Essay

Even though I slept 'til noon (what are vacations for?), I was ON IT today. I love days when you get mad shit done. They feel so much better, in the end, than days when you just sit on your ass in front of the tv. Or in my case, in front of the window.

Anyway, I signed up for the GRE a few days ago, and I actually reviewed today. For maybe two hours. Then I installed the software that came with the book, and it freaked out my computer, so I had to go buy a new mouse and rearrange some stuff. Then I cleaned up my kitchen: I moved everything out of the way and scrubbed the floor, threw out anything I hadn't touched in a year (lots of oils and some teas, mainly) and then I dusted off all the wine bottles. It spahhhkles now.

Then I came into the bedroom and wrote an essay for an application. It's too long, but I had a good time writing it. I think I have to write a different one, though. The question is:

What obstacles have you had to overcome in recent years in order to achieve academic or professional success?

I'm not joking when I say I actually wrote about learning how to talk back to secretaries. That was my topic. And although I actually really like the essay, I realized it might not be wise to hand that in to admissions decision types. It's a pretty hilarious essay, though. I don't want to have to write some touching shit about overcoming cultural differences, even though talking back to the secretaries is an example of that. My whole point is that in America we learn that niceness gets you places, and that insisting with kindness is the way to go. In France, you just have to be a bitch to get anything you want. That is very difficult for me, and the essay was about learning to be a bitch despite my natural resistance. I didn't use those words, of course, but that was the basic idea.

It just doesn't seem like the type of thing one should write about, in the end.

You guys know me (sort of). What should I write about?