Sara's blog

I'm so angry at a specific person right now. It's Allen, the VP of Tau Beta Pi. I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm president. Today was the initiation ceremony; we hold one every semester near the end to initiate new members. And afterwards, we host a banquet in their honor. Initiates usually invite their parents as guests; it's a really formal event, costing $25 a person. I remember my initiation two years ago. My parents came. Everyone was dressed up. We had a keynote speaker and fancy Kellogg Center food. It was really nice. (The Kellogg Center is the nice conference center and hotel on MSU's campus, the site for many-a-banquet.) It's typically the vice president's duty to organize and plan the banquet. Let's just say Allen was a complete failure at it. At the beginning of the semester, maybe three weeks in, the officers of TBP met and decided on a date for initiation. At this point, Allen should have begun planning and reserved ...

I gave blood today. It's the last day of the MSU vs. Penn State challenge. The two schools compete each year; last I heard, it was pretty close, but we were a few pints behind. I donated last year for the first time as part of this challenge. It was a little painful when they did the finger poke, but otherwise, I had been fine. This year was different. Everything went smoothly at first. I filled out paperwork, got the finger prick, and it hurt, just like expected. Then I gave. I had scheduled an appointment so it went a lot faster than last year when I was just a walk-in. The nurse couldn't find my vein. She and another were poking around in my arm for a while. Finally, she asked if she could give it one more try, so I said yes. It was a success; blood was flowing out. Then, after like 15 minutes of pumping that stupid red ball, I got all bandaged up. I tried to sit up and felt extremely dizzy, so I laid back down. I sat up again and felt fine. I was told to sit...

I had a fun evening. My sister texted me earlier in the day asking me to come with her to an informational session about a volunteer thing next year where you help people fill out their taxes. I told her I'd go with her, then she realized it was actually the next day. But since we'd both set aside some time anyway, she suggested we have dinner. I agreed to the idea, and we went to Applebee's --not the one she works at, but the one in Okemos . We got the spinach artichoke dip appetizer and I had steak. It was yummy. I actually haven't eaten in the caf for dinner yet this week. Yesterday was the Pi Tau Sigma initiation. ( PTS is the mechanical engineering honors society). After the ritual, we went out to Olive Garden; it was so tasty. Last year, everyone dressed pretty casually for the initiation, but I remember when I first joined, people were expected to dress up. I think that gives it a little something extra, and I happen to find it attractive when guys ...

My weekend of activity started immediately after I finished my last class on Friday. We got let out around 4:00. I went back to my room, dropped off my books, then headed out to Crunchy's for the mechanical engineering bar crawl. I'd had a good time at the last one, so I was looking forward to it. I walked all the way to Crunchy's , went inside, and didn't see anyone I knew. Then I remembered that we weren't starting at Crunchy's as usual this time. I couldn't remember where we were starting though. I went to the union and got on a public computer. All I wanted to do was read one email to find out where to go. The computer was soooo slow; the whole process took me like 10 minutes. By the time I arrived at Dublin's (our actual start point), everyone was only gonna be there another 10 minutes. I didn't order a drink, but then some guys placed a Guinness in front of me, so I drank it. Next we went to LouHa's . I hadn't been there ...

Last night at Intervarsity was pretty good. Every Thursday, we have a large group meeting called "Breakaway" where everyone from all the Bible studies comes together. We worship, pray, and have a speaker. This week, it was Noel from Riverview Church. I've been to Riverview several times with Ren and other people, and every time I hear this guy speak, it's really good. He's hilarious, and he always has a really good message. He talked about hope, and how we as Christians need to show our hope that we have in Jesus more visibly. Especially during these tough times, when people see that hope, they're going to ask about it, and then we can share where our hope comes from. After Breakaway, Intervarsity did a group activity; we played a game called Bigger or Better. We divided into teams; I was with Tony, Pauline, and Rachel T. Every team started with a paper clip and had to go around to different people offering to trade us for our paper clip. Our goal wa...

I just got the email--I made it on to the final interview stage for Teach For America! I'm so happy. This is what I really want to do! It'll take place either December 9th, 10th, or 11th. Teach For America actually has four deadlines throughout any academic year. You're only allowed to apply once per year. You pick the deadline that works best for you. I applied before the second deadline, on November 7 th . Then today, the 13 th , everyone finds out whether they made it on or not. If they liked your application, you may be asked to a phone interview sometime this weekend, or, as in my case, you may move directly to the final interview stage. I'm not entirely sure why I don't have to do the phone interview. I'm glad though, because we all know how nervous I get when talking on the phone. Coupled with the nervousness from being interviewed, I'd probably pass out or something. Now, I still have to be nervous about the final interview, but I have a little time ...

