Twenty Thousand Leagues to UBC

Well, today I participated in the great UBC tradition, Storm the Wall. Unfortunately, I ended up soaked, freezing, and covered in mud and bark mulch. Of course, since it is Vancouver, I was expecting the wet and cold part. The mulch was a surprise.
The best part was definitely the wall. You get a real sense of accomplishment looking at that mammoth. I really recommend doing Storm the Wall… once. If you live on campus, though, you have nothing to fear since you can look forward to a hot shower instead of uncomfortable classes and bus rides.
In other news, I also learned how to take my bike on a bus. I watched some random guy yesterday to see how it was done. He made it look so easy: rack down with left hand, lift bike in with right hand, and pull up hook over wheel with left again.
Apparently, this process is not as simple as it seems. I’ll leave it at that.

So, I have begun the great summer job hunt. This is similar to the Easter egg hunt but way less fun. Both involve ingesting copious amounts of chocolate though.
I have to say, searching for employment right now is one of the most depressing things I have ever done. Is there anyone out there who actually needs a new employee? Or at least, is there anyone out there who needs an employee without a degree and who can only speak one language?
Apparently not.
Ah well, if I don’t find one, here are my options for next year.
1. Don’t go to school. (Ya right, so not going to happen)
2. Discover a way to obtain nourishment from tree bark and rocks. (well, that would actually make me filthy rich and solve my employment problem…)
3. Make clothing from curtains like in the Sound of Music.
4. Win the lottery (This is my favorite option. The only catch it that I would need money to buy the tickets.)
or
5. Get hopelessly in debt. (Not an attractive option)
So, basically, I need a job. Anyone heard about anything?

I just wrote a paper called “The Eight Deadly Sins: Pride, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Lust, and Facebook.” In it, I talked about a lot of the concerns people have about Facebook and health, and then tried to shut them all down because I love Facebook and I don’t think it is really going to cause ADD and cancer or strokes or any of the millions of other things it is accused of.
There is one big problem with it though, privacy. It really sucks, but even if you really restrict your privacy settings, many people who you don’t want to see it still can. So here are some things I try to make sure to do (or not do) on Facebook.

1. Don’t put up anything you wouldn’t want you boss to see. I know, this sounds stupidly obvious, but it’s amazing how many people put up some truly unflattering pictures/other content.
2. Don’t friend you boss, this is just ackward unless you are actually friends in real life (which is also pretty ackward). Even if you have not friended him or her, your boss/potential boss can probably see it anyway (see #1), but at least he or she isn’t getting a news feed of your drunken exploits (if you don’t pay attention to #1)
3. Use the “report photo” option if whoever posted the unflattering picture of you refuses to take it down, don’t just think you have to live with it.
4. Every once in a while, go through and clean out your friends list. A good rule of thumb is: get rid of someone if you cant picture their face or remember where you know him or her from. It is pathetic how many of these people are on my friends list right now. clean out time.
5. Don’t put your year of birth on Facebook. While it might not matter now, it’s going to look real suspicious if you remove it a bit down the road…

So, here ends my preachy lecture on Facebook. Anyone else have any Facebook rules?

Well, it’s here again! that wonderful time of year filled with… no, not midterms, though that’s true too… ILLNESS! Every thirty seconds or so in every class someone coughs or sniffles or wheezes. Just like high school, university is a magnificent breeding ground of bugs of all kinds.
You always get sick at the most inconvenient time too. I’m going to be having a great time tomorrow trying to give a philosophy presentation while hacking up a lung.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid getting sick while sitting in a crowded lecture hall filled with plague?

Hello Everyone! (although I think that calling the two or so people who may look at this post “everyone” is a bit of a hyperbole) I am back, I did not die or drop off the face of the earth as you might suspect after my long absence. Here is my explanation (*cough* excuse *cough*)
Anyway, the wonderful thing about being in the second semester of first year is that you finally know what is going on. There is no more getting lost on campus and I am finally feeling like a real university student. Instead of doing absolutely every bit of reading mentioned by the prof and panicking that I didn’t have enough time like I did at the beginning of the year, I can now judge what is important to read, and what is just interesting reading to do if I have time (and, of course, there is the occasional reading that is just completely useless, boring, and hundreds of pages long that just has to be avoided altogether. I honestly don’t know why profs sometimes assign these readings. Do they just think that we shouldn’t be able to go a day reading only for recreation?)
Anyway, the negative side of being in second semester and being used to university life is that you can start to take on way too many extra responsibilities because they just sound like so much fun. For example, I just joined a dodgeball team with my sorority. I can’t wait, but I’m also running for a place on the Panhellenic (all greek) Council. And I just started my duties as director of website for alpha phi and found myself having to transfer a domain which I had no idea how to do. Thanks to Eastwood for helping me with that. I’m so close now, and just waiting to get something called an EEP code that I had never heard of before.
So that’s why I have been gone for so long. My to do list no longer fits on my computer screen even in 12pt font. However, despite getting kind of stressed out with all these tasks, I’m also kind of loving it. Its good to be busy again. (But if you ask me if I still feel that way tonight after 16 hours out at UBC, I may give a different answer.)
My de-stress activity: Buss meditation with the soundtrack from Mamma Mia. Give it a try sometime.

