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Trailhobbit's Rambling Blog
Thursday, September 28, 2006
So being the resourcful girl that I am, I found a solution to two problems at once. With no iPod to tempt me away from it, doing reading on the elliptical is much more inviting. It's more interesting that whatever's on TV. And look! I'm being productive! Still feeling nervous about life, but a bit better. I got into Phi Beta Kappa and Possible romance looms, maybe, vaguely.
Wouldn't it be great if the Dems could win back both houses?
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 7:24 AM EDT
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Oh the angst.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand my iPod died. ... This is the second one I've gone through. This makes me think it's not the iPods, it's me. I must be abusing them. Clearly the full-sized ones are not made for my badass lifestyle. I should get a mini. But in the meantime, how am I supposed to work out? GAH. I need a hug. And a good workout. Which is now impossible.
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 8:55 PM EDT
I can't for the life of me focus. I'm going into soul-search self-doubt mode already and it's less than a month into the term. It's that goddamn personal statement. I wish I were in a poetry class. I need to stop eating cupcakes. Sorry for being emo.
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 7:01 PM EDT
Sunday, September 24, 2006
More application BS
UCSB, by virtue of my Directed Research and Richard's almighty influence, is becoming a valid contender for my academic heart (though if I have to choose now, UCLA still owns my soul). Too bad the SB application pulls the PC Disadvantages and Challenges card: "Personal Achievements/Contributions: UC Santa Barbara is interested in a diverse and inclusive graduate student population. Please describe any aspects of your personal background, accomplishments, or achievements that you feel are important in evaluating your application for graduate study. For example, please describe if you have experienced economic challenges in achieving higher education, such as being financially responsible for family members or dependents, having to work significant hours during undergraduate schooling or coming from a family background of limited income. Please describe if you have experienceed educational disadvantages such as matriculation in a school with poor financial or curricular support, having a physical or mental I actually think I may be able to work with the last part a little bit. I believe that archaeology has an obligation to incoporate and educate the public, which in Peru's case is mostly underserved. After all, it is their cultural history. But it's stretching it. Reeeally stretching it. Also, I love how the title of the essay is "Personal Acheivements/ Contributions," which makes it seem like something anyone could come up with, when they really should call it "So You Think You're Diverse?" I don't think "I have a lot of gay friends," "My gardeners are Mexican," or "I am the first person in my Maybe between now and then I'll go deaf.
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 10:54 PM EDT
Saturday, September 23, 2006
At least someone gets it.
Bill Clinton is awesome.
*le sigh*
WHATTHEHELLISWRONGWITHEVERYBODYELSE???
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 7:22 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, September 23, 2006 7:24 PM EDT
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
And the beat goes on
I ditched the first Climate Campaign and YSEC meetings. I felt like I had a real excuse to drop out of everything when I was planning on finishing my thesis this fall, but now I just feel like a lazy senior. :) The truth is, I am working hard, but nothing is going to stop me from procrastinating and I just have to allow time for that. I am involved with the UU group on campus, which has expanded through the awesomeness of Scott's recruiting to 15 people from 5. We're hiking to East Rock for a picinic tomorrow in celebration of the equinox, which actually isn't 'til Saturday, but whatever. Some of the freshmen are really hardcore. And in general, this freshman class is very attractive. I am often amazed when I venture onto Old Campus at the number of genuinely hot individuals. Then I remember they were born in 1988. >< My schedule is finalized. I love Complex Societies - the Burger/McIntosh dynamic duo is formidable and fun. Plus, Chris Milan from San Jose de Moro is in the class, which is just plain surreal. There's still some kind of awkward chemistry between us, which I'm planning on ignoring entirely. He was totally watching me drawing in my notebook yesterday. "You're really into manga, aren't you?" he commented. "You could say that," I smiled. I'm glad Luis Jaime gave me the heads up that Chris would be at Yale, because otherwise I might have plain flipped out when I saw him. Applying for NSF funding is kind of a pain. Fortunately, my suitemates are doing it too. Not that I wish pain upon them, but you get the idea. Reading the application guide threw me for a loop with its appeal to the world-saving crowd. In addition to "Intellectual Merit," the second criterion upon which awards are based is "Broader Impacts:" The broader impacts criterion includes contributions that (1) effectively integrate research and education at all levels, infuse learning with the excitement of discovery, and assure that the findings and methods of research are communicated in a broad context and to a large audience; (2) encourage diversity, broaden opportunities, and enable the participation of all citizens-women and men, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities-in science and research; (3) enhance scientific and technical understanding; and (4) benefit society. Applicants may provide characteristics of their background, including personal, professional, and educational experiences, to indicate their potential to fulfill the broader impacts criterion. What exactly is that about? I'm just going to grad school, folks. Nothing more. Finally, am I the only one who's actively missing the spinach?
