Tag: scholarships

Blog Frenzy – Day 25

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Behind on my work. Argh!

I’m still working on that list of books I desperately want to/need to/will-die-if-I-don’t read. It’s coming along nicely, though at the moment the majority of them are Star Wars fiction. What? There’s nothing wrong with wanting to expand your…imaginative abilities. Besides, some of them are actually pretty well-written. But again, a book could be very “well-written” and have no plot whatsoever. Like the novel I just finished writing last weekend. I should really work on that sometime.

I sent in my online app yesterday for this last scholarship. The last thing I have to do is put together all the supporting documents and send it off. After that, I’m free of scholarship responsibilities forever. Unless, by some miracle, I actually win one. But I’m not making any promises (those essays were…er, interesting).

I have too much to do, and am extremely frustrated. I keep procrastinating, which has already bitten me in the butt several times this semester. I have a speech due in two weeks that I haven’t even started on yet. I haven’t even started studying for my AP tests yet. Ah! I need it to be summer NOW.

Well, I’m off to teach myself all about the human respiratory system. Wish me luck.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Blog Frenzy – Day 24

Meg Dowell1 Comment

Well, it’s Saturday. And we all know what that means. That’s right: rain, five chapters of biology, and finally getting to these last scholarship essays. The way this one works is, you fill out the application online, paste your essays into the boxes, and submit it. Then they send you via e-mail all the things you’re supposed to send via snail mail, postmarked by the thirtieth. I can do this, right? I really hope so.

The next three weeks are going to be extremely busy, because I now have to start ultra-cramming for my first AP test on the 6th. That should be fun, right? I’m really going to have to push myself to get all this other stuff done, like writing my last speech, getting an A on my last math test, and studying for finals. And then comes all the fun stuff, like all the solos I’m going to have to sing, the Red & White concert (super fun, except I’m not even in it), and of course, graduation. But that’s not really fun. That’s just necessary.

But all this means that summer is almost here. I’m seriously in denial. I haven’t decided if I’m going to write two novels or read 25 books before I move into my (gasp) dorm. I could do both, but that would kind of be an overload. Sometimes I like reading more than I like writing. Sometimes I like writing more than I like reading. It all depends on how much I’m willing to make my brain work.

I’m still working on that list of books I want to read before I die. I should make it another list of 100, just to make you happy. There are so many good books I haven’t read, like all that old-fashioned literature that most people wouldn’t even think about reading for fun. I’m just that kind of nerd, I guess. But hey. If it wasn’t for my AP lit class, I never would have realized how funny Pride and Prejudice actually is. Especially the chapter when Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth. I had to write an analysis about that one, and it was probably the worst paper ever. But that’s all behind us now, isn’t it?

I should really start on those essays, before I get distracted by YouTube again. Seriously, I think that web site just needs to die. I hate it.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Blog Frenzy – Day 20

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The funny thing about going back to your high school after you’ve “graduated” is how much more attention you get when you’re walking down the hallways than you did when you were actually going to school there. I got stopped by a security guard, two old choirmates, two teachers, and my guidance counselor—who just wanted to say “hey.” Well, thanks for the attention, but I’m on a mission. Let’s go back and time and do this when my mom isn’t waiting in the parking lot. How about three years ago? That would work just fine.

I did, however, get my giant scholarship packet turned in, as well as the letter of recommendation I need for this next scholarship due April 30th. I didn’t get as much done on them as I wanted to yesterday, so I’m either going to have to finish them today (during the time I blocked out for them in my wonderful schedule of schedule-ness) or wait until after my biology test is over. Because I shouldn’t even be doing this right now. I should be studying for my biology test. Yikes, I’m behind!

This is the main reason why I shouldn’t have focused so much of my attention on my novel the past five weeks. Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad I wrote it. It’s a decent story, one I would have driven myself crazy with if I didn’t get everything written down so fast. But I’m so behind on my schoolwork now that I’m going to be spending the next three days with my phone off, and most likely my computer too—after I’m done sharing my depressing life story with you—just so I can get the A I need on this test. I didn’t do as well on my comm quiz yesterday as I would have liked (7 out of 9 converrted to 25 points? Good luck with that). So I really need to buckle down these next four weeks.

