Oh joy...Christmas

I'm really glad the semester is done with (though slightly annoyed final grades aren't posted for a certain class. =/ )

Now I get to put 100x more effort into dealing with family events and all the festivities associated with the holidays than I did all semester. I love the fact that everything is finished up for school, but I find family events to be very stressful. Plus I'm still working on packing everything up making sure I have essentials and such.

Meeting up with a friend for lunch tomorrow that I haven't seen in ages since she's about 6 hours away from here at school. I have no idea how I can get along with an Art/Art Therapy major so well yet still completely bomb my art history final. My artist and musical talent is...well never mind that I have no artist or musical talent.

I've been up until 2 or 3 am lately, so I'm going to crash now since I have to get up fairly early tomorrow.

Night all,

Stephen

Thank You! Goodnight!

I'm going to try to write this without crying. Heh. I've had hair trigger tearducts for the last few weeks. It's been hard to talk about my good memories, or say goodbye to someone, or tell my friends how proud I am without getting all choked up. It seems to be expected now that I'll begin blubbering for no reason. I'm glad everyone laughs it off though. It's embarrassing enough as is.
Now is my time to start slowly withdrawing from everything I've had a finger in for the last three years. I know SGA will be alright (I've endorsed my pick for an heir :D ). I know my friends will be alright - heck I only live 6 minutes away. I guess my biggest fear is that all these wonderful people I've met and become attached to will just *poof* disappear, or maybe I'll just disappear from their minds. Friendships are situational. I know that. And while I know that I'll make friends at Shippensburg, I also know that they won't be as half as wonderful as the friends I've made here.
My interview with Shippensburg is February 3rd. Which means I won't be starting grad school until the summer. Which means I have about 5 months off. Which means I have a lot of cleaning to do....and trashy romance novels to read. I think that's what I'm going to enjoy most (once I get used to it). The Quiet. The Peace. Knowing that I can let my brain - that has been working overtime for the last 4 years - just relax into a smooshy pool of video games and 4th grade reading level books.
Sigh.
Oh who am I kidding? I'll be calling every day for the first two weeks to come hang out. I'll be counting down the days til Paw Search and THON. I'll be on the mailing list for all my clubs and come to all the events. I guess I'll always bleed blue and white. :)

I'll try to get in at least one more after graduation. I want to tell you all about it. And Matt, you're so right. One day you're a sophomore, next day you're a graduate. The horizon is deceptively close. I'll miss you guys. My experiences here will live in my heart for all my life. I couldn't have made it without you. I've never felt so loved and appreciated in all my life. Thank you.

All My Love,
Jess Olan
Alum

Thank goodness it's the last week!

So what I have been up to you ask?

Well, I am now a brand new member of Delta Gamma and I love it! I just filled out my Schreyers Honors College application and we'll see how that goes!! I'm so happy that its the last week before finals, I just want to get everything over with! I'm moving into Eastview terrace next semester and I'm super excited! I've also just found out that I will be living with some of my besties next year in Eastview again!! Whoot! Now I have to go through the process of moving all my stuff out of my room and into my new room, I suppose that's why we have boyfriends lol I still have so much left to do before break, and to think that Christmas is only weeks away!! AHHH! I haven't even begun shopping. I have so much to update on but I can't even focus.

Until later...

Abbie

Final Stretch...

It happens every semester and it never seems to fail on me... I once again feel like I just walked into my acting class or my communications course just last week and then right before my eyes, we are in the last full week of classes. It's exciting I suppose. I am kind of happy to see the semester come to an end and receive a break but sometimes, I'm just not sure I want it all to end. It's a perfect replica of the conflict in change. I feel as if I just got comfortable with what I'm doing and that my schedule finally was hitting a steady routine only to be thrown into the fire and start new again. But that's life...

Seeing a semester end actually makes me dread a what-is-coming-to-be-near-future-change.
And as you may guess, it's graduation.
I know, I know I still have another two years but it is like running a race and seeing the finish line on the horizon as I begin to crest over the hill...

To Be Continued...

Sorry it's been a while

Yikes! It's been over a month since I last popped on here. Sorry everyone, my computer died on me and the bookmark on my toolbar was the sole thing reminding me to come visit here.

Hmm now to catch up on a month worth of updates in the 20 minutes I have to write this...

