So apparently on my paper for PSYCH 319 I got 49/100 for missing one point, and though I admit in retrospect that I missed the critical review, I really don’t appreciate how my TA responded. Anyway, here’s what’s been happening through emails.

Hi Jeremy,

I have read through your comments and I agree with most of them. However, for some parts where you note that I’m missing some parts or displacing my ideas in my argument, I’d like to have the chance to meet with you during your office hours to discuss and try to explain myself. This way I may understand what I didn’t have in my paper, while also allowing me to present my argument that I have covered the basic requirements (as listed in your workshop ppt slides) to at least pass this paper..

Since I have a 49% on this paper, and because some of the comments are unclear, I believe I can clarify the sections of my paper in relation to your requirements on the course syllabus and your workshop outline. Please let me know when is best to come in to briefly discuss my paper. I would appreciate it very much.

Sincerely,
Natasha Chia-En Chiang

–

Hi Natasha,

I do not have any more office hours for PSYC 319. Regardless, in a written piece of work, the author does not normally have an opportunity to clarify matters in person after the fact. The work should be a stand-alone document. If you wish to discuss the matter further, I suggest that you contact Dr. Walker directly.

JEremy

—

Dear Professor Walker,

Apparently there are no more TA office hours since class has ended. That is surprising since most other courses have TA availability to review the paper feedbacks and/or to assist students until the final exam. My mark on my paper was extremely low, and I would have liked to meet with Jeremy because most of the comments were short and vague.

I spent a lot of time researching and preparing for my essay, and while I may have failed to critique the study we were to analyse, I feel like there must have been more mistakes in my essay that made it such a bad paper.. I know it was more review and overview than critique, but I believe I should have at least passed the paper (my mark was 49%, while many of my classmates got high B’s and low A’s though I only missed a few points compared to theirs). This allows me to assume that there were much bigger problems with my paper, though they were unclear from the comments Jeremy made on my paper.

I hope I can set up an appointment to speak with either you or Jeremy about my paper (my mark was 49%) to understand where I should improve in for my future classes.

Please understand my concern. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Natasha Chia-En Chiang

—

Hi Natasha ~

I appreciate your concern about your poor performance on the term paper.  I am encouraged that you want to do well in the course and hope that in the end you will pull off a good result on the final exam.

I appreciate your concern about your poor performance on the term paper.  I am encouraged that you want to do well in the course and hope that in the end you will pull off a good result on the final exam.

I do not quite understand your complaint about office hours.  Both Jeremy and I have held regular office hours each week up until the final exam.  We both have been fully available and have even met with many students outside of office hours.  I’m not sure what more assistance we can provide.

I have carefully reviewed the grading of your term paper.  Jeremy’s comments on your paper were neither short nor vague.  He provided a total of 18 separate comments which were extensive, appropriate, and in accord with the criteria we provided for writing the paper.  His comments included correction of misinformation, noting problems in the organization of your paper and the logical progression of your arguments, challenging your interpretation of the findings, identifying problems in your description of the research study, noting the absence of any critical evaluation of the article you reviewed, and noting the almost complete absence of the third section of the paper which should have provided a discussion of the implications of the findings for the children of the Taliban.  Note that the important parts of your paper which should have involved creative and critical thought on your paper were deficient.

In relation to the criteria we clearly provided and the performance of other students, your paper was evaluated fairly, perhaps somewhat generously.  I am sorry that you didn’t do better, but trust that the ample feedback we both have now provided will help you in your further studies.

I wish you well in your reviewing for the final exam, and will see you on Tuesday.  Good luck.

Best,
Dr. Larry Walker
UBC Psychology
—

Dear Professor Walker,

I was informed by Jeremy that his office hours were over at this point. Our final exam is not until next Tuesday, and I had hoped to bring in my paper to review. Regardless, I accept his and your critique of my paper, and I now understand that I have missed critical points. I would just like to point out that it would have been much more helpful to discuss how and what I should have focused on in the ‘third section’, (since most of the feedback I have gotten just indicates that I’m missing a discussion). Because I ‘missed’ this section, I do not know what was required of the discussion analysis. I am only in second year, and this is my first paper analyzing a study such as the one we had to do this semester. I would really appreciate it if you could outline a few points in what Jeremy may have been looking for in that section, so that I know what to look for in my future PSYC courses.

