One of the things that I really appreciate about the University of Arizona is the fact that they are almost paperless. Advisers, recruiters, and professors alike tout, “Sorry, you can’t use a pen to fill out that form. We’re paperless.” Being paperless has really helped me out a lot.

Every student gets access to their very own Student Link. It has everything on there. Class registration, book buying, what forms you need to fill out and where to find them, just to name a couple things. My class schedule for this fall is on there.

Now that may look confusing, and it is. Thankfully they provide an alternate view.

Much better. Now, to find where the classes are located on campus, Google maps is integrated into the schedule.

I don’t think that it could get any easier.

Over the weekend I went shopping for supplies that I will need for my apartment this fall. I’m mostly done… except for buying perishable foods, a trash can, and cleaning supplies. Some things I didn’t have to buy. These mugs, plates, bowls, and ice cube trays are things that my family already had and didn’t use.

These bowls have different backgrounds. The top three are from when my parents were first married. I remember being 3 years old and eating Cherios out of them. As for the gray ones - my mom said that they were my dad’s when he lived in an apartment with a couple other guys (mid 1980’s). That was before I was born.

Here is one box full of stuff. To move all my stuff, I think I’ll only need 4 boxes total.

(This photo has notes.)  Packed up nicely in the box are pots and pans, a cookie sheet, a teapot, a 12 piece drinking glasses set, cooking spoons, a cheese grater, and a can opener.

It’s surprising how many things you need just for one person.  Because even for one person, you still have to have at least one of everything.

Yesterday at the City Hall where I work, I was outside taking photos of the building for a powerpoint. A black man, about 50 years old, was riding past on his bike. He rode past me, slammed on his breaks, and did a 180.

“You’re that girl from that movie, ain’t ya!”

“No, I’m not.”

“I won’t hurt you. You can tell me! You’re that girl from the movies!”

“No, I swear I’m not. I promise. I’m not Julia Styles.”

“You can tell me! It’s okay!”

So there we were, arguing about who I may or may not be in 115 degree heat. It is the middle of summer in Arizona, after all.

“I have that movie in my house! You’re in that dancing movie!”

I pulled out my driver’s license. “Look,” I said, “My name’s Alisa. I live in this town. I’ve never been in a movie before. I promise I’m not anyone famous, and you won’t want my autograph.”

“You sure you not the girl in that movie?”

“I’m sure.”

Then he rode off, muttering to himself and shaking his head. I get that a lot. People saying that I look like Julia Styles, or that I look, “Really, really familiar.” I’ve never had anyone argue with me about it though. I almost regret not agreeing with that man. Think how happy he would have been if I had said, “Yes, I’m Julia Styles. I’m visiting my cousin who lives here in Arizona for some rest between acting jobs.” I could have made his day.

I forgot to mention when I said that Mark and Brett, two lawyers that I work for, were making fun of me, they were both wearing ASU shirts.

My response:

If you have visited this site more than once, you are probably aware of the ever changing theme. Truth be told, I’m not really sure about what I’m looking for, and I have a hard time making up my mind about these types of things anyways. I’ve tried out so many themes that I’ve lost track of where I got them and why I even liked them in the first place. A word to the wise: not keeping track of these things is not good practice in life.

So today I went to Barnes & Noble and looked in the CSS Design section. There isn’t a whole lot of (Holy crap! I’m hearing gunshots! I love living in the ghetto…) good material out there. What I did find led me to the CSS Zen Garden. Tonight I looked at every single design that the Zen Garden has to offer. I gathered a lot of ideas, and now I have to sift them together to do what I want.

For a long time now I’ve known enough about CSS and HTML to let me tweak the code to do things that I want it to do. I’ve never known enough to make something, say a Wordpress theme, from scratch. I guess I’ll make that my summer goal.

To do:

• Learn more about CSS so that I can make beautiful Wordpress themes.

I’d also like to learn more about graphic design, but that’s something that I need to learn at the University.

Usually, I do all of this thinking and saying, but I don’t ever follow through with it. To get myself to follow through, I will be using this theme (I guess) until I make myself something that I am satisfied with.

Let the summer goal reaching begin!

Brett and Mark, two lawyers that I work for, were making jokes about me going to the University of Arizona.