YES WE DID! Barack Obama won the election! And...I managed to get thrown out of our victory celebration...The party was held at Cobblestones (A local sports bar) and apparently those under 21 aren't allowed in past 10:00 pm without a parent. Because college students never drink, right? Getting up on Nov 5th for my 7:30 am class was pretty rough though. I am never scheduling another class that insanely early if at all possible. 9:00 is great.

Few weeks in between weren't really eventful, but we had family get together for Thanksgiving. Then I got teeth cut out the day afterwords...yuck! Ah well surgery went better than expected - goodbye to any shred of wisdom I had left. On a more uplifting note, I did get to spend time with a girlfriend of mine who's going to school about 6 hours away and I rarely get to hang out with. She dragged a friend back from Roanoke and the three of us went ice skating.

Now I'm pretty busy and stressed with final projects coming due. I turned in the final copies of my honors projects today, so I'm hoping to get those back Monday. I know Dr. Latzko will but am unsure about Professor Neahaus. I'm exempt from her final though since I maintained an A average. I can sleep in that Thursday, Sweet! (It was an 8am final). I managed to bomb the first part of my art history final which was held today today. :(

Studying is definitely detrimental to one's academic performance - I did much better on the tests I didn't study for than this one. Save your sanity and use that time to relax. Ah well think I'll do alright overall in the course with some of the extra credit assignments.

Not sure where this fits chronologically, but I was officially offered on campus housing for next semester and have accepted. Have started shopping and packing some essentials for living on campus next semester, but it'll be really crazy later this month.

I promise I'll update you guys again soon. (Hopefully before December 18th - the last day of final) definitely by then though. Yuck...a 6pm final on the last day...how aweful. Ah well glad the semester is coming to an end.


Stephen

So so sorry...

Hey everyone...

So yeah, I am incredibly sorry for basically falling off the face of the earth for the last month... I have gotten a little busy and well quite frankly, I am lacking on some basic things I am supposed to be doing...For instance, I had a talk with my parents concluding in them saying I can't just use our home as a sleeping quarters anymore. So I get a little wrapped up in some things and don't come home until 1 in the morning...once a week... Okay, that is a lie, more like every night of the week lol

But on the other hand, I actually like life this way. Busy 24/7 and always rushing. It keeps you on your toes, keeps you busy lol

Okay well, if it were not for me having work and then an exam tomorrow morning, I would stay and type more but hey, you have to stay busy! I promise to be on again very soon and update about the many crazy things going on in life. I'll just leave with the fact that I declared my major in CAS and I will be staying at PSU York all four years!

Until later and as always, God bless!

Matt

Donkey Kong

The past week has been insane. I've felt like Mario in Donkey Kong, constantly jumping over barrels and busting through obstacles just to make it to the Princess. For me, last week's princess was Friday night. I just wanted to make it through the week so that I could crash hard and sleep my way through Saturday.
Tuesday and Wednesday the Drama Club put on their production of "Talk Radio". It was a great show. I was so honored to work with so many talented actors and the show couldn't have gone better. We were all amped about it because it felt like our first real show with a set and everything. We knew our lines, we worked on blocking, we got to run tech for 4 days....it wasn't just some amateur play. We really owned it, and it felt great when I took my bow on stage. I wish we could have done 2 more shows. The staff at the Pullo center rocked (Thanks April and Washy and Sheldon). I couldn't believe the standing ovation we received Wednesday night. The crowd absolutely screamed when Todd took his bow.
Thursday and Friday were a whirlwind of activity. I shopped for supplies for the Halloween Party and spent most of the day on Friday setting up. What a great party! We had some crazy costumes (Hugh Heffner and bunnies, The US Military, Ninja Turtles) and I loved my costume. I went in my wedding dress and added a tiara and went as a Queen. It was so much fun and I was really happy with the turnout. We raised almost $400 for charity.
I'll be honest with you all, though. All these events passing by are lots of fun, but in truth they are all bittersweet. This was my last play performance....my last Halloween party...all pointing to my last semester here. The last few weeks have been filled with "We don't know what we're going to do without you Jess", and "Things are going to be so different with you gone Jess." Quite honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm gone. I'm going to miss all of my friends. I'm going to miss being in a place I (mostly) understand. I just don't want to see all of my friendships wash away because I'm out of sight out of mind.
Ugh...I'm gettin bummed just thinking about it.

Here's to a less stressful week.

~Jess

My head is about to explode!

