My SoCalled Life

There's a little place where the people are diverse but the weather is not. A place where you turn left into Bel Air and turn right into dorms. A place where below 70 is cold. A place where you see movie stars around campus and they film movies in your neighborhood. A place where you ski then hit the beaches in the afternoon. A place that I never thought I would stay in for school but glad I did. This is a journal of my thoughts, ramblings, and rants of my SoCalled Life.






Saturday, September 18, 2004

The Real Reward

I've gone through bouts this past week of feeling overwhelmed with politics and the Bruin Dems. The self-imposed pressure to please so many different groups which has manifested itself into feeling a little bitter at the demands being placed. The Bruin Dems cater to so many groups that sometimes I feel like the club is being pulled in so many directions of what to do, especially during an election year. And of course, I don't want to screw up. I keep hearing that this isn't all my responsibility and I know it's true. I've actually managed to delegate a lot out and get feedback on most of the desicions that our club encounters. Yet in the end, the leader is the one who steps up and sets the agenda. I've done it before with my leadership positions in the past but it seems like the stakes are getting bigger.

However, after some running to clear my mind, some apartment shopping to take my mind off of politics, and some venting to put things in perspective, I feel much much better. And I had one encounter that just totally brightned my whole outlook on everything. Maybe I'm easy to please, but it can just be one conversation.

It started with a facebook message (see, I told you it was handy) from an incoming freshmen who was interested in the Bruin Dems. He wanted to know how flexible we were so I decided to IM him incase he had any more questions. I feel like it's good customer service: pay special attention and that person will feel a lot better and remember it. I'll always remember our landlord who went out and bought plungers for all his tenets because we have weird toilets; I'll always remember the waiter at Cosi's who gave me a brownie for free because it was my last meal in DC.

So anyway, his AIM SN wasn't on his profile but his livejournal link was. Went there, found his IM. Some say stalker'ish, some say resourceful. Not surprisingly I had a smiliar ordeal last year when I remembered Joline's email address from when she emailed the club about a question and when I met her, I recited her email address. She was impressed (and not scared amazingly), and is now one of my wonderful officers. Back to the story, so I IM him and we talk about Bruin Dems and just getting involved in clubs at UCLA in general. Our conversation ends like this:

Freshman: i really admire people like you!! so active and going above and beyond
Freshman: wow i think i found a role model :-)
Me: haha, that totally made my day!
Freshman: nooo u made MY day! cuz instead of just facebooking me you took the initiative to IM me =D

I'm really just happy now and I think it's a good mood to be in as I transition from home to my apartment tomorrow, and more generally, start the school year. Doing this, just reaching out to people, is what I want to do. Maybe that's why I loved volunteering at the hospital for 4 years, even though I had no real interest in medicine. The human aspect. That's what I have to keep in focus as desicions are being made for Bruin Dems, USAC, and life in general. And as the questions in my mind of what I want do with my life keep swirling around in my head, I need to remember this too. Whatever field it is, whatever skills I'm utilizing, what will make me happy is the ability to personally interact with people to help them.

posted by Kristina | 1:29 AM | linkback |




Friday, September 17, 2004

Being on the Bandwagon, and not being ashamed.

Some people like things because they like being trendy. Some people hate things because they are popular. Being extremely on either side of this spectrum is particularly good, in my opinion. I'm not sure which group bothers me more: conformist lemmings or anti-conformist lemmings (they hate simply because somethings popular). However, I think most people fall in the middle and simply have their own interests. Sometimes they fall in mainstream categories, sometimes they don't. Through skimming through some blogs, I've seen people's takes on some "hot" items as of late. Here's some mainstream items that I happen to love. Maybe I'll do a hate thing later...most likely not.

Thumbs up on these things:

The Apprentice- Major guilty pleasure show because as much greed and excess the Donald stands for, I still love his show. I enjoy watching the competition, the strategy, the management, the guys team wearing bowties (ironically not Raj though, the supplier of the bowties, he’s just odd...but maybe the bowties remind me of Tucker). Being a show about business, even the show itself is a marketing masterpiece. We all know that a huge part of the reason why Bradford got fired was to show how suspenseful and surprising the plot can be. It worked because that's what everyone was talking about last night.



The Gap & all things preppy- After all this time "dressing like a Republican" with my sweaters, plaid, and khaki, the style is in. While I always wore this style even when the 80s, bohemian, Western, and all those other fads were in, I enjoy the fact that the clothes I like now are easier to find. Plus, Michael Vartan has become one of the poster boys for the Gap. Oh my...



