Every end is just a beginning of something else, apparently (until finally one gets to *the* end and hands in their dinner pail, as someone else quaintly put it). It started with, "Study hard and just get into IIT and then no more worries!" only to be followed by, "Did you stand first in class in the exam?" (I've grown up and come to grad school, but my mother unfailingly still asks me this after every exam, I guess it has something to with my being the only child of a schoolteacher :P).

Anyway this is not supposed to be a rant because I passed my first qualifier yesterday! After a semi-sleepless night muttering 'DFT' and 'coupled-cluster' in my sleep and dreaming about my slides, I pulled off a fairly good presentation, knew the value of room temperature in wavenumbers and timed an 'Oranges and lemons' animation just right to pass my first oral exam. Now I can sit back and enjoy the anticipation of going home in roughly a month's time. Went and watched a performance of 'Into the Woods', a musical which combines elements of a whole bunch of fairy tales. Loved the singing and all the performances. All the audience cheering for the people on stage brought back memories of all the drams I've seen/been a part of in good 'ol LT.

Haven't been exercising in a while, but I've made plans to go  running on Sunday. It's going to be cold out, about 6 degrees (Celsius). I guess now is as good a time as any to start running again, especially since I cannot afford to show up looking overweight at home. Thinning hair, fat and 23 years old! (Emphasis on the old!)  Disastrous! I can't help the age or the hair, so  I guess I should stick with controlling what I can :)