A Year of Breaking Records? Maybe!

Wow! This year has got to be the year that I break records... or something. Seriously. It's only slightly over 2 weeks and here is a list of records (or something) I have broken already.

Record: 99% of assignments during all 4 years of college submitted punctually, with the remaining 1% within a day or two. And I have NEVER done any school work over the winter break (that's why it's called a "break!")
Broken: January 3, 2013. Worked on a paper for last semester (which ended mid-December) over the break, and submitted it in just before school started! Hey my prof gave me permission to do so! I still can't believe I did it though, but then I didn't really have a choice if I wanted to keep my sanity.

Record: Remember THIS post about how many dates I went on last year?!
Broken: January 5, 2013. *Gasp* yup I've already been on one date! Someone from my church congregation asked me out right after the above-mentioned post, so I thought it was kinda funny- though I'm sure there was no connection whatsoever. Food was so-so, but the company was great! Too bad we are heading in two different life directions.

Record: I DETEST moving, and try to stay in my apartment, like, forever. I've only moved temporarily once when I did my 4-month internship in DC, then upon returning to Provo, moved back into my former apartment. [My landlord didn't even check me out because after I moved back in, I found the check-out-and-cleaning sheet exactly where I left it on my desk 4 months ago.]
Broken: Moving after a semester because of circumstances out of my control (roommate getting married), and then finding an apartment and signing a lease all within 3 days. God's blessing. So everyone, I will be moving on January 21, 2013. *sigh* There goes my MLKJ holiday...

Record: I have never felt disillusioned before.
Broken: It's been going on since last semester, but I realized that I was feeling disillusioned with the academic world/ system, and what a novel experience it was, sometime either January 12 or 13, 2013. Ha ha ha yes, I know it's weird that I can pinpoint the date I realized I had this feeling, but I'm sure so can you with regards to other things. I wouldn't recommend going through this experience, but hey! I don't control the painful experiences we go through in life.

Record: I have a healthy respect for the works of most authors, especially historians. Since entering their "world" I have come to realize that historians really are very smart people. I hate criticizing their work, especially since I feel like a very tiny fish in the academic sea of whales and sharks.
Broken: January 15, 2013. I take that back. Some historians are very smart people, and then there are some that make me want to bang my head against my keyboard. I won't tell you who and what book, except to say this was a prize-winning book. And here is the quote that made me go, "WHAT THE...?! YOU ARE KIDDING ME RIGHT?! AM I READING THIS RIGHT?!"

The book is about America and Soviet (Russia) intervention in Third World nations during the Cold War. Remember, at this time America and Soviet Union were struggling for dominance, while Third World nations were struggling to gain independence from their European colonizers.

"Different from the European expansion that started in the early modern period, Moscow's and Washington's objectives were not exploitation or subjection, but control and improvement."
And later:
Taking about how America intervened when the political situations of new Third World nations seemed susceptible to radicals/ communists - "The political scientist Douglas Macdonald is therefore right when he calls US Cold War interventions 'interventions for reform.'"   

SERIOUSLY?! Look, I'm not saying America (or the Soviet Union) didn't try to spread their ideals of freedom to the Third World- it did and the world is a much better place for it. I'm saying that you can't make such sweeping statements about American imperialism, and say its intentions was mainly for "improvement" and "reform." NO imperialist ever intervenes because of such magnanimous reasons. There is always some significant level of self-interest in it.

For this book to make such an offensive statement (to me at least, because hey! I came from a former British colony), and still win a prize... only adds to my disillusionment with the system.

UPDATE: I spoke with another colleague of mine and found out that I did read it wrong. Which made me really happy- this is ANOTHER record broken: this is the first time I am happy to be wrong.

Record: I've never lost a usb drive that I was currently using. In fact, I still have my very first usb, even though it doesn't work anymore. I'm hoping I can one day retrieve all my lost content from it.
Broken: January 14 - early 2013 to January 16, 2013. I lost it, then found my usb! I had used it to print something using the public computer, and when I used the same computer again today, I found my usb on the table! The people in my office are really honest, and I'm so thankful for that.

I have to share another thing. A few weeks ago, I had the strong impression (and for those from church, from the Holy Ghost) to save all the stuff in my usb into my larger storage/ backup usb. I'm not super good at following such impressions, but since I'm very neurotic regarding my stuff, I did. And thank goodness for it! I needed to use the pre-stored/ backup-ed information yesterday. I'm tellin' ya'all- always listen to that still small voice!

Record: I haven't bought a single book for graduate school yet.
Record: I have never spent $98 on any book before.
Broken: January 16, 2013. Ding ding ding! Typing this makes me MAD because who in the world sets the price of a textbook to be $98???!!! Freaking daylight robbery.

It is for my Chinese class, which I have to take in order to get the paperwork to fulfill my language requirements for the Masters portion. It's always about paperwork, isn't it? Anyway, I checked my library and other surrounding libraries for copies of the textbook, but they didn't have an available copy, especially since the book comes with 2 DVDs that I need for my class (one library allowed the textbook to be borrowed out but not the DVDs). I checked with a bookstore for used/ sold-back copies, only to find that they didn't even carry the book. I checked Amazon as well, and while they had used textbooks, I needed it TODAY because I start my coursework tomorrow.

Therefore I had to buy a brand new copy from the Foreign Language Press of OSU, and I am pretty sure that this was the most expensive book there was there because 1) I glanced at the prices of the other books, and 2) the person who carried out my transaction felt sorry for me (she was the one who told me to check the bookstore to see if there were cheaper copies), and  tried to make me feel better by asking me check my receipt to make sure she hadn't overcharged me, and opened the door for me even though I had a free hand.

So Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, now you know why I can't save up much!