Goodbye, Adolescence

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hey everyone! Happy Monday!

Photo taken by jrafanan.wordpress.com

For some of you, this may be your last week of freedom before going back to school. As for me, I see it as, “I can literally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I just want to get to the other side as fast as I fcking can.” This is my very last semester of college EVER, as I have no intention of pursuing any master’s degree. This is a bittersweet moment, but it’s a moment that I have waited a long ass time for. I am ready to be free from school.

I always hear a lot of mixed reactions from alumni who are living the post graduate life. Most of the time, I hear the “IT SUCKS! I MISS COLLEGE!!” reaction. I’m not going to lie, those reactions make me a little sad to hear because this is the moment when we literally leave the nest forever. We’re no longer kids. We’re now equipped with our professional degrees and we can pursue anything we want. To me, that sounds like a rockstar dream. I’m no longer tied down to papers, exams, and all nighters. I can finally be who I want to be and live the life I’ve always dreamed of.

Call me idealistic, but that’s just how I see it! And I just don’t understand why others can’t see it that way too. I feel like some people just fall into a rut after they graduate because they don’t find their career job right away. But why were you expecting to? Not to be a bitch, but stuff like that takes time. We gotta struggle a little until we find our dream job. And if you don’t know your dream job, then maybe that’s the the core issue you’re not addressing.

I’ve always been one to follow my passions. I never want to settle for second best. I’ll be honest, I have gotten some job offers in the past couple months. Job offers that would pay me a lot more than my current part-time job pays me. But I turned them down. Why? Because it’s not going to contribute to my future plans in any way. It’s a quick fix… meaning I’d only be doing the job for the money RIGHT now. But in the long run, I don’t want to value that kind of money. I want to value the money that I worked my ass off for doing something that I absolutely love. Not something that was a quick fix kind of job.

And I totally understand if you’re in a rut right now and trying to figure your life out. I’m in the same boat too, as with most seniors in college/recent grads. But the one thing I found solace in was knowing that I could pursue what I want to pursue and no one can tell me otherwise. I can start this blog, I can start a Youtube channel, and I can dance. Is it making me money? No, but it’s making me happy and as long as I’m happy, everything else will slowly fall into place. I’m a firm believer in positive thinking. If you do good things and constantly strive for good things, then good things are sure to come.

But my number one advice is don’t feel ENTITLED for good things. First of all, I hate people like that. You weren’t put on this earth to be catered to, mtherfcker, so you better be working hard like everyone else here. Like I said, struggle a little for now and eventually your dream job will find its way into your life. Just stay positive and remember some company out there wants YOU and your talent. They just haven’t met you yet.

-Alice

Asian Stereotypes: We Love Studying

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Alice Vega

Photo from chibiland.windy-goddess.net

Hey there friends! Happy TMI Tuesday.

So I was actually in the process of writing another blog post about… well… let’s keep it as a surprise for now. But I ended up saving that as a draft and writing this instead.

So let me be real. I have a midterm at 9 AM. It’s almost 3 AM and I haven’t really gotten a lot done. (Oops, sorry parentals.) I’m way too relaxed right before a big test and honestly, it’s because I HATE studying. In all my years of being a student, both high school and college, I am absolutely terrible at sitting down and memorizing shit. I’ve even fancied the thought that maybe my short attention span might be due to A.D.D, but then I realized, I don’t get THAT distracted. I’m just straight up lazy and I’d rather spend my time doing other things.

If there was a test on the entire series of Sailor Moon or Youtube Star Trivia, dear lord, I would get an A++++. I’d be that student that everyone wants to cheat off of because they bring their book to every class and actually open the book.

I titled this post “Asian Stereotypes” because this will be one of many blog posts where I address a stereotype that I definitely do not fit. I’m not sure why Asians are always perceived as smart, but hey, to me that’s a compliment! I don’t even have to do anything and I already look smarter than my non-Asian friends. But that goes out the door once you hear me open my mouth and I sprout out nonsense about the most random shit you’ll ever hear.

I thought it always sucked when my other Asian friends had parents who were super strict on their grades. I’m lucky to have parents who just trust that I’m doing well (until they read this post and see that I’m not getting anything done) and let me pursue what I want to pursue. You know what I’m talking about, right? Those parents that just expect you to be doctors or nurses or something else that’s highly regarded as a prestigious career. I for one would be so unhappy if I was forced to study something I didn’t care about. College is expensive!! Why on earth would I be spending thousands of dollars on a subject I give no fcks about? I’m happy that I got to study what interested me because it helped shape me into the person that I am today. (Which is a person that loves to talk. Can you believe there’s a major for that?!)

