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7 Reasons to hate the Columbia University Medical Center:
The Housing Office Sucks
Never have I ever met such an incompetent, rude group of people. Not only are they rude, but they're stupid. Who posts up people's full names, room numbers, emails, and schools right in the lobby of the building for the entire world to see. Because of my #1 lottery number, I was given first pick in the room and yeah, woohoo that's great and all, but BECAUSE I was #1 and because all my info was posted, people I've never met kept harassing me to find out what I was doing so that they could figure out what they should do. I had friends cry over the housing office, I had a friend get knocks on her door by people who also got her info from the housing office, and every Asian girl I know (and then some) was asked "are you jolene" by some stupid idiot until he finally found me. Ugh!
The gym is depressing
Wow. Basement level 3. Tiny. Horrible ventilation. Sigh.
The student health service office is full of bitches
So a friend of mine sprains her ankle while we were playing basketball at the gym (yeah, I know it sounds weird but yes, I was actually playing basketball), and I run up to the SHS office which is right upstairs asking for an ice pack and a bored looking receptionist tells me she can't give me anything without asking the nurse first who was with a patient. Later, a doctor comes out and tells me to take my friend to the emergency room as she kept looking at the clock which read 4:55pm. Clearly, she just wanted to go home and didn't care about my friend who came hobbling in behind me. Shit, all we wanted was a fucking ice pack!
The bums from the homeless shelter think they have game
Starbucks is one block away from the library but unfortunately, half of that one block is a homeless shelter. As you may know, I love coffee and as you may also know, I pull many all nighters which means I make many trips down to Starbucks in the middle of the night (and even in the day too actually). Now I don't know what gave these fools the idea that they're hot shit, but EVERY time I walk by I have to brace myself for either
a) Dayam, check out the Asian one!
b) hey miss! hey beautiful! hello? hey!
or my personal favorite...
c) Hey blue shirt! Blue shirt! Hey blue shirt can I get your number?
(the "blue shirt" thing was also in a monologue this comedian girl has so when i heard this one, i almost died of shock when it happened to me)
The campus decided to close the 24 hour room of the library for maintenance during finals
Yeah I get it. Buildings need maintenance but really... during FINALS WEEK?! Sure it was only one day, but shutting down the ENTIRE library for 24 hours is NOT ok especially when the computers in the library have data analysis programs that we don't have on our own computers. I must admit, I appreciated the shiny new floors but really? It couldn't be done ANY OTHER week? Assholes.
The food around here gets old really fast
Mcdonalds, Wendy's, an Indian food place, a couple delis, and a couple pizza places.... and unhealthy cart food. Sigh. Washington Heights is fantastic.
The Med students are condescending
I hate them and the sense of entitlement they think they have towards everything. So you weren't guaranteed campus housing their second year -- BIG FUCKING DEAL. Public health and every other program on this campus wasn't guaranteed housing during our FIRST year so calm the fuck down and find a new place. Oh and when I'm watching LOST in the lounge, NO YOU CANNOT PLAY WII! WAIT UNTIL THE SHOW IS OVER! Shit! And yes, Public Health IS a "noble" major but it is NOT a backup major. Asswipes.
And so ends the rant.
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So I've been meaning to write an entry about this for a while now but things have been crazy since spring break so i haven't really had the chance to post a long entry. But anyways, I just have to say that I loved my spring break trip to Berkeley. It wasn't the typical wild and crazy spring break, but for me it was perfect. Who would have thought that after moving away and leaving some of my closest friends behind that things could still be the same? In fact, I feel like I may have even grown closer with some of my friends there despite the separation. The trip was short and relatively uneventful, but I couldn't have asked for a better spring break. Coming back and being able to talk about awkward moments, being able to vent about my sorry excuse of a love life at Columbia, being able to act ridiculous and play odd games, being able to act just as weird as I did a year ago, and just feeling like I'd never left is something that I wouldn't be able to do without such an amazing group of friends. I know Berkeley people don't really read my LJ (probably because people don't really know I have one), but I just have to say that I love you guys and I have no idea what I would do without you all.
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Thursday, March 27th, 2008
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Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
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So I've been living in the library these past several days. It's basically been the center of my social life since everyone seems to be kickin it here these days. Its almost fun. Almost.
Ok... fine. It's very fun... despite the pile of work I still have to do.
Verb of the week: boxing
Adjective of the week: spicy
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008
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Slightly amused, slightly embarrassed, slightly guilty, and slightly pissed. What an unpredictable turn of events.
