A lot of my schoolmates have moved to college already and a lot of those have even started classes and I’m so jealous (well, not for the classes part).  The time is passing extremely slowly for me.  Two days sounds like forever!  While I was packing my clothes yesterday, I realized I have so much clothes compared to the amount of space given to me in my dorm room.  I’m sure that I don’t have as many clothes as most girls, so I don’t know how those girls pack for college.  I filled up a medium-sized suitcase and a medium-sized box completely.  Is that too much?  Also while packing, I found some clothes (new and old) that I never wear because they’ve been so deeply buried in my closet… yes, I packed them. I hope my two roommates brought as much clothes as me because otherwise I’d feel bad for hogging all the space.  Speaking of space, my mother has been annoying me constantly about how she thinks there won’t be room for the stuff I’m bringing.  But to her, if something doesn’t fit neatly into a room, it doesn’t fit at all.  I don’t think I’m bringing that much stuff.  It’ll probably be a mess, but I believe everything will fit one way or another.

I can’t wait to move to college.  All I had for lunch is a corn on the cob.  There’s just nothing to eat for lunch in this house unless you’re willing to eat the same thing repeatedly (which is hot dogs, and I’ve already had that twice recently) or the 50% of your daily fat intake frozen meals that’s been sitting in the freezer for a year.  When you’re in college, all you have to do is pop in the cafeteria and you get your choice of already prepared meals. I’m looking forward to that.

For unhappy news… I’ve got an eye infection!  My right eye was swollen and nasty-looking for days.  I’ve seen the doctor and I’m on antibiotics.  The doctor said it was the biggest infection she’s seen. x_x I just keep thinking, “You must feel very proud of yourself, Infection.”  She said if I didn’t see progress by today I needed to call back the doctors and be referred to an eye doctor and schedule a surgery before I leave.  The problem is I have no idea what’s considered progress.  The pain and swelling has virtually gone but the bump that is the infection remains as large as ever.  I called them anyways, but all I could do was leave a message at the referral department (and it was said that it takes up to a week to process, great).  It’s been about 2 hours since I called, and I haven’t received a call back or anything.  Then again, maybe they called my mom’s cell (who’s at work), because that’s the number that’s listed under my name.  Ugh, I don’t need this extra stress! What rotten luck.  [UPDATE] So I got the surgery today (the day before I leave for college).  Ugh, I’m going to have swelling and discoloration tomorrow, my first day of college. I kinda wish I hadn’t gone, although the bump was still the same size, it was somehow less noticeable on the outside and now it’s this.[/UPDATE]

I’ve started packed some things now (and my dad is already complaining about the amount of things I’m bringing).  All my new stuff has been organized (somewhat) in my new storage crates (I finally got them in the color I want), but most of the things I’m taking from home will have to wait a bit longer, just in case I need to use them sometime within the next 10 days.  I’m so so SO excited to be moving out of the house and finally be able to put all my new stuff to use, but I’m totally dreading to learn what college work (from a maximum load) is like.

Speaking of NEW things, my parents are looking to buy a new car. I don’t know if this is just NH, but cars have to be inspected yearly and you need to pay some kind of taxes for the car.  Well, my dad didn’t want to pay for all that only to exchange the SUV in for a new car in a month or so. So he didn’t do it, meaning he can’t risk driving his car for long distances (such as New York on moving day).  When I first found that out, we were expecting to have to use my mom’s small car to make the move.  Which totally worried me because I don’t believe all my stuff can fit in that tiny trunk.  But after some car shopping this weekend, my parents are learning towards the Honda CR-V.  My dad said it is likely we’ll have the car before I move, but that doesn’t mean it’ll happen.  He’s way more of an impulsive buyer than my mom.  He may think that we’ll be making the purchase soon, but my mom may want to weigh it over some more. I really hope we do; I would love it if we had a bit more trunk space for moving day.  Plus, the backseat chairs recline and there will actually be cup holders that aren’t broken, making the 5 hour trip much more comfortable. =D

Today, sinceI was bored, I started picking out what clothes I want to bring with me. Uhm… I think I picked out a bit too much. Or at least it will seem so to my parents’ eyes.  I’m trying to take to Erin’s idea of packing mostly cold-weather clothes… which is proving to be very difficult.  Most of my favorite clothes–or even just most of my clothes–are for warm weather because that’s my favorite time of the year.  It’ll still be warm for at least another month; I don’t want to go through that month without my tank tops and short sleeves. =’( GAH!

