<p>O my friggin' gawd. My daughter has just been accepted to Barnard! (29 ACT, SATs too terrible to reveal). My jaw has fallen off and is scraping the floor.</p>
<p>The hedgehogs over here have run out of their burrows in disarray! The sky is falling...its a solar eclipse. Portents from heaven and Barnard. :)</p>
<p>Ah, solar eclipse. THAT explains it. </p>
<p>I am sooo on the wrong end of the "I-told-you-so" loop. All year long I've been telling the poor kid not to get her hopes up and reminding her about how impossible it is to get into schools like Barnard & Brown, and my son has been telling me for months now that I'm a rotten mother for lacking faith in my daughter. </p>
<p>I am just hoping and praying that the financial aid works out. I cannot possibly see crushing my daughter's spirit at this point and making her go to UC Santa Barbara because we can't afford NYU or Barnard ... but geez, I just don't have that much money.</p>
<p>The head of the marmots has come out of the tent, he sees his shadow. It is all fuzzy. He holds his hands out to catch the sunlight and sees little crescents..."so cool," he says as he puts on a jacket..."time to put your cards on the table." "This is the time of year to wait for all the info and take a deep, deep breathe," he says.</p>
<p>This is my first ever total eclipse!!!!</p>
<p>Calmom,</p>
<p>Congrats on D having 2 wonderful choices (I love Barnard, but the I'll buy you a car if you stay in NYC did not work for us). She should definitely visit both.</p>
<p>Okay, as promised, this round is on me :eek:</p>
<p>Overseas, I'm jealous -- I'd love to see the eclipse! But I'm on the wrong side of the world. </p>
<p>Sybbie, that's a dumb offer -- no one in their right mind wants a car IN NYC -- in fact one of the big advantages of my daughter going to NY is that she won't take her car and I can drop her from the insurance.</p>
<p>I really like the idea of Barnard better than NYU, and d. wants NYU - but I am sure that the financial aid packages will be very different. NYU gives lousy aid, but is FAFSA only; Barnard digs very hard for info about the ex-hubby, and of course also counts in home equity, but will meet 100% need once they redefine it to their liking. So it is a big ???? </p>
<p>In the meantime D. is accusing me of favoring the bumper sticker school. But we will work that all out later. </p>
<p>But here's the thing: I could say no to Boston U. or Fordham or Northeastern because I am utterly convinced that when it comes down to it, she could be just as happy and do just as well at UC Santa Barbara. But if my D. has to say no to NYU/Barnard because we can't come up with the money... I know she is going to end up regretting that for her whole life. I also know that its not worth going into massive debt for - but it sure puts things in a different light. I might just end up doing a lot more in the way of PLUS loans than I had planned.</p>
<p>D is taking the train to NYC this weekend, with her boyfriend! They will be staying with a friend who attends Parson in Brooklyn but the primary purpose is to see if she could see herself living in NYC, around Cooper Union (decision pending...)</p>
<p>Calmom, I'll have her wave to the NYU campus for your D on the way by...</p>
<p>I was going to spring for Margaritas all around in honor of calmom's D. But instead I'm depositing the pesos in the chicken bucket that we used to have for curmella - can't we just roll that over to calD?</p>
<p>calmom - call NYU and Barnard and find out which one accepts tuition payment in pesos.</p>
<p>Congrats and fingers crossed for the $$ announcements. I don't remember if my pox worked on Cami's mailbox to get it to cough up the right finaid package. If it did, I hereby invoke the same pox on calmom's mailbox. If it didn't, I hereby give calmom's mailbox a wide berth. Send in the marmots; I think they manufacture pesos, dollars or whatevery currency is required. Worked for m&sdad!</p>
<p>Full of their own successes, my marmots have become slackers...</p>
<p>Once again, the mailslot cupboard was bare.</p>
<p>:::Whew!::: removing my yellow rain sombrero:::: I tried to round up some Haight Street marmots for you, m&sdad, but the little darlings wouldn't cooperate. They were eating wheat grass and singing rounds of Kumbaya with a bunch of lemmings. :p I picked up a badger hitchhiking out of Texas, and he is one bad hombre. How big is your mailman?</p>
<p>Calmom -- OMG! Congratulations to CalD and to you! ::::confetti:::streamers::::balloons:::strobing lights::::car horns going off in the parking lot:::: Simply fabulous! :)</p>
<p>calmom: BRAVO!! :D</p>
<p>congrats calmom! Does Barnard do the core program with Columbia? </p>
<p>Having lived on East 9th at Avenue A with no money, I would say all 17 year olds will decide the East Village is the coolest place on earth to live. It's amazing how little St Marks and the East Village have changed.</p>
<p>Cheers, I lived on 14th and C.</p>
<p>Did you frequent the 2nd Avenue Deli?</p>
<p>Yes! And Cafe Orlin! Both still there, both still chockers with students. We're going for a visit in a few weeks. That's where we will be while S2 tours NYU.</p>
