Random Sampling.

I spent 5 hours calling random people in hopes that at least one of them would do my survey. For 195A, our homework this week is to participate in Prof. Jackson's Survey project. I was originally really excited to do this. It was not at all what I expected.

I called about 298 people and no one wanted to do the survey! A majority of the number were disconnected. A decent amount of the numbers either kept on ringing or went to voice mail. Several of the numbers went to businesses and fax machines. These did not bother me so much because I somewhat expected it. What really made me sad were the people that were completely rude. People would not even wait for me to finish my little speech before they hung up on me. Some people yelled gibberish then hung up. It was rare to get someone that was polite about not wanting to participate. The people that were most rude were from the Silicon Valley. We started to call all over California and the people furthest were the nicest. It was really surprising.

I cannot imagine doing this on a regular basis. I know I should not take it to heart because it really is not anything personal but it just hurts my feelings a little. Also, I feel like I didn't accomplish anything. I spent 5 hours calling almost 300 people and I did not get one survey. I feel like I failed.

I knew my day was doomed to be disappointing after that earthquake this morning. I just felt like it was going to be a bad day.

Inspirational Speakers

In high school we would always have an assembly on the first day of school. The assembly consisted of the usually stuff: welcoming people back, welcoming incoming students, and explaining what's going on during the upcoming year. Another part of the assembly was an inspirational speaker. It was a man whose name I have forgotten but the first time I heard him I was blown away. He told a story about how he came from having to use food stamps to becoming successful. It was one of those stories that just completely grab your attention. It was like a Lifetime movie. I was so moved. The next year we had the same assembly with the same inspirational speaker. He told that years incoming students the exact same story. He did so every year until I graduated.

I always wondered how schools pick their inspirational speakers. I imagine a group of people who are all inspirational speakers waiting to give their speech to a group of school faculty. Then I imagine the faculty grading the speakers on thing like how much the speaker can relate to students. Or even something like how much does the story touch your heart or give you hope. Better yet, if the speaker inspires people.

It is so weird if these people really have to audition for speaking to a group of students. Also, why did they keep the same guy for so many years? I would think they would have a different person to give you a variety of stories where people made it. Not just one story that you hear over and over. A story which most likely does not apply to any of the students that attended me school. The whole idea of inspirational speakers just boggles my mind.

Sick and Tired.

Being sick is absolutely no fun. I'm missing school and work because I'm coughing uncontrollably. I haven't had real sleep for what feels like forever. I'm losing my mind! I cannot breathe, eat, or even stand. It is freaking insane. I don't think I've been this sick since I was in elementary school.

Luckily, I'm seeing signs of getting better. I was able to make it through at least three of my classes today. I did not sleep quite as much which I feel is a good sign as well. I can't wait until this sickness is completely over! I don't even know how I got sick. It pretty much hit me out of nowhere. To make matters worse I was the loneliest person ever. My mom was out of town the whole weekend, my sister was stuck at her home in San Francisco, and my boyfriend had work. Usually, having no one to pal around with does not bother me but being at home alone and sick was really depressing. I'm not sure if it is because I had to no one to take care of me in my time of need or loneliness is a lot more felt when you're sick.

Aside from all that sadness, I found one thing that absolutely boggles my mind; I'm so tired. When people would tell me their tired after recovering from a flu or cold I would always give a look of disbelief. I never thought it was possible to be tired from being sick. I definitely owe those people an apology because I now know what they mean. I am so tired! I've done nothing be stay in bed and sleep. I've basically been resting for about four days and I'm still tired! I find that completely amazing.

This girl I used to work with was totally into finding out what dreams meant. She would always tell me about the dream she had the night before and then tell me what her dream book said it meant. I always thought she was crazy to believe that a book can tell her what her dream TRULY meant. I thought this whole idea was insane! The dream book always told her it was something completely off from what her dream was. I was never really into the whole thing but I always wondered how these books came up with answers. Everyone's has a mind of their own and it works in completely different ways from one another. How can dreaming of falling mean the same thing for every single person?

Lately I have had the same dream over and over. Well, not exactly the same dream but it consisted of the same issue with the same two people. The way the issue occurred in each dream was a little different. I finally decided to look it up and see what it supposedly means. Well, I asked my friend to look it up and see what it means. I was utterly disappointed by the whole thing! What my dream (I am not going to explain my dream to avoid any drama that may come from it) meant according to this book was completely absurd. There is no truth what so ever to what this book was telling about what I feel which is causing the dream. The meanings in my friends book were either completely crazy or over general and vague.

This whole ordeal made me want to look more deeply into dream interpretations more. How these people come up with meanings and why things mean what they say. So if anyone knows anything or anyone I can refer to, please let me know! :)