Name: Dominique College Rank: Junior Major: Double major in Political Science and Geology. Hometown: Jacksonville, NC About Me: In the year 2036 I plan on running for the office of the President of the United States of America.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Posted 1 year, 8 months, 1 week, 1 day, 11 hours, 58 minutes ago

Listening to... “Pretty (Ugly Before)” by Elliott Smith

So I’ve seriously been slacking this semester as far as writing. Here it is nearly then end of October and I’m just now writing my first entry of the semester....moving right along.... The beginning of summer was great. I went to the Bahamas and had a blast!!! We snorkeled everyday (I’ve never seen so many different fish in my life), we went hiking & caving (which scared me a little to be honest, I don’t do well in small enclosed spaces that are partially filled with water), and 100 other things that were just as cool. The Geology department is offering the class again next May and I would highly recommend it. After I got back from the Bahamas my summer pretty much sucked. I didn’t get a job this summer even though I applied EVERYWHERE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. My mother wasn’t happy that I wasn’t working and she let me know EVERYDAY. But, that’s over now....This semester has been going pretty well for the most part. I’m taking a lighter course load so I can hopefully bring my gpa up somewhat, but I’m still doing more extracurricular stuff than I probably should and I have a job (working in the Leadership Center). Most of my out of class time has been spent doing SGA related stuff (I was re-elected to the Senate and appointed chair of the Academic Affairs Committee) and College Democrats stuff. College Dems has be doing a lot of work on the Heath Shuler (Congress), John Snow (State Senate), and Phil Haire (State House) campaign. We hosted “Monday Night Football with Heath Shuler” (Heath use to play for UT and the Washington Redskins) on the University Center Lawn and it was a huge success. I also had the honor of debating for the College Dems in the annual debate against the College Republicans sponsored by the Student Association of Government and Legal Affairs (S.A.G.L.A.) along with Max and Megan. I like to think that we kicked butt even though we were not actually keeping score.....Over Fall-break I went down to Sapelo Island, Georgia to study Coastal geology with 14 other people and had a great time. We studied sedimentary structures on the beach (sand dunes, ripples, runnels, etc), marsh ecology, and some of the historical features on the island. Sapelo was at one time owned by tobacco magnet R.J. Reynolds. A mansion he built still remains on the island and room are available for rent there, but we stayed at the University of Georgia’s Marine Institute.... On the campaign trail my Vice President and I have created the official “Keaton and Kramer 2036” Facebook group and began appointing people to various positions in the administration..... More later…

Monday, April 17, 2006

Posted 2 years, 2 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours, 40 minutes ago

Listening to... “Lou Reed” by The Little Willies (Norah Jones’ new band)

Easter has come and gone, and now we’re getting into the home stretch. The end is in sight but, there are about a hundred hurdles of various sizes in the way (tests, papers, and projects), along with a moat filled with crocodiles (professors) and a couple of hounds on my heels (evil deadlines) that seem to gaining ground every time I look back....but, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger or insane.... I stayed in the Whee over break because my family came up last weekend and I had a bunch of work to do so it made more sense to just stay....I didn’t get as much work done as I had wanted to but, I did get some much needed R&R. Friday was the only day I got up before 2pm and it was absolutely glorious. In between sleeping, working and/or thinking about working I managed to watch a few dvds (Pride and Prejudice is amazing! Go buy it!), catch up with some of my friends that also stayed here, and grabbed a bite to eat at Zaxby’s.... but now it’s back to work because as much as I would love to see it I know this lab report is not going to finish itself…

Monday, April 10, 2006

Posted 2 years, 2 months, 3 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

Listening to... “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston

This weekend was incredibly busy!!! Friday night was a combination of Relay For Life and an Up All Nite sponsored by Last Minute Productions, the student programming board. Relay For Life is a pretty big thing @ WCU that most student organizations get involved in either by selling things on site to fund raise or having a team walk all night. I would have to say my favorite fundraiser was the Kappa Sig’s homemade ice cream. I had about 3 cups before I cut myself off… I think Relay went really well this year compared to last year. Last year, it started raining early in the evening, and that drove a lot of people away. This year it didn’t start raining until about 3am. It started off as a few random drops and then BAM! five seconds later what felt like hail started falling, effectively soaking all of us as we franticly ran around trying to blow out the candles in the luminaries before they caught the bags on fire and turned the UC Lawn into a “Ring of Fire.” But, even with the rain we raised a lot of money and still managed to have some fun.... While all of this was going on out on the UC Lawn, Up All Nite was going on inside the UC. The Chronicles of Narnia was showing in the theater with karaoke was going on in Illusions, arts & crafts and bingo in the Grandroom, a drum circle on the second floor and enough free pizza to feed even the hungriest of college students. After a while I took a break from walking, went inside and proceeded to busted several eardrums while doing a little karaoke (I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket with a steel reinforced lid)… In addition to all of that inside there was also laser tag set up in the midst of all the Relay stuff, but some how it still went smoothly. I managed to find time to play one game of laser tag w/ my favorite underage accomplice, and between the two of us we scored 90% of our team’s points… I stayed out on the lawn until around 4-ish then went back to my room and crawled into bed and didn’t walk up until about 4 in the afternoon, which felt great… I was just starting to clear the cobwebs when I get a call from my parents. They were suppose to be sending me a package for my birthday (on Sunday) and they called to let me know that someone had signed for it and it was downstairs sitting in the kitchen, so I rush out of my room and head downstairs only to run into my parents and my sister!!! Shocked was not even the word!!! I nearly fainted and I’ve never done it before in my life! You see it’s an 8 hour drive from my house to WCU, so its not like they just hopped in the car and dropped in to say hello. The fact that they managed to keep it a secret surprises me almost as much. The only downside to their sudden arrival was the fact I had to cancel some plans I had made with some friends and the fact that they kidnapped me for two day so I didn’t get some work I needed to do done, but the work was there when I got back and my friends understood. It was good to see my parents and argue with my sister (the little brat tried to get her grubby paws on one of my shirts). We hung out, did some shopping, and stuffed ourselves silly at The Olive Garden (my favorite chain restaurant). All in all it was a pretty good weekend, even though I officially have one foot in the grave now that I am no longer a teenager ...

