Post-Inauguration debrief

So the last two or three days have pretty much been absorbed in the magnificent event of today: President Obama’s inauguration.

I went home over the weekend, and other than tending to our family problems, my folks were pretty much glued to CNN with the anchors all abuzz with inauguration festivities. Although I personally prefer not to watch CNN just because all they do is gloat over their snazzy touch-screen, they seemed to have a decent coverage of the pre-inauguration hoopla.

Plus, MLK day was being overhyped up as well.

Watching the inauguration was pretty awesome, though. Having accidentally slept through my Political Theory class this morning (whoops…), I biked over to Technicultural Studies class with K and S (with our homemade parfaits) and enjoyed watching the inauguration. With the first Reverend’s opening speech, Biden and Obama being sworn in, Elizabeth Alexander’s drone-like recitation of her poem, and then Rev. Warren’s very cute sermon.

I noticed Obama’s stumble on the oath. Not sure if it was a simple  inability to comprehend the large amount of words he was supposed to repeat, or a nervousness at the sheer magnitude of the moment. He’s got a pretty freakin’ big job ahead of it. Not only does he have to save the economy and rescue us from a status of unemployment rendered by political analysts everywhere to be the biggest state of unemployment since the Great Depression. Dang.

Oh, and he has to help us pull out of Iraq without leaving the government in a complete shamble. And easing tensions in Afghanistan. Then he has to try and help play a peaceful role in the Gaza/Israel conflict (although they are currently trying to take both the ceasefires they came up with and combine them into one?) by not encouraging Israel’s slaughter of tons of Palestinians while still making sure to stay cool in the books of pro-Israel lobbies like AIPAC. After all, they do bring in the bank for him.

And that’s just a tiny bit of the mess Obama has to clean up. As my boyfriend would say, ‘GL HAGS’ (Good Luck, Have A Good Summer).

Warning: this post has the potential to veer into random thoughts surrounding Obama, the election, my thoughts on media, politics, etc.

Hmm. I’ve always kept a cool head about Obama. Obama has become a celebrity politician. As mentioned by a news source who I cannot remember at the moment, no president, let alone politician, has been a big enough deal to have their name emblazoned on a pair of booty shorts. Although I do support Obama and do think those Andy Warhol-like shirts of him are pretty bomb, I never was inducted into the ‘Obamania’.

And his speech making? I agree, it’s very good. But at the same time, I’m struggling to be swayed by his words. His speech is pretty much chock full of the same adjectives, metaphors, and cliches that many, if not all, politicians spit out. I know he’s inspiring for a country in an economic downturn, but maybe I’m just being overly critical.

But at the end of the day, he really does deserve a hefty congratulations. You go, President Obama. You go party it up at your 10 inaugural balls across Washington D.C. and whatnot. Because tomorrow, the real shit begins.

2009 so far.

So far:

• Guess who’s in a relationship now, bitch? Yup. CGF/MF waltzed back to California for winterbreak and completely swept me off my feet. And not in the corny way. Like, in the genuinely I-was-so-surprised-that-I-almost-shit-my-pants way. The only way I can describe it is ’surreal’. He had been preparing a speech all these months about how he couldn’t stop thinking about me, and how he wasn’t over me (and obviously, I melted) and all that jazz. He began talking about how he’s been thinking, and we could really make it work. He was so eager to make it work. Don’t get me wrong, I thought long and hard about it. My New Year’s Resolution this year was to make the right choices. I prayed so hard for God to help me make the right choices. Over and over I kept reminding myself of my goals. A 4.0 while maxing out my units, membership in a club, a job. Making new friends, being healthy, etc. Yet at the same time, I kept thinking over and over again–the only people I really need are the people who need me. And insofar as whoring myself and acting like a total ditzy slut at sororities isn’t gaining me any actual people I can rely on, I have the one guy who has been there for me all along. So I decided to take the plunge. Meh. At the same time, I’m letting down my guard while still trying to place buffer zones around me. Like not getting too emotionally involved. And not setting up the stupid typical relationshippy things. Like anniversaries. I’ve intentionally avoided the topic of when we officially started going out. Meh. We’ll see how this goes. I’ve thought of the ‘L’ word so many times in my head, but I don’t want to pop it just yet. This thing is still relatively new.
• The evil organization known as TAPS actually found my stolen bike from September. Apparently, it was locked to another bike, and so they cut the lock. Ha! TAPS stole my stolen bike from someone else. Er, sorry to that person. Actually, they can pretty much suck it.
• I think that I’m going to join Davis MUN. I know, I know, this is the same girl who was pissed at the MUN she was officer of in high school. However, that was more for administrative reasons than substantive ones. I really want to keep up with IR and politics even if I’m not taking any formal classes about them. And I enjoy public speaking, and wearing business casual clothing, and all that jazz. Plus, UCD funds MUN trips unlike stingy MV, so that means less stress on my wallet.
• Clothes obsession: colored tights. Oh my god. Gimme sum nao plz kthx.
• Off to the gym. I gave myself two days of feeling-like-crap-and-missing-the-boyfriendness, and now I’m getting back on track. Goodbye lovers!

