Heigh-ho!

My financial aid came through! I qualify for $8,500 a year in Stafford Direct Subsidized Loans (a VERY good thing) and for $12,000 a year in Stafford Direct Unsubsidized Loans (also good, but rather unnecessary since my tuition and fee costs will be approximately $6,000 a year). I'm not quite sure how to accept one and not the other so I've emailed CSULB asking and hopefully will receive a reply soon.

The loose ends are finally starting to tie up - my textbooks have arrived, I'm signed up for classes, my financial aid is waiting, my car was packed up and shipped off on Saturday morning, we have our plane tickets, my utilities are mostly ordered, and I get to apply for a good assistantship as soon as I land and find the right office to drop the paperwork off in.

Shipping off my car was hard. Mom is steadfastly unsympathetic, commenting that my car is going off on a nice adventure and he's not even going to get tired since he's not driving. This of course has inspired me to write a children's book about moving, and having to ship a car. I think I'll call it Tammy Toyota's Cross Country Adventure. It'll be a team effort - I'll write it, Lidia will illustrate it, and Mom will shop it to publishers. I'm sure Toyota would LOVE to sell that at all of its dealerships. Right?

I've managed to unpack and organize my room, and of course I now have to begin packing. I have 45 pairs of shoes and deciding which ones I'm going to bring is absolutely impossible. I have to bring my sneakers and hiking boots for exercise and possible field schools, I have to bring sandals because that's what I wear on a daily basis, but how many pairs of high heels do I need? I also have to remember anything I leave here may be stolen by a certain little sister in the next room, which complicates things. I might not NEED three pairs of black leather boots, but bringing them ensures they won't be destroyed when I come back at Christmas.

I'm also going to have to pick and choose books and dvds, although Mom had the brilliant idea of shipping me a few a month in those USPS flat-rate boxes, so that I can have them while I'm there and slowly bring them back when I visit.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a superfluous income?