Time Flies

Oh, blog.  I’ve neglected you…  Lo siento.  I’ll try not to let it happen again (read: it’ll probably happen again because lucky me, my internet at my house isn’t working).

Anyway…

This is my last semester of college…  That’s weird.  All this time, I’ve just been focusing on almost being done and getting out of school, but just recently, it hit me that this is my last semester of college.  There is no “spring semester.”  There is no “next year.”  Whatever I wanted to do while I was in college, I need to do now.  No more holding off.  No more procrastinating.  As our dear Gopher football team likes to say, “THE TIME IS NOW!”  So, for the next few months, I’m going to make it a point to do the following:

1. Visit/Study in my favorite place on campus* (which I won’t get to do once it gets cold because it’s outside).
2. Visit/Study in various coffee shops on and near campus.
3. Visit my old place of employment, Dunn Bros., and get half-off drinks.
4. Go to at least two Campus People Watchers events.
5. Go to church more and get more involved.
6. Go to West Bank and St. Paul at least one time each.
7. Successfully feed a squirrel.
8. Finish my Honors Thesis (though it would probably help somewhat if I actually started first).
9. Go to at least two concerts (on- and/or off-campus).
10. Go to Gophers After Dark at least once.
11. Go to the Rec Center at least three times.
12. Actually go to campus events and get lots of freebies.

I guess we’ll see how successful I am at accomplishing these things.  I’m sitting in Espresso Expose right now, so #2 is off to a good start.  And I was just at my favorite place on campus yesterday, so again, that’s another good start.

Anyway, Espresso Expose just started playing The Beatles, so I’m really distracted right now.  That’s okay though ’cause I think I’ll end this here and continue listening to The Beatles.

*more on that later

Where’s the mute button?

Every Tuesday and Thursday, I come in and work at my research lab here in good ol’ Elliott Hall. And just about every time I come in, I get the honor of listening to the girl working in the lab next door yak about all things her. No, seriously. She’s all about her and what a great person she is. And you know, that’s fine if you want to talk about that discretely to one or two other people, but to be frank, the girl has no concept of dynamics. She sits in the hallway with the other RA, drops a couple f-bombs and swear to Bobs, and talks on and on with no regard to her volume or the fact that people around her are trying to work or read/study or whatever.

It’s very annoying.

Now, it’s one thing if she was talking about something interesting. That I can handle and might actually enjoy. It’s another thing when all she talks about is herself and she gets super defensive if the conversation might put her in a bad light. And forgive me if I’m projecting my feelings of annoyance onto others, but I don’t think the other RAs like that she talks so much either. Today, for instance, the other RA was clearly trying to study for a class, yet Loud Girl kept on talking to her as if she was fully engrossed in the conversation, which by the look of Other RA’s facial expression, posture, and the fact that she was reading and not even looking at Loud Girl, she was not.

To give you a sense of what I have to listen to every Tuesday and Thursday, I have provided a few excerpts from Loud Girl’s conversations with the other RAs and… people who walk by and… the wall… Please enjoy.

My first day working the lab:
Guy: I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I stopped caring about people and having compassion for others.
Loud Girl: Really?! I am the complete opposite. I (pause) am probably the MOST compassionate person I know.

A couple weeks ago:
Girl: Was it hard to get an A in Intro Psych?
Loud Girl: Yeah. It’s so hard to get an A in that class. Like I had to–
Girl: Really? ‘Cause I got an A in that class and I thought it was pretty easy. But I dunno…
Loud Girl: Oh. Yeah. Well, it was easy for me. But for other people it was really hard…

Today, she was talking about how for Intro Psych she read every chapter twice:
Loud Girl: It’s probably good that I read every chapter twice because now, I have such greater knowledge of all areas of psychology.
*Note the super emphasis on the word “all.” Bold, italicized, and underlined. That was to capture the emphasis with which she put on that word and to capture the ensuing biggest and unrestrained eye roll that I ever did roll. Fo realz, yo. I’m pretty sure that eye roll took my head along with it.

And in no way am I trying to seriously hate on this girl nor do I have some private, internal vendetta against her. I just thought I’d blog about it and share some of the things I wish other people were around to hear. Plus, I think blogging about it has helped me make more light of the situation and turn something annoying into something somewhat humorous.

So, I’m sorry if I came off as complainin’ or hatin’. Sometimes I just like to write about these things and inject some humor into it, which helps me see things in a different [and less frustrating] perspective. It keeps my head from exploding too much.

And that’s always nice.

The Campus Connector

Where intimate connections are made.

Oh, the joys of public transportation.

Bus rides can be uncomfortable– oh so terribly uncomfortable. This morning, as a matter of fact, I found myself in a slightly compromising position whilst riding the Campus Connector to West Bank. 

