Since I never got to use it...

Here's the essay I planned to submit with my Yale app, and an addendum with some thought that wouldn't quite fit. (It's unedited and unrevised. So don't laugh at me.)

Listening to this song while you read it would be appropriate.

My teacher asked our Social Studies class if we knew any veterans or servicemen. A few kids raised their hands and said that their grandfathers had fought in World War II or their parents had fought in Vietnam. When she called on me, I started listing names.

“My great-grandfather fought in World War I. He worked on the railways that were built to bring supplies and troops to the front lines. My uncle Bob was stationed in Germany after World War II. And my aunt is a colonel in the Air Force. She went into the Second Gulf War right after my cousin was born.” I explained all of this matter-of-factly. My aunt and uncle enlisted because they wanted college money, and my great-grandfather had been drafted. None had much of a choice.

When my teacher started talking about how proud we all should be of our military relatives, I was somewhat confused. I thought of myself as fairly patriotic. I took the Pledge of Allegiance seriously each morning and identified my ethnicity as simply “American”. I never thought, though, about what that meant.

Two years ago, two cousins joined the military. Sue enrolled in the Naval Academy and Charlie went to Parris Island, South Carolina, for his training to be a Marine. There was a period of two months when Sue was at Plebe Summer and Charlie was at Parris Island during which we barely heard from either of them. I wrote a letter to Charlie telling him I hoped training wasn’t too hard. In the letter I got back, Charlie wrote in small, slanted handwriting that the worst part was the heat.

I later found out that at Parris Island, they put new recruits through hell—they run them hard and force them to push through workouts with little food and sleep. Charlie only told us that the worst part was the heat.

At the end of the summer, Sue was a midshipman and Charlie was a Marine. For a long time, I didn’t understand why they would willingly join the military. I knew that both had been put through tough conditions. Yes, they both succeeded, but why had they joined at all?
I understand now. I have pictures of Sue and Charlie in their dress uniforms at their respective ceremonies. Their uniforms are both navy blue and buttoned securely right up to their necks. But the most essential similarity between them is the look in their eyes. They aren’t just my cousins any more, aren’t just twenty-somethings trying to have fun. They are soldiers. They have been charged with fighting for this country to the death if need be, and I can’t help but be proud. While Charlie was going through I would consider torture, his only complaint was that South Carolina was hot in the middle of summer. When I see them in those pictures, I feel a patriotism that reaches far beyond saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I am proud that my country embodies virtues like democracy and freedom to such an extent that people are willing to fight for it.

I know some people who read this will scoff and point to the HUGE MAJOR problems with the US today. Don't get me wrong, I strongly agree that they exist. (I'm a feminist. and pro-choice. and a ---.) And I think they should be addressed. But we have it so fucking good here. The US military does do good things. No, the US doesn't have the best foreign policy track record. There are so many things we have here, though, that you couldn't find anywhere else.

Cutest video of all time

Courtesy of the Huffington Post via my father.

Frustrated

My own inability to just take the plunge and GET IT DONE already is driving me insane.

In my defense, there are good reasons for waiting. but still.

Also: I am now addicted to grey's anatomy.

Dear Maine

Stop this nonsense right now. This is ridiculous. VOTE NO ALREADY.

Love,
Postscript

wow

I feel like such a genius.

The NYT has a blog called The Choice, which is about college admissions. They've had a series of posts recently with the Director of Admissions at Harvard answering commenters' questions. In one of them, he mentioned that lots of parents write their kids' essays for them, and the very first comment on the post was about how parents should be able to play a big role in their kids' apps because of the money they're going to spend. My comment was that parents should step back and let their kids take responsibility.

In his most recent post, he referred to my comment and later said that readers should heed my advice.

tennis

I was worried about tennis this year. My doubles hadn't improved much, and I thought that my chance to play was in doubles.

But then practices started, and I was kind of sucking at doubles. Seriously.

After one of our practice/ladder matches, my usual partner asked if I wanted to hit with her for a while. She thought that she would do better at singles than doubles. I said yes, and we went out to the court. After we had started playing, our coach told us to play a set.

Now let me say that last year, I wouldn't have had a chance against this girl, I don't think. She could overpower me to the point that I couldn't do anything at all with her shots.

