The drama never ends

Ah, more office space drama...but let's move on to happier things.

The rest of the day was super long...I thought Public Policy would never end and then Psych 192 ran over its unofficial 2:00 end time, leaving me with a lot less time to put together a Hall Staff preparedness skit and read Lolita. Luckily today was a writing workshop in English so I didn't have to have read Lolita, and I was able to get the skit done while semi-listening to recommendations on theses and body paragraphs.

And then I went to a pretty good workshop on writing a statement of purpose for grad school. I worry that the one thing that makes me unique (that I have so much community service experience) will overshadow everything else. Is that a good thing? I need to get my grad school research done, request my letters of recommendation, and write this statement of purpose. And study for the GRE. And then I have those 18 units to work on, too.

A big thanks goes to the Red Cross club for being so self-sufficient. And check out the attractive official ExComm shirt Shonte is wearing in the birthday picture! We rock!

the missing piece meets the big o

the cake!

Happy Birthday Shonte

Ohh tired. Yesterday was a crazy Monday. It seemed to be a bad day for many people. It was just a so-so day for me and it was definitely a good day for Shonte. We had a little midnight birthday celebration for her and luckily it was actually a surprise! Yay for surprises!

Other highlights: office space drama. I'm so glad that three of us went, rather than just me. It looks like we are having to fight tooth and nail for the office. So fight tooth and nail we shall. Essentially ASUC has no power in this situation because the allocations were already approved by the Constitutional Review Committee. It sounds like it's just a matter of them accepting the decision. But in order to get to that point I am going to have to write a very diplomatic e-mail. Soon.

And I'd better get started. Only 5 hours a sleep and I'm on the brink of a 12+ hour day. Here we go...

Guilt

I just ate Yoplait yogurt and, for the first time, did not save the pink lid. I couldn't do it. I'm sick of having little pink crumpled lids all around my desk and in the nooks of my backpack. So, this one time, I threw it away. I generally do save them, though. I've probably sent in at least 10 in my lifetime.

The weekend was good because there was little work involved. On Friday I did laundry, cleaned up, and watched lots of tasty Law & Order. On Saturday I woke up, went to Urgent Care at the Tang Center, and was informed that they cannot yet medicate me for my Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). If I wait it out without medicine it will turn into bronchitis and then it will be an issue. (And the reason it turned into bronchitis for Ariel is probably because he's a smoker.) The nurse was pretty rude and I realized that the thing I hate about medical offices is that you're always trying to prove why you're there, like it's worth their time. And it turned out that I wasn't worth their time since my disease hadn't progressed far enough. Sorry!

So then I finished watching Star Wars, slept for a good couple of hours, and headed home for the Antioch Rivertown Jamboree. Wow, I'm quite surprised they actually have a web site. I'm sorry, Antioch, for underestimating you. The Jamboree was kind of sad--small as usual. I did have a tasty tri-tip sandwich, though. And then Saturday night I visited Ryan at St. Mary's (nice room, buddy) and then went to breakfast this morning (buckwheat pancakes were...interesting), slept some more, worked on some GRE words, and went to the park. The park is now unofficially closed for the season...we emptied out the green pool water and took down the two remaining EZ-Ups.

And then there was a shopping extravaganza...starting with the hat store at the mall, and continuing on to Copeland's (yoga mat), Togo's (sandwich for dinner), Borders (book), and Ikea (hangers, garbage can, and an ice cube tray which, in the future, may be used with fruit punch to make red cross ice cubes--scary cute, I know).

And now that I have spent another evening doing all work but academic work, I must retire to bed. There lectures to attend but not pay attention to, you know. And Red Cross offices to claim. A big week lies ahead.

And Teddy will be here in 11 days!

Sorry, I forgot I needed a title. So there.

Yay! My Unit 2 computing center account finally works. And I am getting things done today. The blood drive is going well...as usual the main lounge is too warm and too cramped, but 33 people have been in and the drive is a little more than half over. Hopefully the stream of people will stay steady.

I am off to the Career Center to get my resume checked. For scholarship purposes, I assume. And then I will probably come back to do grad school research...and then get ready for the weekend. Hopefully a productive "all GRE, all the time!" weekend.

