I am pretty excited for my classes this semester.  I had originally planned to only take one class, Design II, but ended up tacking on Painting II as well.  Turns out you can only get a loan if you take 6 credit hours or more.  No big deal, though, because painting is fun.  I figure I can use these credits more than my other elective credits when I transfer to a university anyway.  I graduated from IWCC last semester, so this semester is mostly dedicated to putting together a portfolio and hopefully nabbing some art scholarships at my chosen university.  We’ll see how it goes…

Speaking of painting, remember that Frida Kahlo inspired painting I mentioned working on  in my last post?  Well, here it is!

Here are some other paintings I completed last semester:

The paintings turned out pretty well, I guess.  I enjoyed painting them, anyway.  You know what’s a lot less enjoyable than painting?  Being sick.  I have had four sicknesses in a row this past month.  It’s been awful.  I don’t know why germs won’t leave me alone!  I have tried yelling at them, begging them, flattery — and they still won’t go.  Time for some antibiotics?  Probably.

You know what’s a ton better than being sick?  KITTENS.  I recently got two new tiny cats.  They are so adorable.  I haven’t named them yet, though.  I have to find names that are just right. This is the boy kitty (he sleeps with his tongue out — how cute!):

I’ll post more later and let you know how the semester is rolling.

P.S.  Did you all catch the lunar eclipse I told you about?  IT WAS AWESOME.

Let me talk to you guys about my time at Iowa Western and college in general.  I am graduating at the end of this semester, days away.  I began my college career at the University of Nebraska at Omaha because I got a scholarship.  It was a rough year, all kinds of dramatic life events flying at me.  Long story short, I failed a bunch of classes.  I decided to leave UNO, after losing my scholarship, and came to Iowa Western (cheaper!).  I obtained all of my necessary credits, but also put on some more Fs.  I am a year and a half behind.  I fixed all of my Fs, minus one which I will be fixing over the spring semester.  I plan to take six months off, except for that one class, and get my stuff together.  I am horrible at submitting things on time.  Horrible.  I missed all of the deadlines for scholarships and any kind of aid at all.  Which is why I chose to wait a semester to return to a university.  In these six months I plan to scout for grants and scholarships to aid me.  Hopefully also get into some local gallery shows.  Maybe get my foot in the door with my art.  I figure this is the smartest route for me.

What I want to tell you guys is, most importantly, to not do what I do.  I added on so much extra debt and wasted so much time because I procrastinated and didn’t do my work.  I seriously suggest to all of you to take it seriously.  If you’re in the same boat as me, broke and paying for everything yourself, you’ll learn quickly.  I learned after one semester, however, I still failed the second semester.  Now I know, though, that the money isn’t free.  It really isn’t.  It hurts me to think about how much I have to repay for credits I didn’t even get.  I paid thousands of dollars to not go to school.  It’s just stupid.  I could have saved all that money and bought a new car!  Or tons of balloons!  At least I could play with the balloons.  I got nothing out of paying all that money to not go.  Not even one balloon.  Not even one of those tiny ones.  Nothing!  So, when your alarm goes off in the morning for class and you roll over thinking, “I will just miss today,” think again… because, sleeping in means no balloons.  And negative money.

You know what else, other than finals, is coming?  Christmas.  Is everyone excited?  I was chatting with a buddy of mine the other day and we both agree that every year you get older, Christmas gets a little less exciting.  I have absolutely no desire to celebrate.  At least with the festivities.  I love gathering with my relatives, but other than that… no thanks.  Even though I am down on the holiday this year, I put up some Christmas lights a little bit ago.  They look real neat.  I put them in my living room windows.  My apartment is on the top floor of my building so everyone can see!  I like lights.

I have a true problem with celebrating Christmas as “Christmas” if you’re not a Christian celebrating it for the right reasons.  I don’t even understand why people still exchange gifts and stuff.  That doesn’t make sense to me.  Why don’t we save the money we’re spending on gifts and buy balloons instead?  Just think of HOW MANY balloons there’d be.  Oh my goodness.  Nothing could be finer.  So, here’s a thought… why don’t we all just buy balloons instead, get together with our loved ones, and release the balloons with messages of goodwill towards all men tied to them?  So sometime you’ll probably find a balloon from a random person wishing you a happy life!  Wouldn’t that be fun?  Balloons really can solve everything.

