Finals/Final Projects

AHHHHHHH

The stress of finals is definitely getting to me. The week before finals has barely begun and already I have two exams and two final projects due this week. The idea behind finals has good intentions, to ensure that all students were able to understand the topics covered in the course and that the material has been retained throughout the semester, but I feel that the stress from finals is such that finals truly are just a test of last minute memorization and seeing who can survive through the stress. I appreciate final projects over final exams any day, but when multiple final project all assigned around the same time due around the same time come out of nowhere, that is just as (if not more) stressful than cramming for final exams. Either way, I wish everyone luck surviving through finals week and I hope you wish me the same. I'll need it.

Working in Service Part 2

As a follow up to my last post, I recognize the opposite side of the argument. There are a great deal of service workers who have become lazy and can be unkind to their customers. To work in the service field one must constantly have a bright smile on their face to seem approachable and kind, and with workers who seem to not want to be there and do not appear to be happy or courteous in their approach, many customers may feel put off or act unkind to the worker. From experiences like these, I can understand why many customers may be rude towards workers. What those customers need to understand is that one experience is not going to be the same everywhere you go or every time you go somewhere. There are a great many service workers that love their jobs and will do everything they can to help a customer.

Working in Service

When working in service the customer is always right. Except when they're wrong and then you have to find a way to tell them so gently so that you don't lose their business. Anyone who has worked in service can attest to the many stories of many customers that treat you not like a human, but instead like a road sign with a mouth. These people think it's alright to treat employees like garbage because they're getting paid for it. But that is not the case. More often than not, these workers are getting paid minimum wage or barely over it, and have to know many skills on how to skirt around subjects to avoid angering the customer. They must have an active smile on their face, and answer any questions with what the customer wants to hear or risk losing their job. In today's day and age, though the service field is growing, the job seems to become more and more difficult as people lose the courtesy to treat workers like actual people.

Expressive Arms

I have begun to notice another little pet peeve of mine. When I talk to someone, I may make small gestures to indicate how I feel about a certain topic or to elaborate on something, but there is a difference between the small movements I make and throwing out a shoulder to simply say something. A small point in a direction is one thing, but moving a fully extended arm in a full circle is a bit much. If I can very explicitly see large body movements across a room, it may be time for that person to reserve their movements before they hurt someone, for often it gets very close.

Wait, what are the words again?

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with quietly singing along to a song that you may like. I do it myself and it helps to alleviate some of the stress I may be feeling at the time. The problem I do have is when I introduce someone to a song, and they try to sing along to it. First of all, they don't know the song, how the hell are they supposed to sing along if they don't know the words? Second, I am showing them the song for a reason, often because of the complexity of the lyrics or the possible meaning behind them. You can't listen to the lyrics if you're mumbling over them with words that aren't even there. So please, my one simple request: don't sing along if you don't know what you're singing.

Changing Themes

The theme of this blog started as a very aggressive rant space to vent about the minor troubles that bother me in my everyday life, but seems to have changed. If anything, it is living up more to its own name, for instead of being so aggressively angry, it am only a tad bit so. Which brings me to the topic of this post: changing themes. Obviously I am coming from an extremely hypocritical standpoint when I say that that is one of the most irritating things about blogs, but for myself it definitely is. When a blog starts with a certain theme, it should be able to stay that way, for that is what the author picked to write about. In a way though, that makes me wonder about the permanence of anything made by humans, for we are such fluid creatures in regards to our mind.

Autocorrect

Of the many different advancements of the twenty first century, none are quite as taken for granted as our beloved autocorrect. With each new smart phone update there seems to be a new variation of it, always finding something to improve upon. Yet, with these newest update for apple systems, the autocorrect has some new problems. The creation of the suggestion bar has been useful in some ways, however if you click just a little bit too high up when reaching for the top line of letters, one may find a word there that they did not type. The new system may become useful once people begin to alter their minds to fit the technology put before them, but for the time being it can become tiresome very quickly. 

Game Day

Go Broncos! We are undefeated, and that has brought the public eye to our university! How exciting! It was hard to avoid the many Game Day activities on campus this past week, and the many hoards of people in attendance. On Friday specifically the Game Day activities took up the entire area from Sangren Hall to McKinley Chapel. Due to the insane and popular event, it was nearly impossible to make it up Sangren mall to get to Rood, Wood, and Everett. And because of that, I was late to my class in Rood. So yay, Broncos are doing great, but get the many activities on campus may be fun and exciting, but in more ways than one they interfere with the purpose of this university: education.

Cathy Park Hong Reading

In keeping with the theme of this blog, I am going to try and focus on the negatives of her reading.