Update on Red Cross club space in Eshleman: Kathy and I had the first talks with HMAP today. Their coordinator is going to call me on Monday, and hopefully we can start trucking our stuff from the basement up to 309 soon after that.

Once our Red Cross sign is in the window I will take a better picture of Eshleman and post it for the world to see!

I just slept an hour and a half past my alarm and now I am going to stumble to class. But for a very good reason.

I had a dream that Adam Duritz called me and asked me to be sort of the emcee for his concert. So I basically sat in a chair on the stage of Wheeler and introduced him and talked to him throughout the night. I'm not sure I even remember him singing. Then two student groups asked me to make an announcement about their events. And then things were closing up--and I kindly introduced Adam to Ryan and Shonte--and then Adam was, um, "interested" in me. Oh boy.

Before that there was some craziness with Paula and me wandering around Washington, D.C. and buying bikes and almost getting our stuff stolen. I had a tote bag but it didn't seem to be secure enough.

So that's all I remember but it was definitely worth the extra sleep and the 10 minutes I have wasted of my time to get dressed and ready for the day. Sigh.

I think the phlegm is gone

I feel a strange obligation to post tonight. Probably because it's past midnight and I'm still awake. This rarely happens.

The day was soo long. I remember sitting in this same spot this morning with such a feeling of dread at how long the day would be. But now it's over! Yay. Public Policy was boring--it continues to be more lecture and less discussion. Every class I've had lately has begun with the words "I know it's hard to get through, but I'm going to have to mostly lecture today." Great.

Public Policy section was more of the same, and then my Psych seminar was a welcome break. We had a general discussion about volunteerism and, as usual, Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone came up. I don't really remember many details from his argument so I am thinking about finding the book and brushing up.

Then I had a break which I spent running Red Cross errands until it was time to go to English. Which strangely flew by. Lolita is a great book. You should read it.

[I had a great ending to this post but it has mysteriously disappeared. Sometimes I despise technology.]

[Insert obscure Lolita reference here]

I hate it when you're trying to think of who someone reminds you of and it just won't come to you. I think that's what kept me awake in my Psych section this afternoon. Every once in a while his voice would have a certain twang and my ears would perk up and process that sound over and over again. But to no avail. Well, there's always next week. At least if I'm paying this kind of attention I may have a good chance of doing well in the class.

Another day, another blood drive. But one that I definitely did not want to run today. I am in some kind of depressive funk which prevents me from flyering. I was gung ho about flyering (well, relatively I suppose) on Friday but today something inside of me refused. I hope the blood drive does well anyway. Also there were no signboards to place on Sproul and there was still a line even though we had tons of staff (conveniently on break) and only a few donors. Oy.

I can't wait until this day is over! I am already finished with my Lolita reading (it goes quick) and I just took care of e-mailing a professor as well. If only I had that Munger book for Public Policy. It is standing between me and my reading for class tomorrow. So, yeah, Public Policy reading, then Red Cross and SC stuff and then hopefully sleep. I'm feeling a bit more in control this week, although somewhat depressed.

And I have less than 3,500 GRE words to go! And that grad school research stuff. Fun!

I can't believe this about the fire at UPS. Craziness. I guess it's good that we spent all last week tabling for emergency preparedness. Perhaps I should send a pack of brochures up their way. And Garden State was pretty good, but I wasn't totally thrilled. Some parts seemed kind of random and the ending could have been a bit less...contrived? I don't know. It's hard to explain.

And I am sick. I hate phlegm.

Weekend Update

And the weekend is almost over. I have managed to study another GRE section, though, and I am slowly progressing through the master list of 3,500 words. Buying a book that promises to teach you 3,500 words sounds like such a great idea when you are in the initial phase of studying. But now that I have seen these words--all 50 lists worth--I'm not so thrilled. They recommend you spend at least 1 hour on each list, but, in true student form, I plan to spend at least 1 hour studying 5 lists, saving me approximately 40 hours and hopefully not jeopardizing my GRE score.

In other news, our eggs are expired, so I was unable to make cookies today. Which is also why I was able to get through the first four lists of GRE words. And Law & Order isn't on. But I am now well-educated on the World Baking Cup competition. Congratulations, Japan!

