The Blog Formerly Known as "Campus Culture"

The life of a rock star

2005-05-08T00:52:00.000-04:00

So here's what's going on exciting in my student/townie life at the moment:

Skid & Wilbur fests last weekend were awesome! It was a fun day with beautiful weather & good friends. I'm so glad they didn't end up being the weekend before because then they would have been different.
My parents are freaking out about the girl, Lindsey, who was killed last week in Newark. They are doubly freaking out because my apartment is super-close to hers (like, that's where I catch the bus.) I get phone calls at night like "Are your windows locked??" Um, no dad, it's 65 degrees out and I live on the second floor. I feel a little apprehensive myself. Good luck to the Newark "5-O" in trying to solve the crime.
Relay, a local band that two of my friends from my work are in, is playing Thursday night at East End. I'm looking for more people who want to come. East End super interests me because I've never gone out there but it seems chilled out. Plus, there are hippies there and I think hippies are cool. If I were cool enough, I would be one.
I'm only counting one more week or school left! That's only 7 possible nights I could get a bad night's sleep. After that, I only have one final during Finals week - Yay!

That's about the extent of my exciting life, but I'm happy with it.

Blogging is scary

2005-05-02T13:28:00.000-04:00

While I was searching the internet for more thrilling blogs to add to my links, I found the following scary article. Called "Don't Blog" it chronicles all the awful things that could happen to you if you blog. Above and beyond what we've already heard about (getting fired from work, being denied admission to MBA programs), this blog includes going to jail and being denied a kidney transplant.

{Ironically, one post talks about finding out your baby brother does drugs via his blog and I had a similar enlightening this weekend when I read my brother's Xanga site. Does it seem stupid to anyone else to refer to yourself as a "drug dealer" on a site where you have also posted your real name and location?? It does to me...}

Anyway, this "Don't Blog" site is crazy. Is it for real?

Bummer

2005-04-30T14:30:00.000-04:00

I requested off like a month ago for today because Skidfest and Wilburfest were supposed to be today. Sadly, those two are the highlights of my semester every semester and I'm super bummed that they were cancelled. I realize that they wouldn't be as much fun in the rain, but still. It was bad enough that the two of them were going to be on the same day, now both of them PLUS Chapelfest are all going to be on the same Saturday. That's like 3 weekends of fun in one day. It's either going to be a fun overload or a really stupid idea. Either way, if I don't get off work I'll cry for hours (or fake a severe illness to get out of it).

The stupidest fake blog ever

2005-04-28T13:43:00.000-04:00

So I'm looking for somewhat funny blogs that express a girl's point of view. I come across this blog for Sparkle Body Spray (which is some new teenie bopper product that I've been seeing cute commercials for.) It's in total "mag speak," you know what I mean? The way teen magazines write every article because they think it's what 14 year-olds want to hear. (On an extreme side note, JANE is a really good magazine with a super-ironic, slightly bitter sense of humor and on a whole other level than most of the female magazines out there.)

All I can say is, you have to go look at this, if only to realize the absurdity of it. It makes you want to stuff pink bubble gum in your mouth until you die.

The sad thing is, some marketing execs were paid lot$ of money to make this up. I could totally make up fluff like this for a job. Procter & Gamble should hire me as their intern.

Random wonderings

2005-04-20T17:02:00.000-04:00

Here are some things I've been wondering about lately...

Do handicapped people mind when they have to wait for non-handicapped people to finish using their bathroom stall? I mean, how rarely do handicapped people come into the bathroom, and handicapped bathrooms are soo much nicer.
I bet the person who invented sticky putty for hanging posters is so rich.
How do people get addicted to chapstick?? I can't live without it for more than 1 hour.
Who is that man who yells about God outside of Kirkbride? Does he have a degree? A real job? Why does he yell at us?
Do you think the stairs to the 2nd and 3rd floor in Purnell are extremely narrow? I do.
Why don't all teachers try to make class fun? They must know people come to class and pay attention more when it's fun.
Are there people whose sole purpose in life is to talk on their cell phones all day? It seems like it. Are they drug dealers?
Is anyone, anywhere impressed by people who drive down South College Ave with their windows opened and music blaring? I would love to hear someone say, "Wow, that guy in the 1995 Honda Accord is playing his music really loud. Let me take of my pants and run after him." Please.

That's all...

