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01 May 2010

Habitat for Humanity

I guess this is technically a plug for my club :), but this has been my first semester as an officer (Fundraising Coord) for Habitat, and I just wanted to reflect on how fun this past semester with Habitat has been. The thing that obviously jumps out at me

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 9:39 | Permalink

16 April 2010

It's been a year!

Well this is embarrassing. It's been nearly a year since I last blogged. And obviously, much has happened about which I should have blogged.

Major things that have occurred:

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 2:21 | Permalink

19 April 2009

One Month

Oh man. I can't believe that there's only one month left in Berkeley. In the beginning of the year, my friends and I had trouble finding things to do around here, as we were clueless as to what existed around here. And we never got around to doing certain things, like bonfiring at night at the beaches, or picnicking up the Big C...
And now we have so little time! Finals are so close and before we know it, we're going to be sophomores! Time passes by so much more quickly in college, partially just because the semesters are so short.

Yesterday was Cal Day. I remember it like yesterday! The uncertainty, the shock. I talked to a couple cool prospectives at the CNR Meet & Greet and hope I was able to convince them to come to Berkeley. I'm so glad that applying to college is over! - until Grad School, that is!

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 1:53 | Permalink

21 February 2009

OChem

I took the SLC's mock midterm today, and I just have to say that I am SCARED for the real OChem midterm. I got pretty much every answer at least partially wrong, and I don't even think they even covered all of the material.

I'm seriously worried sick. Being overly-worried about OChem is probably detrimental - I'm too afraid to touch the book, the practice problems, etc., which is simply ridiculous. I just need to face my fears and do the stuff!

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 3:37 | Permalink

20 February 2009

Close Call

So my adviser (Susan Kishi) had been sending out e-mails about being enrolled in enough units to be considered a full-time CNR student. I'd been ignoring them because I'd assumed that I was safely above 13. Not so! Apparently, I'd forgotten to use the CCN and CEC for my 3 URAP units in telebears, so I was officially only enrolled in 12 units.

So basically, I fixed that. :)

The nice thing was that I rushed over to Mulford right after class and asked if I could see her. I didn't even have an appointment, but she saw me right away, printing out contact info and offering her phone to me. Yay for CNR!

I'm still thinking about switching to MoTox from ES, but I overheard a girl talking about that major being slightly impacted ... uh oh! I'm still confused about all of the majors' differences though. It's just that "molecular toxicology" sounds super-intimidating to other people (so I would look smart, haha) when it's not. ;)

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 1:39 | Permalink

21 January 2009

I AM SO SORE

Everyone has been following their New Year's resolution to stay in shape pretty well so far - that's the only reason I can think of to explain why the gym is so packed all the time! Now there are always people waiting on the little green hexagons next to the ellipticals, and even the stairmasters and treadmills are full.

Anyway, I've been getting into the groove, too, but my body is just dying. I don't know how I'm going to keep up gymming once the workload picks up. I can already tell that this semester is going to be much heavier than last semester. Hats off to humanities majors; my little R5A class seems like an incredible amount of work, and it's an intro class!

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 1:39 | Permalink

11 December 2008

Finals Crunch

I'm starting to feel the debilitating effects of procrastination. I start checking digg, facebook, and g-mail rabidly; and then I progress to casual game sites, daily webcomics, and the Psychology Today website.

ALL BAD.


I have Chemistry and Math 16A finals on Saturday. I know I can pull both of them off with an A as long as I study, but I am having a VERY, VERY hard time with that right now.

My book is right in front of me. Why can't I do this? Fear of failure? I guess I have to crunch through everything one problem at a time, one page a time. Even if I can only accomplish one problem or one page every 20 minutes, it's a lot more progress than the quick skim I'd have to do late, late Friday night if this procrastination keeps up.

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 2:59 | Permalink

10 December 2008

Last Day

This morning I was in the bathroom chatting with one of my floormates. "Today's our last day!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know, finally," she'd said.

