We are all guilty.

Facebook Etiquette.

I wish I could've written this myself drawing from examples from my friends list. Don't worry, I would include myself because I'll admit I have done a couple.






wildwombat

Mums the word

I was going to say a lot of things for this post.

I decided they were better off being dealt with out there than in here.






wildwombat

Can you even hear yourself?

I've been noticing something very bad. An annoyance that out does the fly and the mosquito. A trend more annoying than people walking extraordinarily slow through the halls. It's spreading around UCI. Maybe it's the classes I'm taking that support people like this, but it needs to stop.

I'm talking about people who love to hear themselves talk.
Classic signs include:

Talking over the TA and sometimes even the professor.

In a effort to sound smarter in front of everyone else, they ask answer questions in a pedantic way to try and sound more intelligent, however it comes off as conceited and pretentious. They look for ways to one-up the professor or TA by arguing and talking over them. They have their opinions and as a result close their minds to any other interpretations and continue to argue until they feel they've won.

Adding their own worthless commentary to everything the professor says.
In another attempt to sound smarter than others, they, instead of arguing with the professor, try to add intelligent commentary to things the professor says in hopes of getting on the professor's good side. They also tend to use pedantic language. About 98% of the commentary is also worthless. It's not worth saying something after everything the professor says, especially trying to use the joke about assume making an ass out of you and me. I've seen that joke on sale in antique shops.

Being completely oblivious to how annoying they really are to the rest of the class.
Due to their continuous attempts to sound intelligent and better, their conceit has rendered them completely oblivious to the reactions of others AND of the TA and professor. They can't see others rolling their eyes EVERY time they speak. They don't hear the groans when they speak. They don't notice the dilation of the TA/Professor's pupils out of frustration and hatred. They don't notice when the TA/Professors try to change the subject.

So those are the signs.

Until the annoyance is quelled. I will continue to make sure they see me do this:



You know them, I certainly hope you aren't one of them.


wildwombat

Oh Irony

So tonight my apartment complex and several others have a scheduled power outage from 9PM to 6AM.

Yes you did read those hours right. 9PM as in night time to 6AM.

Logic: 0
Bad Logic: 1

By now you're probably wondering what the power outage is for?

Rumors are going around that it's for the new parking structure for the ARC...which isn't being used by anyone now and probably won't be used in the near future.

Logic: 0
Bad Logic: 2

Another rumor is that it's for the new housing that's currently being built on campus...except some of them aren't even finished so why test the power now?

Logic: 0
Bad Logic: 3

Yesterday, another power outage occurred in the Graduate housing area that happened during the middle of the day.

Logic: 1
Bad Logic: 3

Except the Graduate housing takes up about a quarter of the apartments in the rest of the complex being affected tonight

Logic: 0
Bad Logic: 4

Let's return to the hours of which the power outage will occur: 9PM-6AM
9PM is prime hours for studying/playing video games/basically doing stuff in your apartment that requires electricity because, well, the fuckin SUN HAS SET as in no light as in humans can't see well. AND it will probably still be out when we go to sleep rendering alarm clocks useless. Also some classes have online homework, but how are people supposed to do it in the dark, without internet, and turn it in if they have late classes or had classes all day? Granted we could return to campus when the power outage occurs, but how will we get back without shuttles running? Walk? Try again.

Logic: 0
Bad Logic: 9182736498762346918723463924.88


Who knows? Maybe this will prove the theory of our generation having gadget addictions. Speaking of that I found an interesting article talking about that subject right here. It's really interesting, definitely check it out.