I feel like wacking myself on the head! I have been like a ghost from this blog and I am so ashamed!
Life has been so hectic I can't think straight at times! I am so busy with classes and I'm also working, but that's not that bad because I am a "CA" which is kind of like a "RA"(resident's assistant) in my apartment building. It's nice to not have to spend gas money or to find transportation to get to work. Not only do you save money, but you are normally around people that you hang out with or your friends. But don't get me wrong, we do work! We have to clean and monitor the building and deal with any necessary complaints or problems that may arise. It can get boring at times, but we are allowed to do our homework or read during our shifts.
Just juggling all the school workload and my working hours and all my extracurriculars such as Lion Ambassadors can get frustrating at times.
The open house was this past weekend and it just brought back memories of my first time of visiting Penn State York. I actually ran into an old friend from high school! I didn't expect to see anybody from my area but she just popped out of nowhere! And it made me feel so much better to see a friendly face from home. I talked to her after the open house and apparently she loved the campus and she really wants to go here, so job well done PSY!
The whole apartment situation can get a little too much at times. Six girls living together is not a good combination. And to add to the problems, we are all SO different that we never see eye to eye. Problems can occur and sides will be taken and tension will be created. That is the last thing I want for this apartment because we all have to live together. I've learned that if I'm having a bad day or I'm in not so good of a mood, I just go to my room or separate myself by leaving. It helps to have friends outside of your apartment, even the building. But you have to learn to suck it up and to not sweat the small stuff.
well I'll be back soon! Hope all of you are doing well!
We Are Penn State!

One More Week

Wow time has gone by quickly, only have 7 days left until election day. I can't believe I've been out campaigning since August.

Big events coming up: Thursday the 30th Ed Rendell will be joining us at the York office for some phone calls and canvassing at 1:00 sounds like it will be loads of fun and meeting important people is always good since I'll be in Harrisburg next semester.

Saturday - Tuesday is Get Out The Vote (GOTV). That effort is going to be pretty amazing, the goal is to attempt to talk to all the Obama supporters four times over the course of those four days. We won't leave anyone alone until they can show us the "I voted" sticker Tuesday.

If you're going to do anything during the campaign, now is the time to get involved. If nothing else be sure to go vote on November 4th. Polls are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm (although if you're in line by 8:00 you will get to vote.

Doing My To-Do List

Sometimes, I add things to my to-do list that I'm actually in the middle of doing. Sometimes, I add things that I've just completed, just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off. I'll put these recently completed items in strategic places like the top and middle to amp myself up about "all" that I've accomplished.

Dear God, I'm weird aren't I?

I get this nagging feeling when I'm making a to-do list. The feeling comes from all the things that I said I was going to do, but never did and now have forgotten so I CAN'T ADD THEM TO MY LIST! Inevitably, someone comes to me and asks, "Did you get to finish project XYZ? It's due in a nanosecond," and I say, "Oh well, it's on my to-d --- oh, um, actually I forgot that one." How embarrassing. I can't even organize my organization.

Here's two things to add to YOUR to-do lists this week, dear readers:
1. Come to our production of "Talk Radio", a rated R stage play starring yours truly and ...you know some other fantastic people. It's October 28 & 29 at 7 pm at Penn State York's Pullo Theatre. It's free for Penn State students and only $5 for general admission!
2. Come check out our 2nd annual Halloween Party, October 31st, 7-11 pm. We're asking $3 for students and $5 for general admission at the door, all of which goes to help kids with cancer. (Yeah THON) Free pizza, candy, drinks and snacks, plus a brain vibrating sound system.

See? I give you fun things to do so you can happily cross them off once you complete them. If you're going to come to the party though, you may want to add "Find Halloween Costume"to your list. Well! Stop reading blogs! You have work to do!!

Classes Next Semester

I can schedule classes in a few days, so I've worked out what I hope to take - just wanted to let you all take a look. Hopefully everything is still available if I schedule at midnight on the 16th. All Political Science/Public policy classes compared to none this semester. It's going to be a lot of fun - albeit a lot of work. I still haven't done my foreign language requirement, so I'm hoping to schedule Spanish over the summer at a community college...I have no interest what so ever in learning a foreign language and am putting it off as long as possible. *Sigh* I hate general education credits. Ah well supposedly going to make me a more well rounded better person. I can't wait for law school!

22 Credits most being upper level courses, we'll see how that goes I might have to drop something to devote extra time to other things, but I'm going to try it. Only have class Monday-Thursday though. Three day weekends!