"Yeah..."
But I didn't really mean it. Finally? More like, "What?! Already?! Noooo!" First of all, I just realized that I am not at all prepared to take my finals. Secondly, I'm unlikely to see any of my lovely professors again (my last class is coming up in 13 minutes!). Finally, the end of the semester means that I'm getting... old! (Unfresh! :( )

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 2:55 | Permalink

19 November 2008

Graffiti vs. Defacing

So recently, I posted a blog about how great Berkeley's graffiti is, but I think that this appreciation only goes so far.

There's a black and white wall-thing that was recently erected in front of Dwinelle. I personally thought that it was a waste of resources (could we have funded another section of chem3al labs instead?!), and misrepresented UC Berkeley, whatever. But even though I'm not fond of this wall-thing, the defacing of it makes me very disappointed. Somebody (or a group of people) has decided to take paint (white, yellow, brown) and streak it across several people's faces. Okay, I get the humor in that this defacing is quite LITERAL (the faces are being... de-faced) but I don't think that this is what the vandals had in mind.

It's just really disrespectful to anyone who allowed his or her face to be photographed and get "published" on this wall, and this vandalism only contributes negatively to the community. Bathroom graffiti at least warms hearts, teases out chuckles, or at the very least makes "business" less boring. This defacing... is just disappointing.

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 4:28 | Permalink

13 November 2008

My 45-minute Career Counseling Session

So I finally followed up on my 15-minute career counseling session with a 45-minute session - actually, though, my counselor and I ended up talking for an hour and a half!

The truth is that it really wasn't all that helpful. People go the center expecting answers, when all of the answers are really inside yourself.

So yes, I was unable to judge myself well enough to really feel comfortable. Remember quizilla, or whatever? The assessment is sort of like that, and you kind of know the profile types before you get your answer.

So basically, my counselor ended up quoting inspirational quotes and we touched on the meaning of life and what drove certain people. At times, I felt like I was talking to a philosophy professor during office hours. I'm not taking any humanities courses right now, but that feeling motivated me to go to my professors' office hours more often, just to talk about anything (it took off the pressure I had to think of some mind-blowing question before entering). That's the one downside of sciences and the objective; office hours are usually more "structured" for these subjects.

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 6:52 | Permalink

13 November 2008

First semester is almost over!

Today in my Thursday Math16A discussion class, my gsi mentioned that we only had two more discussion sections left! I was shocked. Granted, we have thanksgiving break, but I only have one month till finals hits! The fact that finals is close doesn't make me sad; what makes me sad is that soon I won't be a first-semester freshman, and then soon I won't be a freshman at all anymore!

I like being a "fresh face" because all the bumbles I'm making right now are "okay," but I'm so worried about the time where everything starts becoming "important" - I bet Berkeley seniors look at us freshman the way that I looked at high school freshmen last year - "Look at those cute, confused, stressed people! HAHAHA, they have no idea!"

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 6:46 | Permalink

03 November 2008

Dear Tele-bears, I do not like you!

Tele-bears is proving to be a headache for me. I'm absolutely confounded as to why I do not meet the enrollment requirements (basically, being a Freshman) for the freshman seminars. Tele-bears is not letting me enroll! ROARRRR! I really like the seminar I'm taking now, (MCB 90: Introduction to Insulin), and I was hoping to branch out by taking something as out of my element as Linguistics. But there are only two spots left in that class and they're probably going to fill up by the time I figure out what's wrong! I don't get it; is it because I'm not Letters& Sciences? I don't think that's it, because I got into a seminar just fine this semester! And it seems to be working for others, because there ARE people enrolled in the seminars! grrrahhh, on the freshman seminars page, it mockingly tells me to sign up during "tele-bears phase I because seminars fill up fast!"

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 0:07 | Permalink

02 November 2008

Berkeley's Bathroom Graffiti

I confess: I've always had a soft spot for graffiti (the two exceptions to this would be the recurring graffiti that appears on my neighbor's fence; and gang-related graffiti, because gangs just don't conjure up soft spots in my heart). One of my friends in high school used to draw the funniest (and slightly vulgar) graffiti all over our bathroom stalls, and it was awesome and entertaining.

