I have a problem with the verb “to matriculate”, which is often found in sentences like “the student must submit form I99Z before matriculating.” For whatever reason (insanity?), I would expect the verb to be used in a variety of other contexts.

“Honey, the dog has matriculated all over the carpet again!”

“Set phasers to ‘matriculate’.”

“This species reproduces by matriculation.”

I guess I can rejoice now. I found out some time ago that my M.A. degree in South Asia Studies has been awarded. There soon should be a piece of paper coming my way that I’ll be able to put away in a file cabinet and forget. Yay!

Soon, I’m going to be embarking on my Ph.D. in religious studies at UVA. Soon, the “curse of eternal traveling” will afflict me again. I’ll talk more about the curse some day.