Sunday, September 28, 2008

Epic Fail

Last night, Ian and I set out to go to a bonfire of seemingly epic (according to Facebook attendance) proportions. With seemingly epic proportions it should be rad, right? WRONG. Wrong to the wrongest of wrong times INFINITY. Ian and I hopped on the Santa Cruz Metro as it cruised around UCSC picking people up from colleges and dropping them off before heading into the city. It picked up a bunch of Cowell people heading to the bonfire, so we ended up going with them to Seabright.
I met this cool guy named Casey. We talked almost the entire way there, and then he ditched me. I guess he didn't want to be friends. Speaking of friends, I will make a post for that later. Maybe.
Finally, we got to the Seabright cliff and then I climbed down and lumbered around. We found out that the event was unorganized. The organizer had no idea as to what she was doing, we had no wood or anything. Everyone went to mooch off other bonfires, so Ian and I peaced out.
We went to eat Mexican food, and went back to my apartment where we proceeded to get very drunk. Well, I did. And we watched a terrible 50 Cent movie on BET. Then Brad came home and I went to go talk to him, but I felt really sick, so I somehow made it into my bed and passed out. The end.

Also, I forgot, lol. At the bonfire, some kid started talking to me because he thought I had alcohol. Except I was carrying a water bottle with water in it. You know, like the name implies. Idiot.

METALHEAD COUNT UPDATE
Day 10 (9/28/08): Ned! I met him in the College 8 dining hall while I was with Anya, Nolan, Paul, and Jeremy. Anya and I think he is very cute, so we added him on Facebook! He was wearing a Death shirt. Definitely metal. I also looked at his music list on Facebook and... HE LISTENS TO BLOODBATH! Love Bloodbath hellza!

Total: 12
Legit Total: 7

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Dead

Or that's what everyone seems like at 1:30PM on a Saturday afternoon. Or perhaps I am just a little crazy. I've been hitting the sack before 1AM every night, save for one, for the past week that I've been at roommate. Likewise my roommates, save for Paul, Jeremy & Jay, and sometimes Anya. It's kind of weird, but kind of nice. I get up at a decent hour, and I get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. It's a first, and I wonder how long this will last.
Oddly enough, I've finished almost all of my homework. They just need to be typed or written down. Oddly enough, I cleaned the kitchen and took out the recycling. I almost never do chores. So now I'm sitting here in my room, figuring out what I should do before I head to the beach. I have a few choices:
- dick around on the internet, which I'm tired of doing.
- homework, which is what I should do so I have the rest of the weekend free
- headbang to Amon Amarth's new album, which is what I am doing

I feel like being productive.

Also, yet another update on the tree sitters. There is ONE MORE in the tree across from tree sitter #1 with the blue tarp. There is a banner/line thing that hangs between the two. And this tree sitter has a banner hanging up. I will take pictures of it later.

Friday, September 26, 2008

A Random Update

Not much to say, but I finished my first round of classes today.

Kresge Core - Fuck this class. It's going to be a pain in my ass. However, the TA is pretty chill. Maybe kind of crazy.

Aquatic Toxicology - I think I'm going to love this class. The professor keeps saying that we're all going to break up with our significant others and get really stressed out and die. However, it should be interesting. Also, at my first class, I sat next to this guy named Chris and this other guy named Mike. They seem pretty cool.

Documenting Oral History - I got lost on my way to this class today, but the teacher was very nice about it. She's some crazy Sybill Trelawney channeling lady. Not even kidding. Very loose, flowy, kind of spacey. Today, she stood on one leg with both arms out on either side of her and sort of just wobbled back and forth talking about change. Should be fun. I like :)

Today documents my first official week of being a college student. Not too bad so far. I love my roommates. They're all super chill and we get along great. My classes seem pretty cool. I love my college. I'm happy here. Yay!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