Still, I respectfully oppose the fact of Jeremy’s refusal to meet with me to discuss my paper and its shortcomings, based on his comment that my paper should have been a “stand-alone document”. I realize that my assignment was not on par with his standards, though I feel as if this should only encourage discussion to clarify what I failed to understand/promote in my essay. I did not expect this assignment to be so rigid that further discussion was discouraged after the paper was returned. In most of my other classes I would like to point out that the TA usually provides office hours to discuss the paper and our concerns. On that note, I also recognize that he must be extremely busy in his research and I respect that as well. This is just a point of personal improvement that may benefit students who might have a similar difficulty in writing the paper as I did.

Thank you for responding to my email and allowing me to voice my opinion on my marked paper. This class has been an insightful course in this semester. I have learned a lot in the class and have been encouraged to pursue my interests in early education and psychology. I admire that you have made a great effort to get to know our names, and I’m glad you encouraged much discussion in class.

See you at the exam, and have a great holiday season!

Sincerely,

Natasha Chia-En Chiang

–

Hi again, Natasha:

Don’t we have better things to do than exchanging emails on a Friday evening?  Anyway, here’s an excerpt from the course outline that explains what was expected in the third section of the paper:  “The third section of your paper should discuss the relationship between the research paper and the situation in Asia.  This will require you to use both creative and critical thought.  You should explore both what we can learn about children of the Taliban from the study, but also what we cannot.”  I expanded on this in class on a couple of occasions, as did Jeremy.  What we were looking for was some grappling with the implications of the findings of the research study and discussing how that research might “translate” into the situation confronting children of the Taliban.

This course is intended for upper-level students and you perhaps did yourself a disservice by taking it prematurely.  Ideally, you would have taken Psyc 218 (Research Methods) first.  That certainly would have been helpful in getting you to think critically about research studies.

I am sorry that Jeremy does not have any more office hours.  The TA union does not permit him to work without being paid and he has more than worked his allotted time.  I cannot legally or ethically demand any more of him.  He has already delivered much more than is reasonable under the circumstances.  He has held regular office hours each week, taught a couple of classes (on the situation in Asia and also on writing strategies), graded the midterm exam, spent the last couple of weeks grading the term papers (almost full-time), and now he has the final exams of 80 students to handle next week.  He has provided extensive feedback on every student’s term paper, but the large classes and limited resources provided by the university simply mean that he cannot meet with many students outside of his designated office hours.  I hope you can appreciate that he’s striving to provide a transformative educational experience for students (and is effective in doing that), but simply can’t be available on demand.

Thanks for your understanding of the costraints with which we must frustratingly contend.  It would be quite different if we had class sizes of 25-30.

note: my professor definitely has tenure since he’s the only professor who teaches this course. the TA’s done years of research with him.

moral: there is no point in arguing, but I suppose I just wanted to get my voice heard. I’m pretty disappointed with the feedback I got.. I guess this is just one course where there is little help :/

A Professor and his Student

Oh, I’ve been bad the past few weeks, devoured by that old devil we call laziness, unable to put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, such was the infirmity of my malaise, coupled with an extra-large dose of procrastination. And did I get anything else done? Nope, went out and had fun is all I managed to do, but hey, what else is life for? No, please don’t answer that one, answers to questions like that tend to scare me.

I did, however, manage to stick to my jogging routine, and am pleased to report that my breathing is now within acceptable parameters. The swine flu jab didn’t have any side-effects, at least, not on my part, but my wife is complaining of Gulf-syndrome after reading that the vaccine contains similar adjuvants given to soldiers who fought in the Gulf war. Symptoms are the need to sleep a lot and a ravenous appetite. I’m not so sure myself…

I also managed to get one poem down, after waiting to meet some friends in a café. Here, I couldn’t help watching an academic talking to a student about one of his papers, and immediately jotted down the start of a poem. I’ve polished it up a little, and you can read it here.

Talking about the Gulf war reminds me about another little theatre, namely Afghanistan. Obama has chosen to take in another thirty thousand troops, to try and stabilize the country and move on out. Noble gesture, sure, but I think people should start reading their history books before they go to war in Afghanistan. Up until now a war with or in Afghanistan has simply meant the end of an empire. The Brits had a go, and got their arses well and truly kicked, the Russians tried, and we all know what happened there. All I can say to America and Nato is, well, don’t go there. Be creative, find another way. Legalize heroin so you cut the bottom out of the market – no money, no weapons, no problem. Send in missionaries, send food, send money, send anything, but don’t send more soldiers – they’ll only get sent back…

That’s it for now – I promise I’ll try and be a little more diligent and keep up the weekly posting, but sometimes, you just got to go out there and have fun!

