Emotional Roller-Coaster Ride

What an emotional roller coaster. The past week was filled with butterflies, anxiety attacks, post-admittance bliss, exuberance, decadence, and now an abrupt crash into reality.

On Monday, yet another earthquake hit the Indonesian archipelago. Again, the effects were not felt in my town. I was awakened by telephone calls from family and friends asking about my safety. That is to be expected. I was really surprised that I got a couple e-mails from blog-readers, who briefly said they have not heard from me in a while…so were wondering if the IceMan has melted away. Many thanks to you guys for your concern – you know who you are. Again, people living in my community were worried about a possible tsunami repeat since we are a coastal city. My house is about 40 yards from the coastline – so….. That said, I am thankful to report that all is well, and that the community groups, churches, and other NGOs, are busy mobilizing donations for the victims.

On the MBA side of life, I received my information packet from Wharton yesterday along with a BIG FAT DING from HBS. I was so enthralled with all-things-Wharton that I forgot about the HBS decision date, that is, until the e-mail notification came out. No surprises there.

Suddenly, it’s crunch time. I have been navigating through the plethora of forms, deadlines, and financial decisions, which all seemed so abstract just a week ago. The thought of being accepted to a program just last week was still an exercise in probability, and in the hands of the adcom-gods. Now it’s here, and it’s time to put my money where my essays were. I have always prided myself on living a debt-free lifestyle and paying off my credit card debt religiously every month. I think this practice has been my safety net from financial ruin, since I have a weakness for anything portable, electronic, branded, or all of the above.

Now, I am faced with the prospect of student loans or self-funding. I have made the decision to undertake the debt. This unleashes a new set of questions: Do I liquidate and go all cash? Do I mix cash and debt? If so what porportion? I don't think I am alone here. BritChick mentioned the similar issues in a recent post. Even though the program(s) have published detailed budgets, I have the gut feeling that this estimate requires a safety factor of ~50%. All of the quarter-breaks, trips, networking dinners, drinks and club activities are definitely going to require some financial horsepower. On the more pessimistic side, there are the realities of various emergencies. I definitely would not want to be faced with the daunting workload of classes and 7+ hours/day of preparation, only to be worried about raising funds for xyz-emergency either on campus of back home with my family.

Off topic, I took a tour of my favorite blogs and caught up with the unfolding MBA Soap-opera throughout the blogosphere. I was extremely disappointed in my gender after reading about WakeChick’s Adventures this past weekend. This seems like the perfect opportunity for me to help out my fellow man (literally), with a few time-tested nuggets of lyrical candy to the female ear.

1. Nice shoes, wanna?
2. Bond. James Bond.
3. Do you know what'd look good on you? Me.
4. [Look at her shirt label. When they say, "What are you doing?"
Checking to see if you were made in heaven.
5. If I told you that you had a great body, would you hold it against me?
6. [Grab her tush.] Pardon me, is this seat taken?
7. That's a nice shirt. Can I talk you out of it?
8. Hello, My name is Donald Trump.
9. All those curves, and me with no brakes.
10. Hi. You’ll do.
(Disclaimer: Do not use these if you have a problem with being slapped or being served with a restraining order. Do not try these on penguins.)

Although I am comfortable with sharing these pearls of wisdom for free, I would appreciate a donation by check or international money order to the following address. Unfortunately, I am unable to accept payment by credit cards at this time.

IceMan07
2304 Floating Glacier
South Pole
Antarctica