Senioritis

A picture to remind me that there’s more to Austin than campus

It’s no secret that I desperately want to get out of school. I’m tired of the culture more than anything - parties, immaturity, people staying up until five in the morning so that when you call at eleven to see what they’re doing for the day, you feel guilty because you woke them up. I’m tired of people still acting like they need their mommies to be able to function at all. I’m tired of people spending their student loans on going out to eat every day because they’re too lazy to boil some water for noodles. I can’t wait to be out of this little tiny apartment and into an actual house where I’ll have the room to move my computer and little television set out of my bedroom. The cats are tired of being here too, already. They’re bored and they hate being limited to my bedroom, a living room, and the bathroom.

I think it’s mostly just walking around and hearing people act like we did back in high school. We all just have cabin fever. This morning Augustus has been whining at the top of his lungs and I have no idea why. Letting him look out the kitchen window helped for awhile but every time someone walks by he gets terrified and jumps down, and then can’t get back up. Sata has been just laying listlessly under my bed, and I know he’s bored and wants to go outside but I can’t let him because of all the weirdos who hang around here and the non-neutered cats who are aggressive and spray all over the place.

And me? I will be very glad when I’m completely done with pop quizzes and dirty carpets and leaky faucets in the bathroom and lack of windows. I always thought I’d love to live in apartments, moving from place to place, never tied down. Then I actually began living in one and it’s killing me (not really - I’m dramatic).

I guess I’m just tired of living the student life. I don’t want to settle down, but I’d like to get out of this area, out of school, and get on with my life. University students, especially the ones here, are so pushy, rude, immature, and self-centered. I get off a city bus and everyone who gets off with me is thanking the bus driver, saying “have a nice day” and all that. I get of a university shuttle and it’s silence. People will yell at a bus driver and then never once say “thank you.” It’s ridiculous. I’m so ready to be done with it. They push in front of you when you’re walking and never excuse themselves, or they bump into you and never say they’re sorry. They’ll talk loudly on their cell phones in quiet areas and expect you to just deal with it.

It doesn’t help that there’s 30,000 of us here. This is a huge university, and you can easily be anonymous or get involved, whichever you want. But either way, you can’t avoid the crowds of girls in shorts and t-shirts and flip-flops, yapping on their cell phone and pushing through, or the frat boys with the stupid polo shirts who walk really closely behind you when there’s no one else around. And it doesn’t help that the university has taken on three major construction projects, cutting off most access routes to the buildings, which increases the crowds along one of the roads so much that you can’t even hear yourself think.

tl;dr? I’m tired. I’m ready to be out of here. Senioritis for the lose.

February 24, 2009 @ 11:32 am . Comments (8)

General — Tags: annoyance, cats, Future, living, school

Upset

A president is NOT a monarch. Stop giving him so much power in your minds. Yes, he has power. But! There’s a body of people who make decisions for you every single day and most people don’t even care. They have more impact on your daily life than the president. They’re called Representatives and Senators and Mayors and Comptrollers and City Councils and even Neighborhood Councils, and if everyone paid them a fraction of the amount of attention that they paid this presidential election, change can happen.

Have you ever voted in the off-season? How about locally?

Maybe you should consider it.

November 5, 2008 @ 9:00 am . Comments (2)

Culture, Media — Tags: annoyance

Obsession with sports

As many of you are aware, my bike is pretty old. I bought it for $40 at a garage sale down the street. It’s an old women’s one-speed Huffy with a chain guard and basket on the front (which my mum gave me). It squeaks when I ride and doesn’t go up hills. The tires go flat quickly. Sometimes it makes weird metal clanking noises.

It’s not a perfect bike but it does the job and I use it to ride to school almost every morning. I used to take a shuttle to school but they’re not just crowded, they’re usually full. I’m getting to the point where I can’t wait to get out of school, and so I’m rather jaded to being cram packed into a bus with a million other university students, most of which are on their cell phones and none of which will give up their seat for someone who needs it more, like a person juggling five bags and a musical instrument.

But that’s a different complaint. So, my bike is great and I ride it everywhere. Did I mention it’s slow? My bike is so heavy I can’t lift it more than a couple inches off the ground, and I’m not exactly petite. So it’s really slow, because it’s so heavy. If I get a good speed going and then stop pedalling, it’ll roll to a stop really quickly. It’s ridiculous.

Anyway, so, I’m not the sort of person who rushes around anyway so it suits me fine. I tend to be late to class and late to dates and appointments, so a slow bike is perfect. I’ll be riding along, keeping up a decent pace, and all of the sudden, some douche on a mountain bike or racer bike, wearing a helmet and shorts, will go whizzing by me, his backpack tight against his back and no trace of a bag or basket.

Which is fine. You know, if he wants to get out of breath, that’s his business. But he’s GOING TO SCHOOL. Not biking in a marathon. Where’s the fire?

I’ve been reading Copenhagen Cycle Chic and it exactly talks about how I feel. Americans have turned cycling into a sport, just as they’ve turned running into a sport, walking into a sport, and every other thing they can possibly turn into a sport… into a sport.