NOW TO THE REAL BUSINESS:

We’re approaching some really exciting days!  And not because of finals or Christmas or an overwhelming amount of balloons.  December, even though it is bitter cold, is a good month this year for star-gazing!  That’s right, get excited.  The Geminids, a really good annual meteor shower, peaks on December 13th this year.  It starts tonight, but the most meteors will be seen after midnight on the evening of the 13th/14th.  Don’t miss it!  AND there is also a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE on December 21st.  Do not miss that!  I have been counting down for months and months for this one.  Get your telescopes, binoculars, cameras, coats and hats ready!  I don’t know about you guys, but I revolve my life around these events.  Here are some links to more detailed info on the events:

LUNAR ECLIPSE

GEMINIDS METEOR SHOWER

Don’t miss this styff, guys!  2010 is going out with a show that shouldn’t be missed.

Now… how do I do that?  I could just try turning in every late assignment with a plate of cookies.  Everyone loves cookies.  Let’s say, 20 cookies per plate, half a point for each cookie, that’s 10 extra points!  Those 10 extra points could help make up for the 10 points I lose for having it be late.  Now, there is still the problem of the assignment not being done as well as it should be.  How do we fix that?  Work harder?  No!  We can sprinkle gold dust on it or something.  Who wouldn’t love receiving a gold-dusted paper about the stock reduction of the Native Americans?  Everyone would love that!  Plus cookies?  Come on.  Definite A.  I’ll let you know if it works.  If you guys try it, let me know if it works for you.  I’m thinking it’s a fool-proof plan.  And you hardly have to do anything.  Just bake cookies and find some gold dust.  Easy.

Every bite is closer to an A!  Except, this cookie looks like it has nuts and raisins in it.  And nuts and raisins do not = a good cookie.  I reccomend leaving those out.  I’d give negative points for raisins and nuts because they ruin a prefectly delicious cookie treat.

It has snowed once more since the last time I posted, but it was light and I, personally, don’t count it as a snow.  I figure if I don’t count it, it didn’t happen, and that makes for less time with snow on the ground!  I like the snow, I really do, but it is so cold and so inconvenient and so cold and it’s really cold.  It is pretty, though, which is it’s only redeeming quality, if you ask me.  I wouldn’t mind for one day of a good, deep snow and then that is it.  Just so I can build some stuff out of snow and go sledding once or twice.  I also wouldn’t mind if the snow wasn’t so stupidly cold.  If we’re wishing for things, I’m gonna wish for warmer snow that only stays for a week — tops.  Either that or a new car that can handle snow and maybe some boots.  I have no boots.  I only have three pairs of shoes!  One is a pair of sandals, the other a thin pair of ratty moccasins, and a pair of tennis shoes.  I’ve lived in Iowa all my life, and I have yet to get some boots.  I am boycotting the need for shoes.  I dislike shoes.  Barefoot is the way to be, people.  That’s why we also need to boycott snow, sharp things on the ground, gravel, hot cement in the summer, and other potential painful things that could be stepped on.  Who’s in?

Speaking of feet, though, I’ve got to go put on slippers and do some homework.  It is exceptionally cold in my apartment tonight!  I have a past due paper to write, a bunch of paintings to do, and probably some more stuff.  There’s gotta be some exams coming up…

The first snow was fun, though.  Other than the hazards of the snow trying to murder my rental car, it was a good evening.  My apartment overlooks a big parking lot across the street and I drew a huge picture of a giraffe in it.  It was pretty cool to look out and see a big giraffe.  Below is a picture of it up close while I was making it.  It looks weird, I know, but remember the angles and skewing messes it up.  From up high it was normal.   I didn’t get a picture from my apartment because a car had driven through it by the time I got home to see it.  Sad, right?

I know it’s two weeks past Halloween, but did anyone do anything fun to celebrate?  I went to a wedding reception.  It was pretty interesting.  A Halloween wedding.  I dressed up as outer space.  Best costume I’ve had in years.  I wore black, painted some stars and nebulas on me, tossed in some glow-in-the-dark paint and sparkles, and called it good.  I made a necklace with planets as charms.  And a hair clip that was a shooting star.  It was pretty cute.  I’ll post some pictures next week.  I’ve got to get my memory card back from my buddy before I can upload anything.  Trust me, though, it was a successful costume.  It was so much better than my asian-mermaid-detective-harvester costume or my Mother Nature of the Future costume.  My mountain hermit costume was pretty impressive, though.  I had a full beard.  Except people confused me with Moses.  And I totally was not Moses.  Moses didn’t wear ripped flannel shirts, guys!  Jeeze.

