Actually, no pictures, just a post. As good as the pictures are, I’m afraid to touch my Coppermine photo gallery. There’s no real organization system; half of it’s organized one way, half another. Even the more organized half isn’t really organized efficiently. I may just end up reinstalling it and leaving the current gallery as some antique.

Things are more settled on the college front. I’ve applied Early Decision to Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. It’s very selective, having the lowest acceptance rate of all the schools within Carnegie Mellon, so it’s more or less a crapshoot whether I can get in or not. On one hand, my grades aren’t that great, my SAT scores could be better, I could be more involved, and I could have taken more challenging classes. But on the other hand, as I said in my interview, I’m different than all the other math/compsci kids because I can write and I can speak. That part of the interview went fine, though right now I’m a bit worried at the note the interviewer hastily jotted down right after I said that. The interviewer was a very nice guy, and I felt comfortable with him. I was also at ease with most of his questions; I was fortunate and wasn’t asked about politics, global affairs, or all that other stuff I know nothing of. The only questions that slipped me up were intentionally lubricated: two good things and one bad thing my friends would say about me, and why I didn’t like Carnegie Mellon. Tricky tricky.

The essays were done in typical Steven style. That is to say, it’s a wonder I maintained sentient thought so late without caffeine. I finished the draft of my first essay around 3 in the morning to meet a self-imposed deadline (more like a parent-imposed deadline) and did the final draft days later. I finished the draft of my final essay around 1 in the morning the day of, and finished the final copy around 3 in the morning that same day. Good thing that the Intel research project students were pulling all-nighters that day, and one happened to be my regular reviewer 😀 . Thanks again, Caroline.

The essays themselves turned out alright. They were both initially kinda sketchy and not very interesting, but I managed to transform them into something half decent. I didn’t say anything that could not happen, but I took creative liberties. I like to think of them not as falsehoods, but as embellishments. I didn’t want to go through the trouble of explaining what BS was (it amazes me how many people didn’t know how to play BS…and am I the only one who knows Chinese BS?), so I just said that I helped design a poker game. Same principles. And while I don’t eat food most people would consider repulsive, I eat sushi, which my girlfriend won’t touch. See? I wasn’t lying in the essay! *inserts a $20 bill into the slot and leaves the pay-per-confession booth*

So to sum up the dreadful business of college, I’m applying to Carnegie Mellon but probably won’t get in. I feel like I will, but it’s not like I took a toke of melange or anything. If I get rejected, you should all apply to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Binghamton! Because you’re all cool people, and I’m going to be lonely. Yet chances are you’re all going to higher places: one’s going to NYU, another to Harvard, another to MIT…another’s already in MIT…damn you smart people. Damn you loveable smart people.