Death by a million papercuts

Somehow I never thought getting into school would require so much paperwork. There is a veritable mountain of it. I have a page-long list of stuff I have to complete (and soon). Those who are in the ranks this year already know what I am talking about... those who will be applying this year... just an FYI... you can look forward to lease agreements, financial aid forms (LOTS of those), health insurance, health information (immunizations), termination / leave policies, course registration, waiver forms, etc. Maybe this is some pre-pre-term test... can you organize the barrage of requests and find obscure documents that were long-forgotten (for instance, I had to go through my old records from undergrad to find syllabi to provide course waivers... that took awhile... and my immunizations records?! ha! still trying to figure out who might have those... obviously a doctor somewhere... question is, which one).

I could have been better prepared for all this. I know I will get it all done, but I hate running around trying to do this mundane stuff when there are so many more exciting topics to think about! All I can say is that I really do feel for the international applicants... you guys have it way worse and I pity you for having to wait in lines for a visa and all that. My advice to all those would-be applicants? Once you get your admits, don't wait until the last second to start on all this paperwork. Compile financial documents, get your health records, try to come up with past course materials (if you need them to waive a course ... I know some schools don't allow it), and get on top of getting things squared away as soon as possible.

While I struggle w/ my paperwork, I also have to deal with a new issue that reared its ugly head. I was in a car accident last week and we were just informed by the insurance company that the car is considered totaled. :( I loved my car, so I was sad to hear that. We are trying to decide whether to buy a new car with the insurance money or not. We were going to go down to one car anyway but were planning to sell my husbands car since mine was better (until some stupid 16-year-old girl ran into it anyway). Fun times.

Other than all that, not much else is new over here as I await my move to Philly. I'm wrapping up things at work. I'm having mixed feelings as I near my departure date. I am certainly going to be sad to leave my colleagues and friends ... they are great and I really can't tell you how much I'm going to miss them ... but I am also clearly excited to move onto school. Two weeks to go!

Till next time...