I told them my story of how Arizona State University accepted me without knowing anything but my name, address, and major.  Mark said that’s because ASU did an extensive background check with its alumni.  Mark then asked if I think I could pass the UofA admissions test.   Sure, I said, I guess I’m a pretty good test taker.  Mark led me to a table, told me to put my hands palms down on the table, and he did the same.

“Now,” he asked, “Which hands are yours?”

I held up my hands.  “These are my hands,” I said.

“Congratulations.  You passed the test!”

I think there might be a war soon.  Never mind that he’s a lawyer and I’m an intern.

In the previous post, I had said that I was going to live in a dorm. Well, on Day 2 of orientation at The University of Arizona, I learned that the dorms were full and that I need to be looking elsewhere. The dorms filled up in record time this year.

After gathering brochures from a line of apartment representatives, a perky woman said, “Hi! Our apartments have a no party policy, 80 security cameras, and a fence with a laser beam that goes around the edge and sets off an alarm if anyone tries to hop the fence.” This sounded nice. Only university students can rent there, they provide a shuttle to and from campus, there is a pool, an exercise room, a mini-movie theater, a game room (as in PS3 and Wii), a study room, and a computer terminal.

I looked at the price, and it’s between $150 and $200 cheaper per month than the dorms– fully furnished, all utilities (including wi-fi internet) included. Also, the price of food will be a lot cheaper because it has a full kitchen.

My mom and I drove past it after orientation, and it looks like a ghetto Las Vegas hotel from the 60’s.  I’m going to get a room mate through the room mate matching service they provide.  I just hope this doesn’t end up like Circus Circus.

It is currently 1am Arizona Time, and in 4 hours I have to wake up and go to Tucson again.

Yesterday I went to Freshman Orientation at the University of Arizona. It really wasn’t all that helpful for me, but it was extremely helpful for my mom who was quite worried about me going to school down there and being kidnapped and killed by some crazy stressed out student. A cop talked to the parents and said that out of the 9 years he’s worked there, all violent crimes were alcohol related. Good thing I don’t plan on doing anything alcohol related.

The parents were also told that living on campus is much better for freshman than living off campus. Their grades are better, surprisingly, and they are much more involved.

Before yesterday, I had planned on living off campus because a series of unfortunate events made it so that I am not currently in the Honors College and therefore can’t live in the Honors Dorms. I would have liked to live with a lady I know who lives in the Tucson Foothills, a place known for the rich and snobby, about 20 minutes outside of town. During dinner my mom and I met up and talked about the things that we were taught during our separate orientation sessions. She said that she was now much more comfortable with the idea of me living in a dorm, on campus.

So when we got home I started looking into the Residency Life catalog. I hadn’t really done that before, because previously my living in a dorm was pretty much out of the question. I’m on a waiting list for a dorm room now.

How do I feel about all of this? Well, I’m excited that I’ll be able to be more involved on campus; I’m scared that I’ll get a preppy Paris Hilton wannabe as my roomie; I’m scared that I’ll get a roomie who steals my stuff; I’m nervous about the cost.

Dear Lord, the cost! I guess that I forgot to mention that it is very expensive to share a 14×11 space with another person. I’m not sure how I’m going to pay for everything after this first semester, because I don’t have a scholarship. I’ll probably have to take out a loan and be in debt my whole life and then I’ll be depressed about that and need therapy. Oh wait, scratch the therapy because I probably won’t be able to afford it.

The other day I went to a craft store in Phoenix and bought some cardstock and matching accent paper. I was really excited about the possibilities so I started making cards right away.

That perfect little Thanks button is a sticker that I bought. Actually, I bought 6 of them.

I was so proud of how they came out! But I promise that I will never be one of those scrapbooking moms who has a whole entire room devoted to making intricate little details on a huge page that only features 1 picture. That’s just more than I can handle.

The past week or so I’ve been training at my new job.  I work at the city hall in Casa Grande.  I file papers, I copy papers, I get paper cuts.  Actually, it’s a great job for someone as nosey as I am.  I bet they didn’t know that I was nosey when they hired me.

Today I was in court making copies of all the plea agreements, and I was listening to everyone’s sob stories of how the justice system isn’t fair.

“The police, yeah, they set me up.  It ain’t right!”

“Your dog jumped over your fence and almost bit someone.  How is that a set up?”

“It’s a set up, I TELL YOU!”

My favorite one is a girl charged with a DUI.

“You can accept the plea agreement if you would like to resolve this case today.”

“I want to plead not guilty.  Like Paris Hilton.”