1 Week of Vacation Over

I went to Disneyland today with my family and my mom's friend from Idaho and her boyfriend and his kids. Got a sunburned face, but I guess that was good since I'm really white right now. I hadn't really wanted to go today because it was supposed to be really crowded and it was supposed to rain all day. Just wasn't up for it. But luckily it didn't rain all day, although it was packed. I don't think I've ever really been there around Christmas time, so that was fun. I thought we would split up since we were such a large group, but we never did, which was a bummer because it made us alot slower and more indecisive and all that fun stuff. I discovered that Idahoans, even when they are 6.5 feet tall, can't walk faster than a stroll if their life depended on it.
That's ok though, it did end up being a pretty fun day I'd say. I was able to go on and see just about everything I wanted to except Star Tours and the Jungle Cruise.

Oh yes, haven't posted since Christmas. Best present was an iPod! Woohoo! I love it. I'm putting more music on my computer right now so I can transfer it. And to go along with it an iTunes gift certificate! I also received a lot of cute clothes, only 3 things I had to take back because my mom was a little off, but that's ok, because then I got to pick out more presents! A CD, new cute walletm stuff like that. Fun fun. Shopped all day yesterday and spent gift certificates and the like to buy many more cute clothes. Right now is one of those times when I'm getting tired of wearing some of the same things over and over so new clothes are nice.

Totally random:
Looking through pictures because I'm bored and also, as you can see, messing with and changing pictures. Recognize the backs of those heads? Probably obvious because of where we are.

Merry Christmas!

Making It Home

A lot has happened since last Friday, I'm really enjoying being back in Long Beach so far...
Thursday Emma came and helped me to pack, and Sophia packed herself too...

Friday we went to downtown and ate at the Hardrock Cafe and then Ghirardelli chocolate factory, so yummy! Then did a bit of shopping.
Then we went to a hotel that my mom had paid for for a night and invited Corrie to come join us since she sounded so sad all by herself :)
Saturday we did a little bit more shopping and then drove home. The plan was to spend a few hours with the parents before heading to the Kleker's Christmas party. Well instead I managed to crash and take an almost 3 hour nap, and then to the party.
That night Emma and I stayed at Corrie's and then woke up the next morning to Emma being really sick, we're thinking food poisoning from eating a salad with dressing that had been sitting out all night around 1:00AM. Poor girl.
Sunday was decorate the Christmas tree time when I got home. We like to use all of those homemade ornaments, so it may not be the prettiest tree, but I think it's more special.

Then Satellite, and home for dinner and off to Borders to get some books off of my reading list!
Today I slept in until 1:00PM! (and it wasn't like I stayed up extra late, I fell asleep on the couch at 11:00) I was kind of shocked, but I think my body really needed it. It's only 11:00 and I'm already getting sleepy again.
My dad and sister and I played Risk and I won!
Tonight my mom and I baked lots and lots of Christmas cookies.

My little sister Emily joined in a bit later.

Fun to have some mother daughters time, and I'm sure she loved the baking company!

Mexico

HAHAHA
Somehow Emma and her mom managed to miss the 8 freeway to get here. Well they realized this a bit too late and ended up in Mexico, where they were lost for half an hour!! So I just got off the phone with her and they're waiting in line to get back into the US. HAHA Man, I sure thought it was funny.
Just a reminder of how close I am to the border! So she should be here soon! Yah!!

Reading...

Over the break I really want to get some "pleasure" reading in. I used to love to read (and still do), but with so much textbook stuff to read it's not that possible. Here's the list so far:
-Angels and Demons (Prequal to the DaVinci Code)
-The DaVinci Code
-1984 (read it before, but want a refresher)
-A Brave New World (also read once before)
Anyone have any good suggestions??

Phew... almost there!