A break from crunchtime.

Here’s what today went like:

-Woke up at 10ish, heated up tomato soup, went to downstairs study room to begin cramfest
-Outlined like half of chp 11
-Got bored and hungry, so I ate one of those Balance Bars that is actually really unbalanced (200 calories for something that’s probably the size of your iPhone)
-Got hungrier, so I went and started eating GoLean crunch cereal. Which tastes like cardboard but has a sickeningly sweet aftertaste.
-Then it was around 4pm and I started becoming cranky because of the lack of food that wasn’t tomato soup (sickpeople food) or granola
-Finished chp 11, started chp 12
-Ate dinner! Fajitas, to be more specific. meh.

And now I am sitting here with my throat that is deliciously sore. Thanks to my awesome floormates for giving me a cold right before finals. Much love.

BUT on the plus side, the guy from the camera repair store in San Jose called me and told me he fixed my camera! YAY! He said it makes a weird noise when you turn it on or make it zoom (whoops. maybe attempting to drunkenly twist the jammed lens back into place wasn’t such a good idea.), but it’s pretty much good to go and takes pictures and all that jazz. I’m impressed! I had sent that baby into the mail on Tuesday, it reached the store Wednesday night, and they fixed the boo-boo today (Saturday). I’m trying not to get too hopeful, because I haven’t seen the camera for myself yet, but I’m pretty happy and this definitely takes a load off my back. Now I won’t have to craft an elaborate tall tale to tell my parents when they ask where it is.

Now, I am sitting impatiently waiting for the stupid Motrin to kick in and minimize my sore throat. Grr.

But yeah, um, hopefully tonight I can finish off the IR textbook and supplements (well…maybe not the economics supplement) and History. I’m quite pleased to find that the History textbook assignment for the final is only like two chapters, compared to our midterm which was four chapters. But then again, knowing Tignor et al., those are probably two fucking long-ass chapters.

Okay, popped another Motrin pill. Calm down, I haven’t overdosed yet.

Fuck, I have to pee. And I’m BORED AS FUCK.

Oh, and WordPress changed its format again. Grreeeeattt. :/

Pre-crunch time update

So I just got my grade for FRS 002, and even though I got an 85% on the final (uhhhhh I thought this was supposed to be my easiest final), I managed to pull off a 94.5% in the class! Which means I will have at least one solid A to pad my GPA

Today was an interesting day. Went to Philosophy, and then felt immensely tired from pulling an all-nighter on my History paper, so I napped for like 45 minutes. Then Kelly came knocking and asked if I wanted to go get a flu vaccination with her from Freeborn Hall, since they were offering free flu vaccinations in the form of that FluMist nasal spray thingy. So we went with Ashley and Jen and waited in line for like 20 minutes. Then, when the lady was questioning me, she made a huge deal that I was anemic and made me stand in line for 10 more minutes to talk to a doctor, who was just like “yeah it doesn’t matter, you can go ahead and get flumist”.

FluMist is so cool! You don’t even feel anything! I kind of expected it to be like FloNase or Nasonex where you spray it up your nose and you sneeze a little, but I didn’t feel anything. Except I got a minor post-nasal drip afterwards, but it went away soon. Hopefully my side effects won’t be too bad–I really can’t afford a “mini flu” of any kind before finals. But I guess it will pay off during flu season in January/February when everyone else is suffering from a megaflu.

But yeah. I finished writing my Philosophy paper (due on Friday, GO ME) so that I can go to Office Hours and ask her to perfect it. Shit, I am infinitely fucked in that class. But hopefully my papers can raise me up. And intense studying for the midterm.

Kind of sad that I missed half of the Victorias Secret fashion show, since everyone was looking forward to watching it.  FUCK YOU CBS FOR AIRING IT AT 9PM INSTEAD OF THE PROMISED 10PM. Way to ruin my fucking evening.

But a Starbucks Nonfat Decaf Espresso Truffle coffee made it all better And yay for donating 5 cents to the (RED) fund! Ah, I do love the holidays.