I really need to get on with my summer reading assignment and that online alcohol education thingy. Yuck! I’ve been enjoying spending my spare time rereading through the Harry Potter series… again and I don’t want to stop.

I spent quite a bit of money while on vacation, with not much to show for it. Haha. I spent over $100 on clothes, headphones, nail supplies, and a Bath & Body Works product (but I also paid for my cousin’s).  My camera wouldn’t turn on the very first day of vacation! I tried it again the next day and it still didn’t work, so my mom just stowed it away for the rest of vacation. When I got back home, I tried it again repeatedly, and it still wouldn’t turn on, so it seemed like it was gone for good. But yesterday, my brother decided to try to turn it on, and it worked! O_o Now my brother thinks he’s got amazing repairing skills though all he did was pressed the On/Off button. I was excited that it still worked, but then realized now I won’t get a new one. This camera was already crappy when we bought it.  Now that it’s three or more years old, it’s really really crappy. xP We probably will eventually buy a new one, considering when I take the camera with me to college, my parents are left without one. I believe I’ll be getting the new one because 1) I’ll be using it a lot more often than them 2) I had to give up a birthday and Christmas present to get a digital camera only to have my dad go out and buy a crappy cheap one and 3) I’ll probably know how to use the new one and its features more than my parents.

Ok I’m rambling right now. During my Minnesota vacation, my brother was a real jerk to me. One instance, he was playing music out loud while wearing his headphones around his neck, so I ask, “Why can’t you put your headphones on?” and he goes, “Why are you such a huge bitch?” and said it was justified from what I said to him. He repeatedly called me fat and stupid in front of our relatives, making sure they hear. I can’t tell you how many times I cried during that trip. And each time, I get yelled at by my mom for being so sensitive and ruining her vacation. Uhm, hellllooo, I wouldn’t be upset if it weren’t for my brother. I had multiple relatives tell me that they’re surprised my brother hadn’t matured one bit since they last seen him four years ago. I told him that, in the vain hope that it’ll actually encourage him to change his behavior, but then he tells my cousin who was inquiring what I was doing for college that I suck at my major. He said it was payback for telling him that my relatives think he’s immature. What. The. Hell? And today, we got into another fight. My brother is always in the living room on his laptop.  A lot of the times he plays YouTube videos and whatnot while I’m trying to watch TV.  This time, the situation was reversed. Now that I have my laptop and my brother has been hogging the TV all day, I was downstairs on it. I played a new music video and my brother got extremely mad at me for playing it while he was trying to watch and said he’s going to do this to me every time I try to watch TV for payback now. I can’t wait to move out; there’s no way I would have a roommate worse than him.

Speaking of moving out, I will be out of the house and on my own in THREE WEEKS. I still need quite a bit more stuff though. I hadn’t bought anything for storage because the cute storage crates at Wal-Mart are never available in the color I wanted.  I think I should get storage crates instead of those plastic cabinets so I can split it up and possibly store it under the bed, so I probably have to go to a different store.  Anyways, I’m rambling again. I wasn’t expecting any stress about moving out cuz I have been prepared to move out for years, but I am. But not exactly about living without my parents. I’m worried about not having the things I need there, accidentally leaving things behind, and getting the wrong textbooks. My lame-o school doesn’t give ISBN numbers for the textbooks, so I don’t know if I’ve found the right books to buy on Amazon and Half.com. =/ Like my math textbook… It says on the school’s website they want 4th edition, published in 2010. Why would they want 4th edition when there’s a 5th and 6th one out? Why would an old edition be published in 2010? What if I can’t find a 4th edition at an affordable price? I also have a summer reading assignment to do that sounds really really lame which I’m procrastinating again. These kinds of things is what I’m stressing about.

