Moon Dog's Musings

2003-10-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

I regret to inform you that this blog, after two years of service to the moondog girl, will become inactive beginning today. Instead, please visit http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=themoondoggirl for updates on my life.
Good-bye blogger, hello Xanga!

2003-10-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you write a post and the server eats it? I wrote something a few days ago, but it disappeared, and now I can't remember if it was anything significant.
I'm in Powell Library write now, using up one of the CLICC computers to waste time. Poor people who actually might have constructive things to do are waiting in line. I'd feel more guilty except this is the only time I really have just to sit and be online. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want my wireless to work, but we seem powerless to get it to operate. Instead, I've found myself watching increasingly more television. Last night we popped in the Sound of Music DVD because my roommate had found a CD in Best Buy of the Von Trapp great-grandchildren. I love randomness.
Oh, and when we were in Best Buy, I discovered that walkmans that play casettes basically don't exist anymore. I had to go to Radio Shack to find a decently priced one. My old one broke years ago, and I wanted a new one so that I could listen to a tape of work out music that I have. Walkmans are more portable than CD players (at least in my opinion), and since now I have to carry all of my stuff to the gym (and it's a long walk), I wanted something light and easy. Also in Westwood yesterday, we went to Ann Taylor Loft. I found a really nice pair of pants that were too long on me and also too expensive, so I didn't buy them, but the point is, they were size 4 (!?!) and the fit totally comfortably around my waist. I think there's something wrong wtih me.
Lalala...I should go to the gym now just in case there's a long line or something.

2003-09-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today was organization day, which made me happy, as my apartment has gotten increasingly messier all week while three of the four of us were going crazy at band camp. Band camp has been tiring, especially since our director decided not to let us march inside much (we usually learn the shows in the air conditioned pavillion and then take it out on the field the last couple days of camp). The walk from my apartment to campus so far hasn't bothered me much, but when I sit down on my bed I want to sleep for hours and hours.
Yesterday was international talk like a pirate day. Who came up with that? I don't know, but it sure was fun. Both the flutes and the trumpets dressed up as pirates and said "arrr" a lot. I burst into "yo ho yo ho" quite a bit yesterday, too, but I'm sure that many other people in the country did too.
Tonight I am attending my first party of the 2003-2004 school year. I swear, who knew that two years ago I'd be invited to these things AND accept the invitation. Well, it's better than sitting around in my apartment watching the movie channels and game shows all night. Digital cable could get addicting...

2003-09-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

I just retook the purity test and it looks like I've managed to go down a few percentage points in the past couple of years...but I'm still rediculously pure. Oh, well. I probably won't be going down any further anytime soon, and you know what? I think I'm ok with that. At this moment, I'm content with my innocence. I still am, however much it drives me crazy, the good girl, and maybe i should just accept that.
ANYWAYS...I've had an awesome week. I feel like I've been in a cloud since last Friday. First of all, I've been getting a lot of presents, and presents are fun when it's not December. And the great thing is that they've been pretty random presents, which make me feel special. It's great to know that people are thinking about you and like you for simply exisiting.
I started moving into my apartment on Wednesday, and I will start sleeping there next week. It's fun to decorate and make the place my own. I'm looking forward to apartment life. And I've been building furniture all week...I feel like I'm on Trading Spaces!
Today was my last day at work. Everybody was sad to see me go. They gave me a card and a poster and flowers. I'm going to miss the members, and I'm going to miss hula hooping.
I just reread my last post and now all I can think is how amazing it is that one weekend can totally flip your mind around. I'm so happy this week it's ridiculous. Hehehehehehe.

2003-09-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, it looks like I managed to go the entire month of August without posting. I was just about to say that August must've been an uneventful month, but it wasn't. The best thing about August was the trip I went on with my two best friends from high school. We managed to hit five states in five days (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorodo). It was the first trip I've taken without my parents that had absolutely no purpose besides wanting to go on a trip. Those five days were a blast, and I've decided that I have a talent that I didn't know about before: I am a good passenger. I don't mind staring out a car window for hours and watching the scenery, as long as the scenery is half interesting. I am also good at locating destinations and decent at reading maps. That's what I get for not getting my drivers license until i'm 19. I did do a little bit of driving myself on the trip (including a two hour stretch where I drove through four states in a span of a half hour). And speaking of driving, I went to Ikea in orange county the other day, which was my inaugural trip alone on the freeway. It was kinda weird knowing that I couldn't take the car pool lane.
I really want my apartment NOW. It should be ours by september eighth, but we'll see. I just don't want the move in to be stressful. If i'm going to live in this place for two years, i want it to start out organized...otherwise it will never get there.
I ended last school year so optimistically, but I feel as if i'mg oing to start this next school year pessimistically. I'm scared of whatever this year's going to be because i basically have no idea what it's going to bring. Can I juggle band, school, and a social life all at the same time? We'll see, I guess.

2003-07-14T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a mid-July update of my life:
I'm continuing work, which is getting more exhausting now that I'm working at the new branch where there are a LOT of new members. I must jump on and off the machines fifty times a day showing people how to do them all.
I had an awesome and very memorable fourth of July. I went down to San Diego with KKY/TBS and got to see some people that I met at convention again. It's really cool how many people I recognized. We spent the ENTIRE day on the beach, so of course I got sunburned. (Yes, I did reapply sunscreen. Multiple times.) There were so many fireworks! We almost got whiplash as we watched the various shows that surrounded us. And I learned that it can take two and a half hours to go a mile in a car. Thank you, Marina, for teaching me not to turn on a car after I have locked the doors using the alarm clicker.
Other than that, I've been entertaining myself by going to shows and stuff (hollywood bowl, angels game, shakespeare festival). And now, unfortunately, I'm addicted to the Cofffee Kiosk. Great...

2003-06-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 25 hours until HP 5 is in my hands! I can't stand the anticipation!
In other news, I'm back in the SCV. Today I started work at the gym that I was a member of last summer. It's a different kind of gym, one designed for women, and the idea is to make it a comfortable friendly low pressure environment while getting a good work out. It was weird to be on the employee-side of the place. Taking people's measurements is awkward. And I have this annoying little habit of wanting to sing and dance to the loud music. Oh, and here's an amazing thing. I discovered that I'm actually capable of doing the hula-hoop.
Why Santa Clarita is interesting:
WHERE DID ALL THE BUILDINGS COME FROM???? I mean, I was home several times since spring break, but I hadn't really gotten a chance to drive around town. Now there are restaurants and stores and houses that I didn't even know they were planning to build.
My junior high school's yearbook apparently had an ad from the NRA (national RIFLE association) this year. This is the same (public) school that makes you wear a uniform because if you have your own clothing you might be able to conceal weapons. It actually made the national news.
My grocery store had little stuffed teddy bears for graduates. The sign said "BEAR ASS". (I hope it stood for assortment...)
Anyways, that's the highlights of the past week. That and I decided to completely revamp the last five chapters of my novel and my main character's back story. Writer's block is really a beautiful thing.
JKR better not get writers block. I do NOT want to wait another three years for book 6.

2003-06-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

And so the 2002-2003 school year ends.
I don't think it is possible for me to have a more demanding, emotional, confusing, exciting, and exhilarating year than this one. Of course, I was thinking the same thing last year at this time. So who knows what that means for next year.
It is now time for personal reflection, as I ponder how much I've grown academically, spiritually, socially, emotionally, and maturationally (is that a word?).

Physically: Well, actually, I didn't grow physically, quite the opposite, but you know what I mean. Let me make note, though, that this change was probably the springboard for the others. It's given me self-confidence…and also now I really love shopping!

Academically: Fall quarter was hell for me academically. Just now, after two quarters of easy class loads, am I beginning to recover. Let's hope that this year taught me that I CAN survive difficult material, and also that dropping a class isn't the end of the world. Although I hope not to do it again. I DO want to graduate on time.)

Spiritually: My faith has been tested a lot this past year. But I know that tests in the end will only make me stronger.

Socially: Uh, hello. I joined a sorority. But it's not only that. It's the fact that I've lost some (not all) of my shyness. It's the fact that I've finally found someplace…several places…to belong here in LA. I hope that next year I learn to juggle my new found social life around academics and old friends.

Emotionally: I have learned that sadness does not automatically mean depression. However, I have learned that is it important that I be aware of my emotions and how they might affect my decisions. I need to be careful not to be overdramatic about things.

Finally, because of all these things and more, I have become more mature. I FINALLY got my driver's license and my own car (even though my parents paid for it…I'm spoiled, what can I say). I searched for and found an apartment. I have secured a job for the summer. All of this all by my grown-up self. I'm also not so afraid of going places by myself.
I learned that beauty really truly is on the inside, and that I know how to be beautiful now, and I will be beautiful for the rest of my life, no matter what I look like in the mirror.
And most importantly, out of all the things I have learned this year, I have learned that it's OK to change. It's OK to grow up. It's OK to try new things. As long as in the end you are true to your heart, and you never forget where you came from.
OK, I'm crying now. I think I'm going to end this on a happy note. I'm glad to be done with my finals (all of which I think I did very well on). I'm glad to be moving out of the dorms (no more dining hall food!). I'm glad that I get to spend the summer with my car and my cat (and the rest of my family). And I'm glad that I can now count the number of days till the next Harry Potter book on my hands.
Hmm…maybe I haven't really changed at all…
Signing off from Canyon Point A5405A, The Hill, UCLA.

2003-06-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently my version of netscape sucks, because blogger upgraded and now I have to use a psuedo-posting page.

Anyways, took my accounting final this morning (yes. final on saturday at eight. my weekend doesn't start till monday.). Prognosis: looking good. If I really wanted to, I could trek to Anderson tonight and check my grade (since my prof hasn't figured out how to post things online). But I think I'll just wait till Tuesday when I'm in the neighborhood.
I keep thinking that I should be studying right now, and maybe, technically, I should, since I do have another final tomorrow. However, I'm really exhausted, and I can't concentrate, and I do plan to spend tomorrow studying. My sleeping clock has totally been messed up this week. And if I went to bed now, that would only mess me up for tomorrow.
I really can't wait for this year to end, but the five days till it does are going to last forever. Until then, expect me to act irritable. Seriously everything has been getting on my nerves lately. Hopefully I will be cured by a break.

2003-06-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is my "let's procrastinate" post. If you don't know already (because I've been complaining about it all quarter), I have two finals this weekend. One on Saturday morning, one on Sunday afternoon, and of course they have to be for my two harder class. And then I have a paper and a final for my other class on Wednesday. I've hardly started on the paper (done some research and collection of data and outlined but haven't officially started writing a rough draft). I studied accounting tonight for about a half an hour while working out, and for about an hour before that in my room. Now I'm in the computer lab, knowing that I should pick up my PIC book or read through the accounting stuff again, but I don't want to. I know I'm going to be up late tonight, and I could afford a break except that in about an hour I'm going to my friend's apartment to watch the Chipmunk Adventure (for some reason, i'm extremely excited about this).
I lost my scientific calculator today. Actually, I didn't lose it, because I know exactly where it is; however, I doubt I'll ever see it again. I think I left it in my accounting classroom today. It's kind of sad, because that calculator has stuck with me through thick and thin...I've had it since Algebra 2 (sophomore year of hs). Aliens invaded it that year but I haven't seen the aliens since they moved to Katie's calculator (Katie from hs not Katie from college). I need to buy a new calculator before saturday because i'll need it for my final.
I'm going to allow myself to procrastinate for ten more minutes and then I'm going to go next door to the study lounge. Really. I am. And I'll read my PIC book and maybe do a practice accounting problem (although that's kind of difficult without a calculator). I can't even bother thinking about how behind I am on my paper because then I'll have a panic attack.

