Filed under: Home | Tags: berkeley, break, cold, crème brûlée, forgetfulness, game, hair, Lent, McCormick & Schmick's, procrastinate, reading, work
I’ve been waiting for this week since President’s Day. I always dread the last few days before school breaks. Last week turned really ugly with two papers, a midterm, and an in-class essay, not to mention mandatory readings. And I didn’t even procrastinate! I would have already completed at least half of the assignment the night before. The quantity of unfinished work probably made me panic, so I started skipping stuff to study. But it’s all over now and that’s all that matters.
I really needed this break. Getting sick of Cal. Literally. I caught a terrible cold a couple of weeks ago and could barely talk in the morning. I hate it when that happens.
I messed up twice already with my no-desserts campaign, thanks to forgetfulness. I swear, I have a very good memory! Don’t try anything stupid with me. Anyway, I ate a Starburst, and a few days later, a crème brûlée. I guess that’s +2 from Easter. By the way, if you live in/near San Jose and haven’t been to McCormick & Schmick’s, you have to go! That’s where I ate the custard. It’s pricey, but the food is bomb.
Mmm. You know you want it.
Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of short hair. I thought it was about time to pay the stylist a visit. So now, a chunk of my hair is gone. No more dead hair cells! But bangs can get really irritating at times.
A little bird told me that the UC waiting game is over. Seniors: Congratulations!
And now back to reading.
Where you start is not as important as where you finish. -Zig Ziglar
Filed under: College | Tags: 111, berkeley, cal band, football, game, stanford
A video clip of Cal Band from bear territory… (Note: This is a mobile video, so apologies for the low quality and poor filming. The sun was facing the student section and I couldn’t see what I was filming.)
37-16. GO BEARS!
Filed under: College | Tags: College, financial aid, game, santa clara, vanderbilt
I called in yesterday. I waited for ten minutes before I got an answer. “City and state, please?” “San Jose, California.” “Is that in northern California?” “… yes.” “Let me transfer you over the a counselor.” Three rings. She was busy with another person. To leave a message or not to leave a message? I hung up. Forget it. If I didn’t find out tomorrow, I was going to call in on Wednesday.
Today arrived. I opened the mailbox right when I got home. Nothing. The mailman was going to be late again. I decided to let my dad get it when he came home. When the multicolored package of stuff finally made its way to the study room three hours later, I started searching. There was a thin envelope. They say that colleges changed it a few years back so you never knew what was coming at you. I opened it up.
“The result, I regret, is that we will not be able to offer you any need-based financial assistance for the 2007-2008 academic year.”
Uh, okay, so it was a financial statement. Where’s my status? I sorted through the rest of the mail. Nothing. Andrew got a Santa Clara letter of interest — I didn’t even get a confirmation from that college. I ran to the kitchen and told my mom, “It’s just a financial aid letter, they said that I didn’t get any aid, nothing unexpected…”
Why the hell would they give me financial aid results if I didn’t even know a thing about my admission? I read the line over and over again. They wanted to keep my financial options open. Wait. Options? Open?
Last week, it finally hit me that I might be in deep water in this waiting game. I pretty much applied to every school with a competitive major. I was so scared that I wasn’t going to end up anywhere. Everything about me was so out of balance. Nothing seemed to be fit. I was so lopsided in my academics and extracurriculars. I didn’t know what the colleges were going to make out of it.
I realized that I didn’t even get to read the other 80% of the letter. My eyes quickly scrolled down: PLUS Loan, FAFSA, payment options…
“We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your acceptance—”
It took me ten minutes to figure this out.
I didn’t read anything after that line. Honestly, it didn’t matter anymore. I was going to college. One step towards finishing the application process. It’s such a good feeling when you know that there’s a place out there that’s willing to take you in for the next four years of your life.
I guess I was worth something after all.
