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OrientedDis.. Disoriented. |
Friday, March 15, 2002 "Just another perfect day" : California .. that being on a postcard a friend sent about a year ago.. but here's the 'basic bleh' of my trip.. California Trip 11:30 p.m. (California time? 1 hr. behind?) 03/10/02 We've finally arrived here in California - somewhere - I'm not exactly sure.. California/L.A. seems so incredibly huge compared to AZ. I've been here several times before though, so it's not any *major* "culture shock" or anything.. heh. Anyway. I think we're just outside of Pasadena - about 5 blocks from Occidental College to be specific. After some crazy driving, we finally pulled in outside of the college around 8 p.m. - leaving Flagstaff at around 12:30 p.m.. We got stuck in some major traffic on the way here, and my dad was going insane at first (he has major road rage.. or rather, just a biiiiig problem in dealing with traffic), lol, but afterawhile it became funny as I tried to direct him in how to drive. People in the California area drive like inconsiderate maniacs (non-signally, etc.) and we quickly caught onto that and fit right in with the rest of the maniac drivers. *grin* we'd be in the left lane.. cruising.. slowly.. a little faster.. "ok break! to the left to the left! switch lanes!".. then we would get about 2 cars in front of the car we were behind in the other lane.. "ok... switch right! right right right!".. heehee.. it was kind of funny, and luckily the traffic started to spread out after a certain area. My parents and I think that most of the traffic was probably from people coming back from Las Vegas? Who knows. Soooo. Tonight was my first glimpse of Occidental College. Hm. I have to be honest when I say that I was a little dissapointed when at first arriing on the campus. It seems very beautiful (though we arrived at night), but I couldn't help but be slightly reminded of the Lewis & Clark campus which seemed like everyone was dead around it.. and like not much to do around the campus? Not sure yet - I'll be staying in the dorms tomorrow night, hopefully I'll get a better judgment then. I'll write about it. That's all for now - my dad is being a jerk. 03/11/02 11:00 p.m. lol..omg..I'm staying in a dorm room at Occidental tonight.. there's.. uh.. 7 people in the room, besides me, right now. Heh, I knew Ozy was considered a diverse college, but never did I imagine the college to be this diverse.. the 7 other people in this room are literally of a different ethinc group than me.. it's strange, I thought my highschool was diverse, but for the first time I'm really feeling like the minority here being "caucasian". So.. the question is.. do I mind being the minority here?.. I'm not sure.. it's very.. different.. but fun! I am so entirely exhausted from today. Where have I been today? First to a psychology class - boring; Second to a 'core' class which was covering an extremely enlightening topic (on "ideology" - though most people hate that class/lecture?).. even though the topic was interesting I found it extremely hard to pay attention. *grin* ...mmyeah... I met.. my soulmate. ::laughs slightly feeling foolish:: He was a older-version (couple years) of my long-term crush in high school.. we chatted *a bit*, but, I finally asked some people I'm staying with at the college about him.. turns out he's en-gaged!.. and transferring this year, anyway. Heh.. I can tell a decent guy when I see one.. the fact that he's engaged shows just how decent he is.. willing to commit.. that's what I like. ugh!.. ahha.. why am I talking about this?? ::slaps herself on the forehead:: my gosh... not like I would come here and just "voila!-Meet him! Marry him!".. ha. ooooook enough of that. After that I went to lunch, interesting segregation going on at this campus during lunch - whites sitting together on one sid of 'the quad', everyone else on the other side..separated by a cement path.. heh.. it's strange. After lunch we went to a 'dicussion group' - made up of a smaller amount of people from the core class. The lecture was kind of boring.. so I took off to the bathroom.. dicovered the bathroom had been flooded.. left the bathroom back to the class. Next, the person I'm rooming with dropped me off with a friend of hers to get a 'tour of the campus'. Her friend is this wild black girl - very goofy/sporty - we walked for a little bit when her friend decided we needed to drive around the campus to get a tour.. lol.. so yeah, we drove to the buildings which - mind you - the campus is already only about 7-8 minutes walk from one end to the other.. since we were in her car, her friend decided we should go to.. "the mall!".. *grin* so next thing I know I'm taking off to "the mall!" with someone I hardly know going 80-90 mph.. ANYWAY.. yeah.. we went, came back, then.. anyway.. that's really the highlight of things I suppose. I've just been walking around being introduced to soooo many people.. soooo many handshakes.. I'll be kind of happy to be leaving tomorrow, honestly. That's all I can think of right now *yawn*.. I'm really getting tired. Oh, I checked my e-mail today.. *grin* I forgot to mention that I got another message from someone from 'dreammates' the other day.. ::laughs slightly:: uuuuuugh.. nice to know my 'profile' thing attracts intelligent guys, so it seems, but.. urgh. Heh.. anyway.. it's kind of a long story, but I checked a guys profile and realized that it was an exact replica of a college admissions essay I had read before - only modified a bit - and I wrote him back saying I was "impressed, to say that least, how well he had modifed someone else's essay for his own profile" (sarcasm obviously)... I thought about the remote possibility that maybe he was the one who wrote the essay in the first place, but disregarded that idea. Well, turns out he was. "Ouch, still recovering from your last e-mail" was the first line in his response to my message (dangit, I screwed up..assuming!).. but then he wrote a ton positive more, so I'm glad he didn't seem to take TOO big of an offense. Small world we live in huh? *grin* Turns out, the essay my english teacher read to me last year.. I remember thinking to myself during the time "it would be awesome to meet the guy who wrote that.." (assuming it was a guy).. and about one year later I'm getting a message from him via "dreammates". ::laughs:: uuuugh.. things are strange in my world.. maybe it's 'meant to be'.. hehe.. naaaaah. Oh