I forgot to mention: somehow—I’m baffled—I achieved my highest GPA at UCLA ever. I got a 3.58 (A-, A-, B+) where I perhaps may not have earned such as raw grades.
For my Communication Studies class for my Global Studies minor, I turned in a midterm paper a few days late and still got an A, I was the first one to finish both the midterm and final exams (only because I didn’t bother checking my answers or deliberating on any I wasn’t sure about), getting a B on both without studying the readings. Another class, I hardly did any of the assignments (maybe one, if that) and was given much slack on the exams, and came out with an A-. For my other class, I got an A- on my midterm, didn’t do any of the graded practice quizzes, and turned in my final paper several days late—and also got an A- as a final grade. Even though I wound up dropping my fourth class which was to count for both my minor and major, I added a fourth class this quarter for my major and found out a previous class I took would fulfill that requirement for my Global Studies minor, so not bad.
My 8-week internship for SPACE (Samahang Pilipino Advancing Community Empowerment) ended quite well, with my group’s workshop presentation largely a success and a night of karaoke to celebrate a fellow intern’s birthday. The new term for APO was off to a good start, and the pledge class seems like a great bunch. I look forward to the term and trying to get out some fresh ideas I have for improving everyone’s APO experience and really hitting the core of increasing LFS (leadership, friendship, service) as a guiding thought in all we do. Practices for SPCN were fun while I could be a part of it, but now I must be content to simply enjoy the show. Going back to work at Bcafe was great, since I got to see my co-workers again, and of course get paid. I also like just talking with customers (dorm students) and occasionally even chopping it up with some damsels while serving their order.
Without really going too much into another personal issue that reached a breaking point recently, I’ll say I’m ever thankful for my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents) that came through for me when I needed it the most, and thanks to them I can study at my last quarter (hopefully) with a little more peace of mind.
“God is great.”
—Salim, Slumdog Millionaire.
(Despite my continued self-deliberations on religion/faith, this is one of the boldest declarations I’ve heard, in a world of unexplained suffering and ill will. That movie was also pretty good and memorable as a whole.)
It’s my last quarter at UCLA. I don’t look forward to it, but I suppose this whole thing must come to an end..so it goes.
I think I’m going to really like the classes I’m enrolled in, and for once, I know people in all of them, many even sharing two or more courses with me. I also hope to meet some new classmates as well, if ya know what I mean. Poli Sci 124A (International Political Economy), M141A (Political Psychology), M167C (Political Economy of Development), Global Studies 100B.
I made some hard choices about my extracurricular involvement, but all for my own good. I’m no longer a participating dancer/martial arts demonstrator for the 35th annual Samahang Pilipino Cultural Night, and I’m not doing UniCamp. Both require a progressively greater time commitment this quarter that would have stressed me out and inevitably led to scheduling conflicts with other things. I still have love for both causes and plan on attending the show, and donating to at least 2 or 3 fellow UniCamp members’ fundraising efforts.
That said, 4 classes with heavy readings, increased work hours (~17 hrs/week), and my continued involvement in APhiO will still be quite substantial for me to do. Not to mention, next week I have to really put myself out there more with pledges in APO so I can hopefully make a memorable impression with the Big/Little Matching Committee members if I hope to pick up a Little Brother/Sister, with Revelations already a week from Sunday. (More detailed APO-related stuff later from my Posterous blog regarding my ExComm duties.) I have to take more of a backseat in Projecting Minds now, since I’m not able to attend any potential site days this quarter due to me having class every afternoon Monday-Thursday.
I didn’t make the effort I hoped to in hanging out with those close friends who matter, precisely because I was even busier last quarter than ever. What’s new? (I’m only half-sarcastic here.) I hope to truly make up for lost time now, since there’s likely no more second chances after this for many of the people I need QT with. Being less tangled with commitments, I think this will be easier now.
I walked back home from bruin bear down westwood plaza
A young man crossing the street on Le Conte asked me for directions to Hollywood; I said I didn’t know and walked away
Then I felt bad, and looked up directions on my smart phone and went back to show him the way
I walked with him to bus stop on Wilshire, meanwhile we talked
I found out he’s from the UK, traveling to visit friends and maybe find job, arrived in new york, then traveled to LA, was at hospital due to headache then left and wanted to go back to Hollywood, was staying in hostel for $20/night
Was in the British army, went to afghanistan before, loves america so far
arrived at bus stop, then redirected him to nearby stop with seats and people
Said his name is Danny, and we said goodbye
I headed home.
hopefully he had a safe and good trip back to his place
I hate that shit enough to wanna pinch a baby in the face >:( Next time someone does this imma just tell ‘em thanks for having no faith in my butto-pushing abilities.
While at Bruin Cafe about 2 weeks ago on a Saturday, towards closing, somebody tried lying and said she was waiting for her order for 20 minutes. I knew that couldn’t be true, so I checked her receipt and called her out on her BS, probably she wasn’t expecting that. Then I said we don’t make our orders in chronological order due to some taking longer to make than others, so they are not always ready in order. She said they should be, and that i’m the worker so it’s my job to serve her the customer, because the customer is always right. *mental facepalm*
I told her she doesn’t need to give me attitude, and like a 6-year-old who just learned how to retort and talk back, she said I was the one giving her attitude, then she said if her order isn’t ready soon that things were going to get ugly. Ha! She was trying to threaten me?? Luckily her order was just made ready at that moment and I tried keeping my cool and served it to her, right as she was mockingly saying that now I was being nice to her. In truth, if she wanted trouble, I would’ve raised hell, because she was not about to punk me into quiet submission to meet her demands like she might do with some other workers. But it was already past 2:00am and I should’ve already clocked out of my shift, and a nice fellow waiting patiently in line tried to calm the situation down.