Robot arm from Mother Nature of the Future costume.

Anyway, Fall semester is drawing to an end everybody.  Sorry the break the news.  I am excited to be done with it.  I will be passing all of my classes this semester.  I feel triumphant.  I’ll also be graduating.  That’s exciting, too, huh?  I’m not walking, though.  I figure walking once at the ceremony in high school is good enough.  Maybe I’ll just get some balloons instead.  And a pie.  And celebrate that way.  But, I hate pie.  So maybe not pie.  I like noodles.  Maybe some celebratory noodles and balloons.

These kids are on their way for celebratory noodles at my graduation celebration.

I am going to draw this post to a close.  Here are some recent doodles for you to enjoy.  And also that painting I told you guys about ages ago.  The one of light bulbs I did for painting class.  Enjoy!

P.S.  There is a meteor shower on the evening of Wednesday the 17th.  The Leonids will be peaking after midnight on the evening of the 17th/18th.  Want to know how to best view meteor showers?  NASA tells you how: Meteor Showers How To.  I’ll be watching!  Hope you are, too.

I am unable because I recently broke my laptop.  I dropped it on the cement and the screen shattered.  So, until I get some funds, I can’t fix it.  How depressing.  I almost cried when I found out it shattered.  I almost cry just thinking about it.  Poor Macbook screen… you were loved.

What a bad time it is for me to break my laptop, too.  I am so broke I can hear my pockets crying.  They need monies and I have nothing for them.  Poor pockets.  Rent is due tomorrow and that will eat my entire paycheck.  And, I’ll admit, I am really, really bad at saving money.  It’s just… I see things that I think will make my life better, like a really cool balloon, so I buy it, but then it always ends up the same; I walk outside of the store, smiling and laughing and jumping in joy because of my balloon, and then it pops.  It just pops.  And I curse at the skies and a tear falls down my sad cheek.  My balloons always pop.  ALWAYS.  It’s awful, too, because I love balloons so much.  I truly believe, no matter the situation, balloons can make everything seem less bad.  They’re just so buoyant and shiny and colorful!  It excites me to just think about them.  Oh my.

Even though I am broke, and it feels like the world stops ’cause I can’t afford anything, classes keep going.  I passed a class I failed four times because I couldn’t manage to do any work whatsoever.  Isn’t that great?  And I am on my way to passing three more that I failed a couple times because of the same reason.  What a good semester this is turning out to be, minus the bad things, like the death of my laptop screen.  I’m not even focusing that much on school work and it’s turning out in my favor this semester.  I just took an exam last night for one of my online classes that I didn’t read the material for, and guess what grade I got?  99%.  The exam before, which I also didn’t prepare for whatsoever, I got a 100%.  Impressive, right?  I was proud.  Proud of not reading and still succeeding!

I have to get laundry detergent.  I really enjoy buying laundry detergent.  I love smelling all the different kinds and then reading their labels and narrowing down my selection based on scent, power, and presentation of the product.  I am thinking it’s a Tide night… it’s feeling like it, anyway.

I am sitting at the coffee shop, as usual, enjoying a delicious iced dark roast coffee.  Best place to get iced coffee and just down the street from Iowa Western.  I don’t know why more of you guys don’t come here.  I’m strapped for cash, as are most college kids, and this place is nice to my tiny wallet.  I can get a huge cup of iced coffee (or warm if that’s your preference) for 2 bucks.  Actually, a buck 98.  Even better, right?  Starbucks’ll charge ya at least a couple quarters more for a cup this big, plus more for flavors and stuff.  So, if you other broke students need a good cup of coffee at a place with a nice atmosphere, try Tazza, down the street from IWCC on Valley View.  You could probably walk here from school if you’re stuck in the dorms or something there without a car.  Not only do they have decent prices, they have wifi!  I don’t know if you guys rejoice about wifi like I do, but it’s pretty essential to my school life.  I hate doing work on campus and at home, I don’t know why, I just do.  So, nice places with wifi really impress me.  There aren’t a whole lot of places around Council Bluffs with decent wifi connection.  As far as I know, there’s Tazza, Barnes and Noble, Hy-Vee on Madison, McDonalds on Madison, Bayliss Park, the library… and that’s all I can think of.  Let me know if you guys know of any other places that offer wifi.  I’m always looking for new hangouts.

