Food is yummy. Here's some.

I absolutely LOVE cooking, and I'm moving to a dorm, so I can't cook anymore. I figured that since it would be a while, I would write down all the recipes I could remember so I would have them later. I'll do it in installments in case anyone out there actually cares.

So, here. I give you the easiest recipe ever made.

Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup Sugar
1 egg
1.5 cups Peanut Butter

Heat oven to 375 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. Mix all three ingredients in a bowl until combined. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for eight to fifteen minutes, checking consistently after eight minutes.

Tomorrow we shall present... my method of lasagna. Or maybe a chicken and potato casserole. I dunno. Let me know what you want.

Oh, and. TWO DAYS! Wee.

Post-Secondary Education is a Business

I'm exactly two weeks from moving into my dorm room at my spit in the fields, and I continue to receive envelopes proclaiming to hold the greatest option for financing my college education. 'Choose our company, and you shall be an eternally happy educated yuppie up to your eyes in debt!' Well, they don't neccessarily say that exactly, but that's what they imply. But, I don't want to be another yuppie, fawning over my boss in hopes of a mediocre raise in a mediocre job during a mediocre existance.



I want to make a difference. I don't want to be another business suit walking downtown, ignoring everyone I pass. I want my work to help people. Right now, I'm really debating on whether or not I want to teach or do IT work. Maybe even program. I haven't made up my mind. But it's a long process. I've been changing my mind since I was reading the encyclopedia at three. Every job I came across was different and interesting and I wanted to do it.



Anyways, back to colleges. The loan companies are horrible. The interest rates I keep getting in the mail for these private loans are horrendous. Ten or more percent. And they allow you to borrow up to $40k. Let's paint a little picture. If I'm going to a higher-end school and I receive no federal, state, or institutional aid (which is saying basically that you're rich and you shouldn't have to take out a loan, in my experience of shopping around), and, without books and misc expenses the cost of attendance is $37k. I would consider the costs outside of tuition and room/board to be approxmiately $3k (I'm making this easy on myself). One would wonder if I had any savings. The answer for this illustration is no. So, I'm borrowing $40k from this private lender, and I talk to them a bit and get the interest rate to...9.7%. The letter I got says 10.5%, so yay me! But if you figure that I'm borrowing $40k for four years, deferring any payments until six months after graduation, and my loan is for ten years, I'm paying over $3,880 in interest per loan per year. Just for the four years of school, I'd pay, if I'm doing my math correctly (and I'm probably not), over $38k in interest alone. But, again, I'm probably doing my math WAY wrong.



That's ridiculous, no? And the bank gets amost all of it. Who wouldn't want to be in the business of making students go in over their heads in debt? It's a no-brainer. And the schools are getting the greatest deal. I know that the school I'm attending isn't the greatest deal in the universe, but I'm paying for the atmosphere and the quality. It's about $30k per year. I'm borrowing $22k to go, thanks to a need-based institutional grant. So. This school is making twenty-two thousand dollars off me per year. I know that they use this money to keep the school nice and quality to keep bringing in such money, but I still feel this is a little excessive. But, since I chose the school and I love it, I'm not trying to complain. It's just an opinion.

With the school making so much money off their current students and having almost $50 million in endowment, I think they could lower the price a bit and give a bit more financial aid. I'm scraping up the money to go, and my parents have relatively nice jobs. At least, my dad does. My mom works at Walmart. Not going into that. But if I have to scrape and save and go into major debt, think about those whose parents both work at Walmart, or something comparable. I know they would get more aid, but they would probably have just as much debt, if not more, because they would have to get a loan just to purchase the items needed to attend in the first place. I have easily spent more than double what I wanted to on dorm and school supplies. I'm sure that I'm not the best bargain shopper ever, but I try to find good deals. And there are so many things one needs to buy to live in a dorm. Even more for an apartment.

Basically, what I'm getting at, is everyone but the student and family profits from someone going to college. I don't think that's how it should be. I mean, yes, education is a business, but they should focus more on providing an excellent education rather than building a mansion for each president of each institution involved.

I really have to work on this rambling thing. It's not flattering.

Out of Boredom Comes Blogs.

So, I've basically been sitting on my butt all summer. Not what I planned. I'm free for the first time in my life. Sure, I've got two bratty little sisters to babysit, but I have free access (to me, at least) to a babysitter who loves them. And has a pool. I was supposed to use this summer to slim down, lose weight so I could be beautiful and popular in college. But no! I have a computer! Why be physically active when StumbleUpon is calling? Responsibility is a beautiful thing like that.

Anyways, I've been putting a lot of things off this summer. Getting a regular (and logical) sleeping habit, eating healthier, reading more, writing a lot, preparing for the parentlessness unknown that is the Freshman Year. But, the beauty of doing nothing that you plan is...well..nothing. I basically just had a lot of time to think. And think I did. I thought of so many things that freaked me out about school that I almost had myself talked out of going. I almost talked myself out of doing something that I've been dreaming about since I knew what school was. I mean, college is a big investment. Four years and over a hundred thousand dollars. And I don't even know what my major is going to be. But, I know that if I don't go, I'll never forgive myself, nor will I ever do anything other than live at home mooching off my parents and leaking money out of my savings. I'm not a motivated person. I'm really excited to start a new life, don't get me wrong. But at the same time, I'm terrified that I'll fail.

I've never really been outside this small town that I live in, and I don't know what life will be like in the world. I know I'm not prepared to go headfirst into the unknown, and that is almost completely my fault. I know that coming from a small town and attending a small university isn't helping my city-phobia, but darn it, I don't like the bigness and impersonality of the urban life. And, seriously, cities scare the crap out of me. The only city I've been to and been semi-comfortable in was Toronto. But, I was only there for two days, stayed in the suburbs, and stayed on the fringes of the city.

I think what scares me the most about cities is the diversity. I know that probably makes me sound like a racist or white supremist or something, but bear in mind that I'm from a town and school that had less than two percent diversity. And the entire Asian population of the school was one girl in my senior class. Anywho, I think diversity scares me because I've never really experienced it. And my only exposure to other cultures comes from the local news and media. The news stations are in a nearby city, and all they talk about is murder, theft, assaults, and the like. I know they only do it to get viewers, but they really know how to put a negative spin on the world we live in. And rap music. Don't even get me started. I know not all (searching for an appropriate word...) Black (that works) people are like that, but the majority that I've talked to and encountered have used the African-American vernacular, and honestly, it's extremely annoying. I mean, what is the point in first-language English speaking people mispronouncing English words just to sound cool? Know what? It sounds extremely uneducated. I can't even comprehend the reasoning behind someone doing that. It's beyond me.

All ranting aside, I really wish to make this a continuing habit. I want to continue writing and writing well, so ( I know, I'm fishing for comments, but dang it, this is my first entry!) let me know what I can improve upon. Or give me a topic. Or both. Or whatever your heart desires.