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.