A Member Of The…
Posts by Jennifer Ayala:
Jan
19
I couldn’t be happier about the sunshine starting to cut through the fog the past couple of days. Yesterday was just a sun-filled day, and today as I was walking to the SUB I swear there was light for about two minutes.
*and there was much rejoicing*
Although I must say the random change in temperature yesterday directly contributed to me getting sick again. That’s right, I’m ill again. Lately I’ve been sicklier than a..really sick person, and it’s quite annoying. Last night it manifested itself in the form of a fever, which I was actually able to take down to merely “lukewarm” after a couple of hours of obsessive water-drinking and cold compress application to my face. Oh and I took like three Vitamin C chewable tablets..which upon reflection might not have been a good idea, but whatever it worked! muah! Now I just have an awkward cough and nose problems. Will this ever end!
Jan
13
I have OFFICIALLY been to all of my classes for the new semester (excluding tutorials and discussions), and I must say I’m genuinely excited about each and every one of them. I think I have a small addiction to taking upperish level courses; last semester I took a 200 course, and this semester I’m taking two. Maybe next year I’ll up it and take a 400 level? 😉
Anyway I feel like talking about the classes I’m in, so here I go. If you have any classes with me don’t hesitate to comment on our intertwined destinies.
Introduction to World Archaeology (ANTH 103)
I’m excited for this class mainly because of the research paper.
Did I just say that? Did I honestly just say that the prospect of a research paper is causing me excitement?
…..
Introduction to Moral Theory (PHIL 230A)
After my first class I was hooked. I’ve never taken a philosophy class before, but after two lectures I’m seriously considering majoring in this. Also (le sigh) there’s a paper due in a couple of weeks that I’m anxiously awaiting to start. I’m such a freak.
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (ANTH 100)
I don’t think I’m excited about any papers in this class..phew! Right now we’re reading this book though, called “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, and it’s REALLY good. It doesn’t read like an extra-long anthropological article (which I guess it technically is), so I highly recommend it!
Literature in English to the 18th Century (ENGL 220)
No clue why, but genius here decided to work backwards. Last term I took English 221 (Literature in Britain: the 18th Century to the Present), and now I’m in 220. I haven’t figured out if this switcheroo will help me out in the course. Oh but on to the actual class. So far the readings have been excellent, and the prof is literally a genius at starting class discussions and drawing ideas out of us. Good stuff.
Contemporary Global Issues in Historical Perspective (HIST 105)
I just signed up for this class and have therefore only been to one lecture (today in fact), but today’s class was so epic that I’m sure I’ll like it. The concentration this term is on global and local environments, which has me kinda nervous because hello, not a science person, but I think it will be fine.
Yessir, there is my courseload for the next few months. I must say that I’ve noticed a significant increase in the amount of reading I have to do; but then again the classes I took last semester were kind of light on reading and more dependent on exercises and online assignments. Baha!
In other news, I FINALLY BOUGHT A PRINTER. I’m almost positive I never mentioned my lack of a printer before so this news probably sounds trivial or lame, but I am SO EXCITED! I keep looking at it affectionately when I think no one is watching, even though it’s kind of an ugly shape and color. It’s grown on me though, so of course now I think it’s the greatest looking printer in the world. But I digress. This baby is a printer, scanner, copier, AND a fax machine! Not that I have any use whatsoever for a fax machine, but ya know, the option is there.
Now that it’s a new semester, I’m thinking of getting more involved in the UBC community. Last semester I took it kind of slow; I joined a sorority and acted in the Totem Park One Act Festival. I’m thinking I’ll try to join something to do with writing, start volunteering, and maybe even get a job (if anyone will hire me..I have a bad history with applying for jobs). I’ve even been toying with the idea of starting an online literary magazine or something..hmm.
Enough procrastinating, time to start the reading for my history class. (I fail. It’s barely the second week and I’m already procrasting on stuff!) Ah well. Adios!
Dec
30
With the dawn of the new year approaching (quite literally..baha), I’ve found myself thinking about this past year, and if I’m happy with the way I’ve lived it. How would my life have been different if I hadn’t _______? If I had _____? If I had chosen to _____? I find it easier to organize my thoughts in lists, so here I go..
Things I Think I Maybecouldashouldawoulda Done Differently In 2008
1) I definitely wish I had worked harder in my college classes. This is UBC, so we all were pro at high school, but I wish back in September/October I had realized that I actually have to study to survive college. As it were, I realized this around finals time. 🙂
2) More specifically, oh what I would give to go back in time and not have been so epic fail in French. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
3) My roommate and I should have called that stupid fridge company every hour on the hour (using several phones of course), DEMANDING our money back. Or hey, maybe even the FRIDGE! Thank God for Sears :’)
4) I would have talked to my grandma more before she passed away.
