aggienaut | Entries tagged with student focus

To Catch A Predator, and Show Them on National Television
   That show, To Catch a Predator, on NBC (and not anyone who's watched it knows for certain its NBC that its on since they slip it in every chance they get) -- I can't help but watch it and think, the "predators" NEVER have their faces blurred out. We all know for even the most innocuous purposes all subjects to unexpected video-ing have their faces blurred out when televised. And so, I can't help but watch "To Catch a Prisoner" and be exceedingly suspicious that the "predators" are getting some kind of compensation in return for permission to be shown on television (which I would imagine would have to be VERY compelling compensation.). Discuss.
   Also, Kristy & I noticed that in one episode, the "predator" was wearing the exact same plastic yellow wristband as the arresting police officer. We suspect this may be evidence that in fact the whole thing is entirely faked using actors or something.

Meanwhile in ASUCD
   One of ASUCD's two political parties, Focus, has apparently split in two. The new party, which takes with it most of Focus's current incumbants, is calling itself "Go." Only, they've parted with any semblance of the traditional tactic of making ones name an acronym so it'll always be capitalized (A la L.E.A.D.," AKA Lead),-- "Go" does not stand for anything, yet the party organizers wish the name to always be capitalized as "GO." I for one will not stand for this unprecedented abuse of grammar and I hope the Aggie puts its foot down on the the Gofers.

   Additionally, I neglected to mention that Steve Ostrowski actually managed to when ASUCD Supreme Court Case 41. Although he blatantly endorsed certain ASUCD electoral candidates in his AS Papers (ASUCD supported) publication, in violation of Bylaw 411B, some genius defined "endorsement" in the Bylaws as specifically "An “endorsement” shall be when a Campaign Executive receives the support of a member of the ASUCD or an authorized student organization through a signed agreement on a document titled “Endorsement Form.” [...and submitted to SGAO]."
   Clearly the intent of that was to require such a procedure to take place, but by the way its worded it clearly causes anything other than that procedure to simply not be considered an "endorsement." Though the Court adds human rationality to interpretation of bylaws, it simply cannot overcome such strongly worded a specific definition.

Meanwhile, in Space
   Yesterday:

Today's installment will be in the original doodling form from class (but colourized):

Current Location: Mission Viejo, CA
Current Music: Pistol Grip - The Rebels Are Dead

Thursday I hung out with Carissa and we explored local labyrinthine edifice The Social Science Building, known endearingly as "The Death Star."

   That evening I went to the ASUCD Senate meeting. It was dominated by an extensive debate about whether or not the Senate should pass a resolution urging local businesses not to accept advertising from cigarette companies (or something along those lines). I just listened for logical fallacies in the arguments and desisted from participating. I got on the speakers list during public discussion at the end, but the Senate adjourned before I could speak. I might mention some of my thoughts next week.
   Of particular note though, I was very disappointed in the way more than one senator summarily rejected the comparisons the "pro-smoking" Focite senators (particularly mini-Kalen) were making to alcohol, simply because they said the two things were "different." This you see, was "political correctness" in action. You probably don't think of being anti-smoking as being "politically correct," because it seems like an obvious thing to many people, but when one won't even listen to the arguments against alcohol because you know smoking is condemnable but drinking isn't so much, thats where you're letting PC guide your actions. PC makes taking certain stances condemnable and leads to less intelligent discussion and a generally undesirable political environment (though at the time one will probably not notice if one is themself on the PC train). Don't get me wrong, I am for the gradual elimination of smoking from society, and am against similar treatment of alcohol, but the summary refusal to entertain the Focite proposal offended me.
   Eventually the resolution passed with Rob Roy flipping a coin to decide the crucial vote (video footage!).

Friday I went to Murder Burger for lunch with Roxie and her friend (Molly?). We saw turtles in Putah Creek and Kalen Gallaghers at Murder Burger (along with Kalen's "hetero lifemate," Behzad).

Friday night: see Pledging. Also saw The Motorcycle Diaries with Kritsy and Sashie. Its about Che Guevara before he became a radical revolutionary.

Saturday morning I took the Foreign Service Written Examination (FSWE). A six hour test designed to see if your hand has the endurance necessary to process paperwork while under fire in third world kleptocracies while advocating US policy (from a cubicle). Also Azver was there.

Pledging
   Monday night we had our first pledge meeting and informed of everything about the process. Wednesday night we met our "big sibs." Mine is a girl I've known for awhile, she was a Senate reporter for KDVS like two years ago I think. I escaped early though because I needed to put together a presentation in Swedish that I had to give the next morning.
   Friday night we had casino night, which I thought was cool because I have no idea how to play poker but would like to learn where money isn't on the line - as in this case. I've found my lack of understanding can almost be advantagious, since obliviousness to the value of ones cards leads to a perfect poker face. At one point I beat someone who had a flush with a better flush, causing them to exclaim "he plays a flush just like a low pair, its insane!!" Fact is though, that I hadn't even looked at my cards until I turned them over. (=
   After a glorious winning streak however, people nickle and dimed me to death until I was only up 12 points.

