Guess what folks. Today was the last day of January. I actually had some awesome ideas for a blog post about this, but I am tired tonight for serious this time. I've been really pushing myself this week and I have gotten a lot done, but its just a tad too much right now. Not to mention, I have posted every day this week at least once, sometimes twice.
So, I am going to go get ready for bed. Maybe I will do my amazing wrap up post tomorrow. In conclusion, January was a pretty rad way to start the new year, and I think February will build on the overall rad-ness.
Weekend run down: Dr. appointment, Movie night/ free pizza, 7-mile run, NT study party, Church, Mud Bowl game, super bowl awesomeness and more free pizza. Interspersed in there: lots of sleep, do my nails, french?, FHS application, reading, critique paper.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Nuclear Terrorism
This morning was the Council on Foreign Relations conference call. There I was, with three other freshmen, a gtf, and the provost of the university, in her office, on the phone with Micheal Levi all the way from Israel, and about 30 other prestigious universities with mostly graduate students. Another amazing opportunity brought to me by the University of Oregon. Also, donuts and coffee.
The conversation was amazing. I won't summarize the whole thing here because its pretty involved and no one but me cares a whole lot anyway, but here is a link to one of my favorite of the debates Micheal Levi has been participating in. He also recently wrote a book entitled On Nuclear Terrorism which I've read a bunch of excerpts from and its really easy to read. Today he basically covered the probability of a nuclear attack and what that means for how we should best go about developing our defenses and how we might try to think differently about some of our foreign policy. He also talked about risk-benefit analysis both for terrorist groups and US defense. Most of the questions were from Rutger's Law school and also U of Nebraska's international affairs grad program. Linda, or course, knew a lot of the professors from the other schools.
At the end of the call Linda stayed and talked with us and showed us some sweet pictures of when she was part of the US negotiating team in Vienna during the cold war. Basically awesome. She's really nice and approachable and her office is amazing. I must find a way to go to office hours.
Well, now I need to go run and get on with my day. The last three nights I haven't gotten very much sleep, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!
The conversation was amazing. I won't summarize the whole thing here because its pretty involved and no one but me cares a whole lot anyway, but here is a link to one of my favorite of the debates Micheal Levi has been participating in. He also recently wrote a book entitled On Nuclear Terrorism which I've read a bunch of excerpts from and its really easy to read. Today he basically covered the probability of a nuclear attack and what that means for how we should best go about developing our defenses and how we might try to think differently about some of our foreign policy. He also talked about risk-benefit analysis both for terrorist groups and US defense. Most of the questions were from Rutger's Law school and also U of Nebraska's international affairs grad program. Linda, or course, knew a lot of the professors from the other schools.
At the end of the call Linda stayed and talked with us and showed us some sweet pictures of when she was part of the US negotiating team in Vienna during the cold war. Basically awesome. She's really nice and approachable and her office is amazing. I must find a way to go to office hours.
Well, now I need to go run and get on with my day. The last three nights I haven't gotten very much sleep, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Calling it a Day
And oh what a day it has been.
Of course, it started last night really. The day, I mean. I was up pretty late again. I swear time passes like 33% faster when you're in the basement. Also, the past two nights I have been down in the McClain/Tingle laundry room other people have come in later than me, not to do laundry, but to sit there and study all night.
Marathon training doesn't really help me get schoolwork done in the am on Wednesdays I have realized. No matter how early I get up (8:30 today) to clock in my 4 miles, by the time I finish and shower and dress it will always be almost time to go to leadership. My strategy for next week is going to be to get up and do schoolwork and then go run, forcing me to stay on schedule.
Today was the day that RA and FA applications were due. I think that spending so much time last term and up until a few weeks ago fully intending not to apply for either, indeed not even thinking about the FA position until last Wednesday, convinced me that it would never happen. And yet, I have turned in both of my applications with fairly good essays, complete references, and signed up for an interview. Its starting to seem real. Now I really want those jobs.
I talked to a 2007 FA today about trying to decide between RA and FA and she suggested I think about being an RA and an non-residential FA. This, as far as I can see it, is both the best possible job scenario and the most ridiculous thing ever. If I did both, not only would I get free room and board, I would also make $2000 cash for being an FA. FA position is theoretically less than 10 hours a week, so I am allowed to do it while being and RA. However, with two jobs, two pretty involved clubs, and two majors, I am hearing major over-commitment warning bells go off in my head. The FA girl that I talked to said she knew some people who did this and they liked it because apparently as a residential FA its hard to get funding for activities but that's no problem for an RA, and also res FA's have a harder time getting the respect of their students because, well, they live in the same res hall and report to the same RA. If this whole paragraph isn't confusing, I don't know what is.
Bottom line:
Incidentally, tonight in Freshmen Bible Study we were talking about choices and the idea of choosing to take action in some direction instead of sitting around waiting for some obvious sign from God to show you the definite clear path he wants you to take. I'd like to think that this is what I'm doing by applying for these jobs. I took the initiative and applied, and if I don't get the jobs, then I'm pretty confident something else will present itself. I am deciding to stop worrying about it.....now.
In other news I took my 260 midterm which I probably did okay on. The stuff I didn't know were the names of the different authors of books and quotes and such, which if I had studied at all I probably wouldn't have studied anyway. My instructor was in a bum mood today because apparently Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the election. Yeah, interesting class dynamic. I would not in a million years have guessed he was a Giuliani fan. Interesting. I will never look at him the same way. He was also bummed because Mitt Romney lost yesterday or whenever that was. Y'know, he's made casual comments about Romney when we were talking about capitalists and I thought he was totally joking about being a fan, because he seems pretty negative about capitalism. So now I'm really confused.
The part that really surprised me about the whole thing though was the fact that I hadn't known about it (Giuliani) before class. I knew about John Edwards dropping out, but sometime between when I checked Reuters and when I went to class....I need to start paying more attention to the news I think, which may sound ridiculous because I am a self-proclaimed news beast, but not only was I surprised by something today, I also couldn't answer two of the four questions on the current events quiz yesterday! 50%! Something about a Southeast Asian dictator who died. I still don't know. Also, I haven't read the Daily Emerald since last Thursday or something so I have no idea what's been going on on campus. I shall remedy that tonight. I will also read my People, because its fun, and I need to keep up on my celebs, since its almost Oscar season.
Besides reading the news, the only really pressing thing on my plate for tonight is to get completely caught up with the issues surrounding US-North Korea relations and be coherent enough to discuss them with some really smart author/professor people and their groups of students via teleconference with New York at 9am tomorrow in the Provost's office. Note: taking the Provost of the University's seminar class was just about the smarted thing I could have done.
Bonus is the fact that I genuinely like her and am very interested in the subject matter. Win-win situation. We learned about those in that very same class, actually...
Speaking of that class, International Negotiation, some boy had a stroke of genius today. We have this big paper due next week see, and from the beginning of the course Prof Brady said that she would always be willing to negotiate. Well, the kid said something along the lines of "Since Sunday is the Superbowl, could we push the deadline from Monday to Wednesday?" It totally worked. Dude, you rock! Also, I managed to get the Middle East peace process as my topic for the ginormous project, due to my last name being conveniently located at the top of the class roster. This is great for two reasons. First, this is the one I was most interested in, and I already started researching it (see Ethics crisis post). Second, the entire huge project is due in two weeks, which I see as a good thing because it means that the rest of the semester I wont have to worry about it and can focus on studying for the final and my big project in FHS. By the time things get really crazy in March with travel and visitors and stuff, all I'll have to worry about is one essay and three tests during the latter half of finals week. Ka-ching.
I need to not forget to work on my FHS application. I'm not terribly worried about that though because I think a huge part whether I'll get accepted or not is based on my experience and the interview, not so much the paper application or essay, so there's not a whole lot I can do between then and now to make me a better candidate anyway. Still, I plan to pull it out on Friday sometime and look at it a bit.
Well, I think I'm gonna try to get some serious sleep tonight, so I should probably sign off.
Of course, it started last night really. The day, I mean. I was up pretty late again. I swear time passes like 33% faster when you're in the basement. Also, the past two nights I have been down in the McClain/Tingle laundry room other people have come in later than me, not to do laundry, but to sit there and study all night.
Marathon training doesn't really help me get schoolwork done in the am on Wednesdays I have realized. No matter how early I get up (8:30 today) to clock in my 4 miles, by the time I finish and shower and dress it will always be almost time to go to leadership. My strategy for next week is going to be to get up and do schoolwork and then go run, forcing me to stay on schedule.
Today was the day that RA and FA applications were due. I think that spending so much time last term and up until a few weeks ago fully intending not to apply for either, indeed not even thinking about the FA position until last Wednesday, convinced me that it would never happen. And yet, I have turned in both of my applications with fairly good essays, complete references, and signed up for an interview. Its starting to seem real. Now I really want those jobs.
I talked to a 2007 FA today about trying to decide between RA and FA and she suggested I think about being an RA and an non-residential FA. This, as far as I can see it, is both the best possible job scenario and the most ridiculous thing ever. If I did both, not only would I get free room and board, I would also make $2000 cash for being an FA. FA position is theoretically less than 10 hours a week, so I am allowed to do it while being and RA. However, with two jobs, two pretty involved clubs, and two majors, I am hearing major over-commitment warning bells go off in my head. The FA girl that I talked to said she knew some people who did this and they liked it because apparently as a residential FA its hard to get funding for activities but that's no problem for an RA, and also res FA's have a harder time getting the respect of their students because, well, they live in the same res hall and report to the same RA. If this whole paragraph isn't confusing, I don't know what is.
Bottom line:
- I really want free room and board.
- I really am opposed to the idea of wage labor in its traditional form of $/hour and want to avoid getting that type of job.
- I want to work with a faculty member and make awesome connections like that.
- I need to pursue this for next fall because junior year fall term I want to study abroad.
Incidentally, tonight in Freshmen Bible Study we were talking about choices and the idea of choosing to take action in some direction instead of sitting around waiting for some obvious sign from God to show you the definite clear path he wants you to take. I'd like to think that this is what I'm doing by applying for these jobs. I took the initiative and applied, and if I don't get the jobs, then I'm pretty confident something else will present itself. I am deciding to stop worrying about it.....now.
In other news I took my 260 midterm which I probably did okay on. The stuff I didn't know were the names of the different authors of books and quotes and such, which if I had studied at all I probably wouldn't have studied anyway. My instructor was in a bum mood today because apparently Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the election. Yeah, interesting class dynamic. I would not in a million years have guessed he was a Giuliani fan. Interesting. I will never look at him the same way. He was also bummed because Mitt Romney lost yesterday or whenever that was. Y'know, he's made casual comments about Romney when we were talking about capitalists and I thought he was totally joking about being a fan, because he seems pretty negative about capitalism. So now I'm really confused.
The part that really surprised me about the whole thing though was the fact that I hadn't known about it (Giuliani) before class. I knew about John Edwards dropping out, but sometime between when I checked Reuters and when I went to class....I need to start paying more attention to the news I think, which may sound ridiculous because I am a self-proclaimed news beast, but not only was I surprised by something today, I also couldn't answer two of the four questions on the current events quiz yesterday! 50%! Something about a Southeast Asian dictator who died. I still don't know. Also, I haven't read the Daily Emerald since last Thursday or something so I have no idea what's been going on on campus. I shall remedy that tonight. I will also read my People, because its fun, and I need to keep up on my celebs, since its almost Oscar season.