As I got on the already crowded bus, I was forced to stand, sandwiched between two people while desperately trying to reach the bar overhead. Thankfully, this only lasted for a few minutes. When the bus reached the next stop, a handful of people got off and I was able to find a seat facing the aisle. Students quickly piled into the bus, and due to the position of my seat, I had no choice but to become acquainted with a male posterior that decided it wanted to get to know my face better. Great.

Unfortunately, the ride didn’t become any less awkward as we approached the next stop. Though more students got off at this stop, at least twice as many tried to get on. Bodies and backpacks shifted to accommodate everyone until the bus reached 3x maximum capacity, and when everyone stopped moving, I was somehow left in an awkward position that I had never encountered on the Campus Connector before:

I was straddling the leg of a strange man.

…

Yeah. I’m just going to leave it at that.

Yay for non-sexual, quasi-casual encounters on the Campus Connector…? No.

I’m ready for Starbucks again

Yesterday was the four-month anniversary of Mike’s and my breakup. Today marks one month after we had our talk on the front step of his house. And with that, I decided enough time had passed and that I was ready to go back to the Starbucks on Washington Ave.

Starbucks, for those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, is where Mike and I broke up. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to consume anything from Starbucks, much less pass by that specific Starbucks without feeling a wave of melancholy wash over me.

Yeah, I know. It sounds like I’m being way too dramatic about a stupid cafe, but as soon as I walked in, it just brought me back to that Sunday four months ago. I remembered where Mike and I stood as we tried to decide what to get. I remembered what we ordered, and I could see us sitting in the spot where it happened. The table and chairs had been moved, and in its place was a group of people standing, but the image of us sitting there was still fresh in my mind.

Sigh… I hope he’s doing okay. I really do. I want him to be happy and to make good decisions in college…

Anyway! Classes started on Tuesday, meaning I am officially a sophomore. Yay? Actually, I liked being a freshman. It gave me an excuse to be clueless. Plus, freshmen are hotter than sophomores. JK. I don’t know why I said that…

I also moved in to my new apartment. It’s spiffy! Yeah, I miss having my own space and not having to worry about other people, but hopefully living with my sister and her [somewhat high-maintenance] friend won’t be too bad.

Well, I should probably go and be more productive with my time…

And they lived happily ever after…

Not.

It’s strange how so many things are coming to an end. Like most normal people, I want things to end on a good note. With my luck, however, I don’t know if that’s possible. This past week was finals week, and with the conclusion of my last final tomorrow from 8-10am, I will be done with my first year of college. Sounds simple, right? Well, right before finals, I got sick. Like hacking-up-a-lung, sneezing-my-brain-out, let’s-stay-in-bed-all-day sick. To make matters worse (or more stressful), getting the grades I want depends on these finals. It’s not like I was doing well enough that I could afford to lose a few points. Not to mention I completely forgot to go to my oral interview for Japanese. And worst of all…

Mike and I broke up.

On Sunday, May 6, 2007. Our 11-month anniversary. The day before the first day of finals. The day before my Psych. exam. The night I was going to give him the third best night of his life… I guess it wasn’t a bad breakup. He and I still want to be friends. I just wish we could still be more than that… He just didn’t think he could be in a long-distance relationship when he goes off to college next year. Whatever. 3 hours and 22 minutes is not that far… And since he had already made up his mind, he thought he shouldn’t wait until the end of the summer to call it quits. As nice of a gesture that is, I kind of wished that he at least gave it part of the summer to think things through. I had all these plans for us, and I really wanted to spend the summer together doing cute couple-y things, but now… Shit. And I didn’t have plans just for the summer. I saw us lasting up into the school year. I saw things working out despite the distance…

Okay, I can’t talk about Mike anymore. I’ll probably bring him up again later.

You know, these endings actually weren’t too bad. I mean, I was able to make up my oral interview, and my exams so far haven’t been terrible… And with Mike, well, I have faith that we’ll still be friends and a part of each other’s lives. And who knows? Maybe there’s a chance that we’ll get back together…? *prays*

Still, too many things are coming to an end. I guess that’s why I wanted to start something new. Like this blog. Sure, I could’ve just written in my xanga, which I haven’t touched in months, but I like how this one feels. It feels more mature, more private, more new and… shiny! JK.

I’m really glad I started this. I used to write a lot, but for some reason I stopped. I figured I should start up again. Writing is a good outlet for me. And as my friend Luke* mentioned, maybe having a new blog about my life will inspire me to make my life more interesting. That way, I won’t have to lie and stuff… We’ll see how that turns out.

-Rachel

*Names have been changed.