Science Comedian Brian Malow

As many people know, viruses like to enter cells, and take them over, turning them to their own ends. Here are three clever jokes, as told by Brian Malow (more in his video):

Joke 1:

A virus walked into a bar.

The bartender says, “We don’t serve viruses in this bar.”

The virus REPLACES the bartender, and says, “Now, we DO.”

Joke 2:

Two bacteria walk into a bar.

The bartender says, “We don’t serve bacteria in this bar.”

The bacteria say, “But we work here!  We’re staph!”

Joke 3:

A neutrino walks into a bar.

The bartender says, ” We don’t serve neutrinos in this bar.”

The neutrino says, “That’s OK.  I’m just passing through!”

A great write-up on Brian Malow can be found at Philosophy of Science Portal, and tells all about how he came to specialize in science humor.

It’s kind of funny how much influence our professors can have on our future choices. I’m majoring on HR management. Why HR, you ask? Because I knew I wanted to be a mgmt major, and the other two specializations are Entreprenuership and Operations, both of which I’m not a fan of. But HR major or not, I don’t plan to stay long in that department.

My minor is economics, and this is where the professors come in, since I definitely didn’t see myself minoring in this. My intro to microeconomics prof was amazing, and though I never talked in class, he apparently knew who I was and stopped me as I was leaving the final to encourage me to major/minor in that field. A little creepy of him, yes, but I really enjoyed his class, so I decided to go for it.

However, my intermediate microeconomics prof this semester is absolutely horrible and completely turned me off the subject, while my finance prof got me really interested in finance. I would have switched minors, but because of a stupid requirement, I have to take a “tier 3″ minor to graduate. Economics qualifies, finance doesn’t, and I don’t love it enough to stay and extra semester, so instead I’m voluntarily taking a finance class I don’t need that won’t help me next semester just because I want to. Ah well, such is life, and I can always study it more in grad school

Central Florida Future – Article Online  

Three new programs launch at media center

By Cassie Turner

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Published: Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Updated: Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Emre Kelly

UCF’s Center for Emerging Media in Downtown Orlando celebrated the addition of three new programs, increasing student options and solidifying key concepts: partnership, collaboration and replication.

About 12,500 square feet of remodeled space is now dedicated to UCF’s MFA in Studio Art & the Computer; Flying Horse Editions, UCF’s non-profit fine arts press; and Citylab-Orlando, a University of Florida graduate-level architecture program.

These programs join several other high-profile programs at the center: The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, UCF’s graduate video-gaming school; Vicon Entertainment’s House of Moves, one of the largest motion-capture studios on the East Coast; and the soundstage and editing suites of Studio 500.

“The Center for Emerging Media’s mission is to expand programs, access and opportunities for upper-level undergraduate and graduate emerging media students in Orlando, while furthering the city’s vision for a creative village that will connect professionals with students to help them land high-paying jobs upon graduation," said Chad Binette of UCF News & Information.

Rogier van Etten, a software engineer at 360Ed and 2007 graduate of FIEA, said they are instrumental in securing employer interviews for students. 360Ed focuses on games with high educational content. 

"The best thing you get from FIEA is teamwork: how to be an effective collaborator; how to be an effective communicator; how to be a valuable member of a team," said van Etten. "The skills you can get other places — it’s the team aspect that really stands out."

"We want to replicate what happens in the industry. Collaboration between students, departments and the community is the idea behind the entire building," said FIEA’s communications and admissions director, Todd Deery.

Professors encouraged Brittany Metz, a second-year MFA studio art & the computer graduate student, to get out of her box and focus on different mediums. Metz said she joined the program because the focus is concentrated on your own artwork, and the digital media aspect allowed flexibility and broad-range artistic expression.

"I’m drawn to whimsical, childlike, nostalgic things,” Metz said, “things I can create a story out of or that recall the past. 

Adding to the community learning and work experience environment, Flying Horse Editions brings in visiting artists who provide students with critiques and real-world experience lectures, said director Theo Lotz.

Beginning fall 2010, a creative partnership with Valencia Community College and the University of Florida will allow students to obtain a bachelor of design in architecture degree.

Michael Kuenstle, associate professor at the UF school of architecture, said the symbiotic relationship benefits students, faculty and community.

"Architecture is an urban endeavor. Students will gain a professional degree, immersed in the subject they are studying, while still living in Orlando, and we are able to teach in an urban environment, using the city as a library and teaching tool," Kuenstle said.