***Note: I know that recently my posts have been deeper than usual. That's because I've been having a lot of deep thoughts recently, mostly due to the fact that this year is drawing to a close. I haven't even posted half of all that I'm thinking about. However, only some of it I feel is appropriate to post here, which is why I sometimes wish that blogger allowed me to post privately. The stuff that I do post is because I think that by reading it, people will gain an insight to my life that they might not otherwise get. I know that some of you read this only because you're bored and you're reading my profile, and that you won't be online much during the summer, but I ask that you please check it right after the school year ends, because I'm going to post a long entry about what I thought about the 2002-2003 school year. I think (hope) you will find it interesting.

K, I REALLY WILL STUDY NOW!

2003-06-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

I took one of those "purity test" type online quizzes today. Here are my results:

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory! Here is how you matched up against all
the levels:
Level | Score
Purgatory | Very High
Level 1 - Limbo | High
Level 2 | Very Low
Level 3 | Moderate (this is the gluttony level--which explains why it's higher than the other ones)
Level 4 | Very Low
Level 5 | Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis | Very Low
Level 7 | Low
Level 8- the Malebolge | Low
Level 9 - Cocytus | Very Low Level

Question: Why am I so damn pure? (well, actually, undamn, because apparently I'm not damned)

Last year I took the Spark.com purity test and I got a 91%. That was by far the highest score on my floor. Even now, way more than a year later, even after changing so much and doing a lot more "unpure" things, I'm sure my score would still be in the 80th percentile. And now I take the hell test and the result is that I'm not going to hell (well, duh, I'd figured after years of going to church and being a good Catholic girl I was going to be rewarded). I answered every question honestly, at least I think I did. Moral of the story: I am a good person. But so what? Yeah, so I'll probably go to heaven (or purgatory if this quiz was any indication), and most days I believe that there is a heaven, but sometimes I wonder if I'm trying too hard.
Without getting into a fullout theology post (I don't think this is the place for that), I'll cut to the point: I'm sick of being punished here on earth for being a good person. I'm sick of having everybody else walk all over me and me just smiling and trying to forgive them because I hope they have the right intentions in mind. I'm sick of people teasing me for being naive and innocent. I'm sick of feeling left out of discussions because I've never done (and don't care to do) the things they're talking about. I'm sick of discovering that people I thought had the same morals as me lost them at some point or another, or worse, that they're just hypocrites. I'm sick of feeling preechy when I tell people they shouldn't do things. I'm sick of worrying that people will stop being my friend or that guys won't be interested in me because I do have such high moral standards. And sometimes I'm afraid that I'm going to get so sick of all this that I'm going to say screw it and become a person that I don't want to be. In which case, I'll only regret it.

I have more to say about this, but I really should go work out and attempt to study at the same time. It's been a long day, and I've gotten a lot done, but all of it seems to be unconstructive and annoying considering I have finals in a few days. Right now, I'll try to be proud of my halo...after all, it's a prettier and sparklier accessory than horns.

2003-06-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

It's past midnight. Which means it's June. Scary. June means so many things to me; it is in fact more of an "end" month than December. All the things that June means to me:

This June means:
End-of-the-year ceremonies and dinners
Saying good-bye to my senior friends, who will go off to grad school or the "real world"
Finals and a paper (argh! only a week left to study!)
Moving out of A5-405A and the dorms forever.
Readjusting to living at home, and hopefully starting a job.
The fifth Harry Potter book comes out THIS month! (sorry, just had to add that, and it feels so good to say)

One year ago, in June:
I moved out of E319
I embarked, almost accidentally, on the journey to become the me that I am now

2 years ago, in June:
I graduated from high school

Hopefully, after my last final is done, I will be able to write my closing thoughts about my second year of college. The fact that it is now June just made it suddenly hit me: this is it. I've almost completed another year, another stage in my life.

And, in a way, the next stage of my life began today. I finally secured an apartment for next year. The feeling of relief I was expecting from that didn't come though, mostly because there is an issue that might screw up our plans, but it's too complicated to explain here. Bottom line is that, no matter what, I have my name and money down on a contract that assures me a specific unit at a place a couple blocks from campus. I have some reservations about it, because it isn't the totally perfect living situation that I had imagined my first apartment would be, but it's still definitely passable. I have to remind myself that I was soooo unbelievable crushed last year when I found out I wasn't going to be able to live in DeNeve again. I seriously cried myself to sleep that night. But living in Sunset has been wonderful, and I'm glad that I ended up here for my second year instead of DeNeve. It gave me some variety, although I'm still angry about Covel closing…grr…I will be angry about that for the rest of my life. And best-case scenario is that we will stay in our apartment for two years, but if we hate it, we can always move out next summer. It's not a marriage. It's just a lease.

Also, I just have to say again that I'm so glad I have my sisters. Usually when I refer to my sisters (as far as hanging out or going to dinner outside of official TBS events), I'm referring to Alpha Eta (my pledge class) or a couple of the second year girls who joined last year. I don't hang out with the older people as much simply because they don't live in the dorms. However, today I hung out with my big sister (we each have a big sister assigned to us) for a few hours at her apartment, and she cooked me dinner, and we just talked. It was nice to have somebody I could be so open with about my feelings about the chapter and the year in general, and I felt like I gained some perspective. I like having mentors, older people who have been where I've been and can give me advice on how to get there. And I hope to be mentors for the younger girls, the current freshman and next year's freshman, and even the ones who will be here in two years.

Why have I been writing such long posts recently? Oh, and if you read this, please IM me…I want to know how many people are reading my random thoughts!

2003-05-31T00:29:00.000-07:00

Before I go to bed on this uneventful Friday night, I wanted to say a few things. First off, I wanted to thank my sisters for responding to my last post. What some of you said meant a lot to me, and I really appreciate it.

Second of all, an amusing story that happened to me on Tuesday morning that I didn't feel fit into my election post:
Because Tuesday was the morning after elections and I was feeling kind of down about that, and also because I was mad at my phonology professor for e-mailing me and telling me my paper topic was no good, and also because the weather was nice (I have springitus!), I just totally did not feel like going to class. It had nothing to do with wanting to sleep in, I was already awake, I just didn't want to get out of my pjs. So I talked to my best friend online for a half hour before I decided to get my lazy butt up and head off to class. I decided to wear an extremely un-me-like outfit-showing a lot more skin than I normally do-but I figured, hey, it was FINALLY spring and I have a hot body so why not (please somebody hit me with a dose of modesty). By the time I left my room, it was ten o'clock (which is when my class starts). Oh, well, I was late, I'd walk a bit fast, but who cared in the long run?
Normally I call my mom on my walk to class in the morning, but I decided not to because then I'd get a lecture about how I shouldn't be late for class blah blah blah. I walk to north campus along Charles E Young Drive, because generally it's less crowded than Bruin Walk, and plus it's a shortcut. It was especially uncrowded on Tuesday because everybody's already in class by ten o'clock. There was, however, a guy walking nearby me. And, surprisingly, he started talking to me. The first thing he said was, "Are you by any chance on your way to management?"
This is how my train of thought went: This guy must be in my Management 1B class, and he must recognize me from lecture. However, he must not attend discussion very often (it's not mandatory), and therefore he doesn't know that I'm not in his discussion, and there must be a discussion at ten on Tuesdays that he was walking to.
I said, "Nope, I'm going to linguistics." And he mutters, "Useless." Odd way to reply, but I kind of brushed it off, because I had almost gotten used to that reaction in my couple months as a ling major.
We continued to talk on the walk down to hill. I found out that his name was Adam, he's a third-year, and he hasn't been to a single discussion all quarter. I told him that I, too, had missed many of my management discussions, because it was at the end of my long Tuesdays and by that time I just wanted to go home. Adam also rarely attends lecture, and this wasn't his first quarter taking management. In fact, he had started out as a Bus-Econ major and had gotten through most of a quarter with a decent grade in management, but when he heard that if you didn't get a really stellar grade you were screwed, he purposely didn't do well on the final so that he could retake the class later and replace it with a better grade. However, later he decided to switch his major to philosophy, but he wants to erase the bad management grade off his record. But he explained that it was really hard to get motivated to attend a class you've already taken, and he failed it a second time. This was his third time around, and he still wasn't doing that well. In fact, he almost didn't get out of bed that morning because he had been up late the night before…drinking. At this point, I'm thinking, are you just TRYING to turn me off? Yes, I really would be interested in a guy who has to retake a class three times out of pure laziness. Well, I think, maybe he's not interested in me, and I'm getting ahead of myself, and he just started talking to me because he recognized me from class, not because he thought I was cute.
But as we approached Anderson (the business school) I asked him where his class was. He said, "In here. Korn." That confused me, because Korn is where lectures are held, not discussions. And 1B lectures are not held at ten on Tuesday. Then it dawns on me. "Are you in 1A?" I ask. And he says, "Yes," as if it should have been obvious all along. Then we wish each other a good day, and I walk the rest of the way to class thinking:
1. Why did he start talking to me in the first place, and ask me his opening question, if he didn't know that I was taking management that quarter?
2. Why did he tell me about how he had failed the class so many times? Did he think because I happened to be running late for my class that one day that I was a slacker? Ha, Adam, if you only knew the extent of my unslackerness…
3. Why did he say "Useless" when I told him I was going to linguistics class? It's not as if philosophy is any more useful.
Conclusion: This is the second time this year that a random guy has struck up a conversation with me on Charles E Young on a day that I've felt really confident about my appearance and haven't been on my cell phone, which might mean that the walk to class is a good place to pick up guys, even if they might be a little odd. However, dressing less conservatively, and running late for class, might make people assume things about me that aren't true at all.
Enough soul-searching tonight; I'm going to bed.

2003-05-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Two weeks and a day and I will be done with my second year of college. I can make it, I WILL make it, even though it won't always be fun.

Last night was elections for our chapter of Tau Beta Sigma. It took about five hours to elect the eleven offices. I'm still not quite sure I understand why we do the election process the way we do, but it works so whatever. It just takes FOREVER! I ran for parliamentarian, one of the lower offices, but I lost. From what I understand, it was a very close race, though, and although I was a little upset last night, I'm over it by now (I think). I am not, at least, scarred for life.

However, I think some of my sisters took there loss (or in some cases, losses) a little bit harder than I did. And I'm worried that it might take them a little while to recover and to forget what happened last night. HEY EVERYBODY WHO LOST YESTERDAY! YOU DID NOT LOSE BECAUSE YOU WERE A BAD PERSON OR AN UNWORTHY CANDIDATE. YOU LOST BECAUSE THERE COULD ONLY BE ONE WINNER. And the fact is, there aren't enough offices to utilize all the wonderful, enthusiastic personalities our chapter encompasses. For several of the offices, I wanted to elect all of the candidates. There were frequent cries of "Can we have two winners for this one?"
An officer of any club must be somebody the chapter believes will get the work done. An officer is a leader. An officer must have a positive attitude. Officers must be creative but also must be willing to follow the pre-determined rules of the chapter. Think about what it says about us as a chapter. There are eleven offices. And there were WAY more than eleven girls who were qualified to hold an office, way more than eleven girls who have each and every one of the qualities listed above. Next year, I hope to give somebody else the opportunity to utilize their skills (read: just because you didn't get an office this year doesn't mean you won't get one next year).

I love my sisters; they have become my family away from home. And I hate when I see any one of them hurting. Know that we all love you and will continue to love you, no matter what the results of stupid elections are.

This is one of those times I wish Blogger had a comment section. Please, if you read this and agree (or disagree) or have something to add, e-mail or IM me, and if you'd like, give me permission to post it in a future entry.