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Posted 2 years, 3 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 11 minutes ago

Listening to.... “How to Be Dead” by Snow Patrol

Today I officially sold my soul to Navy Federal Credit Union...that’s right I got my first personal loan. Not only have I signed my own life away but my mom’s as well, should I default on the loan for some reason or another. I have student loans (which I am not looking forward to repaying), but this is different. I’ll have to pay this one back as soon as possible (which means getting a job this summer), because the interest is killer, whereas I think I’ll be able to duck my loan officer for a good three or four years before I start paying off those student loans. With that being said, you’ve got to wonder what in the heck I would take out a loan for? A car? An apartment? A week @ The Grove Park Inn? As lovely as any of those things would be I did not just put myself $1500 in debut for them (maybe next time). No I put myself in debut for the Bahamas Class (Geol 140 San Salvador Island, Bahamas, Everyone should take it its going to be a blast!; a shameless plug for the Geology Department). I’m able to get financial aid for the class but, it’s a little bit complicated… initial because I have already used all of my financial aid package the only thing they could offer me would be loans that my parents would take out, but since I will be a junior at the end of this semester (w hoo) I am eligible for $2000 more in (deferred) student loans. But, they can’t give me the loan until after this semesters grades are posted and I need the money before then...so my parents are still going to have to get a loan but, before they have to make any payments it will be switched over to me pending grade checks (god bless the bureaucratic process ). All of that would be well and good except for two things.... the first being that in order to get financial aid for the summer I have to take AT LEAST 6 hours and the class is only 3, so I have to sign up for another class (which cost me more money) and my parent can’t give me the $500 deposit (required for all travel classes), $100 for snorkel gear, and another $100 to renew my passport, and some spending money, which leads me to my current debut ridden situation.... A lot of this probably could have been avoid if I would have gotten my FASFA before AUGUST of last year and that’s something I’ll never do again. This year I had all of my info into the Financial Aid office before March 16, so I managed to get the most grant money I could. The moral of this story is… file your financial aid AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. The only good thing I can say about the whole debacle is that the people @ the Financial Aid office have been incrediblely helpful… but on the bright side, it looks like I will be going to the Bahamas, elections are over (Congrats Cody and Max), I got invited to the Student Affairs Gala Friday night, there is a University of North Carolina Association of Student Governments (just ASG for short( meeting in Asheville this weekend, and tomorrow is Friday!!!! And not a moment too soon....

Monday, March 27, 2006

Posted 2 years, 3 months, 1 week, 1 day, 21 hours, 21 minutes ago

Listening to... “Supply & Demand” by Amos Lee

Ah! Spring has finally come to Cullowhee, and not a moment too soon in my opinion. I think I could handle the toe numbing cold here better if it snowed...being the silly flat-lander that I am, I assumed that because WCU was in the mountains that it would snow here, but because we’re down in a valley I’ve only seen snow twice in my two years here. But, Spring is here and I don’t have to worry about snow for another couple of months....no what I have to worry about right now is registering for fall classes which I am sort of excited about because with the exception of one more class the rest of my classes from here on out will be in my majors (I am a recently declared double major in Political Science and Geology)...because of the double major my course loads will be pretty heavy from now until graduation, and with the help of my two advisors (one for each major) I’ll be able to plot out a schedule that will enable me to graduate on time(I will graduate in 4 years, even if it kills me)....in addition to signing up for fall classes I thinking about signing up for a Geology class during the May Mini-mester that is going to the Bahamas!!! Financial aid will pay for the class, but I have to convince my parents to pay the $500 deposit and another $100 for snorkel equipment… I spent all weekend turning on the charm and it seems to be working, so I may be spending better part of May chillin’ (and learning of course ) in the Bahamas… wish me luck