The past few days have been a busy few days for me. Busy but definitely exciting. I’ve learned two things to expect this semester: that I will be very, very busy and that I will have a fun time being busy. Let me explain.
I am the kind of person who can’t stand long periods of doing nothing. Sure, a month or so of winter break and sleeping in is fine with me, but seriously, I wouldn’t be surprised that most people would go crazy with additional free time.
I need challenges to make life interesting. Being busy, even to the point of being overwhelmed with things to do, makes me feel good. Of course I’ll take breaks once in a while, but in general, I like to stay busy, and I like challenges.
I took on the chair position of ABA’s Publications committee because it was a challenge that I couldn’t escape. Originally, after a tough first semester at Cal, I was considering just taking it easy in the spring and joining a committee, which takes a lot less time and work.
But it just didn’t sit well with me. I decided to take up the challenge at the very last moment and was chosen to be the Pubs chair. I don’t regret my decision, even with all the work and time I have and will put into the club this semester.
And work we did and will do. Over the weekend, I spent over 8 hours interviewing over 30 kids with my co-chair for our committee. It took a very long time, but it was so much fun. There’s just something about being the one asking the questions and acting very seriously that adds to the enjoyment of the interview process. We definitely met some bright kids, as well as some not-so-great ones.
Sunday night was deliberations. I’m not supposed to talk about it, but I will say that we stayed in the room for over 5 hours trying to put our committee together, and it was definitely VERY intense, as some qualified kids applied to several committees, and could only be selected for one.
Monday, Tuesday, and today were what I can now envision as typical days of the week. I would start the day by attending one, two, and sometimes three lectures in the morning. Then, a quick lunch, and it’s off to work clocking in hours for The Daily Californian. Sometime in the mid-afternoon, I’ll head over to a discussion section or another lecture, clock back in The Daily Cal, and finish up my work for the day.
Nighttime is when it gets interesting. Monday night was our first Publications committee meeting. I have to say that it went extremely well. I couldn’t be happier with how well the group as a whole bonded. We ate dinner together, played some icebreakers, and outlined our expectations for the committee this semester. I have to give a shout-out to my committee kids Christina, Kent, Jessica, Jay, James, Eugenia, Phi, and Cynthia, and my co-chair, Julia. We’re going to have a blast.
Tuesday night was definitely a tough one. ABA had to attend the first general meeting for AAA, our sister club. Then we went to our own event, Speaking with Success. During the event, I got to practice my impromptu and group speeches in front of different people, and it was very helpful. We ran a little late, but we still had to attend our Cabinet meeting afterward, where we were assigned a case competition due in two weeks. I didn’t get back until after 12am, and that’s when I started on my homework: an essay for UGBA. Fun.
Today was definitely a bit more chill. I had four lectures, a discussion section, work, and…no ABA events. So instead, I played some pickup basketball with my roommate at the RSF, and had one-on-one bondings with two of my committee kids, Jay and Cynthia. We had some tasty food, and I learned a lot more about them.
Now, I shall start on homework. Or catching up on homework. First lecture is at 11am tomorrow, so I’m happy I get to sleep in a little bit.
That’s been my past few days. Even though I am swamped with things to do, I recall an incident that happened yesterday, while I was heading out from work and walking on Lower Sproul Plaza. When the Campanile Clock Tower struck 6, I looked up and saw the tower, an amazing sight. Chills ran down my spine. It was what Mr. Ryan, my AP Lang teacher, would call an epiphany: I am absolutely loving UC Berkeley.
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Staying up late to wordpress? That’s the way =]
Yay good luck with your ABA pubs committee! Don’t be too hard on them XD and way to clock in wayyyyy too many hours of awesomeness >__<