How to Survive UCSC (Or College) According to Joe the Janitor

Last night, Ian and I went on another adventure to go find our classes. Ian got off at the wrong bus stop, so I spent some time wandering around Science Hill by the bus stop. I found a sign warning pedestrians about tree sitters, so I pondered about whether or not there were actually tree sitters up there. Finally, Ian showed up and I showed him the tree sitters. We shouted "HELLO!" but we got no response. We walked back to my apartment to get a camera to take pictures, and decided to look with a flashlight in the trees! But we couldn't see anything. We found the building that my class was in for tomorrow morning, and went to Oakes to find Ian's class. On the way to the bus stop, I saw a sign in a classroom window that said "GO HOME PROTESTERS." (Crazy Santa Cruz people!) Then we journeyed via bus to Oakes. I knew where Ian's class was since it was where I went to find out my undeclared major-ness, so I showed him and proceeded to sit down in a chair next to an ashtray and a trashcan. Ian stood around looking awkward. Within a minute or so, someone came out of the building that we were sitting next to. He whipped out a cigarette. I whipped out a cough drop. He lit his. I unwrapped mine. He placed his in his mouth. I popped mine into my mouth. "Oh goooooood, you smoke too!" "Actually no, it's just a cough drop." was the first exchange. From there, he proceeded to tell us stories and mumbles laced with bits and pieces of advice from the thirty something years he's worked here.
1. "Don't get caught up in all the yakkity yak yak yak." Then he told us a story about a cat named Socrates who lived at Stevenson and how students would always nuke him and feed him various drugs. He also told us a tale about how some guy named Robert would one day be buried next to Socrates.
2. "Fight the man." Back in the day, Kresge used to have Woodstock-like concerts called Kresge Day where people would drink, smoke, hang off balconies, and have an awesome time while listening to live music. Back in the day, the UCSC farm had donkeys, but some idiot lady fed a donkey carrots and then tried to run away, so the donkey bit her ass. Back in the day, UCSC used to be very chill, but not anymore. These days, there are lots of policies and rules that students and faculty must abide by. Everyone follows them, and nobody, or an insignificant amount of people, tries to fight it, so control just gets tighter.
3. "Break the ice." He told us a story about this one girl who was in one of the Science Hill buildings. He would always say hi to her, and one day, she said to him, "Joe! I'm so glad you're here, because in the seven and a half months that I've been here, you're the only person who says hi to me!" So don't walk around with your head down, because that's what everyone is doing.

I think that's it.
Going back to the tree sitters part... this morning, I went to my first class and I passed by Tree Sitters Way. I looked up in the tree and I saw a blue tarp-like entity. TREE SITTER!

On another note, at my first class/discussion today, there were four other people, no TA, no teacher. The moral of this story? If there are no lectures before discussions, don't go.

Also, yesterday, I ate dinner in the Porter/Kresge dining hall by myself, and two CSOs joined me for great funz & lolz. It was interesting.

UPDATE ON THE METALHEAD COUNT:
Day 6 (9/24/2008): Joey the Wintersun t-shirt wearing man. He lives at Stevenson and wears metal t-shirts so he can meet people with similar interests. Such as myself!
Day 7 (9/25/2008): Facebook guy named Chris who listens to At the Gates. I'm not sure if he's a real metalhead, but he might be. For the time being, I will not list him under legit.

Total: 11
Legit Total: 6

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

In Search of Metalheads, Part I

Welcome to the documentation of my metalhead radar coupled with my inquisitive, friendly, sometimes obnoxious nature. It results in me asking random people about their shirts and their hair.
Day One (9/19/08): Anita Ly. I met her on Facebook, and then ran into her at Carcass. She goes to UCSC, otherwise, I would not list her in my search. Finding metalheads at metal shows might be cheating.
Day Two (9/20/08): Kenny, the CA of some building in Kresge. He was wearing an Animosity jacket, therefore basically telling me "hey, little Asian girl, come talk to me." He likes Ghoul and Bloodbath. He was going to see At the Gates but a family emergency came up. He did not know that Carcass was played the night before. And he does not like Amon Amarth. Also he told me about Sean? working at Streetlight Records. Oh, and some deathcore kid started talking to him too.
Day Three (9/21/08): None... that I can remember.
Day Four (9/22/08): Casey, the midthirties to forties metalhead, inside Streetlight Records. See two posts prior.
Day Five (today): I sighted an Asian in a Dragonforce shirt. Those kids are hard to distinguish between normal people and metalheads. They might be those ones who hopped on the Guitar Hero or whatever the heck bandwagon and bought their shirt at Hot Topic. I sighted a kid in a Slayer shirt. Again, also difficult to distinguish. And a kid in an In Flames shirt. See previous sentence. I sighted some dude in a VITAL REMAINS shirt. Now, for those readers who aren't too familiar with metal, you can't buy a Vital Remains shirt at Hot Topic. Usually those who listen to Vital Remains are legitimate metalheads, and not poseurs. So naturally, I was excited. I tried to talk to him in my usual excited OMFG METALHEAD way, but some bitch in the group he was with told me to shut up, not to mention that I was walking in the opposite direction. Needless to say, no connection was made. It made me sad. Also, I sighted a guy wearing one of the Faceless' shirts. I tried to talk to him too, but was ignored. Then I ran into Thomas from Stevenson, who I had met prior this week on the bus, and we spent an entire bus ride talking about METAAAL with the guy sitting next to me chiming in on occasion. Thomas listens to mainly thrash, but enjoys death metal also. So I recommended some awesome things to him, and he said he'd add me on Facebook.