<p>H lived above the St Marks Bar before we moved to a storefront on East 9th--where the loo was in the kitchen along with the bathtub! You must have had equally luxurious accomodations?</p>
<p>Esat 9th was a pot street in those days. Streams of white suburban kids from Jersey and Connecticut would get their 'drive-through' pot on 9th. When we walked down the street, the dealers would shout, "Resident! Resident!" I'd freak if my sons lived on a block like that, but at the time, we were beyond happy not to be on the drive-through crack or cocaine streets, LOL.</p>
<p>I've never been so impressed with work ethic as I was with those pot dealers. The hustle was unbelieveable. 18 hour days, 7 days a week they would run alongside fancy automobiles trading nickel bags for dollar notes. They used to sit on our stoop and compare jail notes.</p>
<p>My favorite thing about that neighborhood was that the streets were teeming with people at all hours so I never felt unsafe. Also loved the Hot Bialys on 14th street at about 3rd... perfect with chopped liver.</p>
<p>Calmom, I am late to this party but raising a glass to your D for her accomplishments and for her good fortune to get into her favorite schools. That's wonderful. Let us know how her visit and all the rest goes. </p>
<p>Cheers, I did not realize your son was looking at NYU. Cool.</p>
<p>SBMom....your post is making me feel a teensy bit better with regard to the streets around there teeming with people to all hours. My D lives in the area and she has to walk home very late including tonight and it does give me the worries. </p>
<p>And to everyone else....I did not keep up reading Sinner's and so have no idea what the whole Marmot discussion is refering to but when I see Marmot, I can just think about my hubby's ski outerwear and D's raincoat but I KNOW that is not what yer talkin' about!</p>
<p>Calmom - Congratulations on the acceptance. I kept seeing Marmot ski jackets this weekend and thinking of this thread. Headed to VT in the rain this weekend - wonder how waterproof this is. Original thought was to combine college visits, when possible,with ski trips. We'll see.</p>
<p>Now there is a trader Joe's in Union Square on 14th between 3/4th giving whole foods a real run for the money. D and her friend went down the other day said the line was around the corner like they were giving away free food</p>
<p>Soozie, the marmots are our admissions helpers. We bask in marmotdom (not martyrdom) while parents on other threads worry about GPA's. Marmots are not always reliable, but we forgive them because they're cute and furry, and it's fun to call them whistle pigs. :p</p>
<p>Right now, they're on duty at m&sdad's mailbox while he anxiously awaits good news on financial aid. There are not enough marmots in the world to get sluggson into CAL, but we're going to hang out at UC Berkeley admissions tonight, along with a gazillion caffeine and sugar-jacked high school seniors, and surf the big wave of anticipation. Should be fun! </p>
<p>This is the last college on sluggson's list, so this crazy-making part of the college application process is almost over for us. I'm tired of jumping over these hurdles. I want to think about Graduation and not worry about AP exams or the end of the semester or any more college-related stuff. I want to start thinking about Senior Ball and Grad Night. I have Senior Parentitus. ;) </p>
<p>Plus, it's entirely possible that SluggH may be having some sort of birthday mini-meltdown. The Big 5-0 combined with the reality of our last slugglette's high school graduation could be responsible for... (15 minutes later, I'm still trying to think of nice ways to describe his annoying whiney-pants behavior!). Too many milestones for a guy who makes Mr. Rogers look like a party animal. And, unfortunately, my bedside manner happens to resemble that of Nurse Ratched crossed with an Army boot camp Sergeant Major. Something along the lines of, Suck it up and soldier! :D</p>
<p>Another day of mail bupkus!</p>
<p>How I wish I had the UC process when, other than server slowness, I have an answer when promised.</p>
<p>School A: Have merit aid answer by 3/30...Not!
School B: Admissions answer: Not!
School C: Fin aid answer by three day ago...Still Not!
School D: No merit responses until 4/15!!</p>
<p>Feels more like S&MDad than the reverse...</p>
<p>My current itunes playlist (warning to the kiddies that lurk here, you may not know some of these chestnuts):</p>
<ol>
<li>"Anticipation" by Carly Simon</li>
<li>"The Letter" by The Box Tops</li>
<li>"The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers</li>
<li>"Heard It Though the Grapevine (That Acceptances Are Posted on Line...)" by Marvin Gaye (and the UC Singers)</li>
<li>"Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes</li>
<li>"Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder</li>
<li>"Tangled Up in Blue (Duct Tape)" by Bob Dylan</li>
<li>"Money (That's What I Want)" by The Flying Lizards</li>
<li>"Crying" by Roy Orbison</li>
</ol>
<p>and up the charts with a bullet:</p>
<ol>
<li>"Marmot" by Smackmelon, from their less than mediocre 1995 album "Blue Hour"</li>
</ol>