I think it was my 7th grade teacher that said you haven’t really mastered the English language, or any language for that matter, if you aren’t familiar with the idioms.

On the left is a “sans serif” shirt from Veer. I’m a big fan of Veer, but they’re really outdoing themselves with captions like “Adorn yourself in a T-shirt that says simplicity in a truly lavish way.” Clever. A couple of Christmas-es ago, I thought about buying friends their own domain, granted I’d provide them hosting. I thought it’d be perfect. This year, I’d like to think I’m become more practical. Maybe look for these shirts in your stockings. Anyway, these thoughts are totally irrelevant to my intended entry, but pictures embedded next to text makes things infinitely more interesting.

I’ve been feeling uneasy as of late. You would think that with another hurdle crossed and another goal met, I’d be more confident. Not. at. all. This isn’t an early concession note, though. I am very honored (and bewildered) about getting the columnist job. But, come on. I cannot even write a full paragraph, let alone a full sentence sometimes. (Just kidding, kind of.) Now, I will have to start being more cognizant of what I say, how I say it, and who I will be saying it to–which is UCLA’s ginormous (Made up words oftentimes work better than real words; why do you think they were made up?) undergraduate, graduate, post-doc … student body. It doesn’t help that the Daily Bruin is one of the most circulated papers in LA. William Forbes, who obviously went on to create Forbes, was a DB Editor-in-chief. 

I am in a perpetual state of awe of the company, past and present. 

I feel like Maureen Dowd as her fellow columnist, Paul Krugman, won a Nobel Prize. Does that mean I have to aim for a Pulitzer now? I may as well be a pebble next to Mount Rushmore or something. Time to up the ante. Find provocative stories. Tell them something they don’t know. THINK THINK THINK. At least I will have my humble blog to fall back on lest I don’t meet my lofty goals. Pulitzer, please pick me (in the near future).  

But… doesn’t “Oct-” mean eight? Well, in the old Roman calendar, October was the 8th month hence the Greek roots “octo” meaning “eight”. In the Gregorian Calendar, which is the system we use now, January and February were added and October retained its unfitting(ly) name. Oh October, such a rebellious month.

Anyway, October marks almost real Autumn in LA, since the climate only changes from “uncomfortably hot” to “nice & warm”. Nevertheless, I am feeling really festive this season (case in point: large, orange pumpkin masthead). Speaking of which, I’ve updated the “Themes explained” page. I thought “festina lente” was appropriate. It means “hurry slowly” and this month definitely anticipates a lot for me and the rest of the world (ie. The elections!). Btw, there was an article in the NYTimes about the revival of Latin classes in high schools. I wish I had taken latin!

I’m all settled into the apartment and am getting in school mode again. This couldn’t be a more apropos (Really? Does anyone use this 17th century word anymore?) time to take macroeconomics and global studies. While we’re on the subject of classes, I’ve forgotten how it feels to learn a new language, especially one with a different set of characters, not rooted in latin. A quite hackneyed analogy could be made to working out different muscles in your body and yadda yadda.

A lot has happened and I wouldn’t usually do these mundane “life updates” on my blog, but I do realize that sometimes I will disappear for weeks and months at a time so hopefully anyone who cares will know how things are fairing with me.

I’ve started my job at the Burkle Center (UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations) as the Multimedia Editor and couldn’t have asked for a more perfect job. The hours are flexible, I have an office, my supervisors are amazing, I get to drink tea while I work–and by work, I mean play (Okay, officially, it’s “update” or “maintain” not play… but I may as well call it that since I get a kick out of it) with the website, design graphics, and do everything in between. Now, I’m working on a newsletter… I don’t even remember the last time I designed and put out a newsletter. I think it was back in the 90s when AOL was really cool.

Anyway, I recently applied and was accepted to be a Daily Bruin Viewpoint columnist! I wish I had more to say apart from some gibberish about being ridiculously excited, but alas… WORDS FAIL ME. That, my friends (Ha ha), is irony at its finest.

Cheers to October!