The Mole

I pegged the winner, but not the mole. Which isn't exactly the point of the show, but hey, I'll settle for it. I really couldn't decide who was the mole, because both had such suspicious behavior. Nicole was irritating and cost tons of money from the pot, mostly because she was annoying and didn't try. Craig could get away with a lot, and did. I think, not being privy to ALL of the clues as the players were, I would have gone with Nicole, because she irritated the heck out of me. Plus, she totally hammed up the camera part of the action. "Oh, I'm a gonna quit." "Oh, I couldn't quit." Hmm, is this just show? Yeah, I still think so. But overall, I think Mark did an exceptionally good job at keeping the mole at bay. Lets see, throughout the missions, he solved all the answers, when he could, he rotated jobs so that sabotage is less likely, etc. Smart playing that is.

Housing

Housing. This would all be so much simpler if I could, say, just rent an apartment on my own and not worry about all of this, but hey, I got 375/417, and I just have to deal with it. So, chances are, I'll be stuck in a double in McCoy.

But, I'll hope that for some reason there aren't many singles and I can still swipe a room in Charles Commons.

And really, this would all be so much easier if my fate wasn't in the hands of the bureaucracy. It's never good for the little guy ;)

Yes, I resurrect you!

So that was bad. I resurrected the blog from the virtual dead, and then I ignore it again. I need a post-it or something, "Did You Blog Today?". Gotta get back into the habit.

Midterm season is almost over. I only have one left. Microeconomics was on Monday, and for all the hype that it was going to be difficult (by both the professor and the TA), it was easy. The prof. even announced during the test, "there are some things here you should not know. This is to distinguish the A+ from the A". Uh oh, what WASN'T I supposed to know? I could answer all the questions.....

Maybe that's because the class moves slower than snit snot.

And speaking of snit-snot, Freshman Experiences lags around that speed too. The midterm for that class is tomorrow. Last semester, I got 100% on the midterm. I really have no worries, because the test is both open notes and open book. I just have to remember to bring them with me.

So yeah, I'm ready for spring break :)

Tax Season

Okay, now that I'm well into my first "New Year's Resolution", which was to switch to Firefox browsing, rather than IE, I'm ready for my second. I'm not going to neglect my blog. Plus, I've decided that if I blog, I'm more likely to finish my projects and try new things. Plus, I can display the patterns that I have come up with :) So this should be fun for all of us.....

Taxes are just about the most annoying thing that big government could ever have invented. Woodrow Wilson, you Johns Hopkins grad, why did you ever allow Income Taxes to be a constitutional amendment? Why why why did you create the Fed?

The government is not making this easy for me. Legally, I'm a California resident. But I've had a job in both CA and MD. Which means I get to file THREE tax retuns. THREE. Yes, this is government at its best - making us try to figure out which forms to fill out, how to fill out said forms, and the best way to file the taxes. Can't we all follow Wyoming's example? No income tax? Yes? GREAT. It would make life so much easier.

And TurboTax, I'd like to give you and Congress some advice. Please Please Please stop changing the form each year. The best way to fix the system is to scrap the current one, and start over. Stop adding to it, because you've already created a bureaucratic disaster on both ends. Might I advise a flat tax, since you wont get rid of the income tax altogether. Do the math. Percentages are already "graduated", its multiplication. Oh, and get rid of tax deductions. If we got rid of those, people wouldnt need to pay 80% of their income to taxes, because they get to write all of it off. If we get rid of those pesky loopholes, the flat tax system is completely fair.

Thanks government. You've made my first tax returns such a pleasant experience.

Happy Halloween

Okay, so here's the song that is traditional in my family (my mom wrote it)

Every Halloween there's ghosts and goblins
Every Halloween there's ghosts and goblins
Every Halloween there's ghosts and goblins
Knockin' knockin' at my door.
Trick or Treat
Trick or Treat
That's what the little ghouls say
Trick or treat
Trick or treat
That's what the little ghouls say

Okay, there's much more, but that's the first verse.