I watched almost the entire Miss America pageant last night and then fell asleep right before the end. I'm not even sure why I watched it--it's addictive that way. And they mask the whole thing as a college scholarship competition. I didn't think I had much state allegiance until Miss California was eliminated (and I fell asleep). She at least had a personality. And she didn't have funny eyes like Miss Alabama, who I think was crowned Miss America (according to my grandpa).

The weather is being weird. It started pouring rain at 7:30 this morning when I was waiting to have breakfast with Mom, Bob, Marty, and Roberta. Then it cleared up. Then it rained again. It such such an amazing effect on drivers that it is actually quite funny. They start cutting people off and pulling out in front of you like crazy. It's because the roads are wet, so it's obviously much safer.

It has been having a schizoid effect on my bearings, though. One minute I'm under a blanket feeling like it's winter and the next I'm feeling silly for not going outside to play.

But anyway, I must get back to school mode. Maybe I will study in the library if it's raining, outside if it's sunny. Thank you, crazy weather, for giving me so many options!

P.S. I saw Garden State today!

Dance Dance Revolution at the Metreon (I'm terrible at it!); Chris, Cora, and Veronique in the background

Cal vs. New Mexico State

Hall Staff Banquet (thanks Shelby--I just found these in your album!)

Nothing much

It was a long, crazy week and I'm so glad it's over. I am celebrating by doing absolutely nothing. Literally. I watched three hours of Law & Order, then What Not to Wear, and then I went down to The Den to get an 11 PM dinner and came back to watch The Real World.

Hopefully I will get some work done tomorrow, both academic and otherwise.

My thoughts are quite jumbled so I fear I will not be too witty at this time. However, I shall recap the weekend.

Friday felt like a weekend day because I was able to take care of errands (we finally did the Buddy the Blood Drop photo shoot...hilarious pictures coming soon) and also go to work. I spent a few hours with Ariel getting the UCB blood drive stuff in order for this year. Then I worked the Hall Ass run-off election table from 6-8 and went to Shonte's to watch The United States of Leland. Then we broke up parties, or one party several times, since Shonte was serving as building manager for the weekend. At first she kicked people off the roof since it closes at 10 PM; then we still heard them in the elevator and it turns out they went back to the roof, so she asked them to leave again. We finally got back to her apartment and still there was noise echoing through the courtyard, from the same group of people but in their apartment. We walked up there and she informed then she was going to call the police. A nice officer showed up in a bit and explained their noise violation. It helped somewhat but there was still noise and people seem unable to close their windows. It's like being an RA, but without the authority.

So I crashed there on Friday and woke up Saturday to go to a meeting about the Unit 2 blood drive and then to the football game. We left at half time (we were winning, anyway) and then Ryan took me home and I fell asleep pretty quickly. Today has been a lazy day...went to breakfast, napped, sat around at the park, and then grabbed the EZ Up and my stuff and Ryan took me back to Berkeley.

The one drawback: I left my cell phone at home and I have the EZ Up here at Unit 2 (rather than in Eshleman, accessible from campus).

So now I am taking care of odds and ends as usual on Sunday night. Might be doing Taebo (which is apparently all one word) later on...

Wiped Out

Only one class and two meetings left to go today. I have been to Public Policy 101 (lecture and section) and Psych 192 so far. My eyes are pretty heavy but I'm hanging in there. This keyboard is driving me nuts because the shift key sticks.

Not much to report. My Public Policy GSI is adorable because he has a great English accent. The best is when he says "Munger," the author of one of the books we're reading. It comes out like "mungo." Very cute.

It's really nice having 8 people in my seminar. I don't think I've ever been in an academic class that small. Ever.

However, I do need to find a second volunteer position in order to reach by 6 hour/week requirement for the seminar. (It's kind of supposed to be something new--otherwise I would have 6 hours for sure).

I can't wait for this day to be over so I can go home and sleep. And use a normal keyboard!

rock paper scissors - in teams!

Red Cross at Cal

It's a Law & Order marathon!

The weekend is so much better with Law & Order.

To recap: went home Saturday to hang out and go swimming. Was quite relaxing. Returned to Berkeley on Sunday morning only to leave again for the Red Cross club retreat in (the) Los Altos Hills. It was such a nice hostel. Newly reomodeled and the whole style was very modern and beautiful. The nature part was nice, too. I returned to Berkeley and left again for home. Bought some ping pong balls for our lounge, picked up a chicken burrito from Guad, and did crossword puzzles and swam. Since returning again to Berkeley I have been watching Law & Order and doing odds and ends. I am mainly avoiding doing payroll so far. I also have reading to do for tomorrow. That is fun to avoid, too.