Anyways, I’m not sure I want to stay in WISE. The main reason I joined it was for the scholarship, but then I read something that said the school only rewards one scholarship to a student.  WTH??! I earned two scholarships, I think I should get two scholarships. Ugh.

Wow, I realized I haven’t even blogged after my Senior Banquet. It was real fun and a first-time experience for me as I’ve never really danced before. Ever. Which is why I rarely go to dances, but this was the last one of high school. So I went. And it was either dance or sit awkwardly alone for 3 hours. And I was surprised; I had enjoyed it. I also got sooooo many compliments on my hair, even people I didn’t know.  Also, my dress strap broke. Well, not the strap but the little plastic circle thing holding the strap to the dress. I tried to super glue it. That…uhm…. back fired. It didn’t glue the circle thing back together and I got super glue on the fabric.  I actually like this dress, I was going to wear it to my cousin’s wedding in August. My mom will probably make me return it now but I still want to try alternate solutions.

So I haven’t really done anything else exciting over summer. My parents, just like my brother, turned my college orientation into a vacation. My mom somehow convinced two of my aunts from Minnesota to come up here and take the trip with us too. We spent 3 days in New York and then took them around Boston. I did get to go to the Boston Aquarium. That was basically the only fun part of the vacation. We were supposed to go to Coney Island, but my brother never looked up the address (nice going) and we had already checked out of the hotel. So now he and I are trying to convince my parents to take us to Six Flags two hours away from here.

Uhm, so my less-than-a-year-old laptop is dead now. The frustrating thing is, the only thing wrong with it is the wiring for the power. Everything else works, I just can’t get power to the laptop to turn it on. My dad said getting it fixed will be so expensive that you might as well buy a new one. Well, I’m fine with having a new one, let me tell you. Especially when I didn’t choose this laptop. I’m eying this one; it comes in pink, but unfortunately you gotta pay an extra $40. So I bet my parents won’t let me get it in color if we do buy this one.

But I don’t know if we can afford it. Especially with my lazy-ass dad. He hasn’t been to work since the second week of my summer vacation. At first he was on a fake medical-leave and now I don’t know what. I’ve been asking him everyday if he’s going to work the next day and he’s been responding “Never, I quit” or “never, I retired” or just “never.” How about you stop saying you can’t afford anything for us until you actually work? He hasn’t even given my mom a straight answer when she asks him when he’s going back to work, so it may be true that he doesn’t have a job anymore. He’s just so infuriating now. What’s the point of having a family if you’re just going to sit on your ass watching TV all day? Why choose this time, right when both of your kids are going to college, to stop working?

Speaking of which, I’m hella excited to go dorm shopping. My mom is going to go get the bedding I picked out Wednesday (I can’t go myself–HARRY POTTER IS COMING OUT!!) and this weekend I will probably do some dorm shopping at Wal-Mart. It’s the last weekend before our trip to Minnesota and I’m worried if I wait until I get back, the good stuff will be sold out. It happens with the school supplies every year I’ve lived in this town so far. I was forced to have to run around to Staples and other stores for the rest of my supplies.

Speaking of the Harry Potter release, I got this cute half-cardigan that very much reminds me of Hogwarts. Besides the fact that it’s a cardigan not a sweater and it only goes down half-way. It’s gray (of course) and has red and golden yellow (for Gryffindor). And yes, I am wearing it to the premiere along with a white button-up. Now if only I had a gray pleated skirt and a tie…

I am off for the next two days while people take finals. On Thursday, there are two more final exam periods, then we have a graduation rehearsal.  The same thing is also occurring on Friday, so I still have to be in school those two days.  Speaking of which, I had my Senior Saturday. Apparently it was such a rousing success, they’re thinking of making it a tradition. We had to have it to make up a snow day.  They gave us a complementary breakfast with pancakes that were the wrong color and mystery meat sausages. How nice of them.  Then we picked up our cap and gowns and had our first “rehearsal” but it wasn’t really one. We just sat randomly in seats while they presented sports letter award things and English awards for senior essay. We were told a few regulations for the ceremony and then we went to pick up our yearbooks. I then went out for ice cream with some people and learned I fail at driving as I nearly crash into a car and the car behind it nearly rear-ends that car when I tried to back out of the teeny parking lot alongside the road.

