August 27, 2013

Here's to Another, Better Year

“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (...) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
                    
       - John Green, Looking for Alaska

They say when you're a teenager, the best times in your life are yet to come. That is what fuels us. Part of living in the present is imagining a future, and sometimes wishing and working to get to the end point is better than the actual end. We use the future to justify the present, and each year that ends we hope for a better one to start. We use it to keep us going and know that the way things are now aren't how they always will be. Every year is a new start. New classes, the potential for new friends, new routine, and a step closer to whatever end game is in the future. I don't have a specific idea about what I want to do when I finish college, but the thought of having a year of college done and a year to decide what to do next is extremely daunting. When I think about each year, I think about how each year I tell myself things will get better. Not in a sad I want to kill myself way, but in a way that says I have a future, and if I don't like something now, change is always around the corner.

Today was my second day of my second year of college. It is my first year as a biology major and I have a new roommate. I was able to keep the things from last year I liked, and rid myself of the things that I knew weren't making me happy. I've been to all of my classes, and I got a week of college camp helping with Major Events Committee at school, which although I had good times I probably wouldn't do it again. I pretty much sold my soul, (and my body) to them. I did move in early though so I got my part of the deal. 7:45 Organic Chemistry seems to be part of the deal too, well a different deal. I think maybe with the devil. Curse profs who enjoy mornings.

To kick off the new year, here are some new Shirali pictures. 

Also, I've been holding out on this because it was a surprise for friend, but now he has seen it so I can post it. I made it back in July from an idea from my friend Heather (mentioned in a previous biography). I really enjoyed working on it, and am actually pretty proud of it. I come off as a science and logic personality, but I really do like the arts a lot.


So anyway, I hope this is another great year full of Enya naps, family drawings, Shirali dinners, Zee's runs, actual runs, and great people.

Here's to another, better year,

Noelle


August 18, 2013

The Jerks of Society

Today we took the True Color test, a test that was all the buzz last year, and made a repeat appearance this year. Earlier I did a post on Myers-Briggs and this test is similar to that one. There are four colors to choose from: green, gold, blue, and orange. They have similar qualities to the Myers Briggs categories. I am curious as to what colors match up with the different Myers-Briggs types, but I think my friends already watched me geek out enough with the Myers-Briggs test with my charts and quizzing everyone who I happened to see that week. If anyone was wondering I was an ISTP. Which I think relates to the colors I got on the True Colors test. 

NURTURER BLUE
  • Sensitive To Needs Of Others.
  • Sincere. Expresses Appreciation.
  • Cooperative. Collaborative. Creative.
  • Caring. Team Builder And Player.
  • People Person. Engages Others.
  • Artistic. Inspirational. Spiritual.
  • Inclusive. Mediator. Peacemaker.
  • Idealistic. Intuitive. Romantic. Loyal.
  • Seeks Unity And Harmony. Caretaker.
Famous Blues: Mozart, Dorothy (Wizard of Oz), Thomas Jefferson, Cinderella, Ghandi, Mohammed Ali, Jimmy Carter

ADVENTUROUS ORANGE
  • "Just Do It" Action Oriented.
  • Quick-witted, Charming, Spontaneous
  • Playful. Injects fun into work.
  • Lives In Here & Now. Risk taker. Creative.
  • Enjoys Diversity, Variety, Competition.
  • Multi-tasker, Cheerful, Energetic. Bold.
  • Quick Thinking and Acting. Takes Charge.
  • High Visibility Performer. Accepts Challenges.
  • Enjoys Problem Solving. Negotiator.
  • Performs Well Under Pressure. Resilient.
TRADITIONAL GOLD
  • Respects Authority Rules, Routines, Policies.
  • Alligant, Faithful, Dependable, Prepared, Efficient.
  • Remembers The Traditions That Work. Values Family.
  • Work Comes Before Play. Practical. Systematic. Orderly.
  • Identifies With Groups. Strives For A Sense Of Security.
  • Thorough, Sensible, Convential, Proper.
  • A Right Way To Do Everything. Stick-To-Itivness.
  • Evaluates Actions As Right Or Wrong.
  • Stable. Organized. Punctual. Helpful.
Famous Golds: Mothera Teresa, George Washington, Santa Claus, LBJ, 
Joan Rivers, Henry Ford, Florence Nightingale