I was so ready to go ape shit. To top it, this is somebody who has caused trouble before and made racist remarks about one of my dear coworkers. You’d think an African-American girl studying at UCLA would know better considering she probably (hopefully?) had been educated on racist and sexist micro-aggressions and likely experienced them herself, but as the viral story of yet more racism/sexism at UCLA shows, money and a world class university can’t erase ignorance and hate. To this, I shake my head and can only hope that as many of these people as possible can get a wake-up call and feel secure in themselves and accepting of differences.
But then again, as my homeboy Huey Freeman said on the Boondocks:
Black folks have known this for hundreds of years…Niggas are crazy.
Look, I have many, many friends on Myspace. I pretty much add anybody. I don’t know who this Huey Freeman is, but he doesn’t stand for what I stand for. And… I denounce, I repudiate, and condemn him. Basically… fuck him.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama, on The Boondocks, Season 3 Ep. 1
I thought I finished with midterms, but turns out I have a midterm for Hindi-Urdu on Friday that I just found out about this week; I’m not ready for it.
I went back to work at Bcafe this weekend—for 3 nights in a row. But I couldn’t come in on Tuesday because I was feeling really ill/uneasy—probably due to my messed up sleep cycle from ending work at 2am, getting to bed ‘round 3, then waking up and going to my 8am SPACE internship workgroup meeting the next morning
I have my first site for SPACE Thursday (tomorrow…today?). Bring on the new world. Also, I have to start working on our final project with my assigned intern group.
For SPCN Kali, I have a fight scene choreography to have made by Thursday, but my partners and I haven’t gotten into contact yet…
I have a paper due on Monday about intercultural dialogue and certain philosophers…have not done the regular class reading or any outside reading (required) for the assignment
Today I powered through a lot of changes for my APO chapter website and how we do certain things (like award nominations and evaluation submissions), and added the pledges to our website user database, as well as helped some users access their officer email accounts and others dissociate themselves from them.
There is no good reason as to why I am up at this hour
This post is the first in a series regarding my current involvement with Alpha Phi Omega, Chi Chapter at UCLA for the period beginning February 2012. I don’t know whether I should really post this up or not, but hey, this is just me speaking for myself, not for an official statement, so no liability here.
First ExComm meeting of the new term
We just had our first meeting for the new Executive Committee (ExComm for short) of Alpha Eta term (spring 2012). It was our preliminary meeting before our Chapter Planning Retreat, so we mainly went over expectations and a quick (actually, not-so-quick) review of the prior term, which just concluded the night before with our semi-annual banquet. The review was basically of what worked last term and any suggestions and ideas for the new term.
Yeah, something like that. Please find out if you don’t know; don’t make me school you. I died a little inside once, while mentioning my pass by Malcolm X Blvd in New York to my sister, and her friend didn’t know who said namesake was. I was rendered speechless, and I’m sure my sis did a mental facepalm as well.
So here’s a summary of my 4-day weekend experience at Berkeley (might not be totally in chronological order):
Met Brazilian UCLA Film/Theater international student named Alex while waiting for the LAX shuttle. Cool to meet a Portuguese speaker, though he was fluent in English since he attended a British school in Brazil
Plane ride was fast; but waiting at the airport for 9am flight wasn’t pleasant
Touch down in SFO, took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) straight to Berkeley with only one in-station transfer
BART is very convenient and relatively speedy, but it makes this eerie screaming sound while underground. Also, ticket system was different from what I expected, since New York subway charges flat rate per trip; BART charges by distance
That’s my school right there. Awww yeaahhh. Glad I came in back when it was ~55,000 applicants. The most applied-to school in the US for a decade running.
If all goes to plan, in less than 12 hours I will have flown in to San Francisco to grace the Bay Area with my awesomeness haha jk. I’m going to the 3-day Alpha Phi Omega, Region X (ten) Conference (“Regionals”) in Berkeley, co-hosted by the Stanford and UC Berkeley chapters. I’m going to stay with a Brother from another chapter.
Other than a brief visit to the Stanford campus during a northern and central California college tour/field trip in junior year of high school, I’ve never been to the Bay Area, so I guess you can say I’m quite stoked. I’m expecting a slightly different vibe from LA, but I’ll see how it goes. I definitely plan on taking the chance to explore during my free time, and I hope to meet and potentially network with others Brothers from throughout California. I just finished packing what I hope will be adequate. After eating an epic-looking meal being cooked by my roommates at this moment, I want to get to bed and wake up early. I must take the FlyAway shuttle to LAX by 7am to check in to my 9am flight on time. *crossed fingers*.
I didn’t get around to posting about the rest of the past week, but in due time, probably when I get back. I’m getting tired again :O
…Have been going well so far. I’m actually starting to wake up earlier than before and feeling sleepy earlier. It’s midnight as I write this and I actually feel heavy-eyed, so I’ll write more about this in another post, but I just wanted to say that schoolwise, things are off to a desirable start.
![spcnucla:
uclaspace:
Samahang Pilipino Presents: HOOP-A-THON
Play some ball & raise money to make scholarships for our SPACE Students.
Support Samahang Pilipino’s Access project, SPACE, by playing some ball =]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lysijlbG881qa522wo1_1280.jpg)