And to all of those who did get an office, congratulations! I know you will do a fantastic job serving our chapter. :-)

2003-05-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

One of my TBS sisters won a car (she deserved it after putting up with the long list of raffle tickets for over an hour), and our chapter's mascot is safe after two months of being stuck with our KKY brothers, AND it's the beginning of a four day weekend, since I'm ditching Friday's PIC lecture. Add that to the fact that I found out I got an A on my accounting midterm, and I'm a pretty happy camper!

2003-05-22T00:18:00.000-07:00

COMPUTERS ARE STUPID! My Internet Explorer isn't working (I'm using netscape right now), "my computer" won't open, Kazaa keeps shutting itself down, and the post I started writing just got deleted. I'd say more except my post would probably be deleted again if I don't post this soon.

Ruben won American Idol by 1300 votes (out of 24 million). So for all practical purposes, it was a tie. No wonder. The phone lines for both him and Clay were busy for three straight hours. I've never hit redial so many times in my life.

OK...posting this before my computer explodes...

1 month until book 5!

2003-05-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

I better put this down before I forget all the little details that made yesterday so awesome.

Phonology class was boring, but what else is new? But it was from there to my accounting professor's office hours, which I was ditching my PIC discussion to go to, since I have an accounting midterm tomorrow. After asking Prof Ravetch my questions, he says he has a favor to ask of me: to pretend, during the midterm review session of the lecture, that I don't understand bonds. He didn't explain why he wanted me to do this, but I stupidly did anyways.
So during lecture, he points to me like rehearsed and says, "You have a question?" And I said, "Yes, I'm still lost on bonds." And so he recites this lame poem he's been telling us all quarter, "Who would buy this bond from me, the interest rate is too low you see." And then I was supposed to say, "I still don't understand." From there, I didn't know what was going to happen.
He says, "It's funny you should ask that. Because last night, I wrote a song about bonds." He takes out a stereo from behind the overhead, and out comes some reggae music. He's about to start singing when he stops dancing and says, "No, no, I can't do it. It's just not the right mood." At which point, somebody planted backstage dimmed all of the lights (we are in a big lecture hall for this class). So then he starts up the music again and sees his bond song, with the poem as the chorus. I had been warned that Professor Ravetch likes to sing to his classes, but this was the second quarter I had taken him and I had been spared up until now. And there's more. After the bond song, he wasn't done. He got out his guitar and sang us a random song he had written years and years ago, called "No Accounting for Taste," which was half about how he couldn't get a girl and half about him not wanting to become an accountant because the work took too long. Soooooooo goofy. Some people probably thought it was overly lame, but I thought it was an amusing diversion, and better than my boring phonology lectures anyday.

It was especially funny, that after Professor Ravetch's singing act, he commented about Paula and Simon not being there to judge him. Which brings me to the second part of my day. AMERICAN IDOL!
We got to bypass the people standing in line to get tickets (HAHA!) and got into the studio about an hour before they started filming. We were in the front section, but off on one side. Not the best seats in the house, we thought, but we didn't care as long as we were in there. And as long as we got to sit together (Amanda went "whoring" for tickets, since the seat numbers they had given us were split up, we eventually convinced somebody to switch tickets with us so that the four of us could be together). I had my sign for Clay that said UCLAY (The UCLA and CLAY were in different colors that overlapped), Amanda had a sign that said "LOCKEd on Kimberly" and Janom had a sign for Ruben that said that her area code loved 205. She also made a sign that said "Ryan Seacrest is MY American Idol." Brittany didn't have a sign, but she helped us hold ours up.
It wasn't until the show was about to start that we realized our seats weren't bad after all. You see, they were right by the special celebrity door to backstage. So everybody walked by us and/or shook our hands (I shook Paula Abdul's hand--she is SO tiny! They had always teased her about being short, but I had no idea she was THAT small). All of the finalists sang beautifully, but Clay messed up on his first song. Reason? They switched the lyrics around on that song the afternoon before the show. Of course they neglected to tell America this; they just mentioned it to the audience during commercial. GRRRR. If he gets voted off this week I will be SO angry. Not that I can choose between the finalists--they're all really good--but I just like Clay. I want him to be in the final two at least. After the show, Ryan Seacrest walked by us on his way out, we shouted at him and he came over and signed our tickets! Amanda said, "My friend Janom wants to have 20,000 of your babies!" Janom, of course, was horrified (even though it was true). Ryan said, "20,000? Do you really want that many?" LOL!
Outside of the studio, while Janom was getting the autograph of Gabrielle Union (of Bring it On fame), Amanda found a headset lying around. She put it on, and, looking all official, walked back into the studio. It was a full two minutes before anybody caught her! No points for security at CBS!
Lastly, as we were leaving the parking lot, we happened to glance over and see that sitting in the car next to us was Kimberly Locke, one of the finalists! We rolled down our windows and were talking to her for a couple minutes. She was really nice, but the security guard wouldn't let us get out of the car to get her autograph (see? no points for security).

Other notes about the evening:
Simon is nicer off camera than he is on camera. He was actually smiling and joking a lot, all though he did tell the little kids that there was no such thing as Santa Claus. :-(
When we first arrived, they sent us to stand in the wrong line. If we hadn't asked somebody else, we could have been standing there waiting for hours again!
Vanessa, the first finalist to get kicked off, was there, too, and she was really sweet.
I love Clay. He's just as adorable in person as he is on TV.

Afterwards, we picked up Tiffany and went to the Cheesecake Factory. I had a very expensive but very good salad and a piece of chocolate peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake. Yum.

So that was my yesterday. I needed a good day after Monday's miserable midterm!

2003-05-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

My head hurts. I just took the second PIC midterm, which I had studied pretty decently for, and considering I had done so well on the first, I wasn't too worried about it. But the stupid test kicked my butt. I knew how to do some of the stuff on there...but not all. And I don't know why I didn't know how to do it. Some of it just flat out wasn't taught. Some of it was taught but in a nonchalant "you don't really need to know this" manner. Some of it just might have been my brain freezing. I want to feel bad, like it's my fault for not studying more, but in truth I know that it has nothing to do with my study skills. It has to do with stupid professors who write stupid exams. I HATE walking out of a test thinking, "Well, at least I got partial credit on most of them...". I want to walk out of a test thinking, "That was a little bit challenging, but I know that I got most of the problems EXACTLY right, and maybe I made a couple mistakes and was a little unsure on a few of them, but I made good guesses." This PIC exam just made me completely question how I'm going to do in the class overall, how much work I'm going to have to invest in doing on the final, and my decision to switch back to being a math major. It just reminds me that this is what the tests in the math department feel like: testing you on stuff that you didn't think you were supposed to know. It makes me want to curl up in a ball and never take another test again. UGH! I have such a headache, and they're doing construction outside (UCLA=Under Construction, Like, Always), which doesn't help the cause. I want to just sit around and do nothing--destress--but that's not even an option because I have an accounting midterm on thursday. Since my midterm confidence has already been shaken for the week, I'm now REALLY worried about it. And I need to work out and go to two meetings before the night is over.
Sorry I'm being so whiny today. In reality, I know that I probably still pulled off a decent grade on the PIC midterm, once the curve is considered. I also know that I'll get enough studying done and be reasonably prepared for Thursday's midterm. I always have been able to overcome stupid tests and grades, and part of me believes that I always will. But I will admit that a lot of my academic self-esteem has disappeared this year.
Wait! I get it! As soon as I get self-esteem for other areas of my life, my academic self-esteem goes out the window. I guess there's only so much esteem one person can have for herself.

2003-05-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

Ever since the festival of books, I've been thinking that I really should get around to writing more of the novel I'm currently working on, since I've been on the same chapter ever since winter break. When in the middle of a first draft, I don't think it's necessarily a positive thing to take a long break from writing, especially if you were on a roll. Now I've gotten off the roll and I can't get back on track. So in the past couple of weeks, I've decided to completely (well, not completely, but partially) revamp chunks of what I've written so far, rearrange a couple of chapters, and proceed to finish the first draft with the new changes in mind. My thoughts have been running wild this week with ideas of how to complete the chapter I've been stuck on for ages, but finding the time to write is impossible during the school year, since I hate writing my novels with other people in the room (I don't want to have to kick out my roommate), and plus it takes me several hours to write a chapter (and I like getting chapters, or at least important scenes, done in one sitting). But luckily this weekend my roommate's gone, and I don't have a significant amount of homework to do (I have a midterm this Monday, but I can study tomorrow). I was planning to write this afternoon, but I was so tired from the walk that I didn't want to risk writing a chapter half-asleep. So I drank two cups of coffee at dinner so I would be ready to write tonight.
Here I am, back in my room, and I was ready to get cracking, but my wonderful next door neighbors (who are generally better than last year's next door neighbors) have decided that this would be a great night to crank up the music. Thankfully, they turned it down a couple of minutes ago, but for a while there i thought my ears were going to explode.
While I'm updating, I should talk a little bit about the run/walk. Thank you to those who sponsored me! I had lots of fun, although my mom and I proved again what a great team we make by 1) miscommunication about my registration forms, 2) missing our freeway exit, and 3) turning the wrong way to get parking. It was a bit stressful, but eventually we found the rest of the TBS team (almost two hours after everybody else had arrived). At least I had had five or six hours of sleep, unlike Marina, Becky, Zai, Katie, and Nicole, who stayed up the ENTIRE night and then walked 3.2 miles in the morning. Sparkles to them. Anyways, 60000 people participated in the run/stand...i mean the run/walk.
Oh, and I'm going to say the unspeakable...the walk was at the collesium, right by the U$C campus. And to my surprise, I didn't get bad vibes at all while we were walking through the campus from the parking lot. Not that I'm ever considering giving up my Bruin spirit (like true band geeks, we sang Sons of Westwood as we walked through the collesium tunnel), and of course, Trojans still SUC, but just a thought that it's true what they say: the neighborhood is ghetto, but the campus is not.
OK, since my room is now semi-calm, at least the walls are no longer vibrating, I'm going to take advantage of the alone time and attempt to work on my novel. Wish me luck.

2003-05-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

OK, I woke up early this morning so that I could go work out before class. Here it is a half an hour later and I haven't even gotten around to checking my e-mail. I have spent the entire morning wasting time, reading people's Xangas. Makes me feel like I should get a Xanga. But I don't really want to give up my blog, just because I've had it for over a year. However, there are some things that are better than Xanga...the counter and comments for one. I would actually know that people are reading what I'm saying! Tomorrow, after the revlon run walk, I'm going to put the link to the blog back up on my profile (It hasn't been up since Easter), and then maybe people will start reading it. Or maybe I'll get a Xanga, put the link to this blog on it, joint the TBS/KKPsi ring, and cross my fingers that people will bother reading about little old me. Perhaps i should come up with some more interesting posts rather than just posting when I'm bored. OR MAYBE I SHOULD GO WORK OUT THIS MORNING LIKE I PLANNED! OK, time to check my e-mail, get dressed, and then go up to Reiber, back by eleven so that I can change, eat, and go to class, where hopefully I will not be overly tempted by crossword puzzles!

2003-05-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so it rained last night. Just a little bit. No, wait, it rained a lot. For at least four hours. But we stuck it out in the cold and the wet, wearing our UCLA ponchos, just to support our brothers and sisters who were part of the last group to perform at Spring Sing. They call themselves Blomp? in honor of the fact that they do things that Stomp (musicians with trashcans/brooms) and Blast! (a stage marching band, of sorts) do. They were so awesome, and it was worth staying out in the rain to see them! My poncho kept me protected, for the most part. But I was shaking when I got indoors.

