I should be paid the same amount. Thankfully I work at a company where I am pretty sure this is the case.)

Wow, am I off topic here. Yes, off topic. I don't think the events of Sept. 11 have anything to do with gender equality or environmentalism. I resent people who use the tragedy to forward their own agenda. That is almost as bad as those who are using it to price gouge or solicit donations for non-existent charities.

I'm back - that took longer than originally planned for obvious reasons. About which I will not write at the moment because I don't think I have any coherent thoughts. And what I have heard from others is still jumbled.