Ava 101

As probably 99.9% of you have noticed, the AMS elections are going on right as we speak! I personally was not too involved in the politics at UBC, but given the arrival of the election, I decided to get a little more involved, to make sure I’ve used my opportunity to affect the things I want changed. Since I did that I realized how just one vote for me could affect the future of the UBC bus pass.

Therefore I would like to ask everyone to VOTE, seriously it takes approx 2 minutes of the 1440 minutes in a day, making it 0.1% of a days time to change the future of UBC. I t probably took me more time to calculate that than it took me to vote. (Yeah, whatever, I’m not in maths.)

I usually keep my political opinions to myself, but this year a good friend of mine who just so happens to be the best RA on this planet is running for senate so I cant let this one slip. Let me introduce  Nina Karimi:

• Been an RA for 2 years so you know she knows whats up with UBC
• Wants to improve the feedback system so that everyone can make their voice heard, not only during election times.
• Is particularly interested with big issues such as the exam databases and exam schedule release
• Always has weirdly delicious vegan snacks.
• Is genuinely the most approachable person on this planet. You could go to Nina at 4am on a tuesday before her final and she’d be happy to sit and chat with you about what you’d like to change about UBC.
• Let me rephrase; You could go to Nina at 4am on a tuesday before her final and she’d be happy to talk to you about anything. She’s that kind of person.

And that is a person I would want to see in the AMS senate. A person I know would value my thoughts and concerns, and a person that would fight for them, too. Also she loves cats, so if that’s not a plus I don’t know what is.

So, put your politic hats and now and go vote! Voting closes in a few hours!

https://amsvoting.as.it.ubc.ca

Over the past few weeks I’ve tried to find the right mind set to present the epicness of that one Saturday in January 2013, but somehow my words haven’t done it any justice. I’ve been avoiding to read what my fellow blogsquaders wrote just so I could give my own honest opinion. But how? I thought I’d summarize what all the best speeches were, but I wouldn’t do it any justice either and so, finally, I thought I’d write a song about SLC 2013. But then I remembered I can sing. But here’s what I can do, I can make lists.

My top 3 moments of the SLC 2013

• The opening act by one of the most positive people I have ever seen: Luca Lazylegs Patuelli. I can honestly say my smile has not been much bigger than when I heard that man tell his motivating life story.
• Nolan Wards humbling story about how he went from being an under average student to becoming one of Vancouver’s top 30 under 30. The key? Confidence in what you do, and staying in touch with reality.  I was immensely inspired.
• One of my workshops about positive mental health that was held by 3 RA’s. It was really average and chill, but it opened up a discussion of being sad, depressed and feeling alone. We’ve all been there, and we all do go there every once in a while, but how can we leave that sadness when it wont leave us? By knowing you’re never really alone and that there is help to get.

That, my friends, was a smaaallll fraction of what SLC was, and I was truly excited to be a part of it. Never has getting up at 7am felt so good.

I remember the first time I tried it. One of my friends said it was really casual and “no big deal”. 10 years later I’m still hooked. I don’t know whether it’s the loss of touch with reality thats appealing to me, or maybe just the fact that it calms me down like nothing before, all I know is I can’t stop. I’ve had family interventions and I’ve tried to stay away from it but I just can’t. I never really wanted to either, I always thought I had control.  But now, when it’s having a negative effect on my education, when I miss classes simply to soothe my addiction, I know it’s gone too far. There is no controlling this.

In an attempt to not write about stress and finals here comes an interesting video we watched in my Sociology 101 class a few weeks back. It’s an eyeopener. What do you guys think about the ideas presented?

There comes a point in life when something happens and you know its going to be the death of you. You just know. That happened today.

SOCK WARS.

What is sock wars?
You get the name of someone in your building and that will be who you shall assassinate through screaming their name whilst smacking them with a sock in public. Prizes are awarded for the last creature standing and also for the person with most kills. You can carry a safety item around to not get killed and this item varies each week. “Oh that sounds like fun” Said noone ever. It’s a war zone.

For my house, QXLN, It’s the Hunger Games. We got the floor one people acting like they’ve been prepping for this their whole lives. They are making alliances, plotting up how they’re gonna find their victims and creeping on other peoples floors. If they’re not the Sock War careers I don’t know who is. With each floor that we go up, and each district getting further and further away from Panem, you can tell there is no way the odds are going to be in your favour.

This leads us to my floor. I’m not gonna name it, so lets just look at what the Hunger Games wiki said about the tributes from my district: “Unnamed tributes: 74th Hunger Games, died on the first day (bloodbath)”  Bloodbath? Unnamed? Sounds promising.

Therefore, I’m scared. I do not like feet, nor do I like socks and I even less like death. I have been hearing people call my name and I’ve even been smelling feet all over campus. Honestly I am terrified. How will this all end?

Maybe, just maybe, I will be the Mockingjay of my house. I shall keep you posted on how this madness plays out.