VISIONARY GREEN 
  • Looks Forward And Sees Impact Of Actions Taken Now.
  • Explores All Facets Before Deciding. Checks for Accuracy.
  • Careful Planner. Enlivened By Work.
  • Status Quo Buster. Designer Of Change. Inventive.
  • Systematic. Logical. Theoretical. Self-Sufficient.
  • Often Not In The Mainstream. Persistent. Thorough.
  • Intellectual. Inquisitive. Impartial. Improvement Oriented.
Famous Greens: Socrates, Sherlock Holmes, Benjamin Franklin, Carl Jung,
Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt, Katherine Hepburn, Rosalyn Carter


After taking the test, my colors were ranked: green, orange, gold, and blue. I know these tests are supposed to help people learn about themselves and be all feely and better to others, but I just find them interesting, which is probably why I am a green. My combination green/orange is basically described as the ass holes of society. The one's who are sarcastic, but witty, and tend to put themselves before others. They are well liked but sound basically like blunt jerks. But, I suppose that is me so I'm not really too offended. Blue is definitely my last color. People skills are my weakness. I was between gold and orange as my second colors, but after green/orange was described as sarcastic jerks, and green/gold as the visionaries and best of society, I knew I was orange.

Peace out,

Noelle

August 9, 2013

The Final Days of Summer

Well, I haven't posted in a while, mostly for lack of material worth posting. I will be heading back to school in T-minus 4 days and I am ready to go. Summer is one of those things that you wait nine months for, and then enjoy it for about 3 weeks and you're bored again. The was especially true this year because being at home meant being away from the friends I had lived with all year. Coming home meant trying to reconnect with the people and the place I so desperately wanted to leave. Don't get my wrong, I had my good times in high school as well as my bad, but somehow the bad seems to be what I remember. Anyway, for the most part, I have spent the last 3 months working, watching netflix, and hanging around doing nothing. I started the summer being a little more social, but as the summer stretched on, the number of people I hung out with dwindled as well as my motivation to try to stay in touch with them. I think when we finished high school, we were tired of one another, and have spent the summer tolerating each other in small doses. I have a few people I've stayed relatively close with and enjoy a bi-weekly trip to Starbucks and Wal-mart. These are the only places open past nine in our lovely town.

I'm packing for school and my room is a disaster area. It always seems like so much stuff. With leaving for school comes the prospect of living arrangements for the following year. I feel like that is a budding fight. My mom is already being weird about it. Anyone want to share a room with me in a potential apartment in 2014? Weirdos need not apply.

A little business plug, or unplug. Don't try to sell your books to Books in Stock in Wooster, Ohio. They give you no money and then you need to drive 45 minutes there to get your books back

I've been toying with different career ideas all summer. My latest and, according to most people, best idea is Anesthesiologist  Assistant. For all I know I'll be on to something completely different next month but I think this could work out. I'm just freaked out because I would need to take the MCAT, and after my experience with the ACT anxiety in high school I don't feel too great about that prospect. But, I guess we all need to face our fears and next time I will know and hopefully will be better prepared to tackle the anxiety at test time. I am also not thrilled with the idea of retaking Chemistry II, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

We've also been planning a DC trip, which started out a bit of a secret but at this point is pretty much public knowledge. It was interesting getting people to come, and although our persuasion skills were great, the trip will be a small group of six staying and wandering around the city for a weekend on $200. Wish us luck!

Well, that was my summer. Hope yours all went well. And for those of you I will see at school soon, I can't wait!

Noelle


June 21, 2013

Back by Popular Demand

Another biography! Because my friends like being made fun of in writing (in a good way of course).

Next up on my list of friends is Heather, or Fairs, or Bairns as everyone has taken to calling her.