Spring Sing ticket with SAA discount: $8.
A couple of pieces of pizza while standing in line: $3.
UCLA Poncho: $2.
Diddy Reese cookie: $.35.
Bonding with my sisters and brothers in the rain for four hours: priceless.

I saw XMen2 tonight, and I think it was worth the seven-fifty I paid. Elijah Wood was seeing it at the same time in the same theater we were; I didn't see him because I got there late, but my suitemate got his autograph. Cool, huh?

2003-05-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yay for May. Next month, school is out. Next month, the fifth Harry Potter book is released (finally!). Tonight is Spring Sing, an annual music competition held here at school. Since I hang out with a bunch of music freaks, we're going to stand in kine rediculously early...I think people are holding places for TBS and KKPsi right now...and it doesn't even start until eight. Yes, we're crazy, especially since it's supposed to rain tonight.
So I've decided that I'm completely obsessed with American Idol. Clay's my favorite, and I'm praying he doesn't get voted off next week because I really want to see him in person.
Not much interesting going on right now, I guess, except that the search for an apartment has begun now that I've secured roommates. Even school is pretty low key until seventh week. Yesterday I checked out some ling books for my phonology paper (i'm going to write about how i butcher spanish). They were on the fifth floor of Charles E Young Library, which, I swear, has got to be the quietest place in the universe. My boots echoed so loudly I thought they were going to throw me out. You could just hide up there and nobody would ever be able to find you. (I almost got lost up there at closing time one day last year.)
Whoa...I just looked back at past entries and found out that March 12 was 100 days until HP comes out...and now there's only 49 days left...March 12 didn't seem so long ago...the book'll be here in no time! Wheeeeeee! ***spins in circles***
As you can see by now, I'm just typing to kill time. I don't do this enough. I don't know if anybody else reads this stuff (well, nobody will except Kamille if I don't have it up in my profile) but I enjoy reading my own past posts just to see where I was a month ago, a year ago, etc.
You know what else I need to do more? Write. I have realized that my current novel isn't going in the direction I wanted it to, so that means I'm going to have to do some major rewrites. More things to do this summer.
I think I'll do some rewriting right now while I'm thinking about it, and then I'll go join my friends in line for Spring Sing. PLEASE NO RAIN!

2003-04-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

Bored on a Saturday night. Not that my Saturday day wasn't fun. It was the Festival of Books this weekend, which I love, because it's a chance to celebrate authors. And since I want to be an author one day, I like to think that in the future they'll be celebrating me. :-) I'm hungry right now, craving a Puzzles smoothie, but I don't think I'm allowed to swipe for one until midnight. I'd have the yogurt that's in my room except that I'm out of spoons.
Let's see...what else has been going on recently...
As a result of waiting in line for FOUR HOURS to get in to a taping of American Idol and not getting in, my suitemates and I have managed to get guarenteed seats to a future taping. We will be there on May 13th, which is, of course, right in the middle of my second wave of midterms. Speaking of midterms, my first couple went pretty well. I've spent all this week locked up in the PIC lab, thank goodness I don't have another project due for a couple weeks. Plans for living arrangements next year are starting to come together but I can't wait to know exactly where my apartments going to be and what it'll look like.
Oh, I did end up going roller skating the other week, and falling five times. (I'm not the most graceful person in the world.) And I had a lovely Easter home with my family (lots of good food), and I'm very glad to be back on AIM.

2003-04-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Blogging time! Spring quarter's still going peachy. My classes are PIC (computrer programming), management (accounting), and phonology (linguistics). You might notice that there's only one ling class on the list. And that's because...I'm strongly considering recommitting to math. I miss it. Not the hours of doing homework, not the math professors, but I miss the people and the feeling I got when I did well and actually understood the math. Linguistics might be an easier path, but I don't think it will lead me to where I want to be led.
I'm really not in the mood to discuss my major right now; if you want to hear more about it you can ask me directly. In the world outside of classes...
TBS has taken over my life! Not that I wasn't expecting it to, but it seems like I'm invited to TBS stuff practically every day! Tomorrow we're going to a TV taping of the Late Late Show, which should be fun. On Saturday we're going roller skating and doing a service project, but I'm not sure if I'll go to them. I was invited out to dinner tonight with my "family tree" (we all have big bros and big sisses) but I couldn't go because I had to do homework.
This weekend I went to Knotts Berry Farm. Have you been on Xcelerator? It looks terrifying and I was totally shaking while I was in line, but of course when I got on it was pure fun.
The weather was insanely beautiful today, but unfortunately I have six hours of class on Tuesdays! At least I got to eat lunch outside because PIC got out twenty minutes early. When the sun is out, the world seems so much brighter. :-)

2003-03-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

Spring quarter 2003...it has begun. I begin this quarter with almost as much optimism as I began last quarter...except now I have the understanding that all of my academic plans and any other plans I have might change at a moment's notice. At least now I know that I have the ability to readjust my schedule accordingly, but I also know I have to learn to let it stop throwing me into an emotional whirlwind.
Instead of discussing my classes (my schedule's not concrete yet; I'm considering this my week of "shopping" for classes), I'll talk about what I did during spring break.
I went home to study for finals, and then came back to school briefly to take my two tests. I got an A in syntax and management; still waiting for a grade from the AIDS class. The war started sometime between my two finals, which distracted me a bit from studying for the AIDS final, but we'll see later if that affected my grade. (Is it politically correct to blame a grade on a war even though you might have gotten the same grade even without the war?)
Then, at last, spring break began. I spent the first weekend on a camping trip with TBS and KKPsi (that's the band fraternity). We went to El Capitan, I showed off my brand new bikini (!) and stayed up around the campfire bonding with everyone (we actually finished a game of Trivial Pursuit. My team lost, but it was close.). We almost died on a hike because the tide was coming in (ok, maybe I'm exagerating, but I was worried because I'm a dork like that). I was introduced to Snipe Hunting, which apparently is a common activity on camping trips. I'd done five years of camping regularly with girl scouts and we had never snipe hunted. Guess I missed out. And the food was FANTASTIC. You can't beat steak, mashed potatoes, and smores when you're camping.
After camping, I went back home where I did absolutely NOTHING constructive. Except went shopping. And I'm sick of shopping. Can you believe I just said that? Yeah. I don't care if I don't go shopping again for months. As much as I love new clothes, there is such thing as overkill.
The end of spring break meant CONVENTION! which had been hyped for so long that I was really looking forward to it. Convention, meaning TBS/KKPsi Western District Convention; I think there were band frats and sororities from something like thirteen schools. It was in San Diego, and we stayed in a nice hotel. A lot of it was business (electing officers, planning next year's convention, etc.) but there was fun stuff too like hanging out at the pool area (I went into a sauna for the very first time), meeting people from other chapters, and the banquet and dance. Oh, and of course, there were the fights to steal other chapters' mascots (stuffed animals). One fight (well, it was more like a dogpile) ended up in hotel security being called. Last I heard, our mascot is still missing. :( :( :( The stupid KKPsi guys from our school somehow yanked her away from us at the banquet and locked her in the trunk of a car. But what a great weekend. I'm sad it was only a weekend; I wanted to get to know some people I met better.
But spring break can't last forever, and it's time for me to go back doing things that are constructive.
HOWEVER, I currently have no pressing hw to do, no reading except in books that I don't have yet. That means free time! Yay, for it's not fun to start the quarter with tons of assignments. I'm thinking about hanging out at the pool and/or working out until my meeting at six thirty.
I miss AIM. I feel sooooooooo disconnected from the rest of the world. :( Three more weeks! Then I'm never giving it up again!

2003-03-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

What's special about today? It's 100 days until Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix is released! So forgive me if I'm obsessed.
I am soooooooooooo unmotivated to study for my management test that I have tomorrow...it's probably because I could get a C on the test and still get an A in the class. I think I already have a C level mastery of the material, but I'll still probably spend a couple hours studying before tomorrow just because I'm weird like that. Plus, the review session we had yesterday was quite entertaining. A la A Christmas Carol, my professor dressed up as the ghosts of chapters past, while a TA played the part of a student who had been slacking all quarter. Oh my, I'm going to miss that class. Why do some quarters have to end when you're just beginning to like them?

2003-03-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

In the dining hall last night, I was eating dinner with seven of my TBS sisters, when suddenly this random guy came up to me (I was sitting at one end of the table) and started talking. The way he was talking, it sounded like he knew somebody at the table, I was thinking maybe he knew the girl across from me. He was carrying his tray, which had several empty dishes on it. He said, "Excuse me, but my tray's kind of full, and I was wondering if you girls could take care of this plate for me." He then proceeds to place a plate covered in ketchup squiggles in front of me. My friends and I all stared at it, confused, as the guy walked away. Turns out, nobody at the table knew him, and it takes us a couple of minutes before we decipher the message that's scribbled on the plate with ketchup. It says "Party, 518 Midvale." Well, make that the most creative party invitation I've ever seen! We then started cracking up and couldn't stop talking about it for the rest of dinner. Little did the guy know that he had just invited a bunch of band geeks! We of course did not go to the party (since most of us were planning on going to the basketball game anyway)...but I suggested that we pass on the plate to another table. So we found a group of guys and passed it along to them...my friend went up to them and said, "Excuse me, but my tray's a little bit full..." Wouldn't it be hilarious if those guys had shown up to the party? The guy who had originally invited us would have been quite confused.
Anyways, after the game (which by some miracle, we came from behind and won!) we went to In and Out where I avoided a hamburger but ended up mooching some french fries. And then we hung out in somebody's room and watched Legally Blonde. But I wonder what happened at 518 Midvale...

2003-03-08T00:48:00.000-08:00

Today I reached my Weight Watchers goal weight! (Actually, it was yesterday, March 7.) I'm still amazed that I lost 50 pounds in nine months. Technically, I have ten more pounds before I've reached my personal goal, but I was so happy today that I allowed myself a Diddy Reese ice cream sandwich. It was worth all the points! (Thank you Michelle!) I felt like a mini-celebrity today after the meeting. We were eating at Subway and several other WW members approached me and congratulated me on my success. Add that to the hundred-percent I got on my linguistics homework, and the absolutely beautiful LA weather, it certainly was a wonderful day! Check out pics of me on my weight loss journey at http://www.geocities.com/themoondoggirl/wwjourney.html

2003-03-04T22:44:00.000-08:00

It's Mardi Gras, which means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I'm giving up AIM for Lent. (We'll see how long this lasts.) Some people are upset that I'm giving it up and I agree that it sucks that I won't be able to chat with everybody for six weeks, but the truth is it's time for something new. I've been giving up sweets for the past six years, and it's getting old. It's not even hard anymore. This will be a test in self-discipline, which is what the point is in giving up things for Lent. And let's face it, i AM addicted to AIM. Hopefully this will work out. Only one hour left...and then no AIM till easter. :(

2003-03-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

Oh my, what a weekend. I'm a little tired right now, so i'll try not to ramble, but it's kinda hard to concentrate while i'm typing.
On Friday, I finally had my third and finally degree of initiation into Tau Beta Sigma. (TBS does NOT stand for The Band Sorority, FYI). It was a beautiful ceremony, and I got presents, and I'm always happy when it's not decemeber and I get presents. And I got a rose too! I wore a pretty black dress...size 6, can you believe it? I sure can't. After degree, we had an "unofficial" party to celebrate, and I was finally introduced to the legendary Tuba Soup, which is a fruity drink (the recipe is secret, but let's just say it has more than just fruit juice). It's nice to finally be officially a part of the sisterhood, and I'm so excited to get to know my new sisters better and see where this journey leads me.
My only plans for Saturday night were to visit a couple of my friends who were doing the 26 hour dance marathon to raise money for pediatric AIDS. I dropped by to say hi at seven o'clock (eight hours into the marathon)...and ended up staying until the end of the marathon at one o'clock the next day. (I came back to my room a couple of times, but just to do random things; i didn't sleep all night). The dance marathon was awesome. The theme was "The Real World", so there were a lot of Real World cast members there. Mike from New York (got my picture taken with him), Ruthie from Hawaii, Julie from New Orleans, Dan from Miami, Frank from Las Vegas...I admit that I am a frequent watcher of many of the Real Worlds (who doesn't love an all-day MTV Real World/Road Rules marathon?), and I cannot tell you how WEIRD it was to be standing next to these people who I had up until then only seen on TV. Matthew Lawrence (of Boy Meets World fame) was there, too. Courtney Cox was a no-show though. :( Anyways, the whole thing was awesome (although tiring). The pillow fight at two thirty was great. So were the performance scattered throughout the marathon. And I actually had a chance to appreciate a Los Angeles sunrise. What a great weekend.
Q: What do you see when the smog lifts in Los Angeles?
A: UCLA!

