A Ruther Eventful Weekend

First of all,

YAY! WE'RE GOING TO COLLEGE!

Many congratulations on the multitude of acceptances! You are all awesome! As for rejections, pooh on them. No mere form letter will ever dull the brightness of your TASPly intelligences.


OK, now the news from over here.

Bad news:

I broke my nose. In the proud TASP tradition, I was playing a game of Frisbee in the dark on Friday night, and as I made a dash for the glow-in-the-dark disc, I ran smack into another player. After a little adventure in the Dutch medical system (involving two separate hospitals), I emerged with a bandage resembling the facemask of an Etruscan warrior and an injuction not to participate in contact sports (including, presumably, frisbee-in-the-dark) for six weeks. Picture(s) will be arriving on the photobucket soon, I hope.

Good news:

Many fat UPS packages arriving on my doorstep (sound familiar?) from the halls of academe. I have been accepted (yay) to Harvard, Duke, Stanford, and Cornell, as well as CBTA. The CBTA preferment letter also noted that "you have been named the Bedell Scholar as our top incoming foreign student." This mysterious title (do you pronounce it like "beetle," I wonder?) appears to involve being from oversease and receiving some kind of stipend from TA - perhaps I will also get to officiate in certain secret rituals of the Cornell House (they do have secret rituals, I hope). I have requested more information about this.

As for where I'll end up going, um . . . ? My clever strategy was to apply first and wait to see which schools rejected me so my decision would be easier. Instead, I now have 18 days to choose 1 of about 6.

Sometime in the last couple of weeks I watched part of this killer documentary called American Roots Music. I think it was a PBS series? Anyway, it is, like, a total TASP nostalgia-trip, with all sorts of great live footage and recordings of Chicago blues, early bluegrass, folk-revival stuff, plus some interesting sections on Cajun, zydeco, Tejano, and Native American styles. Perhaps the coolest part is the interviews with all sorts of great musical figures - everybody from BB King to Flaco Jimenez ("probably the greatest Chicano accordion player in the world"). My sincere recommendations.

Also, I noticed a financial aid thread on the St. Louis TASP blog. I know that compared to the admissions question, financial aid is kind of an ugly, unglamorous, and awkward topic, but I think a TASPly discussion could be helpful and productive. Can we set up a financial aid thread of our own? Any feelings one way or the other?

Groetjes,

Sam