I had been introduced to Mr. X once before, to request permission to sit in on his Kapa Haka class about Māori culture. The introduction began with Mr. X staring sternly and intently through my eyes and into my soul for an abnormally long amount of time, was followed by an uncomfortable laughter, and concluded with a brief "you can sit in on my class."
I realized one day, as my sister and I casually discussed the future of our lives, that there was a deadline for this vague idea I'd had for years about going back to school. And that deadline was based on something completely meaningless to me, yet very important to the process...the GRE.