Exhibit 4.17

Countdown to GRE Literature Subject Test.

Days left until test: 1
Things I still don't know: 1300-1590, 1620-1840, poetry, math
Things I do know: Faulkner and maybe a little Woolf
Things you know: If read this blog, probably more than you wanted to about dogs and Jon Bruning
Obscure work I spent too much time on: Definitely Love's Last Shift, or, Virtue Rewarded
What I'm going to do after the test: Bask in the buzzing hug of television
Swears upcoming in this post: 1
Dolphins wins: 0
Replies to the Passionate Shepherd: Ubiquitous

Relevant but rambling story: In high school I had an AP History teacher whose sole reason for living seemed to be to get his kids to pass the AP American History exam. All semester long he paced up and down the rows of desk as we took practice exams and mumbled to the smart kids, "You're going to do some real damage on this test, some real damage." He taught us obscure facts at the expense of the important because the easy stuff wouldn't be on the test (he claimed). Anyway, so we took the test. It went fine and we were well prepared, but when we went to class on Monday and told him the most obscure question on the test, his face fell and all he could do was shake his head. The question was about a pioneering TV show, the answer was All in the Family. All in the Family? he asked again and again until his heart finally broke with the knowledge that he was going to have to introduce television shows into his curriculum. It was too much. He quit teaching the AP class he'd been teaching for over 20 years after that semester.

Anyway, he only had 1607-1975 to deal with. We've got Homer to Toni Morrison. I hope every single fucking question is about Meathead.