For starters: FINISH THE PIECE YOUR READING. I don't attend many readings, but when you stop half way through a poem to move on to the next one, it is extremely irritating. Thinking more about it now I understand that was a business tactic, and it was her attempt to get more broke college kids with no money to buy her book so they could see how each poem ended. But nonetheless, just finish at least ONE piece of your work so I can see how your conclusions are. Conclusions are what truly grab my interest, but seeing as how she never finished reading any of her poems I wasn't able to get an understanding of them.

Second: I truly did love the essay that she read, and how it definitely took a different look at writers of color and how their work is viewed by white people specifically, but gosh darn that was one long essay that took up more than half of her reading time. I love poetry, and I would have loved to hear more. If I had heard more of the poetry, I may have been inclined to do more research on her and possibly find more controversial pieces like the essay, but especially now I do not want to hear about politics. I know that the social mood of a country affects the art that is made, but for the time being I am avoiding all political nonsense as much as I can.

Third: Cathy Park Hong seemed like a wonderful lady, but I don't feel like she was comfortable reading in front of us, for as soon as she finished her essay she very hurriedly sat down and said no more. And so I do not know if the audience is to blame, or if it was her own nerves, but either way I honestly wish I could have heard more of her work.

The Electoral College?

This is another politically themed post, please don't be an ass.

Regardless of how you feel about the results of the election, you should be able to recognize that the electoral college system is incredibly flawed. I do not prefer either of the major candidates, but I find it hard to understand how it is that even though Clinton won by two million votes, Trump has won. Where is the logic in that? And though everyone is told you don't have to vote for one of the two major parties, if you don't you will be blamed for one reason or another as you "threw away" your vote. There is little logic in the two party system, and even less in the electoral college. Either way, whoever gets the electoral college vote when they officially vote on January sixth, we are all fucked. (If you're confused by what I mean by the "electoral college vote," you're not alone. Here's a link that should help you out: https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/key-dates.html )

JUST LET ME SLEEP IN PEACE

There's nothing quite as nice as tucking yourself into bed after a long day and being able to feel the comfort of a nice thick comforter and blankets on top of you. As I often overheat when I sleep like this though, I like to leave my window cracked at night, just enough to allow a slight nip on my exposed face and to make me feel cozy under my blankets. However, I may have to stop opening my window at night if a certain trend continues. This new trend has really taken hold of the local population in the past few weeks, and it is making it difficult for me to sleep.

Around 2:00 am every night there always ends up being a large group of people walking on the sidewalk past my hall. This is fine, I enjoy staying up late sometimes, and who doesn't like hanging out with friends? The problem is when you think that that time of night is the time to use your stadium-voice. Your friend is right next to you, so you do not need to shout. And when it is a whole group of ten or so of you all shouting and cackling, it gets very loud. To make it even better, if you could try not to stop and just stand there screaming at each other like you felt the need to last night, I would appreciate that.





Wow, I sound like a middle aged mom on Facebook now.

Singing Chipmunks

Who decided that this was a good idea??? "Let's take a bunch of weird little rodents. and give them a singing career," said someone who obviously should not have opened their mouth. The first live action movie is bad enough, but with the creation of three very unusual sequels and unnecessary female chipmunk love interests with curves to accent their femininity, it appears we have achieved hell on earth. The high pitched voices have reached the tops of music charts, and it appears the Chipocolypse is underway with the rumors of a fifth Chipmunks movie in the making.

Parking

As any Western student knows, having a car on campus is extremely expensive, but for some people it is necessary. There's a great many people with off campus jobs, and a great many more who live off campus. But for those that live on campus, there are only certain spots in which they can park. For example: I can only park in C lots because C lots are closest to my dorm. So living on campus, you'd expect to always have a spot located close to your dorm so that you can get to and from you car timely. Yet, I always find myself stuck parking well over a half mile walk from my dorm in lots labelled All Valid WMU Permits, because they are such big lots so far away from anything that no one wants to park there. When I am paying $300 to park here, I expect to have a spot conveniently located to where I live. There are always plenty of spots in R (employee) lots all around my building, yet if I park there I will get ticketed and possibly towed. I find it kind of backwards that the people being payed to be here get the best parking spots, while those paying tens of thousands of dollars have to fight for spots nowhere near their destination. Can someone find the logic in that for me?

Mumbles and Grumbles

I cannot think of a single person who doesn't enjoy listening to a nice song. And with that I can think of a great many people who enjoy humming and singing along to it. Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that at all, the biggest thing I have a problem with is the people who hear a song for the first time and think it is their job to sing along to words they do not know. There is nothing wrong with not knowing the words to something, so why do some people persist on making their voice herd in mumbles and grumbles of things that do not make any sense.

