Humbuggery

For quite a while now I have had a serious problem with Christmas. What in the world led to this disdain for merriment? As a kid I loved Christmas. As a teenager, it was an excuse to play drinking games at Christmas dinner (drink every time dad says "on it" till Grace is faced). However, now as a young adult I feel loathing. Could it be I have finally realized the error in materialism? Lost religion? Watched Jim Carry's "The Grinch" too many times (this should fill you will uncontrollable rage)? Well the possibility of all these is high (especially that awful movie). However, I think something more sinister is at the heart of my malevolent view...... The end of the semester.

From the beginning of November to the middle of December, I stop sleeping, eat minimally and terribly, and exist as a caffeine based being. Let me fill you in on my last week as an example. On Sunday, I spent 6 hours studying biochem in a coffee shop till I literally resonated with chemical energy. Monday, I woke up a 4:30 in the morning to study some more biochem, then went to work, then went to class, then considered sleeping in the corner of the classroom building, then studied biochem in the coffee shop for 5 hours. I don't remember Tuesday. I assume it happened... Maybe... Well in any case I slept in till 8 on Wednesday. I then went to class, skipped work, and studied for at least 2 more hours. Then I took my exam. A pattern like this has been going on for weeks, and it will only get worse till after finals.

Once finals are over, I am sleep deprived, starved, and perpetually fighting off caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Then bam (!) it is Christmas and I have to feel merry and bright. In reality, I need to crawl into a cave sleep for 2 weeks. Combine that with worst of the worst music, aka Christmas music, and you have one grinchy girl. I could go on a complete Christmas music rant, however that I will save for a better day. In short, a steady build up of stress finished off with Justin Bieber telling me to have a "very merry Christmas" spirit makes my heart shrink two sizes too small.

Yesterday I sat outside in a sweater, under a tree, and read. Today, I am huddled in the warm under belly of Physical Sciences. Why the change from natural to nerdy? One word: snow.
Initially, I cursed the precipitation, but then I thought maybe I should pro con this snow business. So here it is, me deciding if I like the snow...

PRO: I get to wear more clothes. Shirt, sweater, scarf, hat, blazer, thick socks, and my favorite boots. Every hipster kid dreams of wearing several ironic items all at one. What is a better excuse than freezing weather?

PRO: Less visible skanks on campus. Sure it was nice out a couple days later. However, that also meant I had to see half ass hanging out of skirts and shorts. Granted snow doesn't mean these people don't exist anymore (can you imagine? awesome), however at least I don't have the urge to gouge my eyes out.

PRO: In an emergency situation I can probably just lie down in the snow and blend in to the sparkly whiteness.

CON: To blend into the snow I would probably have to dress like a Bond girl circa 1965.

CON? Was that last one really a con....?

CON: People tend to want to have ridiculous coffee drinks when it snows. I realize correlation doesn't equal causation (egad! Thanks Sats. 1000), but anytime it remotely looks like Christmas people want diabetes in a cup.

PRO: I kind of want hot cocoa...

So, taking a tally that is four pros and one (one and a half?) cons. I guess I do like the snow. Who's up for sledding?

And a little snow related playlist

Chocolate- Snow Patrol
White Winter Hymnal- Fleet Foxes
Cataract-White Hinterland
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)- Arcade Fire

Its the Little Things... like a can of spray paint

Walking around a college campus everyday gets a bit monotonous. I mean, same route (the quickest one), same tree, same building, hell same squirrel (who is way too tame), same spray paint stencil... Hold up... Nope that is new, and entirely improved. Laramie doesn't really have hard core taggers. In fact if I said taggers people would probably start talking to me about killing some animal until I said admitted I was a vegetarian. Additionally, Laramie has zero murals (I guess a town of predominately white people has nothing cool to paint on the sides of buildings). Anyway, seeing this simple spray paint stencil kind of, sort of, really made my day.