Besides reading the news, the only really pressing thing on my plate for tonight is to get completely caught up with the issues surrounding US-North Korea relations and be coherent enough to discuss them with some really smart author/professor people and their groups of students via teleconference with New York at 9am tomorrow in the Provost's office. Note: taking the Provost of the University's seminar class was just about the smarted thing I could have done.
Bonus is the fact that I genuinely like her and am very interested in the subject matter. Win-win situation. We learned about those in that very same class, actually...
Speaking of that class, International Negotiation, some boy had a stroke of genius today. We have this big paper due next week see, and from the beginning of the course Prof Brady said that she would always be willing to negotiate. Well, the kid said something along the lines of "Since Sunday is the Superbowl, could we push the deadline from Monday to Wednesday?" It totally worked. Dude, you rock! Also, I managed to get the Middle East peace process as my topic for the ginormous project, due to my last name being conveniently located at the top of the class roster. This is great for two reasons. First, this is the one I was most interested in, and I already started researching it (see Ethics crisis post). Second, the entire huge project is due in two weeks, which I see as a good thing because it means that the rest of the semester I wont have to worry about it and can focus on studying for the final and my big project in FHS. By the time things get really crazy in March with travel and visitors and stuff, all I'll have to worry about is one essay and three tests during the latter half of finals week. Ka-ching.
I need to not forget to work on my FHS application. I'm not terribly worried about that though because I think a huge part whether I'll get accepted or not is based on my experience and the interview, not so much the paper application or essay, so there's not a whole lot I can do between then and now to make me a better candidate anyway. Still, I plan to pull it out on Friday sometime and look at it a bit.
Well, I think I'm gonna try to get some serious sleep tonight, so I should probably sign off.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The Word "Application" and My Top Ten
The word "application" is one that I have said, written, and typed probably hundreds of times in the past year. The first thing that comes into my head is paperwork. The second thing is deadline. The third things is a more general idea of tedium mixed with anxiety. If I step back a bit and think about it, the word probably means application in the sense that you have to apply yourself to some task (in this case filling out applications).
OK, done with that. I finished my MEA scholarship app today and tonight I'm scrambling to write essays for both the RA and FA ones, which are both due tomorrow by five. The problem is, I really don't want to be an RA. I really want to be a residential FA. However, if I don't get that job, I would still rather be an RA than a regular FA. But I really don't want to be an RA and yes I know I already said that. So the dilemma right now is do I just not do the RA application and use the time to finish the FA one and study for my midterm tomorrow, or do I push to do everything? I guess I might as well since Michelle and Ryan both already filled out the recommendation forms.
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The other purpose of this post is my list of:
Top Ten Study Spots @ U of O, in no particular order:
OK, done with that. I finished my MEA scholarship app today and tonight I'm scrambling to write essays for both the RA and FA ones, which are both due tomorrow by five. The problem is, I really don't want to be an RA. I really want to be a residential FA. However, if I don't get that job, I would still rather be an RA than a regular FA. But I really don't want to be an RA and yes I know I already said that. So the dilemma right now is do I just not do the RA application and use the time to finish the FA one and study for my midterm tomorrow, or do I push to do everything? I guess I might as well since Michelle and Ryan both already filled out the recommendation forms.
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The other purpose of this post is my list of:
Top Ten Study Spots @ U of O, in no particular order:
- Dorm room- not the best environment, but major points for convenience and not having to deal with the weather.
- The Laundry Room- my favorite for writing essays, its five flights away from my bed, but without having to go outside
- The Lounge late at night- easy proximity to anything in the hall, plus the TV has some pretty weird things on at 3am
- The Library- superior concentration, moderately comfortable, but too far away to convince myself to walk at night- this is really best for getting some work done during the day
- The Law Library- closer to the dorm than the big library, very quiet and nice tables and lighting, but it closes at 12am
- The Buzz coffee shop- I have done a lot of reading here, plus they have easy access to food and coffee
- That weird lounge thing on the main floor of the EMU- very comfy chairs and nice decor, everybody in there is reading, but there are no tables, and I'm kind of a table girl, but this spot is ideal if I have 20 minutes and decide to spend it getting some reading done.
- The Skylight area of the EMU- Generally pretty quiet with excellent light, pretty available seating, but I just never seem to get anything done up there...
- Starbucks, Cafe Roma, or Lillis Cafe- coffee shop feel can be great if you like popular music and lots of buzzing chatter, but it can be hard to find a table and it is very tempting to listen to other people's conversations instead of working.
- Common Grounds cafe in Hamilton Commons or Dux Bistro in LLC- these are very conveniently located and well known to me and I usually eat meals at one or the other, but some really strange people hang out in Common grounds and Dux always feels overcrowded.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A couple more things
In a less narrative form, a few things happened today that might be interesting for discussion.
Today has been a dance party. I mentioned that we listened to awesome Europop on the drive to the mountain. Yeah, so thanks to Rhapsody music I looked up one of the songs- Blue, by Eiffel 65- and listened to it three or four times before finding a link to an excellent dance playlist. I have been sitting in front of my laptop most of the day working on my trance robot/ car commercial dancing. It has been a well spent day my friend. I have learned so much.
At some point Marcy started talking to me on MSN and we ended up talking about travel and she linked me to the "Where the Hell is Matt?" page. I had heard about this guy on the news a couple of years ago but never really looked into it. I watched the dancing video on the homepage, and then, in typical Alisha fashion, I watched on youtube about a half hour of the lecture the guy gave at some college about his experience. He has some really interesting insights on the benefits of travel, and especially about Africa. Next I went to his blog. Its neat because the entries are organized by country, so I looked up a bunch of the Africa and Japan ones. I really enjoyed reading Ned's blog last term while he was studying in South Korea, and this guy has a similar style. I was thinking about travel blogs, and how fascinating they are, and it reminded me of a website that I used to frequent, back in middle school, called cockeyed.com. If you go look at it, its really dizzying at first how much stuff is on it- science, pranks, travel blogs, random blogging. This was one of the first interweb sites I really explored, and that was in 2002 or something, when it was way smaller. I love this site because I wish I was that random and awesome.
I'm getting way off topic. The topic was travel. Marcy sent me that link because the girl's got the travel bug. She's doing some soul searching and asking those dangerous questions like "Why and I really in college?" and "Why can't I just go travel?" Great questions Marcy, I commend you. I wish I could pause college and just go to all the places I've always wanted to go. Europe, Morocco, Africa, Thailand, the Philippines, Hungary, Tokyo, China, New Zealand, Dubai, India, Turkey, Argentina, South Korea, France, Spain, Tunisia, Jamaica, Australia, Egypt, Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, Taiwan, heck, even Chicago or New York. One thing that really stuck with me was when Matt from the website said in his lecture that Australia, and Europe really also, are very different from America in that it is widely accepted that when young adults finish school they just take off for a couple of years and travel. In fact, parents usually save up money for their kids' trips like they would for college or something. I think this is brilliant and I want to do this. My dad did it, why can't I? It would be so great to just travel, not doing humanitarian work, not studying, but just traveling and thinking and experiencing. And then come back and get a job or go to grad school.
Until then though, I'm stuck reading about other people's adventures. I'll get there. The future is really unlimited. The only thing that's impossible to say is what I wont do. Does that make any sense?
This whole conversation was really the highlight of my day, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. This is likely to be the busiest week of the term and I really need to be doing work or at least reading about international issues and paying attention to stuff about the economy instead of daydreaming about travel. I have a lot to do tonight.
Today has been a dance party. I mentioned that we listened to awesome Europop on the drive to the mountain. Yeah, so thanks to Rhapsody music I looked up one of the songs- Blue, by Eiffel 65- and listened to it three or four times before finding a link to an excellent dance playlist. I have been sitting in front of my laptop most of the day working on my trance robot/ car commercial dancing. It has been a well spent day my friend. I have learned so much.
At some point Marcy started talking to me on MSN and we ended up talking about travel and she linked me to the "Where the Hell is Matt?" page. I had heard about this guy on the news a couple of years ago but never really looked into it. I watched the dancing video on the homepage, and then, in typical Alisha fashion, I watched on youtube about a half hour of the lecture the guy gave at some college about his experience. He has some really interesting insights on the benefits of travel, and especially about Africa. Next I went to his blog. Its neat because the entries are organized by country, so I looked up a bunch of the Africa and Japan ones. I really enjoyed reading Ned's blog last term while he was studying in South Korea, and this guy has a similar style. I was thinking about travel blogs, and how fascinating they are, and it reminded me of a website that I used to frequent, back in middle school, called cockeyed.com. If you go look at it, its really dizzying at first how much stuff is on it- science, pranks, travel blogs, random blogging. This was one of the first interweb sites I really explored, and that was in 2002 or something, when it was way smaller. I love this site because I wish I was that random and awesome.
I'm getting way off topic. The topic was travel. Marcy sent me that link because the girl's got the travel bug. She's doing some soul searching and asking those dangerous questions like "Why and I really in college?" and "Why can't I just go travel?" Great questions Marcy, I commend you. I wish I could pause college and just go to all the places I've always wanted to go. Europe, Morocco, Africa, Thailand, the Philippines, Hungary, Tokyo, China, New Zealand, Dubai, India, Turkey, Argentina, South Korea, France, Spain, Tunisia, Jamaica, Australia, Egypt, Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, Taiwan, heck, even Chicago or New York. One thing that really stuck with me was when Matt from the website said in his lecture that Australia, and Europe really also, are very different from America in that it is widely accepted that when young adults finish school they just take off for a couple of years and travel. In fact, parents usually save up money for their kids' trips like they would for college or something. I think this is brilliant and I want to do this. My dad did it, why can't I? It would be so great to just travel, not doing humanitarian work, not studying, but just traveling and thinking and experiencing. And then come back and get a job or go to grad school.
Until then though, I'm stuck reading about other people's adventures. I'll get there. The future is really unlimited. The only thing that's impossible to say is what I wont do. Does that make any sense?
This whole conversation was really the highlight of my day, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. This is likely to be the busiest week of the term and I really need to be doing work or at least reading about international issues and paying attention to stuff about the economy instead of daydreaming about travel. I have a lot to do tonight.
Its Becoming a Trend
So I'm writing again, which means that I have a lot of work to be done which I am not doing (this is pretty much my last resort) and also that some awesome things have happened!
Well, last Thursday ended up being pretty much a wash, but the weekend was Awesome! Friday I woke up at 11 and hung out with Ryan, Caleb, and Jacob getting gear for our ski trip. Among other experiences I found a used, but quality, Columbia winter coat at Goodwill for 15 bucks and also got my ski rentals for free 'cause Ryan had these awesome coupon books. We eventually made it back to campus and I eventually went on my 3 mile run- I took it pretty easy, I didn't want to be tired for skiing. I don't really remember doing anything else that night....I think I did laundry and I probably watched The Office online and messed around on facebook. Not bad for a Friday.
Saturday was the real gem of the weekend. We met at Mac Court at 7:30 am, which I though was awesome- for some reason I really like being up in the early morning before everyone else is. We got Starbucks for really cheap on our way out because Callie works there so she gets a discount and she treated everybody, which was awesome. Callie, you are my favorite.
