To give this blog a breath of life, I'm writing a survival guide to my campus. A nice recollection of all my experiences there and why I don't regret a single minute of it. Each post will be in Spanish (because I plan on publishing it later here in Puerto Rico) then translated in English. I plan on covering all the bases here, from before class starts to graduation, and that includes everything. Note that:
A) THIS IS NOT BY ANYWAY SANCTIONED BY THE UPR ADMINISTRATION OR AFFLIATES. This is merely a retelling of all tricks one picks up along the way.
B) THERE WILL BE CURSING. A LOT. You will understand why.
The Blog is right here: The Iupi Survival Guide | La Guia para Sobrevivir la Iupi
att. the penguin
Wow, since October. Goddamn. Tumblr is one hell of a drug.
All the updates are either there, Plurk, or Twitter. But I am le pissed at Twitter for shutting down Twidroid on my eReader. I'm missing it already. Dammit.
Updates:
* Passed the last semester with flying As. I haven't seen something so glorious since my first year.
* I finally filled out my graduation form. I am officially graduating in May/June/WHENEVER.
* I've reached a point of my life that I can achieve balance between classes, social life (friends, parties, MOVIES), entertainment (drawing, writing, rp-ing,)
* Still don't have a job but I keep on looking~
* Still able to apply to Law School! Will do so before March 25!
Will update later or just check out the links above...currently constructing a
att. the Penguin.
And the last 2 months have been possibly the most miserable in the last few years. I have a freaking F on Audit, it's been one month since my uncle's death, and I can't find a job. Then I had another car accident because it slid down a slippery road. What pisses me off is how fast my step-grandmother started badmouthing me to my other grandmother. I realized something: somehow in the last 4 years, I became my little's sisters' babysitter, tutor, and driver. I did it all out of being a good daughter and as favor to severely overworked parents. But something happens and, no matter what it is...it becomes my fault. Fuck this, I'm 21 credits away from graduating; I don't need this.
I'm just really scared that I won't graduate and get into the law school I want because I fucked up in one miserable class. I'm already an expense to my parents, I lost family members, my car and now this on my last fucking year. I know life goes on but GODDAMN I NEED TO BREAK SOME PLATES.
Ever had your body just sleep on you while your body's still awake? Yeah that happened this Tuesday while I was pulling my last Business English report out of my ass. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? I still have a MORNING (because 10 am is still morning for me with a side of lunch) mentality and then my body decides "Fuck that, we're watching the Adult Swim reruns and maybe even catch Married with Children at 5am just to be safe...Better yet! Don't sleep at all! And while you're at it, drive 25 minutes to college and pretend I don't weigh 12 tons when you get to the class..."
...I have a comically adversarial relationship with the sleep part of my hypothalamus. Most notably during ANY break from class.
Speaking of which...
As of Monday, June 21, 2010, the nearly 60-day system-wide strike of the University of Puerto Rico has come to an official close, and Dia is cautiously happy. So why am I cautiously happy? Various reasons listed here:
01. The administration, particularly the President of Trustees (Presidenta de Sindicos) has acted in such a manner that makes people perceive she is a sore loser. The conditions imposed by her had no standing or favor with students, parents and professors (100% Credit Price increase, the possibility of criminal charges against the students participating, ect).
02. The dates chosen to resume classes. My twin's campus is the host for the Central American Games so there might be an inconsistency in resuming their finals. Meanwhile, I'll be back in class on July 5 so here's me enjoying the last of this break. On the plus side, there's a chance I can recover my Audit (CONT4017) grade and finals and [DRUMROLL PLEZ] I don't have to wake up early!
03. Not related to the Strike directly (or is it?), Shawn's body will be updated and the arc hopefully before Psych resumes their 5th Season (Yay!) Still, as much fun as drawing the strip is, it's an exhausting labor of love and thank you guys for being so damn patient!
att. the penguin
01. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, 53 DAY ALL CAMPUS UPR STRIKE... But it's almost done and it's back to class...for two weeks :|||||
02. LSAT is done! That was excruciating 6 HOURS of test sections and fuck my life, I hope I get more than 150 to get into UPR Law School.
03. Who got a BlackBerry after 3 years of prodding and bitching?
04. Yes, I have too much time to waste but I almost found a job selling knives to bored housewives....Yeah, that's accessory to involuntary penile removal. Shawn's body will be updated soon enough!