Picture of the Day

This one's actually from awhile ago. Kristy and I nestling on her couch watchin somethin on the tele.

In Other News: I have a new roommate. His name is Terry and he delivers pizza for woodstocks. This means (A) he might be showing up at YOUR door at any moment, and (B) there may be free pizza in this deal for me. Also I still desperately need another roommate for next year...

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Against Me! - Cliche Guevara

CAL AGGIE NEWSPAPER CONDEMNS STUDENT FOCUS
(Additional Focite Party Member Implicated)

holy crap

Contextual timeline

In Other News
In other news, EMOSNAIL correspondants report that the entire student government of Occidental College was recently expelled for corruption.
While we're on the subject, our field reporters report that student politicians at UC Santa Cruz recieve stipends as "advisors" for the rest of their stay at UCSC once they have ceased to serve the ASUCSC gov't.

EMOSNAIL condemns the latter, leaves interpretation of the preceding two news items to our readers.

Discuss.

Current Mood: shocked
Current Music: Cocksparrer - Take Em All

   You know I've been ridiculously busy when I haven't been keeping up with livejournal entries. This week I had a midterm in Israeli History for which I had a lot of reading to catch up on, and then we had one day to write the take-home essay portion (comparing and contrasting Labour Zionism, Religious Zionism, & Revisionist Zionism).

Last Weekend
   We had our second annual Mock Model UN conference, where we pretend to be at a conference pretending to be at a UN conference. Incidently a year ago last wednesday we had the first such mock conferences for our incoming MUNers.
   We didn't actually get on to our second chance but it looked like we might, so I set up for the emergency topic I've been waiting to do for awhile: the militant secession of Quebec from Canada to form an independant communist state. Towards the end of the day I'd periodically make announcements such as "Its been discovered that weapons of mass destruction were smuggled out of Iraq prior to the fall of the Baathist regime... they're now in Canada!" and announced the actual secession in the last five minutes. Incidently Canda was represented by the infamous Paul Amnaypayout.

   Kritsy and I went on a trek down to SF to see the Plain White T's at The Pound. Turns out The Pound is located between shipping container storage areas on some docks in the middle of nowhere. PWTs were preceded by Army of Freshman, a band that struck me as very boy-band-esque. We got there as AoF was ending, saw PWTs and promptly left for the long trek back to Davis.

This Weekend
   We had our second annual "Crash Course in Chairing" (CCC) in preperation for Contra Conta County MUN Conference (CCC MUNC) 2003. Once again for this CCC(C) I was teaching the uninitiated How To Score. Being as I am the expert in this area. And by score, I mean evaluating people's performance and attributing a numerical grade to it.
   We followed the tradition I started last year for this and had people represent historical countries which no longer exist. I represented the Khanate of the Golden Horde, also present was The Ottoman Empire, The Confederate States of America, The Roman Empire, Oluwaseun-Okusanyastan, and a country called Bican (which I referred to as Bacon), among others.

Previously On EMOSNAIL - the erstwhile events of yesteryear
   23 October, 2003: Return of Officer Chang - I randomly decided to stop by an ASUCD Senate meeting, when who should manifest himself to the displeasure of my conscience, but the odious Officer Chang. The very officer who dismissed it as just a fight when I was set upon by three wanna-be gangstas and left unconscious, refusing to follow the leads we did have. And why was he before the ASUCD Senate this time? Well because he had been fired, because, well, he's probably a terrible officer if my experience is any indication. Why does this involve ASUCD? It doesn't, but he thought he could get their sympathy by claiming he was discriminated against in his termination. And I believe he did and following a general publicity campaign on campus was reinstated.
   24 October, 2003: Tough on Crime - The Further Antics of the Davis Police - Under-cover officer in pink shirt nabs skinhead?
   Year Ago Wednesday: Tear Gas & Thai Food - More unusually unruly incidents at Kristy's former complex, Stirling Apartments. It would later be the site of a major riot that took several dozen officers in riot gear to put down and is probably responsible for the tough-on-partying doctrine the police currently employ.
      Also the fallout from the Taking Back Sunday Incident develops further. This section was later cited by ASUCD President Sara Henry in her second attempt to remove me and I believe Lydiana denied making the statements I attributed to her. Incidently I know she did because I wrote it down the moment she said it and it probably appears in the minutes. One thing I can't stand is people who lie and she lost more respect from me in her denial than she did for making the statements or for voting for my removal.
   Year Ago Last Thursday: Judicial Foreshadowing - I speculate about the fat guys in cowboy hats who seem to be in the back of every large poli sci class and feel the need to share with the professor their every thought as if the rest of the class needs to know as well. And I mention the malevolent loop-hole which is just about to make a mess.
   Year Ago Last Friday: ASUCD Misprocessing - Previously mentioned malevolent loophole accidently activitated. Apparently my email got lost in former Senate President Pro Tempore Raj Gupta's inbox, causing the problems. Working with him later on I was left ultimately with a thoroughly good opinion of him.
      Also I ran this livejournal through this flesch-kincaid reading grade level calculator. Doing it again just now I find that this livejournal is now rated at grade level 10 rather than eight; words per sentence are up to 20.78 from 16.44 and syllables per word are up to 1.52 from 1.49.
   Year Ago Yesterday: State of the Court, Fall 2003 - with three appendices!
   Last Halloween: Party at the Unlistoya House - featuring citizene's amazing blue brew.
   Today: looks like Kristy and I are going to the party at "the Pirate House"

