I moved out my dorm this morning in an amazingly efficient amount of time. It sort of helped I woke up at 7 to do most of the packing and cleaning before my dad came down to pick up. Now I have to worry about the summer. Pretty much I have flopped on all my summer plans. Maybe shouldn't have been so optimistic about the two research internships (Got rejected by both of them) and maybe shouldn't have shooed the earlier ones. But that's life, and I just have high expectations, but in this economy anything is better than nothing, and right now I have nothing. Which is bad, and I am feeling more frustrated with it. To add to that frustration, I can't find a mailing address for the internship program with Department of Housing and Urban Development to send my paperwork to. Stupid, unhelpful website. 

But I am going to try and be relatively optimistic. A friend and I are planning out a relatively light preliminary research in a riparian area in WV concerning water quality and plant life that could turn into something much larger in the fall. And if all else fails, I figured I could do something completely  new like learn Korean or something. Would rather not do that, but c'est la vie. In addition, I have to unload and sort through all my load of crap which is crowding my bedroom.

And thus the torturous week  starts. *crosses fingers* *prays to every known god being* And then freedom, SUMMER! Hopefully I will have something lined up for the summer

I don't know how to describe the last few weeks. I can say it's been mostly busy. I just can't believe that I am almost over the bend. Less than 10 days until I am done with my junior year. In this month alone, I have done so much, and many of them being fun and exciting things.

1. Multicultural Fair (April 4th)
-Had so much fun trying to fold origami with a strong wind blowing
-Found the cutest snail sculptures that are to be graduation gifts for Kemi and Nelly
-Am inspired to do Bhangra next year possibly, will have to see if I can even put it in my schedule
-Getting a feeling of deja-vu because like my last year at Madeira, I basically am inspired to do more things. It's like one of those moments where you want to do everything before you leave some place

I was in Chincoteague Island most of Easter weekend. There are some pictures on Facebook. If it isn't obvious, I was out there for my Ornithology class. I think the whole highlight of our trip was witnessing the mating of a bald eagle pair on the last day of the trip. It's not everyday you see mating birds.

And last weekend, I had the best time with some friends from ASA. On Saturday, I had an amazing trip to an international supermarket with my friend Lauren. It was amazing because I didn't think there was an Asian supermarket near Fredericksburg, I mean it was just last year we got a Korean restaurant. With my two little sisters, I made an Asian verison of potato salad for the ASA picnic. The potato dish was absolutely amazing, but I have to say that Kevin and Danny made a really good spicy stewed beef dish which definitely beat out anything any of the other officers donated foodwise to the picnic last Sunday.

Monday was Research and Creativity Day, and my group had a poster set up that afternoon. I don't know how to explain that day, except that it made me feel accomplished. I will continue the research next year, possibly with some other students. I certainly am enjoying the work, though I think I find some of the other environmental research I saw looked just as interesting, especially the one about the effects of stormwater from the relatively recent commercial development effecting two wetland areas, one of which was man-made.

Monday also welcomed the final week of classes before finals. I can't believe I have finals next Monday, and I have to still worry about my crazy  outdoor lab quiz for ornithology this Thursday. I hate how professors are allowed to give us graded assignments the week before finals. How do we get any time to start studying for finals when we have to worry about things that are due sooner? I don't get that train of thought whatsoever. And yes, I am stressing because I really want to do well in ornithology and hydrogeology, two major classes. And I would like an A in early modern philosophy, but with it being culmulative I don't know how much I will be able to retain for the final on the last day of exams. *sighs*

Thanks everyone for the luck this afternoon.

So the ballots were counted, for three people who all ran for two positions technically. But when it came down to the numbers we were all pretty close. Ann had one vote over Ruth and I. And since it was decided that doing a revote would be difficult to instigate, it was decided that there will be 3 co-presidents. So I guess yay? Of course!

When the new board meets, we will probably discuss distribution of duties among the 3 presidents, maybe have two VPs since we don't have any VPs, and one official "CEO" That is up in the air.

