santa barbara is for bloggers

sitting here in the library at uc santa barbara makes me really want to go back to gwu and have school again.

i'll explain: linda's at pep band practice right now, and i needed a way to kill 2 hours before she's released (i'm spending the night with her). i can't seem to get into contact with any of the (what i thought was a) limitless number of friends who go here, so until she's done i'm using the computers at their library.

i know that everybody says that ucsb students and gwu students have wildly different college experiences, but right now, i'd disagree. the insides of the buildings look pretty much the same (the library, the classrooms, the bookstore). in fact, some of the exteriors look similar as well (ucsb's south hall looks remarkably similar to gwu's academic center). the students have the same douchebag attitudes here, too (the only exception being that the guys here at ucsb are way hotter). i think gw kids are still richer, though.

whenever i come to ucsb, i question why on earth i went to gw over here. it's truly beautiful here. for those who don't know, the school is basically built on the ocean. despite it being the middle of january, the weather here is wonderful. linda's here. and all this for a much lower price than what i pay in order to go to gwu.

however, after thinking about it for a while, i remember why i like gw so much. the school itself might not be much to speak of, but the city of washington is a great place to be! i love being able to go shopping, to clubs, to museums, and to restaurants; better yet, i can take the metro to all of these. and even though there's no one quite like linda, i've still managed to make some great friends (jo, joe, amanda, peter...) in washington as well. and even though it makes it difficult to get between the two, the distance between home and gw is sometimes much appreciated.

bottom line: i wouldn't be half the person i am right now if i hadn't chosen to go to gwu. not that gw has been especially helpful in any of my recent accomplishments, but the situation that gw put me in has certainly been a catalyst in my life.

other somewhat interesting happenings in my life:

• i've virtually decided on a course schedule for this semester. still not sure about taking dance, though. as the only class on my otherwise free friday, it has the great potential to be the first to be dropped.
• my (well, my brother's) car is out of the shop, and i'm down several hundred dollars as a result. i made myself feel better about yesteday by dropping another $100 on clothes at the mall.
  
• i'm not starting my internship until january 22. thank goodness, because i have so much to do when i get back to dc that i'll need that week to acclamate myself back to my dc way of life. (it's at a non-profit organization called earth share. another environmentalist group, i know, but this one has a focus closer to what i'm interested in, which is political fundraising.)
• i realized that this is the longest i've been in california since i moved out of it (4 weeks). counting thanksgiving, i've been in california for 5 of the past 7 weeks. i need to stop this. i don't know what the heck i'm going to do when the spring semester ends.
• i'm sleepy.

i'm going to find linda now. her pep band practice is almost over.

i'm a blob

i managed to pass another day by not doing anything. well, i caught up on a couple of e-mails i needed to send out, but other than that most of my day was spent on facebook or watching the eagles-vikings game (i wound up rooting for the eagles out of contempt for a former flame of mine, who just so happened to be a diehard vikings fan).

i spent most of this weekend trying to figure out what i should major in. in the end, i've decided to remain a public policy major. after doing some research, it seems that, while it's not out of the realm of possibility to become a city planner with a b.a. in public policy, it's much more difficult to procure employment in other fields with a b.a. in geography. hence, i'm sticking with public policy.

now all i've got to do is finalize my schedule for this upcoming semester. i've resolved to complete that task by the end of tomorrow. (anybody know of some worthwhile courses i can take?)

considering moving my semester of study abroad up to fall 2009, which according to uct's academic calendar means i'd be gone from july to november. that means i have to work on my focus on fall abroad application this week. i'm trying to determine whether my feelings that fall 2009 is "too soon" are genuine or based on my genuine nervousness about going.

no new news on the job front, as the organization that i want to work for (the one in silver spring) was supposed to call me last week with regards to whether i got the internship, and they never did. i guess this means i'll be working for the one in bethesda (which already offered me a position, albeit less paying). i also responded to some employment opportunity ads on craigslist today, although i'm not expecting anything to come from them. (yvette mentioned something about caribou's district manager wanting me to come back on board, but i haven't heard anything since.)

i also need to work on my applications for the ihs and perc seminars, although since i discovered that the ihs seminar that i was interested in actually takes place in august and not june (as i'd thought), i need to figure out what i'm going to do about that. need to contact ex-professors for rec letters for perc as well.

i miss how on xanga it would tell you how many people had read a particular blog entry. now it's hard for me to gage the readership of this blog, since nobody ever leaves me comments, although i do get a kick out of it when somebody references my blog in the real (that is, the non-internet) world.

i guess i'll go to bed now.

is south africa "finger lickin' good" at equality?

i've been trying to work up the energy to write a new blog entry for a couple of days now, but every time i sit down to the computer i feel like being completely useless and click on random buttons on wikipedia/facebook.

i thought i could score myself an easy #1 for my 101 things in 1001 days challenge on new year's by having my first "real" kiss (that is, one with an actual boy) at the stroke of midnight. unfortunately, his brother popped up around 11:59, and no one kissed anyone else at that party anyway so it would have been awkward if he and i had. long story short, this challenge is going to be harder than i thought.

spent some more time over these past few days researching studying abroad. the rents (even mom, surprisingly) are actually on board with me going off to south africa, but they seemed a little anxious about the de facto social situation post-apartheid. in response, i did a little research, which led me to finding these videos on youtube:



this virgin mobile commercial (advert, in south african english) characterizes the black man as the one in power when the recently deceased white man reaches heaven, seemingly answering to him. i think this exemplifies an interesting role reversal following the severely white-dominated society in south africa throughout the apartheid.