The ASUCD Political Parties
   obisan69 reproduced in her lj the top five interests shared by respective members of the two ASUCD political parties as listed on thefacebook.org. In the interest of giving our readers a better feeling for the differences between the two political parties, and seeing as it is an objective reproduction of listed interests, we shall reproduce the results here, but first, obisan69's disclaimer:
Disclaimer: This is an objective reproduction of interests listed elsewhere, as computed from groups participated in by the members of each respective slate. There should be no valuative judgements construed in this reproduction... Even if there were, I'm not an ASUCD official anymore so you can't closed session me :P

Lead: ASUCD, Democrats, Bush is an Idiot, Vote for Kerry, Davis College Democrats.

Student Focus: A-Town Pimps & Hos, THE PERV Fanclub, So Cal Connection, Norcal, Party'ers.

Current Mood: too busy
Current Music: Manic Street Preachers - The Love of Richard Nixon

   Despite how busy I've been this last week past I WOULD have updated my livejournal if the whole freakin site hadn been down. psha on that. Anyway, I'll do my best to retro-journalify the week.

THURSDAY
   The Student Focus political party won our ASUCD elections (the President/VP and five of the six open senate seats), and the proportional voting amendment passed. The four independant candidates took the last four places in the results, Told You So (where's my "I told you so" lawyer? (= ). I mean, if I can't do it, who can? hehe j/k. But yea, for those who don't know (/don't go here?) UC Davis has a stronge Two Party System. Its bogus. The proportional voting system that just passed should help fix that though. The parties are Lead (pronounced "led," unless your a leadite yourself and then you say "lead") and Focus/Unite (Lets just call them focites).
   And then of course the closed session to remove the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was SUPPOSED to occur today but it was cancelled for the third week in a row.. this time however it was because the Chairperson resigned this morning rather than face the hearing. I told you I'd have her head on a platter. Did I? I better reread my livejournal. But I know I told some people.
   Then I had work 3:30-10:00. I forget what we did this day (writing this sunday) specifically but we're still training at this point. Confirmed that one of the servers there is indeed Claire from last friday. Interesting.
   came home sometime after ten, got a ride from Don. Arriving home I learned via AOL IM that there was a Student Locust victory party. Err um Focus yea Focus. I quickly changed and hoofed it on down to The Colleges (an apartment complex) where the party was goin on. Not really my cup of tea (I think I'll rant about what makes a party lame a little further on in reference to Someone Who Is Lame), but there were a bunch of people that I knew and.. yea.

FRIDAY
   Kicked it a bit with Sharon (Amy's twin sister) during the afternoon. Worked 4:00-22:00, whereupon I promptly walked on down to the show at Keebler Hall. Arriving there only very briefly, I set out adventurin with Amie, Sharon and some other guys. Sharon ended up going home to sleep before the rest of us piled into a car and transportmatated ourselves to a party at F and Covell. Arriving there I ran into Don and Vanessa, who hadn't been at work that day. I apparently ended up rather drunk.. I didn think I was THAT drunk but others say otherwise. Anyway it was a lot of fun. Amie and I ended up doing the most classic drunken stumble home.. not even able to keep up a straight line. It was good times. Eventually after hella walking I arrived home in time for two hours of sleep and suddenly it was...