The best part about the drive up though was the tunes. We started out with "We Built This City" by Starship, which, if you don't know, is the Settler's theme song and therefore the NCM theme. That was on an excellent mix CD which Jenell made for Ryan at some point which has some killer tunes. When we ran out of awesome 90's rock, Disney songs, Journey, and Europop, the next CD was 90's BIG HITS cd. That pretty much says it all. Just picture Ryan, Drew, Jess, Me, Callie, and Callie's fiancee Ryan doing interpretive motions to "I'm like a Bird" by Nellie Furtado.
Yep, awesome.
Skiing itself at Willamette Pass was excellent. I was in the single digits temperature-wise and snowing most of the day, so there was a lot of powder- really perfect snow. I was kind of anxious about skiing because Ryan was the only other person with skiis and I was the only girl with all the boys- Callie and her Ryan hung out in the lodge reading Harry Potter and Shannara books (I can't blame them, that would be my second choice to spend a Saturday). So I was the only girl and most of the guys were snowboarders. Also, I hadn't skied in like two years and Sunday was my scheduled 6 mile run, so I wasn't in the mood to push myself.
Really, I needn't have worried because I remembered my ski mode really quick and had a blast. I didn't fall at all, but of course I didn't try anything really tricky like 360's or jumps or anything, and I went down the steep parts pretty cautiously- I didn't want getting hurt to interfere with marathon training. We started out on the bunny slope and then the green trail lift. Before lunch though we made two runs up at the top of the mountain, which is all blues and black diamonds. The Kaleidoscope-Perseverance route isn't too terribly rough though, but Kaleidoscope-Rosary was a lot harder for me. By the third huge steep part I was getting a but tired because I was trying to go kind of slow and controlled.
Compared to Alyeska, Willamette Pass isn't as high of a mountain or have as many trails and it probably doesn't always have as much powder as it did on Saturday, but it could probably keep me entertained for another couple of trips. There are like three other places to ski around here but none are as close (2 hours).
Ryan's going back on Friday and taking his son Zach, who's 8, and I was gonna tag along but then I remembered I have a doctor's appointment, which is lame. Oh well, we might find a weekend in February- I know Caleb and Jacob and Drew would probably go again.
So the trip back was pretty tame- we listened to an awesome selection of U2's best and probably had some intellectual conversation/ fell asleep. We also went and got ice cream at Dairy Queen, which was definitely ironic after being freezing cold all day, but hey, we all were in the mood for it...
So then Sunday at like 9 am Lindsey started screaming "Snow! Snow! Snow!" Everybody rushed out into the hall and then back inside to their windows- It was snowing like crazy! There was a mad rush to get outside and play in it. By the time I went outside an hour later to go to church the whole lawn was filled with frolickers. Everywhere you looked there were people having snowball fights and building snowmen and stuff. I rarely see another human being up at 10 on Sunday morning when I leave so it was pretty surreal. The roads were insane because by that point there was already about 5 inches accumulated and it was still cold enough to not have melted yet. Poor Jenell had trouble driving to pick up Katie for church in her little car so we followed her and helped her out. She was pretty shaken over the whole thing by the time we got to Harvest at 10:45 ish (service starts at 10:30).
They actually hadn't started the service yet when we showed up and there weren't exactly a ton of people there. Good sermon though. The best part was, because there was pretty puny attendance there were a ton of baked goodies left, which we (the college kids) got to finish off at dinner later. We never make it in time for goodies.
We decided to brave the roads and went to Taco Bell, per usual, and ended up getting in a big snowball war in the parking lot. Great fun. While we were there, Shantelle called. She, Gabie, and Bethany couldn't drive anywhere because they live on a scary icy hill and couldn't get out, but they had walked down and hiked like four miles to the Taco Bell near there house and wanted to see if we could meet them there, but we were already eating, so that was sad.
Anyway, we eventually made it back to campus, and everybody else had a hugely confusing adventurous day trying to figure out how to do everything with all sorts of different people and only two people who could drive...Meanwhile I was cleaning up and getting psyched up for my 6 mile run.
My feet got soaked walking over to the rec center, because by mid-afternoon the snow was nasty wet slush and it was miserable. However, I had new running socks that I got from REI. My first 2.5 miles were okay, but then my left foot and calf went completely numb, so I stopped and stretched really well. It was weird. The rest of the run went okay. I really didn't want to be running, and my favorite podcast hadn't updated on schedule and I felt icky. My last mile though, surprisingly, was amazing. I ran it was faster than I ran the previous 5 miles, listening to Barlow Girl's "Enough" about three times in a row. It was awesome. I actually wanted to keep running when I done, which is crazy.
I need to remember how awesome some of those worship songs are to run to. The problem is that some of them really aren't so awesome to run with, and if I have to interrupt my stride to find another song I tend to slow down or at least screw up my form and get tired, so I like podcasts, because they last a full 30-70 minutes some of them which is just perfect.
Jessica, my roommate, had a pretty crappy weekend and she's likely to have a rough week though, so it was kind of a downer to get back to my dorm room. It'll all work out, but there's a lot of drama right now.
Therefore, I was very happy to get out of there and head over to Ryan's for dinner. It took an age to get there though because Caleb ended up being the sort of taxi cab for everybody who would usually drive but couldn't. We made it though, and we had meat sauce with a side of spaghetti noodles and lots of baked goods. A very well carb-loaded meal. It was a smaller group so we just played Settlers, no movie and no football, and me and Shantelle totally lost. It was actually a really close game except for our team haha. We had good strategy, but bad luck.
Then we made our way back to campus and I stayed up kind of late hanging out with the Alexsondria /Alison/ Ryan crowd and we eventually watched South Park (my first time! it was...as I expected). Everybody was hoping that it would snow over night and all day today and our professors would cancel class, but no such luck.
Well, last Thursday ended up being pretty much a wash, but the weekend was Awesome! Friday I woke up at 11 and hung out with Ryan, Caleb, and Jacob getting gear for our ski trip. Among other experiences I found a used, but quality, Columbia winter coat at Goodwill for 15 bucks and also got my ski rentals for free 'cause Ryan had these awesome coupon books. We eventually made it back to campus and I eventually went on my 3 mile run- I took it pretty easy, I didn't want to be tired for skiing. I don't really remember doing anything else that night....I think I did laundry and I probably watched The Office online and messed around on facebook. Not bad for a Friday.
Saturday was the real gem of the weekend. We met at Mac Court at 7:30 am, which I though was awesome- for some reason I really like being up in the early morning before everyone else is. We got Starbucks for really cheap on our way out because Callie works there so she gets a discount and she treated everybody, which was awesome. Callie, you are my favorite.
The best part about the drive up though was the tunes. We started out with "We Built This City" by Starship, which, if you don't know, is the Settler's theme song and therefore the NCM theme. That was on an excellent mix CD which Jenell made for Ryan at some point which has some killer tunes. When we ran out of awesome 90's rock, Disney songs, Journey, and Europop, the next CD was 90's BIG HITS cd. That pretty much says it all. Just picture Ryan, Drew, Jess, Me, Callie, and Callie's fiancee Ryan doing interpretive motions to "I'm like a Bird" by Nellie Furtado.
Yep, awesome.
Skiing itself at Willamette Pass was excellent. I was in the single digits temperature-wise and snowing most of the day, so there was a lot of powder- really perfect snow. I was kind of anxious about skiing because Ryan was the only other person with skiis and I was the only girl with all the boys- Callie and her Ryan hung out in the lodge reading Harry Potter and Shannara books (I can't blame them, that would be my second choice to spend a Saturday). So I was the only girl and most of the guys were snowboarders. Also, I hadn't skied in like two years and Sunday was my scheduled 6 mile run, so I wasn't in the mood to push myself.
Really, I needn't have worried because I remembered my ski mode really quick and had a blast. I didn't fall at all, but of course I didn't try anything really tricky like 360's or jumps or anything, and I went down the steep parts pretty cautiously- I didn't want getting hurt to interfere with marathon training. We started out on the bunny slope and then the green trail lift. Before lunch though we made two runs up at the top of the mountain, which is all blues and black diamonds. The Kaleidoscope-Perseverance route isn't too terribly rough though, but Kaleidoscope-Rosary was a lot harder for me. By the third huge steep part I was getting a but tired because I was trying to go kind of slow and controlled.
Compared to Alyeska, Willamette Pass isn't as high of a mountain or have as many trails and it probably doesn't always have as much powder as it did on Saturday, but it could probably keep me entertained for another couple of trips. There are like three other places to ski around here but none are as close (2 hours).
Ryan's going back on Friday and taking his son Zach, who's 8, and I was gonna tag along but then I remembered I have a doctor's appointment, which is lame. Oh well, we might find a weekend in February- I know Caleb and Jacob and Drew would probably go again.
So the trip back was pretty tame- we listened to an awesome selection of U2's best and probably had some intellectual conversation/ fell asleep. We also went and got ice cream at Dairy Queen, which was definitely ironic after being freezing cold all day, but hey, we all were in the mood for it...
So then Sunday at like 9 am Lindsey started screaming "Snow! Snow! Snow!" Everybody rushed out into the hall and then back inside to their windows- It was snowing like crazy! There was a mad rush to get outside and play in it. By the time I went outside an hour later to go to church the whole lawn was filled with frolickers. Everywhere you looked there were people having snowball fights and building snowmen and stuff. I rarely see another human being up at 10 on Sunday morning when I leave so it was pretty surreal. The roads were insane because by that point there was already about 5 inches accumulated and it was still cold enough to not have melted yet. Poor Jenell had trouble driving to pick up Katie for church in her little car so we followed her and helped her out. She was pretty shaken over the whole thing by the time we got to Harvest at 10:45 ish (service starts at 10:30).
They actually hadn't started the service yet when we showed up and there weren't exactly a ton of people there. Good sermon though. The best part was, because there was pretty puny attendance there were a ton of baked goodies left, which we (the college kids) got to finish off at dinner later. We never make it in time for goodies.
We decided to brave the roads and went to Taco Bell, per usual, and ended up getting in a big snowball war in the parking lot. Great fun. While we were there, Shantelle called. She, Gabie, and Bethany couldn't drive anywhere because they live on a scary icy hill and couldn't get out, but they had walked down and hiked like four miles to the Taco Bell near there house and wanted to see if we could meet them there, but we were already eating, so that was sad.
Anyway, we eventually made it back to campus, and everybody else had a hugely confusing adventurous day trying to figure out how to do everything with all sorts of different people and only two people who could drive...Meanwhile I was cleaning up and getting psyched up for my 6 mile run.
My feet got soaked walking over to the rec center, because by mid-afternoon the snow was nasty wet slush and it was miserable. However, I had new running socks that I got from REI. My first 2.5 miles were okay, but then my left foot and calf went completely numb, so I stopped and stretched really well. It was weird. The rest of the run went okay. I really didn't want to be running, and my favorite podcast hadn't updated on schedule and I felt icky. My last mile though, surprisingly, was amazing. I ran it was faster than I ran the previous 5 miles, listening to Barlow Girl's "Enough" about three times in a row. It was awesome. I actually wanted to keep running when I done, which is crazy.
I need to remember how awesome some of those worship songs are to run to. The problem is that some of them really aren't so awesome to run with, and if I have to interrupt my stride to find another song I tend to slow down or at least screw up my form and get tired, so I like podcasts, because they last a full 30-70 minutes some of them which is just perfect.