I just sang karaoke for the first time. I wasn't completely alone at the microphone, but it's still a big step for me. I've always said that I need to sing karaoke at least once in my life. Shaw Hall had an event: open mic night. I wasn't planning on going, had forgotten it was even going on. Then Jena, my resident mentor/RA came to my door and invited me. There was free pizza at the event, so I figured I'd go grab a few slices and then leave. Some other people from my floor went also, and we decided we'd all go up together and sing a song. We were gonna do "Sweet Home Alabama" then switched to " Tearin ' up my Heart" at the last minute. I was nervous, but it wasn't bad at all in the big group. There was a pretty big crowd there, maybe 30-40 people. Then I went up there again when a big group was singing a Britney Spears song, but I didn't know it very well, so I felt kinda stupid. I just mouthed the words I saw on the ...

No class today! Tuesdays and Thursdays are turning into good days. My heat transfer lecture and lab never meet anymore, and I have another bye week in my controls lab. But even without class today, I still had to wake up early. I had an interview this morning. I stupidly picked the 10:00-10:30 slot instead of something in the afternoon. My second interview all semester was with El Paso . No, not the salsa people. They have natural gas pipelines supplying over a quarter of the natural gas that Americans use. I don't know that it went great; I think I'm slowly getting better at this interview stuff though. Then I went to turn in my controls long form lab report. The final draft was due. I forgot that I need to turn in my two rough drafts along with it. I was in the Engineering Building printing my final copy when I remembered, so I had to walk all the way back to Shaw and get the 2 rough drafts from my dorm room then walk all the way back. Thank goodness I live so cl...

I had a good weekend. Friday, my wonderful friend Choua invited me to join her birthday celebration. A group of her friends were going out to P.F. Chang's and then to the bar (it was her 21st birthday). I hardly knew anyone, just her and a couple of her friends, but everyone was nice and friendly. Dinner was pretty good. We were eating at 9:00 so I'd already had one meal that evening; I wasn't hungry enough to even finish half of what I'd ordered. But that just means I get leftovers! People say P.F. Chang's is expensive, but I spent like twice as much at Chili's last week. Then we had some time to kill. Choua wasn't 21 until midnight. So we headed to Hung's apartment for a little and then those of us over 21 went to Dublin's, an Irish pub. When we got there, I asked Choua if she had her ID all ready. "Oh shoot! I'm an idiot!" she responded. She'd forgotten it. Mark, one of her friends I'd just met, and I went in, o...

I'm sure I've already talked about how much I love Christmas in one of my posts. I probably even shared all the things I love about it; I forget. But I'm gonna do it again. Christmas is just 49 days away (7 weeks)! It's by far my favorite holiday! Every time I think about it, I can't help but squeal for joy! So, just why is Christmas so magnificently awesome? Well, first off, you always get time off work or school. This year, my winter break is 4 weeks long! 31 days off in a row! I can't wait not to have any homework, projects, or to have to go to work for that length of time! It's just the beginning of winter, so we're not all sick of snow yet. In December, we're happy to see the white blanket covering the ground. Nothing's better than a white Christmas! Christmas is wonderful because you get to be around family, some members of whom you don't really see any other time of year. I love my family. I love having Aunt Sue and Uncle...

This entry's purpose is to provide a description of the setting this semester. It's just to kind of explain how my life is generally. It's a little out of order. Normally, I'd put this stuff at the start; but the semester started like 10 weeks ago and I didn't write any blog entries until now... So, I'm a senior at MSU , finishing my fourth and final year as an undergraduate here. I'm majoring in mechanical engineering. Right now, I live in Shaw Hall. This is my second year living here; the first two years at State, I lived in Brody complex. Brody can barely be considered "on-campus" housing; it's so far away from everything. It's mainly freshman dorms out in Brody. Shaw is centered on campus and is the closest dorm to the engineering building, hence my desire to live there. Laura was my roommate the last two years, but she's studying abroad in the Philippines right now, so I'm rooming with Ren , short for Kathryn. I barely knew Ren...