Where has Loni been?

BUSY! That's where!

I've finally settled back into college life, but have started my new job as a resident advisor on campus. This means lots of work!

I flew from Panama to Sacramento, where I spent 24 hours at home with my family. Then I packed up my stuff and drove down to San Diego. RA training started the next day.  From 9-5 every day for 3 weeks, I was busy learning, bonding, and laughing with my new coworkers.  Although it was a pretty fun 3 weeks, if left very little time for blogging, eating, unpacking, etc... 

Training ended last Friday, but THEN, all our students moved in on Saturday.  For move-in (Saturday and Sunday) I worked 10 hours straight each day- from 9am to 7pm- meeting new residents and checking people in.

Now it's the first official week of school.. we don't have classes yet (well, technically they start today), and all the RAs are responsible for planning, organizing, and running fun activities to get the new students involved in campus and meeting their neighbors. By night, we break up parties and attempt to sleep among the chaos which is 1800 people getting to know each other.. at the top of their lungs.

I complain, but I love it. :)

Oh, and in my "free time" I plan extra fun activities for my residents, and attempt to be creative by making bulletin boards, door decorations, signs, etc to welcome my students and let them know about campus resources.

And I havent even mentioned the work I do for my classes, AMIGOS, unpacking and moving home from Panama, and working at my lab. That's a whole 'nother post. Sigh.

So that's a little bit of what I've been up to! Any tips for schedule-managing and stress-relieving? 

When life gets busy the busy get a life...

....aka how loni loves to procrastinate (by "getting a life").

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the

end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow."

--Mary Anne Radmacher

I feel like I have a million things to say and no idea how to say all of them, or even if I should, since that would be one biiiiiiig post.... which is a result of the coffee and the ADD.

It's midterms season again and my week is looking like this:

MON: class from 10-12, studying from 2-7, meeting from 7-9, studying from 9-midnight, sleep.

TUES: review session from 8:30-9:30, class from 9:30-11, studying from 11-1, class from 1-3, in-class presentation from 3-4 (worth 30% of grade), study from 4-5, midterm from 5-6, study from 6-midnight, sleep.

WED: class from 10-12, study from 12-5, class from 5-8, study from 8-??, sleep.

THURS: midterm from 9:30-11, SLEEP from 11-3, work from 4-9, sleep.

FRI: work from 11-4, meeting from 4:30-7, Party from 10-2?, sleep.

SAT: AMIGOS workshop from 8-2:30.....FREE TIME! FINALLY!!! ....sleep.

Wow. Writing it all out like that definitely makes it seem worse and yet better than it actually is... that totally made sense, right? Just gotta have courage to get through it all... see what I did there? I totally referred back to my original quote... eh? Clever, huh? Thought so.

Nowwww on to the camera. I STILL CAN'T DECIDE! (transitions aren't my strong point. Again, ADD.)

Again, I'm trying to decide between the Canon Powershot s 95 and the Panasonic Lumix LX5. The canon is definitely more compact, which would be nice for traveling, and it is available in stores around here, so I could get some customer service/ help, as well as buy it on my student account... plus I like the manual control ring on the front, the look/compactness of the lens (it doesn't stick out quite as much), and I could buy it THIS WEEK!!! Here is the canon:

Then, there's the Panasonic Lumix LX5.... It has a better/ more durable lens (leica!!), supposed better image quality (it's been debated), a few more functions/ perks, but is definitely more bulky and I would probably have to buy it online... and in a few weeks, once I save up enough money. Overall, it's a more impressive and durable camera, and has a few higher numbers as far as ISO, HD video, etc. If I don't smash it to pieces trying to travel around with it, it will probably last longer too. Also, I had a not-so-good last experience with a canon powershot, but Im going to attribute that to the $90 price tag, and not the brand itself. Here is the beautiful Lumix, although to a different scale than the canon, so I guess the pics don't help THAT much...

[Note: I am not being paid nor have I been endorsed by either company to give a review on either camera, I am just interested in buying one of the two and am expressing my opinions here likewise.]

Basically, what it comes down to is, do I want to buy my camera now, learn how to use it before I leave for Panama, (and be able to take awesome pictures NOW), or do I want to suck it up and wait until I can afford the Panasonic??? On one hand, I have all these shallow (but legit) reasons for wanting the canon, and all these deeper (but not necessarily THAT important for what I will actually be using the camera for) reasons for wanting the panasonic. What a problem! I wish there was an easy answer, so I just keep stalling on buying either camera. I could always go buy the canon, shoot around with it for a couple of days, and if I'm not IN LOVE with it, return it (within like 10 days). But the problem with that is that I can't really do the same thing with the panasonic, so it's not like I'm even comparing it to anything other than my old (kodak) camera, which isn't exactly comparable. AND to top it off, I haven't been able to find any places in the area that sell both cameras so that I can compare both and hear from a salesperson who isn't just trying to get me to buy the one they actually sell. Online reviews have been helpful, but have only gotten me as far as I am now...

whine whine whine, complain complain.... :(

I should probably study now, but I have LITERALLY about 300 pages to read, if not even more, and it just seems ridiculous after all of the studying I've been doing the past couple of days. Not to mention being on campus today for over TEN HOURS (about 7 of which were spent in class). Fun!!

