Life of Wry

My favorite kinda humor.

This is not, however, my favorite subject at the moment.

Will write plenty about this as the months go on, but for now I’m just a tad bit overwhelmed…

First and foremost, and most anxiety-provoking, is the issue of Peter’s college choice, visiting said college, doing whatever one needs to do to become official and move forward on things like dorms and orientations; then hoping Peter stays engaged in his classes and maintains his grades.. and for god’s sake gets that ILS grade up (independent life sports… or whatever that stands for… that class varsity athletes take in lieu of PE, the one Peter currently has an F in, and by the way, anything less than a C on one’s report card is an immediate-absolutely-no-exceptions rescinding of one’s UC acceptance); then Peter’s got numerous AP tests coming up, which he’d do better on if he prepared, but he’s not, because when he’s not playing baseball he’s either in the backyard practicing his golf swing or playing chess–both of which seem vastly more important to him than studying, and both of which he’s absolutely obsessed with… and how can he study anyway, he lost his backpack last Friday. And of course: graduation… tickets for same, graduation announcements, graduation celebrations, plus this stack of forms sitting on my desk having to do with something graduation-related.

All this is happening while in the very exciting midst of a wildly successful baseball season, which will be front and center for the next month–three or four games a week–taking us right up to the very last week of school.. if we’re lucky enough to go that deep into playoffs.

And I have grad night stuff and work stuff. Not that big a deal, but hangs over me, when all I want to do is focus on Peter’s stuff. Did I mention Peter turns 18 in a couple months?

And then there’s the wee matter of Peter leaving home and life as we know it coming to an abrupt and crazy-sad-but-proud-at-the-same-time end in about three months, which makes me fall apart like right now.

Man.

~~

Ever so casually this morning, on the way to breakfast, Peter says, “I’ll probably go to Santa Cruz.” It’s not a decision he’s pleased about because Santa Cruz wasn’t anywhere near the top of his list. Were San Diego to come through with a spot for him, he’d take it. He even thinks he’d accept an offer from Irvine if he got one, which is still a possibility. He won’t even consider Cal Poly, and we won’t consider the expenses of NYU, so those options are off the table. I suppose U of WA or Boulder could come through with offers of space yet, but out of state tuition is just too hard a pill to swallow. So here we are, end of April and still no clear choice.

My hope is that he finds a bit of relief in finally deciding on UCSC, if that’s where this ends up, and then at least a little bit of excitement follows. I have to imagine a lot of stress would be relieved if he’d just come to a decision. He must be stressed, though he’s not showing it. More than anything, I want him to feel pleased about what he’s accomplished, and eager for what’s to come, rather than feeling like he had to settle for something less.

~~

Read tonight a very depressing front page article in the Hub about the insane number of over qualified California students who have been put on UC waiting lists as campuses prioritize out of state students who have inferior GPAs and lesser test scores, but who can pay higher tuition. Thousands of California students this year have been waitlisted at the premier UCs. The article gave numerous examples of Davis students, many with grades much better than Peter’s, landing on waiting lists. This was validating, but no less frustrating. His grades are right in line with the averages of kids who have historically been accepted, but his test scores are so far above the averages, I was sure something had gone wrong with his application. But no.. this is happening all over: strong applicants are rejected (or waitlisted) while higher paying students are getting slots. It seems an incredibly unfair situation. Certainly an untenable one.