Stanford admission - I got my results today!

In mid-October close family friends, the Bhatias, convinced me to apply early admission to Stanford. We rushed to get teacher recommendations from my old school in Abu Dhabi(2 hours away), to fill out a CSS profile(tax stuff... I stayed away from it) and to write my applicatino essays. I didn't finish my last one until about five minutes before the submission deadline, after which I submitted my application. It was hell. I told my parents(who had done a ton of work), that if I got into Stanford I would run around our compound(over 150 houses) screaming "I got into Stanford!" at the top of my lungs. I didn't think I would need to come through on the promise

It wasn't over then... somehow my SAT scores weren't sent properly and after about 3 hours of phone time with both Stanford and the College Board we got me scores sent. Then came the waiting. For a month and a half I gnawed the inside of my cheek to a pulp as I worried about my application. Were my essays too stuffy? Did they sound like me? Were they interesting? What about my recommendations... maybe they will cancel out whatever mistakes I made in my essays. But what if there was something bad in them?

Needless to say, I lost way to much sleep. Finally, the day arrived. On December 15, 2005 the admission sould be availible. I checked my mail at 5 am. Then I realized there was a 12 hour time difference and made it all the way until 7 am before I checked again, just in case.

I continued to check hourly(ok, more like every ten minutes) throughout the day. That evening I went to a movie(King Kong.... amazing movie) hoping that the scores would be up when i got back.

I checked the scores at 11 pm
then again at 11:05
then I made it all the way to 11:30 before checking again( i fell asleep)
I browsed photoshop and photography sites and tried to make fake blood(don't ask me why), trying to keep myself awake as i continued to check for the scores.
Finally, at about 3 I figured I would check in the morning.

At 6:45 am the kitten woke me up wanting to be let out(how did he get in my room? I thought I had put him away). Full of fear and trepidation I went to my computer to check my email. It showed 2 new letters from Stanford admission office. I opened it, hoping against hope that I had been admitting yet telling myself that I wouldn't get in: hoping for it would just make it worse.

The email began "Congratulations! I take great pleasure in" I stopped there. What!?!? Were they sadists or something? Did they take pleasure in telling my I didn't get in? Before continuing I tried to think of how the sentence would end. Perhaps it went "I take great pleasure in letting you know that you are a complete and utter idiot," or maybe "in telling you that you didn't make it. Do you really think you had a chance?"

I decided to finish reading the sentence(if not the email) no matter how bad it got. It continued "in letting you know that you have been offered admission to Stanford University's Class of 2010."

"They must be really sick," I thought "they just want to make it worse by letting my think I got in." I decided to check on the actual website... they wouldn't lie there, would they? "Aha," thought I, as I made it to their site, thinking I had outsmarted them. I opened the notifcation page smugly... they wouldn't fool me. "On behalf of the Office of Undergraduate Admission, it gives me very special pleasure to offer you admission to Stanford's Class of 2010."

I honestly don't tink I have ever been more shocked in my life. I had made it. I actually made it. I ran out of my room to tell my parents and a laptop stood on my chair outside my bedroom. My parents and little brother were already up. They had made pumpkin pie and had put the cat in my room to wake me up. The laptop was so I could check my results.

"Well?" my mom began.
I looked at her, downcast."I got my results, mom."
"And?" urged my dad.
"It didn't turn out the way I thought it would."
"Which means?" my brother continued(you are probably getting a little freaked out by this point... I was. My family had never done the clone/alternate speaking thing this well before)
"I, uh" I looked down at the ground and squeezed a tear out. "I got in."

Pandemonium ensued and I let out a Xena war cry. My mom called everyone on the planet(she couldn't get ahold of Chinese President Hu but she left a message with the Premeir). A long day of congratulations followed. That night the Bhatias(the family friends... you remember them , right?) came over and opened a bottle of champagne in my honor(I kept the cork). I then fulfilled my promise of the sumo suit. The pictures are down below. Words are uneccesary.