to this, i thought: "how nice of the commercial actors of south africa to be acting in accordance with the country's new pro-equality legislation." however, unsure of whether this applies to the public in its entirety, i pushed on.



what's notable about this coca-cola commercial is the young man referencing his enrollment in university. during apartheid, blacks were all but completely banned from attending universities and other first-rate educational institutions, citing the reason as that since blacks are bound to take up working class jobs, it would be a "waste of an education" to provide them with first-rate academia. (looking for a proper citation for that quote.)

the university of cape town serves an integral role in the equality-based post-apartheid society with its equal racial distribution of students. (i'm definitely against affirmative action, but in south africa's case, this is more than worthy of praise.)

however, it wasn't until this commercial that i truly felt confident in the notion of fairness in south africa:



now, i can't even begin to understand this kfc commercial. why does the black man in the luxury sedan give the white street musician the sandwich? are they married? that would explain the love notes that the white man posts. if that's the case, why is one of them on the street while the other drives the nice car? and in any case, why doesn't the black man share his kfc with the white man? how does this commercial make me want to buy kfc any more? and most importantly, why in the world does kfc exist in south africa?

bottom line: if a corporation as slimy as kfc is willing to air a commercial that depicts such fairness for blacks, then it must be true and de facto in south african society.

101 things in 1001 days

from: Susan Wiley
to: Michael Ross
cc: Robert Stoker
subject: RE: PSC 124

Dear Michael,

The Bulletin is clear about pre-requisite courses and PSC 002 is a pre-requisite to all 100 level Group B, American Politics, PSC classes. I am copying Professor Stoker, the instructor for that section of PSC 124. Only the professor can over-ride the pre-requisite requirement. This decision cannot be made by the Dean or by me as undergraduuate advisor. Have you already contacted Professor Stoker?

Regards,
Professor Wiley

∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙

interestingly enough, the office of the registrar e-mailed me saying that the dean can, in fact, override that prerequisite requirement.

i've spent a lot of time this break thinking about my academic future. i am really interested in becoming an urban planner, but after talking to some professionals in the field about it, i'm not so sure that a bachelor's in public policy will help me achieve that goal. ideally, i should be getting my degree in city planning — but since gw does not have such a department, my next best bet is a bachelor's in geography. however, i've never taken any geography courses. so, i need to decide: should i switch over to geography now, or try taking an introductory course to see if i really like it?

the former of those options is the only way for me to achieve my degree in geography and still graduate when i want to (may 2010). but i am concerned by the apparent lack of employment opportunities for geography majors post-college (other than for urban planners). futhermore, i'm not so sure that i still want to graduate at such an accelerated pace; in fact, i'm contemplating studying abroad.


this is the university of cape town, the oldest university in south africa, the top-rated university on the continent of africa, and the possible future site of my study abroad.

i've wanted to go to uct for as long as i can remember. when i was thinking of leaving gwu after the fall 2007 semester, i considered spending a semester there. even though i ultimately decided to stay at gw, i have thought about it on and off, but dismissed it for several factors (money, the rents' concerns, desire to graduate early, fear of missing my friends, etc.). however, i'm now realizing that nearly all of my close friends will be studying abroad next year, so it looks like i'll be missing them one way or another. and money isn't an issue ever since the office of study abroad started waving a tantalizing scholarship offer in my face. the rents are even encouraging me to look into the semester at uct program.

but most importantly, i no longer feel in a hurry to graduate early. i realize how many options and opportunities are in front of me, but once i actually select them, other doors will obviously close for me. moreover, i keep on resolving to not take courses i'm actually interested in for fear of not being able to graduate in may 2010. (thus, my absolute misery in my courses this semester.) such a decision might indicate a lack of astuteness with regards to finances (as well as a delay in starting my career) on my part, but i'm tired of stressing myself out to get into psc 124. i bet the public policy courses at uct are more interesting, anyway! :)

speaking of my classes this past semester, i know i've mentioned in this and previous entries my disappointment in how 2008 transpired. from boy drama to agonizing classes to disappointing friends to a plethora of money woes, 2008 can go down as one of the worst years so far in my life. however, instead of trying to curtail this misery via meaningless new year's resolutions, i'm taking a hint from live journal (i know, shoot me) and am taking this challenge:


this is the 101 things in 1001 days challenge. starting at the stroke of midnight, it is my mission to do 101 things that i wouldn't normally do, that are seemingly extrordinary, and/or that i have never done before. however, rather than compose a list of 101 things and try to accomplish them (which leads to disappointment after not completing them), i'm merely using this challenge as a motivator to seize the day. these things can be geographical (example: travel to london), physical (example: go skiing), academic (example: obtain my bachelor's degree), emotional (example: make a new best friend), intellectual (example: learn french), job-related, family-related, god-related, or anything else of the sort.

however, there are a few restrictions. i can't use repeats to complete my list, i can't use daily activities that i've been doing since 2008 or before, and most importantly, i can't use things that negatively affect my life. other than that, this list is all about carpe diem and come what may.

in order to complete this list on time, on average, i must do one thing every 9.91 days. this project will be complete on september 29, 2011. good grief, i will be 22 by then!

wish me luck! let me know if you have any ideas of things for me to do, or better yet, let me know if you want to join me!