Now people feel like you can’t just bike to work or school without having the Right Gear or the Right Bike. I see clones… ahem, sorry, I mean girls at my university wearing running shorts all day. Running shorts? What, do they expect they’re going to suddenly have to race each other? Or do they think by wearing athletic clothes to history class they’re going to look skinnier and more toned?

My point is exercising is such a big deal here! Everyone goes to the gym, buys fancy clothes and equipment, and then wears their running shorts to go grocery shopping. People give me weird looks because I bike in a skirt. To school. Without a helmet. Without any “bike equipment.” Wearing gold flats or Converse with no arch support. Oh no!

Like, I said, I’m always late. Sometimes it’s a big deal. So I run. Seems like a good idea to me, but I get stares because I am the one of the few people I have ever seen running on campus. Everyone else walks briskly. Wearing running shorts.

You don’t need fancy equipment to ride your bike to school or work and you definitely don’t need to dress funny. You just need to do it. Or, just go for a walk in whatever you’ve got on. I see these ladies walking in gym bras, shorts, and caps, and it just looks funny to me. I think if you’re spending that much time looking athletic you’re missing the point of just going for a walk. Or riding your bike. Or even swimming or hiking or camping or whatever.

Trust me on this - if you go in what you’ve got on, you’ll be fine. Unless you’re seriously jogging for sport or running a marathon or whatever. I’m just saying that if you want to walk you don’t need to wear something special. If you want to bike to work just enjoy the ride and don’t worry about the difference between spandex and nylon and chamois or whatever the heck. Unless you are planning on participating in a marathon or you take it VERY seriously, if you don’t have the gear, don’t WORRY about it. Just get out there and do it anyway.

Too long didn’t read:

Dear America,
Stop turning every single way I get from one place to another into a sport. I can’t afford spandex.
Thank you.

October 19, 2008 @ 9:55 am . Comments (6)

Culture — Tags: annoyance, fashion, trends

Too tired

I’m not dead. I’ve spent the past several days wanting to write a post so bad but physically haven’t had the time. Like, I haven’t even had time to make dinner. Or eat. I know everyone says that, but literally, my week is waking up at 6:30 to get to class or work by 8, and staying there until 5, getting home at 5:30-6, and then working on projects at my group member’s house until 10, when I have to get to sleep so I can be up by 6:30 the next day to do it all again.

And now that I have time, I don’t have the ENERGY to write the post I’ve been dying to write.

The world hates me.

I’m going to bed at 9:03, which is early, even for me. I’m a morning person in every sense of the word (goes to bed early, wakes up early - even on weekends). But it’s a rare day that I’m going to bed at 9. I am really, REALLY tired (and I still have a lot to do this week!).

In other news, it’s supposed to rain and cool off. Guess what the temperatures are going to be? Mid 80s. Texas fails at autumn.

October 13, 2008 @ 8:05 pm . Comments (2)

General — Tags: annoyance, school

Cold

It’s seventy-six degrees outside. 76F. SEVENTY-SIX.

I’m freaking out. It’s so cold! People were walking around campus wearing jackets. It was as if the ice age had descended upon us. Hurricane Ike didn’t hit us, fortunately, but it left behind freezing weather.

Okay, maybe it’s not freezing outside, but it’s a bit brisk when yesterday it was 95F. It looks like this weather is here to stay, at least for now - this entire week is going to barely creep into the 90s.

The good part about this is I can walk places without dying. The bad part is they’re still air conditioning the buildings. I have issues with air conditioning in Texas. Yes, it’s hot outside. Yes, we all hate it. But do you really have to crank the air conditioning down to 65F? You’re just wasting money and making everyone really, really cold!

I used to work in the Flawn Academic Center on campus. This place is always frigid inside, which is a shame, since it’s got beanbags and is really pretty nice. Every single person in there would complain, save one or two. Unfortunately, those two people were always the most vocal, complaining about how it was so hot and if we turned the temperature up they’d die.

I’ve often heard people say to me, “Well, you can always put more layers on. I can’t take my clothes off.”

This is ridiculous. I can’t carry a parka to work when it’s 99F outside - jackets are often too bulky and I shouldn’t have to carry something extra JUST so I can not freeze when I’m inside a building.

I, and others like me, have to suffer every single day just so the one or two vocal people in the building aren’t hot. What ever happened to just dealing with it? I used to know a girl who would crank the air conditioning so the temperature was as low as she could reasonably make it, and then she’d blow fans in every single room. This is insane, folks.

But really, what’s going on? Why is it that every single store, building, and house has to be like walking through the north pole? Why is it I have to brace myself every time I walk into Target because I know it’s going to be freezing? If they were to put the temperature up just a few degrees, they’d save tons of money. So why don’t they do it?

I just don’t get it. And I don’t get why people are using air conditioning when it’s 76F outside. Urgh. I’m going to wrap up in a blanket to THAW myself off.

September 15, 2008 @ 5:48 pm . Comments (7)

Culture — Tags: annoyance, trends