Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

So much to be thankful for on this blessed day :)

Listen Up

There's this thing that you do. You write x amount of statements to x amount of people and you don't say which one belongs to who and hopefully they will read it and know who you are talking about. I know most of the people that I want to read this won't, but oh well.

1. I don't hate you. It's not in me to hate. I just really dislike you. A lot. And the more time that goes by the more I wonder if I meant anything to you at all as a friend.

2. I'm not obsessed. I just am fascinated, and so I try to learn more. Sorry if it comes off the wrong way. And I am funny.

3. I'm still trying to figure you out. For the most part, you're cool peoples.

4. Trust me. I know.

5. People go their separate ways I guess. I just figured we'd be going the same way. Guess I was wrong. Have a nice life.

6. You're cute. But you're not that cute, so I probably won't be talking to you ever again. Oh well, it's for the best. We weren't really friends anyway, I was just a classmate. You made that pretty obvious over the last year.

7. The phone works both ways. IM works both ways.

8. Happy Birthday!! Hope you had a great time. :)

Wow I feel like I got a lot off my chest. LOL.

This past week's events

There is so much to write about since I last wrote. Starting with last Saturday things had been really rough. I caught some kind of stomach virus or food poisoning last week and was sick all day. I could hardly make it out of bed. My mom had to come get me and take me home. I had to cancel plans to study and plans to see a movie with friends. Sunday morning I was still feeling icky but I was ok. Monday morning I was not feeling well enough to go to class. I stayed home and took some more medicine and laid down. I was stressing out too because I had a night class that I couldn't miss (I had already missed 1.5 - 0.5 for an info session and 1 for being in Austin), I had two tests that coming Tuesday, and a major exam on Wednesday. I had planned to do a lot of studying on Saturday but when I wasn't feeling well it was the least of my concerns. So on Monday, even when I started to feel better, I knew that there was no way I could make up for lost time and get those hours back. I forced myself to study for Tuesday's test Monday night and I read for the test on Wednesday. I didn't get to study too much for the other test that I would be having on Tuesday so I tried by studying in the day but I knew that a couple of hours would not cut it. I pretty much gave up abou 30 minutes before my first exam (in the other class) and said that I would skip the test and take the makeup, rather than fail. I took the first test (it didn't go all that great, but that was the consensus so I'm not too worried about it right now) and I planned to grab some food then study for my Wednesday test. I got a phone call (thanks SE) telling me that the exam had been postponed. I was sooooooo relieved. You do not understand. And I physically started to feel better (so maybe it was a little stress I was feeling too). God is Awesome. He just seemed to make things work for me. And now I have a second chance. So after that I was pretty optimistic about everything else. The test on Wednesday went alright.

And that pretty much brings me here. Tonight I went out to celebrate Tejals Birthday (Happy Birthday Tejal!!). I had a blast. And it was fun meeting her friends. I think it's so cute how guys look out for everyone in the group. And even though I wasn't their crew they made me feel welcome.

Amazing how a rocky path can turn and become so smooth and soothing, ay? Have a great night guys. ~

P.S. Anyone can leave comments. You don't have to be a blogger.

oy

thoughts on paper. too many running through head. so much to do. so little time. i vote for a 26 hour day. who's with me? homeworks due on monday. and on tuesday. 2 tests on tuesday. 1 test on wednesday. can't wait till friday. then the weekend. hopefully i'll be feeling better than i did this weekend. saturday was horrible. stomach virus, i think. feeling ok now. not 100 percent. i was supposed to see the movie ray but had to cancel. oh well. thoughts on paper. too many running thorugh head. so much to do. adieu adieu. goodnight.

Austin, Texas

Yeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwwwww!! I just got back from Austin, Texas, where I enjoyed a nice seventy degree weathered weekend. Friday morning (near the crack of dawn) I made my way to the train station to catch a train to the airport. Seven of us were traveling to a conference. Our first flight took us to Detroit, Michigan. I had never been to Detroit before but I didn't get to leave the gate so I didn't see too much. From Detroit we left for Austin. Once we landed in Austin we took a shuttle to our hotel and proceeded to settle in. We didn't fly all the way to Austin to unpack so it wasn't soon after that we made our way out. We stayed at the Radisson Hotel by Congress and Cesar Chavez Streets (I have no problem giving details AFTER the fact, for those crazy stalkers out there). We were in the heart of downtown. We walked around in awe of all the things Austinite. The hot spot appeared to be Sixth Street where there were a lot of shops and bars and clubs. We found a place to eat that looked local (we didn't fly all the way to Austin to eat at a chain restaurant). I think it was called Paradise. I had the bbq chicken taco. Let me just say - yummmmmm. So we had good food. And now for the night life. We packed so much into three days that it is all being merged but I think I'm remembering it correctly.

