Heather – Akismet should come already installed in WordPress. You do need an API code in order to use it though (see if it’s in your plugin list and then if you try to activate it, and it doesn’t work, follow the directions to get the API code).
I am… currently sitting in a rather large building dedicated for studying (and general hanging out) at school. It’s good fun (ish). So far, since I’ve finished my biology lab was: work on my biology project with my partner in crime (R) – she’s great, she brought in the mushroom that we were using for our slides; work on my psychology notes (rewriting my lecture notes so I can read them, reading my textbook and writing down remotely important-seeming information); I finished my organic chemistry homework (due tomorrow at 11:59pm) finally… The last problem that I had to do? I could only do it in Internet Explorer (it kept on crashing Firefox, but just for that one problem!). I even started up my project writeup (although, I will be emailing it so my partner can finish it) as well as starting to read ahead for my psychology class. Oh, shocker – that never happens (except during like the first week before classes actually start and I’m bored and reading my textbook for fun – did I just admit that? Total dork.).
Campus has been littered with clubs tables lately. They want people to sign up for their clubs (all of them have membership fees, ranging from $2 to $100+ – the more expensive ones include things like fencing, as you need to rent the already-owned equipment…). I haven’t signed up for a club since my first year at this school. I signed up for two clubs and the thing with the clubs at my school… Unless you’re in an ‘executive position’ (i.e. in charge of something), you don’t get invited to a single thing (unless you know someone in an executive position who knows when tickets are being sold, or when events are being held). So there’s really no point in joining unless you actually want responsibility, and not to just be ‘yet another member’. I’ve overheard some people talking and they were saying that the majority of their membership is from first year students. Probably because they don’t know any better? Highly possible, I’d say. But, I’m not incredibly jaded. For instance, joining something like the undergrad society for biology at $5 means that I would get a $5 discount on every single exam package (approved by the faculty, of course) that I want to buy. Which is a pretty good deal, if you’re taking like 10 biology classes in one year (however, I rarely buy exam packages – I only ever bought them for calculus – and I’m only taking 5 biology classes this term and I never use exam packages for biology – but this was just an example).
Oh, and student government elections. Oh. My. God. If I have to sit through the same people spewing on about how on great and how awesome they are and how much they’d appreciate my vote for them, I’m going to throw a shoe at them. I got the same spiel from the same person in 3 of my 4 classes. By the 3rd time, I was seriously contemplating chucking something at their head for wasting approximately 5 minutes of each of my classes. I really wish my profs would just say no whenever a student asks them to make a campaign speech. Because, honestly, unless they’re the most freaking generous person in the whole wide world and really loves school… They just want something new and ‘nice looking’ to throw onto their resume. That being said, to prove that I’m not incredibly mean, I do realize that some positions are important. For instance, the president of my school’s student society makes huge decisions that effects everyone. Student-elected representative for all students > student-elected representative for 2nd year general science students. Just saying.
Ugh, I am such a dork sometimes. Oh! Yesterday, I caught up with one of my “best friends”, S, from grade 8! This was pre-high school (for those who live in areas where grade 8 is part of high school). We ended up at different schools and only saw each other once during grade 9 (when we made an effort to keep in contact, hah). It was so weird seeing her again. She only lives like 3 blocks from my house, but I just never see her. I even go shopping and buy things at the store that she works at and never see her at all. We got caught up on what’s new in our lives (school, work, boys – the usual gossip) and then she caught me up on what’s happening with the notable people from our mutual grade 8 friendship group. How so-and-so moved to Alaska, how someone else is pregnant, how this other girl that we knew nearly died in grade 12 from a drug overdose (oh gee, cheerful antics there!). But yeah, it was nice to see her again, because it’d just been so long (6 years!). She laughed at me for ‘still being a teenager’ (because she remembered when my birthday was. I didn’t remember hers, but I was never good with birthdays…), and I pointed out that she was now ‘old’ (which she laughed at too).
As always, I hope you all had a wonderful Thursday and will have an even better Friday (please note, Thursday – today! – is the season 6 premiere of Grey’s Anatomy. It is a 2 hour episode entitled “Good Mourning; Goodbye”. Do watch it! But please don’t post spoilers – I might not get to watch it until tomorrow! Gah!).
Student elections drive me nuts. I remember visiting SFU during elections have students pestering me to vote for them. *eyeroll* same at Kwantlen. ECUAD doesn’t have that problem…So far.
Yey Clubs! I haven’t paid membership fees for any of the ones I’ve joined yet (Kendo and Global Innititive Symposium) but I’m getting the gear today?
Although it runs late, I really think it’s nice~ Are you planning to join some this year?
P.S. Talk to the “executive position” people and leave your email with them – they’ll remember you if you show additional interest/ approach them. And you’re more likely to be informed for certain events (especially if there’s someone in the same program as you).
P.P.S. Or, just join a club with very few new members – those clubs tend to care for the newbies more.