It’s Now Or Never
April 30, 2009 § Leave a comment
I realized today that there are so many opportunities here at MU that I wish to participate in, but cannot because there are only 24 hours in a day, and so I split my time among being a leader at Asian Christian Fellowship, helping out whenever I can with Asian American Association, and occasionally being a student.
I would like to join the feminist organization.
I would like to join magazine club because it would probably offer some significant insight into the industry.
I would like to spend more time with people from my church, because I still don’t know 92% of the people there.
I would have liked to run for an executive officer position for AAA because I know I’d be good at it.
I would have liked to join APhiG, the Asian-American sorority, to befriend a group of women I don’t see very often.
I would have liked to work part-time to obtain extra spending money.
Etc…
But I don’t have the time. As it stands now, I have some kind of meeting every Mon-Thurs night, so there is no available time for another group.
And so I grasp at what little options I have. I am currently working with a conversation partner from South Korea once a week. A friend asked me to join his not-yet-assembled funk band next semester, and I readily agreed. I’m studying abroad next spring.
The impending graduation of this year’s seniors makes me wonder what kind of regrets I will have when it’s my turn to leave the college bubble. For now, I feel at peace with the priorities that I have selected, but what will my future self think? What does God want for me?
Chitter Chatter
April 29, 2009 § Leave a comment
Yesterday in journalism lecture, we talked about what Twitter means for the field of journalism. I couldn’t help but think about how stupid the conversation sounded.
I tweeted during the week. If you’d like to re-tweet that, you could. Who still hates Twitter? There’s an application called Tweety [Tweetie?]. I enjoy using programs like twurl.
Thanks for making us sound like morons [twits? twittards?], Twitter!
At the beginning of the semester, our teacher asked us to create our own Twitter accounts, which is why I have one. I’ve experimented with following different people, most of whom are friends, but also celebrities like Lady GaGa and Lily Allen. I stopped following Anderson Cooper and Ashton Kutcher because they update so often that anything else I was subscribed to got lost in the deluge of their hourly tweets. I started following Shaquille O’Neal after reading a story about how two people found him in a diner via his Tweets and how he was totally cool and personable, and he’s definitely interesting to follow even though I don’t even know what team he’s on.
A surprising number of my classmates voiced their dislike of Twitter, saying that they were uninterested in reading the mundane details of their friends’ lives, or that they already spend so much time online that they could not stand adding another source of information to sort through [teacher called this e-fatigue].
I, on the other hand, am happy to have another outlet. My core internet use consists of 5 sites: Gmail, Facebook, WordPress, Twitter, and more recently, Flickr. I like that Twitter is kind of like a Facebook status that less people will see — I feel free to be more dramatic or random, and can write things that I feel like I need to say but won’t raise inquiries or comments like a Facebook or Gchat status would [mostly because I know less people who use Twitter].
As for using Twitter as a journalistic device, I’m not sure. I definitely prefer to access news in other ways, but I’m sure that there is some way that news organizations could utilize Twitter to benefit themselves. I’m just not particularly interested in that solution.
Can You Handle This
April 28, 2009 § 2 Comments
The annual AAA variety show was two weeks ago. I was one of many performers; most of the acts were either dancing or singing. Congratulations were given at every turn, which led me to wonder just how much sincerity lay behind every “Great job!” or “You were amazing!”
While I can’t accuse anyone else of being artificial, I did honestly feel like I lied during some of the encouraging comments that I made after certain performances. For one reason or another, I was disappointed by people that I thought would sound better or could have more impressively utilized their talents.
Yet, how could I possibly voice my thoughts?
I don’t think I’d be able to tell even my closest friends if their performances were subpar unless they mentioned it first, and even then I’d probably choke on my criticism. Something like that is much more difficult for me to verbalize than an evaluation of, say, a friend’s clothing choice.
But I become highly critical when it comes to something that I consider myself good at. After the variety show, I wondered if I was the only one who didn’t enjoy certain performances to the utmost [will Simon Cowell please stand up?]. I feel like asking somebody else would only portray me as a [competitive/insecure] bitch, but it’s not like that. I just don’t like listening to poor singing, but I do believe I have higher standards in this area than the average person.
I suppose that when I’m completely honest with myself, I am a little bit competitive. Did the audience consider my performance better or worse than the others? Did they think that we all sounded the same?
Ugh. I hate these conundrums where I feel like I can’t ask anybody because nobody would really understand my perspective. Anyway I wish somebody would upload/send me a video of my performance! I’d like to see just how good or bad my singing sounded from the audience.
Ask Me What It Was Like
April 26, 2009 § 1 Comment
More choice excerpts from old emails.
12.7.05 — me to J
way to NOT respond to my email pooface [never been his strong point. ever.]
don’t make fun of my butt! Just cuz it’s not flabby like SOME ppl’s — …
12.7.05 — J to me
and yes..i wasnt making fun of your butt….i
was..complementing it…i love your butt
laura..O_o….lol..sigh..disregard that totally
please…
Frankly, I don’t remember ever holding email conversations with him that year. But then I went forward a few emails and saw this:
12.11.05 — Cranberry to me
when I got home, my mother asked me why I havent been talking to you as much recently. You know… I… I really… it really… stung. A lot. And really… it made so little sense to me. I mean… something happens and we suddenly cant stand each other? No… I said that we would always be friends… let’s keep it that way… please.
12.12.05 — me to Cranberry
Hmm well thanks for taking the initiative to email. I suppose with everything it’s just easier (for me at least) to forget that we were ever friends … which sounds harsh but … yes. And I must admit that speaking to you is a bit awkward as of late. However, I do recall a vow to stay friends, which would be good to uphold otherwise all would go to waste.
Oh. Well. I suppose at that point, I was reaching out to anybody else.
Why is staying friends so difficult?
I hate reading the emails between me and J, whether old or new. One day it may reach the happy-nostalgia status, one day being years from now, of course.
auradis 