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Monday, February 25th, 2008
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I was drunk when i woke up this morning... well its nearly 2am now so I guess it was yesterday morning. Saturday was probably the most productive day in a long time... without school work. I woke up at 11am and had brunch in Soho and egg tarts in Chinatown with Davis. Then later that evening, I had dinner with Lihan and caught up on all our New York adventures and then visited the Morgan Stanley office. Then later that night, I went to CUMC's Jazz Mixer and then after midnight headed out with the PT boys to Plum Pomidor, Town Tavern, Down the Hatch, and Kati Roll. I had about 6-7 drinks (I think), only paid for 1 or 2 of them, and despite waking up "early" that day, I did not pass out.
Oh and it gets even more impressive. I lasted the night in open toed shoes in the freezing cold and leaped over mounds of snow and ice without hurting myself. Furthermore, I introduced 3 new kids to the wonders of Kati Roll and almost got kicked out because the guys were so drunk except for one of them. Oh and the cab driver asked me if I was their baby-sitter when I was telling them to chill in the car. I didn't realize how drunk I was until the next morning.
A lot of the details are somewhat fuzzy and I ended up remembering things in bits and pieces as Sunday wore on. I started off very confused when I woke up as I received apologetic text messages about events I couldn't remember and then spent the rest of morning (it was actually 1ish) letting the drunkeness transition into a headache and sleepiness that lasted the rest of the day.
But wow. What a great day and what a great night.
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Friday, February 15th, 2008
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So we all know NYC has an abundance of amazing restaurants and for the short time we're here, it would be nice to eat out at as many of these places as possible. Thus, the "Weekly Dinner Group" was born. Erica, a friend of mine here, decided that it would be fantastic to arrange dinner plans every week or every other week and to make things easy to coordinate and send messages, she started a facebook group... a SECRET facebook group. Not meaning to exclude anyone, Erica invited all her good friends from Columbia into the group including her roommates, some of her classmates, and her going-out buddies. Lucky for me, I was invited into the group along with all the other people whose company I enjoy. But of course, there are those who didn't make the cut...
So last week was Weekly Dinner Group #2 at Taco Taco. We made reservations for 14 people. However, someone in the group made a little slip to this really loud-mouthed rich princess type girl in class who was looking over her shoulder and saw the facebook group on her laptop. Loud-Mouth-Rich-Princess (LMRP) threw a fit about not being included in the group which by the way, is stupid seeing as how shes not close with ANYONE in the group.
LMRP showed up to Taco Taco with a friend. Our group then had to be split into two tables since there were now 16 of us and the restaurant was not prepared. What's even more stupid is how LMRP said "Ohhhh we're just stopping by." Stopping by? Who "stops by" for a dinner? It was so dumb. They ended up staying for the whole thing and THEY DIDN'T EVEN EAT. So lame.
Oh and LMRP's voice is annoying and piercing.
What's more annoying, however, is how she went on complaining about how Weekly Dinner Group was a "secret" and how we were being exclusive. First of all, we weren't TRYING to be exclusive. We don't even hang out with her! Secondly, the point of the group on facebook was just to make things easy for Erica to message her friends. It was only secret because we didn't want random people joining and making reservations for 50 people is impossible.
Oh and things got worse when word got around to another annoying girl about Weekly Dinner Group. She said that Erica was being elitist and was basically asking "what does it take to be in the group?"
Well not to be rude or anything, but okay, fine. Maybe the group IS exclusive. It is only open to those who hang out with us, those who are not insensitive or mean or annoying, and those who just want to have a good meal with some good people.
Sheesh.
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Monday, February 4th, 2008
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oh, do you hate her 'cause she's pieces of you?
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Sunday, February 3rd, 2008
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and here we go again. its another one of those times where i have trouble sleeping at night, i have the urge to listen to emo music, and i recall the times i let something good go. hopefully i'll be out of the slump soon. it tends to happen during transitional periods and i just back to nyc, quit my job, and my grandma just moved back to CA from NY. so those things might explain it.
all is well though. dashboard days tend to come and go and hopefully this phase will end soon.
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Friday, January 25th, 2008
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| Subject: | express |
| Time: | 2:40 am. |
| Mood: |  nostalgic. | | Music: | acid test- emma pollock. |
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At last, my dreams of becoming a retail manager have come crashing down... haha just kidding. That wasn't really my goal in life, but my life in retail has officially ended. My Express store closed this past week and while I could have easily transferred to another location, I decided it was time to get more serious with school and public health. Even so, I must pay tribute to the wonderful store that was Express on 58th and Lexington. It stood proudly from 1990-2008 and although I was only around for the last part of it, I still feel a bit of a loss. Damn those greedy jerks at Limited Brands and boo to Victoria's Secret for being the bigger money maker.
