designer stuff...

Last Friday, there was an interesting apparition at the front desk. My fellow receptionist and two other deans were engaged in a lively discussion of whether designer brand apparel, handbags, shoes and accessories were worth the price. I kind of started it by asking anyone who walked by what kind of wallet they would buy for their mom. Teehee. XD (By the way, what *would* you recommend? I'm kind of stumped. I want to be able to buy her something nice with the $$ I've earned this summer but the zip arounds she likes are just out of my price range.. hmm..*

This got me to thinking, are designer products really better than their much more modestly priced counterparts? What exactly are you paying for? The name stamped into the leather? Or superior craftsmanship, quality, materials and service? Of course, a bit of both, but do these things added together justify a price tag well into the thousands? How about all the odd, sidelong glances you receive when you use one? Does that make anyone uncomfortable? I've always been oblivious to monograms and stamps and such, but my recent research into presents has opened up my eyes a little to common brands.

And that, logically, (to me at least, haha), brought me to the thought of colleges. In a way, the Ivies are the designer brands of the college world. It's not quite a complete analogy, but close enough for what I want to expound on. Being private schools, their tuition is much higher compared to a public school like UVA (especially if you're instate) -- is that higher price tag worth it? Sure it's immediate recognition, people know your college immediately, you might be getting a better quality education -- but that's doubtful, so is it really worth the money and the cutthroat competition to get in? (And perhaps the competitiveness once you're in? It's not the same at every school, so it does depend.) I d'no, what do you think?

off the courts...

Our Snyder tennis courts have just been closed off for re- erm.. flooring? I forget the actual term, but it's when they replace the clay for all the courts. We do that every summer. Unfortunately, that also means it's the end of tennis playing for the summer. The whole process generally takes about 20 days, by when school will be close to starting again (eek!! School's starting. Oh my. Time goes by much too fast.) During the summertime there's a lot of midnight tennis going on. I usually hit the courts with my boyfriend around 9 pm - 10 pm, and the courts are usually full already. They turn off the lights at around midnight to 1 am, it really depends on the day. I remember during last school year I would often come out with suitemates late at night and play some tennis. It became something of a minor tradition, ah, good ole college days. =D

grrr!

I was two steps away from one of the Orange route buses when it pulled away from me today. Just last week I was three steps away from it when it just roared off. Both times I was running full out towards the bus, not slowly walking on the street. Unfortunately we have non student drivers during the summer driving these buses sometimes, so I can only hope this doesn't happen during the school year. I.. haven't ran into a case when this happened to me, in any case. And it was drizzling a bit, sigh.

But one really nice thing about our transportation system is that all our buses have GPS systems. Which means we can call a number or pull up a website that shows us when the next bus for what route is arriving. This has made catching a bus so much more convenient, but has also made me lazier. Oops. =P

which school is easier to get into?

I was just moseying around on the CC forums when I came across a post that debated the merits of applying to our e school versus the college, based on acceptance numbers. Now, I do have to say that reading about people trying to 'game the system' or find a backdoor in really irks me. Why not use all the effort or time to write a kickass essay? Seriously, it's kind of pointless and rather late to be finding shortcuts and easy gimmicks, why didn't you just save a night or two of partying before to study for that test?

Alright, I'm not into lecturing people, just had to rant a little bit. But in all seriousness, you probably wouldn't want to apply to our e school to get into UVA that way. You'd have to stay in the e school for at least a semester, I believe -- and that's no cakewalk. I feel that they tend to have the higher workload and definitely have to study a lot more. Good grades are also harder to come by, so if you go that route you might end up wrecking your college GPA in your first semester of college. What will you do when it comes time for grad school apps? Try to find an easier route in? Oh wait.. you actually apply to the department for graduate school admissions. Oops. Guess that way won't work this time.

And I understand, maybe freshman year of high school wrecked your GPA for college. Heck, I hadn't realized at that time that what my clueless, naive freshman self was doing would become very important in four years. Don't worry if you took the wrong classes or made a mistake along the way. Admissions people know that, they don't exactly expect 17 or 18 year olds to have 20 year life plans or something like that. What would probably earn their respect is if you showed how you've turned that mistake around, or how far you've progressed since that time in your life.

Some of this comes from me picking up phone calls with the person at the other end frantically asking me about what clubs they should be joining in their senior year, or what classes to take that would make them look better. Well, sorry to say, it's kind of too late for that. And aren't you tired of the panicky, gotta do this to boost my chances feeling? Go with what you have. So what if you're not one of those in five clubs, president of student body, student athlete, NMF AND someone who's cured cancer? You're you and that's who UVA wants to look at.

on a night like this...

It's perfect for taking out my instruments and playing through them. My current favorite is my ocarina -- Wikipedia it if you have no idea what I'm talking about. On a lazy summer night, it's perfect for hanging out with friends, or in this case, lilting notes from my ocarina.

I've been doing some reflection on this summer this weekend and have to conclude that overall, it's been a very satisfactory one. I do what I like at my jobs, have met a lot of great people, caught up with a lot of friends, and dived back into what I didn't have time for over the school year. Given the choice, I wouldn't have spent it any other way. And that, I personally feel, is the best way to spend life. Live it to the fullest and try to have no regrets. It's been my personal philosophy during my college years, and it's worked out quite well thus far.

There's about a month of summer left. some of you guys may be going to new colleges, some of you going back to school for the last year. Hope you're having a good time. =)