Anyway, it’s nice to catch a minute or two to sit down, sip a cup of coffee and write to you guys.  The past few weeks have been absolutely exhausting.  It’s been emotionally and physically draining.  I am quitting my job (I got a better one!  No sandwiches involved.), I moved, my 8-week classes are ending, and my fish died.  It’s been a mess of activity.  I just returned from hosting my fish’s funeral service.  His name was Pavo and he was a beautiful betta.  I had him for nearly two years.  I buried him in a really pretty casket that I made, complete with jewels and turquoise silk lining.  Me, my brother, his cat, and my boyfriend attended.  Pavo knew we loved him.

R.I.P. Pavo — 10/14/2010

…

 

Let’s Get Cultured Time

with Emily

For this post, I thought I’d focus on something everyone should get more involved in, and that’s museums!  There are a lot of museums around here, guys, and most of them are pretty great.  Some of them aren’t, I won’t lie, I don’t even know why they have them, but the other ones are definitely worth taking a day trip to.  Let’s discuss a couple of the ones in Omaha first, because those are far better than the ones locally.

Omaha, NE:

Firstly, we’ve got the Joslyn Art Museum.  I’m sure most of you know about it.  It’s not far, just a ways up Dodge, near the Old Market.  They’ve always got an interesting temporary show there, you can count on it.  And the classics that they show all the time are great, too.  I never get tired of going there.  My favorite time to go, being the poor, money-squeezing person that I am, is Saturday mornings.  It’s free!  Until noon, I think.  So, go go go.

Also located near the Old Market in Omaha, is the Durham Western Heritage Museum.  I have really fond memories of this place.  I went there a lot as a kid.  It’s the old Union Pacific railroad station, so it’s got some really cool historical stuff to it as well as the cool stuff inside it.  My grandpa worked for the U.P. his whole life, and my mom always tells me stories about leaving the Durham when it was still the station, to go on train trips across the country with my grandpa.  It’s fun to imagine her as a little girl holding my handsome grandpa’s hand boarding their train to go somewhere neat.  They have floors and floors of cool stuff there.  They have some old trains on the bottom floor that you can walk through, my favorite part, and also lots of other cool antique stuff from the time period.  There’s tons more there, but that’s my favorite.  There is also a really cool old-fashion soda fountain there where you can buy drinks and stuff.  It’s incredibly fun.  Annnnd Christmas is coming soon and the Durham at Christmas should not be missed.  They’ll have a HUGE, beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the center of the main floor.  I definitely recommend going.

Council Bluffs, IA:

The Dodge House is always a museum that you hear about in Council Bluffs.  It’s pretty neat, I guess, but I’d wait to go until they have a special deal or something.  Sometimes they have deals on ticket prices and you can go there and a few other places around town, too, for one flat fee.  However, if you’re into the history of Council Bluffs, I’d recommend checking it out, just to learn a little.

The next three museums I’m going to mention are located pretty closely to the Dodge House.  Maybe you could take a day trip and see them all.  The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is located on Pearl Street, by a bunch of other old buildings and stuff.  It was the old public library for Council Bluffs, so some of you older kids might remember going there when you were real little.  I remember it, barely.  Mostly just the kid’s section, though.  It’s an interesting museum with some cool stuff.  I’d check it out and then take a trip over to Bayliss Park and relax by the fountain.

Less than a block away from the Union Pacific Railroad Museum is the historic Squirrel Cage Jail.  Now, this place is pretty cool.  It’s an old revolving jail.  I went to it when I was a kid and was astounded.  It’s worth seeing at least once in your life, I’d say, especially if you’re a native Council Bluffian.

Lastly, I’m going to tell you about the Railswest Railroad Museum.  It’s close to the other two museums I mentioned above in Council Bluffs.  Not more than a mile away, I’d say.  It’s kind of cool, but like I said at the beginning of the CB portion of museums, I’d do a day trip and see all of them.  I wouldn’t necessarily make a special plan to come see just this one or anything.  I’m not saying it’s not neat, at least a little, though.  Check it out if you so desire.  They are having a Halloween thing on the 29th where you can trick-or-treat from car to car if you’re interested.

