Yay College

So I see that I've had 14 page views...yay! While this is a pretty low number, I'm quite excited because I haven't told anyone about this and it's way, waaaaaay down on the results page when I googled it. I had to see if my name was in any way related...doesn't look like it. Which is good! Can't have those pesky colleges knowing about this. Not that I'm doing anything wrong, but...you know.

Anyway, onwards and upwards...or something like that. Today we're going to talk about those aforementioned colleges, and all the peskiness they're up to.

I'm not gonna lie...I actually applied to 14 colleges. No joke, no exaggeration. I've heard back from all but four of them. And of course, my top three are in that special little category of "no decision yet." Two of them I only applied for about three weeks ago, and those are both state schools (the only two state schools I applied to). The other one I applied to over a month ago. And they've contacted me a couple of times trying to get a writing sample, which I supplied, but then there were some issues with that...however, now they have it. I'm totally certain they've had it for over a week now, and I want to know right now if I got in or not!

I mean, it's not like I'm going to not get it...I don't mean to brag, but the ten colleges I have heard from have all accepted me. And most offered me some kind of scholarship because they're all private schools who hand out cash like creepers hand out candy from vans. The only school I'm really worried about getting in to is University of North Carolina at Wilmington, because when I went for a tour there, the admissions lady said that they can accept a maximum of 18 percent out-of-state students...which is what I would be. Which really sucks, because I would really like to attend that school. It's a tentative second-sometimes-first choice school.

My other two top choice schools, if you must know, are University of Oregon and Queens University of Charlotte (the Charlotte in North Carolina, not the silly shar-lot-pronounced version in Michigan). I'm quite sure I'll get into UO, because they have a 73 percent acceptance rate. But can I afford it? No, and that's why this otherwise-top school is choice number three.

Then there's a battle between UNCW and QUC, because I really like them both...but I'm not sure I'll get in to UNCW. And there's an issue with paying for that, too. It's a state school, so no free money, and out-of-state, so it costs extra. But QUC, that's a private school, so I should get some free money, plus they don't charge extra cause I'm not from NC. The problem with that is, it's a small school. A small Presbyterian school. Not that there's anything wrong with that in and of itself, but I'm athiest. And I feel like a small, religiously-based school might not have all the clubs/groups/whatevers that I may want to join.

So you see my conundrum? I also have several other options of schools that've already accepted me and offered me money. I could attend Roosevelt University, which I even visited. I did really like it there, I just don't like Chicago. For that same reason I likely won't attend St. Xavier University (that and it's Catholic, which is my former religion). There's also Hartwick University, but it snows in New York. That's what I'm trying to avoid. I also have University of Tampa, which does sound quite delicious...Florida in the winter...when everyone I left behind in Michigan has to shovel their driveways, I'll still be in short sleeves! Wonderful. For this reason, this is probably my fourth-choice school. Could move up though...

There are others, but none I'd really consider. I only applied to see if I'd get in and cause they waived the app fee. Oh goodness...how will I ever decide?! This is, after all, only the biggest decision of my life so far...no big deal, right?

Impatiently yours,
Razza Ragazza

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day! Course, it wasn't a turkey day for me, per say, as I'm vegetarian. But still. Happy Mashed-Potato-And-Green-Bean-Casserole Day just doesn't have the same ring to it.

...anyway. First things first. I believe I may have misspoken the other day, in my first post. I don't think this will turn out to be a giant mess of me complaining all over the place. I think it'll be a 33.33333-each-way split of the following things: 

1. Me complaining. Sorry, but it's gonna happen. 

2. Me talking about stuff I love or really, really like.

3. Me contemplating. Contemplating what, you ask? Stay tuned in and you'll find out. ;)

So now that that that's out of the way...today is going to be of the third variety, with a little overlap into the second. Almost none of the first, I think. We'll see.