Ken Jennings on Jeopardy- This guy's as polarizing as Bush (and probably just as conservative) but the difference is I actually like Ken. Yeah, he might do that little head shaking thing everytime they announce his winnings, which has been interpretted as cocky or simply annoying by many. And yeah, I don't really like thinking about 10% of his winnings going to the Mormon church. However, I like it when people achieve minor celebrity status for something worthwhile like being smart (or at least knowing a whole lot of random knowledge). Ken seems like a genuinely nice person, let's finally let nice guys win in our pop culture.




The Facebook- Online trends, like blogs, seem to have a strong counter movement. I know so many people who hate online journals but as you can tell by my +600 entries, I enjoy it. Likewise, I'm hooked onto the Facebook and even made people like Ben a believer. Maybe I'm just in denial but I think I like it because it has been a practical use for me. So much of my life is networking into little groups and all the contact information is handy on the facebook. Moreover, as a person who is horrible with birthdays, those birthday reminders are a lifesaver. We'll see how useful it can be as a recruitment tool for Bruin Dems in the fall.


posted by Kristina | 4:56 PM | linkback |




Thursday, September 16, 2004

Apartment Shopping

Here's a picture of our very cool shower curtain that fits the theme of our black and white European adventures.



And here's some accessories that are on our wishlist. We only got the toothbrush holder. Aren't they cute though?


posted by Kristina | 8:33 PM | linkback |




Wednesday, September 15, 2004

The Prodigal Son

I've been meaning to write this entry for a while but I guess things came up and I forgot about it. It actually came up in my head while I was in Sweden and we were watching the movie "Liar Liar" in our hotel room. Since it's an old movie, I won't feel like I'm giving a spoiler when I say that eventually the mom character, Audrey, goes back with Jim Carey's character, Fletcher after he's been reformed from his days of being a liar. I always feel bad for the other guy, the guy that Audrey's character dumped. Despite always being such a nice guy to everyone, he was always put off so much to the side that I don't even remember his name. While I realize that it's better that Audrey not marry someone she is not truly in love with, I felt like the nice guy got jipped and the bad guy in the end prevailed simply because he saw the light. The story closely resembled the Prodigal Son, a biblical parable that I always had a little trouble with.

So in the movie there's Fletcher who will win at all costs, much like the younger son in Luke's story. Both squander money, live corrupt lives, etc. Then there's what's his name, the good guy who is like the older son. He stays with the family, takes care of everyone, etc. When Fletcher learns his from his mistakes, his life becomes all fine and dandy while the nice guy is brushed off to the side. Parallel to this in the bible, the younger son gets a feast where they slaughter cows and have dancing after he returns and repents to his father while the older son gets angry and says, "Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!" (Luke 15).

Perhaps I always felt a connection to the older son and what's his name in Liar Liar. The typically good one, not just in the family context (I always felt that my parents treated my brother and I equally, he may even say they're easier on me) but in other contexts as well. So it irks me sometimes when I feel like some people think they're better than others because they've been through more. My first roommate did this bit. She thought anyone who didn't lead a life as hard as hers doesn't really know what it's like to live. I'm glad that you got through your hardship but just because I've been lucky enough to avoid them or have been steadily on a decent path doesn't make me less of a person. I mean, is it just more or do I get the vibe that "born-again-Christians" have this superiority thing. Being Catholic myself, I'm very happy that these people have found religion, especially maybe after going through hard times. Yet, as someone who has been a devout Catholic for basically all of her life, I feel like born-agains talk down to me like I don't really know what religion is because I haven't been tested like they have. Is it just me or do you get the vibe that President Bush thinks he's more religious and preachy just because he lost his religion and then found it again?

So I was going to come back from my vacation and write about how I had problems with this parable. However, my first service back in the states oddly enough had this as the gospel. How strange is that? They only read the same scriptures once every three years (there's A, B, C years in the liturgical calendar) and it happened to be the time. And as the gospel was being read, the same feeling of hesitation came over me. Yet, the priest at this Cathedral in San Francisco, explained the parable well in his homily. I think he highlighted an important part that I guess I just glossed over. That's the last line: "My son," the father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15)

I think I realized that people who are tested have gone through hard times and it is important to celebrate their "rebirth." It would have been much easier to spiral downward and not bounce back. The parable isn't about favoritism for the reformed child, which is what I interpreted it as before. The person who has stayed on the steady "good" path has the reward of being fortunate enough to have that life. Perhaps we live in a society that's so based on being rewarded for everything, but who says we need a material reward for simply doing the right thing. I never liked it when parents paid kids to get good grades. The reward is putting yourself on the right path and most importantly, what you learn (geez, how idealistic do I sound right now). As the father in the parable said, "everything I have is yours." The older son doesn't need a calf or celebration, he has the father's love and a place in heaven (or whatever afterlife you believe in). It's tough swallowing this sometimes because it often deals with seeing the benefits in the long term and obscure terms, but I believe it.