Jessica, my roommate, had a pretty crappy weekend and she's likely to have a rough week though, so it was kind of a downer to get back to my dorm room. It'll all work out, but there's a lot of drama right now.
Therefore, I was very happy to get out of there and head over to Ryan's for dinner. It took an age to get there though because Caleb ended up being the sort of taxi cab for everybody who would usually drive but couldn't. We made it though, and we had meat sauce with a side of spaghetti noodles and lots of baked goods. A very well carb-loaded meal. It was a smaller group so we just played Settlers, no movie and no football, and me and Shantelle totally lost. It was actually a really close game except for our team haha. We had good strategy, but bad luck.
Then we made our way back to campus and I stayed up kind of late hanging out with the Alexsondria /Alison/ Ryan crowd and we eventually watched South Park (my first time! it was...as I expected). Everybody was hoping that it would snow over night and all day today and our professors would cancel class, but no such luck.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A Second Wind (I need one)
So last night I gave up on the essay thing and went to sleep around 12:30 with the intention of getting up at 7:30 to finish it/print it off/eat breakfast/look nice for going to Michelle's office hours to ask her for a big favor. Instead, I woke up at 8:20, ten minutes before my first class. I asked Jessica and apparently my alarm went off for a while but I never woke up. I guess I was sleeping on the wrong side and couldn't hear it, but this is the first time this has happened since I had my old alarm clock senior year. So I was in a major rush and threw on some clothes, banged out the essay, and skipped breakfast and rolled into class about 9:10. When I showed up I found out that the essay was not due at the beginning of class like the professor said it was on Tuesday, but instead at the end of class. Good that I showed up though because we watched a video and those are a lot harder to make up than a lecture.
Well after that whole drama I lurked around Lillis for a half hour or so waiting for Michelle's actual students to leave her office hours. Somewhere in there I ate a really yummy, unhealthy blueberry muffin and had a couple sips of tea.
Michelle was wonderful and friendly and agreed to do the FA recommendation form, which is really great of her. I'm totally psyched to be a residential FA. My goal for next week, besides finishing all of my applications and staying on running schedule, is to have lunch with Dan Close and talk to him about potentially being his TA for his FIG class next fall. That would rock.
Then I went on my four mile run, which was glorious. I felt amazing and strong and beautiful and that was all good. After that though I was in a huge rush to shower and get ready in time to meet Lily and Erin at one. I skipped lunch and was still a few minutes late. This was about when my knee started to hurt.
I should also mention that other craziness today was getting a text and several phone calls from Ryan about Golden Gate mistakenly charging me $375 more for tuition than they were supposed to. I need to call them tomorrow and fix that, I was too busy today.
I left the meeting with Lily and Erin early to go grab a sandwich before FHS. Continuing on the theme, I was also late. Plus, class was boring. I really like talking about families because I think its fascinating and I want to work with families, but the lecture was pretty boring today. For a two hour class it was a tad ridiculous. It feels really cramped in there. Also, on my way back my water bottle spilled in my bag, all over my RA and FA applications, FHS notes, and my Bible. Oh, and my pants- that was cold.
So then I had my hour break between that class and discussion during which I'm supposed to super quickly do the reading and type up and outline for discussion. I felt gross though and I couldn't concentrate. I finished the outline and walked a little way toward class but it was freezing and I was hungry and my knee ached so I did a little turn and went right back to my dorm room, emailed the outline to my GTF, and took a nap.
I should probably mention that most all of the girls on my floor are going to Olive Garden tonight for Kristin's birthday. Two things. One: I would probably go if it wasn't Thursday and I have The Point. Plus it costs a lot of money and I'd have to dress up and walk around on my knee in heels, in the cold. Two: What the heck am I gonna do for my birthday?!? I'm actually starting to stress out about this. Turning 18 is a big deal and we've had hall-wide parties for the past two birthdays. I don't really want to do anything. I have and exam that day and its a Wednesday. Maybe I'll tell Callie and Jenell and we'll have a cake during New Testament the night before or during Freshman Bible Study on Wednesday. I don't want to put forth all the effort to go out unless its a lot warmer. But I don't want to completely ignore it and be lonely all day either.
So now I'm sitting here and I feel really, really exhausted. Fred's supposed to call me back at some point and I should probably eat some food. I just drank peppermint tea which is nice. My fingers are totally frozen though. It's really cold at my desk by the window. I need to be really productive tomorrow.
Well after that whole drama I lurked around Lillis for a half hour or so waiting for Michelle's actual students to leave her office hours. Somewhere in there I ate a really yummy, unhealthy blueberry muffin and had a couple sips of tea.
Michelle was wonderful and friendly and agreed to do the FA recommendation form, which is really great of her. I'm totally psyched to be a residential FA. My goal for next week, besides finishing all of my applications and staying on running schedule, is to have lunch with Dan Close and talk to him about potentially being his TA for his FIG class next fall. That would rock.
Then I went on my four mile run, which was glorious. I felt amazing and strong and beautiful and that was all good. After that though I was in a huge rush to shower and get ready in time to meet Lily and Erin at one. I skipped lunch and was still a few minutes late. This was about when my knee started to hurt.
I should also mention that other craziness today was getting a text and several phone calls from Ryan about Golden Gate mistakenly charging me $375 more for tuition than they were supposed to. I need to call them tomorrow and fix that, I was too busy today.
I left the meeting with Lily and Erin early to go grab a sandwich before FHS. Continuing on the theme, I was also late. Plus, class was boring. I really like talking about families because I think its fascinating and I want to work with families, but the lecture was pretty boring today. For a two hour class it was a tad ridiculous. It feels really cramped in there. Also, on my way back my water bottle spilled in my bag, all over my RA and FA applications, FHS notes, and my Bible. Oh, and my pants- that was cold.
So then I had my hour break between that class and discussion during which I'm supposed to super quickly do the reading and type up and outline for discussion. I felt gross though and I couldn't concentrate. I finished the outline and walked a little way toward class but it was freezing and I was hungry and my knee ached so I did a little turn and went right back to my dorm room, emailed the outline to my GTF, and took a nap.
I should probably mention that most all of the girls on my floor are going to Olive Garden tonight for Kristin's birthday. Two things. One: I would probably go if it wasn't Thursday and I have The Point. Plus it costs a lot of money and I'd have to dress up and walk around on my knee in heels, in the cold. Two: What the heck am I gonna do for my birthday?!? I'm actually starting to stress out about this. Turning 18 is a big deal and we've had hall-wide parties for the past two birthdays. I don't really want to do anything. I have and exam that day and its a Wednesday. Maybe I'll tell Callie and Jenell and we'll have a cake during New Testament the night before or during Freshman Bible Study on Wednesday. I don't want to put forth all the effort to go out unless its a lot warmer. But I don't want to completely ignore it and be lonely all day either.
So now I'm sitting here and I feel really, really exhausted. Fred's supposed to call me back at some point and I should probably eat some food. I just drank peppermint tea which is nice. My fingers are totally frozen though. It's really cold at my desk by the window. I need to be really productive tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Ethics Crisis Solved?
So after further (read: any) consideration of the Intro research paper assignment I have figured out that the assignment is not actually a research paper on a particular subject. It is evaluation of different methods of research. This is pretty much bogus. (I also watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure this weekend)
So basically the assignment due tomorrow is to find eight different websites about a topic and write a one to two paragraph consideration of three of them (the sources) based certain criteria. In the weeks to come we will do a section on text based sources and one on scholarly articles and then a cumulative paper on the usefulness of different types of sources. So basically I can't figure out how this really helps us learn about specific international issues.
On closer thought though I think its a great assignment for an intro class, because it is really helpful to know how best to do research. I think this is sort of what you learn in Writing 123 or just through experience otherwise, so its refreshing to focus on the process, instead of the analysis. I could definitely use some refining of my research paper writing technique. This will be helpful for my two actual big research projects later this term in Negotiation and New Testament.
The topic I am choosing is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for several reasons. Firstly, I have been reading about this issue in various international news sources and I can anticipate some of the source bias issues that will come up. Also, this is one of the four topics we can choose from in International Negotiation class for our HUGE (50%) project, and this is the most controversial and interesting, and also the easiest to research. The other options for that project are the relations between the U.S. and either Iraq, Iran, or North Korea. If I don't get Israel because its too popular a topic or whatever I'll probably pick Korea. Every body knows that Iraq and Iran are basically secondary expressions of the Israeli-Palestinian thing anyway. Boring. And they can't be solved without fixing Palestine, which probably wont ever happen. Boo.
The main point is that this solves the ethics issue, because I seriously, seriously doubt that the professors of either class would mind the overlap, and I actually think they would appreciate my clever problem solving. In this case the topic is almost completely arbitrary. If I was doing two heavily weighted projects on the same topic, sharing the same research and analysis, I really would be cheating myself on potential learning.
So basically the assignment due tomorrow is to find eight different websites about a topic and write a one to two paragraph consideration of three of them (the sources) based certain criteria. In the weeks to come we will do a section on text based sources and one on scholarly articles and then a cumulative paper on the usefulness of different types of sources. So basically I can't figure out how this really helps us learn about specific international issues.
On closer thought though I think its a great assignment for an intro class, because it is really helpful to know how best to do research. I think this is sort of what you learn in Writing 123 or just through experience otherwise, so its refreshing to focus on the process, instead of the analysis. I could definitely use some refining of my research paper writing technique. This will be helpful for my two actual big research projects later this term in Negotiation and New Testament.
The topic I am choosing is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for several reasons. Firstly, I have been reading about this issue in various international news sources and I can anticipate some of the source bias issues that will come up. Also, this is one of the four topics we can choose from in International Negotiation class for our HUGE (50%) project, and this is the most controversial and interesting, and also the easiest to research. The other options for that project are the relations between the U.S. and either Iraq, Iran, or North Korea. If I don't get Israel because its too popular a topic or whatever I'll probably pick Korea. Every body knows that Iraq and Iran are basically secondary expressions of the Israeli-Palestinian thing anyway. Boring. And they can't be solved without fixing Palestine, which probably wont ever happen. Boo.
The main point is that this solves the ethics issue, because I seriously, seriously doubt that the professors of either class would mind the overlap, and I actually think they would appreciate my clever problem solving. In this case the topic is almost completely arbitrary. If I was doing two heavily weighted projects on the same topic, sharing the same research and analysis, I really would be cheating myself on potential learning.
Random Knowledge of the day
So everyday it seems I learn about something completely new which I had not ever heard of before. Its true what they say! You learn something new everyday. Also, rhyming is good for your brain. Mostly these things are from the internet. Todays new thing is Dunbar's Number. Major, major props if you can figure out the sequence of events that led to me reading about this on the intarwubs (hint: that was a clue).
In other major news...sheesh I'm trying to remember when I posted last and what was going on. Just a sec...cool I figured how to back-date post something...ah yes, Saturday wasn't exactly an amazing day. Friday was pretty sweet because of the meeting with the Lifeway publisher lady and good times with my hall family. I think we watched Grindhouse? Maybe that was Saturday. I dunno. Sunday was cool, pretty basic: Church, do nothing, Ryan's house, Settlers. Lindsay came to church this week for the first time which was cool. Harvest is definitely smaller than I'm used to, but its cute, welcoming, doctrinally sound, and I have a family there. Also, I played pretty well at Settlers, if I do say so myself.