On Sunday I headed to the mall and also Barnes & Noble.  At B&N, I bought a bookmark I’ve been wanting (“With our thought, we create the world”), The Constant Princess, and a planner for the coming school year.  The planner’s got such cute  artwork on the cover. Love it <3.  The Constant Princess was $16 regular price!! I bought it anyways (down to $12 with membership and 15% off coupon) but I got lectured by my mom on spending money frivolously.

Then at the mall, I bought my dress and shoes for the Senior Banquet. It’ll be my outfit for the wedding I’m going to when I’m over in Minnesota visiting the family. I don’t know what to do bag-wise. I don’t want to spend any more money, so I’ll do with what I have. I would rather not carry anything though, but then how would I bring my cell phone? It makes me think back to middle school. My friend bought my other friend and I evening bags for Christmas. I got the hot pink one and she got the silver one. Silver would perfectly match my shoes… -sigh-

Uhm, what else to say? My grad gown is pretty big on me, but I wouldn’t say gigantic… IDK, it’s probably not noticeable when I’m thrown in with all the other people. I’m so nerdy, but I’m a little upset I don’t get the National Honor Society cord for graduation. I’m not a member; they didn’t let me in Jr year when they were harsh and I didn’t have time to reapply Sr year when they let everyone in.  I got my Foreign Language Honor Society cord though. Thank God she didn’t check the required 10 hrs community service. Pathetic person I am, I only had 5, with no signatures to account for it. Which means I should be glad I’m not in NHS because I believe you need more hours and they do get checked. I also would have failed the fundraiser because I’m in nearly all AP classes and therefore would compete with allll the other NHS members selling candy. I also wish I got the cool special tassle for the grad cap (is it called motorboard or something?) for successfully completing Honors Diploma, but I never made it anywhere near because of my grades.

Speaking of grades, I found out I have a 79 in Physics, my final quarter grade. I expected this was going to be my only C, so I was gunna talk to my teacher and ask to see if there’s anyway I can raise it a point and therefore make honor roll one last time, but then the following period I found out I have a 78 in Chemistry, so it doesn’t matter now. I don’t know why it’s so low in Chem, unless I didn’t get the 100 I expected on my lab report. I wasn’t expecting a 100 until he gave me a hint as to what was wrong w/ my data, but maybe I misinterpreted the hint or the lab wasn’t worth as much as I thought.

Well, that’s the news for my last week of classes in high school. Next  blog, I will be a high school graduate.

I was still upset about not going to BU, but then at dinner the other night my mom talked about me visiting home everyday or near everyday and also about moving closer to the college so I can live at home if I went there. Now I’m thinking Thank God I didn’t go to Boston. Yikes.