05. Summer cleaning...I think an old shirt of mine became an ecosystem...
06. Good news everyone, my braces are off! Bad news, my doctor wants me to get my nose operated T^T This is my grandmother's nose okay? And it worked great for her! Rest in peace Abuela Grace.
07. I have found myself between flirting with guys and keeping them away with a 6-ft pole...reasons? I didn't know how much I missed the single life.
Well, that's a pretty good summary to my life for the last 6 months and here's hoping for less drama and more fun!
att. the penguin!
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
'No,' says the man in Washington, 'it belongs to the poor.'
'No,' says the man in the Vatican, 'it belongs to God.'
'No,' says the man in Moscow, 'it belongs to everyone.'
'No' says Milhouse, 'it belongs to me.'
Yep, using a bastardized Andrew Ryan quote to start off an update to this blog. Currently, there is a massive system wide strike in the University of Puerto Rico due to various reason, but mostly due to student and academia unrest regarding the following:
Wow, I haven't blogged in a while! Maybe because I get distracted way too easily buy hey, at least I'm returning to my old (good) habits.
College has been a mess of works, tests and other stuff that I can only vaguely remember. The protests were postponed, I was able to get some of my courses for the next semester (spoiler alert: it will kill me X_X) and I am practically finished with that bothersome REHU 4405 project.
Speaking of which, I don't know which is worse: the project itself or the asshole I was stuck working with. Not only getting too comfy with me (tried to sneak a peek into my computer so I showed him the goriest scenes of Silent Hill 3 and other 'delightful' images) but he hasn't handed in his part even though I told him I wanted the written project done by this Saturday. I never thought I would say this to another human being since being in college but MY GOD, GET A CLUE AND ROT FOR ALL I CARE, DUMBASS /capsrape. The way he acts gives me the creeps and I can't trust to be anywhere too solitary with him. If he finds this, I frankly do not care. I can work well with group projects but he crossed the line a while back and no thanks and GTFO.
Done with that rant. Comp has been giving me hiccups so gonna get that fixed soon enough.
Not much to say after that.
att the penguin who REALLY wants to bust some heads
Not much to say about last week other than what has been said in the news...really uncertain if there will be any special circumstances for this week (like another strike) but for now, I need to worry about the following:
*Long-overdue work on the Human Resources group project. This thing has been dragging because, honestly, I don't feel like working on it mainly because I feel uncomfortable with the group dynamics
*Readings that I've postponed...yeah, they're biting me in the ass.
I get distracted incredibly easy and for now, I tend to not do what I'm supposed to do.
Really nothing left to say,
att the penguin
Why two weeks in a row? Three words: Week-Long Strike. To express the disgust towards what is referred to as Ley 7 (where almost 17,000 government agency workers were fired among other effects) and to avoid unnecessary student violence, the interim president of the UPR system has decreed a week-long recess for all 11 campus in the system.
TL; DR: I have a free week at the cost of spending Christmas Eve in finals.
I can honestly say that last week was a blurr: all I could remember was getting the grades for my tests (all B's) but at least I got stuff done with the REHU 4405 project (suddenly I got appointed leader LOL)
Art/Fiction wise, I've been kind of dead lately besides Shawn's Body (which I use as a stress relief) but at least I have the following ideas for Promise: Return to Silent Hill: Taking advantage of House's trip to Mayfield hospital at the beginning of this season, I want to explore how he dealt with the memories of the Incident while Wilson's stuck in Silent Hill...that town tends to bring up the worst in people.
Fan rambling aside, here's hoping that I can finish up any loose ends before returning to class!
att the penguin who is slightly scared of looking out the window for no discernible reason
This week was a bit wonky thanks to an impromptu strike on my campus last Tuesday...but at least, I finally finished the two tests that have been bothering me for the last three weeks: the FINA 3107 (Markets and Institutions) and DEME 4005 (Business Law) tests...
* The DEME test was thankfully straight to the point, 50 True-or-False questions that's it
* The FINA test was multiple choice but that right there was brutal...it was even harder than the Federal Tax test! Dammit.
On the plus side, this week is relatively quiet with only the REHU 4405 (Intro to Human Resources) test for tomorrow.
Not much to say, will update later!
This week was glorious in the fact that I didn't have to wake up @ 5:35 am from Wednesday to Friday thanks to no classes on Wed (Grito de Lares) and the DEME prof not meeting the class on Thursday for review. Still, I had the first two out of five midterm tests (INGL 3251 and CONT 4007). The Literature test went exceedingly well while the Federal Tax one probably ass-raped me...
