So, tonight is the last step in the black belt testing. At least two hours of sparring against the instructors. In my head I'm calm, but my stomach apparently has other opinions because it's been upset for a couple of days now.

On top of that, I got a packet from Penn State today, thanking me for my interest in grad school.

I've talked about going back for a couple of years now. 10 years ago, I told people I thought an advanced degree for Comp Sci was useless for working programmers, and I believed it. But starting a couple of years ago, I couldn't help but notice that I was having a harder and harder time understanding a lot of the programming topics being discussed on the intarweb, and my company offers tuition reimbursement, so I told my boss I was going to look into it once I got through the karate thing - and one way or another, that time has come.

Looking at the packet, they offer a graduate degree in "Software Engineering" which looks to be more practical than a degree in Comp Sci. Perfect. So why am I so nervous?

Could it be because I haven't been a real school in 21 years? Could I be worried that I'll be as out of place as a dinosaur at a mammal convention? Could it be that I'm worried that I wouldn't be able to handle the work load? The cost? The time? That I'm afraid I'm not as smart as I pose?

Well, yes.

What to do... What to do...