One of us knew some people from the other school (am I being suble in leaving out names?) and we met up with them. We all went out to a bar (minus one who wasn't feeling well and two underage ppl). Jess and I aren't into the bar scene too much so we chilled with the crew for about an hour and then were on our way to shake our grooves in Austin. We had asked around earlier in the day of places to go. We found this club called Paradox on 5th and Trinity. They played hip-hop music. There was no cover until 11pm so we had about an hour before then to roam. We went to Exodus on 6th street but it was kinda lame because no one was dancing. We had a blast taking up the whole dance floor, figuring - we are in Austin, we don't know these people, we'll probably never see them again, we can have a blast. So around 10:45pm we head back to Paradox and stay there for the rest of the night. The rest of our crew went bar hopping. We get a call from the bar hoppers at like 12:30am saying they were back at the hotel. I was surprised that they beat us home. After that we had like two more dances and walked back to the hotel.

Saturday morning at about 9am (yeah this may be a long entry) we had to register for the conferece. We got there and there is a welcoming ceremony at 10am. During the ceremony they give us bingo cards that we are supposed to fill out with student signatures from other schools (forcing us to network). Later, they would have a drawing at the party that night. We had a "break" and we went out on the town just checking it out some more and findind a local lunch place. I forget the name of the place but they have this huge buffet for a really high price; and if you look towards your left, all the way in the corner, there was the salad buffet with a variety of lettuces and topping to choose from. Don't mind my sarcasm, it was actually good. We met up with those people from the other school again. They were funny. Break over, we headed back to the conference to attend some workshops. I went to the "Tips after graduation sucess" and "Graduate School" workshops. I thought the workshops were very informative and I met some other students with the same goals in mind. I had a good time meeting lots of people from around the country. After the workshops we were all pretty beat and headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Around 6pm there was a Bash sponsored by the conference at Buffolo Billiard's on sixth street. They fed us fajitas and opened the place up for pool playing, darts, and what have you. I played pool with another member of our group against guys from the University of Alabama. Boy did we suck. They were holding back laughter. After the game was over I wanted to play again but I didn't want to make them endure us playing. So went over to the other side. We found an empty table and played there. Around 9pm Jess and I headed back to the hotel to change and check out the club arena again.

We sure looked cute - me in my red pants ( I love those pants) and brown boots, Jess in her sparkly top and earings. We tried this place called Cuba Libre but it was an older crowd and the dance floor was all of two inches. Treasure Island, the Vibe, Spills, and all the other places did not meet up on our clubmeter. We ended back up at Exodus. We met some guys from Waco, Texas who danced with us. The guy told me he was a truck driver. His best friend was crazy with the dance moves. But they were a lot of fun (very polite; he didn't get mad when I moved his hands off {I like my space}). After dancing the night away we decided to meet back up with the crew. I called the one guy and I couldn't hear a word he said. Then I called the other guy and I heard "blah blah blah billard place blah blah" and so we went back to Buffalo Billiard's. They were on top of the balcony. One member of our crew was at some goth place. The rest were here with us. They were definitely out of it. I keenly remembering Mr. I don't dance "Leaning back" a few times. Haha (inside joke). And the two underagers had stayed there since the bash and so they got to have fun too.

So we were maddddddd tired when we had to wake up for the competition. We raced our car against other schools in the nation. The first run wasn't so bad, but our propeller got stuck and hit the floor (otherwise, it would have gone further). The second run, the reactor blew out for some reason. It's a longer story but I don't feel like writing about it. It's a shame that we didn't get to show our full potential of the car but I'm proud of our team. Good job!!

Oh and Luly came down to Austin to see us. It was great because Jess and I hadn't seen here in like 4 months. Thanks for coming Luly, hope you had a blast. And we (us, her, and her parents) drove around Austin sightseeing. We got to see the University of Texas for a couple of minutes.