5) I would have done Grad Nite differently. I should probably explain American Grad Nites: at least where I live, every high school in the area goes to Disneyland on a specified night where Disneyland literally shuts down just for the graduating seniors. I think we have the park from 11pm to 7am? Sometimes this night coincides with the actual date of graduation, but not necessarily. Anyway so I shouldn’t have been such a loser, and instead paid more attention to what one of my best friends (Zoe) wanted.
6) Ooh I woulda stopped Zoe from dating this JERK that was only using her to get over the girl he was (and still is) in love with.
7) Upon reflection I wish I would have actually taken senior photos. Maybe. haha.
8 ) WHY didn’t I talk to the love of my life!!! Gah I hate myself sometimes! le sigh.
Things I Think I Did Right In 2008
1) So glad I got bangs. Best decision ever.
2) I’m so happy that I joined the sorority I did :).
3) Though sometimes I ponder what life would be like if I had chosen another school, overall I’m very happy that I chose UBC. In retrospect, I don’t think I would have fit anywhere else. 🙂
4) Relating to number 3, I’m sooo glad that I was so obsessive/addicted to applying to colleges that I was still looking for schools to apply to in like mid-February (even though I’d already gotten into..3 places?). See, if I had been a normal person and shut myself off from the college-application process after winter break, I never would have applied to UBC! Oh the greatness.
5) Okay I lied about number 1, buying a hamster with my other best friend Caitlin was the best decision ever. His name is Spunk Ransom. Google it.
6) I bless the day that I discovered Rebtel. Did I ever blog about Rebtel? Oh geez okay it’s still a draft. Fail. I’ll finish it up and post it later. Changed my life.
7) Soooo glad I saw Sex and the City and The Dark Knight on their respective opening nights! Good times.
8 ) Surprising my family by coming home for winter break a few days earlier than I told them..just might be my greatest work ever.
Keep your fingers crossed that I get better by tomorrow night! Huddled up on the couch is no way to spend New Years Eve!
PS: The word “would” looks weird to me for some reason right now. Don’t you hate when that happens?
Dec
12
Am I the only one who has never seen snow fall before? Anyone? Bueller?
Okay well yeah. I’m sitting in my dorm silently freaking out because I have no clue how to act in snowy weather. Mind you this is “wet rain” (or so the cleaning dude on my floor told me) so it won’t pile up that high, but this is my first experience with anything other than raindrops falling from the sky.
Are you supposed to wear special shoes to go out into the snow? Should I wear a different coat than usual? Are rainboots okay? Should I use an umbrella or something? Should I carry around an extra pair of socks just in case? When the weather gets this cold does the ground freeze? Oh geez I’ll probably have to start walking more carefully now; I can barely walk when the ground is dry.
I’m from California. We get rain like twice a year. FAIL.
Worries and mental rant aside though, snow is really pretty! I have a pretty decent view from my window, so I can see the row of trees lining the beach as well as a courtyard-type area with a few barren trees. I literally have tree branches like five feet from my window. Earlier I was just sitting here chillin with a bird (on one of the little branches), and I swear the little dude was trying to convince me to let him come inside. Cutest thing ever! The birds have since left, and all I see now is a myriad of whiteness falling from the sky.
I’ve had people ask me how I did on my French final (see previous post), and I have only one thing to say: HA!
I jest, I have more words. Let me put it this way: at one point I was so frustrated with my inability to remember how to say simple French words (I completely blanked on how to say “pretty”, but of course as I was walking back to my room afterwards I was like “NARF! Jolie!”), I started answering in Spanish. EPIC FAIL. That’s not the only thing that happened, but it’s all I’m willing to confess here. 🙂
Only a few more days till I go home and I am THRILLED! I’m so ridiculously excited that I feel like packing my stuff RIGHT NOW, but I know that’d be useless since until my departure day I’d be unpacking and repacking the things I use. Despite my excitement though, I can’t help but feel a bit nervous about going back home. I mean yeah it’s “home”, but the life I lived back there isn’t my life anymore. Ah well.
For those of you who haven’t finished your finals yet: hang in there! This too shall pass, and when it does you’ll probably shed tears of joy. 🙂
Dec
6
French owns my soul. Final on Monday. omg.
Nov
27
My roommate and I are epic (you remember the bread brawl?), so we’ve accidentally started a production company (of sorts). Oh and we call ourselves the Joneses (which is a story for another day).
For our first filming adventure we decided to document our room-reorganizing process.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=easmP-e-D44[/youtube]
And for our first real video, we decided to make a music video for the song “Holiday” by Doktor Kosmos.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R54ZVlgXWkU[/youtube]
We plan on making another video TONIGHT, so be ready!
Nov
18
Spur Of The Moment
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Last night I was sitting here in my room chillaxin when my friend Amber walked in carrying scissors.
“Jen!” she said. “Wanna cut your hair? Let’s get bangs!”
So of course I said yes, then got up, grabbed my scissors and hairbrush, and headed into the bathroom.
