I love to do my work with some coffee (or tea...or latte..) just as much as the next person, but the difficulty is, where?! Starbucks is so cliché and finding a good coffee joint near you isn't always easy. But lets say, for arguments sake, that you found one. Where to sit? How much work can you get done? Is there enough room for your books?
Right now I am sitting in a little café, writing this, because as I try to do my work I realize that I have no room to. I am sitting on a little stool, at the corner of the bar, with enough room for one of my books (folded back). In other words- no room for my work.
I am the ultimate café creep, waiting to make my move as soon as somebody thinks it's safe to leave their little table, I will pounce. The only problem in my "Operation Table" is the newbys that keep walking into the café, looking for a seat in the already full house. I already had to stalk down my prey for this bar seat, how am I supposed to strike for the table? I need a plan of execution.
I am now the table lurker. I will circle around and around, which will show my interest in your table. I will give you a look or two, to let you know you are on my radar, and that I am desperate and in need of your table. I have to gauge your response to my lurking though, are you getting defensive over my "a little too close" walking patterns, or are you showing some pity on my predicament?
I can see if you are taking pity on me by your eyes, thats my first clue. The eyebrows will arch up if you are debating if you have done enough work for the day and are willing to give up your table to a person in need, or if you break my eye contact right away you are telling me to back the hell off your table. Reading your signs correctly is my job. Yours is to give me the right signs.
Table lurking is easier when you first enter a joint, and haven't already found a seat. Currently, I am at the difficult stage, the "Table Hop". The pity card won't work in this stage, because I am looking for a new table for my own comfort. People think that I should be grateful I have a seat because other people in the café don't. I am not their first pick in the table auction. I have to work for this.
This is where the reflection of my computer comes into play. Sitting against a wall, it makes it look like I am not interested in finding a new seat, since I am already tucked away in a corner, no one even thinks I am on the radar for this table hunt. This is where I have my advantage. For the seconds hesitation that it takes the lurker to make its move on the departing table, I will stand up, and swoop in by leaving an item of mine at the table. The moment where someone is just putting on their jacket is critical. This moment is when it is acceptable to swoop in and ask the person if they are leaving (which they obviously are). You will take the lurker by surprise, and although they wanted the seat you just stole, they will settle for the open seat you just left. (If you really want to get under their skin, smile, and suggest the new seat that just opened up behind you...where you just were.) Remember when I said I was at the bar earlier? I am at the table now. Execution worked. Lurkers took my old seat at the bar, and they can now begin the new process.
My next victim? The booth seat behind me.
After going through a crazy house hunt myself, as well as seeing my roommates scurry around like chickens without a head trying to figure out housing, I think its safe to say that house hunting is anything but fun and games. So where does the coin flip from happy and excited to hectic and painful? Heres a few reminders when looking for a new place to call home.
When Looking:
1. Know what you want
If you don't know what you want than how do you expect your roommates to know? Make sure you know what you want before telling someone else you will live with them next year.
2. Be Flexible
Okay, you've figured out what you want, but you aren't find a Martha Stewart home a stones throw away from your campus... BE FLEXIBLE! Evaluate what you think is more important: price, location, size, and then compare with your roommates. Between you all being a little more flexible it should open up a few more properties in your area.
3. Communicate
If you don't like something, say it! If you are going to be living with people for a year you should have enough of a bond to at least say your likes and dislikes of a property. On the other hand, if you future roomie is telling you their likes and dislikes, just listen and take them into consideration! No need to get into a huff over it. Also- if you are talking to separate people about possibly living together next year, make sure they know! No one likes to be left in the dark or taken by surprise when they have been doing their best to find a place for everyone!
4. Room with a good ROOMMATE, not just a good FRIEND
This advice was given to me by an older friend of mine and is probably some of the best advice I have gotten in college so far. You may love your bestie but living with someone is a totally different story! You and your roommates don't have to be best friends to live together, you may just be compatible! Trust me, if its a good enough friend, rooming together is too big of a risk to take to realize you can't live their same life style!
5.Keep it Casual, yet Professional.
Yes, you are excited to be living with your friends for a year with no rules and your own place to call home, but don't forget that there are still obligations that you guys have to each other. Make sure to write out a little something that just has some house rules down in writing (even if you never plan to look at it again), including the rare case that one roommate should move out, how their share of the finances would be handled (would you have to pay more for the empty room? or would they have to either keep paying their share till they found a new person to live there)
All things are to be considered in the house hunt! I know it can get tricky so just remember to take a deep breath, relax, and stay focused. Everything will work out in the end!
Lulu is the new app college campuses everywhere are crazy about. At first, you may think this is the mobile app for Lululemon Athletica (obsession), however you are sorely mistaken. This app is for 'girls only' to rate and bash any guy the could possibly think of.
Taking pictures from Facebook, the app gives you a profile for every male that has a Facebook, whether they know it, like it, or not. You are given suggestions on how to rate the guys, including posts such as "mama's boy" or "obsessed with his ex." Don't worry though ladies, you can rate away anonymously. (So you don't have to worry about your boy grabbing a girls phone to check his own profile)
The real concern here though, is the chance that a male version of this app will rear its ugly little head. One can only hope that no one would be so evil as to set off this atomic bomb waiting to happen... talk about a jungle Lindsay Lohan, this would be the mean girls watering hole x30.
-You've been bagged.
I give "gym rats" some serious props. I don't know how they do it. If and when I am going to the gym, I can tell you for sure that it is about the last thing I want to be doing. How they have the energy and motivation to make the gym the top of their priorities is beyond me.
As a college student, I have some free time in between classes, however not enough to go to the gym and shower before my next class. So how do I fill these voids? Netflix, obviously!
After my day of classes, I feel I have deserved my "one more episode" of 90210 or Gossip Girl, so I go head and watch about 3 more. OOPS! Now its 8 o'clock and I have a paper due tomorrow and about 20 pages to read. Doesn't look like the gym is going to make it on the list today.
That's how easy it is for me to avoid the gym, which I pay about $50 a month for, just to "stay on top of my school work".. So what am I going to do?
I decided that it's time to get my sh*t together. As I said in a previous post, I would love to look like one of those Girls in the Pictures. Gym time is now a must, and I am even starting to attend classes to make sure I get my butt there! It's time to get back to business ! GYM (even though i hate you) HERE I COME!
Is it just me, or does everyone see those pictures on pinterest or instagram and think "how are you so perfect?" I know I constantly find myself scrolling back and forth through the girls with the perfect bodies and skin tone thinking that I wish I was them. Sometimes I even find myself trying to buy what they are wearing or even drinking because I think it will make me look like them!
Here is a thought, however, if I were to pass one of these "perfect" girls on the street would I even notice? Or is it just the camera catching them at the perfect angle, time, and place? Too bad we can't have everyone wearing "vintage effect" sunglasses. Is it the effects that makes these girls so perfect?
Whenever I see these girls I always think to myself, "Wow, their lives must be great." Everyone always looks so care free and fun spirited that my inner jealousy pokes its big fat head out and I long for the day I will look like one of "those girls" (I still have a long way to go to get the look down) But could I, at this moment, have the personality as on of those girls? Do they even have personalities? Or did they have to sell that in order to look so perfect.. maybe I am better than them in that I have a better personality. Where could I even go to sell a personality though (incase I wanted to)? Food for thought.....
