Go meara!

GO Nicole!

YAY! It's about time we get some good job news around here!

So, applying to colleges. Each time I've gone (and I've been to four. Crazy), I've applied to one and only one. I knew where I wanted to go (well, except for the first one...I didn't really have a choice; dad taught there, so it was free for his kids), and put all my eggs in one basket. The third one was a community college, so I wasn't worried at all. And I really wasn't worried at UMB either. I'd met with the honors department, and they seemed certain I'd get in. So, I said, "Ok. Here we go."

Here's a funny for the morning:

While priming the dining room last night, Joe accidentally stepped on Em's dinosaur and smashed it to bits. He valiantly tried to get it into the garbage before she noticed.

Not so much.

For the next half hour, we were treated to a barrage of, "You broke my dinosaur! HEY! You broke my dinosaur! You broke my dinosaur!"

Finally I snapped and said, "Em. Daddy said he was sorry. We will get you a new dinosaur. That dinosaur is dead. Everything dies. Get over it." (I was verry tired and cranky.)

Joe says, "You're using a broken dinosaur to teach her about death? I thought we'd wait for a hamster or a goldfish."

"You want to listen to a half-hour of 'You broke my goldfish'?" I ask him.

He's about to respond when Em bursts back into the room.

"YOU BROKE MY GOLDFISH!! HEY! YOU BROKE MY GOLDFISH!!"

wow ... lot's happened.

Congrats to Nicole on her raise. And to meara on her job ... but you're leaving us! sob! Although you'll probably do well in Seattle - can we think of it as trading one Washington for another?

Colleges ... I graduated HS in 1969. HS was hell and my only ambition was to get the hell out of the miserable town we lived in and away from my family. I applied to four colleges, none local (HS counselors were no help at all - most of the kids I graduated with didn't go to college, most of the girls married within a year of graduating), got into three, waitlisted for one (the one I really, really didn't want to go to). Didn't make as much of the time in college as I should have - wasted a lot of opportunities which I regret now. But ... I got a good education, learned a lot academically and socially, so I'm glad I went there.

"YOU BROKE MY GOLDFISH!! HEY! YOU BROKE MY GOLDFISH!!"

Heh. Now I wanna get a kid, just for the amusement value.

In good news, my latest royalty check was for more than I expected. Apparently, not all college students know where/how to get their textbooks used, and for that I am grateful.

In bad news, the librarian with shingles is going to be out for the next week, and I think she may have a rough semester getting over this. She's a hard worker, and very sweet, but I wouldn't call her tough, so I'm not sure how she'll handle the pain.

Poor MM. His own daughter won't give him a break. Hee!

All too soon it is going to be...

"YOUR BROKE MY FLYING MONKEY. HEY. YOU BROKE MY FLYING MONKEY!"

the lunch of choice at St. Ursula Academy

Hey! I went to an Ursuline h.s. also. Small, all girls. I don't remember what all I ate for lunch except for on hot dog and tater tot day! yum! For 1st - 8th grade I had brought a 1/2 peanut butter on whole wheat sandwich for lunch every day so I know I started branching out when I got to h.s.

I mostly had a positive high school experience after getting over the weirdness of going from public to small, private, Catholic school where many of the girls had been in school together since kindergarten. I met my best friend almost right away so that helped. We could be freaks together! And even though there was a big jock culture at the school it was really very cool to be smart and/or arty. The principal sucked but the teachers were awesome.

What, the small group of us here can't be your entire social circle?

Ahem. I am accustomed to a very LARGE social circle. And OMG scared by the concept of having to create one. It's been a while. And I worry that maybe it's easier to create one in a transient place like DC, or when you're 22. Erm.

can we think of it as trading one Washington for another?

Heh. At teh interviews in Seattle I kept having to say "Yes, I'm from the *other* washington...."

So, I got a wonderful raise (27%!!) and a new position within my current company this afternoon

Holy crap, Nicole, that's awesome!!

In HS, I had frozen Reeses, cheese popcorn, and Diet Coke for lunch almost every day. Awful!

I was more a "carton of milk, bagel with cream cheese, and dingdongs" girl myself. Gotta get the calcium, y'know. (Or, milk was cheaper than soda)

Oxford and Cambridge, you can only apply to one of the two, and you have to apply outside of UCAS

You have to pick one? You can't apply to both? That sucks. What's the difference between them perceived to be? Do they have different reputations?

the librarian with shingles is going to be out for the next week, and I think she may have a rough semester getting over this

Ooh, yeah, shingles can be a bitch, leave lasting nerve pain and shit. Ouch.

oh dear, I'm sitting here giggling at the image of Em laying down the law to her father (get used to it - it's going to be a loooong childhood).

tommy, I'd suggest borrowing a child - get your entertainment and then return the child to its parents. It's not all laughs ... although if you feed the child lots of sugar, you can watch the parents burn out (I once heard that a store had a sign posted saying "unaccompanied children will be given candy and a puppy" as a threat to parents).

Yay Nicole and meara!

Poor Em's dinosaur. Such an ignoble demise. Crushed under the heel of the patriarchy.

High school - hated it, every single moment. Small private church-run school, sanctimonious hypocrites, all of them. Shed not a tear upon graduation. Applied to a Vanderbilt and a couple others. Got accepted to all. Wanted to go to California, went to Vandy because Mom wanted me close. Hated it. Went to summer classes so I wouldn't have to go back home. Graduated early. Eschewed grad school for the real world, probably a good idea, though I could have chosen a better career path. Often wish I had an advanced degree, but lack the motivation to go get one.