Not Fully Functional

I think I dropped the soap 4 or 5 times this morning in the shower. Good thing I'm not in prison. My phone alarm sang for 40 minutes before I was able to drag myself out of bed. Good thing it doesn't turn off after 30 minutes like my clock radio alarm. I'm pretty spent from this weekend.

Friday night the Apple folks had a going away outing for some good friends that are moving. So sad. I probably stayed out too late, because I had a big day on Saturday, but I'm a sucker for hanging out with good friends.

Saturday I had to be in the District at 8:30 am for a visit day for the school to which I was admitted. From 9-5, we had a sample of 3 classes we'd be taking, a presentation from career services, and lunch with current students. We had a little break so we could get all purdied up, and at 7pm we boarded a bus to take us on a dinner cruise on the Potomac. How cool! It was a great time. We got back at 11...and then the bus took us to a bar where the current students had gotten a $500 tab. Ridiculous. It's was like a visit weekend for undergrad...only legal. People were going nuts. I was good though, because I had to work the next day and well...drive home. But again, I'm a sucker for hanging out with friends, even if I just met them that day, so I ended up getting home at 2am.

Off to Apple at 11am Sunday. It started out a pretty typical Sunday...sufficiently busy, but nothing too bad. Then around 3pm we got SLAMMED! I was helping about 3 people at one time, while trying to find specialists for 3 additional people who wanted to buy computers. Oy.

Off at 5, then on to the next venture...sexuality education for middle schoolers. Last night's topic: Sexual orientation and gender identity. Teaching this class has been interesting. The curriculum is designed to be secular and taught anywhere, so it assumes that this session may be difficult and uncomfortable for the youth. But these are Unitarian Universalist youth...youth who have been raised to be accepting and loving of all differences. Youth who already know people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. To the question, "Have you ever seen a man dressed as a woman or a woman dressed as a man?" Most of them said, "Yes." To the question, "What did you think?" they said, "The person was doing what he or she needed to do to be him or herself." No judging or ridicule whatsoever. Of course this is wonderful and makes my job, in a way, easy. But it also makes getting them to talk and participate difficult...because they think, well, this is common sense! Oh well...I guess I'd rather have that problem than hateful youth who won't listen or accept and cherish people's differences.

After that, I stayed up late watching the Oscars...and I'm so happy Glen & Marketa won for Falling Slowly! Here is their performance from last night (with intro from Colin Farrell...ow ow!) I haven't seen any of the nominated movies, but I've seen Once (I got the DVD for my roomie for Christmas) and I listen to that song all the time. Soooo good. And they are just adorable. Take that, Enchanted!!

I hope my eyes open all the way at some point today.

The Adventures of a DC Commuter Continue

This is a "series" I started on my MySpace blog. I'm happy to still be having adventures...at least for the sake of the stories.

I typically drive to and from work every day, but due to lack of parking, Metro is my transportation mode of choice when I enter the District. I almost had a Metro disaster the morning of my grad school interview, which was scheduled for 10am. Everything turned out okay, as the next day I found out I was admitted, but so continues...The Adventures of a DC Commuter!

I left at 9, giving myself about an hour to get to the school, knowing that the train ride itself was about 20 minutes. I probably coulda/shoulda left earlier to be on the safe side, but...I didn't. Apparently traffic on the way to the Metro station nearest me is still busy at 9am, which surprised me.

I got to the parking lot at about 9:20...cutting it close, but still enough time to get there early. I started looking for a spot...and I kept looking...I got caught following another guy looking for a spot. We split up, and neither of us found a spot.

9:25. Panic. I continued following the guy in front of me as he left the lot and drove across the street. The sign said METRO STATION PARKING (though not a part of Metro itself) but there was a big garage. *phew* I saw a guy outside and it looked like he was taking cash. I noticed another sign that validated that he was in fact, taking cash... $5 to be exact. I NEVER have cash....but miraculously I did that day!!! Paid him, ticket in my front window, 2 cars in front of me. Everyone seemed to be driving reeeally slowwwwly. Apparently a lot of people were too late to find spaces in the other lot. Four turns and two floors later, I found a spot in the garage. Thank goodness for the Yaris, because the bigger cars in front of me passed it up. Park, exit, cross street.

9:30. Walking quickly wasn't going to cut it. I started running through the parking lot with my huge tote bag, glad I decided against wearing the heels.

9:32 (according to the station clock). I used the $5 change from my $10 payment to Parking Garage Man to bring my negative Smart Card funds into the positives. 3 minutes until the next train. Commence math, trying to figure out when I would arrive. Profanities directed at self. "Are you fucking serious?! You are going to be fucking late to your *BUSINESS* school interview!?" Hopped on the train, resolved it was out of my hands, and hoped the Metro Trip Planner I had used the night before overestimated the traveling time. I decided I needed some zen, so I pulled out my book, Life of Pi, though I kept looking up at the Metro map to check the train's progress.

