Friday, November 30, 2007

Can't rock the caucus

So... this just in... The Iowa Caucuses are January 3rd!!!

Which MEANS...

That a large majority of college students won't even be in the state TO caucus. With a presidential election every four years, and college lasting approximately this long, students get to experience ONE presidential election during their college years. Therefore, we only get ONE chance to experience the Iowa Caucuses. And it figures that most of us CAN'T.

Word is that the Democratic and Republican party mutually agreed on the date which has been moved up ELEVEN days from the date of last year's caucuses. They claim they're trying to reestablish the Iowa Caucuses as the first national caucuses.

Let's just say that the students are PISSED.

The majority of us can't participate. And until recently, the people who were planning on returning to campus didn't have a place to say because Drake wasn't going to open any of the residence halls. They did make arrangements for the students to say in sleeping bags in the Olmsted conference rooms and shower in the upperclassmen dorm.

But what's getting under a lot of people's skin is the candidates' lack of concern. I have friends who work on varioius campaigns and are upset that after working hard to push their candidate, they can't even vote for them in the caucus and that the would-be presidents are less than concerned about it since facts and figures from the past suggest that the collegiate vote in the caucus is negligible.

THERE'S a message to send... talk about losing faith in the system... sheesh.

I'm REALLY interested to see how the Obama campaign does with all of this. He has a HUGE collegiate following... most of whom can no longer vote. It should be interesting...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Tips and Tricks to Survive Finals

It's that time of year again... the magical time where students wander around campus with zombie-like sleepiness on their faces, with patches of hair missing from their heads. They have lines across their cheeks from falling asleep on their books, and a double-shot expresso is dangling lazily out of their hand... you know, the other hand that isn't carring twenty pounds worth of text books.

I find that making a daily schedule for myself in times such as these is the only way to stop me from truly going insane. Schedules just work for me, I guess. Maybe you're the type that can't handle every moment of your day planned out. If this is the case, I suggest the to-do list. As long as you're the type to stick ot it. Personally, I can't NOT do something that's on my to-do list. It will drive me crazy.

The trick is to start early. Like now... or even yesterday. The sooner you start, obviously, the less overwhelmed you will feel.

For example, I started studying for my psychology final a full month before the exam. I planned it out so I would read one chapter every day AND do the review questions at the end of it. But, I also allowed myself two days to do general review of notes, vocab terms, ect. I find that's the best way to do it because if you don't review everything you're supposed to know one last time, chances are those chapters you read weeks ago aren't going to be very fresh in your mind...

Some professors will give you back all of your old exams and tell you to "look them over." It has been my experience (however limited finals experience I have) that you shouldn't just "look them over." You should eat, sleep, and breathe these things. Seriously, for my J30 exam my first semester, the exam was largely comprised of questions from the other tests... verbatim. I made copies of them and retook them so many times, I can't even remember. But it paid off.

Maybe you have a lot of writing assignments due. There are three types of people in this situation: those who DON'T work well under last-minute panic, those who work BEST under last-minute panic, and those who THINK they work best under last-minute panic. Here's a tip: if you're not sure if you produce your best work four hours before your deadline, this is not the time to try it. For those of you who aren't procrastinators, the best thing you can possibly do is to set small goals for yourself. Eight page paper due in two weeks? First of all, if you're already working on it, I'd like to shake your hand because you're amazing. Second of all, just write oh... I don't know.. fifty words a day. That's like three sentences. You can handle three sentences at a time, can't you? Then, just as I said with the psychology, leave a couple of days open close to the deadline so you can revise and fix it up a bit (since papers written like this can sometimes be a little choppy).

Whatever you do, don't pile up all your books in one stack and stare at them because then you're setting yourself up for stress. Take it one chapter at a time. Set small goals, and reward yourself for accomplishing them. And, this is most important.... DON'T PANIC!

Monday, November 26, 2007

House and Dorm

I LOVE going home. I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT! Seriously, nothing's better than being with the family you haven't seen in a while, eating food that's isn't from Hubbell, and actually getting a moment away from the dorms.

I feel stupid for saying this, but I always need a couple of nights to adjust to living in an actual house again. For example, houses make noises. Sometimes, they are creepy noises. They creak and groan and it's a little scary. I don't really get that in the dorm. Sometimes the girl who lives above me likes to rearrange at all hours of the night, but other than that there really isn't anything to hear.

But what probably scares me the most those first couple of nights at home is my brother. It's not like he's intentionally being creepy... well, not most of the time anyway. But, seriously. He'll be walking around in front of my room (and the door is open so my cat can come in and out) in the shadows and he'll walk on something that will crunch and I'll freak out. Sometimes he WILL be creepy and pop his head in my doorway and leave it there until I notice him.