But I have to admit that Berkeley's bathroom graffiti steps it up a notch, just because it's such a collaborative effort.

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 4:31 | Permalink

29 October 2008

Halloween Costumes and Money

There are many, many things that minors can't do. Since I'm not turning 18 until January 26th, I don't get to vote in what is the most exciting election that I've ever witnessed. I can't legally go clubbing, nor can I sign my own release forms. The most frustrating thing is that I can't participate in those cool psychology studies that pay $15 an hour! My friend made $40 yesterday - that's enough to pay for half of a textbook!

Today I went shopping for a Halloween costume. I searched with my friend for hours - we visited Crossroads (not the dining commons, but the thrift/exchange store!), Goodwill, Urban Outfitters, the Dollar Store, Hot Topic, American Apparel, the vintage/thrift store on Telegraph, some fancy dress store, and finally this place called "Fashion Plaza" or something. It took us this long just to find a red strapless minidress so I could be Betty Boop! The dress, along with a lacy scrunchy from the dollar store (my friend creatively suggested that I use the latter as a garter), cost a little over $10. That's not bad, but as I was looking into my wallet, I saw how empty it looked. I haven't really bought anything except for TEXTBOOKS this fall, so its emptiness made me really sad. And it made me feel like a poor, starving college student (I'm not starving though).

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 0:52 | Permalink

22 October 2008

Career Center: Career Exploration

In the spirit of fully using my resources, I followed Susan Kishi's advice and set up an appointment with one of the career counselors at the Career Center today. The career center really is as far as it looks on the map; I panicked halfway there because I wasn't sure whether I'd passed it or not. However, it does happen to have a flag in front of it that says "Career Center," so it isn't actually very difficult to find.

Although I scheduled a 15-minute appointment, my counselor actually ended up talking to me for 25! Truth be told, after talking to him, I was even more confused, because he opened up my possibilities. I expect that this'll all make more sense to me after I take one of the tests that help students find direction.

The career center's a nice place despite how far it is; if you want to make an appointment, however, do it soon! There's a three-week waiting list for the 45-minute appointments, which are needed if you want to take one of those aforementioned tests.

I'm kind of worried again. What if I end up wanting to be something totally out of my discipline, like a fashion magazine editor? Unfortunately, just about any girl who's watched 13 going on 30 or The Devil Wears Prada wants to be a fashion magazine editor, and there just aren't enough great fashion magazines to go around.

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Posted by Katarina Makmuri at 6:20 | Permalink

17 October 2008

Meeting with my Major Advisor

Today was my first formal meeting with my major advisor, Susan Kishi from Environmental Sciences. For the past few weeks, I've been worried sick about the general direction of my future.

Meeting with Susan reminded me of why I love CNR so much. I'd e-mailed her with some tentative times this week, and she responded quickly. Even though I'd wanted to meet early in the morning, before her office hours began, she was willing to come early just for me!

We sat in her office, just the two of us, and talked about... me! She knew the right questions to ask - about my classes, professors; and the right follow-up advice to give. I'd been torn between taking an R1A class and scuba diving (a follow-up class taught scuba diving for research!), and she gave me great suggestions for deciding. What I liked was that she didn't give the usual "Just do what you're interested in and you'll be fine!" talk - she was realistic, pointing out that my schedule was only going to get more difficult, and that it was a good idea to quickly finish my R&C requirement. As for scuba diving, she suggested that I talk with my Oceanography professors during their office hours to get an idea of what they did for their research to see whether or not I'd like doing scuba diving for research.

To help me get over my general feeling of lack of direction, she pointed me to the career center website; it had these neat applications that I'd completely missed before!

We didn't just talk about academics. She also wanted to know how I was doing Student-Life-wise, asking in which student groups I was, and suggesting others that I might like.

I came from a big public school, and I'd never recieved this kind of attention before. We talked for a whole half hour, and never did I feel rushed. I came out relaxed, with a plan in my mind, feeling like I had a great source of support.

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Posted by general at 3:21 | Permalink