Then Monday was the big MLK day InterVarsity hike in Willamette National Forest. It was a beautiful day and the hike was refreshing and healthy, but it was also freezing cold. And that's another thing, this weather has been freaking ridiculous. I mean, its warmer in Alaska than it is here. My desktop keeps popping up with cold weather warnings for the area! Not so cool. However, Hike=very cool. Pictures here. and most of here. I also did my laundry on this day and called Freddy Faye. (haha another rhyme! :)
Um...I also decided to apply to be an RA and then I read the deadline and it said it was due today, the 23rd, so I freaked out for about 24 hours before I checked the website and it said the 30th. And then I was in the EMU today and saw my FA Maria and she totally sold me on the idea of being an FA, and she said that the FHS program director, Dan Close, does a FIG class and so I totally want to be his TA. I'm gonna go to his office hours on Monday and talk to him about it. Also, apparently they choose the residential FA's based on who wants to do it, not by pre-set FIGs. So I'm pretty sure I'll apply for both and end up doing one or the other. My first choice would be Residential FA with Dan Close and and International studies class. That would be totally amazing.
The main drawback in terms of my plans is that I would need to be back in Eugene by the beginning of September, pretty much a full month before the term starts, which throws a wrench in the whole Africa plans. So we'll see. Here are some options that I can see:
So that was the super-long non-coherent version of what has been running through my head for like three days. Plus, I haven't actually applied to the Africa thing because I haven't been accepted as an RA or FA yet so I couldn't tell the ICY people what dates specifically I'd be going. Yikes. Argh, no more.
Different news: I'm pretty much sort of sure that I'm going skiing on Saturday and not to the 24 conference, because skiing, although it is very expensive, is something which I have very fond memories of and which I haven't gotten to do much in recent years. Plus I'm going to the IVCF conference in Portland in a couple of weeks (four) anyway and I can only take so much conferencing.
Tonight I have a bunch of stuff I need to do, so I should probably stop blogging and hop to it. I'm struggling with ethics on this paper I have to write for Intro to International Issues. We get to choose our own topic, preferably one that the class doesn't cover, and write a multi-part research paper, the first part of which is due tomorrow early morning (boo). So the dilemma is that the greatest topic I can think of is writing about international negotiation, but I am taking that class and am sort of already learning about that topic. The brilliance of doing the paper on it though is A), I already know a bit about it and have two great texts and a ton of great websites on the subject, and B), that writing the paper would help me to study for International Negotiation, the class. I also consider Negotiation the Class to be a lot harder and more interesting than Intro, which is pretty much still all review of INTL 240 last term and other stuff that I already know. I'm moderately sure that the professor would consider it an OK topic anyway if I told him the situation, but I haven't asked. I think I will do the bit that's due tomorrow on it an then maybe email the GTF sometime. They would never find out if I didn't tell them. But just saying that makes me sound like I'm sneaking around.
Incidentally we had an interesting discussion about personal ethics and leadership today in my leadership seminar...
Oh, also, the topic for my other, huge, 10 page term paper in New Testament is about the Pharisees. Mostly. Also about Jesus. And God. And some stuff about the early church and the new testament in general. Funny story though because Caleb and I picked the same topic and Ryan asked us to pick another one so we wouldn't be doing the same research and we both picked the same alternate. In the end he kept the alternate (Jesus' theology about money) and I kept the vague, but easier (?) Pharisee one.
So I was going to walk over to the Law Library across the lawn to study and get stuff done but its like 25 degrees out and it would be colder at midnight when I walked back. Plus, all my stuff is here. Brr.
In Alisha's Body news, things are being weird. My newly repaired ear started draining bizarre fluid right after I got back to school, leading me to believe it has something to do with flying, but I think it might be getting worse. This is not supposed to happen. Also, I'm sore, for the first time, from running. I'm sort of glad because I was beginning to wonder what the deal was. I pushed myself pretty hard on Tuesday in my 3 miles and I was already sore from hiking and using different muscles the day before. I am, however, beginning to wonder if I should take a break from ibuprofen. I don't take the maximum amount every day or anything, but I took it for most of break because of my surgery, and I usually take a few every day that I run, but I always make sure to eat food with it. The bottle says not to take it consistently for more than a month. I guess its not like aspirin.
Weirder still, is that the horrible wrist pains are back in my left wrist. Not as bad as they were junior year, when they were debilitating, but enough to make me nervous. Also, I think either my allergies have been bad or I'm coming down with something icky because I've been kind of stuffy and had junk in my throat for week or so and I've felt completely exhausted a lot. The obvious explanation for the fatigue is running a lot, but I've been eating a lot of carbs and my runs are actually pretty energizing. I just get tired later. Except for after my long run on Saturday, after which I was completely wiped.
And then today I didn't really feel nauseous but I just didn't want to eat anything, which is not good because I know I'm going to run tomorrow morning and I need carbs. Lisa, who is also a runner, said to eat some rice, because its pretty tasty when you don't feel like eating. So I think I will go do that because they close in a bit, and then I will work tirelessly on my paper and my MEA scholarship application, which I plan to mail by Friday.
And this is the end of yet another really long blog post, which I started because I got excited about something totally out of the blue and ended up somewhere completely different. I have a couple more substantial blog posts in draft mode because I'm working on being profound still.
In other major news...sheesh I'm trying to remember when I posted last and what was going on. Just a sec...cool I figured how to back-date post something...ah yes, Saturday wasn't exactly an amazing day. Friday was pretty sweet because of the meeting with the Lifeway publisher lady and good times with my hall family. I think we watched Grindhouse? Maybe that was Saturday. I dunno. Sunday was cool, pretty basic: Church, do nothing, Ryan's house, Settlers. Lindsay came to church this week for the first time which was cool. Harvest is definitely smaller than I'm used to, but its cute, welcoming, doctrinally sound, and I have a family there. Also, I played pretty well at Settlers, if I do say so myself.
Then Monday was the big MLK day InterVarsity hike in Willamette National Forest. It was a beautiful day and the hike was refreshing and healthy, but it was also freezing cold. And that's another thing, this weather has been freaking ridiculous. I mean, its warmer in Alaska than it is here. My desktop keeps popping up with cold weather warnings for the area! Not so cool. However, Hike=very cool. Pictures here. and most of here. I also did my laundry on this day and called Freddy Faye. (haha another rhyme! :)
Um...I also decided to apply to be an RA and then I read the deadline and it said it was due today, the 23rd, so I freaked out for about 24 hours before I checked the website and it said the 30th. And then I was in the EMU today and saw my FA Maria and she totally sold me on the idea of being an FA, and she said that the FHS program director, Dan Close, does a FIG class and so I totally want to be his TA. I'm gonna go to his office hours on Monday and talk to him about it. Also, apparently they choose the residential FA's based on who wants to do it, not by pre-set FIGs. So I'm pretty sure I'll apply for both and end up doing one or the other. My first choice would be Residential FA with Dan Close and and International studies class. That would be totally amazing.
The main drawback in terms of my plans is that I would need to be back in Eugene by the beginning of September, pretty much a full month before the term starts, which throws a wrench in the whole Africa plans. So we'll see. Here are some options that I can see:
- I could go to Africa for most of the month of August and maybe miss Heather's birthday and Fusion AK
- Go for 2 weeks instead of four
- Forego the trip altogether for now and save the money for my study abroad in Senegal the next fall. But see, that's not doing missions work...But the rest of my summer pretty much is, what with 6 weeks of camp and all.
- So if I really, really wanted to do Africa still I could just not do camp and go mid June to mid July and be back for the month of August.
- Or I could go to camp for two weeks, go to Africa for a month, and be back for Heather's birthday and go to fusion and chill in Palmer for about a month, then jump into school fully restored.
So that was the super-long non-coherent version of what has been running through my head for like three days. Plus, I haven't actually applied to the Africa thing because I haven't been accepted as an RA or FA yet so I couldn't tell the ICY people what dates specifically I'd be going. Yikes. Argh, no more.
Different news: I'm pretty much sort of sure that I'm going skiing on Saturday and not to the 24 conference, because skiing, although it is very expensive, is something which I have very fond memories of and which I haven't gotten to do much in recent years. Plus I'm going to the IVCF conference in Portland in a couple of weeks (four) anyway and I can only take so much conferencing.
Tonight I have a bunch of stuff I need to do, so I should probably stop blogging and hop to it. I'm struggling with ethics on this paper I have to write for Intro to International Issues. We get to choose our own topic, preferably one that the class doesn't cover, and write a multi-part research paper, the first part of which is due tomorrow early morning (boo). So the dilemma is that the greatest topic I can think of is writing about international negotiation, but I am taking that class and am sort of already learning about that topic. The brilliance of doing the paper on it though is A), I already know a bit about it and have two great texts and a ton of great websites on the subject, and B), that writing the paper would help me to study for International Negotiation, the class. I also consider Negotiation the Class to be a lot harder and more interesting than Intro, which is pretty much still all review of INTL 240 last term and other stuff that I already know. I'm moderately sure that the professor would consider it an OK topic anyway if I told him the situation, but I haven't asked. I think I will do the bit that's due tomorrow on it an then maybe email the GTF sometime. They would never find out if I didn't tell them. But just saying that makes me sound like I'm sneaking around.
Incidentally we had an interesting discussion about personal ethics and leadership today in my leadership seminar...
Oh, also, the topic for my other, huge, 10 page term paper in New Testament is about the Pharisees. Mostly. Also about Jesus. And God. And some stuff about the early church and the new testament in general. Funny story though because Caleb and I picked the same topic and Ryan asked us to pick another one so we wouldn't be doing the same research and we both picked the same alternate. In the end he kept the alternate (Jesus' theology about money) and I kept the vague, but easier (?) Pharisee one.
So I was going to walk over to the Law Library across the lawn to study and get stuff done but its like 25 degrees out and it would be colder at midnight when I walked back. Plus, all my stuff is here. Brr.
In Alisha's Body news, things are being weird. My newly repaired ear started draining bizarre fluid right after I got back to school, leading me to believe it has something to do with flying, but I think it might be getting worse. This is not supposed to happen. Also, I'm sore, for the first time, from running. I'm sort of glad because I was beginning to wonder what the deal was. I pushed myself pretty hard on Tuesday in my 3 miles and I was already sore from hiking and using different muscles the day before. I am, however, beginning to wonder if I should take a break from ibuprofen. I don't take the maximum amount every day or anything, but I took it for most of break because of my surgery, and I usually take a few every day that I run, but I always make sure to eat food with it. The bottle says not to take it consistently for more than a month. I guess its not like aspirin.
Weirder still, is that the horrible wrist pains are back in my left wrist. Not as bad as they were junior year, when they were debilitating, but enough to make me nervous. Also, I think either my allergies have been bad or I'm coming down with something icky because I've been kind of stuffy and had junk in my throat for week or so and I've felt completely exhausted a lot. The obvious explanation for the fatigue is running a lot, but I've been eating a lot of carbs and my runs are actually pretty energizing. I just get tired later. Except for after my long run on Saturday, after which I was completely wiped.
And then today I didn't really feel nauseous but I just didn't want to eat anything, which is not good because I know I'm going to run tomorrow morning and I need carbs. Lisa, who is also a runner, said to eat some rice, because its pretty tasty when you don't feel like eating. So I think I will go do that because they close in a bit, and then I will work tirelessly on my paper and my MEA scholarship application, which I plan to mail by Friday.