2003-02-27T23:23:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post one last time as a non-sorority girl! :)

2003-02-23T01:16:00.000-08:00

Well, plans just did fall in my lap last night, something that I wasn't expecting at all...but yeah. I'm continuing my rebelious streak and tonight I went gambling! Well, it was just Casino Night on the dorm hill. I lost half of my (fake) money, but still managed to get two raffle tickets out of the deal. (some people had like 30) They were calling out the raffle winners. I REALLY wanted the portable DVD player. But before that, they announced the winning number for two tickets to see "The Producers". And they call out the number...4...7...2...9...2...8. My tickets are 472926 and 472927. See, it sucks to be me. By the way, I'd also like to mention that my best friend is so gullible for believing that I actually went gambling tonight. Come on, I'm not THAT wild. Yet.

2003-02-21T17:25:00.000-08:00

So I just read my friend's Live Journal, which reminded me that I haven't blogged in awhile. Perhaps I should switch to the live journal format? They have cool headings and stuff, and a place for people to comment (so that I'd be comforted that people are actually reading my thoughts), but then again, I already have my blog established and it's nice to have my thoughts of college kind of bundled in one place. I should really print out a hard copy one of these days.
What's been going on in my life the past couple weeks? Pretty much same old, same old. Adjusting to this new major is still extremely difficult (I just do NOT handle change very well). And don't even get me started on how worried I am about what I'm doing this summer and where I'm living next year (and with whom). Too many question marks, too many things that depend on other people. I really need to learn how to take initiative. Things don't always just fall into your lap, yet I spend most of the time wishing they would.
Last night I ate too much, but oh, well...the times when I eat to much are now few and far between. They had theme dinner in the dining halls (WHY are they closing Covel???) and then I had another dinner at one of my future TBS sister's apartments. Yay for home-cooked food! I was supposed to go back to the dorms after Friends, but I ended up staying through Will and Grace and talking all through ER and didn't get back till 11 (isn't it great how thursday nights are dictated by television?).
No plans for tonight, but that's OK. Maybe something will just fall into my lap...

2003-02-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Groundhog Day! To celebrate, I woke up really early in the morning and went to church! Actually, church has nothing to do with Groundhog Day, but one of my friends decided that it would be fun to take a trip to the new LA cathedral. Mass started at ten, but what with our lack of cars, we had to rely on public transportation, and left campus a little bit before nine. We had to walk down to Wilshire to catch the bus, and then we rode the bus for a half an hour to get to the subway (yes, there are subways in Los Angeles), which we took almost all the way to Union Station. We arrived at mass before the first reading. Not bad, considering I don't trust public transportation anywhere, especially in LA. The cathedral was pretty; the architecture was fascinating. After mass we went and looked at the crypt where all the past bishops are buried. The current cardinal already has a gravemarker (with the deathdate left blank), and we're like confused...what does he do? bring flowers to his own grave? Anyway, then we ate lunch at the cathedral's cafe and went to the gift shop, where i bought another one of those souvenier "floating" pens (I call them slidey pens). I now have sixty-something of them, i think. Yes, I'm insane. But everyone's got to collect something, right? Then we took a brief detour to Olvera St, and then we took the subway, bus, and walked back to school. All in all, it was a six hour trip to church.
And since I've spent the entire morning playing tourist in LA, it's time to go back to what I normally do in LA...be a student. I have midterms this week. Which means i should be studying.

2003-01-26T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a week and a half since my big decision...and I think I'm ok with it. It's been emotional. I've been fighting feelings of failure and aprehension. I have yet to introduce myself to anyone as a linguistics major (it's still, "i'm technically a math major, but i'm strongly considering switching to linguistics.") Life feels strangely...empty? not sure if that's the right word...without a math class. I find myself still trying to budget time to finish non-existent math homework. I have dreams about how my math professor is making fun of the girl who dropped the class. I still fear that i'm going to wake up one morning and realize that i hate linguistics, too. But these thoughts aren't occupying my mind all day like they were a week ago.
Last night, I took the second step in becoming a full member of Tau Beta Sigma, the band sorority. I'm not allowed to tell you anything about the ceremony, because apparently it's supposed to be a secret. (Sororities are kinda cultish.) Then we had a party where we all dressed up in goofy costumes. (It was an "official" party and since we're a dry sorority that means no drinks, but it was fun anyway.) Some people were dressed in togas, so when we walked back to the dorms, the people in the "real" frats and sororities were shouting, "Hey! Where's the toga party?" LOL!!! Little did they know that we were just a bunch of band geeks.

2003-01-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

Well, nothing's official yet, but I spent today running around like crazy trying to get all of these kinks ironed out of my new master plan. Since this all happened suddenly, and since it was the end of second week, it was important that I made a move soon. I think I'm going to drop my math class. I can't stand another day of it, much less a whole quarter of it. I enrolled in another class (a life sci GE) to make up for it and I hope that I can talk to the professor soon to make sure that I'll be able to catch up on the two weeks I've missed. I have confidence in myself. If I can ace two difficult math classes in the same quarter, I can certainly handle playing catch up on a supposedly easy GE class. And even if it turns out to be a hard (or boring) class, at least I'll be done with my GEs. And I won't be spending my life doing math proofs.

2003-01-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm writing this.
Something strange happened today; my mind suddenly figured out a solution to the million unsolvable problems I've been having recently. And I made a decision. I'm sure some people won't agree with it (but I hope my family will at least...), but I agree with it. Even though I'm not 100 percent sure yet if all the details work out, I can't help but feel somewhere deep inside that this is the right thing for me to do.
First, a little background:
Last winter quarter, I experienced a small bout of depression. It was something that I didn't expect to happen, but all of the sudden I couldn’t get up in the morning without just wanting to run back in to bed. Every minute of the day, I was overwhelmed with the desire to cry. I was scared to leave my room, yet at the same time I hated just sitting at my desk, staring at the computer screen. Nothing I did could distract me from my sadness. It only lasted a month, but that month seems like forever in my memory.
Spring quarter was fine. I even took a class just for fun—French, because I had always wanted to learn it.
Then came fall quarter of this year. Overall, it was a good quarter, I guess. Band was fun, socialization was fun, my phonetics class was a blast…but my two math classes were horrendous. Bad professors and boring material just made me want to throw up every single time I looked at anything involving numbers. So a few months ago, I decided that there was no way I could stand being a pure math major. When I became aware that there was such a thing as a math/management specialization, I decided that I might want to switch to that. So I enrolled in Management 1A for winter quarter.
And here I am, in that winter quarter. Taking management, honors real analysis (a math class involving a hundred billion proofs), and syntax (last week, I officially declared my linguistics minor). I came into this quarter fearing that I was either going to have a repeat of last winter quarter or of fall quarter this year—or worse, both. I think in trying to avoid them, I made them come true.
I woke up this morning wanting to cry. Wanting to throw all of my books out the window. Wanting to never touch another math proof, wanting to just crawl into a hole and die. I wasn’t even looking forward to the trip to Vegas I’m taking tomorrow. I was scared to death that this was another bout of depression…but even more terrified when I realized that my worries might be perfectly rational.
I DON’T WANT TO BE STUCK IN MATH CLASSES FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!! I don’t care about math anymore. I still like math more than your average person, but not enough to spend countless hours of the day on it. And I have no idea what kind of career I could obtain and enjoy with a degree in math anything. Even the math management specialization doesn’t look very appealing to me anymore because I looked at some of the upper division course descriptions and they just did not sound fun. Plus, I couldn’t get a good job with a math management degree unless I took more courses to become an accountant or went to graduate school and took more unenjoyable classes.
I realize that college isn’t all about enjoying every single class you take. But I want to be happy. And I won’t be happy if I spend the next two and a half (plus?) years of my life studying math.
So today, during my math discussion, while my TA was trying to explain something that we wouldn’t even get to until two weeks later in the course (and he kept making mistakes), I really had to bite my lip to keep from crying. And a thought snuck into my head and it wouldn’t go away.
I should have been a linguistics major.
And suddenly, the world seemed brighter.
There are still many question marks in my idea. If I switched majors now, would I still be able to graduate in four years with a non-killer schedule? Will I have to go to summer school? How does this effect my GE requirements? Should I minor in math since I’ve already gotten so far? Will I have to go to graduate school? What kind of job will I be able to get with a degree in the humanities? (Do you want fries with that?) Will I get sick of languages because I spend all my time studying them? All I know is that when I think about my future as a ling major, I don’t feel all depressed and trapped. I think that I might be able to regain some of the enjoyment for learning that at some point I’ve lost. I’ve never complained about a linguistics class, except that I didn’t have enough time to study for it because I was too busy worrying about my math classes.
I should have realized this ages ago. The biggest hole in this plan is that I might have decided on it too late. But I’ve decided that I’m going to call up the linguistics department and make a counseling appointment, and I’ll go to my math counselor, too, to see what she has to say.
This quarter will still suck, because now I’m in classes that might not even have to do with my major. Thank God for all the AP credit that’s kept me afloat. But now I see a possible light at the end of the tunnel, one I did not see several hours ago.
I’m going to go cry now. But it’ll be a crying to say good-bye to an era of my life. I was a different person when I applied to be a math major. A year and a half college has changed me beyond what I imagined I could.
Maybe this is just a temporary moment of insanity. Maybe I’ll still be a math major when all is said and done. But most likely not. I just want to be happy.
So what do you think? I want feedback. Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not? IM me or e-mail me or call me...
And thanks for caring.

2003-01-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome, Winter Quarter 2003! I went to two of my classes today: syntax and mathematical analysis. Management starts tomorrow. Guess how much my tinee-tiny math book cost. 130 bucks! Is that rediculous or what?
Break's over...still haven't learned how to drive the freeway...maybe this weekend when i have to go home for a dentist appointment. What I did do over break: almost burned down my house trying to cook and hit a car in a parking lot (luckily no damage to the cars, but i did melt a plastic lid). They should just not let me be independent. I also wrote about fifty pages of my most recent novel...it is now a whopping 240 pages, my longest yet. I hope it's good; I have a hard time passing judgements on my own work.
ONLY TWENTY MORE POUNDS TO GO; I NEVER THOUGHT I COULD BE THIS SKINNY!!! Weight Watchers is my best friend. I didn't even have to make a New Year's resolution.