But still, this entire situation comes down to 3 simple words:

Fook.
That.
Shite.
*best said in somewhat scottish and/or irish accent

The irony of it all is this week is "Resident Appreciation Week" at VDC.
Looks like I need to go get in line for the LOL-er coaster.



wildwombat

Pipe Dream

12 Pipe Dream 2
by Scorpiotistic

I hope to God that that is real.


wildwombat

Octoberfest Skimboarding Competition 2009

After attending Shocktoberfest 2009 with Shwayze and Gym Class Heroes, which was a lot of fun I spent the weekend down at Newport Beach for the Octoberfest Skimboarding Competition with some friends. Pretty much didn't know it existed until this summer when I watched my friends skim themselves (as seen in previous entries) but it was super fun. Totally free and casual. I liked how close we could get to the competitors and the action. Minus the less than stellar weather conditions, the action was great.

Couple photos from the competition, all of them will be on my Flickr over time because I've already used 61% of my monthly allowance.

wildwombat

Published Material

So earlier this month I received a message on my flickr page from a company that has a map of all the sights to see in San Diego. Things like Seaworld, Balboa Park and the Zoo, the tourist locations. Anyhow they wanted to use the picture above. Seemed pretty legit and I looked over the copyright stuff and I'm pretty sure they aren't making money off it. I don't know I just kind of went for it. I mean if someone went looking for my flickr, maybe this is just another avenue to get my name out there somehow.

So yeah, you can find the photo here

Also I'll post some pictures from my weekend at the skimboarding competition in Newport, but I have a lot of work to do, mainly the article for the newspaper that I have to do for it.



wildwombat

Vol. 121

I don't really know what brought on these extreme thoughts of the future.
Maybe it was my friends discussing how people we know are turning 20 before the end of this year.
Maybe it was the fact that I want to avoid doing more research on Arthur Ashe.
Maybe it was the rain.

Either way, it's nagging at my mind.

Twenty years old? Twenty? 2-0? That's 1/5th of a century. That's a solid chuck of life.

Then I realized how fast this second year is going, and yet it feels like I've been doing this forever. It must be a sign of familiarity. A sense of belonging that I'm finally beginning to feel more and more.

I like to tell people that college is probably the most direct and indirect experience you will ever have.

Indirect in that professors have such little interaction with you. They rarely try to remember your name. They don't care if you don't want to be there. They're responsible for upwards of 300 students, plus their own research. They have no time for us. On top of that, you are one in a population of 20,000+ students. You'll be lucky if 20% of them know your name.

And yet...the feeling of belonging has never been greater.
You'll meet new people and you'll make it count. You'll find people always looking forward to see you, always coming to talk to you, always supporting you. Aside from the few at home, I've never felt closer to these people.

I'm starting to do more research into studying abroad. My plan is to go the summer of 2011 so between my 3rd and 4th year to hopefully the UK or Spain. People keep saying how they wish they could've stay for a whole year, but I'm not sure if I want to give up my fourth and final year like that. So I'll probably just leave early during the summer and spend time traveling before fall when my classes start.

Essentially, this post is the fact that things seeming so far in the future are suddenly coming at me faster and this is my outlet for not letting it overwhelm me. Actually a lot of things I write here are to keep myself from being overwhelmed when I think about it.

Is that considered teenage angst? I sure hope not, but if it is does it go away when we all turn 20?



wildwombat

Wear a tie much?

Only the heartless will feel nothing after watching this video.
I'm still waiting.



wildwombat

Return on Investment

Every time my mom and I have a conversation about majors it seems so circular. Not in the bad circular where we're going back and forth angrily about my choice of majors (because she still doesn't know) but more that she continues to "encourage" a public health major

THEN

Goes on this tangent about choosing whatever you want. "Parents worry because they want to make sure they get the most out of their investment of 40 thousand dollars. I mean, if you work something and hate the situation or hate what you're doing, just take the classes to change careers WHILE you're still working. People change careers all the time, it's a shame it didn't work the first time around, but it happens. But if you want something enough and you're willing to work for it, then it's fine."

I understand where she is coming from. I could've gotten offended and believed that all I was to my mom was an investment, nothing beyond making sure they spent their money in the right place, as in if I messed up, I was simply a waste of money.

But it's not like that.

