End of Semester Obsessions

So, of course, at the end of every semester, I end up with some new obsession that keeps me from doing homework. Typically to do with the internet. For example, last semester was Pintrest (follow me here), and that obsession has only gotten worse..

This year, it is a combination of two sites:

Texts From Last Night 
(BEWARE, NOT SAFE FOR WORK!)

Dog Shaming
(Only safe for work if you can get away with laughing loudly and hysterically)

Congratulations. I have now passed the obsession on to you. Maybe it will leave me alone now.. Hmm, that's doubtful, but enjoy them anyway!

2012 UCO International Festival

As part of our Blogging for Journalists class, Dr. Clark asked us to attend the 2012 University of Central Oklahoma International Festival.

When I first walked in, I was very surprised to be overwhelmed with a since of minority. Not in a negative way in any regards, but as a seemingly-white person (I am actually a fourth Lebanese), I could have definitely been categorized as a minority in that ballroom. It was almost exhilarating really. It was like the ballroom doors were actually a portal to completely foreign land. There were a handful of different languages flying around the lavishly decorated ballroom. It was definitely a cool experience.

The Iranian Student Association, Pakistani Student Association, and the Saudi Arabian Student Association combined into one booth with the theme, "Alice in Arabland."As you can see in the pictures above, students served several dishes from their collective cultures (pictured left) while they were dressed up as characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (pictured right).

Members of the Indian Student Association served food brought in food from Gopuram Taste of India, a local Indian restaurant (pictured above).


On a more personal level, I was very excited about this because one of my dearest friends, Joshua Shaun Wu Lim, plays a huge role in anything and everything to do with the international community on our campus. So, I knew he would be there. And as usual, I was right. (haha).

UCO students that were involved in putting on this year's festival pose for a group picture. From L to R: Brandon Lehman, Sahil Patel, Joshua Shaun Wu Lim, Nela Mrchkovska, Ines Manojlovska, Victor Silva, Mani Inayat, Ashley SueLyn, Mayu Yasuda, Jime Sechinbaatar, Alvin Teh & Tracy Tindle. Courtesy of UCO International Services Facebook page.

Josh is an international student from Klang, Malaysia, who came to study Public Relations at UCO in 2009. Since then, he has continued to be involved on campus in numerous organizations, such as UCO's Asian American Student Association (AASA), Broncho Buddies, and UCO International Services. Josh now holds the position of International Programming Assistant at UCO Centre for Global Competency.

He was also recently featured on the front page of The Oklahoman in an article about the state seeing an increase in foreign students.

I met Josh within the first few months of him moving here, and I am honored to call him one of the most special people in my life. We have been through ups and downs and loops and whatever else you can imagine.

As we have started creating our adult lives over the past three (almost four) years, we don't really get to see each other much, an awful symptom of "growing up." Despite the distance, I love this man so very much. He has been my rock through thick and thin. Although I have tried to describe how much Josh means to be, I cannot even scratch the surface.

I didn't really mean to take this post to a mushy, gushy place, but it ended up there. Oh, well. All that to say, I don't have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have, I cherish dearly. I LOVE YOU, JOSH!

Umm.. now what?

In celebration of applying for graduation, my brain has officially decided to stress OUT.. 

So, in celebration of my anxiety, here are some hilarious memes, ecards and comics..

boom bang crash

As you can tell, I haven't been on much lately. But, I feel like it's for justified reasons.. 

First, I got sicker than a dog. Upper respiratory flu, laid up in bed for three days. Yuck.

Dave and Dr. Clark posing for a picture in 2011.

I finally started felling better as the week started, but I ended up missing my first class Tuesday (Blogging with Dr. Clark). And of course, the day I miss is the day that Dave Rhea came to speak to our class.

Dave has held the position of managing editor for online products The Journal Record Publishing Company (a division of The Dolan Company) in Oklahoma City for the past three years. From August 2004 to November 2008, Dave was the Interactive Editor for the Ocala Star-Banner Newspaper, a division of The New York Times Company out of Ocala, Florida.

 

Interestingly enough, Dave's first career wasn't in the news business. From 2000 to 2004, Dave was part of the post-grunge rock band, Dust For Life. For most of 2001, they toured all over North America with 3 Doors Down, Creed, The Cult, and Saliva. To the right is the music video for "Step Into The Light," the band's first single released in 2001.

On his personal website, Dave says that he is "a musician, a writer, a videographer – those are what I am most creatively passionate about, in all those cases I am acting as a story teller." I think that is an amazing way to look at how writing is important in any career and creates meaning in life.

 

Second reason I have been away:

I was in a wreck in my brand new 2012 Mazda2, ironically on the same day I started feeling better. A lady cut me off and I didn't have time to stop before I hit her. I had to get a tow to the shop, and the rest of my day was pretty much filled with phone calls to work, the body shop, doctor, and mostly insurance companies.


Sigh. Wrecks always happen at the worst times. Oh well. No one was hurt, just a little banged up. Now to proceed through the next few weeks dealing with insurance companies. Hooray!

Anyway, I am trying to get back into the swing of things. So be looking for more updates!