Almost done with finals! I'm going to study for my last one right after I finish this post!
These were my first college finals of my life, and my reaction was pretty much that they, well, suck. I'm completely exhausted right now but I have to just hang in there for one more day. There just really haven't been enough hours in the day to study. Next semester I need to plan this out better. Oh well, live and learn. I'm over it for now. The only good final was my philosophy 110 final. In fact I really enjoyed that class in general. It was basically a critical thinking class. Mainly we learned about the types of arguments and how to spot invalid arguments and fallacies. What's so cool about it is that I really am a much more "critical thinker" now. It sounds odd to say, but that was one of the things I felt that college was supposed to teach you! When I'm reading a newspaper or listening to speeches in my classes I can actually spot bad arguments now, it's fun.
Next semester I have to take philosophy 101 which is more of what you would think a philosophy class is I believe.
Anyway, tangent. (Mmm, I'm eating home made Christmas cookies right now! My managers so cute, she gave all of the supervisors little bags of home made cookies and a little Starbucks card! Woohoo! The first Christmas treats of the season for me!)
I'm so excited! Tomorrow Emma's mom is going to drive her down to San Diego and she's going to stay with me Thursday and Friday night! Woohoo! She hasn't made it down to SD yet since she doesn't have a car. And I have to stay an extra day because of work on Friday. So we're going to go Christmas shopping (a little late, hey we couldn't help it, we're busy college students), and then I'm going to show her how cool San Diego is! Technically I have to be out of the dorms by 4:00 on Friday, so my mom was extremely cool and offered to pay for us to rent a hotel room Friday night! Woohoo! So we'll leave Saturday afternoonish to go home! It's funny because I would think I'd be so eager to go home but I'm really not. I finally feel like I belong here and am settling down. I almost wish I had a few more weeks to stay, just without the finals stress. Oh well, I know I'll enjoy being home anyway though. I got my first paycheck since working buyback today. It was sweet! I was excited. Anyway, have a great rest of the week all!! I'll be seeing some of you soon!
(Did I say Woohoo! enough times in this post?)

It's times like when the sky is this beautiful that I wish I knew just a little bit about photography

Ok...

I know I've been kind of slacker lately about updating this blog. Been kind of crazy busy so I dont' think there's going to be too much updating over the next week either, we shall see.
I only have one more week left! I can't believe it. It doesn't feel like I've even settled in yet!
Over this past week I've started the job as one of the 2 supervisors for buyback. It hasn't been bad at all, kind of fun to be in charge and know what's going on actually. Plus I get to use the walkie talkies, hehe. But that's been taking up alot of time. All week I've been getting back to my room to start homework and studying at about 8:00. And by then I'm tired.
With the whole strike thing it's over, so I do have that spanish final, bummer.
Here's what I get to look forward to next week:

Saturday: work 9:45-4:15
Monday: Sociology final 10:30-12:30, work 1:00-7:00
Tuesday: History final 10:30-12:30, work 1:00-7:00
Wednesday: Spanish final 8:00-10:00, Philosophy final 1:00-3:00, work 3:30-7:00
Thursday: Communications final 1:00-3:00, work 3:30-7
Friday: work 11:00-4:00

So if you're wondering where I am or why I'm exhausted that's why. Somewhere in there I'm studying for those finals. Fun stuff. I really am sleeping all day Saturday as soon as I get home.

Laura Benson

I am sitting here stalling for a portfolio that is due on Friday. I am just not in the mood, but I'll start soon enough. So I was wondering what would happen if I did a search on google of Laura Benson. I found a site of another girl that hasn't really been filled yet, but I thought interesting anyway, especially her Picture . And when I clicked on the Poetry Page it was a poem about an Emily (which is my sister's name!) But it's quite sad.
I guess Laura Benson is a pretty common name. I also found me at UCLA . A high school that was honoring the death of Laura Benson. An actress that scarily sounds like me... 5'2", brown hair, green eyes. Anyway and alot more, but I am done stalling now. I guess there are a lot of Laura Benson's out there.
What was fun though was "thebensonator" was the second on the google list!

Strikes in the CSU system

I heard the rumor earlier today that TA's were going on strike tomorrow. I just received this email from my spanish professor that explains it better than I could. They're choosing to go on strike right around the time of finals, which could seriously mess some things up for the students. So I think the pressure might force some of the higher ups to give into their demands. But we shall see. Here's the email from my professor:

"Dear Students,

as some of you might have heard about this, all Academic Student Employees (ASEs) are starting a strike tomorrow, December 9.