Just this past trip home I heard something crunching around and it sounded just like they were in my bathroom messing with the cat's litter box. And I would have assumed it was the cat if he wasn't sleeping with me at the time. So I freaked out and turned on my light. As it turns out, my brother was in the hallway looking for a movie to watch and stepping on his Dance Dance Revolution mat which made that crunching noise.

It scared the crap out of me, let me tell you.

I need to tell my subconscious that I'm at home and that my brother looking for a movie to watch is perfectly normal, as are the creaking steps and wind in the windows...

Never too old for tradition

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving has to be the Macy's Parade. I don't know why, but I absolutely love sitting in my pajamas with my family watching Matt, Katie (well, I guess it's Meredith now) and Al do their thing. It's so thrilling.

Every year my family and I sit around and get excited when we see the parade regulars like the Rockettes, the Charlie Brown balloon, and the massive group of cheerleaders. We always pick on the people who can't lip-synch to their own music track, and I always yell at the marching bands who are in the parade AGAIN when some bands don't get to march in it at all.

We get really excited when we see Santa Claus coming down Harold Square because we know once he crosses that Macy's star at noon on Thanksgiving, Turkey Day is out the window and it's officially Christmastime. We say to each other with Will Ferrel-like excitement "Santa!! I know him! I know him!!"

Then either my brother or I will rush to the basement and bring up one box of Christmas things... and it's always the same box... every year. We bring up the Christmas music and movies first. We might not get to the tree or decorations for another week or two, but the music and movies will always be the first box to come up.

And, there's always ONE movie in particular we'll watch multiple times. It's a Christmas classic around our house. Home Alone 2. Don't get me wrong, we like the first one too. But the second one is far better in our opinion. We will laugh before the funny things happen, just because we know what's coming... and you don't even want to know how much we quote it. This quote is one of our favorites:
"Hello, this is Peter McCallister -- the father. I'd like a hotel room please, with an extra large bed, a tv and one of those little refrigerators you have to open with a key. Credit card? You got it."
Here's another one:
"That was the sound of a tool chest, falling down the stairs.
Or:
"Funnily enough, we never lose our luggage."

I don't know how we became so addicted to this movie, but we have and I love it. We also love the Home Alone soundtrack, which is usually the first CD in the stereo. We will crank up the first song ("All alone for Christmas" by Darlene Love) and dance around and get so excited for Christmas, it's crazy.

And maybe all of these things are silly and maybe I'm too old for those things, but it's tradition at home and it's so much fun.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Call me Curious

I was sitting here thinking about what I should blog about when I realized I never wrote a blog about my eventful evening as Curious George. I wrote a blog about the first time I volunteered at the zoo for Night Eyes, but the second night was far more blog-worthy.

You see, when my fellow brothers and I checked in at the volunteer table, we found out I wasn't assigned to any particular place. I had to wait around for a while and then I would be put in somewhere where they needed people.

Some volunteers didn't show up and they needed someone to dress up as Curious George and take pictures with the kids. So that's where I got stuck. I went into the costume room and saw this INSANE Curious George costume. It was this huge brown, fuzzy monkey suit, awful monkey feet, and worst of all... A HUGE head. The head was awful. I had a mini-panic attack the first time I put it on. I could only see and breathe out of what turned out to be Curious George's mouth.. which was somewhere around my chin.

I had a "buddy" whose job it was to walk me around and not let me fall which is a pretty important job seeing as those feet were impossible to move in. But, she was like an 8th grader and seemed to be afraid of me. Not to mention I wasn't expecting such an overwhelming reaction. Let's just say I couldn't move two steps before some kid would run up to me and wrap their arms around my legs. Which really wasn't a good thing if you remember the difficulties with the seeing.

Eventually the people running the show just let me stay in one spot and had the kids come to me (thank goodness). Most of the kids who wanted hugs were about as tall as my ankles so I didn't hug them as much as I patted them awkwardly on the head. After a while I got the hang of it and I was kind of enjoying myself because I don't think I've ever had that many hugs in my life. It was kind of nice. I also don't think I've ever been in that many pictures and yet not been in any, if that makes sense. You want to know something a little dorky? I smiled in every single picture. Even though I was in that dumb ol' monkey head.

It wasn't too hot in there, though because it was so cold outside. I was actually grateful to be in the monkey suit.