Wish me luck!

Elections for ASA Exec Board are this afternoon, and I am running for Co-President.

I have to make my mother's sent recommendation true since she thought I was already elected Co-President.

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random... Read More”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

What to write. It's been a month since I have written here. The month of November is such a tough month since it is when all the professors decide to put heavy emphasis on grades and therefore students are forced to hunker down and actually study for hours on hours. I just can't wait for this week since finals are next week and I have so much to do. Especially since my first two exams are next Monday and Tuesday. And I can't forget the 2 projects and 1 paper due before I leave for Winter Break. I so need Winter Break.

I had a lot of fun in November at school. Wrote that crazy paper on Tysons Corner until about 3 AM the night before it was due. Not that it really mattered since I didn't have the class at 9 AM, so I just slept in and went to the gym before my 1 PM class. Oh Taste of Asia happened as well. I had fun putting up decorations and being part of the fashion show. There may be some pictures of me on Facebook in the red Chinese dress I wore for the show. I don't know, I didn't take any pictures, so I have to rely on other members of ASA that did have their cameras. But as most of you know I really don't like having my picture taken. The day after Taste of Asia, I attended the bhangra dance competition with some friends that evening. Had so much fun watching the amazing dancing as well as dancing myself. Though I really don't think I should be dancing since I look like a flailing fish half the time ^o^ No rhythm whatsoever in my dance movements. But when you're with a group of people, why should you care? We all can look like idiots. I was amused that same night when I walked up to one of the dancers from William and Mary and asked if he was Korean. I was just watching him the whole time trying to figure out what ethnicity he was since he looked somewhat out of place among the other dancers. He was Korean and cute. ^o^ He prolly thought I was some crazy person, but whatever, I had to satisfy my curiosity. 

Beyond that. Thanksgiving happened. The day itself was sorta dramatic since my mum and I got into a big argument over me overseasoning the asparagus dish with the wrong kind of black pepper. Though I think the whole fiasco was on her part and the fact that she gets all anxious on holidays and  therefore blows every little mistake out of proportion. Definitely ridiculous. But I think she and I made it up by going shopping on Black Friday the next day. She bought me a nice cardigan from Macys. Black Friday was amazingly not that crowded. And I got some decent stuff for a good price, but I got a lot of it online from Amazon.com as well. Now I am back on campus getting ready to not stress for the next two weeks before Winter Break. I plan to eat a lot of apples and drink a lot of day and start studying for finals and working on my several projects and the paper.

The big ass contest starts in a few days. And already I am trying not to get too bogged down by the massive annotated bibliography and outline due for my Nature of Cities paper on the Tysons Corner project. But thankfully it's almost done, and I think there will be some minor changes in the end to do. Thank god, I plan ahead, else I would be dying this week otherwise. So me, and National Writing Month. I don't do outlines. I just think of some ideas and thats it. And the only idea I have so far is the character's name (Gabriel Nouvou- I was inspired by watching the really bad movie, Van Helsing, but hey it has Hugh Jackman and he's gorgeous) and he is works in a dead office job and the narrative is third person omnipresent (perspective if it were a god speaking) that predicts that he will soon receive a great change in his dead end life. And that is my story so far. I just need to write 4 pages of it throughout the  month of Nov as well as write that Cities RP.

 
If anything, I am so glad I don't have any exams today. We had two fire drills this morning, one at 5 and one at 7. And thank god we passed them both, and now that is left is the late afternoon/evening one, which I missed due to work. And we failed because people weren't signed in. Oh, and then just as my roommate and I were trying to get some sleep after the first fire drill our phones get a message from the emergency alert system saying that a female student had been sexually assaulted on the 3rd level in the parking garage. If anything, I wouldn't be near that parking garage late at night, it's creepy.