The Skirt-a-thon

2005-04-13T17:04:00.000-04:00

Guys love it. Girls work towards it. It usually occurs sometime in late March at UD, and I'm sure it happens on various spring days at other schools. That's right, I'm talking about the Skirt-a-thon, a magical day where 90% of college girls bust out their skirts and get their leg on. The first warm day of the semester seems to make a number of 18-22 year old girls crave skirts. Never mind that it's only 59 degrees, dam nit, that's a lot warmer than 32 degrees, and if some crazy guys (and a few girls) can wear their flip flops all winter long, it's warm enough to wear a skirt. Luckily, this year Skirt-a-thon occurred the week after spring break so we weren't subjected to a sea of pasty legs. Most of the legs in attendance this year had just returned from a variety of Mexican vacation destinations and were a nice light brown color. From here on out, no matter how cold it gets someone will be wearing a skirt. (For the record, I saw a few girls this year wearing them in the dead of winter with their Ugg boots and thinking they were "the bee's knees." I personally thought they looked more like cold knees, but whatever.)

The first warm day was also a signal that Flip Flops are no longer just for the brave/stupid, and that it was time to store your jacket under the gigantic pile of clothes lying on your desk chair. I mean, yesterday it was only 49 degrees at noon and I saw people walking around in t-shirts. Come on people. I hate to sound like your mother, but, that's really not warm enough to avoid a light jacket or a hoodie or even a long-sleeved shirt. Hopefully in a few weeks, it will actually be warm enough to walk around sans-sleeves, socks, or anything covering your legs each and every day, but until then, check the weather before you go to class to avoid shivering violently in your tank top on the walk between Purnell and Smith.

Technical Glitch

2005-04-11T20:44:00.000-04:00

My personality is not compatible with technological standards. I'm Windows 3.1 and technology is an IPod. I'm Atari....I'm not ready to start acting like an XBox360. Those might be hugely confusing metaphors, but bear with me. It's not that I don't like technology, I'm all for the cool things it can do for me- the ease of stalking people through AIM, TV listings online, readily available info for school projects, etc. What I don't like that now that technology is so quick and easy, I'm supposed to be...well... not quick or easy, I hope. Hmm...

What I'm talking about it how when someone e-mails you, you're supposed to respond in way less than a day, preferably a few hours. You're supposed to know everything about a company before you interview with them by researching them online. You can look up most phone numbers and addresses so you have no reason not to make a call. Technology and procrastination DO NOT MIX. As a card carrying member of PAC (the Procrastinators of America Club), this upsets me. "It must have gotten lost in the mail," "My answering machine is acting funny...I never got your message," "The library flooded so I couldn't do my paper," or "I was late because I didn't know it was gonna rain," no longer fly as excuses. Any time I find myself in a scenario implied by the above excuses, I have no choice but to reveal myself as the Ultimate Flake. It sucks.

So as far as blogging goes, I may not be the best blogger because I'm pretty sure you are supposed to post more often than I do. But my heart is in it. I just can't post more often because of my PAC meetings. Stay tuned for more campus culture related posts this week; I promise I'm working on some. In fact...they're in the mail.

hush that fuss

2005-03-27T01:31:00.000-05:00

So I'm shamed into writing a post because I discovered both of my younger brothers have blogs and their blogs are kicking my blog's ass. Typical sibling rivalry.

So the UD shuttle bus...It has its good points (it gets me out of walking 15 minutes to and from school in the cold) and its bad points (sometimes it's freakishly late on days you have somewhere to be 5 minutes ago), but the most interesting part of riding the UD shuttle bus is getting to observe it's unwritten code of conduct.

Nice people thank the driver, mean people avoid all eye contact, like bus-driver genes are going to rub off on them if they look at a *gasp* bus driver.
It's not acceptable to double up in a seat with a stranger unless all seats are already occupied by at least one person. This means if the only empty seat is in the very back of the bus and you are getting off at the next stop, you still have to walk to and from the back during your 45 second bus ride. (Sounds insignificant, but you feel like you're walking as far as you would be if you weren't riding the bus.)
Cool people listen to headphones and mind their own business. People who want everyone else to think they're cool glue their cell phone to their head and loudly tell everyone else their business. (NOT COOL)
It sucks when you have to run to catch the bus. You feel like an idiot. But the other riders will think you're an idiot if you play too-cool-guy and walk at your own pace when the bus driver is obviously only waiting for you.
When waiting at the bus stop for the bus to arrive, you must stand at least 3 feet away from all other riders/groups of bus-riding friends. As the bus approaches you may edge closer to the bus and therefore closer to the other riders, but if it is before 11 a.m. you may not make direct eye contact.
Finally, on nice days, seats next to an open window are the contemporary version of what seats in the back of the bus were in 6th grade - coveted positions. Try and be the first person in line at the bus stop so you can get one.