In all the anime that I watch, I always admired the bookworms that study hardcore and got top scores on tests. I remember when I was in 3rd grade, I was really inspired by Ami (Sailor Mercury) and one time at a sleepover when my friends and I didn’t know what to do, I pulled out a random textbook I had and said, “Hey guys! Let’s study!”

Needless to say those girls aren’t my friends anymore.

(Just kidding, we still keep in touch. Kinda.)

I hate to end this post on such a negative message that studying sucks, because in all honesty, we all do need to study in order to be good people. Even if you’re not in school, you still have to spend time working hard at your job in order to be great at it. So the moral of the story is, study hard. Read that textbook with laser focus and get good grades, kids.

Or you can be like me and blog about how much this sucks.

-Alice

Post-Grad Revelations

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hey there guys! Welcome to my humble abode.

If you know me well enough, you’ll know that I have a tendency to start multiple blogs and ultimately discontinue them (cue sad music here). But this time, things are different. This time, I’m super excited to start this new blog and really get to know my readers on a more intimate level.

Things are also different this time around because… well… I have more time on my hands now. Why, you may ask? Well, if you couldn’t tell from the freakin’ title of this post, I have semi-graduated! Yes, yes, you may now applaud. I have semi-graduated from Cal State Long Beach from the College of Liberal Arts with a B.A. in Communications Studies.

Heyyy girl heyyy! I finally did it! But wait whaa…? What do you mean semi-graduated?

Ok, so I tricked you. Kind of. I haven’t technically graduated YET but I will be finished in the fall and then I can have a real celebration of some sorts. Not that I didn’t celebrate now because I definitely made sure to celebrate the end of an era. I celebrated with a homie you may or may not know well named Jameson. He’s Irish and deadly. You should meet him sometime. I would show you photographic evidence of how much of the bottle I happened to finish on my own, but I don’t even know where that bottle is. Yeah, it was one of THOSE nights.

Ok, let’s get back on track. The title of this post is “Post-Grad Revelations” which means I need to tell you guys what revelations have occurred since I semi-graduated almost two weeks ago.

5 Things I Learned Once I Graduated College

Always have a rehearsed answer for your family when they ask you what your plan is now.
Let’s be real. There’s probably a 80% you don’t know what the hell you’re doing today, let alone the rest of your life. But to keep everyone at ease to know you’re not a complete failure, just rehearse a generic answer so that your great-great-great-great grandparents don’t start turning in their graves.
Do what you’re passionate about.
Most people tend to get extremely lost once they graduate because they feel this expectation has been set on them to immediately dive right into some successful career. But hellooo, that’s not how life works. (Unless you come from a family of money.) But for us regular folk, we need to work hard. My personal philosophy is do what you’re passionate about and do it well. You have a college degree now, you don’t need to take anyone’s shit! Just do what makes you happy and everything will fall into place.
Alcohol intake ~~needs to~~ should be less than 9000.
First of all, if you don’t get that “over 9000” reference I tend to do a lot, shame on you! I hope Frieza, Cell, and Buu all come and knock your face out.
(So yeah, it’s a DragonBall Z reference. Don’t judge me, bro.)
But anyways, if you were the type of college kid who practically came into class hungover everyday, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate what you got goin’ on. Don’t get me wrong, I love 2 for 1 drink specials more than the next person, but we’re adults now. Let’s be a little more responsible.
…. Says the girl who still watches DragonBall Z. Tee hee.
Create two accounts for all your social networks.
So this only applies to the people who are going to be working in highly respected fields. You probably don’t want your boss or coworkers to see your ratchet pictures from last weekend. But if you’re like me, you should create an alter ego for yourself, give that alter ego his/her own social network and go crazy. You see, I curse like a sailor and admit that I consume more alcohol than I should, so I let that alter ego run wild in her own Twitter account. And now her own blog. But if you’d like to meet my tamed, professional self, well… why would you? You’re no fun.
Last but not least, don’t forget that it’s all about the simple things in life.
Ok you bad ass college grad. I see you with your degree and soon-to-be fancy job. It’s cool and all that you’re on a good path, but don’t forget the little things that make you happy. If you make most of your life pertain to work, you’re going to be one cynical motherf*cker. If you’re like me, one of my favorite past times is to spend hours and hours on 9gag. Hey, what can I say… I love me my internet memes. Baby sloths FTW.

So there you have it. 5 things I’ve learned thus far. It would have been a longer list, but I just graduated 2 weeks ago so calm down. I’m practically still a fetus. This list can continue as life goes on. In fact, feel free to add your own! I wanna know what you think. Leave a comment and tell me what you have learned since you graduated from school.

That’s all I’ve got! If you somehow find me endearing, make sure to subscribe to my blog. I’ll be posting some awesome stuff sporadically whenever inspiration hits. You know how us writers do.

And now I leave you with this ridiculously brilliant meme. (I actually did LOL)