My name is among two recommended for grant placement. I've been there thrice before without making the final cut, but I'm mildly optimistic. The topic is in my area, I have all the qualifications they wanted and more, though we all know it means precisely shit if you "don't feel like a good fit" so it's far too early to say anything either way. That's pretty much it as far as news goes, lightening my afternoon of grading mid-terms (results are various shades of depressing) and listening to flatmate's gf's increasingly annoyed monologue about office politics.

Aikido got more interesting, with some light sparring introduced possibly as a result of everyone being increasingly vocal about drilling seemingly the exact same things for over two months. It's a cliche, but I got a bit of that Karate Kid moment when Daniel understands that all those miscellaneous chores had a purpose. Morale's up, and I want to see what's next.

I'm invited to spend Christmas with my brother and his family, but I just don't feel it. Being alone at this time of year isn't new to me, but for the first time, it looks like something I want.