it's what's for dinner

as of this morning, i have 1 application to graduate school submitted and 6 more to go. i did the first one in true undergrad fashion, waiting until the very last minute to write the personal statement and then hating it right before i clicked "send", immediately regretting having been so irresponsible as to procrastinate what feels like the most important paper of my life. to be fair, i spent months on my statement of purpose, which is different from the personal statement though they sound the same, and it's pretty damn good. i hope they don't care as much about the personal statement. it seemed like it was simply an opportunity to drop that i am African American woman from a low-income background, which, believe me, i did like it was hot.

this whole process is very confusing and stressful. i must have spent at least an hour this morning clicking obsessively through sections of the online forms over and over and over again. perhaps it's some kind of test of how meticulous we applicants are. God, listen to me! after months of preparing these essays, i can't stop writing in fucking iambic pentameter... BLEGGIDY-BLAH!

i'm looking forward to the new year. against the advice of such illustrious magazines as Marie Claire and the Onion, i have compiled a list of New Year's Resolutions...

1. no more than 1 serving of red meat per week. i'm currently 20 days into a month-long fast from cow and i feel so much better! although the Texan in me is crying out for a hot beef injection, so i can't keep this up for too much longer. simply reducing my intake should be a good compromise, right?

2. no more self-deprecating humor. it's both unfeminist and just a bad habit for adults who want to be taken seriously.

3. going to the gym at least 2 times per week. inspired by lauren and the $35/month that comes out of my paycheck automatically.

4. biking to the caltrain station instead of buying a $45 Muni pass every month. unless it rains, of course, because soggy is unprofessional.

we'll see if this works... post yours!!

*Yamanda

P.S. oh, and i'm dating someone. i haven't written about him because i've been treating this situation very superstitiously, but i like him a LOT.