Enforced brief hiatus and New Year goodies!

On a bit of an enforced break from blogging as I work on graduate school applications. I've been to seven campuses in thirteen years and one of the sites requires me to enter every single semester/quarter, its classes, and the marks in addition to special ordering transcripts from all seven places with special forms inserted. One of the Universities charged me over $35 for a single transcript. Have I mentioned none of this goes to the grad school for which this is required, and that I'll have to send more transcripts when the preliminary application is approved? This is for one school. I'm applying to five.

Today I shouted at my computer in frustration, clutched my face in my hands, and prayed for the power to call down meteors from the heavens. Starting the year off right.

Then I put the task up on TaskRabbit dot com and hired someone to enter this crap into the graduate school application site for me. (Note: hired for data entry, not for doing any personal statement or writing stuff.) It's far too stressful and emotionally charged for me. I am so, so lucky that I have the modest spare income to do this. I'll forsake thrift shopping for a month and the budget will all come out. Maybe I can make my shopping ban a series of posts. :D

In the meantime, here is a photo of the goodies I brought back from Southern California:

My mother has a term in Japanese she uses for this, which roughly translates to "treasure pillaged from war." Her parents used the term when she used to visit home during her college years and take a bunch of things back with her.

In the upper right is Boloniya bread, which, if you are in the New Jersey or Southern California area, you really must try. It is a braided loaf the buttery consistency of croissant. Then spiraling counterclockwise is vanilla sugar from my friend Matt, ume (pickled unripe apricot) flavored snack, Petal Sway necklace on sale from Anthrpologie, mulling spices and Christmas chutney both half off from Cost Plus World Market, extremely discounted eyeshadow palette from The Body Shop, a Wamiles cosmetics makeup palette, half a pound of biltong, and Lupicia tea magnets.

I was born in the Eastern zodiac year of the Rooster, but sometimes I think I should be a Dragon because if it was ergonomic, I'd gather all of my treasures into a pile and sleep on them for comfort, in my dark caveapartment that I don't like venturing out of, except to run for an hour at a time at my nearby gym, and to breathe fire at any pesky knights that are looking at me cockeyed.

It'll be over soon because many applications are due in two weeks, and it's a problem I'm lucky to have --many people don't get the chance to pursue higher higher education, and even if I don't get in, I'll have my bachelor's degree and a roof over my head. I just get wrapped up in panic and it's difficult to internalize that I am safe and have options.

What comforts you when you are frustrated or sad?