UD's Bus Schedule

So, ladies and gentlemen, sit in a good seat, don't try and make friends with the other passengers, thank the driver, and you will find your UD shuttle bus experience to be a little more enjoyable, though probably still off-schedule.

Away With You link

2005-03-25T17:30:00.000-05:00

Another great away message rant:
Away With You

This girl is seriously so funny, read some of her other articles.

give me a break

2005-03-25T17:15:00.000-05:00

Friday, March 25, 2005. The first day of spring break. Everyone should be celebrating, and they are as evidenced by the ridiculous away messages I've seen today. Now, I'm a huge away message stalker, so imagine my disappointment when all I had to look at were the following 4 basic away messages with very little variety. Seriously, these were so bad that at first I thought Austin from Not Another Teen Movie ("Little Ms. Run-Home-to-my-Daddy, Ran home to her daddy.") had snuck into all my friends' and acquaintances' rooms and written them himself.

"2 tests, 2 papers, and 50 cups of coffee later, I'm done!" AKA "Relaxing after such a hard week!"

Ok, everyone on this campus had a hard week this week, stop trying to brag about yours and the 16 tests you had along with 3 papers and a group project. I'm sure there's a club somewhere you can join where people will pretend to care, so go do that and get over yourself.

"Spring Break!"

What?! You're kidding? It's spring break?? Good thing you pointed that out or else I might have thought it was Thanksgiving Break. It does look suspiciously like November, and those decorations I've been seeing everywhere might in fact be demented Turkey's and not the Easter bunnies as I at first thought they were...are you sure it's Spring Break?

"Acapulco tomorrow!" OR "T-2 days until Cancun!!!"

Please, stop counting down to your Mexican vacation on your AIM away message/profile! Every time I see it, it makes me wish you would leave sooner so I could stop having to read it while I away message stalk. No one cares how many days until your vacation except you. [Seriously. No one.]

"Out drinking!" OTHERWISE "Getting shitfaced"

At this point, do you really think it's necessary to point out that you are out on a Friday night consuming alcohol? I bet 99.8% of college students are staying in tonight and studying in advance for their next exam 3 weeks from now. Good thing you differentiated yourself through that poignant away message. *insert standing ovation here*

I know this sounds like a bitter angry post, but come on people. Enough with the stupid away messages. And I'm not bitter at all. I just had a really hard week, you know? I had like 3 tests and 15 papers...but I'm about to go out and drink. Yeah! Cause it's SPRING BREAK - Woo Hoo! And there's only 365 days until Tijuana!!

Scare Tactics

2005-03-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

Recently I've noticed that teachers seem to be trying to intimidate us this semester. Throwing around phrases like, "in the real world. . ." using vaguely menacing voices, they try to convince us we are not good enough for life outside of college.

I went to career services about a month ago to get registered and have someone go over my resume with me. After telling the man who helped me that I was a junior, I was treated to the reply of, "That's a little late to first be coming in here. One of my appointments for later in the day is a freshmen and two are sophomores." SUPER AWESOME FOR THEM, but give me a break. Just because I don't have an internship yet for this summer, I should not be made to feel like my career has gone down the drain already. I'm 20 years old.

Maybe it's because I'm taking mostly senior classes that I encounter these teachers trying to scare the bejesus out of their students. Honestly, though, I'm just getting really comfortable with college. I'm not ready to switch gears yet. I don't know who those freshmen are making appointments at career services to get jobs. Maybe they are 40-year-olds stuck in the bodies of 18-year-olds. Who knows. All I know is that the scare tactics are working, and I'm totally intimidated by the "real world."

the guy on the couch

2005-02-23T02:10:00.000-05:00

This post as been ammended because the guy on the couch started paying a quarter of the rent and also because I like him now :)
Hopefully you got to read it before.

test post

2005-02-09T17:51:00.000-05:00

This is just a test post to see if my blog actually works and also to test out this color font.