In addition to my AP tests, which I’m going to fail if I don’t go by the $25 prep book I need. Even though I would love for my mother to pay for it, since she’s the one who’s making me take them. But no. I’m supposed to use my $20 Border’s card instead, and she’ll chip in the last $5. Wonderful. I guess Pendragon is going to have to wait.

I’m on a slightly-not-as-tight-as-yesterday-but-still-excessively-structured schedule from now until I go to sleep (at 10:30) so I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow, after I’ve completely lost my mind. Unless that’s already happened. Then I’d appreciate it if you would let me know ASAP. Maybe they’ll give me a scholarship for that.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Blog Frenzy – Day 19

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The good news is, I’m almost free.

And by free, I mean free of all these stupid scholarships. Because I kicked myself about a thousand times yesterday, wrote those essays, and filled out the right forms. And once I make an out-of-the-way trip back to high school today, I’ll be that much closer to being finished with all of them. Not counting the stuff I’m turning in later, I have exactly two left. One of the reasons I’m making this trip is to pick up one last letter of rec. Finally.

Don’t get me wrong: I still really hate talking about myself. And writing about myself. Seriously, why can’t someone else to it? There are plenty of people I know who probably know me better than I know myself. And they probably wouldn’t be so shy to point out how awesome they think I am. Even though I’m not. But that’s not the point. The point is that it isn’t really fair that they have to go and make this process so long and difficult. Just give me money! Why do I have to suffer just to get a good education?

This week is going to be spent catching up on biology and math. And studying for my test. I also have to start doing research for my career speech next month, because I want to have that thing written at least two weeks in advance. I got a ton of points taken off last speech because of my delivery, which was because I didn’t prepare nearly enough. No, I did not write it the night before. We’re changing the subject now.

I actually woke up when my alarm went off. On a Monday morning. Normally, this doesn’t happen. But it’s not even seven thirty, and I already have a load of laundry in, am getting ready to study for my quiz later today, and I’ve written out a tightly blocked schedule on note cards to ensure that I get everything done and more that I need to before bedtime.

I’m not crazy. Just making up for lost time.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Blog Frenzy – Day 18: Mission Accomplished

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Final word count: 80,309. Final chapter count: 34. Final page count (8.5×11, 12-point Tmes New Roman font, double-spaced): 243. But it’s not about the length: it’s about the content.

And honestly, I’m going to admit that I’m not completely satisfied with the last chapter, and think I may have rushed through it a little bit. I feel like the story’s whole purpose wasn’t even addressed in the final moments of Melanie’s narration. But I have a thousand other things to do, and if and when there comes a time when I find myself bored and looking for a task, I will go back and add in what I must. But if I don’t get these essays done and proofed, I’m not going to college. And that’s a problem.

I won’t start the next book, Mirror Image, until after finals. Because finals are the end of May’s craziness. We won’t even think about the ACT in June just yet. Because first (obviously) comes these last seven scholarships, which I am determined to get out this week, even though they’re not due until April 30th (and one due on May 7th). I need to get them off of my floor, out of my head, and into the hands of the nice people who should continue being nice and give me some money.

I think AP tests are next. That should be fun to study for, right? Wrong. Career research presentation. NHS induction ceremony (at which I finally get my cords, thank you very much), some wrap-up thing for Tri-M I’m sure they’re going to schedule without my consent, voice recital, and finals. And you would think I could do it all, and I will, but something’s going to have to go. Thankfully, it won’t be this novel. Because I’m finished. Maybe I’ll just have to give up sleeping. Because I also have to pull my two B’s up to A’s before the end of the semester, or all my hopes and dreams of starting GPA fresh will be worthless.

I can’t stop posting daily blogs until April is over, because I’m challenging myself to do twelve more days of constantly boring you with my boring life. But I can’t promise another Frenzy next month, because my life is on the line here. I really shouldn’t have spent all this time writing an 80,000 word novel, yet I did. So it’s time to play catch-up, and nobody’s going to help me. I’m on my own, here.

