$43 Can Take You to the Middle of Nowhere

So I pretty much knew I was going to travel to meet my wife while she was away. But I couldn't just throw that out there right away. I did have to consider the alternative, which is stay put without a car. So $43 will take me from Boston to East Deliverance.

Let's backtrack a bit. I'm in the midst of starting my post-undergraduate education. It sounds contradictory to be in the midst of the beginning of anything, but I am. I'm studying for the GMAT, which is like the SAT for graduate business school. In the meantime, I will be studying for the CFA exam in June. CFA stands for Chartered Financial Analyst, and it consists of 3 levels of exams. And you can only take the tests in June of each year. (Level 1 can be taken in December, but 2 and 3 in June only). And the number of people who pass all three the first time around is something like .006%. Well, I've been playing grab-ass long enough, and it's time to go for it. I need to push myself. I've been letting life pull me along, just floating with the current. I've been delaying grad school and the CFA because I'm afraid of failing. But what's going to happen if I don't try? Nothing, that's what. And "nothing" is dumb. There is nothing worse than nothing happening.

So back to the middle of nowhere story. I've been studying on and off all week, and I was planning on using this weekend to do more of the same. So why spend all this time studying at home when I could hop on a train and study there. And then I'll have all day Sunday to watch playoff footb-, er, study some more. So I'm taking the opportunity to study in East Deliverance. And on the 8-hour or so trip to East Deliverance. Hopefully I'll have some short stories about my travels.

Murray and I have been enjoying some male bonding time. I've eaten 2 pounds of chili and a family-size bag of cheese puffs, and not much else. I did eat two clementines on Tuesday. Actually, one. The other one was frozen and inedible. So I had one piece of fruit and 20,000 calories worth of beans and beef.

Murray has also been sleeping on Michelle's pillow. Poor little guy doesn't know what's going on. Every noise he hears in the hallway makes him jump up and bark at the door. He is going to fuh-lip his shit when he sees his momma again. It's going to be a tear-filled family reunion, I know that much. He's going with Grammy and Auntie Lilly this weekend, and I'm sure he'd rather be there than here with me anyway.

I've also caught up on some Joe-only TV shoes taking up space on my DVR. Surprise, surprise, Joe found more TV to watch. Men of a Certain Age with Ray Romano is a new favorite. I'm not sure what night it's on, but it's on TNT. I seriously hope it makes it to a second season. I'm sick of getting attached to new shows which never come back. It's like falling in love on a first date only to never receive a second one. It's torture.

It's just TV, it's not that bad. But still.

So right now, I am procrastinating. I should be packing for my adventure tomorrow. I have two books I want to read/start reading, and I plan on brushing up on my Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Reasoning skills while on my train ride. I will see the entire state of Massachusetts by rail. I'm starting at the mouth (Boston), and traveling out its butt (Anywhere west of Worcester). Zing! Kidding, kidding. I'm sure the Berkshires are lovely. We'll see if I can make it that far without throwing myself from the train around Springfield.

One more thought. I don't have a small travel bag. Michelle has an entire collection of Vera Bradley bags. She took the only backpack we have. I do have my "messenger bag."

So let's recap. I will be traveling with my man purse on one shoulder and a navy blue Vera Bradley bag on the other. When I get beat up, I'll only have myself to blame.