Wednesday, February 24, 2010

when iTunes tells you the truth...

I was feeling down. Not depressed, but simply down. I struggled to wake up in the morning. I couldn't say good morning to residents. Laughs sounded forced. The only times when I feel like this is when I'm getting my period or when I'm about to get sick in a major way.

Or at least that's what I told myself and other people. In truth, I was stressed. I had gotten a terrible grade in my Econ test (see earlier stressful post), and I wasn't enjoying life. I was in enough of a mind to ask a good friend to help me. Everyone should have a friend like this. She's less of an enthusiastic cheerleader who will agree with you on everything, and more of a calm reflective pool of water that reveals your face on the surface but also has depth. She asked me to list all my commitments outside of school on one side and academics on the other. She asked what was stressful right now. I pointed straight at Economics.

I had declared an Economics major, because a new requirement was added if you declared after February 1st, 2010. Therefore, I decided declaring first and figuring out if I enjoyed it later was the best path. However, I am realizing that Economics is not a major for me. Therefore, my plan is drop econ as a major. However, who takes Econ 301 if it's not required? Perhaps I will withdraw from this course... I'll keep you updated!

On a random note... have you played the iTunes game? Click next song on random, and see what comes up.
1. I feel? Hurt by Christina Aguilera.
2. Right now I want to? Okay, I'll Believe in Myself by Jun In of G-Fla
3. How do I get ahead in life? Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots pt. 1 by The Flaming Lips
4. How do my friends perceive me? Fly by Epik High.

Wow, thanks iTunes.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

stream of consciousness of a college student at 7:35am

It is 7:35am, I have been up for over an hour, and I am waiting for free breakfast in thirty minutes. It was surprising to be startled into consciousness at 6am on a Wednesday, with the silence shattered by the wailing of your cellphone. Once the infernal alarm is turned off, I dumbly try to find the light switch, the darkness outside of my window urging me to relax back into its folds. Oh wait, it's right here. Light ON.

Blast it! I slept with a shoe on. It's irritating to find the remnants of last night when you wake up in the wee hours of the morning. Dawn. Pre-dawn even. In the light of my fluorescent desk lamp, I struggle to get into warmer clothes, sit at my desk lamp, flip open the hated Economics book, and start to read.

Read Read Read.

I have an Econ 301 test this Thursday, and my professor practically guaranteed the class an average of 50.

Doomed Doomed Doomed.

False. I refuse to fall into the hopeless mentality. Who cares if everyone else gets a 50? I'm going to be the woman with the 75 (har har har. I'm even scared to type 100. Can a girl hope too much?). Trusting in the ridiculous curve, I know that a 75 would boost me into 150% range.

Flip Flip Flip.

If I had any hair left, I would be flipping it instead of these pages. If I had any fingernails left, they'd be gone. Unlike the stereotypical death of fingernails via chewing, my preferred method is to cut them off. Begone little buggers. Reminiscent of bygone days of piano and fingernail-cutting before lessons, my fingernails are round, pearly stubs.

Shoot, it's 7:53am. I'm still on Diminishing MRTS. Ah wells... time for breakfast.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

oh em gee.

I just discovered that the fish at Clemons Library (there's a fish tank full of "exotic fish") have their own video. Check it out. Wow. That was such a time waster. It's almost as bad as this video.

Fish at Clemons FTW.

rotunda dinners

One of the things that I love is Rotunda dinners! The Rotunda, as well as fulfilling its original function as a library and its modern function as a tourist landmark, serves as a facility for dinners and receptions. Tonight, our residential college hosted a Valentines-themed dinner at the Rotunda. We were almost high schoolers again, giddy with the anticipation of dressing up and going to a nice dinner. I snagged one of my friends on the way to leaving and convinced them to trade their jeans and snow boots for a sleeveless, black dress. It's the Rotunda, for heaven's sake! Although the dress code is "business casual" (such a vague term), why not go all out? These dinners are usually catered and involve salad, bread, a main course, coffee and dessert. It was fabulous. If possible, I definitely recommend attending a Rotunda dinner.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Superbowl Madness

Ah, I know it's another year when the internationals eagerly await their first experience of the great American tradition: the Superbowl. (Point and case proven from an excerpt of an email sent to a listserv: "Come out and watch this amazing game and cultural event.") This experience can vary from watching the game to watching the commercials to eating the food to all of the above. An exchange student told me from Singapore that more than watching the game, he's going to be "watching Americans watch American football." Although I am not an international, I had my first Superbowl experience as a first year. Ah, good times. Extremely confused by the maneuvers of large 200 lb men clad in skin-tight spandex, I spent a good time chowing on the free grub and cheering on my friend as he chugged a two-liter bottle of coke. I think he left to pee at a crucial moment. Yes, good times.

Our residential college ordered 300 wings and 20 boxes of pizza. Not extremely healthy, but necessary to bring the hordes of people into one room with a flatscreen TV. Who are the Colts and Saints? People, I know my stuff. Thanks to an American football fanatic, I know about the fantastic match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orlean Saints. More importantly, I know that the halftime show is performed by The Whos and that a thirty-second ad costs about $2.6 million. Dang!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

I'm sorry... snow-ma-what?