And this is the end of yet another really long blog post, which I started because I got excited about something totally out of the blue and ended up somewhere completely different. I have a couple more substantial blog posts in draft mode because I'm working on being profound still.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Feeling Weird
This was actually written January 19th but it somehow didn't get posted...probably 'cause I didn't post it:
I'm in a bit of a funk tonight. I don't really want to do anything. I don't want to watch a movie, I don't want to read a book, the internet is boring, my head is driving me crazy, its too early to go to bed, I need to do laundry and put new sheets on my bed. More importantly I have a bunch of applications which need to get done...And I need to study for New Testament because I told Lindsay I'd loan her the book tomorrow. And to top it all off I didn't have class on Friday and I don't have class again till Tuesday because of MLK day and so I don't have a whole lot of reason to get up in the morning and get dressed or anything.
On the upside I ran 5 miles this morning, but felt icky afterwards and slept a bunch more this afternoon.
I'm in a bit of a funk tonight. I don't really want to do anything. I don't want to watch a movie, I don't want to read a book, the internet is boring, my head is driving me crazy, its too early to go to bed, I need to do laundry and put new sheets on my bed. More importantly I have a bunch of applications which need to get done...And I need to study for New Testament because I told Lindsay I'd loan her the book tomorrow. And to top it all off I didn't have class on Friday and I don't have class again till Tuesday because of MLK day and so I don't have a whole lot of reason to get up in the morning and get dressed or anything.
On the upside I ran 5 miles this morning, but felt icky afterwards and slept a bunch more this afternoon.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
News Beast
So, I figure the world could use some more evidence that I am obsessed with the news media. I present a brief overview of my news obsession:
The first time I remember ever watching the news and getting really really excited about it was watching the 2000 election results. I was ten. Then in middle school and high school I would come home and watch the BBC world news report on PBS at 4 every day, sometimes watch CNN for updates and listen to NPR a lot while driving. Highlights included 9/11, the big Asian tsunami, also watching Iraq fall (I think I stopped following shortly after the battle of Fallujah because the media stopped covering it very coherently, or maybe the war stopped being understandable), and the big Lebanon thing in 2006. I would occasionally scan the headlines on my way to the back of the paper for the crossword puzzle. Also, would watch the O'Reilly factor and CNN headlines at the gym for entertainment. Coincidentally, my favorite thing to listen to while running is not peppy music but podcasts of interesting news and analysis. Not that obsessive, you say?
Well, then this past fall I started reading Reuters news for my INTL 240 class. It is my homepage to this day, just because they are fast to post breaking news and I'm used to their layout, not because I particularly like their reporting. Proof that I'm a news fiend: I have picky reporting preferences. Last term I pretty much put in about 20 minutes a day reading the stories that Reuters chose to makes headlines, anything about Nigeria (my focus country), paying particular attention to the international news, not really reading much of the economics or domestic politics, except to see who was running for president and how badly our economy sucks.
It has all changed. This term, as I have said before, I am in 3 international studies classes, and all three require me to daily read a newspaper like the NY Times or something. Also, they all have different emphasis for news quizzes. Intl 260 focuses more on the economy and capitalism and the markets, which I find at best mildly interesting and at worst disgusting. Intro 199 talks a lot about humanitarian crises and the state of the world today, but is really kind of ADD about it, and Negotiation 199 is all about current events, particularly Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So, add to these things that fact that my chance to vote in my very first presidential election is coming up and I want my candidate on the ballot (hint: its not Hillary) and there is quite a lot of news to be read.
Also, watched. I think its easy to rely on the internet for everything, but the other day I read about five different articles about Bush's talks with Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas, and saw some quotes about things he said, and then I watched the entire press conference on C-span, and let me tell you, its is important to get that context and complete answer, and its hard to do that in a news article because you can't just publish the entire text of what was said; nobody would read it. Unfortunately, C-span is not a reliable option for me because I don't have a TV and I can't always convince the people in the lounge to turn off family guy and watch c-span...
This is all background to what I really wanted to talk about : Al Jazeera Satellite news and the Arab world in general. So, besides reading a greater volume of news in general, I started also reading the New York Times, skimming the LA Times, reading the Daily Emerald (Eugene/ campus news- the best part is the letters), Africa News.com (I have a vested interest in the stability of Kenya and the region), and listening to more NPR. Then the other day in Intro to INTL we watched "Control Room" which is a documentary about Al Jazeera which somebody had the presence of mind to make during the start of the whole Iraq thing. It's fascinating and everybody should watch it. Now, I'm educated enough to know that a documentary about media portrayal not being objective is also probably not objective, but if its purpose was for me to consider non-American news sources and understand what the millions of Arabs are seeing on the news, then they succeeded.
The documentary was primarily talking about the early stages of the Iraq war and how the US hates Al Jazeera. Its also fascinating how most of the governments in the Middle East also hate them for being too liberal and criticizing extremists and their regimes...Basically, if America and the Arab world agree on not liking something, its worth looking into. So I've been reading Al Jazeera. I liked it right off the bat because they publish a lot more Africa news and news from places that most Americans never think about, and not just the Arab world, and they have on the homepage the international news sorted by region, which is very convenient. I get annoyed by Reuters because the economics and election '08 stuff, most of which is really repetitive, get almost all of the front page space. I don't want to make it (Al Jazeera) my homepage though, because I'm still rather wary of buying into the whole thing and how that might look to other people (just plain weird)...but I always open another page and compare the Reuters and Al Jazeera articles.
Okay, so now we get to the actual reason I started blogging (besides having nothing better to do). So today Israelis killed 17 or 18 Palestinians, depending on which version you read (NYT still says 16, they don't update very often, which is why I never only read them). This is a big deal in light of Bush's recent visit to Israel and setting a time table on peace negotiations. So I first saw this article with a huge picture of dead bodies on Al Jazeera and I wondered why I hadn't seen it on Reuters. Its because on Reuters it was most of the way down the page, with no picture, in a list of other international news along with random stuff about Kenya, Italy, Columbia, and Poland. (Note: between the time I first saw the articles and when I got back from class to actually read them Reuters updated the article from 16 casualties to 18 and Al Jazeera stayed with 17, so I give them props for updating).
Its fascinating to compare the actual articles. The title of Al Jazeera's is "Abbas: Israeli raid 'a massacre'" and the Reuters' is "Israeli forces kill 18 Palestinians in Gaza". Right away you know AJ's opinion, but R always titles with the plain facts. I could probably take it line by line and describe the differences but I'll try to resist. You should go read the articles. Now. So the openings of both articles use a quote from Abbas; Reuters says he calls it "A slap in the face" to Bush and his peace process (connecting it from the start to American interests) and Al Jazeera quotes "Its a massacre" which incites anger and sadness over the event. Its just amazing how different these two articles are. I mean, my two major news sources almost always have a different take on issues but this is just glaringly obvious.
I promise I wont compare it line by line, but wow. One of the interesting things is not only the language and the order in which they describe the events, but also what each chooses to put in and leave out, and what order they report. Of course, a lot of people don't read the full article, so you put the most important stuff at the beginning. The Reuters article starts off talking about and Ecuadorian farmer working on an Israeli farm was murdered by Hamas, and how they had started it by firing rockets at Israel on Tuesday, and Israel's response was "we are left without a choice but to answer and stop it". By total contrast Al Jazeera randomly tosses the bit about the farmer at the very end, makes no mention of the missiles fired at Israel and explains the action as "What is clear is that there is an Israeli plot to destroy the whole region. President Bush gave the green light to such aggression and such terrorism." Israel said they were engaging in an operation "against terror threats". <--note the quotation marks. The most chilling part though is when the guy whose sons were killed says "We will retaliate in the way they understand."
Usually I appreciate how Al Jazeera reports on events with an emphasis on the personal human toll of violence, but there really can be no neutrality when reporting about Israel. The whole conflict is just so intractable...it truly boggles the mind.
I guess in conclusion I want to encourage people to consider the source of news and to read broadly as well as deeply. I read Al Jazeera regularly, but I pity those people who rely solely on their reporting, or solely on Reuters or BBC. The great quote from "Control Room": "Everyone who works with BBC ends up working for Al Jazeera." Veeeery interesting.
Okay, I'm done.
The first time I remember ever watching the news and getting really really excited about it was watching the 2000 election results. I was ten. Then in middle school and high school I would come home and watch the BBC world news report on PBS at 4 every day, sometimes watch CNN for updates and listen to NPR a lot while driving. Highlights included 9/11, the big Asian tsunami, also watching Iraq fall (I think I stopped following shortly after the battle of Fallujah because the media stopped covering it very coherently, or maybe the war stopped being understandable), and the big Lebanon thing in 2006. I would occasionally scan the headlines on my way to the back of the paper for the crossword puzzle. Also, would watch the O'Reilly factor and CNN headlines at the gym for entertainment. Coincidentally, my favorite thing to listen to while running is not peppy music but podcasts of interesting news and analysis. Not that obsessive, you say?
Well, then this past fall I started reading Reuters news for my INTL 240 class. It is my homepage to this day, just because they are fast to post breaking news and I'm used to their layout, not because I particularly like their reporting. Proof that I'm a news fiend: I have picky reporting preferences. Last term I pretty much put in about 20 minutes a day reading the stories that Reuters chose to makes headlines, anything about Nigeria (my focus country), paying particular attention to the international news, not really reading much of the economics or domestic politics, except to see who was running for president and how badly our economy sucks.
It has all changed. This term, as I have said before, I am in 3 international studies classes, and all three require me to daily read a newspaper like the NY Times or something. Also, they all have different emphasis for news quizzes. Intl 260 focuses more on the economy and capitalism and the markets, which I find at best mildly interesting and at worst disgusting. Intro 199 talks a lot about humanitarian crises and the state of the world today, but is really kind of ADD about it, and Negotiation 199 is all about current events, particularly Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So, add to these things that fact that my chance to vote in my very first presidential election is coming up and I want my candidate on the ballot (hint: its not Hillary) and there is quite a lot of news to be read.
Also, watched. I think its easy to rely on the internet for everything, but the other day I read about five different articles about Bush's talks with Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas, and saw some quotes about things he said, and then I watched the entire press conference on C-span, and let me tell you, its is important to get that context and complete answer, and its hard to do that in a news article because you can't just publish the entire text of what was said; nobody would read it. Unfortunately, C-span is not a reliable option for me because I don't have a TV and I can't always convince the people in the lounge to turn off family guy and watch c-span...
This is all background to what I really wanted to talk about : Al Jazeera Satellite news and the Arab world in general. So, besides reading a greater volume of news in general, I started also reading the New York Times, skimming the LA Times, reading the Daily Emerald (Eugene/ campus news- the best part is the letters), Africa News.com (I have a vested interest in the stability of Kenya and the region), and listening to more NPR. Then the other day in Intro to INTL we watched "Control Room" which is a documentary about Al Jazeera which somebody had the presence of mind to make during the start of the whole Iraq thing. It's fascinating and everybody should watch it. Now, I'm educated enough to know that a documentary about media portrayal not being objective is also probably not objective, but if its purpose was for me to consider non-American news sources and understand what the millions of Arabs are seeing on the news, then they succeeded.
