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busy HNZ Life school

Warning: This is a Typical Abby Post

I don’t mean to steal the thunder from Linda’s very first blog post ever, (as an avid blogger who once wrote an article titled “To Those About to Blog, I Salute You” for a high school newspaper, I salute you Linda ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) but I figured it was about time for a post from me. I’d been pretty much AWOL around HNZ for a long while, something which still upsets me, and it was always for different reasons each time; and I apologize for never really posting an absence post, I mostly only tell the staff that I’ll be missing for a while. The most recent reason was that it was now March and I still had no idea what I was going to do for school exactly. Those of you who know me well/personally, know that school is really important to me and I’m very bitter about the subject of college, or university, as they call it in other places. But for all I know, I’m just a “grass is greener on the other side” type of person who just longs to be in school, but once I actually attend, I’d hate it just as much as most of my friends do.

Anyway, I had an emotional breakdown after having a conversation with my younger sister about her future plans and saw that hers actually seemed to be in motion, or at least seemed like they were tangible. Now I love my sister to death, but school and rules and the like have never been her strong point, ever. And since she had a baby last year I expected her to be even further behind on getting her life together as I assume lots of teen moms are, (no offense to any out there! :x). So when afterward I sat there crying, asking myself what I was doing with myself and why I was letting myself waste time, this wasn’t like me at all. If I wanted something I worked hard for it until I got it (such a Slytherin ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). I had applied to St. John’s a while earlier, but because the acceptance process was so long, the deadline for Housing had past, and since I wasn’t an admitted student yet, I wasn’t allowed to pay any deposits, just in case I was rejected it wouldn’t be money down the drain. Since I live in Texas, living on campus was the absolute most important thing to me, since even the cheapest apartment in New York is completely out of my family’s price range; so since I had missed the deadline for Housing, I considered the option of St. John’s gone, thus creating more hysteria about what I was to do.

After getting myself together, I started writing the essay for an application to another school, and before I knew it, I had submitted my application even though the deadline had long passed. I don’t know why I still decided to submit my application even though the deadline had passed, but I just decided “Oh well, at least they’ll have my application on file,” and literally the next week I got a call from the school. That’s never happened before, a school taking an interest in me personally! We talked on the phone about what else I needed to submit before being officially accepted and I asked about my priority, Housing, and said it was nowhere near close to deadline. This was music to my ears, I cried, out of joy this time, because I felt that I was finally making progress. The only downside was that it wasn’t in New York, and it wasn’t St. John’s, my dream school. Oh well, I could live with that. At least it was anywhere but Texas! (And Ohio isn’t that far from New York). I’d go there for one year and transfer to St. John’s the next, this was just getting my foot in the door, I could live with that! I soon began getting really excited at the fact that I might be going to school again, and the thought of it being in a small town in Ohio (a place I’ve always wanted to visit for some reason) was making me giddy! I had convinced myself that this school was going to be awesome and St. John’s could suck it for not taking an interest in me personally and thought “That’s their loss!”

Then came the mass emails from St. John’s. I had officially been accepted so now they were just going through their routine mass emails to newly accepted students – Come visit the campus! – -Don’t forget to register at our website! – – Want to study abroad? You can with STJ! – the usual. This was my fourth time being accepted to St. John’s so I knew the routine. I was going to delete the emails, I had too many of the same ones from previous times anyway; it felt like a bad break up where I was trying to get rid of old love letters or something. But even with old love letters, I can’t help but open them and read them, which is always a bad idea because old feelings come flooding back and then the waterworks start, or at least that’s the way it is with me. I learned though that the longer it had been between a break up, the less it hurt and the easier it got to throwing away the love letters (or deleting in this modern age). It wasn’t like that with St. John’s; I couldn’t bring myself to delete the emails, and there I was, reading every single email and then going a step further with my pain by visiting their website and I couldn’t take it. I reminded myself what I thought earlier “This is my FOURTH time being accepted to St. John’s”, was I really going to reject them for a fourth time?! Granted they weren’t as invested into the relationship as I was, but really? Four times? That got me into thinking why I kept putting off St. John’s and then it hit me. I had always refrained from admitting it but the reason I kept putting if off was because I was scared of the heartache. I was scared of getting so attached to St. John’s the way I had that very first time I was supposed to go, 2 years ago, that I distanced myself and I called things off before they could, to save me the pain.