SATURDAY
   ...pulled myself out of bed after my two hours of sleep (and still feeling tipsy) and walked across town to IHOP. At this point I've walked at least nine miles in the last 12 hours (IHOP to Keebler, Party to home, and home to IHOP).
   It was definitively the most awesome day of work in my life however. The morning shifts all did their thing while the evening shifts pretended to be customers. So from 9:00 to 14:00 I was getting paid $7.50 an hour to be seated by the servers and have hella food brought out in front of me. It was unreal just like plate after plate getting set in front of me.. because the cooks obviously needed to practice really making the food.... and then I pretended to pay my bill.. which was like $30 each time. sheit. It was good times. Met a bunch of servers and stuff. Many of whom are very bogus and annoying. Jennifer the cool server has her first day's tips on a bet on who is going to be the first two be fired... and I agree with her the server in question is a freakin bitch. Speaking of servers, Claire still either hasn't recognized me, or more likely, is pretending not to recognize me. Silly Claire.
   Everything I've heard about the morning shift cooks is pretty negative... they apparently all have little ego problems and don't work well with eachother and stuff like that. I really like the whole evening cook shift even if I can't communicate with half of them. But yea the galley broke down today.. the morning shifts lost control of everything and had to completely stop, take a half hour break and start over.
   Got a ride home from Don and went promptly to sleep.

   And so begins what was as far as I'm concerned kind of a seperate day, set off from sat and sunday on either end by periods of sleep. So we'll call it... Shaday, after the almightie word SHA.
   Waking up at eightish I started tryign to finagle a ride to the party off Lillard, where live bands were playing starting at eight and continuing until like.. midnight? It was lookin to be quite the party. Unfortunately however everyone had set out for the evening and I couldn get a ride with anyone..... except Garian's former suitemate Becca.
   And I really didn't want to get a ride with her, especially since originally she was going to be bringing some friends along as well, because she's all about the sororities and the drugs and the Stuff Thats Lame. I couldn find another ride though so I ended up going with her.. and being in no freakin hurry she didn get around to heading out till 23:00... by which point I had missed the best of the party apparently. After like five minutes at the party she left because "there's no dance music." And that pretty much summed up why I didn't want to bring her. Previously mentioned rant:
   If one cannot relate to people except by enacting extremely cliche sexually oriented dance moves to overplayed rhythms then one really isn't the kind of person I'd prefer to be dealing with, and the parties that cater to such are not the kind of parties you'll find me at. Thats the kind of party that I think pretty much all frat parties are and unfortunately that was how the Focus victory party on Thursday was. I mean the Focus kids are good people and I'm not saying they lack social skills, but the party was the type that only catered to the cliche dance moves. They're all frat kids what do you expect. And I'm not say like if you like to dance I hate you, thats all good and well, its just that if thats the only way you can interact with people at a party...
   Okay I'm done ranting now I think. So.. yea. At the party I ran into Amy, Amie, Stan, Fantastic Dan & Danielle, Nick, Chaz, Morgan, Maeve, Don and prolly other people as well, pretty much Everyone was there. Vanessa was apparently but I didn see her. After the party began dispersing around.. 1ish? ..I went with Chaz and someone else in search of an afterparty we'd heard about. Eventually finding it we found Amie, Maeve and Garian (she came with me and Becca originally btw) there. It was really laid-back.. people just kickin around talking, listening to The Pixies, playing pool. After imbibing a decent amount of alcohol however the party seemed quite a nice little shindig to me . Eventually, as had been my plan, I crashed on the couch.
   I perhaps should ahve elaborated on my plan earlier, but oh well I don't feel like reworking previously written paragraphs. Basically in order to avoid the hour long walk across town I'd done saturday morning, I decided it would really be a better idea to crash over there somewhere, as the party (and the subsequent afterparty) were about a block from IHOP. And so, with this in mind, I had brought a change of clothes for work in my backpack.
   And the plan worked very well. After another two hour night of sleep I walked a mere five minutes to work at 7:30.

SUNDAY
   The training at work was the same thing as it had been yesterday, however this time the pm shifts were doing their thing and the am shifts were pretending to be customers. We managed not to break down like the morning cooks had. I am going to do mad studying before my first real day of work on Wednesday.
   One of the morning cooks was in for a bit this morning for some time. I'm not sure why.. maybe he mistakenly thought he was supposed to be working today rather than being a simulated customer. I don't know but he gave us a nice taste of the morning shift spirit: if anyone came within two feet of him he was like "hey I need space!" even though he was just making freakin bacon. Otherwise he was generally an ass.
   We got issued uniform shirts today. yay. Anyway, after hella cleaning (the kitchen got sooo dirty) we were finally released and I proceeded to sleep till 23:00.

   And now... this thing is up to date apparently. What a relief.

Current Mood: stressed
Current Music: Jimmy Eat World - A Sunday

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The Agrinautica

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Entries tagged with student focus

Going After Predators

Week in Review - & Pledge Week 1

SPECIAL REPORT

Previously, on EMOSNAIL

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