I just read this really awesome excerpt, of sorts, from what promises to be a really, really good book. (That's a link, right there. Maybe I do understand this technology stuff...). It's all about how to be a successful writer, or artist, but personally I think it looks like it'll be a book that explains how to be a successful human. Because after the basic breathing, eating, and sleeping, who really knows how to be a human? The ten tips shared in the excerpt will be implemented--probably to varying degrees of dedication--to my own life within the next couple weeks...after that I'll take a step back and see if it looks like anything has changed. If so...I'll have to buy his book. I'll probably buy it anyway.

So there's my gushing review of a book I haven't read but already love...Now stay with me, 'cause here comes the contemplation bit. This little bit of reading made me think, as I often do, about what I will do for The Rest of My Life. Yeah, I have the next five or six years planned out (ask really nicely and I might post The Plan someday!), but after that? I don't know what I want to do! I just decided the other day that I definitely think I'm not cut out to be a journalist. Which I had already been told by someone who knows me quite well, but I wasn't ready to accept it right then. I just don't like people enough to be able to interview them and get information and quotes and whatnot for stories. Wouldn't work. So now I have to consider what I do want to do for The Rest of My Life. And yes, it really does need to be capitalized like that every time.

And this little excerpt is all about making it in the world, which is obviously what most everyone wants to do...including me. Which you would think would mean you have to know who you are and what you want, but the second thing on his list is "Don't Wait Until You Know Who You Are To Make Things." This seems a little counter-intuitive to me... How the heck do you get/make what you want if you don't know what you want to get/make?! But I can also see the wisdom in this. Because if you don't know what you want, you might just end up making or doing a lot of cool things you wouldn't have if you had chosen what you wanted and just flat-out done it. It's about the journey, not the destination, anyway.

But back to my problem... I will have to choose a major. Soon. So I should at least figure that out, even if I don't decide right now what I want to do for The Rest of My Life just yet. I really want to double major (double the job opportunities once I'm through with school), and one of those majors will be Environmental Science. I love the environment. I love everything about it. It's something I could really fight for, and I would really enjoy some of the careers that could come with a degree in that field. But as for the other major...well, who knows. Up until last week, it was going to be Journalism. But that just isn't going to work out very well for me. Maybe I could do Creative Writing? I think I could get into that. I do enjoy writing, if not the journalistic sort. I like having my freedom with what I say...stupid freakin' AP Style has stolen a lot of that from me in my current journalism class.

I'm now going to have to see what careers are available in that field. And also check out which of the colleges I've been accepted to have both Environmental Science and Creative Writing. It's important to me to one-up everyone and double major. (Man, doesn't internet sarcasm suck?!)

Goodnight!

--Razza Ragazza

Hi! I'm New Here.

So, this is my first blog post...and I just want to tell you, this isn't going to be a happy-go-lucky, everything-is-rainbows-and-unicorns kind of blog. This is my personal place to complain, tear down, and rag on things that I hate, dislike, and so on and so forth. That being said, I may occasionally decide that I really like something and write about that instead. So it's not going to be entirely everything-is-stupid either. Even if most things are pretty stupid.

So let's get started! First, I want to say that although I do love Google, and all it's wonderful magic awesomeness, I really, really was not a fan of how I was able to design this blog. So limited, so very incredibly limited...I suppose I wouldn't have had such a problem if I'd listened at all in my web design class freshman year, but what can I say? The teacher kind of sucked.

But anyway, back to this blog...there were about seven options for basic templates, then each of those had about three sub-options of their own. Okay...but each sub-option was basically the exact same thing in a different color or with a slightly different picture. I had to go into more advanced options (which scares me; I'm definitely not an "advanced" computer user...) to change the actual background, color scheme, or font type. If I hadn't started messing around clicking everywhere, it would have taken me a while to find those options. That being said, I am a very inexperienced site-design-person. So someone with more experience might have found it faster, but then again, they may have made their own website and skipped going through Google to make their blog.

So that's all I have on that. I'm going to try and blog at least once a week, probably more often than that...because honestly, the world irks me and I need to tell someone! Even if it is just the lonely, unread portion of the internet.

Goodnight!
--Razza Ragazza

P.S.: To protect my identity, I will never tell you my name. I may tell people about my blog, and they'll obviously know who I am...but you, dear anonymous reader from Thailand, will never know my real name. :)