True Woman of *almost* Genius

"There is no great genius without some touch of madness"

I've been lying awake at night trying to determine something--am I a genius? Those who know me know that there is a strong possibility that I am (Yes, you DO know that...). However, my *almost* genius mind has concluded that I am not (sigh of relief). I know this for two reasons:

1. I did not have an imaginary friend when I was young. Or any imagination, really. Apparently Imagination is a *sign* of genius. Well, I played normal games. My pets and stuffed animals had normal names. No signs of genius there.

2. I remember the first time I watched Patch Adams. They were talking about one of the patients and discussed how he had gone mad. They called it genius syndrome. Since that movie, I have studied the work of many geniuses. And pretty much all the people that I consider truly GENIUS are a little (or a lot) crazy. Burke, Foucault, Derrida....I could go on and on and on. It is true what they say--for every strong positive there is an equally strong negative. So you had all these revolutionary ideas and changed the course of the humanities forever. Buuuut, you drank yourself to death, grew a huge beard, lived in a cave and couldn't stop scratching yourself.

I like my (self-declared) position of *almost* genius. In fact, when I graduate my signature will look like this:

Kristen X, PhD (almost genius but not crazy enough)

...Although, by the time I graduate I may have the madness but no recognizable features of the genius. That would be a shame. No one goes to school to get dumber.

*please see the comment section for further analysis regarding this post