2006 October 18 : duncan heights

Day Two hundred fourteen

by V.E. on October 18th, 2006

filed under 5reasons

Didn’t get as much done over break as I hoped, but more than I expected.
Managed to pull off turning in a paper later without getting marked down for it.
Realizing that having a suit that is fully lined is very important if I don’t want people to comment on my underwear.
Michael Masterson’s Automatic Wealth for Grads.
Learning more about myself as I learn about other people.

$160.52 and 12 HOURS of my time

by V.E. on October 18th, 2006

filed under ladyamedeus, personal, school

One hundred sixty dollars and fifty-two cents and 12 hours of my precious time. That’s how much my day cost. The majority of which went to pay to take the GRE… in Harrisburg. So I left decently early this morning… around 9:20, and got to the train station in Lancaster with time to spare. I got my tickets, got on the train to Harrisburg. After arriving in Harrisburg, I realised that I REALLY had no money, especially not for a taxi, like I was expecting, AND it was still raining. SO, I bought a relatively crappy umbrella for a little under $13 and then went about trying to find some way to get to the testing center.

I didn’t know where the train station and testing center were in relation to one another, so I had to buy a map of Harrisburg. Turns out there’s a bus that runs to Linglestown, where the testing center is. So I grabbed the next bus, which also happened to be the last bus on which I would arrive on time. Unfortunately, I miscalculated where I was when I got off the bus and had to walk over a mile (in the rain, and yes, it was uphill) to get there and ended up being half an hour late (instead of half an hour early, like I was supposed to be). The test itself was fine, although I didn’t do as well as I wanted/expected to (again). And I just CAN’T get over the fact that I paid to take a test. That’s incredible. It’s like selling water. Just inconceivable.

Finished the test on time and waited in the rain at a bus stop with no bench, overhang, or even pavement for almost an hour and a half. My shoes, of course, were soaked through by this time and I was actually warmer barefoot than with my shoes on. Got back to the train station in Harrisburg around 5:30 pm–FIVE minutes after my train pulled out. VERY frustrating, but luckily it wasn’t the last train of the night… Only, the next one was three hours later. Ugh. So I got some dinner and waited. I FINALLY got home around 9 pm and Nate graciously picked me up from the station in Lancaster around 9:30 pm so that I wouldn’t have to walk from there.

$130.00 GRE test
+
$10.80 round trip train ticket
$12.72 umbrella
+
$1.33 map of Harrisburg
$2.00 round trip bus ticket
$3.17 dinner
=
$160.52

AND

12 hours; roughly equivalent to $85 at $7/hour

Bleh. I’m glad to be back in the apartment with warmth and blankets and bed.

Posted in ladyamedeus, personal, school | 2 Comments