A Letter To School

Dear School,

Although I dread you when every break comes to a close, I do have a special kind of love for you. You make my life very difficult at times, but I know in the long run you are what will be best for me. So why is it that every year I try to do really well you just get harder? You know I have a life besides just you. You know I have family, sorority, work, friends, boyfriend, and many other obligations. Why must you insist on making all those things so much harder to keep up with when I try to keep up with you? Perhaps it is because you know I will never just quit, no matter how hard it gets, or how many unsatisfactory grades I get, you know that I do not think quitting is an option. As the semester draws to an end you have loaded my life with assignments. Some easier than others and some so difficult and time consuming that classes end up being skipped in order to finish work from a different class. This semester I have had a huge paper in every class. It was my goal to get off of my sorority's academic monitoring and raise my grades this semester, but the way it is looking now is that I will not reach my goal and instead my grades will drop and I will be on academic probation. I know this is not for certain, but it is what I fear for this semester. That will not make me give up. However, School, next semester could you please just be a tiny easier on me? I want to do well, and I also want to have a life outside of you. You know that I enjoy you the first month of so when you start, but after that things just get so difficult. Isn't it more fun when I enjoy you? So please School, think about this for next semester, go a little easier on me when I am struggling to juggle everything in my life and you.

Much love,

Kristi

Words of the Week:

corroborate

: to support with evidence or authority : make more certain.

conscientious

: governed by or conforming to the dictates of conscience.

Island Time!

I am on the beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii. I got here Saturday around noon island time. My dad took me for my birthday present and it has been just fabulous! Saturday we got all settled in, checked out the hotel area, and then found the International Market place. This is my third time to Hawaii so I kind of know my way around, but it has been fun to explore. We went to eat at a restaurant in the hotel and I had what I thought was an amazing Ceaser salad. Little did I know later that night that I would get food poisoning! The rest of Saturday night and all of Sunday I was vomiting in the bathroom of the hotel room. It was awful! Fortunately, by Monday I was fine and ready do go to the beach and so some shopping. My dad has been having fun getting me to try lots of different drinks because I am finally 21. Today I tanned by the pool for almost three hours and then explored a little bit and found a Vietnamese restaurant because I was craving pho. Tomorrow my father and I are going to rent a car and visit the North Shore. I am hoping to get a little more tan because before I left I bragged to everyone and said I was going to get all tan while I was away, but since I was sick Sunday I lost a day of tanning. It has been a really great break, but as soon as I get back it is going to be time for me to really crack down on my school work! I have been on what my dad and I call "island time," which is just a really relaxed 'do it when you do it' kind of time. It is the way the people of Hawaii live. It is not like California where everything is very efficient, people here just take their time. It is nice for vacation, but I don't think I could ever live here, I am definitely a California-girl at heart.

Words of the Week:

callous: (adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling.

knell: (n.) the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death.

4 days until HAWAII

I think I have checked out of school a little bit. This is not a good thing. Last week I forgot to do this blog. It was my 21st birthday so I guess I can give myself a pass, but I shouldn't. (The picture is from my 21st birthday) In 4 days I am leaving for Hawaii for 5 days. While I am gone I am going to have some homework to do, but who cares if I have homework. Yeah I am going to do my homework, but I will be in Hawaii while everyone else will be in San Jose. I think leaving for a week will be good. When I come back I hope to refreshed enough to finish off the semester strong! I really need to pass all my classes and have a GPA higher than a 2.5 this semester. I signed up for a winter class and I will be taking 12 units in the Spring semester. Assuming I pass all my classes this Fall and pass my winter class and then I pass all my spring classes, I will only have 33 units left until I graduate. It seems attainable! I have never felt this close to graduation before. I think if I take a Summer class or tow that could also be really beneficial because it would either speed up my graduation date, or it would make my last couple semesters less stressful. I think I should see an advisor in Spring to see if they think me graduating in Spring 2012 is attainable. For my dad's sake I really hope it is. I am excited to be graduating college because it is a huge accomplishment in my family, but I am also really scared. I have gotten so used to this college lifestyle, I don't know if I will know how to live as a working woman, and what will I even do as a job? I didn't pick my major based on what kind of job I want, I picked it because I like the topics of the classes. However, I do not want to be a politician. I think the only thing I really want to do is work in an office. I would be cool to be a secretary or something like that. I don't know why that appeals to me, but it just does. I really do hope that my little vacation does not set me back too much in my classes. I have tried to turn things in early or make arrangements with my teachers, so hopefully I can stay on track and come back ready to finish everything off.

