h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What better thing to do when you're ill and your mind isn't really functioning properly and you haven't actually been on h2g2 in about two weeks than to natter on about your life in a journal entry?

I've got less than four weeks to go until I'm done with school FOREVER! It's tremendously exciting. There are a ton of activities piled on top of each other right now as we get closer to the end, plus papers and projects and exams to finish up. In the next two weeks, I'm doing some technical theater work, helping to light the final school play of the year, the advanced drama class's production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. Next weekend, however, I'm also making a trip to Dallas for an annual national quizbowl tournament. This year I'm the only girl on my team, and there are only five of us going. This is my fourth (and last) time on the quizbowl trip, so I really want to do well at the tournament.

The following weekend is the school prom, the formal dance at the end of the year for seniors (final year of high school). Non-seniors can only come as the guests of seniors. In the past, I've been very adamantly against school dances, and I am proud to say that I wrote the h2g2 entry on American High School Dances without ever having been to one. I was set to maintain this record until I started feeling very depressed that every single person at school was talking about prom and I wasn't going. I began to think it actually might be fun, and regretted that I didn't have a date to go with. But a few days ago a friend of mine who's in his first year at university asked if I wanted to go with him, and so we're going with two other friends of ours, one of whom is in my year and the other of whom is also in university. It should actually be fun, and I'm very excited.

The following week are the commencement exercises, where I wear a cap and gown and sit in a university stadium for two hours while 503 names are called - that's the size of my graduating class. I'm glad that the alphabetical order places me next to one of my friends, though, so that I'll have someone to make sarcastic remarks to.

Right after school is out, I need to start work, to help pay my university tuition. My financial aid package from Princeton asks that I contribute a certain amount from my summer earnings, so I'll be working minimum wage at the movie theater. I'm told it's a terrible job, in fact, but I have one friend who's working there and you do get free movie tickets. I'm also (more excitingly) working for a blog called Pushback, which is launching in June. It's a venture of the organization http://campusprogress.org and it's a fairly big deal for me. It's a proper journalism gig and will hopefully provide me with a lot of experience and opportunities - in fact, I'll be going to a conference in Washington, DC in July that's sponsored by the organization.

Other highlights of the summer include a couple concerts, San Diego Comic-Con, and hopefully spending a lot of time with my friends, before I leave for Princeton on September 5 to begin my new life. I can't quite believe that my transition to independence is starting to occur, and that in only 25 days I'll be out of my high school, that disgusting prison.

I know the feeling. My last exam is the Wednesday after next and after that, I'm done with uni, and therefore with formal education. It's a very strange feeling. I have three and a half weeks after the exam but before the end of term to enjoy the remainder of my time in York.

Hope it all goes well for you!

You'll enjoy the dance if you decide to - it's never worth bashing anything until you've tried it, and dances have potential, no matter what your idea of fun is.

Congrats on the blog job - hope it pays some, but if not, it's still a great opportunity. But you knew that...

Question: Princeton requires money from *you* that you personally earn? That's an aid package I've never heard of before.

It does pay a small stipend, which is awfully nice - and it comes with other added perks, like they're paying for me to go to this conference in DC in July.

Princeton doesn't require that I pay that money myself, it's just a recommendation - if I don't make up the amount from my summer earnings, my parents will make up the cost when they pay the rest of my first semester's tuition. However, I'm trying very hard to contribute to my education, so when there's a recommendation I should be paying a certain amount, I'll pay it. Princeton automatically gives me an on-campus job next year, too, so they're committed to helping the kids pay for their own educations.

Our little girl is growing up