Heather was born a poor black child...okay not really but she sometimes tries to make us believe that with her stories of her work as an illegal worker in a ghetto daycare. Not to incriminate my friends or anything.

Okay, redo.

Heather, Fairs, Bairns, the baby of the group was born in the great state of Ohio. Known affectionately, as the mom of the group, she is known for keeping children in line and waking them up when it is too late to be sleeping and still be civilized. (For the record that time is12pm, and yes that is every weekend). Heather is a student at the University of Akron majoring in chemical engineering, in the hopes of one day obtaining a Ph.D teaching engineering at at a university herself. As a youngester, Heather was educated in her home with her three brothers; however, she spent one year in real school, which she constantly reminds those who make fun of her homeschool social skills. In her spare time, Heather enjoys reading, listening to christian music, watching PG rated movies, and keeping her fellow college friends in line.

~Noelle

June 15, 2013

Innate Curiousity

There are two types of innate curiosity in this world, there is the type that people look for, the type that invents things, and wants to discover a better, and then there is the nosy type. If one more person asks me where I'm from and if I speak Chinese I am going to smack them in face. I know sometimes they are just curious but the look on their faces after I say no I don't know Chinese and no I have nothing to share with you culturally pisses me the hell off. People who are Chinese give you that oh so you're not really chinese with their I'm better than you attitudes and the people that aren't just look disappointed. So maybe we can avoid all this and people can just mind their own damn business.

I had a mini realization today, but then I realized my realization is pointless, and now I'm just sort of sad. I've been playing with graphic design a little bit the last few days because a friend was interested in making a poster, and I get really into that sort of thing. But, if you have a weird, slightly artsy project you want done, even as a joke, I'm your girl. I'm actually pretty proud of this poster, but its a surprise for someone who may or may not be reading this, so it must remain hidden. But, if you have a weird, slightly artsy project you want done, even as a joke, I'm your girl. All through high school I wanted to be a graphic designer, however,  I sort of shoved it away because it was my least practical career musing. Why would anyone encourage me to be a graphic designer when I can do math, if you can do math and science all of your less lucrative loves are pushed aside. I wanted to take some graphic design classes in high school, but it got in the way of AP classes, and I did music so that took my "fun" period during the day. Anyhow, I looked at my college's website and basically I would have to start from scratch it I were to switch my major, and I wouldn't graduate on time, for a major that has really competitive employment and at best will make be 40k.

They say that if you pick a job that will pay well, you can use that money to pursue the dreams you neglected because of practicality. But the forget to mention that by the time you reach this point in your life you have other obligations. You will have the job you weren't sure you wanted and a family who will hopefully rank higher than your childhood dreams.

A quick Shirali pic update courtesy of Jahnavi


I went to a movie party last night. Stayed up til 3:30 am talking to a friend, and got my nails painted. It's the girliest I've been all month.

~Noelle

A late side note. Since I can't publish the poster, here's some wallpaper I made.


June 5, 2013

Some Summer Reads

There really isn't anything to update about though. I just noticed I haven't posted in a while. My summer has been rather uneventful the past 2 weeks. The highlight of my day was finding a coupon for $7.99 large pizzas at Dominos. They were delicious by the way.

The weather is getting nicer, although its been a little chilly for the summer. The summer sort of came early though. I'm used to being in school through the 2nd week of June. Work has been unexciting, but I basically am paid to do inventory, check stuff out, and then read books. I read two kids books yesterday and 3/4 of a teen book today. We're right next to the kids section so I just walk over and grab whatever looks interesting, or what I recognize from childhood. One of the books I picked up yesterday was called The Pinballs by Betsy Byars. It was my first "heavy" book. I think I was 8 when I read it. It's about these 3 kids in a foster home. The girl was beat by her step father, the older boy had his legs run over by a car by his drunk father, and the younger boy was abandoned by his mother and lived with a pair of old ladies, but then they died. The boy with the broken legs sinks into depression and the girl is really bitchy. It's a really good book though I read it a lot when I was little.