Words of the Week:

After the in-class assignment we had today I remembered a few words that I did not remember the definitions for.

phenomenon: noun, a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. one whose cause or explanation is in question

brut: adjective, (of sparkling wine) unsweetened; very dry

A few weeks ago in my POLS 195A class, all the students had to participate in a survey. We were those people that call you and ask if you are interested in doing a survey. It was interesting to be on the other side when I have answered the phone so many times to people asking if I would like to take a survey. Whenever I have answered the phone and it has been a person asking if I want to take a survey I usually say no. After being the person on the other end I would definitely take the survey if I had time and if I did not have time I would be very polite about saying no. It was a very challenging experience because I had called over a hundred people and only two people took and finished the survey. I got hung up on countless times and even encountered some extremely rude people. Many people simply did not answer their phones, which was better than the rude people. I do not think there was anything I found to be enjoyable or rewarding about working on this survey. I had way too many rude people to find anything about sitting in a room for four hours cold calling people enjoyable.

What I learned from this survey was that people do not want to take surveys over the phone. Many people are going to be rude, and the few that do agree to take the survey are going to wonder why it is so long and boring. I also learned that mainly women answer the phone.

My suggestions for next time would be to make the survey shorter if possible. Also avoid calling cell phones because people do not want to waste their minutes. Also, in order to get a more diverse sample, it would be great to ask for a male or a female or find things to ask that would change up who people are giving the survey to.

Words of the Week:

reticent: disposed to be silent or not to speak freely; reluctant or restrained.

volatile: tending or threatening to break out into open violence; changeable or mercurial.

14 days... 25 days!

School is never-ending this time of the semester. I seem to have a huge assignment due twice a week and everyday small assignments, not to mention sorority obligations and attempting to still have some sort of a social life. I keep trying to just take it one step at a time, but that ends up making me do a lot of my work the night before. I have tried to plan everything out before my 21st birthday, which is two weeks away, but after that I am not sure exactly what I have to do. I keep telling myself to just look at my schedules, but I kind of do not want to because I want that night to be stress-free. My dad is taking me to Hawaii for a week in November, which I also want to be stress-free, but I will probably be doing homework on my vacation. At least in Hawaii I can get a tan while I study. I was not worried about making sure I get good grades, because I was going to make sure to be on my stuff, but being on my stuff has been really hard! I do get all my work done on time. However, I tend to be very hard on myself and when I know it was not my best work I beat myself up about it. I just really hope I can get this semesters GPA above a 2.5 otherwise I will have to be on academic probation from my sorority. The semester is already halfway through, but there are so many assignments left it is hard for me to gage how well I am going to do. I guess that is where grade checks can help. Last week I had to do grade checks and none of my teachers had my grade so all I got was passing, which is better than failing of course, but it doesn't help me gage how well I am doing or how much I need to improve. I don't know what else to do, but to take it one step at a time even if that means some work being done the night before. My weekends keep going by too fast for me to catch up on life and homework. Hopefully my week in Hawaii will let me catch up on both! 14 days until my 21st birthday! 25 days until Hawaii!

Words Of The Week:

cathartic: adj, providing psychological relief through the open expression of strong emotions; causing catharsis

plume: noun, a long, soft feather or arrangement of feathers used by a bird for displayor worn by a person for ornament

What to Write...