And my camera finally reached the camera repair store in SJ. I’d like to add FedEx tracking to the list of things that I love. Because it was so much fun tracking my camera’s every movement via their tracking.  Every time there was a new update on my camera’s delivery status, it was like Christmas morning all over again.

And to conclude, I will say goodbye. Because I really need to get at least a 3.3 this quarter.

So much to do, so little time.

Tomorrow:

• Class: 9:00-9:50am Phil, 1:10-2:00pm His, 6:10-7:00pm Pol003, 7:00-8:00pm Phil-disc.
• Tasks: Shower, call DTS and figure out camera lens repair shit (hopefully mail it out today), work out to burn off the chub that I picked up from Thanksgiving
• Studying: Hopefully finish We and Tea in the Harem, do fucking essay, do/get ahead on Pol reading, practice Phil concepts and beg my TA for help.

In the next week:

• PHILOSOPHY: Holy fuck, I cannot emphasize how much I need to study for this class. And it’s not even just studying, it’s like practice. I hate how there are no guidelines for stupid derivations. Even fucking Google won’t yield any doctrines on how to master this practice. Ugh. There is no way I’m becoming a Phil major, as enticing as it sounds in theory. Its a bitch in practice.
• POLISCI: Yeah I need to review. Just like last time. I hope I saved my comprehensive study guides from last time.
• HISTORY: Fuck, I need to read the book! And I really need to ace my paper and my final since I failed the Spider Eaters quiz.
• GENERALLY: Deactivate Facebook sometime. Yeah, waaaaaay too distracting.

CAMERA: yeah I’m really fucking stressed out about it. DTS better be a legit service, and they better fucking return my camera within the promised 3-4 days. Or at least before Dec 10. Gahhh.

FINALS: I cannot fuck up in college. Right now I’m harboring like a 3.6 because Phil is fucking me over, and college gives us A-’s. Damn life.

Mid-quarter grade update

HIS 10C: So we got our midterms back today. I got an 89. I lost a lot of points on the main essay, where I stupidly forgot to address Brazil’s nation-empire, even though I beautifully documented the Brazilian slave trade. I guess this is a lesson not to mess with my Central/South American obsessed TA. I’m slightly frustrated because this means I have to work even harder to keep my grade as an A. I got a 90 on my paper, and I have another one due in a couple of weeks. Ugh. I guess I have to admit that I was pleased to not get anything below 85 on my midterm, because I did finally open my textbook the day before the exam and cram my ass off (with a wicked hangover). Who says you can’t procrastinate in college?

POL 003: So after royally bombing the midterm (which wasn’t even deserved, since I pretty much knew everything and just made stupid mistakes), I’m relying on my quiz grades and my paper to boost my grade. I tried brainstorming my paper today, and I’m having ridiculously bad writer’s block. Ugh. I really need this paper to get an A in the class.

PHI 005: Alright, so I’m fucking pissed off that my TA lost one of my quizzes. I’m pretty sure she did, because I know for sure that I did NOT get a 0–I was present, and took it! At least there are 5 more quizzes that I can take to fix my grade. Plus, I don’t think I did so hot on the midterm–I guess ignoring studying to cheer on President-elect Obama wasn’t the smartest idea. I got a 90% on my paper–lower than what I expected to get, but at least it’s still a solid padding. Personally, I’m starting to find it a little ridiculous that I need to work to keep an A in this class, especially when more than half the class is seniors for whom showing up to class is a rare occasion.

FRS 002: Why the hell did I take this freshman seminar? Organ transplantation is all fine and dandy, but it was only after the first class that I realized the seminar was basically a MV Physio class, version 2. And was chock full of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed pre-med majors who were just dying to suck up to the professor so that he could score them some sweet recs and/or internships. And I, the lone Political Science major, stick out like a sore thumb. I’m pretty much the class slacker, as I always show up late (why the fuck does class start 10 minutes earlier than it’s supposed to) and open up my laptop as I play Solitaire or IM people during discussion. And even when I turn in the assignment late, the prof still gives me full credit. Plus I still have 100% in participation. Sweet. I love an easy A.

Overall, I’m starting to get a little worried about my grades. I really need to get at least a 3.7 this quarter, because I refuse to fuck up in college. I KNOW that I can do this. I really can’t afford to fuck up–law school isn’t going to be forgiving if I fuck up. I need to be one of those extraordinary students who is just a fucking brain.