Well, I'm one of them. Until today I had faith in that the CSU system will cooperate in finally giving us our first contract (right now I am not even regarded to be a University employee), however, at this point I have given up hope...and the University continues to practice unfair labor practices by making unilateral changes to our working conditions, denying some ASEs inclusion in the bargaining unit, repeatedly failing to provide information that is necessary for us to have for negotiations and denying Union activists the right to talk to members.

Because ASEs like me do a significant portion of the instructional work on campus, our working conditions are your learning conditions. Increasing workloads, growing section sizes, and an administrative focus on the bottom-line undermines your quality of education.

You and your parents can help avert a potential Unfair Labor Priactice strike by contacting the President and your legislators to let them know how important your TAs, GAs , Tutors, and Graders are to your education. Let them know that you, as students, agree that ASEs deserve the basic respect and rights accorded to every other CSU employee and to thousands of ASEs across the country.

If this is not resolved tomorrow, our strike will go on and you might not have a final exam. I will keep you posted by sending you up-dates every day. I'm sorry if this causes you any inconvenience,
thank you in advance for your support,
Daniela"

Dylan Ronald Love

That's my cousin Marissa's new baby! Such a cutie. My mom just sent me the some pictures of him. I think that makes him my first cousin once removed?? Born November 14th, 8 pounds, 9 ounces, 21 inches long. Marissa's my oldest cousin on my dads side, 24. So she's the first one to have gotten married and to have a baby! I'm third in line... but no plans on a baby for me any time soon!

Poor Little Cell Phone

It's had a rough weekend. Well probably a rough life since I tend to drop it alot leaving dings and dents and scratches, as well as making the battery fly off when I dropped it.
Friday I managed to lose my phone, luckily for only about 2 hours. I guess it fell out of my sweatshirt pocket when I was getting lunch with Tricia the other day completely across campus. Well I was freaking out and called all of the places I'd been, but nope, none of them had it. I figured it was gone for good. I asked Tricia if she by some random chance had it. She actually had a missed call from me, odd since I didn't have my phone with me! I guess someone found it in West Commons and turned it into the bank and they called the last person I had talked to, Tricia. Anyway so I went to pick it up before my last class at 2:00. Luckily I went before and not after because they close at 2:00 and aren't open on the weekends. Cellphoneless for a whole weekend!? Ahh!
Today I went to charge my phone and it wasn't working. Well when I disconnected the charger to see why and only half of the chord lifted up with me I figured it out. Somehow I managed to snap it in half. So now my phone is about to die. Sadness.

Friday afternoon and needed to get away...

So I went shopping! By myself. I have discovered that I really love shopping by myself, some alone time. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I really don't get a whole lot of alone time anymore. I went to a couple of different malls and was out for about 3.5 hours, it was nice.
I was noticing while out how many mother daughter couples there were shopping. I got a little bit homesick for my mom at that point. That was one thing we loved doing together, shopping. It was how we spent our "mother daughter" time since neither my sister or my dad like to shop. Somehow even when we had been in some argument for the past few days we got along and things were better for those few shopping hours. Somehow we just connected then, and no, it wasn't because she bought me things.
Well this is beginning to feel cheeseballish to me. But it was nice to think about good times spent with my mom for a bit. And definitely nice to be away from campus for a while. Sometimes I feel so stuck here, so it was good to clear my head and be by myself to think.