Right now I feel as though I am stretching for something to write about. All these grammar lessons have me second guessing all of my writing. I try to go back and edit, but I always feel like I am missing something. Right now I am sitting in my night class. I should be taking notes, but instead I am writing this blog. I will admit, I forgot to do my blog over the weekend and then Tuesday came so fast that this seems like the only time I was going to have to do it. I think I realized that I often write how I speak. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but if it's bad then I am not sure how to stop. These weekly blogs are the only homework assignments that are open ended in a way. Although I do find myself feeling bad when I don't write about politics. Maybe I find it harder to write about politics because all my classes are Political Science classes so I do a lot of writing in that area on a regular basis. These blogs are almost like a break in a way. They are like a public journal I guess, which I still find kind of creepy. A girl in this class is wearing a shirt that says something like "I'll put that in my blog." I guess that means she likes blogging? I have always wondered what kind of people want to have blogs? However, I guess I am sort of becoming one of those people, which is hard for me to embrace. Since I can't seem to think of anything to write about I guess I am just writing my mind flow, or as others might call it my stream of conscience-ness. Today has been the only day that I wanted to go to class. The only reason is because I wanted to get out of my house. The only person I have been getting along well with lately is my boyfriend. I love my sisters no matter what, but I think I have been spending too much time with them recently and I need a break. Luckily I have Mike to hang out with most nights. I know the week has barely started, but I can't wait for the weekend because my roommates will be gone and I need that break desperately.

Words of the Week:

Both from a POLS 195A reading.

conceptualization: verb, form a concept or idea of (something)

substantive adj, having a firm basis in reality and therefore important, meaningful, or considerable

I Want A Break

Since my picture is from the SJSU tailgate I will start off by saying, the Spartans lost on Saturday... big surprise.

I have been a bit stuck on what to write about this week. The only thing on my mind is midterms and school. I feel like I have been studying non-stop for midterms and exams and all I want is a break. I guess it is a good thing that the weather is not too great because I will not be distracted by wanting to go outside and play in the sun, but this gloomy weather only makes me want to snuggle in my bed and watch movies all day, not study. Maybe I need to catch up on some sleep and then I will be more motivated to study. This past weekend I barely slept at all I was so busy because I made so many plans, maybe even over-booked myself. Then Sunday night I was up until 2 am studying for a midterm I have Wednesday. Monday everyone kept asking me if I was sick, but I was just so tired and out of it that I must have looked sick. I still feel really tired and out of it, but I feel like I have so much to do and catch up on for school that who knows when I will ever be well rested again. I try to set up schedules and lists and goals so I make sure to get all my work done, but lately I feel as though I am falling behind because I have not had as much time as I usually need to sleep. When I do not get enough sleep my brain does not work as well and I forget about things that I tried to make sure I would remember to do. I guess there is not much else to do but to keep trying. I am not sure if I am too hard on myself because I always feel so awful when I forget about something. Or perhaps I am too easy on myself because I allow myself to forget about these things. I wish I could just have a week off to relax and catch up on everything so I would feel better about how I am doing in my classes. I guess my life is never dull and that is a plus, but the downside to always having something to do is that I want to do everything even though I might not have time for it all.

Words of the Week:

Both words this week were found from my Pols 150 notes.

Caveat: noun, a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations.

Deterrent: noun, a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something.

Participation

I am starting off with a side-note, I dyed my hair blonde! Ok now onto business.

Last week in my Pols 120 class we talked about several things that I thought were very interesting. One student in my class stated that we, as citizens, need to pay attention to politics and government because if we do not things could happen that we may not like. He meant that, for example, if we do not do a little research and use our right to vote, people could be put in offices or policies could be enacted that may not be the best. We were talking about this in class because it had been mentioned that Sarah Palin is a political figure and we may need to watch out if we do not want her in a position of power in the government. I thought this idea of paying attention to government was interesting. Personally I think it is vital to stay at least somewhat in the loop when it comes to our government and politics. This lead me to start thinking about what if voting was mandatory and if it would be a good idea or maybe not. Ideally everyone that votes does a little research so that they are an educated voter. However, usually that is not the case. Moreover, a lot of the people that do not vote probably do not care as much and most likely would not cast an educated vote. Having more uneducated voters would not be the most beneficial thing for the country. Although I do think there are many people that should be voting and do not. Today my dad's girlfriend, who is very involved in the gubernatorial campaign for Jerry Brown, told me that she was told this election for governor will be decided by only about half a million people. I do not know how factual that statement is, but if it's true then it's sad. California's population is millions and for that low of a number to decide who the governor of the state will be is just scary. I think that more people should be involved in such a huge election for this state. However, nothing is ideal and if it were that might be scary as well.

Words of the Week:

Both words are from Pols 195A lecture.

Probabilistic: adj, based on or adapted to a theory of probability; subject to or involving chance variation.