I had a field trip to a theme park near here for school (for Physics class, of course, you know all those rides?) We actually have some work to do with it. Lame-o. We had unfortunate weather though–it rained half the day. I had already spent probably over half an hour in the rain before I caved and shelled out $3 for a crappy poncho (basically a garbage bag with arm & head holes).  I also made the stupid decision of wearing capris. Yep. But otherwise it was fun. I felt so proud of myself: I wasn’t afraid of trying any ride. I rode my first upside-down roller coaster. It wasn’t a loop-di-loop though, it just like curled under.  I don’t think I’ve ever tried a roller coaster that even had a hill. The only rollercoasters I’ve been on (I think) are in Mall of America, and since it’s indoors, there isn’t really room for hills.  Oh yeah and the “Mild Thing” which is a kiddie version of the roller coaster “Wild Thing” at Valley Fair (Minnesota), many years ago. I didn’t have time to ride the Starblaster which is one of those tower ride that drops really fast, you know? I wasn’t even afraid of that, WHOO. Though I probably would be for taller ones.  I ate a lot of junk but at least I managed to stop myself from buying cotton candy, an ice cream cone, or a candied apple. I spent 5 whole dollars on Dippin’ Dots though. I soooo love Dippin’ Dots. I refuse to have any of those imitations. I haven’t had any for 2 years. But that will probably be my last time probably for another 2 years since it’s so expensive now. I also bought a pizza slice for lunch and fried dough. Fried dough is like a staple at the park. Everytime you go, you have to get one. It comes in a huge-ass serving though. I had to split it. I split fries with someone and he insisted I didn’t pay him half, so I therefore split my fried dough with him.  And another chunk to a friend.

I’d like to go back on a better day. I probably will with my fam beause my dad’s work offer tickets half price.  But it’s basically just all rides, so it won’t be much exciting for my mom. It might not be for my brother either if I’m not afraid of any of the rides. They might be too tamed for him.

The school year is getting closer to ending. I have 1 school week left, then another week for finals (which I have none since AP classes took their finals early) and grad rehearsals. My ceremony will be on the 13th, a Saturday. I have projects galore, unfortunately. I just finished one for Statistics class. It was a partner project and I had to get the one person (Ok there’s two) I didn’t want as a partner. She’s annoying, awkward, and just plain dumb. I had to do the entire project myself. And I mean the entire project. We had to survey people for data, she barely did a thing. Like after 25 minutes, I’d have surveyed 50 people and she’d come back with 15. Then came the work. I didn’t trust her with any of the math. I had to do 6 of the 9 parts. Then I redid her 3 parts. There was also the presentation. I did the entire thing. She didn’t say a word. How could she? She didn’t do any of the project. Whatever, now it’s over and I don’t have to talk to her ever again. Or do any stats, wahoo. Now I have the Shakespeare project (another group project, this time with lovely partners) due Tuesday, the psychology paper (5 pages on a lame-ass topic… and I chose it -facepalm-) due Friday, and one more essay for English due the last day of school (the following Monday). Lots of work, but 1 more week and a weekend, then I’m done. Thank God.

I can finally look at how my AP credits are going to work out now that I know what school I’m going to. I couldn’t understand some things on the AP Credit chart and it took me awhile to figure it out. I only just figured it out on Tuesday night.  I get absolutely nothing for Physics!! After I shot my GPA to hell by taking AP Physics, I get nothing.  On top of that, I also get nothing for English! I was originally signed up for both exams.  You can get out of Writing 101 with a 4 or higher in just one of the English exams but it is basically unnecessary because the other criteria to get out is a 1000+ combined SAT reading and writing .  You need either the SAT scores or the AP scores, not both. Like there’s anyone who can score a 4+ on an AP English exam who can’t score a 1000+ reading and writing score… So yeah, I’m already out of WRT101 with just my SAT scores… taking the AP exam(s) would get me nothing more. Plus, now I’m concerned about the people who don’t meet that criteria. They let people in who can’t even make at least a 500 on each of the three SAT sections? =/ Certainly not at BU. (By the way, BU would have given me 3 whole course exemptions from the 2 English exams and 1 for Physics, totaling to FOUR more than SUNY… actually 5, if I count one of last year’s exam score).

Both my physics and English teacher told me that, if they were me, they would take it anyways because it wouldn’t hurt.  Which is why I decided to still take the AP English Language, because it isn’t so bad. I’ve already dropped English Lit. It’s harder, I don’t think I’ve read enough books, and I certainly wasn’t going to take two English exams for nothing in return.  I went to drop Physics after school today, but the guy who handles that seemed to have left already. Even though I stopped by right after school. So it looks like–if I decide to drop–I have to do it the morning of the exam. I wasn’t completely sure about my decision to drop when I was going over there, but I thought I should drop the exam at least a day before it occurs (it’s on Monday… today’s Friday).