The documentary was primarily talking about the early stages of the Iraq war and how the US hates Al Jazeera. Its also fascinating how most of the governments in the Middle East also hate them for being too liberal and criticizing extremists and their regimes...Basically, if America and the Arab world agree on not liking something, its worth looking into. So I've been reading Al Jazeera. I liked it right off the bat because they publish a lot more Africa news and news from places that most Americans never think about, and not just the Arab world, and they have on the homepage the international news sorted by region, which is very convenient. I get annoyed by Reuters because the economics and election '08 stuff, most of which is really repetitive, get almost all of the front page space. I don't want to make it (Al Jazeera) my homepage though, because I'm still rather wary of buying into the whole thing and how that might look to other people (just plain weird)...but I always open another page and compare the Reuters and Al Jazeera articles.
Okay, so now we get to the actual reason I started blogging (besides having nothing better to do). So today Israelis killed 17 or 18 Palestinians, depending on which version you read (NYT still says 16, they don't update very often, which is why I never only read them). This is a big deal in light of Bush's recent visit to Israel and setting a time table on peace negotiations. So I first saw this article with a huge picture of dead bodies on Al Jazeera and I wondered why I hadn't seen it on Reuters. Its because on Reuters it was most of the way down the page, with no picture, in a list of other international news along with random stuff about Kenya, Italy, Columbia, and Poland. (Note: between the time I first saw the articles and when I got back from class to actually read them Reuters updated the article from 16 casualties to 18 and Al Jazeera stayed with 17, so I give them props for updating).
Its fascinating to compare the actual articles. The title of Al Jazeera's is "Abbas: Israeli raid 'a massacre'" and the Reuters' is "Israeli forces kill 18 Palestinians in Gaza". Right away you know AJ's opinion, but R always titles with the plain facts. I could probably take it line by line and describe the differences but I'll try to resist. You should go read the articles. Now. So the openings of both articles use a quote from Abbas; Reuters says he calls it "A slap in the face" to Bush and his peace process (connecting it from the start to American interests) and Al Jazeera quotes "Its a massacre" which incites anger and sadness over the event. Its just amazing how different these two articles are. I mean, my two major news sources almost always have a different take on issues but this is just glaringly obvious.
I promise I wont compare it line by line, but wow. One of the interesting things is not only the language and the order in which they describe the events, but also what each chooses to put in and leave out, and what order they report. Of course, a lot of people don't read the full article, so you put the most important stuff at the beginning. The Reuters article starts off talking about and Ecuadorian farmer working on an Israeli farm was murdered by Hamas, and how they had started it by firing rockets at Israel on Tuesday, and Israel's response was "we are left without a choice but to answer and stop it". By total contrast Al Jazeera randomly tosses the bit about the farmer at the very end, makes no mention of the missiles fired at Israel and explains the action as "What is clear is that there is an Israeli plot to destroy the whole region. President Bush gave the green light to such aggression and such terrorism." Israel said they were engaging in an operation "against terror threats". <--note the quotation marks. The most chilling part though is when the guy whose sons were killed says "We will retaliate in the way they understand."
Usually I appreciate how Al Jazeera reports on events with an emphasis on the personal human toll of violence, but there really can be no neutrality when reporting about Israel. The whole conflict is just so intractable...it truly boggles the mind.
I guess in conclusion I want to encourage people to consider the source of news and to read broadly as well as deeply. I read Al Jazeera regularly, but I pity those people who rely solely on their reporting, or solely on Reuters or BBC. The great quote from "Control Room": "Everyone who works with BBC ends up working for Al Jazeera." Veeeery interesting.
Okay, I'm done.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Obligatory New Years one
What is this? Two posts in three days? It must be the beginning of January, the time when people all try hard for a few weeks to keep up on their resolutions. Consequently, its also almost impossible to cheat on the cardio machine sign-up rules at the SRC because they are all taken...but I digress.
So actually the thought of posting hadn't really crossed my mind until I read Tamara's note over on facebook titled "Things Accomplished in 2007." I like this because its not just a list of New Years resolutions, but also a list of things done well, upon reflection, during the past year. I was inspired.
This is kind of weird for me because usually I make resolution lists both at new years and the beginning of each school term but I haven't done either since...last new years. I keep all of those lists, though, on Word documents, in a cute little folder.
Let's see, junior year I made goals for each of my classes, something along the lines of "Get A's, be the best, make teachers love me and students fear me." In other words, no big shocker there, I think I did pretty well. Haha, Junior year was a good year. Looks like most of my extracurricular goals I didn't make- mostly having to do with leadership positions. Also on that years list was the obligatory lose 20 pounds and have a better spiritual life. Not incidentally, those two are also on Senior year's list.
Senior year list is a bit more hilarious, so I'm just gonna post it all:
Wow, then a few days after tests I escaped to camp for a few weeks to work really hard/recover. Then it was time to get all excited about college.
College. Is awesome. Its really a hard thing to anticipate before you get there. I dunno, because I spent so much time at camp last summer I was still in sharing living space/ being independent/ meeting new people mode. So most of the adjustment was probably just doing schoolwork again and figuring out a (huge) new school system- where to go to ask which questions and such, surprisingly easy. I know I made a list but I can't find it... It probably looked something like this:
On to goals for 2008:
Actually I've though of all sorts of cool ways to save money, like not buying any more hair/skin products until I use what I have, making my own breakfast (healthy, cheap), buying gatorade in bulk, getting books from the library unless I have to buy them for class, and hoarding napkins, sugar packets, and creamer from the cafeteria. Also attending more free food events. Also, not going to movies/ concerts except under special circumstances. Its hard to figure out how to save money because almost all of what I spend goes to food, I actual don't spend much on clothes or entertainment or transportation. Plus I'm usually pretty picky about eating healthy food, so I don't eat much pizza (or any) or fast food Mexican (except after church on Sunday), and those are the cheapest really. I think the most effective thing I can do is to stop spending $5 per day on coffee. I buy cheap coffee anyway (12oz Americano), but I could save $10-$20 per week getting drip coffee in a reusable mug (discount!). Bah! I've also thought of downloading free podcasts and songs instead of buying music, reading the newspapers and magazines I like in the library instead of buying them, or getting free trial subscriptions and then canceling. I've also put off buying a TV, desktop computer, or furniture because I don't want to store them, but those are things I'll need to get next fall for the new apartment...
Ah the life of a college student. I love it, I really do, but I wish I had like $10,000 dollars in a bank account somewhere. Its a lot easier to budget when you know how much money you have or are going to get. Relying on scholarships is kind of unpredictable.
So apparently updating more often is not curing me of my incessant tendancy to be prolix (look it up. good word.)
So actually the thought of posting hadn't really crossed my mind until I read Tamara's note over on facebook titled "Things Accomplished in 2007." I like this because its not just a list of New Years resolutions, but also a list of things done well, upon reflection, during the past year. I was inspired.
This is kind of weird for me because usually I make resolution lists both at new years and the beginning of each school term but I haven't done either since...last new years. I keep all of those lists, though, on Word documents, in a cute little folder.
Let's see, junior year I made goals for each of my classes, something along the lines of "Get A's, be the best, make teachers love me and students fear me." In other words, no big shocker there, I think I did pretty well. Haha, Junior year was a good year. Looks like most of my extracurricular goals I didn't make- mostly having to do with leadership positions. Also on that years list was the obligatory lose 20 pounds and have a better spiritual life. Not incidentally, those two are also on Senior year's list.
Senior year list is a bit more hilarious, so I'm just gonna post it all:
- Graduate (did this! not that hard! More impressive: planned senior class events!)
- Pass AP physics and calculus tests (didn't take physics, got a 5 on Calc and Bio though)
- 5 or 6 on IB History and Biology tests (fives on both, not bad)
- Make all-state band, borough honor band (I think I was an All-state alternate or something...did borough though)
- 1 at All-State solo/ensemble (yay! I felt so good about this, because that solo was freaking hard!)
- Have College Applications finished by Christmas (did this, actually finished by October or something. Of course I only applied to one school. I already knew where I was going by Christmas)
- Apply for scores of scholarships (did apply for scores, won a good number- $74,500 worth- better than I ever really expected)
- Get a job? (nah. Unless writing a monthly column in the newspaper counts. scholarships pay better)
- Be 150 pounds by Christmas (hah! Thats a funny one.)
- Look hot in a bikini in March (....I'm not going to think about this anymore. I think the only day I was wearing one was when I was terribly sick sleeping on a beach chair and I didn't give a crap about looking hot. Stupid Mono)
- Choose a college in February (December- even better)
- Finish Book list (What book list? I dunno but it was probably huge)
- Russian Course (I totally forgot I was into this. I think I completely gave up like a week into September out of lack of interest. Its hard to teach your busy self a whole new language for pretty much no reason)
- Get straight A’s (Almost- I got Bs both semesters of Calculus, but they were weighted. I had a 4.something for the year and graduated with a 4.3- valedictorian!)
Wow, then a few days after tests I escaped to camp for a few weeks to work really hard/recover. Then it was time to get all excited about college.
College. Is awesome. Its really a hard thing to anticipate before you get there. I dunno, because I spent so much time at camp last summer I was still in sharing living space/ being independent/ meeting new people mode. So most of the adjustment was probably just doing schoolwork again and figuring out a (huge) new school system- where to go to ask which questions and such, surprisingly easy. I know I made a list but I can't find it... It probably looked something like this:
- Find a Church (did- HCC is great)
- Find a Christian Fellowship (both NCM and IVCF are great, and different. I wish they didn't schedule overtop of each other though)
- Find some cool study spots (too many to count. Mostly in coffee shops or specific places in the library)
- develop a routine (Meh, approximately. It's that whole order/chaos thing we learned about in 21st century leadership class)
- make some friends who will drive me places/ let me store stuff at their houses (Yes!)
- Get good grades (3.9 -all A's, not bad. I wish UO didn't make minuses 3.7 though)
- Decide if I like business (Do not.)
- make a four year plan (Did this, v. excited to study abroad/ double major!)
- Don't gain weight. (I didn't have a plan for this, but I actually lost some weight. It helps to walk everywhere (briskly usually, 'cause I'm late, and have the SRC very conveniently located)
On to goals for 2008:
- Get accepted into FHS program
- Get accepted into ISP
- Get some great letters of rec.
- Win $10,000 in scholarships this season
- Finish the Eugene Marathon! Don't die!
- Find a sweet apartment
- Go to Kenya/Uganda with ICY
- Work at TBC 6 weeks, be awesome
- Buy more organic/fair trade/locally grown food.
- Spend less money
- Drink less coffee/ use a reusable mug
- Learn more about Jesus and the New Testament
- Get above a 4.0 GPA (made possible by the A+ = 4.3)
- Finish a NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle by myself.
- Blog more
- Be more passionate about compassion (and figure out what that even means...)
- Volunteer more.
Actually I've though of all sorts of cool ways to save money, like not buying any more hair/skin products until I use what I have, making my own breakfast (healthy, cheap), buying gatorade in bulk, getting books from the library unless I have to buy them for class, and hoarding napkins, sugar packets, and creamer from the cafeteria. Also attending more free food events. Also, not going to movies/ concerts except under special circumstances. Its hard to figure out how to save money because almost all of what I spend goes to food, I actual don't spend much on clothes or entertainment or transportation. Plus I'm usually pretty picky about eating healthy food, so I don't eat much pizza (or any) or fast food Mexican (except after church on Sunday), and those are the cheapest really. I think the most effective thing I can do is to stop spending $5 per day on coffee. I buy cheap coffee anyway (12oz Americano), but I could save $10-$20 per week getting drip coffee in a reusable mug (discount!). Bah! I've also thought of downloading free podcasts and songs instead of buying music, reading the newspapers and magazines I like in the library instead of buying them, or getting free trial subscriptions and then canceling. I've also put off buying a TV, desktop computer, or furniture because I don't want to store them, but those are things I'll need to get next fall for the new apartment...