Activities? Well I’m kinda worried about that too. Even though I’m doing the whole “I won’t join any activities” thing this quarter, I’m starting to get a de ja vu and realize that this was the attitude I held during my freshman year of high school. Pfft, look how that turned out. Since law school accepts nothing less of brilliant, here are my options:

DCD: Pretty cool. Political and partying, just what I like. Except their next weekend retreat is before finals (which I cannot afford to fuck up given my situation), so I can’t get involved with it until next quarter…boo.

Rush?: Pretty fucking expensive, and I don’t know if my parents would approve.

Some volunteer organization?: I don’t fucking know.

Tourguiding!: Sounds like fun. Lots of walking and being a general role model. And talking to parents. And memorizing random facts about Davis, yay.

But yeah, I need to figure out my shit. I think I’m off to sleep, adios.

Random thoughts (what else is new)

• As I read over the chapter on international trade in my IR textbook, I smile at the oh-so-familiar supply and demand graph. I remember Mr. Pelkey’s class, where we half-heartedly drew supply-demand graphs and theorized the fate of the national economy of Pelkland. My major doesn’t require me to take Econ since I immediately vouched to take Philosophy instead, but I quite miss Econ. It’s a pretty interesting subject, and I really don’t feel comfortable with having forgotten all this Econ knowledge. I feel especially ashamed because of the deep financial shit we’re in, and how whenever I watch the news on the bailout, all of the analysis seems like economic gibberish to me. Ashamed to be a Political Science major much?
• I’m so freaking excited to go to Berkeley. I grimaced as I had to pay for the shuttle tickets, the show tickets, and the afterparty tickets (and I grimace in preparation for the food buying that will go on), but it’s very worth it. I should commend myself on having saved so much money and turning down dinner invitations, because I’m way excited to see SS in Berkeley and just chillax.
• I’m excited to hit up the Grad on my birthday!
• I need to go run. Damn the DC for having such good desserts today.
• I have a lot of work to finish. I need to hurry up and finish reading chapters 8 and 9, and then perhaps draft an outline for my IR paper that is due in less than two weeks.

Things I would really like right now:

Financially:
-$70 so I can pay for my camera to be repaired (because a very drunk KT dropped it at the Halloween party while the lens was out, and now the lens is jammed with ‘the dreaded E18 error’).
-$100 for my Berkeley trip. Because I am anticipating lots of eating out to be done. I do believe swipeouts from the DC are in order.

Materially:
-A haircut. Please.
-Brownie mix to mail to BR over in UCSD. I’m such a horrible friend. I haven’t sent her them yet.
-Some comfy UCD sweats. I’ve been meaning to go get some from the Bookstore, but with my wallet getting thinner every week, I have to save up.
-A NEW CELLPHONE PLEASE. My Razr has now proceeded to turn itself off when it comes in a no-service area, and requires at least 5-10 minutes of repeatedly turning it on again before it actually stays on long enough to make a call. It’s only 2 years old, but I suppose in phone years that’s like eons.
-A new laptop keyboard. Because the fucking keys keep popping off. And I don’t want to have to make my parents buy me a new laptop that they got me 2 years ago. I feel like such a costly and undeserving brat.
-A laptop keyboard skin. Because I’m fucking sick and tired of the keys popping off, and I really need to prevent it from happening again.
-More food in my dorm that’s actually good. Some cupnoodls/Maggi would be great. Frozen dinners that don’t taste like barf and some actual food would be good too.
-I could really go for an In N Out burger right now.

Emotionally:
-Nothing. I’m very happy to say that although I’m in a quite deep financial rut right now because of the technical difficulties in my cellphone, camera, and laptop, I’m very happy here at UCD. I truly enjoy it.

College is tiring, but I love it.

When I saw CY’s photo album titled “college is tiring”, I thought to myself “What a party pooper! College is a blast!”

But now I understand what she means. At the same time, I love it.

Whenever I study (and actually succeed), I always find myself stimulated from the reading. I write little questions and opinions in the margins, and wish I had someone to discuss it with. I’m really interested in what I’m studying, and I can honestly say that I’m enjoying studying stuff that I actually care about.

Homesickness? Meh. Last weekend I was feeling incredibly homesick, and was glad to go back home. But unfortunately, home didn’t feel like home. It felt like I was in some bad dream where I hauled my ass (and my laundry, books, and not-so-light laptop) to the train station and came home only to find that 3/5 of my besties weren’t home. Two of which had moved very far away.

It felt really strange, and I began feeling depressed as I tried to get myself to face reality. I guess this is what all the tears were for back in June at graduation? Shame on me for my always-delayed emotions.