The AP Physics exam is much harder than English; that’s my concern. But we got our FRQ sections back from our mock AP exam, and I did much better than expected. But I still don’t know if my score was passing because I butchered–and I mean butchered–the multiple choice last week. My Physics teacher said, “I’ve had many students who’ve come by in later years and told me they wish they had taken the exam.” But then I told him, “Well, I would take Physics right at my Freshman year, so it’s not likely to come up later, will it?” He then admitted that I was probably right, but he can’t predict all possible situations.  I also asked him if he thought I had a chance of passing without studying because I definitely did not want to do that and get no credit. He said it was unlikely, but I wouldn’t have much studying to do in order to manage a 3.

Other factors I’m considering: I get $65 back, and I could use the extra study time for Chemistry. I could get the credit for Chem, but only with a 4 or higher. I believe I got a 2 on the mock AP exam for that class… I’m afraid to ask.  We haven’t seen our FRQs though, maybe I’ll be pleasently surprised again (yeah right). That’s why I really, really need to study. Especially now that I can’t get credit for another science. And I REALLY don’t want to retake Chem. I hate it so so much. I was thinking, since the AP guy wasn’t here today, I get the weekends to really think about dropping Physics, but I realize I still need to make the decision today so I know whether to start studying for Chem now or to study (a little) for Physics.

Oh yeah, I also learned I’ve got to take a lame-ass math placement test for college… held only at SUNY campuses. I emailed the lady I was told to email for people who live out-of-state and I received a list of three options: 1) come in a day early for orientation and take it, 2) miss a chunk of orientation to take it, 3) take the temporary online one and take the real one when school starts. I definitely am NOT missing any of orientation, and especially the part I was told that I was most likely to miss (the campus and residence tours!!!). If I come in a day early, I’m going to need accommodations, obviously. You can rent out a dorm room; IDK how my parents feel about that. Perhaps we’ll just get a hotel room. Actually, maybe we’ll turn it into a small NY vacation, since my orientation is around Independence Day. I’ll probably end up with that choice then. I’m worried about how I do on the exam. I took Pre-Calc back in Sophomore year… so far away. Though, this could be my chance to get out of Calculus I (I think) because it’s tested too. But I think I want to retake it. Just to make sure I learn the material properly and be able to remember it for future math classes… I’ve already forgotten basically everything in Calculus. Plus, there would be more studying/re-learning involved during my summer. Bleh.

In other news, I played Apples to Apples for the first time today. And I played it twice, lol. Two different classes. It’s pretty fun. I’ve never heard of this game till this year. Maybe it’s just popular in the Northeast? It was mentioned on the SUNY facebook board too but I’ve never heard of it from Florida or Minnesota while I was there or by my friends there.

I so want this: (lol, notice the typo/mistake on the screencap?)

I think I’m going with… SUNY. I’m. Not. Sure. This is a major decision. Also, if I go with SUNY, I have to make another major decision on whether to live with my fellow WISE (Women in Science and Engineering program) girls or live in the Science and Society quad. I got to tour the latter and I only saw one room in the building where WISE would be.  It’s probably all the same, except maybe the tech equipment is better because WISE is in the Information & Technology quad… If I choose to live in the building for WISE (and others… if it was JUST WISE, I definitely would not) I might be paired with another WISE girl as a roommate, and, IDK why, but I don’t want another WISE person as my roommate. OH YEAH, I just remembered. The tour guide you can easily change rooms very quickly… I think I will choose to NOT live with WISE, in the beginning. Then again, there still has to be a room available to switch to as well…

OK, now I’m not sure about SUNY. Boston is a better school academically and isn’t made up of 90% in-staters.  That’s basically my main “PRO” item while SUNY’s main PRO item is that it has a great campus and is cheaper. How do I decide which one outweighs the other? Everything else, the smaller things, is pretty much balanced, and is therefore negligible. I can’t even decide which has the better dorm rooms, so that must mean they’re about the same. Although, I googled “Boston University dorm rooms” (because there are absolutely no pictures on the website… very lame) and found 2 different pics of dorm rooms with a tiled floor.  It looked awful to me.  Like a cheap classroom, not a living space. But it’s very possible those pics aren’t BU dorm rooms.