Ah the life of a college student. I love it, I really do, but I wish I had like $10,000 dollars in a bank account somewhere. Its a lot easier to budget when you know how much money you have or are going to get. Relying on scholarships is kind of unpredictable.
So apparently updating more often is not curing me of my incessant tendancy to be prolix (look it up. good word.)
Friday, January 11, 2008
I'd Rather be Running
So, its pretty obvious that I haven't blogged in a while, since both I and my computer forgot which email and password this account was under. Dang. To sum up last term and break:
Thanksgiving: New favorite holiday on account of adventure/ learned survival skills/good food (mmmm sweet potatoes). Beating out Christmas because Thanksgiving doesn't ask me to spend money, in fact EVERY WHERE TO BUY A FREAKING CUP OF COFFEE IS CLOSED!!!
End of Term/finals: pretty good I guess, kind of anticlimactic what with everbody wanting to leave a soon as possible. I got kinda stressed about INTL 240 and tried this crazy butcher paper outline review thing:
It sort of worked.
Fall 08 GPA: 3.90 (U of O does this weird +/- thing...)
Neat, huh? This was about 5 days after surgery. That bruise was real pretty.
Christmas Break: was fun, relaxed, predictable. I spent about the first week sitting on the couch doing jigsaw puzzles and watching the Office on DVD, because I was recovering, and nobody else was home yet. Eventually everybody got back and we hung out. I went to school a couple of times and saw everybody there. I basically didn't do much of the stuff I was supposed to over break, but had a good time anyway. Particular highlights were: seeing "Enchanted" with Heather, hot tub party at my house, Christmas at Homstad's, Shopping/ chilling in Anchorage on 3 separate occasions, New Years at Marcy's, and seeing "Sweeney Todd" with Fred. Also, we got a wii a while back and I got DDR for Christmas, so that was the bomb diggity.
Here is a random picture of Fred playing DDR after a long day of shopping:
So yeah, that pretty much brings us to this term. I am actually going to leave out the story of my journey back to Eugene, because I don't feel like writing about it, but it is a good story, I guess, in retrospect. Its good to be home.
So this term I'm taking three international studies classes in a crazy attempt to get into the program by the end of spring term. Two of these classes (260: Culture, Capitalism, and Globalization, and 199:Intro to International Issues) are required, and appear to be fairly harmless, big lectures, with pros and cons to each. 260's teacher is Patrick Hayden who isn't a professor, but he's this funny 80's indie rocker type with a really really dry sense of humor, so lecture's actually pretty entertaining, though not in the same way that Dave or Galvan were last term. The subject of the class is pretty boring though, and I feel like I know a lot of it from 240 last term...199 is really pretty boring and basic, especially having taken 240, plus its at 8:30am. However, in class yesterday we watched a sweet documentary about Al Jazeera news, which was very cool, and it set off my transformation into a rabid news hound over the past couple of days. I even watched C-span.
My other INTL class is also called 199 (very confusing for abbreviating purposes) and its a freshman seminar (small class, 25 students only) taught by the Provost of the University, so I took it because of the opportunity to get recognition and maybe a letter of rec from her. Haha $1200 tuition for a letter of rec....No, I actually am generally interested in the class, which is called "international negotiation". I really am not so interested in ever doing diplomacy/negotiation type stuff, but I think its really neat to learn about in context of current events, which I, as a news whore, know a lot about. Anyway, the class is going to be a beast with the amount of reading and the level of work expected of us, but I'm sort of looking forward to it.
My fourth UO class is Family and Human Services 215, which I absolutely adore. Its taught by tag-teaming professors, filled with really cool people, and about stuff that I really care a lot about. I would take an age for me to explain the class, but I'll probably talk about specific things. Haha like yesterday when we had to analyze a case study of and 11 year old boy and it turned out to be Harry Potter...and then we watched like half of the Sorcerer's Stone and did this complete risks/resiliancies/Ecological Model analysis. Harry Potter's actually a great person to case study for that class because 95% of the people feel like they know him pretty well so you don't actually have to explain much...great class, all in all. The work for that class reminds me a lot of that of a high school class, but that should be fun. More on this later.
Other classes/things I am doing include New Testament 1 class through Golden Gate, taught by Ryan Moore of Northwest Collegiate Ministries, also a Christian Leadership seminar taught by Ryan, a Bible study on Jonathan, Int'l Justice Mission, InterVarsity stuff, going to Harvest Community Church, continuing to meet weekly with Lily and Erin, applying to the FHS program, applying for scholarships and, oh yeah, marathon training. What I am probably not doing is getting a job, because of all the things I've just listed.
Marathon Training is intense. apparently. I just started seriously this week, so I'm not really feeling it yet. I'm not even sore right now. Minor problem: I have yet to run (continuously, without walking) more than 30 minutes. I'm not too worried. I'm more worried about making sure I get up in the AM hours for my Friday or Saturday long runs (did not happen today). Also, I got a blister the first time I ran in my new Nike's, which was worrisome, but it went away and has yet to resurface.
The only other big news for the semester I think is my travel schedule. I'm supposed to go on a retreat in two weeks, then to San Fransisco for missions conference in Febuary, Portland (I think) the weekend after that for InterVarsity winter conference, LA in the beginning of March to see Wicked! with Heather, after which the whole family will be chillin' with me in Eugene for a few days. Then some time around finals Fred's supposed to come visit me, and her new school. Finally, for spring break I'll be heading back to LA (this time by lengthy car trip) for NCM's missions trip. Sheesh, it's like high school, but I get to leave the state more easily. What happened to my refreshingly wide open schedule from last term? Meh, I don't care.
So, I have a lot of lesser things to report, but I realize that this post is going on forever (what can I say? I'm a marathoner). Hopefully I will update more frequently this term because I will be, like now, putting off going running or doing real work.
Thanksgiving: New favorite holiday on account of adventure/ learned survival skills/good food (mmmm sweet potatoes). Beating out Christmas because Thanksgiving doesn't ask me to spend money, in fact EVERY WHERE TO BUY A FREAKING CUP OF COFFEE IS CLOSED!!!
End of Term/finals: pretty good I guess, kind of anticlimactic what with everbody wanting to leave a soon as possible. I got kinda stressed about INTL 240 and tried this crazy butcher paper outline review thing:
It sort of worked.Fall 08 GPA: 3.90 (U of O does this weird +/- thing...)
Ear Surgery:
Neat, huh? This was about 5 days after surgery. That bruise was real pretty.Christmas Break: was fun, relaxed, predictable. I spent about the first week sitting on the couch doing jigsaw puzzles and watching the Office on DVD, because I was recovering, and nobody else was home yet. Eventually everybody got back and we hung out. I went to school a couple of times and saw everybody there. I basically didn't do much of the stuff I was supposed to over break, but had a good time anyway. Particular highlights were: seeing "Enchanted" with Heather, hot tub party at my house, Christmas at Homstad's, Shopping/ chilling in Anchorage on 3 separate occasions, New Years at Marcy's, and seeing "Sweeney Todd" with Fred. Also, we got a wii a while back and I got DDR for Christmas, so that was the bomb diggity.
Here is a random picture of Fred playing DDR after a long day of shopping:
So yeah, that pretty much brings us to this term. I am actually going to leave out the story of my journey back to Eugene, because I don't feel like writing about it, but it is a good story, I guess, in retrospect. Its good to be home.So this term I'm taking three international studies classes in a crazy attempt to get into the program by the end of spring term. Two of these classes (260: Culture, Capitalism, and Globalization, and 199:Intro to International Issues) are required, and appear to be fairly harmless, big lectures, with pros and cons to each. 260's teacher is Patrick Hayden who isn't a professor, but he's this funny 80's indie rocker type with a really really dry sense of humor, so lecture's actually pretty entertaining, though not in the same way that Dave or Galvan were last term. The subject of the class is pretty boring though, and I feel like I know a lot of it from 240 last term...199 is really pretty boring and basic, especially having taken 240, plus its at 8:30am. However, in class yesterday we watched a sweet documentary about Al Jazeera news, which was very cool, and it set off my transformation into a rabid news hound over the past couple of days. I even watched C-span.
My other INTL class is also called 199 (very confusing for abbreviating purposes) and its a freshman seminar (small class, 25 students only) taught by the Provost of the University, so I took it because of the opportunity to get recognition and maybe a letter of rec from her. Haha $1200 tuition for a letter of rec....No, I actually am generally interested in the class, which is called "international negotiation". I really am not so interested in ever doing diplomacy/negotiation type stuff, but I think its really neat to learn about in context of current events, which I, as a news whore, know a lot about. Anyway, the class is going to be a beast with the amount of reading and the level of work expected of us, but I'm sort of looking forward to it.
My fourth UO class is Family and Human Services 215, which I absolutely adore. Its taught by tag-teaming professors, filled with really cool people, and about stuff that I really care a lot about. I would take an age for me to explain the class, but I'll probably talk about specific things. Haha like yesterday when we had to analyze a case study of and 11 year old boy and it turned out to be Harry Potter...and then we watched like half of the Sorcerer's Stone and did this complete risks/resiliancies/Ecological Model analysis. Harry Potter's actually a great person to case study for that class because 95% of the people feel like they know him pretty well so you don't actually have to explain much...great class, all in all. The work for that class reminds me a lot of that of a high school class, but that should be fun. More on this later.
Other classes/things I am doing include New Testament 1 class through Golden Gate, taught by Ryan Moore of Northwest Collegiate Ministries, also a Christian Leadership seminar taught by Ryan, a Bible study on Jonathan, Int'l Justice Mission, InterVarsity stuff, going to Harvest Community Church, continuing to meet weekly with Lily and Erin, applying to the FHS program, applying for scholarships and, oh yeah, marathon training. What I am probably not doing is getting a job, because of all the things I've just listed.
Marathon Training is intense. apparently. I just started seriously this week, so I'm not really feeling it yet. I'm not even sore right now. Minor problem: I have yet to run (continuously, without walking) more than 30 minutes. I'm not too worried. I'm more worried about making sure I get up in the AM hours for my Friday or Saturday long runs (did not happen today). Also, I got a blister the first time I ran in my new Nike's, which was worrisome, but it went away and has yet to resurface.
The only other big news for the semester I think is my travel schedule. I'm supposed to go on a retreat in two weeks, then to San Fransisco for missions conference in Febuary, Portland (I think) the weekend after that for InterVarsity winter conference, LA in the beginning of March to see Wicked! with Heather, after which the whole family will be chillin' with me in Eugene for a few days. Then some time around finals Fred's supposed to come visit me, and her new school. Finally, for spring break I'll be heading back to LA (this time by lengthy car trip) for NCM's missions trip. Sheesh, it's like high school, but I get to leave the state more easily. What happened to my refreshingly wide open schedule from last term? Meh, I don't care.
So, I have a lot of lesser things to report, but I realize that this post is going on forever (what can I say? I'm a marathoner). Hopefully I will update more frequently this term because I will be, like now, putting off going running or doing real work.
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