But I am so tired. And I expect to be until Wednesday of next week. Until then I have to study for two tests, complete 2 projects and find 4 resources for my research proposal in plant ecology. So no fun stuff, no life weekend for me. *sighs* I think the high point today is that I am going to spend some quality hours playing Wii Mario Cart with Caroline since she wants to de-stress after her Italian exam today. And I just want to get my Wii Mario Cart hours in. LOL. I got into it last Monday when I played it for a few hours. Am pretty good at some course, bad at others, and both of us were really bad at the space one.

I think K and I are at a better understanding. We had a decent conversation mocking Palin at her debate last night and as well discussing the domestic oil issue that her bf (who was on webcam) disagreed on. But you know, everyone has an opinion, but it's not always the right one until you have actual facts to back it. And then today's fire drills had us both annoyed and cold until we got back into the room and under the nice warm blankets.

In my last post, I put selfishness in the same category as evil. And you know, just reading the comment to it, I know that they're not the same. But I have always disliked people who are selfish. But that is me being hypocritical because I am just as selfish on some things. I still don't like people who have enough power and money in the world, and yet they can't seem to use those resources for those who don't even have anything. That is why I feel selfish living in this country.  And I am a bit annoyed at a friend of mine. He's not willing to curb his luxuries in life to help provide for those who are below the poverty line in this country. That is why when I graduate from college, I am not going to find a job or go to grad school. I am going to go help those who need help, who don't have food on their plate everyday. Thats what make life worth living sometimes, knowing that you're helping somebody else who is needy more so then you.

community.livejournal.com/environment/837880.html posted by gravitty on the environment community. It's pretty amusing

Slightly panicky right now. Most of you would tell me this is needless worrying and stress. But I am going to freak out anyways since I am all worried about my first test of the semester and it's in Plant Ecology. And then afterwards, I will have to stress out about the crazy GIS project due tomorrow and the program is not being cooperative with the data I am using. In addition, I will have to catch up on the missed reading for my cities class for the week. And think about the paper topic I would like to do for the research paper, which is the final project for the class. So yeah, 4th week into my junior year, and the ball has started to roll at full speed for this semester. Best make sure I have a lot of chocolate and snacks because I get the feeling this is only the beginning, and who knows what else will happen along this ride.

So I am taking an art class this semester. To be exact it is a 2-D design course. Now that first thing that comes up whenever I mention it as a 2-D design class is that is this class a drawing one? I WISH! Unfortunately, this class is taught by a sculpture artist and therefore our designs are not drawn on paper, but are instead cut from a paper material and then glued down on a tougher material. And I hate cutting things out of paper. I can't draw straight lines and I know for a fact I can't even cut things in a straight line whether they be with scissors or a knife. I have tried and I can't. And that is one of many reasons I don't like art cutting projects. And of course when I got my projects back to day for a grade, the teacher gives the one I put more effort into a worse grade for it's clutter and uneven cutting than the other one which I did literally the night before for an hour. So I am bit pissed. And as well she thought my name was Cynthia. But I can't give her much fault since I just put my first initial and last name on the back of the work. Add to the fact that I don't think art should be graded. I think we should be graded for the effort we put into it and how well it matches the teacher's criteria. Well at least I know she doesn't like cluttered projects, so next time mine's going to be simple and have more white space. We're on to doing the second part of the project and I have to turn one of my 2-D designs into a 3-D one. Wish me luck. 'Cause if anything I don't like drawing or cutting 3-D shapes, they're such a bother.

Well this is what the pink photoboard looks like in my room hung by two two wire hooks dangling from two command hooks just over my desk.  As you can see I just covered the board with pictures. And then it's surrounded by many pretty calendar pictures of flowers. I used two of the blue boards as well. I will do the same to the peach one at home once I get the opportunity to. I am so tempted to complete another large one. Maybe I will do that Winter Break. They are so much fun to do. And I have so many pictures I want to show off.

