<p>Congratulations, thumper … enjoy retirement!</p>
<p>I am also moving on in my career. I will be leaving financial aid & working in the benefits management consulting field. I have TONS to learn, and I am nervous as can be. However, I am ready to move into a field that offers the possibility of being rewarded for my hard work. I submitted my notice last week.</p>
<p>Wow – Thumper, you know I’m jealous, but I wish you well on your new adventures. And you will have many of them. The best is yet to come.</p>
<p>Great news Kelsmom. You will be great. Just think how quickly and how much you learned about financial aid. I’m so happy that you have found a new career venture. Good luck to you!!</p>
<p>to kelsmom: whoooooooooooooooooooooot!!!</p>
<p>Whooot to Thumper and the Kelsmom and our talented dancer girls!!! ;)</p>
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<p>Martina99, was you daughter’s group the Silhouettes? I didn’t see the whole show but happened to click past it when the group was being introduced so I stopped to watch. They were great! And they made it to the next round :). Congrats, how exciting!</p>
<p>YAY! YAY! YAY! DD just got word today that she has been accepted to the masters program at Brandeis … and with a scholarship to boot! WOO HOO! I’m so happy for her and proud of her. It was the only school she applied to because they have, according to her, the best program for her area of study (Sustainable International Development). Go get 'em, Splash! :D</p>
<p>Congrats Splashmom!</p>
<p>Thank you, Vitrac.</p>
<p>Yay, Thumper, Kelsmom, Martina’s D’s dance company, Splash’s D !!! </p>
<p>Hyperjulie, we go to the flea market every week (not that we need to, it’s a disease).
Cleaned out inlaws’ house last summer. (60 year accumulation, you should see our barn!)</p>
<p>I did “brag” many pages back, I used to babysit Viggo Mortenson, the actor. :)</p>
<p>Hi Patsmom, & all, the girls will be on Wed, during the New York auditions. Look for the girls in the pink wigs :)</p>
<p>I saw my D in a commercial last night!</p>
<p>I had heard about the commercial over the weekend and my family took to hiding the remote on me. I don’t usually watch TV, but now I kept tuning it to NBC hoping to catch it. I watched <em>golf</em> on Sunday just for the commercial breaks. </p>
<p>They don’t have nearly enough commercials during golf tournaments. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>And (spoiler) they may show them getting told they’re going to Vegas, but reality is another thing.</p>
<p>^The second NY round was rescheduled to Tues. 8PM because of the president’s speech. Saw the girls in the upcoming attractions. /bragging off :)</p>
<p>See post number 637.</p>
<p>Much to the delight of my son and his employer, the on-line copy my son wrote for Friends with Benefits, has come under attack by a conservative group, [Jetset</a> Studios - Wall | Facebook](<a href=“http://www.facebook.com/JetsetStudios?sk=wall&filter=1]Jetset”>Redirecting...).</p>
<p>On his blog my son commented:“For a sex-lovin, elitist, urban Hollywood boy this is the best gift I can ever hope to receive.”</p>
<p>Bumping to the top as I know someone has to have a summer brag.</p>
<p>I had a job interview for a part time job but it was NOT the “perfect part time job”. I had the courage to say NO.</p>
<p>DD and I went on a college road trip that covered 900 miles in two states over 5 days by car, and 2 plane flights.</p>
<p>And we didn’t argue once. 
</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone. Small brag. Long story.</p>
<p>D1 truly has math anxiety, and when it comes to standardized testing…OMG. She got through the SAT by taking it 3 times and using superscoring, as she focused entirely on Math for the third time, having good scores on the others by then.</p>
<p>Fast forward 4 years. GRE. And she was caught in the “old GRE/new GRE dilemma.” She had decided to take the new. Her thought process was that it was new, it would take awhile for programs to really understand the conversion, and the first year there likely would be more lee-way. Then her number one grad program/department posted at the eleventh hour (late MAY) that they wanted old scores, as waiting until mid-Nov for scores from AUG/SEPT/OCT to be released would not be wise. AGRHHH. Last minute change of prep course, and less time to prep. Her plan was to take a heavier load for summer 1, a light load for summer 2 while she prepped, and take the new GRE mid August. Now she needed to take the old GRE by mid July to allow for any emergency/rescheduling by the deadline of July 31. </p>
<p>And now she had the added stress of knowing she had one shot. If she did poorly, no time for a retake of the old GRE. A retake would mean the new GRE, with a totally different prep. The changes they are making are pretty dramatic. </p>
<p>She is looking not at a PhD program but an MPA specializing in nonprofit management/leadership. Her GPA is good, and her extracurriculars are STRONG, as will be her letters of rec. I knew she did not need to score the same quantitative score that her BF, a PhD student in Chemistry, had scored, haha. But she needed to not embarrass herself. Her first practice test online was not good.</p>
<p>I had not really heard from her of late. She had been crazy busy. Then I got a text when she got close to her goal score on a practice test. She was confident, relaxed. A few days later, tears and frustration when she did poorly again on a practice test, almost back to where she started. And the anxiety.</p>
<p>Well, she took the GRE this morning. I was expecting a call around 12:30. At 11:30 she called. Hi mom! Her voice was a surprise. And she was not loosing it. Did I get the days mixed up? How could she be calling me now? And not be upset? Well, she got there early, and once there was able to register and just start. And she was done. And what do you know, she scored better than ANY practice test, and she exceeded her goals. Her total is enough, and with all her math prep, she stunned herself by getting higher in math than in verbal.</p>
<p>While her scores were not stellar, she scored enough to get a good look. She scored enough to matter. ONE AND DONE. And she OUTSCORED her BF on the verbal. And he is wicked smart.</p>
<p>After three weeks of back breaking volunteer work in Joplin “tornado alley” Mo., H is exhausted but satisfied. I am so proud of him. He worked hard throwing debris into trucks 8 hours a day for 21 days straight. And many thanks to the church who fed him and let him sleep in their basement.</p>
<p>Sounds like a good man, Musica. :)</p>
<p>As for my brag… I made a spreadsheet today with the graduate schools I’m looking to apply to and various important deadlines, factors, costs, and other considerations for each school. I also registered for the GRE, and since the November time frame is fine for all of my schools as far as scores go, I got 50% off my fee by registering for a September test.</p>
<p>Well, I’m back from my 8 weeks in Spain for the big wedding. Don’t know what to post, too much, so ask away and I’ll answer. I will add that it was wonderful!</p>
<p>Welcome back Glo…I’m still retired.</p>