nawl

14 Berkeley transcripts to 12 separate institutions: $134

1 General GRE, 1 Subject GRE, 8 additional score reports from ETS: $353

Application fees to 8 institutions, ranging from $45 (UW) to $100 (Stanford): $540

Your sanity: Priceless

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I'm approaching the light at the end of the tunnel.

I bit the bullet and submitted three more grad school applications tonight, bringing the current total to five out of eight schools submitted, and three out of five fellowships. Tonight's mantra: "The personal statement is only a tiebreaker."

After yesterday's mandatory meeting at Ridge, I treated myself to a nice, hot bubble bath and a nap. It's strange to be moving out, to finally disconnect from the house that's been mine for so long. I watched Talia's glee as she bid on my room for next semester, and Jennie's uncontested election to kitchen manager for the spring. In a sense, the house has already moved away, but it's hard not to be sappy for what once was, and what could have been.

On Saturday, I cooked from 11 am until past 8 pm, bringing my total to 16 out of 24 hours spent cooking for special dinner. I did get help, particularly from Jack, who stopped by to chat and ended up being co-opted into washing beets and trimming leeks for several hours, then left for the HKN banquet before dinner was even served. Once the food was served and utensils were scrounged up for all the dishes, I cut in line for food and then *sat* for the rest of the evening. The theme was "Mystery Wedding", where the names of a bride and a groom were drawn out of a hat. Both were male. Speeches were made, innuendo happened, and there was much merriment.

The menu went something like this:

• Baked Goat Cheese and Greens in Vinaigrette (excellent, and very easy)
• Vichysoisse (eh, but people really seemed to enjoy the leftovers)
• Roast Beets, Potatoes, and Onions Vinaigrette (not as transcendental as the first time; it seems having real pearl onions didn't help any)
• Risotto Milanese with Mushrooms (in retrospect, making the stock from scratch was more effort than it was worth)
• Portobello Carpaccio over Carrot and Parsnip Fettuccini with Exotic Mushrom Ceviche (it took Will the entire time that I and my minions cooked every other dish to make just this one)
• Garlic Shrimp (one of Israel's token meat dishes, ran out)
• Veal Involtini (pounded veal wrapped around lunchmeat, sliced cheese, and asparagus spears, and it took half the house to pound the meat; again, Israel's token meat dish)
• Devil's Food Cake (not much got eaten that night, but it's gone now)
• White Chocolate Mousse with Fresh Raspberry Sauce (totally easy, totally divine, and because of that we still have 19 lbs of white chocolate here)
• Sushi (they complained the mangoes were not ripe, the avocados were too ripe, and didn't make much)
• Egg Nog (contained an entire jug of rum and half a jug of brandy, but came out really good)

Tomorrow I spend the whole day reviewing complex analysis. Mr. Geba, scary professor extraordinaire, has promised that the final will be hard, which, well, doesn't bode well for a class that failed his "easy" midterm. I can take solace in the fact that nobody will ever see my grades from this semester.