But the nice thing was feeling excited to come back to my dorm. As I stepped out of the elevator with three heavy bags that threatened to break my back, my floormates hollered at me from the lounge with a very warm welcome-back. And I’m very happy to say that college is now my other home.

And another nice thing is that 80% of the time, I’m too busy and caught up in college life to feel homesick.

Aaaanyways. I just finished studying for my IR midterm tomorrow. Unfortunately, my lack-of-focus is still a problem, but it’s a good thing that I’m pretty sure I know my IR stuff. The practice midterm looked way too good to be true. Is college really this easy? Because I’m way to accustomed to the MV days, where you’d go online to find a practice test whose answers were considerably difficult, and where at least two or three questions would be ones where the answers were wrong, and then you’d go to class the next day to have your ass get kicked from the super hard test. Rinse and fucking repeat.

But yeah. I need to go shower. And then sleep. Because I plan to fucking own this midterm.

My first week at Davis.

I love Davis.

Of course, getting my bike stolen yesterday was a total bitch. Fucking pissed about that.

But everything else has been amazing.

1) My floor. At first, my dorm was fucking boring because I didn’t really know anybody, and I spent most of my time hanging out with SB and her floormates. But as soon as I spent more time in my room with the door open, I found new friends. I can honestly say that all the people on my side of the floor are so outgoing and friendly. We hung out with the guys at SigEp last night, and I had more than at any raging party at Phi Psi/PiKe/AEpi/SAE/Delta Chi/Chi Pi. I actually learned how to properly play beer pong, and would like to practice more over the summer with juice or root beer. Although it was very intelligently pointed out that the whole challenge of beer pong was trying to shoot properly once you’re inebriated.

2) Campus. Pretty easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. I do wish I had more time to go scope out the downtown, but I guess that’s what the next four years are for, right? I love the ARC. Such great facilities. I’m very motivated to keep off the freshman 15 now. Plus, my classes are only a bike ride away…some bitch better not steal my old-ass backup bike, or else I will seriously flip a bitch. The track is so gorgeous, and I love running on it. I’m trying to exercise every day, but I guess I have to keep in mind that my first priority is as a student. Speaking of which…

3) Classes. LOVE them. Most of them, at least. History I’m not so hot about, just because my teacher’s pretty dry and is always at a crunch for time. So she kind of glazes over stuff from the book and we’re not really sure what she wants us to know. Plus, the depth of the book is insane shit. Poli Sci 3 is super interesting. I’m learning about shit I actually care about, and so far I have an A. I even went up to the dorkily-cute TA today and asked for help! I’m proud of myself. It takes a lot of courage to ask for help without sounding like a dumbass or like I’ve been sleeping through class the entire time (not uncommon, since it’s at 7:30 am). Today in class, the professor asked who the National Security Adviser was, and a girl volunteered, “Condoleezza Rice?”. Many people in the class scoffed or laughed. Pretty mean, I must say. To those bitches: Fuck you. It takes a pretty brave person to put their ass out in the open like that and volunteer an answer. Philosophy 5 is super interesting as well, but it’s starting to get harder. Gah. I hope I can keep my A. And then my Frosh Seminar is somewhat interesting, although I’m slacking. I didn’t do any of the readings, but when I came to class, my teacher pretty much just summarized all of them and then read out our homework aloud (which I turned in late, btw, and still got full credit for-whoever said profs weren’t forgiving?). And then he told us that for the rest of the quarter we’d basically be watching movies and shit. Sweet. I hope to keep my grades this good.

-I’ve actually been talking to CGF/MF more lately. He showed me a picture of his dorm room,and he has various posters and stuff up. And he has one picture in a frame on his bed. And it’s our prom picture. I’m not going to go all June 08 on myself and totally over analyze and spend sleepless nights thinking about what it means. Because I have a fuckload of homework and reading to do, and I don’t want to fuck up college, kthanks. But it’s sweet. And I like having him as a best friend. Perhaps thats why he and I both sympathize with MM and JK’s situation. It’s hard to let go of someone who gets you.

-Strangely enough, I’m a teensy weensy miniscule bit slimmer. Not noticeable at all, but I feel it. I feel happier, my forehead isn’t full of pimples, and my Hollister khakis that were previously muffintop status now fit me like a dream. I guess it’s the fact that I’m happier? I just need to stop pigging out at the DC and continue running.

-I love my freedom and independence. It’s what I was craving so much in high school. The freedom from cliques and social groups. The freedom to not be judged when you’re eating alone in the DC. The independence to do what you want without having to tell anybody. The freedom to party, the freedom to make my own choices. It’s vastly intimidating and refreshing at the same time.

Welcome to college.