Application limbo

I turned in my applications to Scripps, Bennington, and Goucher and am awaiting responses. I always check my email a lot, but I hate the times when I feel the compulsion to check it every time I walk by the computer or think of the computer. I feel like Marianne waiting for Willoughby's letter, but I hope I'll have a better outcome.

Christmas Wish List

New as of 12/9:
-Having Our Say by the Delany Sisters

Old:
-The Richness of Life- The Essential Stephen Jay Gould
-Better by Atul Gawande
-Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
-Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
-Any good book.

-Black choir folder (can be found at musicfolder.com- "The Black Folder-standard")

-Yoga mat

-Art/prints/photographs to decorate my apartment. I have VERY blank walls currently.
-A nice wall map of the world
-A 2008 wall calendar (but only if it's really cool- and only one, please!)

-A YMCA membership

From JCrew:
-Tall city-fit herringbone Parker pant (size 4 or 6 tall-heather charcoal)
-Any of the JCrew stretch vintage cords (size 4 or 6 tall-any color other than orange and red)
-Wool-cashmere Dani coat (6T)
-Perfect-fit long-sleeve crewneck tee (size small-bright colors!)
-York leather driving mocs- I REALLY WANT THESE!!!!
-A good choir dress, like the Flannel Serena dress or Kaylie wool jersey dress (only $99!) at JCrew. Must be black and modest and built to last.

-Any nice sturdy reading-with-tea cardigan (I must replace mine-they all have holes!)

-Running shoes

-A good mug

AWOL

I left many messages on Dad's phone this weekend and then called Mandy to see what's up. Mandy spied on his Expedia account(to be fair, it's our Expedia account too) and found an itinerary. Dad is in Paris. He's going to be gone for ten days. I think this makes him ineligible for emergency-contact status.

Last weekend was great! Ben's mom made an appointment for me to have a facial and got me this amazing cleanser and lotion. This may sound like no big deal, but I have really really really not been taking care of myself lately, so it feels great to have something nice to motivate me to do so. I also worked on my applications for post-bac programs, watched OSU beat Michigan (thank God!) and took Grushka on a looooong walk.


She's been sleeping for the last 24 hours.
I'm working really hard on a good Christmas list.

Update

I hate USC. It is a horrible place where horrible people go to be in a Legally Blonde-ish, sorority-obsessed, ANTI-educational environment. At least for undergraduates. Anyway, psychology is not at all what I'd imagined, but is a kind of sad, underfunded, disrespected science, overshadowed by neuroscience. I am still really interested in it, but when I started to imagine my life in twenty years, became depressed by the thought of writing grant-proposals, teaching undergraduates, or being responsible for other people's mental health. Yikes.

Soooooo, I'm going to try to be a doctor and be responsible for people's lives instead. I have been really put off by the idea of giving all of my 20s to medical school and internship and residency, but what the heck- I can make it work! Besides, I really don't do well with unstructured time. Being un-busy is so not fun.

So I have to apply to post-bacc programs, which all take one year and which I would start next summer, so that I can then apply to medical school after that. It's going to be a long haul. I'm applying to Bennington (VT), Bryn Mawr (outside Philly), Goucher, Johns Hopkins (Baltimore), and Scripps (suburban L.A.) All of these programs are competitive, so I may very well not be accepted by any of them, in which case I begin applying to second-choice schools.

Applying for things is not fun.

Meanwhile, I am finishing this semester at USC, keeping my eyes open for a full-time job in L.A. for the new year, and tutoring eight elementary school and middle school students.

Grushka

HI all. I'm sorry for not posting very much (understatement, I know). But I refuse to feel guilty about it and have even unprivatized the blog to make it easier to check up on. So! For those of you who have been out of communication for a while, I wanted to send out a little update.

Ben and I adopted a pup from a rescue in L.A., she's called Grushenka (named after a character from Brother's Karamazov) and she's been incredibly difficult health-wise, but such a good dog in every other way! She had serious bowel problems for the first two weeks or more that we had her-she would throw up, didn't touch her food for the first week, and had really terribel diarrhea (including all over the house). We took her to three different vets and then finally to a critical care hospital, which was like House for dogs, where we were met by a laughably sexy Grey's Anatomy-like diagnostician vet. Soooo...after bunches of medication, a barium series, IV fluids, and more than a month of cleaning up diarrhea and boiling chicken for her, she is much better. The vet says that there is nothing we can really do except feed her this special food, keep her out of all other kinds of food, and watch her stools to make sure they don't change. Apparently German shepherds often have really sensitive colons. Who knew?

The upside of all of this (we've had her for a month and a half now) is that I've learned a lot about my good side from working with Grush. I don't know when it happened, but it's like all of a sudden I've grown up: I know how to be consistent, patient, responsible, and calm with her and it works! She knows her basic commands, responds to my whistle, is house-trained, and walks well on a leash. It really makes me wonder- did we ever even try to train Chags and Buffy or are Cavaliers really that stupid? She was obviously really poorly socialized as a puppy, but she's already learned to be friendly with strangers (although she still surprises me-the other day at the park she REALLY didn't like the homeless guy) and she's not aggressive at all-the real work to be done will be helping her be calm around unfamiliar dogs, because she is really afraid of them so far.

Victorious!

Yea Ben! The Columbus Dispatch says you won third place! Congratulations-now take Julie and yourself out for a romantic politicians-wife-post-campaign dinner like she deserves.

Ben for City Council

It's ironic that you have eight siblings...and none of them can vote for you! Happy election day, Ben!

Also, I think that this eagle may in fact be even cooler than Jaime's kittens.