I had the greatest opportunity offered to me today. It wasn't money they offered me or the number of hours a week (though they were only a few). It was just the opportunity to work as a lab aide with the Biology department taking care of the research mice, and the greenhouse as well as helping my advisor with his plant ecology research (I am in his class this semester.) And OMG, I would have loved this opportunity, it would have been great just working 4 hours a week cleaning and feeding the mice, watering and taking general care of the plants in the greenhouse and doing whatever Dr. Griffith needed of me for the plant research. But stupid beaurucratic red tape had to throw it's ugly face in mine and say that I can't work two jobs on campus.  I would so do the lab aide for free if it were possible. I would loved to be with the animals, just being in the Jepson greenhouse among all the plants, and helping do research in a field that is interesting to me. I just wanted the damn experience and I had to hit a brick wall. One step from the opportunity of a lifetime practically. I am so disappointed. And so frustrated with the University. Like I said, I would have done it for free, but the University wouldn't even allow that probably. Grr....stupid Dean of Students or whichever dean made that decision and his rule against a student having two jobs on campus. I could so handle the hours each week. Yet, the bad economy has to throw a damper on the opportunity as well. That was another reason given to me by the Financial Aid lady since there are very few opportunities on campus, for one student to have two would be unfair to others. And she definitely hinted that the one I have presently with Res Life is a much better deal. But not many students want to be a lab aide because the head of the bio department was obviously looking for somebody because he seemed pretty eager once I mentioned I was interested in the position. I really want to go stomp over to the Dean's office and tell him off or something about his stupid rule. But I know that won't do anything, except let me blow steam off at the dude.

One week into junior year of college, and already I am swamped by mountains of reading and assignments. Add that to a work schedule and the club activities, and friend time and I am one busy girl. So glad I don't have to worry about trying to fit in a relationship into this schedule. Already my friends are "complaining" that my schedule sucks. LOL.

I am enjoying all my classes. Though I think the one I enjoy the most so far is my 2D design principles class. This is my first art class ever in like 5 or 6 years since I didn't take any at Madeira. And it's definitely a breath of fresh air from the stuffiness and logic mindedness in the science and math courses of the last two years. First project is to design a bilateral design and an asymmetrical design. For the bilateral design, I was inspired by the organization of the cells of the ovary during fertilization. So yeah, it's sorta fun to be thinking of plants in a different way. For the asymmetry project, I am thinking of doing the V formation of migrating birds, and then have a lone bird behind the flock trying to catch up. The design has to be relatively simple since the only materials we can use are glue, white piece of paper and black construction paper and scissors. And eventually we will have to turn one of the 2D designs into a 3D one.

I am taking two geography courses as well as a plant ecology course and an Intro GIS class. This semester is really more about the environmental science major, so I am definitely getting a different perspective on ecology and the environment. The geography courses are definitely giving me a different view on how anthropogenic actions affect nature socially, which is definitely something I am interested in since I want to be an urban planner. The Nature of Cities class and the Intro Planning class go so well together since planners design the cities, and many of the authors for the Cities class talk about how cities are organized and how the actions of the residents can affect the environment around the city, and how some cities are changing in organization; it's a very social-environmental kind of view. The GIS class is more computer oriented, sorta like the computer course I need to know in general. I can't wait to be making my own GIS maps and using the data for something. GIS is something that a lot of employers want from what I have seen in a lot of job descriptions. And the plant ecology (otherwise referred to as PEco by myself 'cause the formal title is too long), is what I was interested in the first place when I started the biology major, so I hope I enjoy this course. After taking intro ecology with this professor, I should have known that he would emphasize scientific method and detailed data interpretation, but I had forgotten until last week. Now, I know, and definitely will try to do better in this class since intro eco I didn't really understand what he was looking for in the descriptions and interpretations and was usually short on some of the necessay details he wanted.

All in all, it looks to be like a fun fall semester.

So I want to recap what has happened this week now that I am back on campus, and the first thing that comes to mind is the Gorillz song "Ghost Train" Not that it has anything to do with that song whatsoever, other than the fact that campus was pretty dead until the freshmen moved onto campus on Wednesday. So moving in, it was fun. Fun because my mom and I had a lot of stuff to unload, but luckily the only two residents of Madison offered to help us. Fun even more because the door security was still active, so we had to use our ID cards to get back into the hall every single trip, how very annoying.