The first stencil I saw was a little cartoonish cat that said "Halp" under it. I though to myself, "finally memes have made it to the street!" Adorable, no real message and simple... in a day filled with biochemistry and integrative physiology this is exactly what I wanted to see walking into the classroom building.

Then walking home I noticed a one of those large gray fuse boxes not completely covered in "lost cat" or "giant poster sale" posters. Instead, a Raccoon Mario was spray paint stenciled on it. I smiled and crossed the street. So far no one has covered that fuse box with tons of neon paper. This second piece of guerilla art had officially made my day.

A couple days later I noticed one more stencil. By far the coolest one. The stencil is of a woman; it looks like she is wearing a straight jacket (but not tightened). By far it is the most intricate, and also the one that most reminds me of home.

I still do not know who the guerilla artist is, and I might not ever. People may argue it is vandalism. However, in Laramie random art doesn't exist, and really I do not need to see anymore magenta paper telling me about a club meeting. Seeing the random Mario puts 8 bit music in my head, and the meme on the sidewalk is like an inside joke, but really the sleek woman reminds me of the city.

The picture above is courtesy of the lovely Sarah Quesada.

Senior... Wait... What?

So as I wait for my True Blood episode to buffer, I figured I would do some real school work. Yep, that is right, telling you all about my first day as a senior... in college... that noise was stomach dropping at the though of the real world. So to commemorate this momentous day, I made memos on my BlackBerry all day. Just so I can get this right.

To start off, I woke up obscenely early (6:15 am). Of course I laid out my first day of school outfit as I have done since Kindergarten, yes even when I wore a uniform. Walking out the door, jamming to Sleigh Bells "Riot Rhythm" a pretty bad ass way to start the day. However, what I realized is that this is the beginning of a semester that literally could be the end of me. All 4000/5000 level classes (well I guess that makes sense with the senior thing). Well that was enough to give me a panic attack by the time I got to work, and oddly the caffeine did little to calm me down. By my second class, I was pretty sure that my schedule was actually some sort of sick suicide note. I sat next to my genius friend who told me how he studied all summer for the MCAT while I was busy driving back and forth from Denver.

Then I did the unthinkable, entered the bookstore... On the first day of classes... It was a madhouse to say the least. To make matters even more fun, the course packet I needed hadn’t been printed and the Asian kid behind me smelled like he rolled out of sewage plant. Walking to my next class, listening to Tegan and Sara "Monday, Monday, Monday," I notice the entire campus is walking in the opposite direction of me. I swear mating salmon have an easier time moving upstream.
Finally, I reach my class (Technical Writing... my least favorite type of writing). However, all of the sudden, my day takes a turn for the better. My teacher looks like he is a student, and he starts out saying he wants to teach this class as much as I want to be there! Finally, my pouting in the back is justified! Additionally, a not so bad looking fella sits next to me (bonus points!).

Well, after that my day totally brightened. Classrooms weren't uncomfortably cold, people seemed to stop looking at my periwinkle hair with distain, and I even got a nap later.

Well, my True Blood is beckoning, so I will end this post on a high note. Also, as a new TA I feel like this final song is back to school bonus for everyone, and the title is just so awesome... Pains of Being Pure at Heart "Tenure Itch."

So... tomorrow is the big day huh?!

"So, are you ready for The Big Day" I said to my friend Ben Friday night in the midst of casual conversation.  He looked at me strange for a second as if he didn't know what "The Big Day" was.  I watched the lights in his head flicker on and off for a second before finally deciding to stay on.  Everyone knows what the big day is.  "You mean Monday?" Silly Boy, of course I meant Monday, I love the First Day of School.  Don't act like you don't.

After all, The First Day of School as been a tradition burned into our heads our heads since around the age of four, or five  depending on if your name first appeared on the roll call sheet in pre-school or kindergarten.  Tis' the season for back-to-school sales and specials, school clothes, supply lists.  Just because were in college doesn't mean we have to walk around and act like we aren't excited for the big day.  If anything, we should be more excited and thrilled with anticipation. Yes, Monday marks the end of sleeping in until one and tanning by the water; but it also means the end of summer 9-5 jobs and the torturous pace of summer classes. And if your lucky, by the end of the week,or even by Wednesday, you will get to basque in the other activities that Back To School has to offer you; like puke rallies and keg stands.

