You say that you love rain,

but you open your umbrella when it rains.

You say that you love the sun, 

but you find a shadow spot when the sun shines.

You say that you love the wind,

but you close your windows when wind blows.

This is why I am afraid, you say that you love me too.

~William Shakespeare

I saw this the other day and absolutely fell in love with it. Wow, I haven't been on here in a while. I've been extremely busy and kind of stressed about money. Going back to school is turning out to be exceptionally expensive this year. I bought my parking permit for 95 dollars the other day (ridiculous, if you ask me. don't schools already take enough of our money?) and I also bought all of my books online. They were going to be nearly 300 dollars, and I ended up saving about 115 dollars. Not too bad. I also bought a jansport backpack on ebay, because I feel it will be easier to carry my books and everything around. In addition, I had to buy a new graphing calculator (well, its used) because mine crashed, so I got one off of Amazon. I'm still waiting for all that stuff to ship. I still need to get some school supplies, like binders, papers, etc.

Money would actually be really wonderful if I weren't going to NYC in a few days. Don't get me wrong, I'm really excited about the trip, but had I known this month was going to be this bad, I would've planned otherwise. I'm budgeting about 300 for the trip and I really hope I don't have to spend more than that. I'm really going to keep track of what I'm spending while I'm there so I don't go over. I've also been selling some stuff on ebay. I sold my Sims 3 game today. I played it once and was so bored, so I just figured I'd sell it. I'm also selling my old computer, dvd player, and portable dvd player on there. I don't have any need for them. The bidding ends in less than 2 days. 

I've also been researching and looking into the application process for all of the graduate schools I'm applying to. I'm applying to Roosevelt University, Boston University, University of Connecticut, Temple University, Illinois State University, and University of Illinois. I wrote my resume the other night. I have to make a few changes to it, but considering I put it together without really knowing what I was doing, I feel that I did pretty well! I've also been attempting to study for the GRE. While I was studying, I was looking up registration, and it turns out they revised the test! So, I had to buy a brand new book, and I just got it today. Now I can finally start studying for real.

As for the challenge, I'm almost done with going without soda for a month! I'm also going to complete a number of tasks while in NYC. I will be walking the Brooklyn Bridge and visiting the location of Cake Boss -- at least that's the plan!

977 days to go..

Where does the time go? I've been doing really well with losing weight. I weighed in yesterday and I lost another 3 pounds last week, so that means I've lost a total of 4.2 pounds so far. I'm almost halfway to my first goal of 10 pounds! I also haven't touched soda in 15 days, so I'm halfway done with that challenge as well.

I received an e-mail from the dean of admissions the other day explaining to me how I could fix the problem I had with one of my classes last semester. The problem was the teacher, but we're hopefully going to get it fixed and fix the grade on my transcript. I will have to do an Individual Enrollment, which means I will have 21 credits next semester if everything works out. That is 4 credits overload, but I think I can deal with it. I am meeting with him tomorrow to discuss it in more detail. Because of this, I have decided that I'm going to apply for graduate school for Fall of 2012 again. I really want to go next Fall, but I was worried this class would put me into a bit of a setback. I've started studying for the GRE, and I hope to take that at the end of September. I'm also going to have to take the GRE math subject test and I'm hoping to take that in the beginning of December. Most of the classes I'm taking this upcoming semester are subjects that are on the subject test, and by December we'll be almost done, so I'll be prepared (I'm hoping) and it'll also be enough time for me to get my scores to send to the schools. Also, on Saturday, Boston University is having an open house for prospective graduate students, so I'm attending that. It starts at 10 and ends a little after 12 which is cutting it a little close for work, but if worse comes to worse, I'll just leave early.

I had a meeting with the coordinator from the Circle Program a couple weeks ago. I'm going to be mentoring an 8th grader named Miranda. I can't make the mentoring night because of work, but I'm going to have lunch with them at their camp and she is going to show me around and I'll get to know her a little. I'll start mentoring her in September and I'm really excited.

I'm getting really excited for my trip to NYC. Only 18 days away!!