Jennifer,

Assistant Directors
Enrollment Services
The HUB

WINNAR. Through my great argumentative skills and a 8 paragraph e-mail with an attachment of a screenshot of how horrible the SIO is.

EDIT: I did not know that the due date for my tuition was this Monday. Thus, I incurred a late fee. But I had a few reasons. (1) They sent the only bill with the due date to a Pittsburgh address, my campus address. (2) I could not view the pages using Safari because it showed the source code rather than an interactive interface. In the e-mail, I included a screenshot of it, but did not mention that I could have used firefox. (3) I wasn\’t sure if I was going to take 24 units, 12 units or 0 units. There was no clear way for me to know whether they knew that I was going part-time and why they had charged me the full tuition. I thought they weren\’t going to bill me until the tuition adjustment period since I was under units. (4) I am new to CMU. A weak reason, I know, since this would be my fifth (and final) semester. But I also mentioned that I was confused because Berkeley didn\’t pay tuition the same way. I claimed ignorance saying that I had expected a bill to arrive via both e-mail and postal mail. (5) I didn\’t know it was going to take 24 hours for my bank account to be electronically verified. Other places where it directly debited my bank account didn\’t take this long.

JENN 4TW.

Some of the most interesting people I know are the ones who don\’t sense the awkwardness and keep bubbling on as if nothing has happened. Even if they seem oblivious, they invite comfort that is lacking with most people I meet for the first time.

\”Were you quiet at Berkeley?\” she asked, my friend\’s high school friend.

I nodded.

\”That\’s probably why.\”

In random talk at a party, I had asked her why my friend and I never talked until we came to CMU. He and I were in the same research group, lived around from the corner from each other, and had one class together. Yet, we never connected until we happened to be in the same masters program more than 3000 miles away in Pittsburgh, PA.

It\’s strange how the world works that way. Lately, I have been noticing how I get to know people only because of circumstance. Circumstances and that one connection–not always a mutual shared interest–brings people together. It\’s not that I was extremely quiet at Berkeley, but circumstances just never led me to connect with people.

At Berkeley, for instance, I remember having the same class as a classmate from my hometown. She and I barely talked during middle school and high school. We went to Chinese school in Oakland, took the same BART train there. But then suddenly when we were in the same class, that small shared experience just allowed us to make small talk to made us friends.

Friendships. Post hoc.

DONE.

I sense this semester will be very very very interesting.

Less than 24 hours left until the CHI 2006 deadline 5 pm PST January 13th. This was the day I was waiting for or the day I have been dreading. One works in progress to submit. One student design competition to submit. And soon it will be done.

Unless they are accepted.

I e-mailed my housemate from last semester, asking where she left her key.

The first e-mailed bounced. Perhaps, her hotmail account was full. So I e-mailed again a couple hours later. I finally got a reply the following day. She said she \”had left a New Year\’s card with the key inside tucked in your bedroom door\”.

Tucked in my bedroom door??? I spent the next hour rummaging through my room, wondering how it could have gotten lost. Was she bluffing? Did she think she left it, but didn\’t really leave it?

Eventually, Ray my other housemate got home from the airport. And surprise surprise, it was in his room. What amuses me and piques my curiosity is how my housemate got our rooms mixed up despite her living in the house for the last 4 months. Furthermore, the card was on his desk so she must have went inside his room (despite the door being closed) and placed it on his desk.

I did remember her mother (one of those random where-is-my-daughter-i-don\’t-call-before-coming drop-bys) once asking me whether Ray and I lived together upstairs. Ignoring the allusion, I just said that yes my room was upstairs and left it at that.

Today, I watched Lost after almost a whole year break from it. Then during the climax of the hour, the power went out and I was in darkness.

Is there…something…saying something?

Debates. Arguments. Discussions?

Several years ago, I would get into debates about the most trivial things. There was one argument I got into about whether a cordless phone should be placed on its base all day long. He said that phones should be placed elsewhere for battery purposes. I said that the base was not designed that way and should not be used that way. What a stupid argument that was.

Sometimes it\’s an intellectual challenge, but most times, it\’s not. It\’s dividing people, making them more extreme in beliefs than before. People take it personally.

Those people with dignity, you know those charismatic and admirable ones, somehow avoid these topics together. In social situations, it\’s easier to let someone who believes in a cause win. Because ultimately talking about a belief makes one feel important. Why steal the spotlight even if we know the belief is wrong? Just give a benefit of doubt, because in the end, a disagreement is not worth it when it ends in hurt feelings.

I used to love conflict and drama, but it\’s tiresome.

I know someone who hates the Bay Area with a passion. I can see why, but I defended the benefits. But he continued to rant. I could never convince him otherwise, but I wasn\’t there spending time with him to argue. Friendship was the reason I was there. Just let him have the spotlight. Let him win despite a personal disagreement. Let him get out it of his system.

This comes from a philosophy that anger is misplaced energy. But when is it ok to debate in something you believe in? When it involves personal relationships?

Need i say it? Macbooks.

A 7 hour flight with a stop in Atlanta, a feeling of drowsiness, a $24 Italian dinner, 4 clunky bags, running around the airport because Sprint does not work, a $1 airport parking later…I am back in Pittsburgh!