Freshman 15

So I'm sure we've all heard of the Freshman 15. Where in the first year of college the average weight gained for freshman is 15 pounds. Originally I thought this was because college was so stressful that everyone ate more. Or because people were finally free to eat whatever they wanted... so they did. Or people weren't as active as they used to be.
Well after having discussions with other dorm friends and people from work we all seem to agree that the real reason for the weight gain is actually none of the above. It's the meal plan, coupled with the lack of freshly cooked food. It's actually really frustrating because it is actually not possible to eat healthy even if we want to. All of the places on campus are fast food to use the meal plan: Taco Bell, Juice it Up, Sabarro's, Steak Escape, Starbucks, Ferraro's Italian, Panda Express. The only semi healthy place is the Sub Connection, like a Subway. But I'm not really in the mood to eat a sandwich every single day. The grills on campus serve all fried or greasetefied foods. And the dining halls food isn't ever very appealing. And the only fruit is mixed fruit that is overwhelmingly honeydew melon and cantelope. I can only eat so much melon. And I can only force down so many boring salads.
It's ridiculous actually. Even if we are able to make it to the gym, you need more than just exercise to stay healthy. I used to train for soccer for at least 3 hours 5 days a week, and I was never thin. Only when one summer I went on a healthy diet of Weight Watchers was I finally able to lose 25 pounds. The healthy eating is essential, like all of the nutritionists have been saying forever.
Because of the fact that I live in the dorms 2 out of 3 of my meals every day are eating out. I have to use the meal plan which I have stopped trying to spend all of the money on it, unless it is to stalk up on bottles of water or something. Even then, it's hard when the options for the healthy food aren't there. I guess I'm just extremely frustrated. I have gained between 10 and 15 pounds myself so far, fluctuating week to week. This is at least 10 pounds heavier than I have EVER been. Even when I was binge eating for a while when I was having weight issues I was not this heavy. What is even more odd is I actually don't snack nearly as much as I used to, which used to be my problem. The meals that I do have are just so much more filling and unhealthy that it's actually worse. What makes me frustrated is that after talking to a lot of girls last night, I'm not the only one. The Freshman 15 really is true. Many girls were saying they'd gained between 10 and 20 pounds already. And this is just the first semester of school.
It's become one of the reasons I really want to move into an apartment next year (more on that later) so that I can have things like real cooked chicken. Lately it is not candy or sweets that I have been craving, it's cooked vegetables and fresh fruit and grilled chicken, not slathered with grease or butter.
At this rate next summer I'm going to have gained 30 pounds. What's going to be funny is over the holidays when people usually gain weight, but when I am home for 5 weeks, I have a feeling I might actually lose a little weight from eating more home cooked meals, we'll see...
For now, just frustration, the Freshman 15 problem, and my fatness.

Christmas is almost here!

Sophia and I went and got a mini tree that lights up and bought mini ornaments to put on it! We also bought lights but will have to put them up later when it's not 11:36 at night. That's kind of the extent of the possibility of Christmas decorations when you live in one room. I also took a few different pictures to try to get a good one, but the lighting in this room truly stinks, no matter what we do, so this doesn't really capture the funness of our tree. With the flash and without it stinks, oh well.

Speeches and Stuff

Today for my Communications class I had to give a 17-20 minute group persuasive speech about why everyone should receive the flu vaccine. Sounds interesting huh? Or not. But that's ok.
Last night I was trying to figure out how to practice the speech because the best way for me to practice is just to read my parts out loud over and over again until it's semi memorized. Well when you live with another person in a single room this can be semi difficult. I ended up going out to my car and practicing for about an hour. Luckily not too many people walked by me to think I was crazy. Then I did laundry and since no one was in the laundry room I practiced out loud here! But after laundry was done I decided to just sit on the couch out in the hall and whisper to myself. Well that all lasted until about 10:00. Then I was joined by my dorm friend Jackie, and then Jen and Cassie, and then Haley and Chelsea, and then Clark. Needless to say that was the end of studying. Instead we ate hot tomales and chucked peanuts down the hall to see who could throw them the farthest. And then I dropped my jar of peanuts and they spilled everywhere. That's when the party died down a bit and Sophia joined us and some of us continued to hang out until a little after midnight and then off to bed!
It's times like these that I love the dorm life, it's so much fun sometimes!
So I got up early this morning to practice my speech some more. And I think it paid off!
Ah, the college life.

Productive

Between one or two of my classes everyday I have at least an hour break. I'm going to try and plan it better next semester so I don't have so many breaks. But anyway I've been attempting to utilize my time better so I've been spending a lot of time in Starbucks studying or working on writing or whatever. It's making me feel so productive, and I'm actually getting a lot done. I used to just come back to my room and do what I'm doing now, reading blogs and doing random things on the internet, very unproductive. I actually like going to Starbucks and studying too, I think I've finally found a place where I can study. As long as I don't actually drink a Starbucks when I'm there everytime.