Yeah… I’m also kind of worried about not making the deadline. It’s tomorrow. AKA in 1 hour. I’m hoping it’s postmarked by May 1st, not arrive by May 1st… SUNY, you can pay your deposit online, so I’m OK with securing my place there.

If you’re reading this sometime before, say at a max 3PM EST May 1st: which do you think is the better dorm room? BU’s picture is of the sample dorm, the only dorm room they show to the public. Is it just me, or would it be awkward–at least at first–to sleep with your beds so close together?

SUNY

BU

Do you think it’s a sign that whenever I imagine myself at college, I imagine myself at SUNY not BU? Or is it just because SUNY is more typical-college like than BU? Hmmmm…

Anyways, the decision just got harder when I found out UNH is giving me a full ride. I would still choose between SUNY and BU though, but of course, my parents are like UNH, definitely.  My classmates are telling me to go to UNH for 1 or 2 years, then transfer so my degree will still say BU or SUNY. But I have a particular aversion to transferring since I’ve done it so many times, all of which have been hard, so I really don’t want to.  Yeah, I’ve been complaining about recieving a full ride, and everyone is like psshh, shut up. Lol. So now I’m kind of avoiding making my decision.

So last week was major test week.  I had 3 multiple-day tests and a one day test!! In Chemistry, I had a full mock AP exam as my final exam.  In Physics, I only had the multiple-choice mock AP for one double-period class, the rest is when we get back.  By the way, for some reason, he’s doing the 2nd half on 2 single-period days instead of 1 double-period day… I don’t know why, but those two days are the two days I’m gone doing AP exams.  In Stats, I had half mock AP exam as well, only because the rest of my class (save for 1 or 2) aren’t AP students and couldn’t handle the entire thing. We had half MC and half FRQ’s for 2 days. I think that was counted as my final exam.  Then in Psychology, we just had a 3-day test, made entirely of multiple choice. And it was entirely open book, so at least I didn’t have to study for it… well, I didn’t study for any of the other tests either, LOL. I can’t WAIT to get the scores back. I already got my Physics MC back… 14/70. HAH. That’s with the 1/4 point off for every wrong answer… I got more wrong than right.

I’m also starting to apply for a summer job. I’ve never worked a day in my life. I’ve barely even done any volunteer work. That’ll look good to employers. So far, I’ve only applied to Barnes & Noble. Totally my dream part-time job. There’s no way I’m getting the job though. I don’t even know if there are any openings.  It’s the only job I’d be willing to commute 20-25 minutes for, considering I’m probably going to be making minimum wage. LOL. The only other jobs I’ll be applying for are at stores in this town or the next town over. Speaking of commuting, I might not be able to work at all because transportation is now not working out.  Originally, my dad worked nights, so there is a car available during the day.  If he needed it, he’d drop me off and pick me up, otherwise, I’d take the car and take myself to work. Now he’s working daytime again, so there is no more car. Though it’s nice finally getting the house to myself!

That means I also have no ride home from school. I don’t know what I’m going to do for my afternoon AP exams which stretch beyond the school day. Then again, my dad gets home around 4 and I’ll probably finish around 3-3:30, so not too too long to wait.  But that means I have to spend all day at school before an afternoon exam, or spend the rest of the day after a morning exam at school in order to take the bus home. I might be able to find a ride–provided my parents let someone else drive me home–on the more popular AP exams like English.  My mom wants a new car and the original plan was to get a new car for her and I get her old one.  But now she’s all, “I don’t want a 3rd car lying around that barely gets driven when you go off to college.” Like 95% of the senior class have cars and probably 90% of that population will have to leave their car behind too cuz  a lot of colleges don’t allow freshmen to have cars and/or they’re going to a city like Boston, where parking is impossible.  All their families are fine with it. The car probably isn’t worth a lot… but that’s a total guess because I know nothing about cars.  Oh yeah, my mom also wants to cancel my car insurance when I go to college or perhaps right now if I can’t work this summer since I won’t be driving much… since I have no car.