Public Policy Analysis
Writing in the Social Sciences
Public Administration
The Role of Knowledge in Society (Honors Seminar)
Financial and Managerial Accounting
Engineering – energy and environment
Civil Liberties and Due Process

Stephen

Voter Registration

Today is the last day to register to vote in PA, so the campaign was out doing registration on campus. I saw one of our field organizers out and decided to jump in and help out. I personally got 7 registrations in about an hour and I know the other two people out doing it got quite a few. Even registered a professor I had last semester (he or she had moved since the last election)!

I have no life until November

Yes, I'm still alive - Barely have been insanely busy lately.

I just lost my only free day during the week so here's a more accurate copy of my schedule:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=sxk444%40gmail.com&ctz=America/New_York

I'm really getting into my honors project though. Have started preparing ideas for my bail reduction motion. Defending a murder case with no legal background to speak of isn't easy. Hopefully knowing how to do legal research will provide a step up on other law school applicants though and it's a lot of fun.

I'll try to get something more elaborate up soon.

Stephen

Recruitment!

So this past weekend I've been rushing all the sororities and I'm exhausted! I'm going through formal recruitment so I get to meet all 20 sororities and throughout the week I make a list of my favourites and I eventually join one of my top 3. It's a complicated process but I'm loving it so far! Besides that the white out game this weekend was AMAZING lol I was in the student section with Dan, Mandy, and Zach and it was the best ever! I'm so happy that we're ranked number 6...number 1 would be better but hey, it's still early in the season =p I had a lot of fun tailgating before the game, especially since I got to see some friends from home!! It's was great. I still feel pretty overloaded with work but I'm learning how to find time to study. No lie, study groups are the only way I get things done lol It's fun though, it makes the time fly by lol You know what I realized today? I wont be home for a month and a half because of games, recruitment and shows...bummer lol I'm not gonna lie, I miss having my own room. You really take it for granted lol I think it's mainly because my room mate and I don't really see eye-to-eye, that's why I'm really excited to join a sorority lol Hopefully this week will get less hectic!

Wish me luck! =)
Abbie

Busy Is The Theme of The Week

Seems we've all been busy. And thanks to all of you who have been busy reading our blogs. Keep the comments coming!

So goes the life of the college student. One week you're on top of everything on your to-do list. The next week you're drowning under the weight of your own procrastination. During the summer, I let myself get out of the habit of using my student planner. I lived by that thing last year, and I'm going to have to relearn how to live by it again. The life of the SGA President isn't pretty. I've got meetings out the wazoo, committees, luncheons, plus I *do* occasionally like to just hang out with friends on campus. I've been doing my best to show some love to the night programming crew. (Awesome job Todd and Cliff!!) Not to mention my 13.5 credits (by far the lightest academic load I've taken to date). I keep finding myself saying at 11:30 on a Sunday night, "Oh yeah, THAT homework." I've got to budget my time better. Nothing is more embarrassing than having to apologize for missing a meeting or having to admit in class that you have no idea how to answer that question because you forgot to do the reading that day.

Speaking of meetings, this upcoming week is chock full o'them. I'm meeting with all of the student government senators as well as the Presidents of all our extracurricular clubs and organizations. It gives everyone a chance to get familiar with their responsibilities and it gives me a chance to get to know everyone. Which reminds me loyal readers - Have YOU joined a club yet? Huh? Have ya? You should get on that if you haven't. Go to this website for a complete list of our clubs.

http://www.yk.psu.edu/StudentLife/ClubsAndOrganizations/clubs.htm?cn25

If you want to join any of them, just pop by the Student Affairs office and they can get you contact info for that group and let you know when they meet. Or just email me. I'll be here... working on my annotated bibliography...forever...

With Pride,
Jess

Hectic doesn't even begin to explain it...

So it's been a while since I last blogged. I've been so busy with everything!! I feel so busy all the time! I have 3 tests this week and they're all in my core classes....bummer. All my time is spent reading and looking over notes lol It sucks. On top of that I have my sorority recruitment session, my THON morale interview and I have 2 meetings I need to go to....talk about stress. Thank goodness for my friends and family...I don't know what I would do without them! I can't wait til the game this weekend, pep rally and a white out under the lights!! Whoot! I'm especially excited for this week to be over!!

Until next week,

Abbie

Changing Campus

For those of you who don't know - I'm majoring in Political Science and Public Policy at Capital College (Harrisburg), so I'm actually going up there in January for the spring semester. I've been looking into the process of switching campuses recently and all the details associated with that. It's really pretty simple - one short half a page form to fill out and Boom campus change was approved.