And then I had like long hours of orientation for desk aides. I don't ever remember going through this last year, so it must have been a newly implemented idea for this year. And being a HDM(head desk manager), I learned that I have a lot more to do, but I find it relatively easy so far. Other than working with the regular schedule for several hours on some days. I still have to tweak it a bit since I have gotten feedback from my DAs that they need time to party on weekends and it's unfair to have them work those hours which keep them from the fun. Deal with it 'cause it's a job. I was a bit ticked about receiving two e-mails from the same person about that. But from the way I arranged it I think it looks pretty good. I wish that I didn't have to give everybody such late hours, but that is what residents voted on. So two days of orientation, filled with a lot of lecture, and instruction, team building activities and mock scenarios. The HR and AD (area director) seem pretty nice, I think I will enjoy working with them. And the RAs are decent folk. I have made some small talk with some of the residents, so I think it will be pretty fun. I sorta wonder what would have happened if I were not in Custis freshmen year. I would have liked to have been in a larger hall and met more people that way.

And then the freshmen moved in on Wednesday. I didn't help much with that since that was mostly volunteer based for us DAs if we wanted. Though I think they changed up the orientation activities because I didn't hear much noise around Ball Circle with all the crazy music and stuff unlike my freshmen year. It seemed like it was a pretty quiet affair. Even today there didn't seem to be much activity . But then again, I didn't do much myself these last 3 days, except be lazy and clean my room a bit. Which reminds me I probably should unpack the last few boxes and organize some stuff before my roommate moves in on Sunday with all the other upperclassmen.

I did happen to meet my roommate in person yesterday since she had come to campus to buy her textbooks. She's not much of a science person like my freshmen year roommates. And she definitely seems like the kinda person that will be having late night fun. I just hope she doesn't ruin my sleep or piss me off. Though she seems like a decent person from the first meeting.

And yet I am back to doing practically nothing, which is sort of sad since I don't really have any friends among the upperclassmen that are here. Though I do know some of them. It makes me sorta depressed, but the effort is too great to try sometimes. I have sorta given up trying to make friends. For now, I will be myself to others, and the world will still revolve. Soon enough, I will be busy with schoolwork and extracurriculars, and thats what I will bury myself in. College is what you make of it, and I have learned a lot about myself as well as the necessary material needed to to continue into a career. I may have not chosen the right college nor maybe I didn't try hard enough freshmen year with making friends, but those are the choices I made and I guess you can say that I am not really sitting on my laurels quite yet. I am almost done with my academic career and am happy with it so far. It's only the social side of my life which is lacking, and thus an area which I have been a lot of time and energy into, but with limited success. Therefore, I give up or at least not going to really try to put too much effort and enjoy the many acquaintances I have from time to time. Optimism can be a bitch sometimes.

I have Natalia to thank for the gorgeous blue fabric. It's really, really pretty and I enjoyed playing with it. The first one, from left to right, I am still debating as to whether or not to add a second border. One opinion is to leave it the way it is, since it's going to be covered with something anyways, like a calendar or pictures. For now, I think I will leave it as is at home. And thus I am officially done with my art project and have to continue packing for tomorrow.

The background is a bit darker than what the photo shows. And yes the ribbon has a checkered pattern on it. It's hard to see. This one sorta reminds me of a jester or to be more playful, Carnivale.

Well I am done with one of the photo boards. It's pretty girly with the sparkly pink fabric and silver ribbon across it, but hey, I am a girl, so who cares?


The fabric is quite reflective so it was hard to get a good shot. But you can see the fabric color and the brightness of the ribbon. The fabric actually has some silver speckles across it, so that probably adds to the reflectiveness of the fabric.

Now I have to do 3 more boards. One that is the same size as the pink one and two smaller ones. Should keep me busy for awhile, which is what I want.