well, guess I'll have to write him back. It's going to be impossible to write back/appologize while at Oxy though. lol, I wouldn't be caught dead being seen going to the dreammates website.. no one would understand that the whole thing is kind of just a joke anyway. *shrug* that's all. 03/13/02 11:48 p.m. *yawn* wow I'm really getting tired. Today was extreeeeeemely busy. I woke up from Occidental at around 7 a.m... met my parents outside the dorm around 8:15 a.m., had breakfast with them, and then we were on our way to Pepperdine University. This was my second time visiting Pepperdine - except this time it wasn't during the summer and there were a lot of kids on the campus - which made all the difference in the world. I am really starting to feeling like I'm supposed to go to Pepperdine. Heh, there's just something in my gut that tells me I should go there, but I have to make sure it's not just *me* that feels that way. I feel strongly that I still need to pray about it - just because I want to go to Pepperdine, and it is a Christian university, heh, that by no reason means God truly wants me to go there. I am sure God has a plan for me - where I want to go, he has the best intentions in mind for me and of course wants me to go where I will enjoy it most, but maybe that place isn't Pepperdine. At any rate, I just feel like I still need to really focus on finding what the best decision would be for me according to God's will and grace. I have been blessed so much so far, and I know that should I have faith that he will lead me in the direction of where I should be going, then I will be better off and happier when I follow his will. Of course a lot of how I feel is directly in my heart - my gut - a part of me which I feel God has power over - like a higher conscience of feeling, but not desire or a lustful feeling.. it seems higher and different from that. Heh, and that feeling, so far, was most apparent on the Pepperdine campus. Anyway, at Pepperdine I took the tour which was enlightening in answering many of my concerns.. I met with the computer science teacher, a psychology teacher, and I now have many contacts and people willing to assist me in creating my ideal major. Pepperdine also arranged to have me meet and eat lunch with a guy who currently attends Pepperdine - who happens to be a business/computer science major - and he was also very friendy and helpful in answering many of my questions. Most of the people on the tour hadn't been notified of whether or not they had been accepted.. but it was kind of fun to realize to myself that I have been accepted to this absolutely wonderful university already, now it's just a matter of waiting for financial aid notice. :( .. but I don't want to fret about it.. heh, if God wants me to go there, then he will provide the means for me to. I also met a student who attends the university, and normally we wouldn't be allowed in the 'suite' dorms, but we told this girl that I had been accepted and that I'd really like to see the dorm rooms, and she said she would be more than happy to show me her room. :) Heh, the rooms overlook the ocean, and every dorm is 'suite' style - very nice. After Pepperdine we were headed off to CalPoly (san luis obispo) - the campus is SO different from how I remember it in the summer 2 years ago! We're staying in San Luis Obispo tonight, and then headed off to Santa Clara. The little town here is really cute - it reminds me a lot of where I live, only it's warmer. = + + + . The college is jam-packed though. Toooons of students packed into this tiny campus. I've talked to a lot of people here at CalPoly that have really given me the ld on the university. ;) Two guys at a restaurant really helped with a lot of info, and then my family and I just-so-happened to run into someone who had graduated from CalPoly as a computer science major with a music minor (exactly what I want to do at CalPoly), so I felt really fortunate for meeting up with this guy and being able to talk with him. Off to bed! 03/14/02 11:57 p.m. *yaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwn* today was the final day of looking at colleges.. heh, thank God. I've been exhausted all day, but I managed to get through the Santa Clara tour and looking around the entire campus. The campus is very beautiful, and I met with the piano teacher whom my teacher would be delighted to see me receive piano instructions from. She claims that she only really respects the way two teachers teach on the west coast, and that he's one of them. Heh, he said that he would be willing to be my instructor if I personally asked that he be and that I could tell my piano teacher that.. though I'm not sure I will.. if I do, she might be really set on wanting me to go there. *cough* bleh. anyway. The university seems really nice.. I'm just not sure about the jesuit background of it, and the location seems like it should be *ideal* (being in Silicon Valley), but I still enjoyed the calpoly and pepperdine locations better. A lot of the day has been spent trying to drive back home. *yawn* I'm not sure where we're staying tonight, but at least we've made some headway on the rest of the trip back home tomorrow. ...tired..night. 03/15/02 1:21 a.m. (AZ time) finally back home. The rest of the trip back from ca was heck.. heh.. my dad misinterpreted my 'intentions' on not answering something he said in the car, he got angry, and then I had to hear about how *ANGRY* he was about my misinterpretation for the rest of the two hr. drive home. nice. it's too complicated to explain really.. I don't even know why I write about anything because everything is too complicated to explain and nothing gets said as brilliantly as I *should* talk about it.. heh.. everything just touches the surface.. making everything completely boring and pointless. oh well. my sister stayed home when we went to cali.. something happened while she was staying in the house alone with some friends.. I'm now convinced my house is haunted.. heh. Have I ever mentioned that it sometimes sounds like marbles dropping in my living room when I come home for lunch? Maybe not MarbleS, but definitely something which sounds like a marble dropping every 3 minutes (though not in any specific time order), and I hear it from my room. nice huh?.. I don't seem to think so. oh.. I received my Santa Clara financial aid package, heh, they're offering a pretty good amount, but.. not good enough. more later.. maybe. . . . babbled Lin |
