On the Road to Adventure

Yes, I have set myself upon the path to taking the GRE in hopes of gaining entrance into a Ph. D program for Biblical Studies, and I expect to courageously battle the monsters of "I don't remember how to do THAT from high school algebra!" and "WHAT does that word mean?" I may change my name for the next month to "Brettbo Baggins" (interestingly, I have the same birthday as Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Sept. 22nd - the autumnal equinox) I am doing ok so far on preparing for the test ... figuring out more things on my own without asking my father (who has an MA in math) or a friend and housemate who tutored math in the summers for 3 or 4 years straight (after you finish the "general review" type books there is another stage of taking practice tests where you have to apply the mathematics in the specific format of GRE questions, which is another world altogether). Just last night after getting off the phone with Pauli there were a number of problems that had me stumped (probably because my brain was sore). Oneof them I figured out in the car on the way home from the coffee shop and another I figured out in the car on the way home from work today. ... but I don't think I have the funds to afford very much of this kind of studying at these gas prices, haha. I will try to make a few posts here and there, like the following one which I just have to cut and paste from an email to a beloved "nephew" of mine and Pauli's "It's a dangerous thing stepping out your door, Frodo my lad - you never know where the path may lead you ...." - Bilbo Baggins "The Road Goes Ever On and On Down from he door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, And I must follow if I can Pursuing it with weary feet, until it joins some larger way, Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say." -Bilbo Baggins, from "The Hobbit" by J.R.R Tolkien