A review of the month

January is usually not a kind of month for me, or for the entire admissions counselors that exist on this planet. It's that time of the year when applicants get extremely nasty or desperate as the first day of classes approaches - they want to get admitted or just applied now, or it could be that their application was incomplete since August and they just decided to do something about it.  It brings out the ugliness from everyone involved, and I am personally no fan of that.  I don't like conflicts.  I also highly dislike the lack of respectfulness and entitlement that flourish in our society.  It's also the time where people's moral intelligence is constantly being questioned in my office, and I am forced to hide my self-conflict and accommodate the individuals who want to begin a graduate career with such lack of preparedness.  It bothers me a lot, and then I have to find a way to refocus my energy to deserving individuals who really need my help to get through this tedious admissions process.  

My husband (still weird referring him this way...) has been extremely caring and devoted to keeping my happiness alive during this month.  He also started a grueling surgery rotation where he reports to the hospital by 5:30am, so technically I shouldn't have complained too much about my job.  Every night he made dinner, cheered me up by watching the TV show "Castle" with me, and made himself available to my ranting.  On one of the worst work nights, he bought more than $50 worth of dinner from Outback Steakhouse because I told him I want to eat my stress away.   

He was very patient and kind during one of the most stressful times at my job.  I am thankful for this man.  

Work certainly calmed down starting this week.  My phone is not ringing every 2 seconds and I am no longer getting angry emails (knock on wood!).  One of the things I wanted to do more this new year was to try cooking more Korean food and eating healthier.  This past weekend I attempted to make the Seaweed Soup using my mom's recipe.  It turned out pretty good for a first try, but I accidentally used all the seaweed instead of using half of it.  Now our fridge is covered with seaweed-based food everywhere - soup and seaweed dish that I made, which was completely impromptu and not very tasty.