The most exciting thing on Sunday was the competition. I got some souvenoirs and there was a networking night as the last event. We hung out with those people from the other school at the Friday's below the hotel (we were the last people before the kitchen closed - thanks Lenny) and of course, most of us had bbq ribs. LOL. The late dinner was fun and I got to know some more of the people from that group.

Monday morning we pretty much just checked out and went to the airport. We flew from Ausitn to Houston then back here. The plane got back at around 8:45pm and we ran to catch the train. Obviously we made it back safely. So this will probably be all that I write for a while. I am busy making up work that I missed. But I had a good time in Texas, as always.

Goodnight ya'll. Yehaww! :)

Civic Duty

I exercised my civic duty today guys. I was so proud walking to the polls to make my voice heard. You heard it - I voted. I have been encouraging my peers to vote because college students are the most underrepresnted bodies when it comes to politics. It is hard to stay abreast of current affairs when you have current midterms and finals but it is nonetheless an important aspect of being part of a society. Yes there are things that are not right within the political realm and so much read tape but it can only be fixed if people try. And it is not just the powerful upperclass that should have a say in what goes on; the middle class and lower class need to have some political input so that they are not just stringing along. So I have hope that things can get better. I have hope that the war will end and our troops will come back. I have hope that when I retire I will be able to use some of that 27% that they have been taking out of my paycheck. And I have hope that the gap between the top upper class and the bottom lower class will decrease (I'm learning about this in my sociology class). We are supposed to be a democracy but it's so capitalistic you really have to wonder which people are being looked out for. So take a stance. "If you do not stand for something, you will fall for anything" (I don't know who said that but it's not my quote).

Dancing

The night started off when I went to the Latin Heritage Dinner. I ate some food and learned about the Latin culture. It was very interesting. Then I saw a couple of dances. After the dance teams performed they got everyone up to dance. I danced with Sam, that was fun. It was like all the chemE's out there. I danced with Rafael and Greg too; and a little with Martin. It was a blast. So we were dancing and me and Jess were like this is fun. This is real fun. And we wanted to go dancing. But I thought that I shouldn't since I have so much work to do. So she practically had to twist my arm but I decided to go (Thanks Jess!!). I needed to dance off some stress from the week. We were going to go to Cuba Libre but then Raf called and told me they were all going to some other place in Kensington. We got lost (of course) but 30-40 minutes later we were twirling around on the dance floor. I had a great time (Thanks SHPE) and it was cool meeting some new people. So I am glad that I went out. Now I can fully devote my time to studying (after I get back from choir). Next week I'm going to the opera with Jazzy.

Happy Birthday to my boy Preston, who just turned 22!

Gre report

Well I took my GRE's Saturday morning. It was a long morning. First, I ended up staying up late on Friday to review vocabulary and lasting techniques to know. Of course I was unable to get a good night's rest, worrying about what one test could mean for my academic career. So I arose Saturday morning and prepared myself to depart the house. On my way out I grabbed my token - it was about 7:45pm. I thought to myself - by the time I walk to the train station and wait for the train it may be time to be there. So I decided to drive. I knew parking would be a problem because the longest meters downtown are 3 hour meters. I drove down and I found a "cheap" parking lot that had an early bird special if you were in before 10am.

So I park the car and walk over the testing center. The building where the testing center is located was being painted or fixed so I had to use the entrance on the other side that I came out. Then I walk into the lobby and I need to get the lower level. I see an elevator but there is no down button. I see this other girl and she asks me if I'm taking the GRE's and I tell her yes. Together, we begin looking for a way down. We finally see a map (there is no one to help you on Saturday) that tells us we need the East Elevators. Apparently, we are on the south side. We follow the signs to the East elevator and press the down button. It is not lighting up. We look around for stairs and do not see any. Finally I used the phone by the elevator and asked the person how to get downstairs. They tell me the stairs are located near some phone booths. Simulataneously, the girl sees the stairs. We begin heading down and another lost one joins our crowd.

Upon entering the room I was asked to sign up and fill out some paper. Then I anxiously awaited further instruction. Finally it is my turn. The person goes through the basic verification, takes a picture of me and gives me instructions. Then I go into a quiet room with about 15 cubes, each with it's own computer station. For the next four hours I was one with the computer.

I am happy to report that I did alright. I feel that my essays were pretty strong, and the GRE book that I had used, definitely helped me out. It was one of the greatest feelings in the world to walk out of there and be done with the test.

