This is the Nadir

I am at something of a crossroads being about (hopefully) to embark on a graduate education in mathematics or physics. Many things are uncertain for me, most fundamental among these is my financial instability. Since essentially 100% of my financial support has been dependent on my participation in the realm of undergraduate academia I find this moment unsettling. I can see far enough to know that the sources of money that I have relied upon thus far cannot carry me for more than a few extra months but I do not yet have some other means of support. President Bush is now former president Bush and we finally have a leader who has the potential to be more than an embarrassment. I can feel my mathematical and physical knowledge approaching a sort of critical mass which will allow me for the first time to really fully function as a mathematician and physicist in the professional sense.

I feel that this is a time filled with potential both for me individually and from a wider perspective. Usually the declaration that one is at a low point of life is a negative statement. But implicit in the declaration of the lowest point is the idea that this is the point where things took the turn upwards.

This is probably not even a local minima for my life but that doesn't matter, the declaration of a nadir is intended as the declaration of an upward arc in the future.


P.S. As an interesting side note I will mention that as I wrote this I got an e-mail confirmation of a tutoring position. Looks like I was within about 3 minutes or so of hitting the low point of my financial situation. Now lets hope that my graduate admissions go well.