About 10 minutes later we both had bangs! They’re not side-bangs, but the actual straight-down in the front kind, which I’m told very few people can actually pull off. 🙂
We even got another girl from our floor in on it; she hated her split ends and ended up taking an inch or so off from the bottom. I think we have the makings of beauty salon owners.
This incident made me realize that most of my life’s adventures happen at the spur of the moment.
Take Saturday night, for example. We were supposed to have a party on our floor for Amber’s birthday (this story also has to do with Amber..hm), but it got lame and so around midnight we decided to head downtown and walk around. We were in front of the SRC on the side that faces the bus loop, and I decided to lay down on that metal-grate-looking-thing next to the stairs leading up to the SRC entrance.
Here’s a picture of the SRC I found online..it was the best they had on Google.
Next time you’re by the bus loop/SRC, go to where the red circle is, and to the right of the stairs there is this large metal filter-thing that goes up at maybe a 60 degree angle. Got it? Okay let me continue.
I decided that I wanted to lay down on top of it, so I stepped on it and turned around, intending to lower myself slowly backwards. Somehow I managed to slip and land flat on my back (ha!), and then we ended up taking pictures there. I’d post some, but my friend has them and I don’t feel like tracking her down.
Anyway somehow we came up with the idea of sliding down the giant metal grate, so a couple of us went up and slid down, weee!, etc etc. Around the third time we did it Amber decided to take my spot (I was always on the left side, closest to the wall), and once we got to the ground she jumped up and was like “OMG I THINK I RIPPED MY PANTS!” Sure enough, upon inspection we found a hole on the seat of her pants, and she had to walk around the rest of the night with her shirt pulled way down. Funniest thing ever! We’re still laughing about it. Gotta love these spur of the moment ideas!
Come to think of it, I decided to write this blog spur of the moment. Epic.
Moral of the story: sometimes the best things in life happen unexpectedly. So if you’re walking by a bus about to depart, don’t be afraid to hop on and see where it takes you! If a friend walks into your room with hair bleach and green hair dye, just go for it! We’re in college people, let’s make some good stories to tell our grandkids someday.
Nov
12
My roommate and I just had the most epic of battles. It involved bread, and it ended with..Pepsi shots.
We were just chillin in our room when Jayda turned to me and informed me that the bread she had bought expired the 12th, which was (back then) in exactly 11 minutes. She said “We have 11 minutes to eat this bread..” and I replied “…Or we could throw it at somebody..” “Who?” she asked. “Anyone,” I answered.
9 minutes later we were both sitting at our desks when I brought up the bread again. “We have 2 minutes left,” I said. We looked at each other, and looked at the loaf of bread inbetween us.
I don’t know who threw the first slice, but the rest is history.
About 15 minutes later we found ourselves taking cover underneath our desks, scrambling for whatever remnants of the bread we could find. Most of the loaf had turned into crumbs, but there were many smaller pieces. It was I that made the first Bread Ball (by mashing together a few of the smaller pieces and rolling it up), but Jayda who mastered the art of saving ammo to hit me all at once with.
Finally though, we each felt that the battle was winding down, yet we were both much too involved to end it.
And then…Jayda found a whole piece of bread. It was perfect, practically untouched. Either this piece of bread had never been thrown, or it was just the strongest one. She picked it up. Then she handed it to me.
What did I do? I did the right thing.
I split the bread in half. One half I kept for myself, and the other went to Jayda.
She then stood up and tacked her piece of bread to her wall.
And I followed suit.
We didn’t speak of what had just happened for a few minutes thereafter, but when we did we laughed for about 5 minutes straight.
Then, overcome by genius, I decided that we should celebrate our shared victory. I got two plastic shot glasses and filled them both with Pepsi. We toasted, looked to our slices of the bread on our walls, then drank.
We are now sitting amongst our bread crumbs, peacefully working on essays. 🙂
Nov
4
Decision 2008
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The next four years should be interesting.
Not gonna lie, I was totally praying for a McCain-shaped victory, but I’m not one to dwell on disappointments. Okay so future-President-Obama supports things that I am 100% against, but that just means that in order to win those battles, I (and anyone else who feels the same way I do) need to be more creative.
As a side-note: African-American men got the right to vote in 1870 (go 15th Amendment!), a full 50 years before women achieved suffrage with the 19th Amendment. Maybe history is repeating itself? Let’s just cut the 50-year-gap this time–>vote for me in 2028!! 😉
In the meantime, allow me to address any fellow Americans that may be reading: regardless of whether you supported Obama or McCain, there’s no better time than the present to be the change you wish to see in the world. The United States is OUR country, not one man’s country, and let’s never forget that. GOD BLESS AMERICA! *insert Star Spangled Banner background music*
Nov
2
Oh and this morning I woke up to find a random green mark on my forehead. It still hasn’t come off, so I’ve been wearing a beanie (or a “toque” as people call it up here) all day. If anyone has any information on who did this to me, please tell. Your identity will be kept a secret.