Snow Shorts

The cold weather is just around the corner, and already the summer clothes are being moved into clearance. But just because the warm, lighter clothes are cheaper doesn't mean you should wear them. When there is snow on the ground, you should not continue wearing athletic shorts because they look  "cool." There is nothing "cool" about freezing your ass off to maintain your masculinity. You don't need any fancy pants, sweatpants or joggers are just fine. But please, cover yourself. No one wants to have to hear you complain because you're cold or you got frost bite on your knee caps. It's Michigan after all.

"Politicians"

Fair warning: This blog is expressing my personal opinion on political matters. Don't be an ass, because I promise I can out-ass you and you will look like a fool.


It is approaching that special time that comes every four years. The election to decide who will be the one fortunate to gain the title of "The Person Who Ran Our Country into the Ground." Having only just turned eighteen a month ago, I am among many first time voters that is stuck with a choice between the lesser of two evils. We are faced with the difficult choice of the unsuccessful ass of a businessman, and the late-middle aged woman who just wants her old house back. And don't try and tell me that there is always "Third Party" choices, because all third parties are are just ways for minorities to think that have a voice in our government while the Big Two always make them irrelevant. But anyways, back to the topic at hand. Both Trump and Clinton are lacking in not just a couple small policies, but all policies. They never seem to have concrete opinions of their own. And yes, I know plenty about how many people like Trump because he "Says what he wants," but in all honesty he is just pushing the same exact policies the Republican Party has been pushing for years, only he uses smaller words and his celebrity status to make them seem like his own. Hillary on the other hand is spewing nonsense that is fed to her, but none of the policies are her own. So therefore, I support neither candidate at all, but know I will be forced to live under their rule for at least the next four years. And so, to those that have picked a side, I ask you, do you know what the hell it is you're supporting? Do you choose one side just because its what you have been told to pick? Or are you a die hard believer of these two "Politicians," claiming to know their values and their policies when they themselves do not know? I myself do not care who you support or why you support them, just for Christ's sake if you're going to wear a Trump or Hillary button, know what it is you support, and who it is that you're supporting.

The Incredibly Small Cup

From those of use who have been fortunate enough to visit the new Valley Dining Center, let me be the first to tell you that it is great. Sure the food is a little mediocre, and there is so much constant hustle and bustle you can hardly hear yourself think, but the building is nice, and the options are plentiful. So with so much that has been put into it, you'd think it would be flawless, but it's not. There is one major thing that they really messed up on in the planning. No, its not the distance from main campus, nor the lack of hyper-friendly staff that we have grown to expect, and it's not even the floors that seem to never be swept. It is something much more severe than all of that put together. 

It's the cups.

So you and your friends are hungry, and decide to go check out the new Dining Center you've heard so much about. After walking through the bountiful choices, you decide to get a hot dog from the "Blazin' Bronco." It's not bad, but its quite dry, and so you see the recognized light of a soda dispenser not too far away. Your dry mouth begins to water in anticipation of the fizzy and familiar taste of Pepsi, and you move towards it. The many options entice you, and you decide to go for an Orange Crush today. You excitedly reach for a cup. But wait... What is this shit in your hand!? This is no cup! This is a very tiny, very narrow bowl! Out of confusion you grab the next, and the next before realizing there's no escape! It is this, or nothing. In desperation, you decide to give it a try. After taking less than two seconds to fill, you head back to your seat. You begin to take another bite from your hot dog, but there it is again, that yearning for a cool refreshment in your mouth. You take a sip, and before you can even get one gulp in the drink is gone! You get up to try and refill your cup, but the walk is so far you cannot make it before the thirst overcomes you. Not even half way, you begin to stumble, dehydration taking hold. In an act of desperation, you launch yourself at the fountain of liquid love, managing a single, coarse "Help" before you pass to the floor,  You have become yet another victim of the Incredibly Small Cup.

The Wooden Wicked Candle

Candles date back centuries, far predating all "modern" technology. Their original purpose of bringing luminescence to the world has nearly faded, being replaced by the simplicity of the electric lightbulb. However, throughout time, they have still managed to evolve as the human race grew. What started as a simple bonfire was suddenly a torch, then suddenly next it became an oil lamp, and then TA-DA!!! We have the wax candle. Things have constantly changed about it, whether it is becoming scented, a longer lasting wick, or even multiple layers. However, these constant and unnecessary innovations need to stop, as they have reached a point that is much too far. The "Crackling Wick" --or whatever these unnecessary off brands of Yankee Candle are calling it-- has become such a large sensation in recent years and has exploded across mainstream suburbia. These candles may seem cute and innocent, but they have malicious intentions. Say you're trying to study and would like a nice, gentle aroma floating around the room. You see across the room your candle, light it, and go to sit back down but there it is. A gentle crackling, doing its best to drive you up a wall and make sure you cannot focus. Crackling candles are a good idea gone terribly wrong, and need to be stopped.