So I have the best Hermione costume - but I'm not going anywhere. I'd rather not show up to lab tomorrow really groggy and dead from no sleep. Plus, I'd like to get rid of this cold before it turns into the flu.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Job & SAC Fair

I am SO happy right now. Unbelievably happy. Johns Hopkins has a bassoon that I can play, and they NEED a bassoon player. Really cool. I'm really happy about that. I said goodbye to my basson back at Homestead; I hope Sophia treats it well. But, um, I can't afford to buy one. Bassoons, for a good wood one (as if plastic comes close.), start at $20,000. And at that price, I can't buy it. There are always several on eBay, but, I can't afford $5000 either. So, I'm really really happy. I can still play bassoon. Lets hope I packed the reeds.

I'm going to the band meeting tonight at 7:30. I hope I can join the pep band too, with my totally awesome piccolo. Its green (well, for Homestead, but green is one of my favorite colors, and it was only $90 on eBay. Way cool.) and gold. I marched it in band last year, and apparently from the stands, it looked like I wasn't even holding an instrument and that I was faking it. I assure you, I was actually playing out there.

My financial aid forms are finally fixed. Finally. Until next year, I'm sure. So, I still have everything saved in its little folder, ready for next year or even next semester.

I also went to the Job Fair today. Lots of cool stuff there, too. Free candy. Free chocolate (and i'm not even a big chocolate fan). I filled out 3 tax forms because I actually had the two documents with me that I needed to prove I can work in the United States. So, that's all done. I just need the job. There's a desk job at the Digital Media Center that sounds really cool. Especially since i've used Photoshop and Illustrator, and web design, and 3D studio max, and others. Lots of stuff. That one sounds really cool.

Hmm, what else? tomorrow I have my SAAB interview. Cross your fingers! I really want to get that one.

Well, in about 20 min. I'm about to go to the mailroom and ask where my books are. Especially since one of them is $125 and i'm no longer taking the class. I need to send it back to Amazon to get my refund and buy a different textbook. Plus, it has my Expository writing book.

Okay, happy Friday, everyone!

I am THE one

Well, today I got urgent news. My add/drop abilities were canceled because I had not paid all of my college tuition. Johns Hopkins thought that I still owed over $11,000. That would then bring it to full price, even though I got financial aid, and I know that they know I got financial aid.

So, I've been having problems with them since April. Once they finally told me what I needed to do (after numerous phone calls with numerous people.... some of which no longer work there), I immediately sent it in so that I could get my financial aid. Turned out that I needed my lawyer to write a 3rd party "no-contact" letter. The day I receivedthe letter from my mom's lawyer, I faxed it over. almost immediately.

Then I got my financial aid offer. A $3500 federal loan, work-study, and a Hopkins Grant. This was better than the Cornell offer. To go on a tangent, Cornell & the other IVY leagues guarantee 100% of your financial need to be covered with aid. This, I have found is not the case. I can understand them offering loans, that is not my problem with it. Although i hate them, I understand that loans offer valuable skills for the future, such as budgeting and credit. However, when Cornell broke down the financial offer into different sections, it was different. In the loans section, there was, again, the Federal loan, a Cornell loan, and a loan that I had to look for MYSELF. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but what kind of aid is that to me.?! I would have to research and obtain a loan all by myself. that's not aid, but this isn't the point of the story (which, btw, keep up with the financial aid officers. call them. often.)

Then the bill arrives in July, and I pay off what it said that I had to pay through an e-check. the way the system works, you don't pay for the part that's expected financial aid. I signed the eMPN (federal loan), and accepted the Hopkins grant. I thought I was all set for the new school year. But then something funny happened. My bill said that I was all paid up, that i was completely ready, whereas my account summary had me owing over $11,000. Not fun. So I called up the office, and they fixed that. Okay, all done.

