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A blog of free-flowing commentary, poetry, and journal writing from the mind of an undergrad at UCSC.



Wednesday, January 21, 2009

One Negative and 6 Positives

Why do receptionists at doctor's office waiting rooms think it is okay to take personal calls while there are people in the room? I had to listen to this woman talk about how a relative of hers stayed with her and how she had a terrible cough (she gave a demonstration of this cough to the person on the phone, so I got to hear it, too) and how her son got sick and on and on and on...

She's obviously not being given enough work if she has so much free time to talk. I had to wait in that waiting room for about an hour, and most of it she was on the phone, complaining, while I attempted to read. These people who just complain all day need to do something with themselves: read a book, surf the internet, further your self, educate yourself, do something worthwhile and get off the dang phone!

Now that I'm done complaining, I'll talk about some positive things about today.

1. Finals week has begun! Biology and drama were my finals for today. Bio wasn't too bad, considering it was open binder/notes, so all I had to do was find the worksheet/lab/note paper that the information was on and copy it. Multiple choice section was pretty easy, and I didn't really have time to search through everything. I finished quick, too.

Drama was fun - open scenes that we wrote in pairs and then performed. Mine was about a theater costume thief mistaken for an actor backstage during a show. I was the thief. I wore a green mustache made of felt. People laughed!

2. I actually spent some time being social today. My two close friends Alexys and Christina walked to Starbucks with me. We chatted and gossiped (a rare thing for me to do!) and drank coffee. Saturday, we decided, we're going to have a movie night at Alexys's. Movies on the agenda include Into the Wild, Pretty Woman, and Stand By Me. They've never seen Into the Wild, and I've never seen the other two movies.

3. I finished The Call of the Wild and "To Build a Fire" by Mr. Jack London! "Fire" freaked me out and made me cold.

4. Tomorrow's finals include Pre-Calculus and U.S. History. Won't be too bad, I think. Pre-Calc I get a full sheet of paper, front and back, of notes! History is an easy class, despite my teacher being arrogant, unenthusiastic, and non-caring about current events. He literally did not even mention the inauguration of Barack Obama yesterday. I was infuriated. He also doesn't seem to know very much about history, and he doesn't make his own PowerPoints (which is the thing we only thing we ever do in that class - note-taking). I'm a little suspicious as to how much effort he even puts into teaching...

5. I subscribe to many environmental activism websites that send e-newsletters with ways to "take action," and send e-mails to Congress, the President, the Senators, etc. Tonight, I took action on SierraClub.org - I get their Sierra Club Currents e-letter. Today people were "
urg[ing] Obama to continue his support for roadless areas by protecting our national forests, including the roadless areas of Alaska's Tongass National Forest." Sierra Club is a great organization, and their newsletters are informational and full of ways to take action through email. They also have a fabulous "Green Life" daily green tips, full of feasible ways to be "greener." Their "Daily Ray of Hope" quote email is inspiring and beautiful - each day you receive an email with a gorgeous photograph and a quote relating to nature, the environment, change, and many other themes relating to the earth. I definitely recommend subscribing to all three, espcially the "Daily Ray of Hope."

6. I recently created a new blog from the same BlogSpot account. It is a green tips blog designed especially for teens and children. Check it our at http://greenbeangal.blogspot.com/. Greengal.blogspot.com was taken, and I do like green beans...

--

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

-- President Obama

(I would change "tolerance" to "acceptance.")

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