So St. John’s was officially back in the running. Even though I had no idea if I could still live on campus or if it was too late for me to accept my place, enough was enough, no more putting it off and living in fear; no more wondering “What if?” I chose St. John’s. Even though Ohio was the safest choice for me, it never stood a chance against my dream school. I paid all my deposits the very next morning even though the Housing deadline had passed, and this time things were different, I started getting new emails from them that I’d never read before. It was the new post-acceptance emails, and this time it felt real. The emails were more personal (still mass-sent emails) but more towards students who had made the commitment to St. John’s rather than the old “You’re accepted, now confirm you wanna come here!” emails.

Things changed from then on. I had chats with Admissions workers and called them frequently for information (who cares if I kept getting transferred to 5 different departments within 10 seconds each time!) And then came the chat with all the Deans. After that chat session with the Deans of St. John’s, I can honestly (and very arrogantly) say I made quite an impression on them, I even got asked to please visit their office when I went to campus in the fall. ๐Ÿ˜€ And now the emails I get aren’t the mass-sent emails but the personal one-on-one emails regarding my enrollment status directly. The chat sessions aren’t private since students can just pop in whenever they want, so I know that these invitations and requests for my email address aren’t normal, seeing as they didn’t ask any other student who joined the chat. /boasting They not only helped me with the usual FAQ’s incoming freshman have, but they helped me decide what I should study. Journalism was always going to be my major, but lately I had become interested in Politics, which they gushed was excellent to study alongside Journalism, so I wasn’t sure whether to take that as well, or Business. In the end we decided on a double major in Journalism and Politics, with a minor in Business – and if that proves to be too much for me, then the Politics can just become a minor too. ๐Ÿ™‚ BEST OF ALL? They pretty much guaranteed I’d have a dorm since I’m a freshman! You have NO idea how ecstatic I was when I heard that!

So it’s official, I’M GOING TO ST. JOHN’S!!! Registration for classes doesn’t start until June, and they won’t start sending out Housing notices until then either, so all I have left to do is wait. I got my financial aid and I still have to apply for a few loans and save up money to go, but I don’t care, I’M GOING TO ST. JOHN’S! I can’t believe it’s actually happening. I said it before, and I’ll say it again, this is my year, I can feel it! In a few months’ time, I’ll be living in the best place in the world, going to my dream school that is so utterly perfect for me. <3 And hopefully in a year’s time I’ll be getting ready to meet Pattycakes and Galinda for the first time too and we’ll all go see Wicked. ๐Ÿ˜€ And what this means for HNZ? Well as I said, all there’s left to do is wait until June, and now my sister’s out of high school so expect me to be on more often, finally! ๐Ÿ˜€

Finally, a happy update from me! ๐Ÿ˜€

~Elphaba


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Categories
crazies HNZ Life school

Brace Yourselves!

Hey guys, it’s Abby, I know I haven’t been around on HNZ much lately so I’m sorry for that, but I had to focus on a few other things (aka real life) for a while before I felt ready to get back on HNZ. Since November I’ve been rather busy! I visited New York for the second time in my life (and definitely not the last) and it was just amazing as always. I didn’t see Leighton Meester again (she was performing at Times Square on the day I was leaving! ๐Ÿ™ ) and my grandma was a complete pain in the ass to travel with! She’s a terrible conversationalist, I couldn’t get a word in, and when I’m watching the news I like to have discussions about what’s on and everything she said was just complete ignorance and she was sooo close-minded! (She definitely made me appreciate my mom more, something I thought would never happen). It was horrible, and she could not stop complaining about everything, and when I’m at my favorite place in the world, I don’t want to hear none of that crap! haha, but it doesn’t matter because after a while I tuned her out and just enjoyed the trip. ๐Ÿ™‚ I got to visit the school I’ve been dyyyyying to go to for the past two years, St. John’s University, and WOW, it is amazing! Actually seeing the campus and what it has to offer pretty much just confirmed the fact that it is absolutely, in-every-way PERFECT for me, no joke. I can’t wait to go!