I expect to hear back from you guys about how wonderful your time was while visiting these museums.  The first two, the Omaha ones, are my favorite.  I’m not going to say they aren’t better than the ones in CB, because they are.  Personally, I’d skip all the ones in CB and just go to the Omaha ones a couple times instead.  There’s always rotating exhibits at the Joslyn and Durham, and membership plans are available that give you discounted rates.  I want you to definitely consider going to the Durham around Christmastime, though.  It’s really fun and the place looks so neat decorated up.  I’ll be going for sure.

This concludes Let’s Get Cultured Time with Emily.  There will be more culture times at later dates, just keep checking back to find out.

I think midterms are coming, unless they are already here and I am not aware, so good luck on all your exams!  Post again soon.

With Grandpa’s passing, I let the homework pile up.  Last week and this week, so far, have been rough.  Not just the torment of my grandpa’s death, but the overload of things nagging at me.  It’s so stressful.  Getting a second to sit and just feel myself sitting is difficult.  I know it will lighten up in a couple of weeks, but now it is so overwhelming.  Homework to do, class to attend, evil sandwiches to make at work, paintings to get done, bills to pay, friends to please, laundry to do, etc.  It’s so much.  I think I need to abandon the world I’m living in now and start over in the forest.  There aren’t sandwiches and angry customers in the forest.  Just jumping deer, trickling waters, waving trees, blooming flowers… everything to make me happy.  I proposed the idea of me becoming a lady of the wild to my coworker, and she said I’d have to have some money to make occassional trips in to town.  She might be right.  So, I will make treasures out of the supplies the Earth gives me.  I can carve things out of branches and stuff, and weave baskets of natural plants, and harvest special forest berries and sell them at the local farmer’s market.  This is a fool-proof plan, guys.  Absolutely fool-proof.  I see no flaws.  I won’t even bother making a plan B because this plan is so great.

(Above is a family picture of me and my new forest deer family from the future.  Don’t ask me how I got it, but you can easily tell it’s totally legitimate because of the high quality resolution and vibrance of the color.  It is beyond me why my hair turned blue, though, but it’s sweet nonetheless.  And I am excited that I have a neat magical staff in the future!  See guys, my plan IS fool-proof.  It is now proven.  I can rest easy knowing that I will live beautifully in the forest.)

Really, though, I wish I had deer friends.  I am drinking a pomegranate tea at the coffee shop I always mention.  It’s delicious.  Maybe I should ditch school and the forest and become a pomegranate farmer instead.  I mean, pomegranates are really, really good.  I bet I could get a pomegranate farm for cheap somewhere in South America, right?  Are they even farmed there?  I’ll give you all free bushels of pomegranates.  …Maybe.

(I would live in this cave.  No problem.)

School is finally underway as we are passing through our 4th week, I think.  I have lost track already, but I think it’s somewhere around there.  Maybe we’re in the 3rd week.  I can’t recall, but I know I have been doing homework every chance I get.  I have finished most of my homework for this week already, which is extremely proficient for me.  Usually I’m getting stuff done the day before or posting it online a couple minutes before it’s due.  So, I’m thinking I should have a celebration for this week’s diligence.  Maybe I’ll get balloons.  And some soft pretzels.  That’s all you need for a party, I think.

It is finally dark outside and the storm has passed.  How depressing.  At least the streets will be shiny because of the rain, so driving home will be more exciting.  I’ll be able to enjoy the pretty reflections of headlights and streetlights and stuff.  I’ve always liked that.  There is a road near the public library here with a great view when it rains.  I think it’s Willow.  Go to the top of Willow, furthest from the library, and look down.  There are some nice rows of lights and street lights that look so neat.  I recommend checking it out next time it rains if you’re bored.  It’s worth seeing, I guess.  I feel like a cooler person knowing how pretty it is.  With that nice bit of information, I’m going to end this post.  I’ve got a painting to work on.  It’s of lightbulbs.  I’ll show you guys later.