Total: 9
Legit Total: 5

I Have No Major

I woke up this morning and dragged my sickly self out of bed to attend a department orientation for my proposed major, community studies. Originally I had been really excited about it, but listening to the professors and advisers speak, I realized that this is not the path upon which I want to travel. Working to promote social change and social justice is cool and all, but it's not where I see my career goals. So now I am officially "undeclared." Joyous.

Monday, September 22, 2008

A City Adventure

Today, Ian and I adventured into the city on bus 16, Laurel East! We got off at the Santa Cruz Metro Station and walked around the wrong way find out that there was an easier exit on the other side, since the station occupied both portions of the street. If that makes any sense. We walked around downtown Santa Cruz on Pacific Avenue and stumbled upon Streetlight Records! I met a metalhead named Casey there, and we spent about 15-20 minutes talking about METAL. And then I found out the guitarist of Ghoul (one of my most favoritest bands, EVER)(Sean maybe?) WORKS THERE. So I will definitely be frequenting that location to feed my Ghoul fangirlism. SWEET. I picked up Carcass' "Heartwork" and Impaled's (lol) "Death After Life" FOR ONLY FIFTEEN DOLLARS. DOUBLE SWEET. Then we went to seek out a bathroom all along Pacific Avenue because I was consuming massive amounts of water like a fish--even though fish don't actually consume that much water. They just filter it through to get the oxygen out--due to my sickness. Sadly, there were no usable bathrooms to be found and I stood at the corner of Mission, Pacific, and Front awkwardly cross-legged while a random somewhat hippie-ish biker inquired as to where Tall Boy and I were headed. We decided to go onto Front Street because I checked Google to see where Longs was, and it told me Front St. Ian said that there was a Trader Joe's there with a usable bathroom because he used it! I walked in and was overwhelmed with ice cold air and a large, large, large Trader Joe's packed with small people, big people, dirty people, dreadlocked people, smelly people, clean people, etc. I pushed my way through large crowds and found the glorious bathroom. A nice employee man let me in and I relieved myself thoroughly and happily. Next door to the relieving pleasure place was Longs Drugs, my home away from home this summer. Ian and I did some grocery shopping and we went back to the Metro Station to catch the University via Lower Bay to Mission & Bay to hit up the Longs that I would be working at. One of the managers that I met was very, very mean and douche-like. I am not excited. The store manager, however, was fairly nice and friendly, but he had to go pick his son up. I filled out my availability for ETM and left. And then I forgot that I had to fill my prescription so Ian and I went back to do that for about forty five minutes. Then we went and sat at the Mission & Bay bus stop for forty five minutes while one bus with too many people stopped by. Finally, a nice bus lady let us on and we went back on campus.
Tonight, I watched "Gossip Girl" and "One Tree Hill" with my apartment. Well, most of it. Hooray!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