Toward the end of the night, I ran into an elephant. Ok, I didn't collide with him, but the giant elephant costume thing came into the area where I was standing and wanted to play-fight. By this time I was a pro at operating this ridiculous suit so I played along. Until he kept shoving my chest. I think it's save to assume that Curious George is a boy monkey, but little did the elephant know, the person inside the suit was, in fact, a girl. So he kept shoving my chest and there was not much i could do about it. I suppose I could have kicked him in the crotch to get my point across, but you don't wanna do that in front of the kiddos. So he kept at it and at the end of the night we went back to the costume room and we took off our heads (which sounds really gruesome) and he was like "Dude, I didn't know you were a chick!" and I was like "Really? You think you would have noticed with all that chest shoving..." He was really embarrassed. Especially because he couldn't have been older than 15.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Tree Lighting at Jordan Creek

Tonight me and a bunch of my residents went to Jordan Creek mall to see them light their giant Chrismtas tree to kick off the holiday season. Everybody was standing around the lake, listening to acapella music, drinking hot chocolate, and waiting for Santa to come light the tree. Then, as if Christmas could get any better, they set of FIREWORKS! Dude, it was incredible. Afterwards we walked around the mall for a while looking at all the pretty Christmas decorations. Here are some pictures!!!


Sunset out of the car window.. you know you're impressed


My resident Stephanie and adopted resident Brandon


Me and Brandon


Wiggly fireworks!


More fireworks!


Oh, Christmas Tree!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Face it like a grown up, I guess it's time to own up... I'm in love with Iowa

I’m in love. It’s a forbidden love, too. People like me aren’t supposed to love like this. At least that’s certainly the message I’m picking up.

This isn’t a public declaration of love for a person (I doubt I’d have the nerve to write a blog about that). No, this is a public declaration of love for a place.

You see, I love Iowa. Have you gasped yet? Did you have to do a double-take and read that line again? Did you spit your drink out? Have you slipped out of your chair with your mouth hanging open in disbelief? Well, compose yourself and pay attention!

This is not a joke and to be honest, I’m really quite sick of kids hating on Iowa. Some of them are Iowans who are, to say the least, anxious to move on to bigger and better things. But the rest of them are out-of-staters like myself who come in to Iowa with a bad attitude and try desperately to hang on to it.

Why? Why do people hate it here? To some extent I can understand. I was there. I moved here from Colorado and I wasn’t too jazzed about it -- at all. I would talk to my friends who would say “Why Iowa” with as much distain as they could muster. I hated it simply because it wasn’t Colorado. I thought it was boring and dull and I didn’t want any part of it. So maybe part of this unsubstantiated disgust with the state is simply because some people are vehemently trying to deny that Iowa, which is so very inferior to their state, is now home.

And what’s worse is that nobody seems willing to change their negative opinion. Sometimes I think people love the fact they hate Iowa more than they actually hate Iowa. I think they just want to blame Iowa, instead of themselves, for their boredom and unhappiness when, in reality, there isn’t that much less to do here than in other states.

I just don’t understand what specifically people hate about this place.

I know! It MUST be the natural beauty, with those amazing pink and orange sunsets, the way the leaves change in the fall, those luscious fields of corn, those tiny blue wildflowers that grow in the medians during the summers, the over abundance of exotic butterflies, and those charming family farms.

Or is it because we’re in the very epicenter of political debates and presidential campaigns? You know, those that provide us with a multitude of opportunities to not only fulfill our role as responsible citizens, but also gain valuable working experience?

Nope, that’s not it. I bet it’s because of that resounding Midwestern cliché that “everyone out here is so nice.” Some stereotypes, my friends, are true. I hate that. Seriously, do I HAVE to be treated like an actual person every time I walk into the store instead of just a run-of-the-mill customer? And, PLEASE, can’t I just walk down the street without random strangers smiling at me? Come on.

It could be that. Or it could be because they’re ashamed to be in the land so many famous people came out of. Buffalo Bill, Johnny Carson, John Wayne, Grace Pearl Ingalls, the Ringling Brothers and humorist Bill Bryson come instantly to mind.
Or are they upset that Iowa revolutionizing the fuel industry by producing E85 Ethanol? Gosh! I HATE the idea of being associated with a state that’s producing biodegradable fuel! Anything but THAT!

Maybe I’ve helped you have a change of heart. Maybe I didn’t convince you. Regardless, the sooner you accept the fact you live in Iowa now and there’s nothing you can do about it, the sooner you can start appreciating it for the wonderful place it is and, I don’t know, actually be happy here. Crazy concept, I know. And for those of you who don’t care for my opinion of Iowa and are going to keep on hatin’, that’s totally up to you. Just don’t get too jealous when the people around you are enjoying themselves and you’re still unhappy.
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