I then did a girl's favorite thing - shopping. I didn't actually buy anything (too long of a line) but I saw some great sales to go back to later. And I had myself a gordita at Taco Bell. For the rest of the night I read for school. Sunday the choir sings. I sitll have to read my sociology book.

But much thanks be to God because there is no way I could have done as well as I did by myself. Always remember that you didn't get where you are without help. I try not to worry about things because I know they will get done so I just need to keep my focus on doing my best and not worry about the details.

Wohoo

6:56 pm. UPS guy came. Wohoooooo!

UPS guy

So I am waiting for an important package. I am riding the Shuttle because I was a bit tired and it looked a bit rainy. Anyway we pass a UPS truck and I think to myself "Hmm. I am expecting a package." Then the thought occurs to me that the guy may have passed my house and then I'd have to go down to UPS to pick it up. So I get off at the street nearest to the truck and run for dear life. As I was a block away from the truck he starts to pull off. I'm like, forget it. There is no way I can catch up with it. It turns the corner and as I near it I see a flashing light. Yayyyyyy It was making another delivery. I catch up to the driver and ask him if he passed my address. He said there is another UPS guy doing that block and the block above me. I walk quickly to my house to see if there is that friendly note saying thatI missed the UPS delivery. There is none!! So I'm thinking that the guy will be stopping by momentarily. I can at least hope. I do have to go to choir but I can stick around for about 3o minutes more. So let's see what happens.

Things are getting hectic

Ayyyyyyyy. So things are getting a bit hectic around here. I have a quiz later today at 3pm, a quiz next tuesday, a quiz on Monday for sociology (the book I have yet to read). And I have my GRE's this Saturday so I really need to review and prepare for them. It's just overwhelming. I think I can hopefully use Wednesday to get some practice in. And I'm done Friday's homework for one class but oy I still have homework due for kinetics which I haven't started. This sucks. And it's already 12:33am right now so I will go to bed by 1pm hopefully and wake up tired and be tired all day and stay up all night trying to finish kinetics and then wake up dreadfully early for work on Thursday and this is the cycle. Then I have choir Thursday night so I really don't get a break. Oy. I think I will do some GRE stuff right now for like 20 minutes just to make myself feel that more prepared.

It's gettin hectic up in here, up in here.

Always Something

There seems to be always something to push you over the edge. So I go to CVS to get some stuff and park my car across the street. I put in two nickels and a dime, giving me 24 minutes. That had to be around 4:58pm. I come out of CVS only to find a ticket from 5:14pm. Now wait a minuite. 4:58 + 0:24 = 5:22. So how could my meter have expired at 5:14pm? So now I am not in that great of a mood. I don't want to pay it but to appeal it requires me to go to court and whatnot. This is ridiculous. But you know what? I'm not giving the city my money. I will appeal it. This is nonsense. Ughhhhhh. It has just been a tiring day. I have so much work to do and I've been taking care of my errands that I haven't done too much schoolwork. Already it's 6:23pm. Well . .I better get to doing something. Laters.

Day One

Okay. Well I finally decided to write a blog. It seems like everyone and their third cousin are shairng their thoughts so why shouldn't I join the ranks. Obviously if I'm going to have my friends reading this there won't be any juicy tidbits about what Frank did to Todd in the Quad the day the moon was blue. Rather, this will just be more about my thoughts on various topics. I will push the envelope and hopefully stir up some meaninful debates. I love to write. It is something that I am passionate about. There is so much expression in words. So much to articulate.

For those of you who have wondered on and don't know me to well I am a pretty reseved person. I don't really wil' out but I do occasionally get my party on. I appreciate people and I LOVE to talk - it ges me in trouble sometimes. I would love to read more for pleasure but there are a stack of textbooks eyeing me everyday that prevent that desire from happening. It would be awesome to be published and I do hope to write a book one day.

Besides writing I enjoy playing volleyball. I wish that I could play the violin and piano better than I currently can. But hey, I'm working on it. I enjoy going to Church and try to be more active. I believe that the least I can do is inform you of what I know and let you make your own decision. I do have strong opinions on certain subjects. I am not going to back down on them, but I will be respectful if your opinion differs.

I am big on school and gaining knowledge. I am in college currently so that is my full time job. Since it's my senior year of undergraduate the game face is on and I am head over heels in serious work. I have so many decisions to make that will impact the rest of my life. I probably won't disuss them on here but rather this will be more objective.

What do you know? That's an awfully long first entry. LOL.