Well, it’s back to class time. I was dreading having to work again but after going to class for two days I realized that I had forgotten how much I actually like university work. Not the papers/exams, but the material. If you want something interesting to look at, here is the philosophy website. I am really getting into philosophy. Maybe it can be my major… (I have no idea what I am going to do for the whole major/minor thing. sigh)

It may be great to be back in the classes, but the campus sure leaves something to be desired. Thank god for rubber boots. Every day, I have to trek through Lake SUB (student union building) to get from the bus stop to my classes. The deck out front looks normal enough on a sunny day, but on a wet day, the flat surface magically changes into a crater that fills up with water. How does this happen? Maybe I should have gone into sciences to unravel the mystery of suspicious sinking concrete.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

P.S. I applied to become a MUG (my undergraduate group) leader! Mostly because I really really want to go to the pep rally again.

Ok, I admit that I tend to get a bit overexcited about christmas, but what’s wrong with that? I’ll tell you what is wrong: Putting decorating and shopping before studying on the priorities list. Tomorrow, I am going to get cracking on the studying front! (Although, there is still the tree to put up… NO, focus!)

For all those other people out there who are much more diligent than me and have already gotten a good start on their studying and have some free time, here is a list of the 5 best movies to get you in a christmas-y mood:

1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas – This is my all time favorite, and I mean the old cartoon version, not the bizarre new Jim Carrey one.
2. A Muppets Christmas Carol – There are some other versions of this too that are good but this is the best because of the puppets.
3. Miracle on 34th street – I loved the new version and this christmas I plan on watching the original version… wait, what’s that I hear? Oh, its the sound of my grades plummeting due to lack of studying. Maybe I should wait until after exams to watch it…
4. The Nutcracker Prince – Ok, I’m not sure if this is actually a good movie or if I just love it because it brings back memories of being a kid. So try it and find out for me.
5. Old TV Specials – Ok, technically not a movie, but watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town is great for feeling all chritmas-y. Probably because I watched those every year since I can remember.

So that is my list. Merry Christmas everyone!

(In response to Eastwoods post )

Well, turns out I am one of those first years who can’t write. I thought I could. All my high school teachers told me I could. But if there is one thing I have learned in Coordinated Arts, it’s that I can’t. On a brighter note, it doesn’t really bother me much anymore. 

On to a completely unrelated topic. Does anyone know how to find a good host for a website? I know how to make the website, but not how to get it online. I know that there are a whole bunch of computer geniuses (wait, is that genii?) out there so please help. I would really appreciate it. 🙂

Thats all for now folks; I can’t really procrastinate writing my two papers any longer. Au revoir.

Happy Halloween everyone! There is something about today that just makes me feel like a little kid again. Probably just because I have had waaaay too much sugar.
In english, we were given the best project ever! create a photoblog and post some pics. Here is mine: Digital Reality. I think I am officially addicted to digital photography now.
Excuse me now while I go off and hunt for some more candy. Toodles.

Arghh!!! Excuse me while I rant a bit here. After all, that’s what blogs are for right? I don’t think I have quite fulfilled my quota of angst on this blog, so here goes.
I am pretty certain that universities were made to destroy egos. Now, in some cases this can be a good thing. But, most of the time, destroying the spirit of innocent first years is just mean. All through high school, ninety percents are handed out for practically zero work, then you come to UBC and suddenly you can’t get them no matter how hard you try! (there are some exceptions of course, like in the language classes, but still) You come to expect certain grades, then you feel like a total idiot when you can’t achieve them. Why does this happen? It’s because they use the same marking system as high school (percents). I get that university papers have to be marked harder, but why can’t they use a different system so that you evaluate your performance based on the marks you got on previous university assignments, and other people results, and not your high school results which are completely unreasonable to expect yet you can’t help doing it anyway. There would be way less depressed students if high school was only letter grades, and university was only percent (for example) and there was no similarity.
Well, that is my idea. Any others?