When I Say Kresge, You Say Pride

I'm officially moved in! Well, I technically officially moved in yesterday but haven't really been on my laptop save for a few minutes here and there. And I didn't have all my things on the official move-in day because I went home for Carcass!!!
I moved in Saturday at the bright and early time of eight in the morning when my official time was nine. I was definitely the first person on this side of campus/my college because I wanted to get a good bed, the single bed. I met all of my roommates, Nolan, Nicole, Anya, Andrew, Lisa, Jay, Paul and Jeremy, in that order. Then Katherine and I wandered around and helped Ryan move in. Then I ventured home... for CARCASS! :)
Carcass was absolutely amazing and made of total funsies. Truan drove down from SF to come pick David and me up. We missed Rotten Sound, caught the tail end of Aborted, saw 1349, Suffocation, and CARCASS!!!!!! :) It was good. I got home around two in the morning and went to sleep!
I woke up on Saturday to go to Katherine's house to say goodbye before she went to Davis and that was very :( My mom wanted me to go to that new yogurt place by Amici's to get her a free t-shirt. So I waited and was harassed by little children for a good two hours. One girl kept hitting a balloon in my face so I got very, very bitchy. Then some little Indian child from a large Indian family kept rubbing up against me, so I yelled at him. And then another Indian child from the same Indian family tried to cut in front of me, so I bitched him out. I paid $2.50 for sour, more solid plain vanilla yogurt and a free t-shirt. Then I went home and went back to Santa Cruz.
Yesterday, I got in and finished packing. Then I hung out with Ryan until he ditched me. And then I ran into Militza and hung out with her at the dining hall. Then I went back to my apartment and hung out with my roommate and her boyfriend. Then some of my other roommates came back and we went on a Kresge night hike! After that, I went home and encountered my roommate, Jay, drinking a bottle of wine. So my roommate, Nicole, and I joined him! And then my mystery roommate, Jeremy, came home! And he joined us! And then we drank some more, and I ate some cereal. And went to bed. The end.
Today, I woke up because my alarm didn't go off, and went to a mandatory meeting about boringness and boredom. Then I went back to my apartment to grab some stuff and met up with my coworker, Ian! We journeyed over to the Porter-Kresge dining hall to grab some grub. And then wandered across campus to Stevenson on an epic trek. Then we bused back to Kresge and hung out before I had another mandatory meeting with my roommates and our CA, Angelo, the black fedora, cigarette smoking, queer identified man. It was interesting. Except not. My roommates and I headed back to our apartment and then to the dining hall to feast before making/drinking margaritas. And that is what we are doing now.
</end first weekend>

ALSO, I AM FIRST ON PEREZ HILTON FOR A COMMENT.
http://perezhilton.com/2008-09-21-rollin-large#respond

Friday, September 19, 2008

T minus Seven Hours

That's how long it is until my move-in time. Unstrangely enough, I'm arriving an hour prior because my crazy mom wants be to have the "good bed." I'm in a small triple; the bed arrangements are two bunk beds, and the "good" single bed. To be honest, I wouldn't mind having that either because I toss and turn a lot.
To be honest, I'm very, very scared. And I'm blogging to calm my nerves. It's two in the morning, and I have yet to finish packing. I still have almost a day and a half to get my belongings together since I'm coming home tomorrow night to see the legendary Carcass and heading back to Santa Cruz on Saturday. In reality, I'm going to be fairly busy. That, however, has not yet sunk in, so I sit here and idly type.
I went to say hellogoodbye to a bunch of people at Monta Vista today. The most awkward encounter was with my most favorite, Scotty C! He had his prep period so I poked my head in and waved obnoxiously, and then walked away. Approximately thirty feet away from his door, I heard someone call out my name in an oh so familiar, monotonous, sleep inducing manner. I turn around, and who could it be but Scotty C! We had a five minute awkward conversation about Samantha Wang and Mike Hultquist, and then I scurried away.
The best experience was by far with my other most favorite, DeNaeNae! I walked into the Leadership class with lots of little Leadership people. I sat down in my old '08 spot (second desk against the wall by the door, far side of the table against the wall, in case you were wondering) which happened to be this year's Staff Relations table! What joy! She began focus group discussions and passed out lovely sheets to everyone, myself included, to fill out their most favorite one and launched into reading the paper in her perfectly lovely voice. Halfway down the paper, as I was filling it out, I hear "What the heck!?" and I look up to see DeNaeNae smiling fondly down at me, bewildered at my sudden appearance seemingly as a student in her class. Hilarity ensued and much laughter was had by all.
I might miss high school.