9:55ish. Pulled into the stop. I was delightfully surprised that the escalator was not one of the ones that were long enough to descend into hell, so I scooted out pretty quickly. AND the building turned out to be only 2 blocks away. *phew*

I think I got there at 10:00:30 am. I don't think they noticed...or at least, that's what I'm going to tell myself. "Yes, water would be lovely, thank you, it's really hot outside...heh" Ahh excuses for the sweat running down my face.

Talk about highs and lows

Thursday I was accepted to a grad program. Yesterday we had to put down my 19-year-old cat, Mario. My mom was out of town, so luckily I was able to go with my dad to the vet. I'm gonna miss the lil bugger. ohhh head scratches make kitties smile :)

ADMITTED

I had an interview on Tuesday for the MBA program that is close. In an email yesterday:

"It was great meeting with you yesterday, so much so that I get to do the most fun part of my job and tell you that you have been admitted to the _____ Global MBA program. Your letter is going out in the mail today so you can take more than my word for it."

WAAAHHOOOOO!!!

I'm still waiting to hear from the MBA program that is not close. It could be another month before I know anything. My fingers are still crossed, but it's good to know that I have *some* sort of plan for the fall. My roommate is rooting for the local program :)

Applications Finished

I applied to two M.B.A. programs and may apply to a third. The two are full-time, the third is part-time. The deadline for the part-time program's application isn't until May 15, and I find out about the full-time programs in April. This is nice, because I'd much rather go to a full-time program, so I will wait until I hear about those programs and hopefully I won't have to apply to the part-timer. That'll save me 60 bucks too....which will pay for, like, half a book or something.

But they are finished, so now I wait. Even if I have to apply to the part-time program, the recommendation letters and essays are the same as one of the full-time programs (because it's through the same school), so I'd just have to submit and pay. Sneaky how they make you do two applications to get more money......jerks. Oh well, I guess this is for business school.

Nearing Exhaustion

I think my hectic lifestyle I've chosen to lead this winter is starting to take its toll. Last night at job #2 almost all of my co-workers said, Jeez...are you alright!? I said, Yeah...I'll be fine...maybe by April...or June....

I'm working on two projects at my full-time job until ehhh March or April? I hope to continue the part-time retail job until August or September (assuming I don't go bonkers). And starting this Sunday, I will be teaching a class 3 Sundays a month from 7-9, which doesn't include significant planning time, through June. I'm moving to a new place March 1, and my company is moving to a new office building that same weekend. I'll find out if I was accepted into graduate school in April.

This past weekend was rough. The deadline for graduate school application #1 was Monday the 7th at 8pm. Thanks to having two jobs now, I hadn't been able to work on it much until then. I needed to write four essays, totaling seven pages. I had written about a page and a half. So on Friday, I went on a retreat to my parents' house because I could lock myself in a room and, unlike my house, actually have some peace and quiet. My co-worker friend is a writer/editor, so she was going to take a look at them. I told her I'd have the essays to her Saturday morning or afternoon.

Finished the two 1-pagers and went to bed at midnight. Woke up, wrote a longer one and sent her those three at 2pm. Took a lunch break. Back to work at 6pm. Sent her the last essay (which was actually the first, most important essay) at 3am, knowing it was choppy and a work-in-progress.

Off to job #2 Sunday morning. Convinced them that, since someone who wasn't on the schedule was working, I didn't need to be there. Sent home at 3pm. Received a phone call asking if I could come to the parent meeting for the class I agreed to teach. "Oh, just make an appearance, you only need to stay for 20 minutes." Annoyed that teaching this class has been so disorganized and I still didn't know which Sunday it would be starting, I collapsed in a nap from 4:30-5:30. Worked on the application form until it was time for the meeting. I was gone for two hours.

Back to work. Time check: 8pm. Still to finish: the application form (which involved a lot more writing than I realized), simple edits to 2 essays, changing the scope a bit of 1 essay, and adding smoother transitions and examples to the other. Time submitted: 3:30am. All in all, I'm *really* happy with the way the essays turned out, but last year, this school accepted 6% of the applicants. *sigh*

Graduate application #2 is due Tuesday the 15th. The application form is for the most part finished, but I have to write three essays. I think I will be able to tweak some of the other essays, but I will definitely have to do some original writing. With my current schedule, I basically have Saturday to finish...and/or I'll just stay up till 4am Monday night again...

Don't worry, my writing is much better than this for the applications.

Monster Truck Rallies??

Really, horoscope? Really?

Your social energy is quietly buzzing right now, making today perfect for spending time with friends. Anything from heartfelt chats to monster truck rallies should be fine, as long as you're all together.