2002-12-27T14:05:00.000-08:00

So it's my birthday. I'm 20 today, which makes me feel really old since I've officially kissed my teen years good-bye. This is the first time i've posted a blog from home. I wasn't home for christmas, though, because the football game WAS in las vegas and i did go. It was worth it though, but I can say i never expected to be standing on a vegas streetcorner in the middle of the night singing songs about Jesus. Well, I've done that now. Even on Christmas, people'll give you funny looks for that. We won the game, which was a nice christmas present for us but a bad christmas present for New Mexico. One more week left of break, and then back to classes. At least I passed both math classes last quarter. After all that worrying.
Anyway, guess i'll go play with the digital camera i got for christmas. i should probably figure out how to post pictures on my blog.

2002-12-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

Taking a quick break from studying...three more days! I keep waffling back and forth between thinking that i'll do really well on the finals and worrying about failing them both. Listening to Christmas music to keeps my spirits up, the song that's currently playing is, "I'll be Home for Chirstmas." And I will be home for Christmas! Provided that a football game doesn't send me to las vegas for the holidays...

2002-12-05T23:18:00.000-08:00

So this week hasn't been as bad as i was expecting it to be. I feel that I have at least some grip on what i'm doing in math class nowl where as last weekend i was going insane because i felt like i didn't know anything. We'll see how I do on the finals, though...i used to rely on luck to get me through tests, but I think that this quarter my luck has finally run out. In any case, I'm pretty sure (cross your fingers) that i'll at least pass my classes. And then i get to take a whole new batch of classes (which i am now officially signed up for), including management. I hope i like management, because i'm seriously considering switching my math specialization to management and accounting. And i hope i don't regret taking the harder professor just because his lecture is later in the day.
I should be studying now but you know, there's only so long one can stare at math notes before they begin to go insane. I think i'm on that brink of insanity. But I see the light...the quarter's almost over...in less than a week i'll be home! Just one more football game (plus possibly a bowl game). I can do this, I can make it. I say this now, but talk to me after I walk out of my math finals and we'll see if i'm still in such a cheery mood.

2002-11-25T21:16:00.000-08:00

Since I actually have some free time, I'm blogging! Can't wait for Thanksgiving weekend to begin; now that i'm actually spending most of my time here I really look forward to the time i can spend at home. But that's good, don't want to overdose on my family. I do miss my mom, though, since I haven't seen her in like two months. And another thing I'm looking forward to is shopping, since my pants are falling off! Oh, the joys of losing weight. If only I had some money to spend...well, that's what my mom is for.
And I do have a job of sorts. For the past week, I've been working in the phonetics laboratory helping my classmates make recordings for our term paper. It's nice to have an income, even if it's small, it's something. I think that I was meant to be a recording technician. I love pressing buttons and adjusting volume levels and wearing headphones. It makes me feel all official. I guess it's a power trip.
Funny, I don't hate math so much when I'm not doing it 24-7.

2002-11-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

YAY! I saw Chamber of Secrets last night. That just makes my weekend. I had great seats (first row of the balcony, where the stars sit during the premieres) and hung out with my friends, including the friend from high school who is responsible for getting me addicted to the HP books in the first place. Not quite as energetic of a crowd as last year, though. Oh, well. I for one was content simply because I had been waiting for this movie for a year. Now the next thing I have to wait for is Book 5. JK ROWLING NEEDS TO FINISH WRITING IT ALREADY! It doesn't even take ME that long to write a book. Anyway, I enjoyed the movie; I have some nitpicks but how could I not? I even have some nitpicks with the book. I will definitely go see the movie again, probably over Thanksgiving break, which is now only one and a half weeks away!
Today I must return to doing math. Why can't I have more than one day off of using numbers and variables and determinants? I really should change my major to linguistics.

2002-11-14T23:44:00.000-08:00

This has been a strange week. On Tuesday, i had a take home midterm. And I stayed up the entire night doing it. That's right. THE ENTIRE NIGHT!!! I don't know how i did on it yet; i'm afraid to check. But working on it was kinda fun; i used a white board to work out some of the problem, it was very Beatiful-Mind-esque.
Since I'm somewhat caught up on sleep now, i went to Westwood tonight to stargaze at the LA Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets premeire. I saw the kids who play Hermione and Ron as well as some random other people. A good way to spend an evening, and now i know the best place to stand to watch the people coming out of the Village Theater, but i'm keeping that location a secret. I GET TO SEE THE MOVIE SATURDAY NIGHT!!! I hope I have as good of an experience as i did at the HP movie last year. Even though math is overwhelming and right now i'm questioning why i ever became a math major, this Harry Potter freak is currently one happy camper.

2002-11-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

Well, this was certainly a day that i'll never forget. i went to Tijuana with a bunch of people from my church to deliver toys and play with kids at an orphanage, Hogar Infantil de La Gloria. Not only did I have an awesome time getting to know the people from church who i didn't know very well, i had a very eye-opening experience in Mexico. Never before had i had a chance to get a glimpse of what life was truly like down there, and i still think that i have a very limited view. It makes me realize how fortunate i am to be born in the place i was at the time i was with such great parents and everything...all of my problems suddenly seem so trivial. I needed to get a reality-check since my mind has been buried under piles of midterms and band stuff and worrying about my social life. In a few weeks, i'll probably go back to my jaded American way of thinking, but right now i'm just so thankful to have all that i have. Margarita, Carlos, Juan, Lupita, Ruth—and all of the other kids i used my garbled spanish and hugs to communicate with—have made an impact on my life. I can only hope that I brightened their day a bit and that even though i couldn't take them home with me, i made a small impact on their lives, too.
While i'm in a posting mood, i'll talk a little bit about the not-so-profound stuff that's going on. On Halloween i went trick or treating in bel air (or a neighborhood nearby bel air). I was a little bit afraid that the houses would be angry about college students basically begging for candy (i mean, really, we ARE getting too old for this), but they were all really cool about it, joking with us and giving us lots of treats! :) Amanda's butt costume was a winner (shorts that have a fake foam butt sewn on them.); even though she got a delayed reaction from most of the houses. I enjoyed wearing my green-nose glasses and pretending that it was my real nose and acting all insulted everytime somebody commented on it. Karen and Brittany had more elaborate costumes...they went all-out, which was cool. A very fun night, although not nearly as wild and random as last year's Halloween.
All-HIll Halloween was also fun; i'm crossing my fingers that my house won the contest for decorations. We turned our lounge into a crypt, complete with skeletons made of newspaper and wire. The best part was our cryptkeeper, basically a lamp with a cape and a mask on it. We had a guy hide underneath the cape and move it around which absolutely terrified the inner-city kids that came trick or treating in the dorms. Meanwhile, i played the dead girl who hands out candy in the corner of the lounge.
And rewind through two midterms (one good, one bad) and a winning football game, we reach my trip to San Fransisco. I got more sleep this year than i did last year, mostly because i was prepared for what the trip encompassed. Even though we lost the game against Cal, i had a good time during the pregame activities and also on the friday night before the game. We went to Pier 39 and Ghiredelli Square and my body didn't like all the fat i ate! (but the sundae was sooooooo good.)
That just about updates the major events that have taken place the past couple of weeks. Next weekend is Veterans' Day which means i'm finally going home! for the first time this school year! I can't wait to see my cat.

2002-10-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

Break out the champagne, it's the one year anniversary of this blog!!! In two hours, i leave for the bay area. An exciting end to the exciting week, which included being involved with a filming of a TV trailer for The Ring (VERY creepy movie). Must finish packing and getting ready for the overnight bus ride. :)

2002-10-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back at school now, in my huge new room...lots of things have happened this past month, including band camp, new classes, making new friends and getting reacquainted with old friends. I keep meaning to update my blog but I always forget! Bad me! If anybody's reading this, IM me and tell me that I should update my blog more. Here's a story about something that happened to me a couple fridays ago that's been on my profile for the past week:
We were walking back from Westwood, and this car pulls up to us and asks us how to get to royce hall. Cnfused because we only know how to get to royce by walking, we give them some confusing directions, but hopefully they understand them. Then another car comes up and asks us where royce is. We repeat the directions. ANOTHER car pulls up and asks us where royce is. They thank us for the directions, and then to thank us, they give us a bouncy ball. Then, finally, a fourth car pulls up. "Royce?" we ask. They nod, confused by how we know their destination. "Follow them!" we shout. At least we have a bouncy ball.
Also, I realized that I should never vacuum again. I broke the vacuum today. Luckily my RA was able to fix it.
I had forgotten how tired and stressed football games can make me (there was one yesterday)...but I had also forgotten how much fun they were. If only we our football team would win so the band can play Rover!!
Next weekend is the San Fransisco trip! I wonder if there will be any cheese its and shoes to steal... (find last year's san fransisco post if you don't get it). :)

2002-09-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Wow...a whole summer has gone buy. Haven't done much...except get a car and my license (finally!). I went to see the Lion King last week, and it was fantabulous. :) Now I'm in Chicago visiting a friend. It is the first truly adventurous thing I've done all summer. Today we went to the natural history museum and the planetarium. Quite fun. It's likely that the next time I write will be from my new room!!!

2002-06-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this will be the last time I blog from E319. Finals are over! Yay! And I think I did OK. I'm going to miss my roomie and my room so much. Right now my bed is empty, most of the walls are empty...the last thing to go will be the computer. I hope that I have a good summer.

2002-06-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today it's been a year since I graduated from high school. It makes me feel so old. And where did this past year go? Since graduation, I had my first real job (front desk clerk at Best Western Valencia Inn), moved to college, took classes from a wide variety of subjects, made new friends, and adjusted to being more independent. Some parts of the year went faster than others, but when I realize that I started this journal almost eight months ago, I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday I was opening up the door to my dorm room for the first time. On the other hand, it seems like I've known my roommate and some of my other friends forever. I'm going to miss this place soooo much during the summer, yet I will be glad to be home. (NO MORE DORM FOOD!!!) Most of all, I dread moving out of this room. Most of Kamille's stuff is already out of here, and a lot of my stuff is in boxes. Tomorrow I'll start taking the decorations down, which will make the room officially depressing. This week can be summed up by two things: moving out and studying for finals...I HATE FINALS!!! But that's ok, now I'll have a few months without homework or classes or test...joy. :)

2002-05-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

It's the middle of the night (3 am), and I can't sleep for three reasons:
1. I'm sick and my ear feels like it's going to fall off,
2. I went to see Star Wars in the middle of the night last night and slept in until almost noon this morning, so my sleep schedule is messed up,
3. The people next door are blaring loud music and talking and i'm too nice to bang on the walls to shut them up.
OH MY IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE BLOGGED!!! What's wrong with me? It's so sad. Maybe it means...I have a life. lol.
Let's see, what's been going on in my life since the beginning of last month...
I went to the beach on a retreat with church and had an awesome time, I attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books right here on the UCLA campus (SOOOO many people!!!), I've been taking new and much more interesting classes than last quarter (anthro, french, and....math, big surprise there), I joined the symphonic band, signed up for the room I'll be living in next year, finished a novel...yeah, there's been lots to do. And I also got addicted to this computer game called snood...and another game called collapse...I play a lot of computer games now.
And now I must start anticipating the end of the school year. I don't want to move out of this lovely room :(. I finally got used to it and now it's being taken away from me. My last final is on June 14th, so now we're down to less than a month. Oh, well. One thing I won't miss are my noisy neighbors.