But today I got an email stating that my add/drop privilages were going to be denied because I hadn't paid. So I checked my account, and it said that I still owed them money! They weren't supposed to let me in the university if I still owed money at this point! For some reason, I checked my financial aid offer, to make sure it was still there. And yes, indeedy, it was still there. But it said that I hadn't completed it all. WHAT? that's what the lawyer letter was supposed to do. And the website said that they received it and accepted it. So why wasn't the other stuff waived?

So, I call them. Of course, no one answers, and after a long rant with my mother over administrations, I print all the pages, gather everything possibly related to my financial aid/billing, and I head over to the actual building to camp out in front of their offices. And what time do they decide to tell me? Right when I had an orientation activity that I paid for. I want my $30 bucks back for that Inner Harbor trip that I spent in an office trying to straighten out their goof. Anyway, I get there, and apparently, I'm not the only one with a problem with the financial aid. From the little bits of conversations that I heard, all the kids with the last name Kim got messed up, and well, they just didn't follow through on me.

After waiting FOR-EV-ER for the counselor to come, I grab the lawyer letter, proof that I faxed it to them on the same day as the letter was written (which was back in may) and the records of all the phone calls I had with them. They simply didn't follow through with what they had to do. They had entered in my letter, but they "conveniently" forgot to click that it waived the non-custodial stuff. Well, there's a fine howdy-doody. Now, folks, I know follow through is my big problem, but, that's usually with cleaning. NOT WITH OTHER KIDS COLLEGE CAREERS. As you can probably tell by this long rant, i'm really really mad about this.

Then, they had the nerve to tell me that it wont' be fixed until 4:00 pm tomorrow. bugger. So I work my way down to Student Accts/billing to go fix it myself. Really, these departments should be next to each other and/or integrated. no one talks to each other. I need the add/drop ability to get a required class (i'm dropping macro-economics for mechanical engineering 101+Lab), and I can't wait for the financial aid to clear, because, well, the way its been going, I don't know when that will happen. So I wait a few minutes, per the financial counselor's request, then I get to billing, and yet again, theres a line. Whooptido. lines. When its my turn, I tell the guy that i really don't owe the $11,000+, that I'm working on it w/financial aid, and that i need to get rid of the restrictions on my account. You see, it wasn't my fault that you guys don't talk to each other. Then, they had to go verify this information, because the written note + fax records + lawyer letter + numerous phone calls just couldn't cut it. Then, the guy said that i was right, but that he was only able to get rid of the alert, but couldn't fix the billing problem.

I immediately check the financial stuff once I get to my dorm. Its all waived now, but the money still hasn't credited to my account. If its not there by, like, 4:30 pm tomorrow, guess who's going back down to financial aid. Not to mention, now there's yet another form to fill out. Nice. Thanks for telling me ahead of times, folks.

Now, I don't drink, nor do I ever plan to drink. But after today, I was seriously like, "now I need a drink" sort of thing. Communication is the key. Follow through is the new f word. So I purchased a ginger ale from the market below the dorm and I binged on M&M's while watching two movies and knitting. by this time, I had already missed the bus for the Access Pass/Inner Harbor trip, so I was stuck around campus. So i might as well feed my soul with some knitting.

I ran out of yellow yarn for my knitting project. I guess that hat is gonna remain an UFO. I did a little more work on the scarf, but it really doesn't look that big of a difference. its about half way done. the next step for the scarf includes decreases in moss st. which I've gotta figure out. wish me luck!

My advice to the high school seniors applying for financial aid: Call, and call often. Things are often muddied up with administration, and will only get done if you consistently talk to them. It really is a good idea to get to know them. And you don't want to talk to the guy on work-study acting as a secretary. You want the actual counselors, and if they don't help you, the deans. don't stop until it gets done. Actually listen to this, by the way, it could save you a lot of hastle in the future. I even did this and it still got screwed up. talk to financial aid.

End rant. Tomorrow is gonna be a bright new day "with no mistakes in it, yet" (yay for Anne of Green Gables.)