So now you are probably thinking, "Where is she going with all this?"  I have decided that since back to school is an annual occurrence in the majority of our lives for the majority of our lives it's safe to say that the first day of school should be considered a holiday.  

I'm now in my fourth year of college meaning tomorrow marks my 18th first day of school. Though purchasing new outfits with financial aid disbursement checks, breaking open fresh packs of pens, and fighting third graders in the aisles of Target for the best notebooks (as if they didn't know "college ruled" is for College kids, and college kids only) now seems routine it still carries the same excitement year after year. It makes me feel rather accomplished.  Happy First Day of School to everyone reading, and if your First Day isn't just yet, I wish it to you in advance.  And lastly, if by some strange occurrence you already started school, I apologize for my tardiness, Happy Belated First Day of School. 

University textbooks prices can get expensive

Students who attend already know there are many expenses to pay off such as loans, tuition, room and board fees and to top it off, dreaded textbooks. Obviously, buying college textbooks can be essential for college students while enrolled in courses; however they may view buying textbooks as a penny-pinching experience.

A vast majority of college students would agree, buying textbooks for classes can be a hassle; but many of us do it anyway. When professors assign textbooks for courses many students comply because they should help us learn coursework and pass classes.

Although a main con of buying textbooks is sky-high prices, are there alternative resources when purchasing them? The answers maybe just near our fingertips.

A few resources upon suggestion:

The Chegg website is a textbook website where textbooks can be rented and shipped to a mailing address. It could be a good resource considering it allows students to rent textbooks and then mail them back to the sender.

Another well-known website Amazon can be a resource for buying textbooks at discounted prices. On the Amazon website it mentioned there are discounts nearly 30 percent on new textbooks and about 90 percent discounts on used textbooks.

Then there is the Barnes and Noble. The Barnes and Noble website shows there are many low prices on textbooks available for students to purchase. As like many stores, there are alternatives when it comes to college textbooks, buying or renting are a few options.

Therefore, whenever students need textbooks, they should be aware that there are alternatives to buying them to succeed and be ahead of the college class.

SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!*

Well hello there gentle blogophiles, my name is Jack (with a C) and I'm here to discuss a terrifying part of life that haunts us as we go off to our college adventures. No, not our illegitimate high school offspring (I'm not nearly cool enough for that...yet), I am talking about immunizations, or the records of them at least. For most, these forms are simply passed from sadistic pediatricians to elementary schools to high schools and so on, so unless you are some backwoods prodigy who can still contract mumps, I'm not here to judge, this is a fairly straight forward process. That is unless a rather bizarre set of circumstances cause you to live in a depressing version of a Rube Goldberg machine like I do.
It's a well known fact that I panic under pressure, so during registration the last thing I want to see is that little caution symbol that warns of impending holds (me). Cue nausea, but it's all ok, it's just immunizations. Now imagine a very lazy pediatric nurse who loathes archiving, the fact that I have two siblings, and a high school that couldn't give two shits about whether the students could survive a polio outbreak. Mix 'em together with a dash of nitpickyness and voila, my immunization record lists my shots as having occurred two years before my birth and I'm labeled the fraudulent, disease riddled kid who took a semester off (it wasn't Rubella, swear). While I like to think maybe my parents signed on for preconception vaccinations, I must face that this is not some fairy land where science cures diseases before the kid can get it. So now I have to attempt to vandalize my record so it doesn't look fraudulent, that or, I dunno, switch to one of those religions that don't allow vaccines (like mormonism, right?). Basically I get to choose between going to prison for fraud or for practicing Islam. AMERICA!

*for the record this is not me chanting a popular "hip-hop" song lyrics, rather screaming in fear and should be read as such.