Dad and I were walking the neighbor's dog. My phone rings, so he answers it. It's Dana, and he tells her, "Hang on. She's walking the dog, so I'll switch the leash for the phone so she can talk to you."

I pick up, and she asks me if we have a dog now. I tell her no, and she says, "Oh, cause I was gonna say, WOW did you replace Artemis quickly!"

RAGE.

This is one of the reasons that  she is pretty much a friend of convenience. She can be so fucking inconsiderate that I can't stand it. If you can't say anything positive about my DEAD PET that I LOVED, then shut your goddamn mouth. Don't offer to lend me a fucking FURBY to TRANSITION TO NOT HAVING A PET, and don't you DARE throw in a fucking :p emoticon.

She complains about people not keeping in touch? Hmm, maybe this is why.

This has been a pretty depressing Christmas. My grandfather was admitted to the hospital with pnuemonia on Christmas Eve (stubborn old goat had been feeling sick since Tuesday, but didn't want us to know because he thought it would "ruin our Christmas"), and while he's better than he was on Thursday, he's not in the best shape right now. Then Artemis passed away on Christmas night (he'd been looking a bit odd for over a week, but seemed to go downhill rapidly). Parakeets only live 5-7 years on average, so it's not like it was absolutely unlikely, but I just didn't think he'd go as quickly as he did. My sister's also gone to Florida to spend the rest of vacation with her boyfriend, so the house has been pretty quiet (she's also been sick, AGAIN, for the last few days).

Between this and worrying about my stupid test, I've got a lot on my plate.

Not all of Christmas sucked, though. The majority of the day was quite pleasant, and I finally have a working desktop computer now, thanks to Dad. The 'rents also gave me a GPS system, Persona 4, and the first season of Bleach, so I'm pretty floored. (Mookie got a kayak, for anyone interested).

I want and don't want the 2nd to get here soon. I keep thinking that I need more time, but the more time I have, the more I just worry about things. Ugh. I honestly shouldn't, because I'm sure that I'll get a decent score. I have three stellar recommendations from professors, and while I didn't have a super-high GPA in college, I was in an honor-major program, did relatively well in classes that challenged me, and I made Dean's commendation list three times in a row. These are all things that they want and look for, right?

Artemis just passed away.

Once I finish the GRE, I'm going to:

*Apply for scholarships and other fun (NOT) things
*Finish making presents for people once I get the parts
*Finish that Shadow Hearts 3 fic I've been kicking around...
*Start work on my T-shirt quilt
*Deep-clean my room
*Start up that etsy store?
*Catch up on TV!

* Health Insurance Form: SENT! I wasn't able to find out one piece of information (they want to know the name of the attending physician the last time I was in the emergency room), but if they really need it, I'll probably have it by the time they ask.
* Medical Record Release Form: SENT! Now I have to wait for the woman at the Medical Records department to receive it, then call me back and verify that everything's correct, and then I have to pay for the release form...for a doctor's name. D:
* Rutgers application: SENT! Paid the application fee and everything. Now I just have to wait for Prof. Stillwaggon to send me her reccommendation letters so I can forward them, and we're in business!
* Gettysburg Transcript Request: SENT! Hopefully they won't take too long.

It's been a productive day. I have to go to work for night shift, though, Blech.

I actually did some hardcore studying today, and I'm very proud of myself. Reviewed about 40-50 vocab words, did a practice Analyzing Argument essay, and set up my practice GRE software. I've done a couple practice sets, and I've done pretty good so far! (Okay, so I got a 55% on one of the math problem-solving practice sets, but I count that as a good thing...at least I knew several answers?) I just need to keep reviewing my book over and over, keep learning and drilling vocab words, and keep working through the practice sets I have. I have off tomorrow, plus it's supposed to snow, so I'm going to try and work through a whole practice test (if I can get my family to leave me alone for a few hours) and work on and FINISH my application essay for Rutgers. Oh, and I should probably do the app for Drexel. ( Ponderings about school and social life and stuff. Very deep, very philosophical. ...Not really. )Anyway, once this GRE stuff and my first application is out of the way, I can start focusing on other things. Like finally updating my literary blog! And being on AIM more. And more games! And other things that I can't remember at this point in time. And so it goes!

ARGH.

I need to get this essay written so I can send in my application. And I need to send in the application to I can send in the supplementary materials.

But I need to study for the GRE, which is in TWO FUCKING WEEKS OMG.

But I need to do this proofreading work for Dad, because I need the money (everybody's come back for Christmas break, so my hours were halved).

JUGGLING. I FAIL AT IT.

Phase the Third of secret project nearly complete! Almost done!