greetings from heathrow

i'm presently sitting in the midst of a group of university of exeter freshers who are being coordinated and shipped off to their residences via shuttle bus. the customs officer was delighted that he wasn't going to have to process yet another student visa when i stepped up.

my flight over was grand. i was seated next to a lovely english couple from lincoln, england. we had a nice chat. and lest it be thought that i only write complaint letters, i am actually going to write a letter of commendation to air crapada. their selection of in-flight entertainment today was fabulous. i watched three movies in this order: the pool (from their "world cinema" selection), victoria day (from their "canadian film" selection) and "grey gardens" (from their "avant garde" selection) (i don't really get this last one, but whatever.) also, among the choices for TV show comedies were episodes of "fawlty towers". amazing.

my first observation as i look around the airport is that approximately 25% of the graduating classes of schools all over india have just arrived on the shores of england. the guy next to me just asked me if am from india. he's from gujarat, india & studying chartered accounting at LSE. i offered him a pound to make a call from a payphone but he refused to take it. unfortunately, i don't have a cell phone so i can't loan it to him. but i would. he's looking around for his ride. it's kind of crazy to think that i could have been one of these students too. maybe next year. or maybe not.

my motivation to apply to graduate school for fall 2010 is seriously dwindling. i don't think i can muster up the energy to do applications for admission and for funding and start harassing potential referees. argh. they probably weed out the lazy people like me just by making the application a multi-stage process.

well i should go take a look for j.m. and m.r.
just reporting that i got here safe & sound.