Snowmageddon. Our President [of the United States of America] said snowmageddon. He obviously does not read this blog. Ha ha ha. It will snow again this Tuesday and the upcoming weekend as well. This will be a winter to tell the first-years next year.

bid day for fraternities

It's snowpocalypse plus bid day. This means a maximum of seven fraternity boys are walking in the snow to dorms from the IRC to Old dorms to Hereford to welcome their new additions. Poor boys... Well, congratulations to the new bids, and good luck! Tonight will be a busy night...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

snowpocalypse in c'ville

It's official. The snowpocalypse. The snownami. Death by snow. As well as challenging me to spell 'pocalypse correctly, this snow day has officially shut down classes. That's right. In the first time in the history of UVa (pardon my excited exaggeration), there are no classes.

Looking at my facebook homepage and all those excited status updates (mine included), I must say that my favorite line by far is "Because Mother Nature's pretty much decided to take a massive white dump..." How can you argue with the imagery of snow as excrement of an omnipotent, nurturing female being? Bring it, Mother Nature. Virginians have an obsession with snow simply because it has the power to break down barriers for all behaviors ordained socially as okay. For example, when I went to Kroger's yesterday to get my fruit intake for the week, I found the grocery store packed. Not only were there only a couple loaves of bread remaining on the shelves, the check out line started in the front of the store and spiraled into the back. (Being the impatient New Yorker that I am, I divided my friends' and my stuff into 15 items and ran through the 15-items-or-less line four times. Aw yeah.) People were sprinting to get coveted items, such as:
  1. Nutella
  2. Organic chicken
  3. Wheaties
As one friend aptly put it, those three things cover breakfast, dinner, and dessert.

Another place where people were scurrying was Robertson Media Center, aka third floor of Clemons and source of all DVDs. One DVD that I put down for three minutes was snatched by another person, who looked at me and asked if I was going to watch this. While I think that he was also checking me out, I do believe there was genuine frenzy in his eyes as he thought, What movie do I really want to be watching when I am snowed in for days in a snowpocalypse? It's important because Clemons limits your DVDs to two a person. Therefore, if you pick wrong, there is no going back. There will be a lots of cuddling with snuggies this weekend.

While I look forward to cuddling with my Russian history textbook about genocides and massacres of the Reds and Whites, I also look forward to the chili made by the Principal of the IRC every time it snows. Yay, IRC!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Amish Friendship Bread

I'm curled up on my bed, knowing that in the hall kitchen Amish Friendship bread is baking. It's sitting in the oven, patted with cinnamon and sugar and mixed in with salt and milk. It smells heavenly and so do my vanilla-stained fingers.

After class, I went to Residence Life Office (RLO) to sign Valentines cards. That's right. They're not-so-secret, Valentines cards addressed to entire teams of RAs. It's like falling in love with a band. You don't know whether to confess your admiration for one person or just become a fangirl of the entire group and will Ringo really get upset if you only love Paul? Ah, the dilemma of every secret admirer. I decided to keep true to myself and not get entangled in any love triangles by clearly stating the person to whom I was addressing my feelings and clearly signing my own name. I only wrote in print. For my own team, and yes, you were supposed to write to your own team too, I drew a lovely caricature of everyone. Once we officially "receive" the card on the weekend of Valentines, I will take a picture and post my glorious artwork. It's indicative of the many different personalities on our team and how our SR works hard to work with us. (He's an old, wrinkly Grandpa in the caricature. We're quite a rambunctious group of grandchild-RAs.)

After that, I was supposed to read The Soviet Experiment for my Russian history class, but I decided to bake instead. I'm so excited for how it turns out!

Boss Says

I just had a talk with my Senior Resident. That's my boss. He's also a friend, a fellow student, and just a fellow. At UVA, because we believe in student governance, this happens a lot. Your boss is a student just like you.

While there are benefits to this method, because hierarchical systems usually require formality and support a culture of supposedly "masculine characteristics" (e.g. your boss should be tough, commanding, and authoritative -"masculine characteristics" vs. your boss being nurturing, listening, and understanding -"feminine characteristics."), students get stress from students. Specifically, I get criticism from a friend, a student, but ultimately my boss.

I cannot deny that the ability to take feedback well is a fantastic characteristic to develop. It is especially crucial if you work in any manner as a team. I want to point out that this isn't being silent as someone gives you flack. Being able to see your mistakes is step one and taking steps to not repeat them is step two, and having someone point these out is feedback. (I believe the politically correct term is "constructive criticism.") In fact, being able to give and take criticism is a sign of a healthy, professional relationship.

However, because the boss-worker relationship is formal and not many college relationships are formal, having your friend be your boss is difficult in any situation. I hope I remember this when I am on the other end.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

good morning

So during winter break and for a week past it, I was running every other morning at 8am. My obnoxiously perky cellphone ring would boost me out of bed, I would tie my running shoes, and bolt. Alas, I don't do it anymore, because I cannot afford to spend two hours of my morning, when I can be doing work. (I'm not doing work right now either, but that's besides the point.) The point is I still wake up at 8am every morning, because of this habit.

I wake up, turn on my computer, proceed to chomp on my Special K breakfast, and start to finish work. Ah, college creates such oxymorons.