<p>bob dylan does a pretty good job of summing up my high school experience.</p>
<p>oh, the hours i’ve spent inside the coliseum,
dodging lions and wastin’ time.
oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, i could hardly stand to see 'em,
yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb.</p>
<p>Come on… Toronto is only 300+ miles away from NY.</p>
<p>300 miles, but a heckuva lot of postal bureaucracy.</p>
<p>Have you ever heard Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In”? It’s an oldie, from the album the Times They Are a-Changin’. On some crappy days, where you just look at the world around you and see everything about it that’s so wrong, that song’s just about the only thing that keeps me going.</p>
<p>sunny, i visited georgetown on tuesday! i didn’t take any pictures, but it’s really nice. the cherry trees are just starting to bloom again. they have an annual cherry blossom festival down there (in washington d.c.) and it’s so pretty. i don’t know if you’ve heard of georgetown or if you’re interested at all, but as far as city schools go it’s not that bad. it’s like mecca for polisci students–the amount of internships available in the city is insane. and students get full access to the library of congress. the campus is beautiful, too, but i don’t know how much i actually like it…just felt off to me. eh.</p>
<p>yeoman, duh. (: it’s a good song. i like the mix of minor and major chords. if there’s one song that sums up the feeling of change in the '60s (besides “a change is gonna come,” hah,) it would probably be that one. and yeah, it’s also a pretty comforting song when things are bleak. </p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - “The King Beetle on the Coconut Estate” by mewithoutYou](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTcrWUU-EeA]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTcrWUU-EeA)
not a big fan of this band, but i think the lyrics to this song are really interesting and the buildup always gives me the chills. thought about doing my literary analysis on it but chose exeunt the humanities by jaques barzun instead.</p>
<p>I’ve definitely heard of Georgetown but I definitely need to do more research.
I finally received my letter and my TASPlication is officially over. </p>
<p>To everybody reading this thread: good luck with the rest of your high school life! Time flies so fast and we are almost legal adults. That would be the legal end of our childhood (but I believe that parts of us would still remain three) so leave something meaningful and happy behind.
idk where the sentiment came but whatever.</p>
<p>
I looked up the original story, and they changed the number of beetles going to the fire from 4 to 3. Do you have any idea why?</p>
<p>dunbar, i have no idea.</p>
<p>on those days when when i look around and see everything that’s wrong with the world, when i’m feeling particularly despondant about the dearth of worthwhile people around me, neil young’s heart of gold is always good. </p>
<p>thanks sunny. i hope everyone has a great rest of junior year/senior year, too.</p>
<p>I got my letter two days ago. Phew. I think happysunnyshine said it all [:</p>
<p>I’m not a regular poster, but my TASP rejection letter pretty much crushed me (and, to be honest, still is doing so daily). It’s nice to see a thread of people who can empathize, and who all seem so interesting and talented that it makes me feel a little less awful that I was rejected :)</p>
<p>don’t feel bad about being rejected, shortie. and don’t take the rejection as indicative of anything in particular…who knows what went through the reviewer’s head when they read your application? probably most of the applicants were qualified and could do well in the program, but they can only take about 10% of that number and then cut that winnowing in half. the chances are insane. i’m sure you’ll find something else to do with your summer that’s almost as nice. just remember that tasp isn’t the end-all and be-all of intellectualism (although maybe that’s more of a reminder to myself…) and yeah, a lot of very interesting and talented people got rejected. it’s too bad. (:</p>
<p>Imma jump aboard this ship… got my rejection letter like a couple days ago. I REALLY wanted TASP. REALLY. I mean, I’m sure everyone did b/c it was a ton of work to apply but I put so much effort into those essays. And yes, I did <em>somewhat</em> enjoy the process of writing them…but people are all like, oh, well, you can still use them for your college apps. But first, college apps have completely different questions than TASP. I loved the TASP app b/c it was about me as an intellectual, not just me as a person. College apps I sometimes feel are just like, describe your background, blah blah blah. It would be more <em>me</em> if I could write an essay arguing a point, discussing a topic of interest, etc. AND second, why would I use essays that got me rejected? 
This is why I wish we could know, like, how close we were to being accepted/what they thought about our letters… ok, maybe I don’t wanna know how close I came, but still. I need closure!!</p>
<p>“And lessist, I’m really interested in linguistics too, though I think our interests lie in different areas. I’m crazy about historical linguistics”
OMG me too! I haven’t really read anything on it but I’ve got a growing wishlist on amazon of some books on the history of the English language that I’m really excited to buy (when I get over the, you know, $150 price-tag because I want ALL OF THEM and I am very indecisive). And I’ve done my fare share of wiki research…which totally qualifies me as an expert. In terms of more general linguistics–have you read anything by William Safire? In my grandparents’ house, which has books covering–literally covering–three walls in every room (oh, it’s so great. just a huge library)–I stumbled upon a collection of his columns with the same name (On Language). It might be out of print but maybe try to find some of his other stuff.