But I won the set, 6-1.

The next day at practice, coach had me hit with a girl--let's call her Ducky, since she sort of walks like a duck. Ducky is a year below me, and she played first singles on JV my sophomore year. She is a huge pain in the butt to play with, since her form is terrible. Like, textbook what not to do. But she is insanely consistent, which is how she managed to both beat everyone and frustrate the hell out of all of us. Last year, she was our third singles player on varsity. Coach hated having her play. Her form was embarrassing to him as a professional tennis coach.

Basically, this all added up and made me want to beat her really really badly.

6-1. YES.

Then coach gave me the first compliment ever.* "Nice playing," he said.

If I can beat her again, I have a chance to play third singles this year (*knocks on wood*).

This makes me so happy.


*He then proceeded to tell me all the things I needed to work on, but he usually skips the compliment part, so I feel like it was an improvement!

anonymity

I really don't want this blog to become shrouded in secrecy, but I decided it's not really in my best interest for any random person on teh internets to know where I go to college. So I've deleted or edited posts about the college search so they're not as explicit about where I want. The college I spent time at earlier this summer will henceforth be known as First Choice School, or FCS. Any other colleges will be described ambiguously.

$1543

Eight application fees: $555

Two tries at the SAT REasoning test: $90

Three SAT Subject tests: $57

Sending SAT scores: $76

Five AP tests: $430

Two IB tests: $305

Spending over 1500 bucks so I can get into college is so not cool I don't even know where to begin.

And this doesn't even begin to include the incredible emotional, mental, and physical toll that going through all of this exacts on you.

my sister and I are so different.

We both talk to ourselves on the tennis court occasionally.

The other day, I was hitting with her and was trying to be nice. I hit a shot slightly wider than I meant to, and her return went into the net. She said "Good try". I said thanks.

She was talking to herself.

When I talk to myself, it's either "jksdhgh why did you do that?!?!?" or "If you had done x, y wouldn't have happened. Next time, remember x." More often the former.

gmail ads are hilarious

GPS Spouse Tracking - Moniitor Your Spouses Activities w/ Our GPS Vehicle Tracking Devices

I could give you a whole list of things wrong with this. I think the most obvious is the spelling error, which irritates me to no end.

Excellent for a Chilly Summer Day

Hot Chocolate a la mode

Seriously. You must try this. It's supereasy. From this book, which I highly recommend.

1 cup milk (he recommends whole milk, but I used 1% and it was ridiculously rich already.)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (don't use fully sweetened. it's already very sweet.)
Ice cream (he says vanilla or coffee. but i used chocolate and it was delicious.)
Whipped cream, if you want.

Heat up the milk until it's very hot. It needs to be really hot. Add the chocolate chips, and let them sit for a full minute. Then whisk until it's smooth.

Put a scoop of ice cream into a big mug. A very big mug, since you need room for the cocoa and whipped cream. Pour the cocoa over it, and top with whipped cream. Eat it immediately, before everything melts.

nuggets from econ

"The United States' military has become a public good. Why on earth would Canada want to spend money on the military? We're not going to let them get taken over. Get them a couple of ponies and they're good."

"The AARP is a truly vicious organization. Really. And they're really fun to watch, but they're just vicious."

"The marginal cost of murdering a second person is approximately zero. If I'm already going to burn in hell for all eternity, what are they going to do, turn up the heat?"

"We tend to be mortals. If you want to be immortal, there are a couple things you can do. You can move to Indiana, and your live will just seem like it's lasting a long time, since there's nothing to do there. Or you can move to a farm in Iowa and eat alfalfa and your life may be lengthened, but it will be as boring as hell."

"I am perfectly willing to sell grades. But nobody has ever offered me enough money."

"What is the greatest fault with our society? Traffic congestion."

Our class meet three days a week. Our professor told us that our TA only had office hours on two of those three days. Yesterday she told us that she had been sitting there alone every week on the third day and getting really confused as to why nobody was showing up.

*happiness*

A few things. This is a bad post to read if you're miserable.

1) Two more hours of shakespeare class, and then it's done. What a boring class. Discussing plays scene-by-scene, with no less than ten hours of class time devoted to each, is mind-numbing. Plus, we say the same things over and over again. (I'm pretending for a moment here that I don't have to write a six to ten page paper about something--anything--I want to, using any texts, and involving any outside sources. But I do have a topic!!)