I had been accepted to the school for the upcoming Spring semester (which starts on Jan. 22) with a $10,000 scholarship, so I thought, ‘Great, I’m good to go!’ Well, after looking through things again, I realized that the scholarship money was for the entire year whereas I’d only be attending for a semester first, meaning that I wasn’t getting $10,000 but only $5,000. That, combined with my extremely unsatisfactory financial aid still left me with a little over $5,000 I still needed to pay. I tried convincing my mom for us to take out loans, but she was only in town for a week so she was too busy partying and then recovering from hangovers the next day to really pay attention and would just say no. :/

So, in conclusion, I have to put off going for yet another year. This time I’m not as bitter or upset or sad by it because I didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on non-refundable enrollment & housing fees and it didn’t just happen a few days before I was supposed to leave either and most importantly, I made the decision myself, instead of letting the situation leave me with no other option. And truthfully, deep down in my heart, I didn’t want to leave just yet because of my niece. My niece just turned 4 months today! ๐Ÿ™‚ I take care of her almost all the time, but I really don’t mind it at all, I adore her and cannot stand to be away from her for so long. I hate when my sister takes her to her bf’s house and they spend the night there! lol So, I was really sad that I was going to be leaving her so soon, but now that I won’t be leaving until August, I know that I’ll at least have witnessed her first year (her birthday is August 12) and not missed her first word, crawl, steps, etc. ๐Ÿ™‚ I want to cherish the first year I have with her before I leave to New York permanently and she grows up in the blink of an eye! Because I know that now that I have visited the campus, I am more determined than ever to go to school this coming August and I swear this better be the last time you all hear about me putting off school!

So after I came back from New York, my sleeping schedule was finally back on track, I actually slept at night and woke up mornings instead of the opposite! When I came back home I had to deal with my dad who just lost his mom, and my terror brothers off for Thanksgiving break among other things. My mom visited us for a week before she left to Iraq for an indefinite amount of time, all we know is that she’ll still be there during the summer. While she was here we had two Thanksgiving dinners because of her late arrival, I actually got to keep my sleeping pattern normal because she would take my brothers to school instead of me and when she actually paid her kids any attention instead of going out partying, she went crazy buying us anything we wanted and taking us out to eat places. My undeserving brother got a freaking Wii! Grr! Now you’d think that with her huge advancement check and the way she was spending her money like it grew on trees, she paid all the bills? Wrong. Literally the day after she left, we had three utility companies come to our house each day asking for payments! It was so annoying because we couldn’t even contact her to tell her off! (Something that I am extremely good at).

In addition to all that, I’ve been working like CRAZY, which is cool because I’m getting decent checks again, but it just makes me hate Christmas season lol, and I’m not getting lunch hours when I should be, and when I come home I’m soo exhausted I just fall asleep where ever I happen to be at without even getting into my pajamas, etc. I normally wouldn’t care that I fell asleep, but the whole reason I stayed up until 8 am in the first place was because I had to get my brother ready for school and take him, and when I fall asleep, I knock out and don’t wake up until after 7 am, and then he ends up late; that’s why it was better for me to just stay up until then. I keep trying and pushing myself to stay up so late after I come home from work, but my body can’t take it and I just crash. :/Thus, another reason why I haven’t been on HNZ lately.

