Could it be?

I can't believe this.  So much so that I was shaking too much to post this yesterday when I found out.

Yes, that's right.  My references received this email yesterday, which means this year the astronaut candidate office thinks I am HIGHLY QUALIFIED!  My heart was beating so merrily while the anxiety of "what ifs" threatened to exude from my ears.  They received the second most number of applications in history, with around 7800.  The most received was approximately 8000 in 1978 right before the Shuttle program debuted and the first year women were allowed to apply.

This year, they narrowed down the list to some 4800 "qualified" applicants, and now they check the top 10% of those.  And I am one of them, apparently!

In 2008, I kept it a dire secret-my applying that is.  And this year, I vowed to not be so dramatic.  Maybe I am being rewarded?

For now, I won't concentrate on what it means in the grand scheme of things or how I can uproot what Srin and I finally established in D.C. Because, really, they are just asking around about me.  I still have ~479 others who I am sure have C.V.s that would make me drool...

But each step of this emotional process will be an internal brag point, and I guess I am finally mature enough to take it for all it is worth.