Now for the difficult part...making connection up there. I either have or am working on contacting the following people: the head of the political science department, the honors program director, and the director of the learning center.

I really wanted to find an internship somewhere in the state capital working in a legal field, but I'm having trouble networking from here for now. I'm hoping I'll find something through my campaign work or contacts here that will open up...we'll see. Dr. Dzubak from our Nittany has been great. She has former students or members of the tutoring staff that now work up there and she's been trying to find opportunities for me to explore further.

I'm hoping that the Harrisburg Learning Center will waive their one semester at Harrisburg requirement in light of the fact that I have previous tutoring experience and certification from another Penn State Campus. I can definitely understand the necessity of such a requirement for transfer students but don't think it's too relevant in my case.

I'm hoping that I don't have to go through the process of applying to the Harrisburg honors program and that they're reciprocal with York's system, but I haven't gotten that far yet. Bureaucracy annoys me to no end - so far not too bad though.

I'll be living in on campus housing up there hopefully - actually have to work on that soon - next month is when I was told they'd know about availabilities.

The ability to schedule classes opens up in October as well, so I'm keeping that in mind as well. I can actually take political science or public policy classes considering I'm majoring in the field, Yay! I'll try to have a *VERY* tentative schedule up sometime soon for you guys.

This came off as a to do list for me rather than a legitimate blog post but this is what has been on my mind most of the week while I have time to deal with it.

Stephen

Just curious...

You know, I am just slightly curious if anyone else in our nation notices how bad the media is downright cruel to Sarah Palin (and by publishing this blog, I by no means intend to pursue and state my political ideologies through this post, unless otherwise asked). Personally though, I have noticed a lot of media sources from newspapers, television and even magazine articles that are just hammering Sarah Palin about things that have almost no relevancy to her. Between her daughter's pregnancy and her husbands DUI from 20 years ago; where does any of this have anything to do with her abilities to be able to lead our country? In almost every media source I see speaking of her, all I see is people slamming her with things that don't even pertain to her.

I don't know; I won't rant further but I am just curious to see if anyone else was able to pick up on these things.

God bless,
Matt

I'm in! Finally!

Hey Guys
I'm so sorry I haven't been on the blog in a really long time. It has been MAJORLY busy trying to get everything sorted out!
I have moved into the 550 lofts, which I think most everyone has heard about!
The problem is we don't have any internet yet, so it's been impossible trying to get on here and to do all my work for my classes! The ISTC Lab is my new hangout spot!
The lofts are really fun though! It has it's ups and downs, but overall I love the setting and all the people. I never feel alone cause most everyone are in my apartment all the time!
I have been accepted into the Lion Ambassador's program! I was really excited because it's an organization that is greatly talked about and it gets rave reviews! So we shall see how that will go!
More to come on the home front!
We are Penn State!

Obama visit Lancaster

Sorry for not posting this sooner, I've been really busy.

Senator Obama came to visit Lancaster last Thursday, and I got VIP seating because of my involvement in the campaign! I was literally around 10 feet from the podium it was incredible!


Around 15,000 people came many students at Franklin and Marshal and Millersville University. I met one interesting student from Millersville though I shan't talk too much about her without permission.

I haven't gotten around to uploading photos and videos yet but one of our team members has hosted pictures of the event.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=43127686&albumId=1983284

Senator Obama touched largely on the economy and war in Iraq. Focusing on Iraqi responsibility and their 72 billion dollar surplus! Our country is trillions of dollars in debt and the Iraqi's have that kind of surplus! Madness! They really ought to be moving towards self governance which doesn't seem to be happening at the moment. He also addressed a few of the attacks from the Republican convention that was going on that week.

I was really disgusted by their convention. The whole thing was devoted to personal stories - both Palin's as mayor and McCain's experience in Vietnam. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything new about the party platform or what they're going to do to solve substantial issues facing the country. Although I suppose that's consistent with McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis's view that, "This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

Not about issues?!? We're going to be 10 trillion dollars in debt (roughly $32,000 a person http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/), the economy is tanking, and we're militarily involved in 130+ countries throughout the world. How can we afford to have an election not decided on issues?

Alright, I'm jumping down from my soapbox for now because I've got to run for dinner.

Talk to you all later(i.e I'll continue my rant at some point),

Stephen