Ok, I can't believe I wrote that much religious based stuff because I saw a Jim Carey movie. I even had a political allusion in there. My train of thought sometimes...just random.

posted by Kristina | 11:10 PM | linkback |




Tuesday, September 14, 2004

What did I sign myself up for?

So I was typing out the text for the Bruin Dems webpage and prepping myself for my meeting with the LA Kerry people tomorrow and I realized what my schedule will look like from the first day of school until Election Day. Ready?

Sept. 30- First day of school
First Presidential Debate, 6PM
October 5- Vice Presidential Debate, 6PM
October 6- John Kerry Rally, 12PM
First General Meeting, 6:30 PM
October 8- The Parties' Debate Watching Party, 6PM
October 12-14- Voter Registration Blitz, 10-2PM
October 13- General Meeting & Debate Viewing, 6PM
October 14- Debate on the Economy, 7:30 PM
October 15- Dinner & Paul Krugman Speech, 6PM
October 18- Last Day to Register to Vote
October 20- General Meeting, 6:30 PM
October 21- Healthcare Debate, 7:30 PM
October 26- Bruin Democrat vs. Bruin Republican Debate, 7PM
October 27- General Meeting & Election Prep, 6:30 PM
November 2- Election Day & BBQ

Oh yeah, I also have classes. Perhaps coming in as President and wanting to do major revamping of the club (new website, tshirt, banner, etc) and dealing with budget woes during an election year wasn't the greatest idea. Actually, it had to happen sometime, it just would have been better if it wasn't this year but oh well, it's all important. It's going to be a good year and I'm confident that I'll have fun because I love this all. Most importantly, I have a great board of officers so I'm delegating a lot of this out in order to avoid burnout. I like it when they say, "I serve at the pleasure of the President." :)

posted by Kristina | 9:48 PM | linkback |




Monday, September 13, 2004

When I Grow Up

yaman: how would you like to give me some time management tips, seeing as youre super-busy-doan-with-no-time-and-always-gets-stuff-done while im i-get-out-of-school-at-1130-every-day-but-somehow-i-end-up-with-all-nighters-every-other-day

then...

kristina: we're going through an hour-by-hour look at his day
kristina: i really do just need to run people's lives
greg: everyone's
greg: you should just run the world
kristina: even better

I just came back from a weekend trip to Berkeley. Drove up on Saturday morning, came back Sunday afternoon. The things we do for my brother. It was good seeing him though since I haven't seen him since June. The only downside to our little trip was that I sat in the car and had a lot of time to think, mostly about careers and the whatnot. As we can tell from the two IM conversations I see from above, my aptitude for time management and organization is pretty well known. I honestly feel like I do waste a bit of time but everyone else is always bewildered by how I fit everything in during a day, while still getting my 8 hours of sleep. Sometimes I wish I could just take the ability to run people's lives and translate that into a career. I've been told several times that if I weren't so ambitious, I'd make a great secretary. It's true, but I don't think I'd be fully satisfied because I'd feel like some of my other skills aren't being utilized. Maybe that's why it seems less and less that I want to be a lawyer. I'll still go to law school (I've even entertained the thought lately of getting a joint JD and MBA...until I realized that this would be an extremely hard program to get into, especially coming right out of college) but more for the fact that I think understanding the law and the analytical skills that I would gain would help me in the future. Perhaps there's a career out there that employs many of my skills, I just need to find it.

As for now, I'm leaving that question of what I want to be open now. Hopefully the more I realize about my strengths, the better direction I'll have in mind. I look at my life right now and things are so different from what I wanted even just a few months ago because my interests have changed and I'm discovering new things about myself. But here's my list of things that I'm good at, things that I like to do, and just general interests as of September 13 2004:

Organization, politics, managing people, event planning, solving problems, listening to people, public speaking (but not debating), constitutional law, educational issues, civil liberties, Democratic party, writing, fast-paced atmospheres, domestic policy rather than foreign policy, streamlining efficiency.

Any other thoughts? Many times people see qualities in you that you don't see in yourself; any help would be appreciated.

posted by Kristina | 1:22 AM | linkback |


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