SUNY is still a good school and might have a better campus. That’s why I need to visit it.  I want to compare the campuses and see if going to the slightly worse school academic-wise is worth it to have a better campus (and of course the added distance between me and my parents).  My mother though has very high paranoia.  She just told me, “Everything bad that happens happens in New York. You know, terrorists?”  She’s using New York City as a representation of all of New York.  Then she’s complaining about the snow being a problem traveling home. SUNY doesn’t allow cars until junior year.  So I’ll be taking the train my first two years.  This is when she flips out. Apparently, trains are the most terrifying transportation there is. Yeah, right. I would probably take the train home from Boston too.  She starts rambling on about how the train conductor is all the way up front in a different car so they can’t be there to keep everyone safe.  As if they let passengers ride allll the cars alone.  She also rambles on about drunks and insane people taking the trains.  Unbelievable.

She may let her irrational paranoia govern her life, but I’m not letting it govern mine. I chose the college I’m going to attend, and no one else.

So, me being the smart one, I was expecting some type of email saying like “We decided on your financial aid package. Go check your account.” I never got one for SUNY and the thought just occured to me to check my account anyways. Turns out, the details of my package are already there.  They could’ve been there for 2 weeks. The overall amount I have to pay is already $7,000  cheaper than BU.  And that’s before my unknown scholarship from the WISE program. I have to accept my position as part of the program before I can be awarded the unknown-amount scholarship and I believe I can’t do that until I decide to enroll in the school. I’m estimating it at around $5,000 but I’m afraid that it’ll be lower and I’ll be disappointed.  I got a $4,500 scholarship just  for being one of the top applicants so I’m basing my estimation/guess off of that.  If so, then I only have to pay about $7,000/year. HOLY CRAP. And my dad is mad that I didn’t qualify for the SEOG grant for the kids that are especially in need when I did for BU.  Simple logic: BU’s tuition is double SUNY’s, thus they deemed me able to afford SUNY without the grant, unlike BU. Plus, the SEOG grant is only $500 at SUNY. I think I can cover the difference. xP

My dad also doesn’t want me to go far, for some odd reason. He acts like he doesn’t give a crap about anyone else nowadays. He absolutely hated driving me back and forth to my partner’s house for a project. I had to go 3 times. My dad kept saying make them come here. How rude would that be considering our double tri-folds and her paint supplies are at her house? I’m not going to make her carry them all to my house and back.  He won’t even drive around the school to drop me off in the proper drop-off area in the mornings. He cuts through the school as far as he can and drops me off at a gate that blocks off the rest of the way.  He’s even too lazy to turn onto the other path and backtrack after dropping me off.  He drives onto the grass every morning to make a u-turn, saving him, what? 30 seconds.

Basically he doesn’t do anything for anyone else if he can help it. He spends all day sleeping or watching TV (and of course continuously drinking). My room is above the living room so the TV is always really loud and annoying from my room. He never turns it down when asked. Not even if I’m trying to do homework or sleep. And like I said in tons of other blogs, he wastes a bunch of money on things for himself that he never uses but gets mad when my mom uses the money to pay for things such as my one Christmas present.

Yeah, so he’s refusing to take me to New York for SUNY’s open house this Sunday. I really want to compare campuses to make my decision. Again, I am NOT letting anyone else chose my college but ME. I’ve had such a miserable time these past 3 years after moving away from my friends. I want to make the next 4 years the best as I possibly can, starting with chosing where I’m going to live and go to school. I’m even hoping that this is the last time I’ll ever have to live at home. I’m going to try my best to find a place to immediately go to right after graduating college. This is obviously discounting summer vacations and the others; I’m talking about a home rather than a place to vacation in.