According to the UCF Web site, through a 2+2+2 program, students earn an associate’s degree through Valencia, a bachelor’s degree at UCF and a master’s at UF. The program aims at preparing students for careers in professional architecture, construction management and industrial design.

In the meantime, UCF undergraduate students and graduate students will be able to take elective courses at Citylab-Orlando and collaborate with top design, construction and planning faculty members from UF, said Binette.

Currently, Citylab-Orlando is working on a local urban redesign project to address different uses for future public space beneath Interstate 4 in Downtown Orlando.

Dear UCSC Representatives:

Our student fees have increased once again.  Just last quarter, my parents had trouble getting my student payments together, and this resulted in a hold on my classes.  Now I have to crash my three vital classes for the winter quarter, as they are already full.  I understand that our payments for education are necessary, but with such high tuition, I begin to wonder where the money is going.  How can I be sure that my family’s hard-earned dollars are going towards a positive future in our education system?  In this letter I only ask this: that our money be well-spent!

Teachers are of the highest concern, and all professors should be awarded good salaries and benefits.

The new building on campus should be practicing sustainable measures: install efficient solar panels on exposed roofs; use recycled materials whenever possible; install low-watt lighting through all school buildings; architecturally design new structures to have naturally good insulation (like many of the new UCSD buildings).

More campus gardens should be started, with classes responsible for cultivation, moving towards the campus providing much of its own food.  The food eaten and thrown away from dining halls should be used in compost to enrich the garden soil.

Install an area on campus where paper can be recycled, pulped, and re-pressed into useable sheets.  The school could even sell the paper back to students at a cheap price for a buy-back on their investment.

Increase funding to our graduate programs.  They are the ones making breakthroughs.

Continue to offer a wide variety of majors and minors instead of cutting them.  And please don’t raise our student fees again if none of these measures are being taken.

Thank you for your time.
Elan Saltman
Student at UC Santa Cruz

A New Path

Support
Saving
Sovereignty
Surmise
Sustainability.
Silent
Sunrays,
Significant
Solar,
Suddenly
Serenity.
Sufficient
Supply,
Surplus
of sky.

Dreaming of a future where nature won’t die.
When will evolution succeed?

El passat dimecres 25 de novembre, els professors i professores de l’IES CTEIB van visitar els programes de tecnificació de Bàsquet i de Gimnàstica. Amb aquestes activitats, que es repetiran en altres programes, es pretén que el professorat conegui més a prop la realitat dels alumnes de l’IES.

Els directors tècnics d’ambdós programes van oferir explicacions als assistents i van atendre els seus dubtes.

A més, com que feia molt bon dia, vam aprofitar per prendre el solet durant el trajecte.

Philosophy can sometimes get absurd. Take for example the mature student in class today who claimed that triangles don’t exist.

Mature Student: Hmm, ok, but I don’t get how a triangle exists for sure. Your argument is tricky…
Prof.:  What don’t you get?
Mature Student: Well, umm…
Prof.: DO YOU DOUBT THAT THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A TRIANGLE?
Mature Student: I DO.
(some time later)
Mature Student: No, I’m quite sure triangles don’t exist.

Later, with the same professor.

Prof.: How is luck different from chance?
Student: Luck favours someone, whilst chance just happens.
Prof.: What about bad luck?
Student: Well-
Prof.: Well, what? You don’t know what you’re talking about, in fact, you haven’t really said anything at all. Next answer.

It makes me remember those incredible first few days with Tom. (The first time I touched his skin, smooth as caramel. The first tim I unbuttoned his cotton shirt and felt the hard warmth of his chest. The first time he kissed me until my bones shook. The first time I kissed him until his blue-green eyes lost focus and turned slate gray.)

-Bed Rest by Sarah Bilston

I’m reading a book by my Victorian literature professor over this short Thanksgiving break. It’s pregnancy based chick lit, but I kind of love it. I’m back in my old bedroom right now. I went to the high school this morning, and seeing my old teachers was fantastic. I’m not close with my professors now like I was last year. The one thing I was really looking forward to for this break, though, was seeing the boy, and hopefully going on a date with him. But now I’ve been diagnosed with fucking strep throat so I can’t do a thing. I’ll see him with a group on Friday, and then not again till May. God Fucking Damn. I realized that I don’t consider here home anymore. I consider school as my home. I’m happy there. It took me such a short amount of time to slip into my own ways- I found my way into my room and into my bed and I’m just not leaving. I hate this and I want to cry and this book is the only thing keeping me from doing so.