But moving on...
So some people wondered why I worked at Express. With a bachelor's degree in Public Health, and a master's in progress, it really didn't make much sense. It started off as something to do for the summer between undergrad and graduate school. Then I figured it would still be good to make a few extra dollars by transferring while I was still adjusting in NY and I figured I would quit after a month or two. Eventually December rolled around and I had no intention of quitting... until I got the call over winter break, that is. I took it as a sign that it was time to move on and do what I came to New York to do.
Its weird, I know, but I got really attached to that place. Sure, I would never hang out with the people individually outside of work but together in that store, we got along great. We all knew exactly where we stood with each other in that store. We could joke around with each other, bitch about the annoying music that played, sing and dance to the good music they played, and even bitch about rude customers. The managers were tight too-- always encouraging and praising us for the smallest things (yeah, it was part of their job but they did it well!). The Filipinos in the stock room were awesome-- I could practice my Tagalog with them and they brought in really good Filipino food.
Even the building was amazing: a two-story Express with two mezzanine levels, 3 fitting rooms, an elevator, and a labyrinth of a stock room in the basement. Sometimes, the building disappointed us like when the heater broke, but the managers stepped in and turned it into something that got us even more excited and happy. They would let us borrow clothes during our shifts and bring us drinks from Starbucks.
Working at Express became routine for me. It made the adjustment in New York so much easier because it was something constant and I could look forward to every shift knowing exactly what was expected of me and knowing I had the capability to do exactly what was asked of me... and I knew I could do it well. Furthermore, I had a reason to leave my boring neighborhood, I got to take the subway and enjoy a nice walk across town, and I was able to get a second (pseudo) social life. It even gave me a boy to crush on and look forward to seeing... and those types of guys are always fun.
I don't think I can really write a good entry on how much I'll miss that place and how great it really was to me. But I'll miss it all: the endless closing shifts, opening credit cards, acting like I knew what I was talking about in the fitting room, the discount, stock checks, folding denim, folding essential shirts, using folding boards, joking with Brenda and Gary at the cash wrap, complaining about life with Serena, talking about weird videos with Julie, walking home and taking the subway with Jacob, watching Ivonne dance and sing, getting candy from AJ, and chatting and joking with the Lindseys, Erre, the stock boys, the Filipinos, Fazil, D'Marcus. I loved the dress code, I loved how my locker was in the perfect spot, I loved working at the cash register, I loved the walkie talkies, I loved yelling across the room when I was working at the further cash wrap, I loved the multi tasking... yeah... good times.
I will miss you, Express.
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Sunday, January 20th, 2008
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830am in NYC. i get off my plane, get my luggage, and get a cab. we're speeding down the highway and all of a sudden we're caught in traffic. the cars don't move for about 3 minutes and all of a sudden all the impatient drivers start REVERSING on the highway to get to a junction we had passed earlier.
fucking new yorkers.
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Saturday, November 10th, 2007
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Sometimes I regret my sad reliance on email, AIM, facebook walls, and text messages. Its really hard to convey how you're really feeling through the screen. What's bad is that because I talk on the phone so little, I wonder if it would be weird to pick it up and just chat with my old friends normally especially when I need them. I cried a lot today. But you can't really tell from an AIM conversation can you? It's hard to type every single detail out on the computer. Everything seems so calculated and I can't imitate intonations, I can't make facial expressions, and I can't lean on anyone for support. Eh, what can you do?
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Friday, November 9th, 2007
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man it takes a silly girl to lie about the dreams she had, but it takes a lonely one to wish that she had never dreamt at all.
-dc
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Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
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i heart...
- long phone calls with mom and joanna
- jeremy randomly calling and asking for directions or venting
- jonah randomly calling me on his way to the airport so i can check him in for his flights
- berkeley updates esp the long ones from rena and johnson
- calls from maroon 5 concerts from joe just so i can hear my fave songs
- lisa's advice on google chat
- playing with the babies and little cousins in queens
- visiting my grandma
- freaking out to yummay and davis
- still pulling late nights with dewek
- random hangouts in NY with berk people (joe, roland, shelly)
- having the hoes as my default texting group for random updates
- any and all IMs from berkeley kids
- facebook photo comments
thanks for keeping me smiling y'all. this place pisses me off sometimes.