Oh and today my dad finally told me he has a girlfriend. I should be happy for him, because out of both my parents, my dad definitely deserves to be the happier one, he deserves to have someone to love, he deserves to be better off than my mom, who said she was better off without my dad (which she is soooo not!) But even though I know my dad deserves to be happy by finding someone else, when he told me he wanted me to meet her eventually, all I could think was ‘No!’ It’s not like I want him back with my mom, nooo way, she doesn’t deserve him!, but I just don’t want to see him with someone else or something, idk, whatever. I used to think my parents divorce was the best thing to ever happen to my dad (he began taking English lessons, he got meggga fit, and began going to church, etc.), but now he’s stopped going to church and he parties just as much as my mom does. I think that’s why I don’t like this girl of his. :/ Ah well.

Oh! Also, it actually snowed TWICE in my city!! And the snow actually stuck for a like a day!!! It was so amazing! Of course the whole time I just kept thinking “Wow, I wonder what New York must look like!” Haha! I know, I seriously have an obsession problem but I just can’t help it, I’m in love with the place!

So that is definitely more than enough from me, I promise I’ll try never to update this long ever again, I just wanted to sorta explain my absence on HNZ.

Love you all! โ™ฅ
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Categories
HNZ Life school weekly updates

My Life Today (with a side of HNZ)

So after missing two days of school, and being off of school for five days – I think it’s safe to say that I was out of practise in various subjects and very ill prepared for the day that awaited me today.
I knew I’d missed two tests last week, and was prepared to write them today. Biology went by quickly (we never do much there) and soon enough I was on my way to literature – when I learned that I had another test! I was entirely unaware of a third test for the day. Fortunately my teacher was kind enough and allowed me the period to study before I came back to class and wrote the test, which was fill-in-the-blank on the most minute details of Heart of Darkness. Any questions I didn’t know the answer to I simply put the stupidest answer I could think of for (that’s always the best way to go – humour).
Then I had law, where we learned (via a group’s presentation) about Socrates and the Socratic method. In a few days I’ll have to present on Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Then Chemistry came, where I was supposed to have my first test – and the teacher was away, so it looks like that test will be pushed back to tomorrow.
At lunch I had to sign up for grad photos (this year is going by so0o0o0o quickly =( ) then after lunch I had a math test – which was death. Given the last week for me, I was more than ill-prepared for that test and I simply hope I passed it. That would be nice. At this point my goal for math is to get the credit, then be done with the whole damned thing. >_<;
Following math comes English, where we watched some Hamlet, and Business Leadership where I didn’t do much.


Now for where HNZ comes in to the picture.
All of our site staff have been quite busy over the past week or two, we’ve been keeping things running on HNZ but the nice little things we try to do (like the weekly updates, for instance) haven’t been working out so well, and so easily.
The weekly update is actually quite time consuming. First we must compile a list of updates, changes, upcoming events. Next we try to write a paragraph (or thereabouts) for each topic and finally we need to code the whole thing to not just be a giant block of text. The most time consuming part of the coding always turns out to be the highlighted roleplays, which very few people like to contribute to, anyway. (By the way -> Shoot Livvy a PM to have your plot highlighted!)
With all that, doing it once a week has become near impossible, it seems. Even a bi-weekly update seems more amiable (with perhaps special updates in between) then the regular once a week. It’s less pressure on site staff, and gives us more time between updates.
Now, that’s just my thoughts, and I haven’t even discussed them with Livvy, or Linda, or Abby – because I’m not even sure we’ll all stay this busy forever. If doing it once a week is possible again in the near future I don’t want to change the system too many times, but at this point the future looks bleak for “Weekly” updates, I fear.

Aside from that Livvy and I have been inundated with applications for tonnes of things, so please bear with us. With my ever-more busy schedule and Livvy’s present sickness we’re sorting things as best we can. We try to reply to all applications within a week, if not much much sooner.

Anyhow, I think that another “Weekly Update” will be posted today, and that may well be where this blog is first linked to. Exciting? A little bit. =) So I better go work on that.

‘Til next blawg,

~Nick

P.S: What are your thoughts on the weekly updates? Comment on the blog post and share your input! ^_^
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