2002-04-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Angry at blogger. I had a really nice long post on April Fool's Day, and it didn't show up. Maybe they were playing an evil April Fool's Day on me. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

2002-03-06T18:53:00.000-08:00

Not too much going on. I'm procrastinating studying for my math midterm, which I have on Friday. On the bright side, I did manage to complete writing my paper before midnight last night. Woohoo! Unfortunately, I didn't go to sleep until after two. :( I'm very tired right now and can't believe it's not even seven. What to do with the rest of my night? I mean, other than study. Maybe I'll read or watch TV. Might as well relax while I can. In just two weeks, that evil thing called finals will be upon us all...yuck. College would be so great, except for those pesky things they call classes.

2002-02-26T00:19:00.000-08:00

Why I love living in LA: free movies! And free popcorn! At starstudded premieres! Yes, earlier today I was standing about ten feet away from Tom Selleck, Kari Russel, Chris Klein, and...Mel Gibson! I saw "We Were Soldiers," which was...bloody, to put it mildly, but hey, what did I expect from a war movie? I wish I had brought my camera. :(

2002-02-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

Guess what I did this weekend. I went to see the musical Into the Woods, which is one of my favorite plays ever. After years of seeing it only on video, I'm glad to finally have seen it in person. I had so much fun...I want to see it again!
Other than that, I went to two women's basketball games. We won one, we lost one. This week I'm going to two men's games. Call this my week of basketball.
Now I must ponder how I'm going to finish my math homework by Friday. Bah.

2002-02-20T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hey, everyone! How's it going? Lemme tell you about my day...Well, I finally turned in the math homework that was originally due last Friday and that i stayed up until 3 Friday morning to do. At least that's done with. Then I took a logic midterm. And then I turned in the final draft of my philosophy paper. And then I came back to the dorms and vegged for a precious few hours, checked my e-mail and found out that I won a $75 gift certificate to the UCLA store! Cool, huh? Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to spend it on. Any suggestions?

And just a note...sometime tonight, while I was eating pizza at church, it was 20:02, 02/20, 2002. There's a palindrome for you.

2002-02-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm bored, so that means it's time to blog! Happy February! Lent starts in just two days, which means no more candy/chocolate/coffee for me. :(
Today they were filming a movie on campus. From what I hear, it's called Old School and it stars Will Ferrell (sp?). It was kinda funny seeing all the camera crews walking around campus. And knowing that at any point, you could be an unpaid extra. Imagine me on the big screen! Scary, huh? Well, watch for it coming to theaters and remember that it's filmed at UCLA, the best school in the world!
This week will be quite stressful. Not only because I have so much homework and junk, but because there are three, count them, three holidays this week: Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, and Valentine's. I am, as usual, Valentineless, but I'm celebrating by going on a girl's night out with some people from my math class and then we are going to have a math pizza party. On Wednesday I'm going to mass, and then tomorrow (Tuesday), of course, I'm going to pig out. Kamille and I are going to Starbucks for last-ditch Frappuccinos. I am going to be so sick by tomorrow night at midnight....oh, well, it's my own fault, now isn't it. :)
At least when this week is all over, I will be rewarded with a four day weekend! Yea for free Tuesdays!

2002-01-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's me again. Remember me? Yeah, that girl that who used to post here. Kamille, the reason it's been a looooooooong day for a very long time is because the stupid blogger didn't work last time I tried to post something. But look! Now you get TWO brand new entries. Aren't you proud of me?
And to my other audience out there, however small it may be, hi!
Let's see...what' I've been up to for the past couple of weeks:
I hate my classes. I really wish that I could enjoy them more, but the truth is that I'm just not very interested in the subject matter we're learning about. And I resent all the work that the professors are shoving at us. Sigh.
On the positive side, I went to Las Vegas this past weekend to visit my grandma. We threw her a surprise party for her 80th birthday. It was very fun, but the next thing I knew, the trip was over, and I was back here at UCLA.
Getting adjusted to this quarter was difficult, and I'm still adjusting. I'm very homesick. I guess that's expected when you move away from home, but I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be this hard.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to find some resemblence of a normal routine. Right now my normal routine seems to consist of sitting here at the computer, IMing people and procrastinating over my math homework. Which I guess means that I'd better go. Good night.

2002-01-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here I am, back from vacation. It was a nice three weeks, but I guess it couldn't last forever. So far I am...unenthusiastic about this quarter. Well, we'll see how it turns out. The good news is that I got A's in all of my classes last quarter (I'm glad my studying actually paid off.). I went shopping in Century City today; that was fun. Don't know what I'm going to be doing now. I'll figure out something.

2001-12-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, it has been a looooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg day. First of all, I'm not sure when today started and yesterday ended...I didn't get much sleep last night. No, I wasn't cramming...I got into bed at 11 last night, but I know I didn't fall asleep until past one. It might have been the fact that I was nervous about the impending finals, or it could have been due to the midnight yell (a tradition here at UCLA, during finals week let off some of your stress by screaming at midnight). I was awake again before six, but I didn't get out of bed. And then it was off to my psych final, which I breezed through, and then I studied for math for the next couple hours, then I took my math final (which I hope I did well on). And THEN I went to the library to study on linguistics (which I haven't touched all week), and then I went to a linguistics review session for three whole hours...I final got back to my room a little past six. I should be doing more studying for ling right now, but to be honest, I think my brain has reached it's carrying capacity. I'm going to hang out on the computer a little bit more, and then I'm maybe going to read some of my ling notes, and then I'm going to go to sleep...wonderful sleep...until the midnight yell wakes me up.

2001-12-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

And so the 2001 marching band season comes to a close. I honestly don't know what to think. On the one hand, I'm really happy that it's over and I don't have to spend 6 hours a week at practice anymore. On the other hand, I will miss the people I have met...once band is over I won't see a lot of them much.
At least we won the football game today. And today was probably the most fun football game of the season. I knew what I was doing. And the game didn't last tooooo long. And the shows went well, and we got a positive response from the crowd.
Yet it occurred to me today that I wouldn't have even been at a football game today if it hadn't been due to something that happened a couple of months ago...yes, I'm talking about September 11. The ASU game had originally been scheduled for a weekend in September, but had been postponed till today due to the attack. How different today would have been if the attacks had never happened...little things like that make me wonder how long September 11 is going to affect me...
To leave you on a happy note: The band played leap frog on the field after the game. No kidding. I have pictures.

2001-11-30T20:41:00.000-08:00

Today was the last official day of band practice, and I have mud all over my shoes...I knew that there was something that I was missing from high school band! Muddy fields! This is the first day the field here as actually been muddy (yesterday it was REALLY muddy since it rained; we didn't march, we just stood in place, but as somebody was walking across the field, he slipped and fell. Hehe. Classic band moment.)
Speaking of classic band moments...today the A (as in when we spell out UCLA on the field) decided to be rebellious and instead of stopping in the correct place after the run-on, we kept running. Our director was pretty pissed. It was supposed to be a joke! Well, I thought it was funny.
Only two weeks until finals, three and a half weeks till Christmas, and less than a month before my nineteenth birthday. Where is this time going?
Oh, by the way, my dorm room is beautiful. We have a Christmas tree and lights...we're trying to be the best decorated dorm room on the UCLA campus. We challenge anyone to beat us.

2001-11-28T21:25:00.000-08:00

You know I'm bored when I'm blogging. My eye hurts again! I thought everything was all better now. I guess I was wrong. Well, Kamille's back now so maybe I'll bug her instead of sitting here and typing. I'm getting so sick of this computer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do nothing but go to class, do homework, eat, sleep, band, and IM people and hang out on the internet. I need more variety in my life. Shopping, anyone? Or how about a nice movie (that isn't Harry Potter)? Excited that Christmas is coming...we have a tree and lights but no presents for me under the tree. Boo-hoo. (Kamille, I know you read this; that's the only reason why I'm putting this here. Are you my only audience? Does anybody else read this? And you see me everyday!)
Well, more stuff later.

2001-11-26T22:44:00.000-08:00

I am not blogging often because I'm trying to write a novel, do homework, pass my classes, talk to friends, go to band practices, and deal with a crazy roommate (who I love very much :) ). And I almost had a nervous breakdown a couple of weeks ago. I am sorry if you are disappointed. Please come again. I will blog. I promise.

2001-11-08T22:57:00.000-08:00

Our statue of the Bruin Bear went into hibernation today in preparation for the upcoming Beat 'SC week. The statue is covered with a blue cloth in order to protect it from those evil Trojans...
Quote of the day, said by a band member during practice: "Turn around and look at the sunset. Isn't it beautiful? Isn't that what this is all about? Marching around on a quiet evening with a beautiful sunset in the background?" Sure...
What's with the ...s today?...
I have no linguistics word of today because we moved onto Syntax, and all we're doing is diagraming sentences. How boring.

2001-11-06T23:47:00.000-08:00

Guess what I did today? I voted. Yep. It was my first time. :)
I also unexpectedly went home (I wasn't supposed to go home again until Thanksgiving). And my brother made me cookies. What strange behavior. Well, now I'm back at the dorms, feeling much better than I did yesterday.
On another note, I got an e-mail last night from somebody who calls himself "moondoggy"...he stumbled upon my blog yesterday and was shocked to find so many similarities between his blog and mine. It is kind of creepy...here's the address of his site: http://www.moondoggy.blogspot.com (I still can't figure out how to turn this into a hyperlink...stupid html).
I enjoy Tuesdays with no classes.

2001-11-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick. I had a nice weekend at home, but I started coming down with something last night, and I'm still not recovered. I just had some soup, which has made me feel a little bit better, but my throat still hurts and I have a stuffy nose.
My friend and I were so lazy we took the bus back from linguistics class. And speaking of linguistics class...I got an A on my midterm! And I also got an A on my psych midterm! Oh, yea, I'm happy.
Well, I'm going to try to relax and feel better. Good night.

2001-11-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Happy Belated Halloween...last night was very fun.
My friend Jerrold from high school came to visit me, and we were planning to trick or treat in Beverely Hills but we got lost on the way. We ended up on Mulholland Dr., which winds around a dark hill but has a spectacular view overlooking Los Angeles...and then we ended up in Encino and Studio City, as well as some fancier neighborhoods like Bel-Air and Brentwood.
When we finally made it to Bev Hills, we were too late for trick or treating...all the houses had closed up for the night. But we did hear noise from coming from somewhere...we thought it was a haunted house, so we walked toward the noise...but then we figured out it was LOUD music, not haunted house noises. But we kept walking, and eventually found ourselves in the middle of Santa Monica Blvd. Here's a link: http://www.netvstudios.com/whcvb/Publish/index2.htm
It was the West Coast's biggest costume party, and I swear I was the only normal person there. But it was extremely fun, and we still can't believe that we ended up there by accident. Next year we're probably going to plan on going.
And then, on the way back to UCLA, we took a wrong turn onto Sunset and ended up in deep West Hollywood. But I made it back to the dorm, safe and sound. Didn't get much sleep though...
Today's been pretty uneventful here, though. (I did eat breakfast this morning for once, however.) Tomorrow I'm going home for the weekend, so I don't know when the next time I post will be. But I hope you all have a good first weekend of November.

2001-10-30T22:28:00.000-08:00

Moons and star accessories + Me = Bad
There was a "Monster" (Halloween) sale in Ackerman today--20% off of everything, and I found a cute address book with moons and stars on it, so I HAD to buy it. Grr.
Well, my linguistics midterm yesterday wasn't so bad, and I've spent today preparing for my psych midterm tomorrow. Midterms, midterms, midterms. Blech.
And can you believe it? It RAINED today. I hate rain. Guess I'll have to go buy an umbrella...