They don’t all need glasses.

But if you always suspected basketball referees are biased ” well, you’re right, according to a couple of professors who’ve studied the matter. Refs favor the home team, the academics say. They’re big on “make-up” calls. The professors studied 365 college games during the 2004-05 season and found that refs …

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091123/ap_on_sp_co_ne/bkc_referee_bias

Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences

(An autonomous institution under the Govt. of NCT of Delhi)

 Dilshad Garden, Delhi 110 095 (India)

Tel.: 2211 2136, 22583355, Fax: 2259 9227,

Email Chakraborty_ida@yahoo.com 

Website: http://ihbas.delhigovt.nic.in

Several vacancies for the post of  professors, additional prof.s and asst prof.s in Psychiatry, neurosurgery,Radiology, Neurology, Clinical Psychology.

Because I am writing this thing today – this clearly explains that I didn’t show up for school today.

Happy Birthday to my brother anyway. He now turned one year younger.

Yes, it is my elder brother’s birthday, at the same time my birthday for a first time absent in accounting subject.

DARN. I always hated the subject. I mean I liked it a long time ago when our professor was a funny male teacher that would make the girls kiss his cheek if we arrive late and the boys do the “Besa Mano” to him like a little grandpa. I always like accounting when he has our teacher. That was basic accounting. I never forgot that he said “YOU ARE ALL GONNA MISS ME GUYS,” and I was raising my eyebrow and saying “That’s what you think!” but heck. I really did miss him as my teacher!!

After him, I wasn’t getting good grades for accounting anymore. I was slacking off. I don’t know if it’s just me or is it the teachers that were terrible that’s why I’m totally slacking off. Accounting all of a sudden seemed harder than Calculus.

NADDAH. ANYTHING MATH SUCKS for me, who is an artist and not a mathematician. (Well, not really an artist but according to Facebook quiz results I am. hahaha)

So this is what our present professor looks like during accounting sessions…

Accounting Life

I don’t know what happened today. I woke up at 8AM.

And 8AM is our accounting class. My sophomore classmates are laughing at me. Because if I am not late, I AM ABSENT.

I don’t know. I am toooooooooooo bored toooooooooooo lazy to attend to that subject.

I hope I can do better next time. and wake up earlier!!!

Hey all. I sat down today and was hyped up to write an excellent blog about Harvest Dinner when I suddenly realized I left my camera up at Bates. I had taken great pictures of the ice sculptures, live band, decorations, and of course all the food, but in my haste to get home for Thanksgiving Break I forgot to pack my camera. So……

I will fill you in with all the details so you can form your own mental images of the event, and then when I get back to campus I can post the pictures and provide you with some visual evidence of the awesomeness that is Harvest Dinner.

Many of you may be wondering: what is Harvest Dinner? Good question. In short, the week before Thanksgiving break every year, the all-star Bates dining staff gets together and provides the Bates community with an epically-themed send-off meal. Students, professors, and other Bates employees all pile into a beautifully-decorated Commons to eat a delicious turkey dinner and to enjoy the festivities (raffle with prizes, live band, horse-drawn carriage rides, and much more…).

This year’s theme: ‘Bobcat Jones and the Temple of Food’… like I said, epically-themed. In my mind, the meal marks the unofficial start of the holiday season. It’s great that the whole Bates community can get together in a shared space for some good times and a warm meal.

Check out the menu:

Domestic & Imported Cheeses with Seasonal Fruit
Mixed Greens Salad w/choice of dressing one to be cranberry vinaigrette
Bread & Butter Pickles
Deviled Eggs
Spiced Pumpkin Soup
Native Seafood Chowder
Roast Breast of Turkey (Turkey Gravy)
Slow Roasted Pot Roast w/ Onions, Native Maine Potatoes and Carrots (Pot Roast Gravy)
Lobster Stuffed Haddock
Butternut Squash Casserole
Peas & Onions
Mashed Potatoes (vegan)
Cape Cod Cranberry Sauce
Green Bean and Tofu Stir Fry
Eggplant and Read Bean Stew
Basmati Rice w/Asparagus & Cashews
Sam’s Rolls
Chocolate Cream Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Pecan Toffee Pie
Baked Alaska
Cheesecake Bar
Seasonal Cupcakes
Chocolate Fountain

The best part by far is dessert (due to space constraints dessert is served in the Grey Cage gym). Chocolate fountains, pies of all kinds, cookies, hot cider, etc.