Empirical: adj, based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

Taking A Breath

After another crazy weekend, today has been a rather relaxing day. My roommate and I went grocery shopping, which we decided is therapeutic in a way. I am not really sure why we decided this, but I definitely think it is true. There is something that makes me feel comforted in buying my food. This idea sounds really weird as I type it. After grocery shopping I cleaned my side of the room, which also seemed a bit cathartic to me. My best friend would call it cleaning counseling, not sure that I would call it the same, but it was definitely soothing to get everything organized. Since then I have been doing all my homework that is due for the coming week. I should feel pretty accomplished about getting things done on schedule, but I feel a tiny bit rushed mixed with accomplishment. Maybe it is just because I get nervous about getting good grades on assignments and that full sense of accomplishment will not come to me until I get my graded assignments back. I just feel like I am really behind, but when I look at my calendar I am getting everything done on time. I am worried there is something I am forgetting. I am hoping to get ahead for the week so I can take a breath. So far keeping my school work, social life and sorority life pretty balanced. I just hope I can continue like this the rest of the year. I am thankful to have sisters that support me and help me stay on track in every aspect of my life. I think I might be coming around to this whole blog thing. I kind of enjoy being able to somewhat vent about what has been going through my mind. Although I am not too sure if I am doing it right, if there is even a wrong way to do it. I guess this blog is also becoming kind of a therapy for me as well.

Words of the Week:

This week I have more than just two words because I found myself looking up a lot of words while I was doing reading for my Pols 120 and 150 classes and I decided to just put them all in this week's blog.

pragmatic: dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations.

erosive: the gradual destruction or diminution of something.

jettison: throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship.

mitigate: make less severe, serious, or painful.

complacency: a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one'sachievements.

Craziest Weekend of my LIFE

I keep telling myself that next blog will be about something other than my weekend, but this weekend was just too crazy to not write about. It was Panhellanic Sorority Recruitment this past weekend and I probably got a total of eight hours of sleep the entire weekend. It started out with house tours on Friday. The girls in my sorority and I had to be ready to go by 1 P.M. House Tours started at 3 P.M. and we had six parties each lasting about an hour. However, the day wasn't over, after we cleaned up the house it was time to decorate for theme day, which was the next day. Theme Day was a baseball theme so not only did we have to decorate with things we bought, we had to make a lot of the decorations with butcher paper and paint. My sisters and I were up until after 1 A.M. getting things ready. When theme day finally came we had to wake up extra early just to finish decorating and do run throughs of the day. The girls going through recruitment started arriving at 11 A.M. and we had four parties each lasting over and hour. That day was definitely the most tiring. After that we still had to clean up all the theme day decorations and set up for the preference ceremony for the next day. By the time I went to bed it was after 1 A.M. again. I helped set a few things up then went and got 'froyo' with some of my sisters and a couple of us watched a movie in the basement. The beginning of the next day was not too bad. We didn't need to be ready until the afternoon, but we were still setting up and the two parties we had were each almost two hours long. That night was another long night of meetings, set up for bid day and cleaning up the house. When bid day finally came were all exhausted, but even though all the girls had classes we still had a lot to do. I spent the whole day getting things ready for when our new members would arrive. All the girls and I were so excited to see our new members on bid day, we could barely wait until they got to the house. When the new members finally got here we all celebrated with pizza, dancing, and games. That night, last night, I finally got to bed around 2 A.M. I will definitely be needing to catch up on some sleep as soon as I can. This was the craziest, busiest weekend I have ever had. It was non-stop talking and interacting with girls. It was stressful, but also fun. I am thankful to have such amazing sisters in my life because they made this weekend so great. I loved bonding with them all weekend, even though I did not have time to do anything else.

Words of the Week:

Both of these words are from my Pols 195A class.

parsimonious: unwilling to spend money or use resources, stingy or frugal.

That word we used when talking about theory and research.

correlation: a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things.

