As A Twig Is Bent The Tree Inclines

And so begins a new blog, the first of June. On June 19th (haha). There is a lot I want to share, so let's begin!! Quick!!


Bee's in Early Summer... So right now, it's 11:30pm, on the night of June 19th, the day before my flight to SFO, and then to Daly City. In fact, 13 hours before my flight (hehe). Anyway, I'm still in San Diego =). Yup. I don't see what the rush to go home is, but I could understand. Finals week sucked. Bad. I had my Statistics final Monday night at 7pm, my Chemistry final Wednesday morning at 8am, and my History of Latin America essay finals due Wednesday before 12pm. Ugh.. So bad. Especially since I worked the weekend before. That Sunday was officially my last day with a company that I've worked for and with since November 3rd 2007. That is a really long time, ahah. Anyway, so Sunday night I studied like crazy for Statistics, went to sleep late and woke up at 7am to continue studying "like crazy". Then took a strategically placed nap at 2pm, and began reviewing. After what I thought was a good test, I went home (around 9:30pm), relaxed, ate, and began to study again. All day Tuesday: studying + reviewing = crazy out of my mind. By then I had decided that I'm not going to finish (or begin, for that matter) my two essays due Wednesday, being that it's only 2 percentage points of for each day late, so, not that bad. Wednesday morning at 8:05am I began to bubble circles with confidence on a scantron for my Chem final, and as I got up to turn my scantron in, my confidence went kaploot. Oh well. It turned out better than I had thought. The rest of Wednesday and some of Thursday I spent reading for my essays. I began my first of two essays at 6pm on Thursday and finished my second essay at 2am Friday. I whispered "f-- yea", printed my papers, slammed close my books and my laptop, and ran to bed. Oh, I forgot to mention, this whole time, that whole week I was sleeping on the sofa. I missed my bed so much.

Oh, and I finally made up with Joseph, one of my roommates, one of my best friends. I think that was Wednesday or Thursday. But it was nice. I learned more about him, and he learned more about me. It just made the last few days of San Diego so much better. More on that later.


Busy Beneath the Sunlight... Yes, I've been very busy enjoying this sunlight. Which is funny, because there are times when the weather at UCSD is cloudy and sad, and in the area of my apartment it is sunny and nice. Being that I've finally finished my first year of college off-campus, it seems I want to compare living off campus against living on campus. I'm so appreciative of having lived at Regents Court Apartments for my first year. Lol, the convenience!!

Off campus:
-- Can easily get to Vons Shopping Center, Costa Verde Shopping, Westfield Mall, and La Jolla Village Square. In fact, they are all one or two blocks away!!
-- Can access the shuttle much quicker than you could on campus. From my apartment (aside from being able to see the bus stop from my window), you could get to the stop in about 30 seconds (if you walk, 15 if you run). This means not having to wake up ridiculously early to walk to the shuttle. And, even if you do miss the shuttle, another one comes within 3 minutes for a majority of the day! I'm so glad the frequency of the shuttles is as it is, because it means virtually no lines. Even if the line were to consist of 40 people, they could all fit in and be comfortably seated. And it's such a quick service too. I'm the first to get on (meaning seat preference) and the first to get off, and it usually takes 12 minutes to get to campus and 8 minutes to get home. And the shuttle stops near the center of campus! So convenient, so that if you have a lecture on the opposite end of the revelle campus, you're already halfway there!
-- The freedom!
-- You get to go to a super market and pick out the food you want to eat, cook it the way you want to cook it (which for lazy people means remove the plastic, put in microwave for 3 minutes on high, and let sit for 1 minute before eating), and eat it! No more having to choose between cafeteria food, and no more having to lose your UCSD meal points because you didn't want to buy that nasty looking lasagna. Oh, and the bargains!! Barillo pasta 10 for $10?! Hell yes!! I'll take 20!! Things at a Vons is so much cheaper than at the campus markets. Yes, sooo much cheaper. Oh, and I forgot to mention, your own dishware!! You want to eat on a set of dishes that have a theme that you like? Go ahead! You don't have to eat with the somewhat washed fork and dull plates from the cafeteria! Get your own set that you like! Don't want to cook? There are restaurants littered within a block of the apartment. Perfect! Oh, and now that we're on the subject of meal points, a benefit of living off campus and having on campus friends is... free food when you go eat with them!! More than half the time, students have so many meal points they have no idea what to do with them, so when you go visit them and have lunch at a campus cafeteria, they will "swipe for you", because they have the meal points to spare! Yay!
-- You get to do whatever you want, whenever you want. You want to do your laundry today? Go ahead, the washer and dryer are in your apartment. You want to take a quick relaxing dip in the pool, or better yet, the jacuzzi? It's right down the stairs. You want to go for a run at 11pm at night (guilty), then finish by going to the gym? No one is going to say no.
-- Space-Freedom! You have the freedom to set up your room the way you (and your roommate) want to set up the room. You want to have a large $3000 sofa in the living room facing a 1080p flat-screen tv hooked up with surround sound speakers? Sure! You also can have a very nice bathroom (I know I'll miss mine). You want to download that new Miley Cirus album, but it's illegal? That's okay, because UCSD isn't checking on you (the real cops might.. by the way, I'm not promoting illegal downloading, and in no ways am I suggesting I do..).

On campus:
-- You get to share a bathroom with your suite mates or floor mates.. yay?
-- Waking up 5 minutes before class starts? I usually press snooze on my alarm, and it's a 5 minute snooze. Now what? I'm screwed.
-- You have to pay for meal points that might not be used.
-- Are you familiarized with the buses?
-- Noise!! 'nuff said.

Okay, those are just a few main points for why I love living off campus. And to be honest, the points for why people would dread living off campus are lame. Three points which aren't really a hassle.


Through the Flowered Meadows... So I've finally reached what seems like a true friendship with Joseph again. He left for home Wednesday, and Tuesday we spent the whole day hanging out, like the friends we are. Monday night we made a whole list of things we wanted to do, and to my amazement, we did them all. We woke up at 7am, and had a week's worth of fun. A true moment to remember. Highlights were playing basketball, watching The Taking of Pelham 123, working out, and eating, all the time talking, laughing, and enjoying our friendship. Whoop-whoop! Now it's back to me and Justin, my partner in crime! I can't wait to hang out again over the summer! =) It's 12:44am right now, and as I type this, my partner in crime is playing music to help eliminate the depressing quietness that is lingering. What would I do without such a good friend? =)


Death's Brother, Sleep... And boy am I tired. In 12 hours I'll be on a plane heading north. In the past week I've been restless, and it's definitely time for me to have one last night here in San Diego.. at least, until August =). Good day to all! Have a good summer, and I can't wait to see you all!!

-MC =)