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Thursday, October 4th, 2007
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So its been a little over a month since I've been here in New York and things are good. Classes are fine except for the annoying people who spend class time talking about their useless anecdotes (some people actually say good things but there's a few people that make me want to choke myself) or pointless questions. Take for example, "Screenplay Girl" who asked the stupidest thing in the middle of a 300 person lecture. Class was running over by 5 minutes and the professor was trying to wrap things up and she suddenly raises her hand and asks, "Have you ever considered writing a screenplay about your findings? It all seems so interesting..." Okay, yeah what the fuck? I guess this doesn't sound so bad now but this was after she had already asked a bunch of other pointless questions. I am not alone in this resentment towards her! When she asked the question, a murmur of disgust ran through the crowd so yeah, I am not overreacting.
But other than that, classes are going well. I am enjoying my schedule: Mon-Thurs 5:30-8:30. It gives me plenty of time to sleep in =) I also work at Express on weekends and sometimes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons so I get to make a little money on the side. Plus, I get long weekends which are good for museums, shopping, exploring, Pinkberry, visiting my grandma, and drinking.
My campus sucks. A couple here may think I'm just being a princess and maybe I am. But I loved the Berkeley campus. AND I'm not even on the main Columbia campus that's all pretty looking in pictures and the movies. I'm on the medical center campus that's 50 blocks north of it. My "campus" is basically a street with a hospital, a library, grad student dorms, and a couple other health related buildings. The surrounding neighborhood is not the super exciting Manhattan type most people imagine. Thank goodness they built a Starbucks on the corner. Okay, yeah I think I sound like a princess right now but whatever. The area is boring. Wow, I must sound like a bitch but its true! I took a walk on the main campus the other day and it is so beautiful. Nice buildings, statues, fields of grass with people tossing frisbees, laying out, and studying. There isn't a single patch of grass near my campus. Sigh.
Its not horrible. The roof here is nice and I have a gorgeous view of the Hudson River and New Jersey from my room. Oh and I have no idea what to do about food here sometimes. No meal plans and one kitchen for the entire 300 person building. Well, I guess I never really cooked in Berkeley either but there was Crossroads! I've learned to adjust though. I eat lots of sandwiches, order a lot of delivery food, and eat at the hospital cafeteria a lot. Haha.
I've actually gotten a lot better. I was pretty pissed about my living situation and campus at first but I've gotten used to it. My room feels like home now (somewhat) and my OCD attacks have lessened.
Okay wow. Boring entry I know.
Other than that, I just wanted to say I loved all my bday cards. All you bitches that gave me one made me cry.
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Monday, September 17th, 2007
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So I figure its time to write actual entries again. Repeating stories gets tiring. Enjoy!
The Funny/Fucked up Situation aka The Tale of Roofie Man and his Creepy Friend...
So grad school has been pretty chill lately: classes and homework Mon-Thurs and the weekend starts after class gets out at 8:30 on Thursday. Its only been 2 weeks here but it seems like a bar is going to be part of the Thursday routine. Now, this last evening started a little differently than most with several of us going to an art show with an open bar. The art show and "open bar" ended up being a mistake as we arrived a bit under-dressed and found that we were apparently unwelcome because only one of us had been invited (Karin) and she had been under the impression that it was okay to bring people along. On top of that, we got there late so the open bar had run dry. So after an awkward start of the night with upscale but stuck up artists, we hopped in a cab to a strip of bars near NYU and stumbled upon Off the Wagon, a 2 story bar with good music, good people, and of course, good alcohol.
To make things a bit more interesting, the five of us decided to play "Fuck, Kill, Marry" there and pick out people there that fit each category (yes, the kill part is a bit cruel but its all part of the game.) Finding it difficult to play the game on the first floor, we headed up to the second floor to get an aerial view of the crowd. The girls (myself, Karin, and Ling) headed up first as the guys (Inderjit and Karl) went to buy more drinks. On our way up we passed two guys and I noticed one was quite good-looking and he said "Cheers!" as we walked by and I echoed "Cheers!" in response and the girls and I headed for a table near the balcony. Eventually, Inderjit and Karl caught up with us and the five of us began the game. I said that I would marry the guy who said "cheers" for lack of a better option and everyone laughed and we continued picking out people.
A little bit later, I noticed that cheers-man and his friend had moved to a table near by and then cheers-man and I made eye contact. Ah so it seemed that all was well at that point. After all, he was pretty cute-- that is, he was cute until he opened his mouth. Shortly after that eye contact moment, Inderjit and Karl went back downstairs to get drinks leaving the table guy-free which cheers-man took as the cue to move on in. Cheers-man and his wingman came along and started talking to Ling, Karin, and I and the first thing I noticed when cheers-man opened his mouth was his huge lisp. And I thought to myself, "You know, Jolene, he's still okay. Give the guy a chance. Its just a lisp!" So I continued talking to cheers/lisp-man and I quickly realized how boring he was. But then I thought, "No, no its okay! Its only been a few minutes!" Meanwhile, wingman was busy talking to Ling and Karin. Inderjit and Karl returned and they stood off to the side respectfully allowing their fellow men to play the game. After a few minutes of lame-sauce chatter, Karin spoke up and said, "I have to go to the bathroom! Jolene and Ling, will you two go with me please?" Eagerly, I hopped up and followed the two to the bathroom not caring how tactless it seemed.