Good thing I have 8tracks to keep me occupied... ahem, I mean focused.

Back to Blogging?

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.
- Mark Twain

So, I stopped blogging for, what, 7 months now? I just felt kind of stupid, didn't feel like anyone was reading it, and generally am a very lazy person :)

The time has come to restart Musings!

Little update:
I am currently in my second year, living on campus in an apartment with 3 other (amazing) girls. Haven't spoken to the ex since I came back to school. That one guy I was talking about that I've liked since forever? He has a girlfriend now. They are adorable. I couldn't be happier for them.
I made the school club soccer team this year, and it's going great, even though our games keep getting rained out :(
Yesterday, I learned how to surf (in the rain!!) and had the most amazing time. I'm trying to keep myself from going out and buying a surfboard (the lack of money is helping, I must say...)
Other than that, life is the same. Always busy, always have papers to write, always trying to find some time to have fun.

Now, I have a story for you:

A while back, Roommate #1 and I were watching the season finale of Glee (more on Glee later) on my computer, in my room. I had had work that night until 10:15, so it was pretty late, and it was finals week, so campus was dead. Both Roommate #1 and I are seasoned procrastinators (stumbleupon is both my favorite thing EVER and the single most destructive item towards my GPA), and were looking forward to putting off studying for as long as possible.

So we're sitting on my bed, all warm in the blankets, computer on my knees and popcorn wedged between us, when my computer decides that it is going to take FOREVER to load. Now, just for some background: we have THE WORST INTERNET CONNECTION EVER. Seriously. We are supposed to have wireless everywhere on campus, but I get maaayyyybe one bar in my room. I feel like, just inside the 4x4ft square of my room (all right, that MAY be an exaggeration, but it is tiny), I am technologically stuck back in the '90s. Without what's-his-face telling me "you've got mail" all the time.

Anyways, we get frustrated with it taking so long to load, so we pause Glee and start talking quietly to ourselves. Let me take this time to note: Glee is the best show ever. We love it. It is hilarious. Needless to say, we were a little excited for the finale.

Finally, the show loads and we start watching, breathless with anticipation, and giddy with excitement. At one point Finn does something dumb and we scream at my computer that he is an asshole. At another point, we actually pause the show so we can exclaim at how AMAZING that last song was.

It is around then that we hear, through the wall, "I'm going to f***king kill you."
We looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
"Whaaaat?!" I called out, sure that I had heard it wrong.
Again, "I'm gonna f***king kill you."
I looked at my roommate, and she shrugged her shoulders. Roommate #2 was in the living room studying, and she likes to joke around and say mean things, so we kinda assumed it was her*.
"........Roommate #2?!" we called out, in unison (only we said her actual name) .
"ROOMMATE #2, YOUR MOM!" we heard, this time unmistakably coming from the room directly below mine.
At this point, I almost lost it. "Roommate #2, your mom?!" Seriously?!? SERIOUSLY?! Who SAYS that? Not to mention, who the f**k does SHE think she is threatening us for being loud? Two of the girls below us are on the volleyball team, and the other two are in a sorority-- they have parties all the time. They also have really loud conversations about some SERIOUSLY stupid shit (Dear girls downstairs: I really don't care who you screwed at the last SigEp party, or exactly what it was she said to whoever-- really, I don't). I was in utter disbelief that this was even happening.

Back to the story: I shoved my fist in my mouth and ran out of the room. Roommate #1 didn't even try to hold back her shriek of laughter. We were in tears, we were laughing so hard.
Then, we heard, "Shut the f**k up and study for finals like everyone else or I'm gonna f**king kill you!"

And, yeah, at that point I felt kinda bad, but still. Who says that? Just come upstairs like normal people and talk to us in person. Hey, you can even watch Glee with us sometime, as long as you agree that Puck is freaking hot.

Needless to say, "Roommate #2, your mom!" is my new favorite phrase.




*Looking back, I realize that my roommate is no where NEAR this psycho. Threatening to kill us because of a little squealing? That is seriously ridiculous. The funny thing is, I've met all the girls who live below us on the stairs, and they seem like perfectly nice, normal people. And I'm usually really nice to them! .....We'll see how long THAT lasts.