Now for the bulk of this post:
When you hear CSI: Miami, what comes to mind? Lulzy acting, dubious science, bad guys getting pumped full of lead? If so, cookie for you, you got the gist of the show! Granted, it's not Emmy material but the people who watch it enjoy it. If you noticed the list of ideas, you noticed I've left out one word-slash-theme: romance. CSI: Las Vegas and CSI: NY did it nice and easy; there was evidence of the love grown between Gil/Sara and Danny/Lindsay. CSI: M tried their hands at romance twice and here are their results:
*Horatio/Marisol but we didn't see the extent of that relationship until after she died. Her death STILL brings him pain and for two seasons, Horatio might as well changed his named to Dexter With a Gun and a Badge.
*The debacle that is Calleigh/Eric. At the first couple of seasons, I could see this but from 3rd to 6th season, they seemed more of a brother-sister than lovers. Then suddenly POOF! Season 7 came along and they magically hooked up. See the difference? No? Ok, uh can you say "fan-service"?
I love reading TV Guide's Show Recaps from any show (Fringe recaps are hilarious and educational) but I've noticed a trend that does not please me in the least: the teenage fanbrat.
I know because I have to reluctantly acknowledge the fact that I was one for a while. Teenage fans tend to volatile yet treasured by networks because of they compose at least 35% of the TV audience. Yes, romance attracts a lot more viewers than just CSI-ing but abruptly catering that sector can cause disappointment for those who have been with the show for longer. For my part, I tend to enjoy my shows without being forcefed a bland excuse for Twu LUV (actually E/C has no evidence of that either...).
Another thing that arouses Twatlight-RAEG from this show is said fanbrat reaction to Eric Delko's departure. Like any show, actors will leave and do other things for many reasons: they might want to pursue film, the chemistry has run out or they are invited by other networks to work for them. But, dear fanbrat who read this, keep in mind that just because one actor is leaving "OMG TEH SHOWS GOING TO SUCK B/C ERICK AND CALLIE AREN'T TOGETHER!"...yes, I died a little inside writing that travesty. These are the same people who spam other people's fandoms with CAPSRAPE declaring that A/B ARE OTP AND UR SIK AND WRUNG FOR NOT SHIPPING THEM ('shipping is srs bsn, dontcha know?). Don't tell me that because Eric is leaving, the show's over: I saw when Speedle died and when Grissom left. Yes, their ratings slipped but hey, they're still on (if you haven't noticed by now, I'm a Horatio fan so I'm open to get the lulz for it).
TL; DR: Don't turn my forensic show into Twatlight. I mean it. I think I've discussed this before....
This week had no picket, no nothing but it still went a whole lot faster (maybe because of the three tests I'm going to take come Monday). Speaking of tests, I frankly have no idea what will happen with the INGL 3251 test; half the stuff wasn't discussed for various reasons (bipolar storm system, professor getting sick, ect). I also stumbled upon a huge roadblock with FINA 3107 (what the fuck was that problem?!) with the whole standard deviation and expected return crap...serves me right for postponing the reviews...
Not much has happened outside of college mainly due to the rainfall and lack of social life. Short post this week, huh?
att. the penguin who is furiously reviewing her notes
EDIT: I love my Meowmi shirt...English Test was moved to Friday, leaving me with a night full of awesome TV (House and CSI: Miami return!)
Week five has to be one of the shortest in this semester due to:
*Labor Day, which I spent it gloriously asleep and watching the Dirty Jobs marathon,
*The second protest/picket planned for this year, thanks to the HEEND (in which all UPR campus had no class for 24 hours); again, I spent it sleeping and doodling
Overall, I only had 2 1/2 day's worth of class time because of the INGL 3251 professor leaving early for a conference. I spent the weekend slaving away on a REHU 4405 homework that took WAY longer than I planned (I printed it out around 12:45 am last night). Ever have one of those works that just seems to drag on forever? And halfway through it, it gets so boring, you can't help but do something else just to regain any sensation in your brain? Anywho, it's official, my semester will last two more days than expected...dammit.
The other classes are going along smoothly, except maybe the Federal Tax class. I have to ask the professor about how to study for his class at home because powerpoints handouts are great and all but I tend to go more for the textbook to review. Another class I'm having a bit of trouble is Business Law (DEME 4005) mainly because THAT CLASSROOM COULD DOUBLE AS A FUCKING MORGUE. This week, we cover the rest of La Carta de Derechos (the Bill of Rights) in the Puerto Rican Constitution (it's a little more exciting than it sounds like thanks to the current situations these days)
In Internet related news...