I'm really getting desperate for material here. Reviewing children's' books. A few other good books for anyone bored this summer who still reads this. 


It's Kind of a Funny Story, one of my favorite books I read in high school. I felt like I related a lot to the character. Craig's thoughts pretty much summarized my thoughts, the good and the bad.


Another good teen book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I read it before it was popular for anyone that was wondering. I think it was 8th or 9th grade.


One last teen book, anything John Green is good (well except wasn't a fan of Abundance of Katherines, but that could just be me). The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, are good too.


And for something thats not another teen book about depression, I had a bit of a theme through high school, Ready Player One. One of my favorites from last summer. Its sort of a geeky dystopian society novel, but were all a little geeky, right?

Since dystopian novels are all the rage right now I also want to say Hunger Games, The Legend Trilogy, and The Divergent Trilogy are also excellent. Maze Runner I found a bit disappointing. I also just finished a Jodi Picoult book. She's a bit of a guilty pleasure author. I'm usually not into literature that is aimed more towards the female gender, but I always read her. Nineteen Minutes and House Rules were my favorites. Just finished The Storyteller. Don't read The Pact unless you want to be pissed at the characters for most of it.

Anyway, hope is having a great summer.

~Noelle

May 21, 2013

Home Again, Home Again, and a little about me...and Tate

I went to Minnesota for the long weekend. I hit the twin cities, Carleton college, and Rochester. I didn't realize how many people my family knew in Minnesota. We stayed at a friend's house and then traveled all over from there. I saw my best friend from childhood, who goes to Carleton College in Northfield. Tuition is a grand 54k a year and no one chooses majors until they're finishing their sophomore year. I suppose that's what happens in liberal arts colleges. I go to a state university where tuition is less and they want you to know everything you want the moment you step in the door, a philosophy that I find to be utter bullshit. No one knows what they want at the age of eighteen. I wish they gave us more time to explore and decide what we like, but if I want to do that I have to pay $54,000 a year, so I guess I'm stuck making uneducated decisions about my future. I just hope I don't end up suicidal at 40 because of my choice at eighteen. Also in Northfield, is a store that sells very good olive oil and vinegar. 

This week has been a lot of visiting with older relatives, something that is sometimes fun at most of the time just is really awkward. You have to laugh, or you'll end up crying, right? I really don't want to get old. Maybe life can take me out at 60 and I don't have to do the whole dementia thing, or if I do I hope I at least get to keep my sense of humor.


Either way, Minnesota was fun. It's nice to get away from Ohio for a while, even if they're pretty much the same place.


In a previous post, I wrote a biography for my friend Madison, and she so graciously wrote one for me as well.



Noelle is now a Biology major at the University of Akron. If you had asked her two months ago, she would have answered she was a Biomedical Engineer, part of the 80% of other Honors students who are studying engineering. However, Noelle decided to buck the trend and try something new. Since Noelle is no longer an engineer, she is not a member of any engineering clubs such as Eureka Honors Engineering or Women in Engineering. She enjoys procrastination, playing guitar, doing stuff on her computer, writing blog posts, and taking bad pictures of her friend Shirali, among other things. Noelle 'Wonder Woman' is known by other names, including 'The Asian,' 'Yun, and 'No Wiser.' To learn more about Noelle, visit her at her blog, her home, or her dorm.
Due to the popularity of the Madison post, I promised my friend Tate I would write her a bio too.


Taylor, or more often known as Tate, grew up in the harsh suburban streets of Massillon Ohio. As a child she enjoyed Star Wars, playing pretend, and running away from home with macaroni & cheese boxes in hand. Through her angsty teen years she enjoyed such bands as My Chemical Romance, and more My Chemical Romance. She also enjoyed a hippy phase, courtesy of a seventh grade English teacher. She has just finished her first year of college at the University of Akron. She is unsure of her major and has thought of everything from education to law to social work. In her free time Tate enjoys writing, reading, more writing, and watching Netflix. She currently splits her time between the city of Akron and her family home in Massillon. She has one brother, one boyfriend, and two dogs. 



~Noelle