Saturday 13 October 2012

Taking The Leap

Something very big and very scary happened to me this week.

After months of groaning, grumbling, chasing up data I never knew I had, and agonising over whether this sentence would be better suited to a comma or a semicolon, I finally pressed the big red button and sent my university application out into the big wide world. As I type this, I know it is out there, shooting through cyberspace, on its way to the inbox of university admissions officers and professors.

Within the next few days, I'll be able to start tracking my progress. I'll possibly be called for interview. They'll contact me for marked essays for them to examine.

They might even set out the grades I need for a place.

I don't know whether to be excited, or scared. And to be honest, I don't think my brain does either.

I'm not a person who likes to leap before they've sussed out the extremities of the jump they're about to make, but here I didn't really have a choice - no matter how many hours I spend hunting out facts on a university's website, I'll never be able to find some magical page that tells me whether or not I'm certain of a place.

Meanwhile, after a few months' panic in our respective lives, Miriam Joy and I are back to work on St Mallory's Forever! and working towards the closing stages of our first draft. After that it'll be back to the drawing board for extensive editing and redrafting. Then will come the kerfuffle of sending it off to Mark and Saffi for more peering and poking, and then . . . who knows.

They're both big jumps. Very, very big jumps, with no visible safety net and plenty of room for disaster.

But, as they say, the person who never took a risk never got anywhere. Taking the advice of Lady Macbeth (which is something I would not much advise in any but the most extreme circumstances) I shall screw my courage to its sticking place, walk to the edge and set my sights on the other side.

I'll even put on my War Face. That'll help.

~ Charley R

18 comments:

  1. Don't forget to sacrifice a goat. You know. Just for luck.

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    1. Ah, thank you for reminding me! Hmm . . . do you suppose a lemming would suffice?

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    2. As long as it gives off enough blood for Loki to paint his face.

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    3. I'll just get a big lemming then. And maybe a tube of ketchup to cover what's left.

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    4. Indeed. Low fat, or normal? Probably normal, otherwise he might think I was insinuating something.

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    5. Yes, normal. And make sure the lemming is just as flabby.

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    6. I will. Heck knows Loki's not been the same about his figure since that cross-dressing incident . . . or maybe it was giving birth to Sleipnir . . . I dont know.

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  2. Wow, way to go Charley! I'm sniffing through university things myself and feeling like I've shrunk like Alice and left the key on top of the table. I like to know I can handle things before I do them. Just, you know, to be safe. But you're right. What's life if you never take a risk?!

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    1. Heh heh, indeed. Tell you what, I'll be the guinea pig and lend you all the tips I can on it, depending on my success rate xD

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  3. University sounds scary. I'm sure you'll get in somewhere, though. It's the uncertainty that is hard, for sure.

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    1. Yeah, that's the main issue - the lack of certainty that your attempts, however brave, will succeed. Still . . . just close your eyes and hope you hit the other side, eh? xD

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  4. I'd hardly say we're at the final stages ... yet. Sort of the penultimate stages. I mean, more subplots appear every time we work on it.

    Good luck with the application. I've got a year yet before I'm in your place, but I can imagine what it feels like.

    Leap! Leap for the stars!

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    1. LEAPING IN PROCESS! PLEASE WHEEL OUT THE SAFETY MAT! IT'S ALL GONE WRONG! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!

      Also, murp. I say we're getting towards the end. Because according to Charleybrain we are.

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  5. I got you I got you I ... erm well... probably not, though if you land over on this side of the pond, that would be quite a leap. :}

    Still exciting stuff.

    You never get used to them, but leaps like this happen in various points in your life. it's the same sort of nervous goose bumps with any life change (big move, marriage, having kids, changing carrers...).

    But if we don't take them, someone else will and they may end up with all the fun.

    Besides you may not fail if you don't try, but you can't succeed either. :}

    GOOD LUCK! *HUGGLES*

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  6. Just don't hold your breath, because then you might forget to breath and...well, you can't live long without air.

    Jumping can be funny, I think. I find it mostly scary. And then halfway through you want to go, "NEVER MIND! I WANT BACK UP ON SOLID GROUND!" But by then it is too late.

    However, the landing is usually exciting. I hope yours is 8-)

    Hoping the best for you!

    Allons-y!

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    1. Allons-y indeed! And as for breathing . . . . seriously, who DOES that? I've never breathed in my life, you know! ;)

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