Art or Vandalism?

Living in southern California obviously has its benefits, I can go to the beach, the mountains, and play golf in the desert in the same day for instance. I live about 45 miles south of Los Angeles, one of the biggest cities in the United States as far as population and business are concerned, and while Hollywood and all the sky scrapers show the glitz and glam of L.A. there is also the extremely dangerous and not so wealthy parts of town. One of my favorite things about the drive to L.A. isn't seeing the massive buildings in the distance, but all the awesome graffiti tagged along the freeways and neighboring buildings. While some is obviously gang related, the other spots are literally pieces of art. Honestly if you were to see some of the things people are able to do with a can of spray paint, the images they are able create, the way the words almost come out at you in crazy fonts. So is it vandalism or art? Another form of vandalism I find highly entertaining is the things people carve into the desks and stalls around campus. Fraternity letters that may have been there from the 80's or 90's silly messages that entertain me while I am too distracted to continue reading. Unless the message are speaking ill of someone's name I see no harm in it, it's not like the desks in the library are even close to new anyways. While i would never carve something into someone else's property I do enjoy the aftermath of other people doing it.

Make Money Money Make Money Monaaaay

As the end of the semester rolls around and students begin to freak out about exams and papers and projects etc. there is a building on campus that gradually becomes busier and busier every day. Hundreds of students flock to Fondren library in the evening to sit in a cubby and attempt to bust out all their work. Adderal in their system and computers open either taking notes or creeping on someone's facebook. As many excuses as SMU has to continuously charge students for ridiculous things like parking tickets and the like I'm surprised they haven't started charging admission to Fondren. Imagine how much more money the school could make off the students if they even charged two dollars a day for entrance fee. It's not like they need it, or any other money after the tuition since all of it seems to go to putting up new buildings and fountains every other day. I understand that SMU has to pay it's faculty a good sum of money but is the millions of dollars spent on the boulevard and all the grounds really necessary. I feel like SMU could use some of its money for a better use. Maybe starting a new program for special needs students that are capable and willing to get a good education but just need a little extra time and help. Just a thought.

When Will It Stop

I don't know if the faculty are aware of it yet, but there is some terrible stuff being done to some students over the internet at this school. While I can happily say I have not been the target of these people there are some students whose reputations are being smashed anonymously. I am talking about college ACB. It is an anonymous website where people can start threads about anything, which I assume intended to be for positive discussion but has turned into a gossip website where people can hide behind their computer screens and talk shit about people. It makes me kinda angry that people continue to hurt someone over and over again. This takes cyber bullying to the next level because there is no way to confront the people spreading slander about you. The only thing the victims can do is apply to have the thread deleted but the same assholes that continue to spend all their time on the website just recreate the thread and start fresh. There was a reason juicy campus went under, because the material on the site was so hurtful and negative no advertisers wanted to be associated with the site. Why is this eyesore still around?

Just My Luck

After the long boring ride to DFW and nearly being felt up by some frightening, gross TSA agent, I get some food and go back to my gate to await my flight home. While sitting in the somewhat comfortable chairs that all have armrests so that it would be impossible to sleep on them if necessary and I notice all the very pretty girls which are clearly getting on the same plane as me. This makes me a little more optimistic about the three hour flight ahead but surely they are going to be playing some lame kids movie so I settle back down. As i board and take my usual isle seat, because the other ones make me feel claustrophobic, usually near the front of the plane so I don't have to wait for all the senile elderly people to deplane. Once I'm seated I watch and wait for my fellow row mates hoping that this time maybe I'll get lucky and have some really cute girl to entertain me and my eyes for a couple hours. As the girls walk by I begin to doubt the miracle that would be, and assume I'm going to get some business man who is going to work on his laptop the whole time and not talk my ear off about her eight year old grandson. But instead of the mediocre business man I see this very heavyset middle aged woman headed right for me and I can tell that she is looking for her row down the way. The plane is filling up and there aren't many other seats available except for the one next to me.....and then it happens, my nightmare comes true!

Is It Cold Outside?

Where I come from there are no seasons, literally in southern California our winters may get a little bit more chilly but it's not like the palm fronds turn brown and yellow and fall to the ground and snow doesn't cover cars and sidewalks aren't icy causing people to slip and break their wrists. Don't get me wrong I love seasons, winter being one of my favorites because I am an avid snowboarder but there is just something about the seasons here in Dallas I can't stand. I would be completely fine if the winters here were like the northeast where you knew is was going to be super cold everyday, that isn't a problem. The issue is in Dallas it will be 37 with a windchill one day and the next day its 64 and sunny, and when I leave the frat house to walk to class all bundled up, by the time I get to class I'm sweating. When it's cold out of course SMU has every building's thermostat turned up to 84* so all the students bundled up in winter clothes get to suffer in the heat until they go back outside to be miserable in the cold. I will be pleased as long as we get another snow day, but Turner won't give us one of those unless their are about 12 near death experiences. While its been a lovely November I am already expecting a miserable next three months.

The Young and the Innocent

"Back in the day..." may be such a cliche term but it is so useful. My friends and I use it on a regular basis to refer to not only our high school glory days, but also to a time where skipping classes to go to Fashion Island or the Bean Bag store wasn't and option. The innocence I possessed as a child amazes me. Times when the tooth fairy seemed so real I would try and stay awake to catch him/her/it or how the one time my parents let me sleep next to the tree to wait for Santa Claus and somehow they managed to put all the presents under the tree, eat the cookies and drink the milk without disturbing me, although I was a heavy sleeper. Back when teddy bears and action figures could take the place of friends who couldn't come over to play and entertain me for hours. They almost were Toy Story-esque the way each of them had personalities and tendencies I would create, the bad guys, the good guys, how the cool lego guys were the ones with the white helmets and black visors named Chad and Chase. I spent hours playing with those legos, and my parents spent so much money on keeping me entertained and happy. The thing is that they still spoil me, maybe not to the extent they did when I was a child but at least now I am mature enough to realize it and be very appreciative of all their efforts. I became so close with my family that now when there aren't serious things to deal with they can be the friends/ siblings I never had as a child.