While enjoying dessert, the Trashion Fashion Show (fashion show/contest with outfits made entirely out of reusable/recyclable materials) takes place.

Pictures to follow when I get back up to Bates. Enjoy Thanksgiving everyone! Until next time…

La setmana passada el Govern d’Andorra va anunciar la creació d’uns mòduls obligatoris per la gent que vulgui optar a una plaça de docent al sistema educatiu andorrà. Als aspirants a docent s’els ensenyarà (atenció!) català perquè puguin tenir-ne un nivell òptim per al seu ensenyament, a fer resums i quadres sinòptics i a redactar articles i assaigs. Em sembla molt bé, els alumnes del nostre país han d’estar en mans de gent amb una qualitat professional màxima. El que passa és que no entenc com podem fer, com a país, una formació als professionals que a priori, l’haurien de tenir ja des de la universitat, i fins i tot des d’abans. De fet aquests professors que ara hauran d’aprendre català, fer resums i articles són els mateixos que ensenyaran català, a fer resums i articles als seus alumnes. Suposo que la meva ignorància sobre el temari dels mòduls fa que en cert punt, m’indigni pel fet que haguem arribat a la situació d’haver de reactivar als professors uns coneixements que ja van aprendre fa molt de temps. La situació per això ho requereix, i des d’aquí el meu humil aplaudiment al Govern. Fa unes setmanes vaig assistir a diverses classes d’alumnes de l’escola andorrana de fins als 8 o 9 anys per tal de fer un reportatge. Allà és on vaig veure clarament que calen mòduls com aquests: Dues frases em van esclatar dins el cap i encara ara hi ha alguna neurona que rebota recordant-les. Dues professores diferents adreçant-se a alumnes. La primera dient al un dels nens: “cuidadu no et caigui al terra”, i la que més m’ha marcat en els darrers temps: “hi ha que cantar tots alhora” (una evolució del tenir que, que ha aconseguit fer encara més ràbia!). Com a societat, en aquest país i en aquesta època en que ja no cola l’excusa de “a la meva època no es podia estudiar en català”, quina ens n’inventarem?

Professors can make or break a class. The most boring topics can be made fascinating depending on the person who teaches. But the most incompetent, unmotivated or strict of them can make a class become a real pain.

- Quote from my upcoming guide School And University: Revelations From A Victim

When we met to discuss my novel-in-progress, I was immediately overcome by my attraction to her. Sure, she has always been the quirky-older-lesbian-professor, but there was something in her hand movements– the way she would run her fingers through her hair, give me a long look, smile with a captivating vulnerability. Before, I had only been able to make jokes in her presence, but now, I felt as though we were feeding off eachother’s intensity… our thoughts combined were pitch-perfect. I wanted to kiss her — I wanted to reach over, move the papers she held in her wiry hands, and kiss her with all the years of waiting. But I didn’t. Instead she encouraged me (I have been feeling a bit lackluster about the novel; I think this is because my life has been relatively boring as of late). Her favorite part? My immediatism, my use of the present tense.

I left, had to get somewhere. And now she’s gone.

Earlier today, I was at the shopping mall where there is this huge divide between Anthropologie and the rest of the stores. Anthropologie had these amazing beaded earrings. How strange is it to deliberate for such a long time between two similar colors? I couldn’t decide, and some bratty 13 year old had her eyes on my deliberations. Whatever. I wanted to buy a present for my friend’s birthday, but nothing was quite right. I tried on some clothing, but again, everything was exceptionally difficult to decide upon. Shopping, how passe. I rigged up a way to try on clothing without going into the fitting room.

I left,  got lost in the mall, ended up in the other part, where there were stores and such. I was just sitting around a courtyard-type space where some dude, in typical Chicago-fashion, started yelling about something. A dude came up, he was really familiar– it was that horrible celebrity-blogger! He was actually better looking in real life, and had an entourage with him. I couldn’t help but to say Hi. And somehow I was convinced to get into a picture with all of them, I sandwiched onto the side, next to a blonde girl. She wrapped her arms around my waist, and said: You’re so tiny. I started laughing. No, No, my ass is huge! Somehow we ended up befriending each other– I think I was more captivated by her celebrity status (lets just say she is in a very very popular movie featuring vampires & werewolves) than her actual personality. But when we found a quiet place to ourselves, I kissed her, and she seemed unsure (in that “I totally wanted you to kiss me, but I don’t want to be a Lesbian” sort of way).

…it’s funny how all I wanted was the attention and affection of the wounded professor, but instead I get a celebrity.