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 12:19 PM EDT
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Why bad movies are awesome
Apparently, the number one movie this week is The Covenant, which I had never heard of until I saw its abysmal rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It's not that unusual for a truly bad film to dip below the 20% mark, butI had never seen a movie with a 2% rating before. Certainly not one that people are actually seeing. As any lover of sarcastic wit knows, reviews of awful movies are delightful to read, and the format of Tomatoes, which highlights a one-line soundbite from every reviewer's take, provided me with all I need to know about The Covenant: "Anyone with half a brain is clearly not this movie's target audience." -Boston Globe "Essentially, Covenant is about young, wet, 'CW' ready underwear models running around hurling 'magical' gelatin blobs at each other while they compete for screentime with their own abs." -Efilmcritic.com "This inane film is definitely a wayward canine in need of an animal-control officer." - Mountain XPress "This sort of thing might work as a desperation rental -- like if you've been injected with poison and must keep watching incredibly lame movies or die." -E! Online "Movies like this are why we have eyelids." - Globe and Mail "It's super lame." - New York Times
And that's just the beginning of the fun -- reading the whole review both contextualizes these quips and multiplies them. I feel sorry for Victoria Alexander, of FilmsInReview.com, the single thumbs up in the bunch. Her tepid and rather incoherent endoresement of the film almost feels apologetic and hinges on an allegory which seems not to exist only in the reviewer's own mind. Forget the film itself; this, my friends, is good entertainment.
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 1:56 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, September 16, 2006 2:29 PM EDT
Friday, September 15, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Sore Losers
Harvard is ending early admissions. The
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 8:39 PM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 8:39 PM EDT
Seniorness again
I talked to Richard today and finally agreed to his longtime advice to do a semester of Directed Reading before formally enrolling in the Senior Essay course in the spring. It takes a lot of stress off me - I can research both the Gallinazo and the Huari collection (the latter of which would be easier to integrate into a UCLA M.A. topic...) for a few weeks, then spend a few weeks really getting to know the collections before delving into the actual writing next semester. It sure sounded like a better way to really do it justice. He recommended that I submit the term paper for Complex Societies to grad schools as a writing sample instead, since it is a grad course and they don't want a 40-page sample anyway. He also suggested I apply to 2 or 3 schools instead of 6 or 7, and discouraged me from Stanford. We kind of landed on UCLA, UCSB, and Harvard as the best options. He is very high on UCSB, which is great to hear, as much as I love UCLA. So I'm a little less stressed now, feeling equally busy but much less rushed. The challenge now is to neatly correct my schedule which I already impulsively finalized. I'm not worried. I'm still not getting a real job; I just don't want to deal with that right now. There's a FOOT reunion tonight where we all meet with our groups for ice cream. I kind of want to go to see all the senior and junior FOOT leaders one more time, but I kind of don't. I don't have a group. It will make me sad. I also have a UU small group service to lead right beforehand and might be late. Hm. My week and a half of super-healthy lifestyle I watched the English dub of Bleach Episode 1. Um, it's not a complete disaster. That's all I'll say on this subject. I found I could upload audio onto this blog! Unfortunately the song I am in love with ("Staralfur" by Sigur Ros) is too big for tripod to handle. This is terrible, because everyone needs to hear this song. So here is my other new discovery, by Polly Paulusma. It is made of love.
Posted by Trailhobbit
at 2:07 PM EDT
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She Moves in Secret Ways