So, I was looking for a picture of an angry sandwich on Google images, and I found this super cool angry dinner roll:

I haven’t been doing much other than working.  Isn’t that sad?  Maybe that’s why work is so depressing.  I mean, I figure I spend 35-40 hours there on the clock, but then there’s that hour period before work that I spend severely pissed because I have to go to work.  So, that’s an extra 7 hours.  There are always those times that I swing in the sub shop to get a drink or something, too, so we can round my time spent at the sub fun house to 50 hours.  That is outrageous.  I get two days off a week and they are spent in class and doing homework.  Bummer, right?  It doesn’t leave much time for anything else.  That’s how it goes sometimes, though, I guess.  I am sure lots of you guys are doing the same thing as me.  Hopefully not dying inside because of sandwiches, though.

Today, September 8th, 2010, two small asteroids, 2010RX30 and 2010RF12, will be passing close to Earth!  How awesome.  I plan to pause my writing on this post to go check them out at 4 o’clock.  I don’t have a telescope, I know, but I am going to pretend.  I just want to be outside looking at the sky so I can at least kind of be connected with this cool phenomena.  I am sorry if you guys miss it, but unless you have moderately nice telescopes, I don’t think you’d see it.  Here, check out the article from Nasa.  Ten minutes in counting until I embrace the skies as the asteroids pass by.  (Below: bringing back an old favorite — Christopher Walken in space!)

Has anyone else noticed that Fall is here?  Did anyone else notice that it just kind of appeared?  Like freakin’ magic?  There was no gradual change in temperature; it was 95 and then 65 degrees the next day!  I’m not complaining, though, because I love the fall.  Best season of the year for Iowa.  Everything is so crisp and pure and beautiful.  How can it be denied?  I’d easily give it an award for being the best.  I think I am going to start a new collection of leaves this year once they start changing colors.  I haven’t collected in a couple years, so I feel I should.  I had a bunch of leaves from my last collection laminated, after I dried and pressed them, and had some biiiiig plans on what I was going to do with them.  Instead, I gave them to some old lady at my mom’s garage sale.  What she’s gonna do with them I have no idea, but they were pretty cool…

I have been sitting in the coffee shop for over an hour now and this post is all I have accomplished.  I must drink my coffee and get some homework done.  I have to check my Facebook first, though.  And then my e-mail.  So this is the end.  More to come.

I can’t remember if I told you guys about my predicament with school.  I will tell again, then, if I have.  Last semester I found myself having to drop four of my classes in fear of failing.  I couldn’t handle any more Fs.  So, I dropped them and it put me below my full-time status.  So, that affected my loans.  I had to put them on a 6-month deferment.  I was also on academic probation and financial aid termination.  This meant that I had to take two classes and pay for them out of pocket — and pass them — before I would be eligible for loans again.  So, that’s what I did.  I completed two summer courses at Iowa Western, Earth Science and Art History I.

(A drawing I did for my Art History class.  How neat!)

I could afford those two classes, barely.  Well, before I dropped those classes last semester I checked with financial aid to make sure my loans and everything wouldn’t be affected because I really had no way to repay.  They assured me I would be fine, that I wouldn’t have to pay anything back.  A few weeks after I signed up for summer classes and paid them off, I get a letter stating that I owe the school 2,200 dollars for the federal grant I got.  How outrageous, right?  I understand it’s my own fault, but it just really angers me that I was assured I wouldn’t need to be paying that money back.  If I had known that there was even a slight chance of needing to pay any amount back, I would have been more cautious about dropping those classes.  I made the payments, though, because I could not register for fall classes until it was paid.  So, now, I am completely broke and struggling to get stuff together.  However, the good news is that I will be graduating in December if all goes well.

I was looking for an animted gif of some money or something to go along with my previous paragraph, but then I found this.  I thought it was way more awesome.  It looks painful.

After finishing my summer classes I updated my apartment a little.  I have been living there since last September, I think, and I finally got some new blinds and stuff.  Here are some pictures of where I live:

I know those are real exciting pictures.  I have an update for you guys.  I made a website!  It’s a simple site of some of my work as of a few months ago.  I haven’t updated in awhile, but it’s still pretty fresh.  Check it out at

www.emilyjanestanford.com

Let me know what you think.  Ignore the stupid ads at the top, please.

I will write again soon, but now I have to go visit Iowa Western and turn in some tax information.  How wonderful it is to be chosen EVERY YEAR to provide copies of my taxes and my parents in order to get a loan.  FAFSA says they choose people randomly to provide information, but I have been chosen every single year.  I don’t think it’s random.  How annoying.