That word we used when talking about studies for research.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend I thought I was going to get ahead on some homework since I had no plans to go on any sort of trip for Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately that did not happen. I stayed in San Jose all weekend, but instead of doing any homework at all I caught up with friends. It was a really fun weekend, but now I am a tad bit swamped with reading and assignments. Thursday, after I was all done with my classes, one of my sorority sisters and I went to a couple Fraternity rush events. She made me the best s'more I have ever had. After that we went to a friend's apartment to watch some movies and play games. We ended up staying out until 1 A.M., but it was a lot of fun. Friday I do not have any classes so slept in pretty late and in the afternoon I went to BBQ at my friend Tom's house. He lives pretty close to campus so I walked there. It was such nice weather for a BBQ and I had not seen Tom since May so it was really fun catching up. That night I stayed out late again just hanging out with a few friends in their apartment on campus. Saturday was the busiest of all my day this weekend. Sadly I had a funeral to attend that morning. The service was really touching and I was glad I could be there for a sorority sister who lost one of her loved ones. The service was held at a church in Palo Alto so after feeling so drained I decided to do something that would make me really happy after. I went to Stanford Shopping Center and got cupcakes from Sprinkles. They were the best cupcakes I have ever had in my life and definitely improved my mood. On my way back to San Jose I got a phone call from my best friend Elena. She told me she was going to be in San Jose with her Aunt and Mom doing some shopping and I should meet up with them. I was so excited to hear this because I barely got to see her this summer. As soon as I got back to my sorority house I changed and met up with Elena at the mall. We went on a bit of a shopping spree and I spent a little bit more money then I wanted to, but I had so much fun with my "bestie." When I got home it was already 9 P.M. and I was exhausted, so I went to bed early. Not before I watched "Dirty Dancing" though. Sunday I got up and started cleaning since my room was a mess. Around 2 P.M. I left for the airport to pick up my roommate, Sami. We got some food and talked and hung out and had a roommate bonding kind of day, which was a lot of fun. That night we visited her friends Sam and Dan, and did not get back until two in the morning, but I really enjoyed meeting her friends. That just leaves us with today. Today I woke up early and finished cleaning my room. Then my pledge sister Amanda and I went to get lunch and get our nails done. I love sister bonding time! I now am attempting to do a weekends worth of homework in just one day. Although I think my amazing weekend of hanging out was worth having to cram in all my work today.

Words of the Week:

Both of my words this week I heard randomly on TV shows. I have heard each of them used before. but never really understood their meanings.

Ubiquitous: adj. present, appearing, or found everywhere.

Capricious: adj. given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior.

The First Post Of My First Blog

This is the first blog I have ever had and probably ever will have. My name is Kristi, this is my fourth year at San Jose State, but I am junior standing. The beginning of the school year is always very bittersweet to me. There is the excitement of new classes, new teachers, who will you know in your class, who will you meet in your class and so on. And then there is getting back to grind. The assignments, balancing social life and school life, getting priorities in order, and still trying to make the most of your college life. This semester I really need to bring my grades up, so I need to start the year off working hard! Last semester I had a hard time balancing my school work and my other obligations to my organizations, but now that I have more of an idea of how time consuming some of my obligations are I think I can balance my time better. This whole thing is a little bit weird to me. I like the fact that writing this much is going to make me a better writer and I understand making it public will make me more thoughtful about my writing, but even still I am very uncomfortable with stranger's possibly reading my writing. I also think blogs are sort of lame. I am hoping that this assignment will change my mind about that though. My dad has a blog that he often sends me the link to so that I can read his posts every now and then. He has even written posts about me sometimes. I doubt that I will send him the link to my blog, but maybe once I am more comfortable with this writing outlet I will. At this point I am not even sure if I am doing this whole blog thing correctly. It feels kind of like a rant and I don't know if maybe that's just my style at the moment or if I am doing something wrong. I don't want to write about the wrong thing and be over harshly criticized either. I think I understand what the basic expectations of me are for this assignment, but I am still a little fuzzy on the expectations. However, I am positive I will learn. I think I understand what the basic expectations of me are for this assignment, but I am still a little fuzzy on the expectations. However, I am positive I will learn. Anyways I think that this is all I am going to write for this post, since I am still not sure if I am doing this right. Can’t wait to learn more about this and the next assignments! :)

Words of the Week

(all definitions found from my Mac's dictionary application)

esoteric: adj. intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with specialized knowledge or interest.

I found this word in the book for my Pols 195A class. I thought it was really pretty sounding, but I didn't know exactly what it meant.

lesion: noun. a region in a organ or tissue that as suffered damage through injury or disease, such as a wound, ulcer, abscess, tumor etc.

This word I thought pretty cool sounding as well. One of my roommates was reading an interesting passage from her Psychobiology book and I decided to look that one up also.