If I tried to make a list of all the things I have to get done when we get back from church, I might explode, and you might explode, and this ongoing theme of people exploding is really starting to worry me a little. So I’m just going to go spend some time with Jesus, and then I’m going to come home. And when I come home, I won’t just think about all the stuff I have to do, I’m going to do it. Starting with writing all these essays about how awesome I am. Why do they make us talk about ourselves like we’re royalty? I don’t get it.

Also, I’m not that awesome. Ask anyone.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Blog Frenzy – Day 14

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67,369.

Seriously, guys, this book is almost becoming a problem. So I’m either going to have to finish it really soon or put it on hold, because things are kind of getting crazy, and I’m pretty much just shoving everything else aside just so I have time to write. That is not what you should do, ever. But right now, I really don’t care.

I was so preoccupied with my NHS hours yesterday that I didn’t even remember to mention Glee! I didn’t know the episode was coming on last night until about a few hours before (good thing I’m a Facebook fan, right?). But I was pretty satisfied. I mean, nothing really changed—it was the same old Glee. The same amount of drama, with a few new characters and relationships. I was just mad that it ended so fast. I mean, come on.

Today includes a communications class I didn’t prep for, voice lessons I’ve had two weeks to prep for but haven’t started yet, and yet another visit back to high school (the third day in a row). Hopefully today I’ll be able to finally straighten out this whole issue with my hours. He also asked me if I wanted to do the invitations. Why not? It’s better than writing scholarship essays, and studying for AP tests. Etc, etc.

I also got my polo, which I’m going to wear today just for fun. Woot.

My goal for today is 70,500 words. That’s about how many words were in my last novel, the one I did for National Novel Writing Month. But this book isn’t really even that close to being over. I mean, it’s close, but it’s not going to be over in 3,000 more words. Or eight more pages. Like I mentioned before, I just finished a chapter that I kind of just added in on a whim. It’s supposed to serve a purpose, but I didn’t do a very good job of it. Maybe I’ll make it go full circle later.

I really have to go. Five thousand things to do and only time for about seven.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

P.S. Happy birthday, Meagan & Jess!

Blog Frenzy – Day 7

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I completely failed at accomplishing anything yesterday.

I guess I just got distracted. Not really from studying for math, since I’m petty sure (and hoping) I scored a B on that test. I knew what I was doing, for the most part. Except for some of the stuff on the last page. I knew I should have studied that section a little more. Oh well. I’m close enough to an A, and scored a 24.5/25 on that quiz I was working on about a week or so ago. Almost perfect. Sad day.

It’s raining. That would have been a nice thing to wake up to. Except it wasn’t the rain that woke me up. It was my ten-year-old brother stomping around the house at seven o’clock in the morning, whining about getting in trouble yesterday (holding a grudge, I see). There are rumors that his X-box is going into temporary hibernation. I can neither confirm nor deny that this is true. I’m hoping that it is. Not because I think he deserves it. I just hate that thing.

I think every kid goes through that kind of stage. I remember getting grounded a ton when I was a little older than he was, for all the usual things: talking back, stomping around, slamming doors. Yes, I had an attitude. I know, you’re shocked. I’m sure you would also be very shocked to learn that junior high tried to destroy me, and I tried to tell myself that for some reason trying out for cheerleading meant I was the most awesome person in the entire seventh grade. I was a brat. I was pretty much mean to everybody. Eighth grade was worse, since I found myself caught in a rivalry with about half of my classmates for no apparent reason. I never made cheerleading, by the way. I eventually got tired of rolling my eyes at people I hated. The end.

 Maybe that’s where the desire to write this book came from. Maybe I still had a little mean-ness left in me. It was bound to come out sooner or later, one way or another. I could make Melanie Bowman a whole lot meaner. But I’m not sure if I’m willing to dig that deep. I mean, the definition of mean to you and the definition of mean to a thirteeen-year-old could potentially be two completely different things. By their standards, I was mean. It’s a good thing none of my teachers from high school knew me then. I’d probably have an extremely difficult time finding people to write letters of recommendation for me.