2001-10-29T17:35:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not posting for so long (I'm sure all of you were sad). Here's what happened on my trip:
Friday, a little after midnight: the busses leave UCLA.
around 1 AM: We start watching the Princess Bride. I fall asleep in the middle of it.
Sometime in the middle of the night: We stop in Kettleman City so the bus drivers can take a break, everybody wakes up and cries, "Where are we?!!!"
Some other time in the middle of the night: Somebody crawls in the overhead compartment of the bus so that he can sleep better.
6:15 AM: We arrive in Cupertino, CA, where we stop for breakfast at Burger King, McDonalds, and Denny's. The workers at these restaurants are NOT prepared to serve 250 tired, hungry, cranky band members in pajamas, so the service takes forever.
Around 8: We arrive at a high school so that we can practice.
Around 9: During sectionals, the flute players take a break to do a "massage circle." All the other sections look on jealously.
Around 10: The high school band members are in awe of us big college people, but some of them sporadically shout out, "GO STANFORD!" just to piss us off. We threaten to kill them.
Around 11: We invade the high school gym to play Sons of Westwood at their pep rally.
Around 12: After a looong, exhausting practice, we head off to the hotel.
12:30 PM: A car hits our bus. We pull over to inspect the damage. Luckily, one of the other bus drivers was a police officer and had people fill out witness forms before we proceded to the hotel.
Around 1: We arrive at the hotel. We wait 20 minutes at the front desk for our keys, then get lost in the hotel looking for our room. When we finally get into our room, we take showers.
Around 2: We notice that the drummers in the adjoining room are asleep and that they stupidly left the door to their room open. We steal their cheese-its and leave a note in their room that says, "If you ever want to see your cheese-its again, talk to Gordon (our band director)."
Around 4: My roommates and I decide to walk to Sizzler, but stop halfway there because we're lazy and eat at a Taqueria/Deli where nobody spoke English.
Around 5: We return to our room, and the drummers next door are still asleep. We take their shoes and sunglasses and leave notes that say, "Gordan says, 'I am everywhere,'" and "Gordan says, 'I will survive.'"
Around 6: One of my roommates and I decide to go to downtown San Francisco.
6:30: We take the free shuttle from the hotel to the airport.
Around 7: We pay $1.10 to take a bus to the BART (subway) station.
Around 7:30: We try to figure out how we're suppose to get tickets for the train. While we are waiting in line, I meet a lady from Castaic (which is right next to my hometown). *"it's a small world" plays in background*
8: We arrive at Powell St., San Francisco. We wander aimlessly around the streets looking for a place to eat. We decide to eat at a fifties diner.
9:30: We decide to go back because we need sleep.
Around 10: We wander through an almost abandoned San Francisco airport to get back to the shuttle...how depressing.
10:30: We return to the hotel, where we find that our other two roommates have made friends with the now-awake drummers next door. We hang out in their room for about half an hour. (They thought our little prank was hilarious. Thank goodness they had a good sense of humor.)
Midnight: SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, 6:50 AM: We wake up.
Around 8: We leave for the game.
Around 9: We arrive at Stanford and practice for awhile.
Around 10:30: We go to a rally for Bruin fans.
Around 11:45: We head into the stadium. The Stanford fans are excited to see a "real" marching band.
12:10: I march the pregame show.
12:20: The Stanford band does their crazy pregame show. They are very strange. And their mascot is a tree. ?????
After halftime (I have absolutely no clue what time it was): We go to get concessions, and people compliment the band. Wow, people actually watch us.
Around 4: WE LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :( :( :( No more Rose parade. :( Oh, well, at least we might get to travel somewhere now for a bowl game.
Around 5: We get on the bus. We are depressed about the outcome of the game but cheer up when we think about how much better our band is than Stanford's. We play "bus foosball" with the balloons that we used to decorate our bus, and when all the balloons pop we crumple pieces of paper and throw them at each other. It was a full-out war.
Around 6: Back at the hotel, we find that the front desk has locked us out of our rooms. Once we get back in, we decide to be study geeks and stay in our room. We take showers, watch some strange movie on TV, order great Italian food from Mr. Pizza Man, and study for our upcoming midterms.
Around 11: We sleep.
Sunday, 2 AM: TIME CHANGE! FALL BACK! ONE EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP, WOO HOO!
8: We wake up.
9: The bus ride back to LA begins. During the trip, we watch The Sandlot, So I Married an Axe Murderer, The Goonies, and Clueless.
12:15: We stop at Kettleman City for lunch. Once again, the place was not expecting 250 band members to descend upon it. (Where IS Kettleman City, anyway?)
4: We arrive at UCLA, exhausted, sick of busses, but happy that we had a free vacation. (We even got $40 spending money.)
Interesting trip, huh? Can't wait till the next one.

2001-10-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Less than 12 hours till I leave for San Francisco...I'm excited, but I hate packing! I have too much stuff to bring for a three day vacation. I'll be back on Sunday evening, but until then, there will be no more posts, unless somehow I can get to a computer. Watch the Stanford vs. UCLA game at 12:30 on Sat. on ABC...I'll be there!

2001-10-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. They finally took down the ugly orange fence at the top of Bruin Walk...now I don't have to take a detour everytime I go to and from class (true, it was only an extra 50 feet or so, but you try walking up a big hill only to find out you have to go up more hill).
The Halloween party wasn't as great as I expected it to be. Although my building went all-out with the decorations, not many kids came. I heard something about our building being TOO elaborate; all of our decor scared the little kids away.
Ling word of the day: bu, a word meaning 'the sound a ghost makes' in English, a west Germanic language spoken in several countries.
I'm going to sleep now since it's likely I won't get any sleep tomorrow night.

2001-10-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this, but only because Kamille told me to. :) I enjoyed my restful Tuesday for the most part. I didn't have a single class, but I did have a meeting with somebody who is going to be doing a psych experiment on me (I felt like I was getting my head examined, like by the end of the meeting they were going to decide to treat me for depression or something). I also did some other constructive things, like went on errands and bought stuff that I need for my trip to San Francisco this weekend. Like I got a Mountain Dew and a Frappucino to help me stay awake on the long bus ride. Oh, and I also did laundry this morning--and one of the machines broke halfway through my load of whites. I ended up with a bunch of soapy clothes that I had to put in ANOTHER washer and pay ANOTHER dollar. The front desk says that they might refund my money, but it might be weeks before I know whether they are or not. How stupid. *sigh* To be a front desk clerk again (I worked at a hotel last summer).
Well, that's it for today. Gotta go finish my math homework, which I don't understand!

2001-10-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Another day, and once again I'm tired. Why is that? Does it have something to do with the fact that I stayed up until 2:30 last night to watch When Harry Met Sally? Is it because I'm still exhausted from the game on Saturday? And yet, no matter what I do, I can't take a nap. I just don't have the willpower. I figure, I'm up, so I might as well stay up.
I've decided that it's not possible for me to walk through Ackerman (the book store) without buying something. Today I bought a journal, and I have no idea what I'm going to use it for, because I'm using this page as my journal, but it was so cute I had to buy it! It matched my room (blue and yellow, moons and stars).
I'm getting excited about Halloween already. On Wednesday they're going to bring elementary school kids to the dorms so that we can give them candy. Kamille and I have decided to be devil and angel, and she's insisting that I be the devil. Today she was walking around with both the angel wings and the devil horns on...I think she scared some people in the hall.
Linguistics word of the day: apid, which means "outrigger support" in some Polynesian language.

2001-10-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

You know what the sad part is? I just got up! Well, I didn't go to sleep until 2:30, so I guess I'm entitled. We won yesterday! Woo-hoo! But Cal had us scared for awhile during the first half, but then during the second half there was no contest. We killed them 59-17. And now the Bruins are 6-0! Here's hoping that we make it to the national championship (knock on wood).
I marched the halftime show without making any big mistakes. And we are SO much better than the Cal band. (As one fan put it, "You guys made the Cal Band look like crap!) And I love my bus. On the way back from the game, we turned the bus into a club--we cranked up the radio and were dancing in the aisles. You haven't lived until you've danced on a bus in stop-and-go traffic on the 405 freeway in the middle of the night.
Well, I better go get dressed and eat brunch and stuff. And do my homework. :(

2001-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

It just occurs to me that it looks like I didn't post anything yesterday...I clicked "post" at midnight last night. Oh, well, so much for making a post everyday. Knew I was going to have to break that sometime, I just didn't know it was going to have to be so soon.

2001-10-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Just a really quick posting before I go to bed...nothing highly unusual happened today, so not much to discuss. I don't even have a linguistics word-of-the-day (I don't have ling on Fri.). I am NOT looking forward to the massive amounts of homework I have to do this weekend. Yuck. And only a week and a half till my midterms start! (Watch the sweat dripping off my face already.) Well, at least the game should be fun tomorrow...and I actually can sleep in! Woo-hoo!
OK, my eyes are drooping now, that's gotta be a sign that I should get some sleep, but knowing me I'll probably be up for another half an hour before I finally crawl in bed.

2001-10-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

What a long day!
I actually spent seven and a half hours down on campus today (as opposed to on "the hill," where the dorms are). This is unusual for me, since normally I come back up the hill for lunch and to take a break before my afternoon classes. But today I decided to go to my Math TA's office hours since I was TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY LOST in my math class (that's never happened to me before...maybe I shouldn't be a math major after all *sobs*). And then, after I had lunch, I went to the library. Believe it or not, I hadn't been to the school library until today. Me, the book geek--a month without a library? Can it be true? I think I just got sick of school libraries after spending EVERY SINGLE DAY during second period last year in my high school library. Well, at least here at the UCLA library, they have comfy chairs and couches. What a concept!
Then I went to Ling and then to band practice...I'm marching half time at this weekend's game. Apparently, we're going to do everything we can to prove that we're better than the Cal band. Fine with me, since Cal (Berkeley) gives me the creeps. (No offense to people that go there, but that campus gives me the heebie-jeebies).
And then, finally, I came back to dorm, sweet dorm. I was planning to start my homework, but of course, that didn't happen. I ended up wasting time talking to people and lurking around online.
Dinner was so cool; all the dining halls had themes tonight. I went to the Carribean-themed dining hall and was very pleased to find that they had Pina Coladas to drink (not the alcoholic kind; the dining halls here aren't THAT cool). And then I came back to my room and finally actually did some homework, but after I was halfway done, I found out that I had read the wrong pages. :( Oh, well, at least now I'm ahead for next week...
Strange Linguistics word of the day: dippo, which means 'to smash' in Lango, a language spoken in Uganda.

2001-10-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it: my online journal. Here I will post my innermost thoughts and feelings...or just random interesting things that happen in my life.
I am a college student (isn't that scary? I sound so old...). I go to UCLA (go Bruins!). I take strange classes. This is what I learned today in school: 1. In psych, I learned that some people actually study peoples' sex habits (in detail!) for a living. What kind of person decides to go into THAT for a career? 2. In calc, I learned "when in doubt, differentiate." 3. In linguistics, I learned how to say "intermarriage taboo" in Massai (an East African language) (if anybody's interested, the word is sarkin). And this is what they call an education! Well, at least it's better than high school, when all we did was busy work.
I live in a spiffy double room in DeNeve Plaza (the so-called antisocial dorms because we don't have community bathrooms) with my awesome roommate Kamille. We spend WAY too much time decorating our room. Like today we went to Ackerman (the book store/student union) to buy decorations for our bathroom. And then we went to Westwood (the town by UCLA) and hung out for awhile. I bought a sweater from the Gap, and we also found a really cute restaurant with DELICIOUS food. We didn't realize how sick we were of dorm food until today. Did you know it's been a month since I moved here? Doesn't seem like it's been that long...only nine months left, and then I get to go home.
Well, I think that's all for today. Thanks for reading!
P.S. Congratulations to my Mom and Dad, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary today. You guys are so cool! (most of the time)