At least there are only 4 days to get through this week. Of course tomorrow is the day when I have a break only from 3:00 to 3:30 and 5:00 to 6:00. I love school.

It's time to get to work

Oh there is so much to do. And I was so tired last night that I definitely didn't get any of it accomplished yesterday. Although I did talk to Ralph for an hour and a half.

So it's time to get everything going. I need to

• restock the SM booths
• do some reading for Eng R1B (?), Public Policy, possibly Personality Psych
• pick an internship for Psych 192
• answer all old e-mail
• pack for the retreat
• eat breakfast

I guess that isn't that bad. How exciting. Now to start the day...a shower.

Unwinding

I have just finished the third day of school and I am already overwhelmed. There are so many things to do yet very little time. For example, I need to fax in my timesheet but I have already put on my pajamas so I don't want to go down to the computing center. Then I should also be taking pictures of the SMs and the seventh floor residents. But I'm tired. And whiny.

Today was a very full day. I stopped by the blood drive, went to Psych 150, went to IDS 130 section, then booked it to San Francisco for the United Way Speaker's Bureau training. I just guessed a direction and started walking in search of California Street, and luckily I found it. It pays to pay attention to streets and such when you are a small child.

I was 15 minutes early and reviewed their materials. The training was good. It was very United Way focused in the beginning and then at the end there were some very valuable speaking skills. As I told my mom: you know how there are things you want to know more about but you wish there were just a few easy secrets that would enlighten you? That's how this was. There are several very simple keys to speaking in front of groups that were pretty easy to grasp. They may not be as easy to master but I have a few years to practice still. I also invited our speaker to Convention and I am hoping that either he or his wife will be able to do a session at Convention or perhaps for the National Youth Council.

Then I ran off to catch the F bus back to the East Bay. I was 20 minutes late to HIV testing, mostly because I am cheap and lazy and didn't want to take BART. (So I saved $3 and managed to get a seat on the bus rather than having to stand on the train). HIV testing was good as usual though very busy. And finally, I made it home, ate at the DC, and here I am. Again avoiding work.

Essentially I need to do e-mail stuff and then plan my day tomorrow. Law & Order does not seem to be on channel 3. I am very confused. Brow is furrowing.

I am getting used to the new Blogger. At first I hated it and I clinged to my html tags. But now I am slowly accepting it. It is easier. So far.

this new template means i wasn't doing as much work as i was supposed to be doing tonight

After I made all these beautiful changes to my web log I figured I should at least post something. I am really quite burned out from today. I was running from one place to another, like every semester, and I think I am getting back into the habit of it.

Essentially here is my day:

• Went to Public Policy 101. Looks like I'm going to get in. Good news!
• Ran errands from 11-12. Got enough done, I suppose, but wasn't able to buy my books or sign the card as a financial signatory for ASUC.
• Had Psych seminar (Psych in the Real World) from 12-3. Professor let us out 1 hour early. Good times.
• Did computer stuff until it was time for class again at 3:30.
• R1B seems good. Good books, good films. Some too-eager freshmen, but that's okay. They'll be hardened soon enough.
• Red Cross reunion was fabulous. I missed everyone! I forgot how many of us there are. I got to meet Rhiannon, fabulous Measles Champion, who now goes to Cal. We are so lucky to have her.
• Caught the bus up to Unit 2 and begged the traffic light spirits to make them all green. It worked slightly and I was only 4 minutes late to the Hall Staff meeting.
• Helped with fire drill in hall.
• Finished Hall Staff meeting.
• Took random pictures of SMs and floormates. Will finish that process tomorrow.
• Took care of random things (e-mail, tasks, etc.). Thank you Outlook for preventing an even larger stress headache than I currently have.

My life is once again ruled by Outlook and my Pocket PC. And it begins again tomorrow...less class but I am going to go to a speaker's bureau class done through United Way in San Francisco. Should be intersting especially since I'd like to strengthen my speaking skills. Hopefully a 4 hour seminar will help.