I admit that I don't know where Lit Journalism will take me. I'll admit it's nowhere near as secure as something in the health care field. But if you ask me, going for the health care field seems like the easy way out with the hardest journey to get there. Lit Journalism will be hard too, but I've already taken steps to get there. If I wanted to get into Public Health, I should've been taking more public health classes, chemistry, and biology. I should've joined the public health association on campus, but I went to the New University orientation instead.

If I can get into Intro to Literary Journalism and Reporting on Literary Journalism, next quarter, then the deal is sealed.

By the way, this is documentation for the future in case I actually do end up saying all that.



wildwombat

Enchiladas

Well I told my mom about my venture into the world of the New University and the possibility of getting published. I told her about how I was going to write about the skimboarding competition and possibly become a staff writer for the newspaper. Her response? *Slight pause* "These enchiladas are a lot like the ones from Las parillas."

Should this be considered an FML moment? I'm not going to look at it that way. She also called out the fact that I'm not taking any science classes this quarter. I'm not about to give up on this now. The commitment has been made. Should anything happen now, I'm going down with the ship.


Wildwombat

Stoked a bit

Some big things are in the making right now, amigos. This is a good way to start the year. Of course, my classes are going well for now, I'm actually more confident that I can get straight A's now which is always good right? Right. And I've been playing tennis at least twice a week now so it will always be a good time when I'm on the court.

Most importantly, I proposed an article to the UCI newspaper, New University and they accepted it. So the weekend of October 17/18 I'll be attending a profession skimboarding competition in Newport and writing about it. I'm pretty stoked because the policy is to have 4 article written before I become a staff writer and get paid for writing, plus I get the experience and published material...and get paid...but that's neither here nor there. I'm actually a bit nervous about writing it, I mean I've written for the yearbook before, but never had my name directly attached to it, but this is like big time bold letters that basically attach IF HE MESSES THIS UP, HE IS STUPID!! It's a little intimidating. I think yearbook lured me into a feeling that I could be well known by taking pictures. Pictures sometimes required no explanation because everything is there before you. But this is different. However, I'm channeling all the positive feedback I've received from people who read this blog to helping me write this article well. You all are pushing me to bigger and better things and I couldn't be more thankful for you.

I'm not sure if this is what my mom meant when she said to get my grades up. Seems like I'm doing way more than I was last year, but this might be good because I'll have to set specific times to study and things like that.

Another reason for getting the GPA up is requirements for studying abroad! Woo hoo! I know for sure now that I will be heading across the pond to Europe, unless there are outstanding circumstances to which the alternative will be Aussieland. But yes, I would like to go to the UK or Spain since I have to take so much spanish I might as well put it to use right? But I need at least a 3.2 to be able to go. Time to step up the game and get it.

Thanks for reading kids. This was a long one. Whew.


wildwombat

Somewhat fixed

Well unfortunately I can't make my blog take up the entire browser window and make the header image fit well so I've settled with this. I really like the header image and I can still set the photos to be uploaded as "large." Still looks alright. I might change the colors around a bit, but I'm pretty much set on this one.



wildwombat

Major Construction

Well, it was suggested by one of my fellow readers/bloggers that I should reformat my layout so that way pictures and videos could fit to their full size. I successfully did that and then just went HGTV-Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition-Flip This House on Wombat Soup.

My only problem is the picture in the header. I would like it to extend all the way across the top without requiring visitors to have to scroll sideways to see the entire thing. Any HTML wizards are welcome because I have 0 experience in it.

And any overall suggestions are welcome. I hope it's somewhat pleasing to the eye right now. I've been reading a lot about that stuff for my Film & Media class, things like soft colors in the background while the costumes are bright.

So from now on, the pictures and videos will finally be at their largest potential, and the colors are different, but the content will remain the same. I think that's the most important part.

I think the computer gods are LOL-ing at me trying to change this stuff.


wildwombat

Insecurity

wildwombat

Light Graffiti

This was my Friday night. This was legit. This will happen again.



wildwombat