Pigeon Beats the Internet FINALLY, one can make use of the assload of pigeons in San Juan...but first, we'd have to give those cute li'l rats with wings a bath.
That's it for this week, stay tuned! XD
att. the penguin who is procrastinating her lectures
I tend to write at the end of my weekend and since it's Labor Day, I write today XD
This week started off with a bird taking a dump on MY HEAD. Not joking, this really happened on Monday after lunch, dammit. My parents laughed their asses off when I told them that. Apparently it brings good luck...still waiting on that luck. The rest of the week was jumbled up by two phenomena:
1) Surprise protest on Wednesday, which I found out AFTER I woke up @ 5:35 am then drove to my campus, only to be turned back.
2) Possibly the most bipolar tropical storm in recent history; ladies and gents, I give the goverment fiasco that was Erika. I can honestly say that the news went from "Don't come to class tomorrow, we're going to go hide in a corner with four boxes of water and beer" to "Fuck y'all, that p*ssy didn't do squat, we expect your ass in class tomorrow" in more or less TWO HOURS. I still had to show up to a class to a class where the professor didn't.
After this week, I predict my ass will be cloistered in my room because I have a lot of catching up to do...crap.
att. the penguin who is watching the Labor Day Dirty Jobs Marathon
Week 3 came and went with not much out of the ordinary other than having to dish out $90 for a graphic calculator...for the love of God, I hope I get to use it in more than ONE class! 'Cause then, I have the right to smash it. Sad part is, the profession that insisted on it...didn't come to the next class (fuck).
Writing Childhood's End got me thinking about Halloween...I have to buy my costume! Hopefully, this year won't rain (as if).
Freeman's Mind This series is AWESOME; I spent the entire weekend watching it and I promptly forgot about to print homework LOL.
att the penguin who will post a proper post tomorrow
By week two, all of my professors finally arrived and gave the students the groundwork, i.e. I'm fucked. The only prof I have a problem with is the FINA 3107 who is super insistent on getting the latest edition of the textbook and speaks WAY too fast (I can hear my knuckles crack). The REHU prof sounds really nice and a livewire to boot. The DEME prof is interesting but I have to disagree on his views of external conception, especially in vitro; he sees that as an aberration to nature but I see it as a chance for those couples to have a child...the rest are pretty good.
This weekend I found Rule of Rose on the local Gamestop for $20 so I decided to buy it with gift money my grandmother gave me (ie couldn't find the Coach Sneakers :( ). Long story short, I got my ID asked...Conversation goes as follows;
Store Clerk-Welcome to Gamestop! What'll it be?
Me-Just this *presents game*
SC-Are you 17 or older?
Me-Yep...are you coming on to me? >D
SC-Nope, what's your age?
Me-19
SC-Okay, I need your ID to verify.
Me-Say what? *deer in headlights* Ok...let me *looks in backpack and realizes she left her wallet in the backseat of her car from buying gas* HOLY SHIT! HOLD MY BAG! *goes running to the far side of the parking lot and returns*
Me-*out of breath* Here you go! *presents Driver's and University ID*
SC-Dude, where did you park?!
Me-*catching breath* Bank.
Turns out the storeclerk's from Rio Piedras...go fig. They said there was an opening for Christmas vacation so I'll be sending in my resume soon! I REALLY want to work there because it's close to home and I can wake up late and still get there on time.
Anyways, I hope to add a lineart/sketches section to my site since most of the work I have is just that until at least 70% of my classwork is done for the month.
Enough blogging; time for me to go back to reading INGL 3251 materials (Quiz tomorrow)!
att. the penguin who is has a slight existential crisis due to the event just discussed
And they had their bumps along the road...
First day : I got the first week jitters the night before meaning my eyes decided to get droopy around 2:30 am only to wake up 3 hours later. For some reason, I threw up. Luckily I got to sleep for two more hours in my car until ten minutes before class. The 8:30 am Federal Taxation sclass professor didn't show up but at least I'm not alone in my suffering. The rest of the classes went about smooth (time to buy/rent books).
Today, the morning class didn't come again...so yeah...little miffed. I forgot to bring my netbook so I was bored senseless for most of the day. Got to sell some of my old books (yay!) and found friends that could help me with the others. Random note to self, get parking sticker.
It feels good to be back.
att the penguin who is still recovering from the near all-nighter from the first day