Once in the bathroom, Karin burst out saying "GAH this guy is SO creepy! At least your guy is cute, Jolene." With that comment, however, I was immediately turned off because now cheers/lisp-man was affiliated with creepy-man. Great. So we devised the number system: if we hold up 1 finger, it means "all is well, don't interfere" and it goes on a scale up to 5 which means "get me the fuck out of here." All we had to do was hold up the number of fingers when appropriate. With that settled, the three of us returned to the table.
As we approached the table, we noticed that cheers/lisp-man and creepy-man were still there along with Inderjit and Karl (I have no idea what they were doing all this time) and I looked at the table and said "Whoa where did my drink go-- oh! here it is!" and as I picked it up and raised it towards my lips, cheers/lisp-man said with a smile, "Better make sure I didn't roofie that."
What. The. Fuck.
I immediately lowered the glass and spit out a shocked "What?!" Cheers-man responded with, "I said 'better make sure there isn't roofie in it.'" and he proceeded to do the hand motions of putting the date rape drug into my cup. I looked around at Karin, Ling, Inderjit, and Karl who all stared back with aghast looks. I responded with a very sarcastic "haha" and scratched my forehead with an obvious 5 fingers up (GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!) for the group to see and we all decided to drop all conversation with Roofie-man and creepy friend and they took the hint and left.
Now, HONESTLY! If you're going to talk to a girl, would you REALLY joke about the date rape drug?! I mean seriously!! WHAT AN A-HOLE! It was such a funny yet very fucked up situation. I think its hilarious but I was also quite offended. That is SO WEIRD! The five of us had a good laugh about it on the way home but really, ROOFIE?! My goodness. I wish I had done something more extreme like splash my beer in roofie-man's face but we all just avoided anything like that. We were all pretty drunk and a drunken altercation up next to balcony seemed a bit unnecessary.
But seriously, how dumb do you have to be to use a joke about the date rape drug to try and talk to girl? Roofie-man had so much potential. Too bad he's stuck rolling with Creepy-friend.
The End
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Monday, May 21st, 2007
-stoneridge with joe, davis, and steph
-fire trail with davis
-random conversation between davis and johnson:
johnson: i'm thirsty, let's get drinks.
davis: what kind of drinks, slurpees?
johnson: yeah, sure.
davis: sodas?
johnson: that'd be good too
davis: where would we go?
johnson: 7-11?
davis: oh thank heaven.
- "did you buy sunflower seeds??" - me
"uh-yesssss"- davis
- lawrence hall of science view
- the deer on on Prospect Street
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| Time: | 10:54 pm. |
| Mood: |  giggly. |
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joe: you know what's good?!
(dips cookie in hot chocolate)
jolene: hey ummm...
(dips cookie in joe's hot chocolate)
johnson: umm well...
(dips cookie in joe's hot chocolate... and drops some in the cup... and spills a little on the table)
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So after a lovely dinner in SF plus cap and gown pictures on the rooftop, the Hillegass Hoes all ended up looking at Berkeley from the Lawrence Hall of Science and we looked back on some random memories...
- Getting Ashely sick on her birthday
- Donald streaking down the 6th Floor
- The scary cat at the Hillegass House
- Mr. "Wooly Pussy" from Soc 1
- Racing to the white dots and walking into Soc 1 late
- Lisa burping during a very quiet moment in Soc 1
- Sneaking into the Woodfin Suites pool with Ashley, Kenny, Stratos, and Joe Fahr
- The Professor Brandes card in Anthro 3
- Norton Porn
- Special Occasion Thursdays
- Bonfire with 8th floor boys
- The toilet waterfall into the living room
After the admiring the view for a while, the adventure continued (after a quick video game break) as we headed over to the Main Stacks to watch the Naked Run...
- parking on North Side
- the flying, blinding dust
- finding scary shortcuts in between construction sites and shady buildings
- the juggler
- "stop imagining me naked!"
- the cartwheel (forever burned into jade's memory)
- handstand man
P.S. Lisa's new apartment is the shit.
I love Ashley, Jade, Kat, Lisa, and Sarah =)
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joleneruth's journal
irritated.
loved.
impressed.