I can’t even tell you how excited I am for summer. I know I tend to babble on about this more than anyone would like to hear, but you have to understand something. Underneath all that mean was a very determined little monster. I haven’t had a free summer since I was going into the sixth grade (a very interesting summer, since…well, maybe we’ll get to that another time). The year after that, it was Panther Choir camp. The year after that, it was Panther Choir camp and ISYM. After that, it was prep classes for freshman year—some math, some English; etc, etc. Between freshman and sophomore year, I took World History. The next year was U.S. History. And, as you may or may not recall, last summer was Economics. That’s what it takes to graduate early, guys. The loss of many summers.

But I’ve convinced my parents that I deserve a summer off before I start at ONU. So I’m planning three months of sunshine, writing, books, beach, and no more terrifying pale thighs. You’re welcome.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Blog Frenzy – Pre-post

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In honor of Script Frenzy (which I will not be participating in, due to the fact that I barely have time for anything without the addition of writing a screenplay), I have decided to participate in a challenge of my own over the course of April, called Blog Frenzy.

It’s not that exciting, I promise. I’m just giving myself a reason to blog every single day for an entire month. Which is going to be difficult, since I’m currently not getting all A’s like I kinda/sorta need to be. I’m also 35,000 words into a novel, filling out scholarships (Satan’s idea, I swear), and slowly but truly getting ready for my two AP English tests in May. Did I mention I’m also turning in two honor societies’ worth of hours this month, and celebrating Easter and a birthday, and doing five million otherr things I don’t even have time to list?

The fun of challenges like NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, and the completely non-existant everywhere but my mind Blog Frenzy is that you have to learn how to balance everything. You have to learn how to balance grades and writing and all the other fun stuff that comes along with living. Which is why I’m doing this. I need some sort of motivation to do SOMETHING. And really, the more I have to do, the more I end up getting done. See how that works?

Today I have to jump through hoops to survive comm and voice lessons (which I still haven’t practiced for—fantastic), finish Chapter 17 (working on it), pick out which outfit I’m going to wear on Sunday, start packing, fill out more scholarships, try to set up a meeting with my NHS sponsor even though he’s on break, clean my room (again) and figure out how to motivate myself. So let’s do this!

See y’all in April. And, I promise: this is no joke.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Changed My Mind

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I was going to take some time to put together a list of my favorite quotes, after watching this video and becoming overly inspired to do so. But I decided that I have too many other things I absolutely have to get done today, and blogging isn’t really one of them. So this is extra, just for you, even though it seems like all you care about lately is Simba. I’m in the dark here, guys.

I’m finally mailing four scholarships today. It’s a really good feeling to get them out of here. Honestly, I hate filling out scholarships more than I hate doing math. And I really don’t enjoy doing math most of the time. That leaves four more to send off before the end of April, not including the ones the guidance office just sent me. That was nice of them. I mean, I guess.

I finally got some writing done yesterday, though I’m still not quite finished with chapter sixteen. I’m aiming for 35,000 words before I leave sometime on Friday (gotta love the early April holidays), and I’m happy to say that I’m almost there. 31,588, to be exact. And no, I did not just go check.

There are post-it notes stuck to the edges of my monitor. They’re my to-do post-its. When I finish the task written on them, I get to peel them off, thus erasing the task from my mind. I think I’m going to drive myself insane if they’re up there much longer. They’re green and obnoxious and staring at me. Stop it!

Which means I should probably get some of this work done. A few surprises up my sleeve for tomorrow’s post. Be prepared.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

Domination

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It seems that in my life one thing tends to dominate over everything else at a time. I’m not very good at multi-tasking (unless we’re talking about singing in the shower, writing novels during biology, or talking on the phone while sitting) so it sort of makes sense that my life is now being dominated by scholarship applications/essays/letters/deadlines/etc. My last one is due May 7th, but if I can get them all in within the next couple weeks, I’ll be free! Of scholarships, I mean. Then it’s back to schoolwork, honor society hours, AP tests, the ACT, and the etcetera. See? One thing at a time.

You’re wondering about my novel. Well, I can honestly say it’s going to get moving again sometime very soon. I have four scholarships due this coming week. But once those are in and I catch up on school, I’ll be able to make time for novelage again. Many promises.

Off to write more essays. Until tomorrow…

Love&hugs, Meg♥