I’m taking Latin… really interested in etymology too. And I’m kind of a grammar freak, but I try not to correct people b/c it bugs them. (I’m just trying to help!) Grrr, I just clench my fists when the Safeway says 10 items or less.</p>
<p>Hmmm… did I write a hella long post to make up for feelings of inadequacy stemming from my late entry into this thread??</p>
<p>We are still strong women and men.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I may be unwelcome here since I made it to the first round of TASP (though I have no doubt I’ll be rejected come May) but I just got rejected from my state’s governor’s school for French, which I was excited about. So let me just say to the above quote ME TOO! I’m such a language nerd…I read William Safire’s column every week until he died. It’s still going, but they have guest columnists and it’s truthfully kind of lame. </p>
<p>Look up joual…it’s this crazy-arse dialect of Quebecois french. SO COOL. Yay language nerds nerds!</p>
<p>@glassesarechic: everybody’s welcome here~
Make it to the second round, attend TASP and faithfully report your experience there (otherwise we will nag you)!</p>
<p>quomodo, i’m also leery about using my tasp work for college essays. i could re-work them to fit the prompt, but yeah…why use something i already got rejected for once? college applications aren’t going to feel right when the time comes to fill them out because what they ask for seems so insignificant compared to what tasp wanted from us. i would also really, really, really like to know what the readers thought when they came to my essays. if i was the first one on the reject pile or the one they debated over for a long time. <em>shrug</em> none of us will ever know! </p>
<p>glassesarechic, don’t worry about it. i know i’m very happy for you and everyone else who made it to the first round. good luck with the interview! and definitely let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>and ahhhhh! more language nerds! i read william safire’s column, too. but yeah…not anymore. ): i just listened to clips of people speaking joual. i can understand most of it, hah. it’s interesting. i love doing the problems on the national linguistic olympiad’s website. they’re so fun! the date for applying/testing for the national team was back in january though. i wish i hadn’t missed it! have you guys ever read any steven pinker, noam chomsky, or lev vygotsky? douglas hofstadter’s gödel, escher, bach: an eternal golden braid looks amazing, too.</p>
<p>I learned some words through the linguistic olympiad website: floccinaucinihilipilification; pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism;antidisestablishmentarianism; humuhumunukunukuapua‘a; pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis</p>
<p>I wonder what would happen if someone used those words in their essays.</p>
<p>ok i’m kinda new on CC… don’t murder me for this… but how do you quote stuff in a post? i tried looking it up on help too but i couldn’t figure it out! : ( </p>
<p>I actually have been aware of the existence of antidisestablishmentarianism since I was in like 2nd grade, when some people were like, “WHAT’s the longest word in the dictionary?” I’m pretty sure it’s not though… I dunno. Yeah, no idea what it means.
OOOH I’m soooo resourceful: I just looked it up. Clever, clever. According to wiki, the supreme source on EVERYTHING, it’s “a political position that originated in nineteenth-century Britain in opposition to proposals for the disestablishment of the Church of England, that is, to remove the Anglican Church’s status as the state church of England, Ireland and Wales.” Haha, not that complicated at all. And also it is apparently “commonly believed to be the second longest word in English, excluding coined and technical terms not found in major dictionaries.” hmmm…</p>
<p>glassesarechic, you are in no way rejected here. we, unlike a certain <em>cough, cough</em> program, are non-exclusive people filled w/ warm fuzzies. (jk about the TASP diss. sorta. no, but it’s a great program and its existence makes me have hope for the world. i hope you get in!)</p>
<p>ok, so i just looked at the linguistic olympiad website, more specifically at the 2009 contest featuring all those lovely words, and it’s ridiculous. It looks super hard. but cool.</p>
<p>oh, have you guys seen this video? [YouTube</a> - 21 Accents](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k)
this woman does 21 different english-language accents, and it’s pretty much ridiculous. like, they’re not perfect… but very close. i love the 1945 transatlantic accent…very funny. they DO all talk kinda weird in old movies. like, not quite a british accent…but not how americans speak either.</p>
<p>@lessist: uh, hope I don’t disappoint you but no, i’ve never read anything by any of them. i am <em>roughly</em> acquainted w/ some of noam chomsky’s most famous theories, but i haven’t read anything… I need to read more! I ALWAYS need to read more. I read SOOO much more in the summer… but it’s hard, because while I enjoy reading, I do need to focus and concentrate on it. So I am at school all day, then i come home and do hw, and then i have very little free time… and unfortunately, i often chose to use that time to go online, watch tv, etc… stuff that i can really relax at and not have to THINK. But yeah. I should read more more more.</p>
<p>I’ve just finished perilous power by chomsky.</p>
<p>I’ve done some pretty extensive Wikipedia research on Chomsky, lol, but that’s it.</p>
<p>How was Perilous Power? </p>
<p>quomodo: The word joual is how people who speak joual say “cheval” (french for horse) which is MADNESS I say!</p>
<p>
You will know it as soon as you turn to the first page. I was shocked. Actually my friend and I were both shocked.</p>