2) My econ TA is really cool, and has actually given me good advice. Like, what course I should take next year. She tells us that the confusingly-worded questions on our practice exams are indeed confusingly-worded, which makes us feel less inadequate. She laughs about our professor with us, too. And, see number 5.

3) (poofed for anonymity)

4) I heart this school, which will henceforth be known as First Choice School, or FCS. Seriously. I love it here. And I've found my favorite corners and little places to go and where to study, and I feel like I fit in here. (I hate the high sales tax, which is ridiculous to a New Jerseyan. But my only other concern is that I'm bored of the food. Not that I don't like it, just that I'm bored with it. Which is fine, since they have limited service in the summer.)

5) Oh my god. This one has me bouncing. My econ professor is a real big shot here. He used to be the provost, he knows EVERYONE, he teaches incredibly popular courses. And, on the advice of my TA, I asked him for a recommendation. And he said yes!! I am so, so, so, so happy. I asked him after class, which is held in the same building as the admissions office*, if he would write the rec, and as we were talking, he waved his hand towards their office and said "Yeah, I pretty much know everyone in there, so..." I am happy.

6) Tonight they're giving us pancakes. Yummy.


*It's rather unnerving to walk through the admissions office just to get to class. Seriously. And sometimes I have to go through their private little set of offices. Scary.

things i have learned in my first week of college courses

1) TAs are actually superhelpful. Our econ TA? Nice, smart, and very chill. Plus, she tells us the "tricks" and things we should watch out for on our professor's tests.

2) The easiest way to get a variety of healthy foods at the dining hall is by varying the types of salads you makes for yourself at the salad bar.

3) Libraries are awesome.

4) Study carrels and study rooms in the library are awesome.

5) Leaving the bathroom door open after a long hot shower will almost certainly set off the smoke detector. Leaving the bathroom door closed causes the bathroom to be disgustingly humid for hours.

6) Buying individual snacks (like small bags of cookies and chips or whatever) is expensive, but buying large boxes of snacks causes me to eat ridiculous amounts of junk food in short time periods.

7) I actually do miss my parents.

8) Having roommates who have to go to class four hours earlier than you sucks.

9) Some professors are brilliant, but completely disorganized. Example: my Shakespeare professor apparently didn't bother to preorder one of the books at either of the two bookstores affiliated with the university. NOBODY HAS IT. And I can't figure out how to order it on Amazon because my address at the dorm is no fewer than six lines, which Amazon doesn't allow.

10) My high school is crazy. Seriously. There are kids here who feel like they're buried by the workload. The workload here is easier than at my school. Seriously.

(Can I just point out that for once I'm publishing a post that relates to the title of my blog?? Congratulate me!!!)

Two things

One.

You know you're a chemistry nerd when you see that someone has written =O in their away message and instantly identify it as ethanal methanal.

Two.

I WILL BE IN *poof* IN 14 HOURS.

For the first time in my life, we have a president who's not stuck-up and out of touch. So the United States doesn't look like it's being run by a moron. Thank god.

not dead.

Busy.

The year is winding down at last, thank the lord.

But tonight I need to finish a second draft of a paper, and then maybe study for chem. I had planned to write a history essay tonight, too. And I should be in bed already.

So perhaps I shall return tomorrow, once the craziness has subsided slightly.

Enough is enough

For the fifty million people who get to my blog by searching "how do you say x in latin?"

http://www.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe

That is an online Latin dictionary. Use it.

Seriously, why do so many people need to translate random things into Latin?

On a related note, though, I got another gold medal on the National Latin Exam. And since it's my fourth in a row, I get a special prize :) This has been a good week for the college applications.

:D

Remember how, in January, I was spending ridiculous amounts of time writing a paper?

Well, that paper won a prize. I'm going to nationals!

Busy

My mother did not leave work today until about twenty-five minutes ago. At 9:15 pm.

I feel so bad for her.

She's really stressed, and the routine of never being home is driving her insane.

On the bright side, of course, she and my dad are going to the Carolinas this week to look at houses. They're thinking of buying what will eventually become their retirement home, since houses are really cheap right now. And my mom needs a place to relax.