You Know You're a Real Grown-Up When...

You watch "My So-Called Life" and you start to side with the parents. I thought the day would never come. But I was just watching an episode where Angela has to choose between attending her grandparents' 45th anniversary party or attending her friend Rayanne's kegger. She has a huge fight with her mom about it, and while the show - as always - does a fantastic job of showing and even legitimizing the teenage point of view, I was like, "No brainer - you have to go to the family thing." If we ever have kids, I want to buy copies of this show because it really helps me remember what I felt like as a teenager, and how unfair my parents seemed to be.

They Are In!

I realize to most people this must seem like a huge drawn out process, and they are right, but I finally got all of my applications in. All fees are paid, transcripts and test scores sent, and writing samples submitted. Now the REAL waiting starts. Several of the schools' deadlines are not until February, so I have no idea when I'll hear back. One of my fellow grad students told me a very scary thing about how if you're accepted you'll hear in March, but if you're not then you won't hear until April or May. I don't know how he knows that or if it's true, but if I don't hear anything in March, I suppose I will be pretty disappointed. Or maybe not. I am kind of chilling out about this whole thing now. It is officially out of my hands. I have given them everything they've asked for (even if they can't seem to find it), and now it's up to them. If I don't get in, I don't get in. If I do get in, we'll have some hard decisions to make about moving and finances. It's exciting though! For anyone who's interested and can't remember, here's the list of schools I have applied to (in basically the order I want to go to them):

1. Purdue University - West Lafayette, Indiana
2. Pennsylvania State University - University Park, Pennsylvania
3. University of Virginia - Charlottesville, Virginia
4. New York University - New York City, New York
5. Baylor University - Waco, Texas
6. Duke University - Durham, North Carolina
7. University of Texas at Arlington - Arlington, Texas
8. Southern Methodist University - Dallas, Texas

Wish me luck!