> Good times; Bad times

The Internet has changed everything: the way we shop, the way we get our news and the way we date.

While the Internet used to be considered a nerdy way of meeting people and was regarded as a way for perverts to lure hapless victims, that isn’t the case any more.

The inevitable is that when two people leave a relationship, they will eventually meet someone else. You want to be the first to move on and it is somewhat depressing when you don’t get there first.

All of those small, intimate moments that you shared with that person are gone. Someone else is now having those special moments and good times with the person who used to make you incredibly, ridiculously happy.

Someone called me a “townie” in class a few weeks ago. I was not sure if I should be offended or not.

Yes, I grew up in the 53211 zip code. My formative years were spent with Milwaukee as my playground. My friends and I would take the bus to Rochambo and spend our afternoons lunching at Beans and Barley. I would not have wanted it any other way.

When something bad happens, a nice way that we try and rationalize it is by telling ourselves that some day down the road, we will look back at this moment and laugh hysterically.

My life is full of those moments. And yes, some of the things that I have done I am now able to laugh about.

I’m going to admit something to all of you: I love school. After doing not as well as I could have in high school, I found that college agreed with me.

For the most part, I’ve done really well in school. The reason I have done so well is because I love everything about it. The whole process of going to class, taking notes and participating in class discussion is fun for me. I even like doing homework and writing papers. Don’t worry: I think I’m a nerd, too.

Here is my problem: I like a boy. I am in full-on crush mode. What started as a mild flirtation has turned into me getting full on butterflies every time I see him.

My heart starts to beat faster when I call him and I panic at his voicemail and hang up for fear of sounding like a bumbling idiot if I leave a message. Truth is, I am a bumbling idiot when it comes to these things.

While Thanksgiving should represent a time when I can enjoy my family and friends and be thankful for all of the incredible people and things in my life, it is a crazy day for me.

Perhaps other children of divorced parents can relate.

With the semester fast approaching its end, I’m sure you are all feeling the end-of-semester panic.

So much seems to be jam-packed into the last few weeks of the semester — papers, presentations and exams. This can leave college students feeling like they are about to crack under all the pressure.

I work as a receptionist at a day spa, which means I spend a lot of time face to face with people, and as people leave the spa after their massages or facials, I have to be careful about what I say during this time of the year.

I can’t say “Have a Merry Christmas” as they leave, because what if they don’t celebrate Christmas?

Gov. Jim Doyle recently signed a bill that allows for a nontraditional university student to sit on the University of Wisconsin System’s Board of Regents. This is an excellent move on the System’s part.

The Board of Regents, which is made up of 17 people who have various ties to the community, is responsible for decisions that affect state universities all over Wisconsin. With the passing of Senate Bill 121, there are now two students on the Board of Regents.

Tuition is always being raised — it seems to be a fact of life. At the beginning of each year, my tuition bill is higher than the last. The problem with this is that while I am paying more to be in college, the services that I am offered as a student keep getting cut down more and more.

Take, for instance, BOSS. I love that we have a service on campus that promotes students getting from place A to place B safely, but since it has suffered significantly from budget cuts, trying to catch a ride on BOSS has become a nightmare.

A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that parents whose children attend Hartford Union High School are able to track exactly what their children do while they are in school. This includes being able to see exactly what food their children purchased for lunch.

I am all for parents playing active roles in their children’s lives, but it seems like the ability to keep tabs on your high school students every moment of the day is going overboard. Once you reach high school, you are finally able to become more of an independent person.

After four years of college and a traumatizing search for a bathing suit last summer, I realized that I had let myself go. The drinking and Pizza Shuttle stops around bar time had caught up with me.

This isn’t a fun thing to admit, and here I am telling all of you, but the hardest part was admitting it to myself.

Large donations, new advertising slogans and the chancellor traveling to China have all been a part of a concentrated effort to increase the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s visibility and create a more positive image of our university.

While I applaud these efforts, a recent study has shown that a large amount of Wisconsin residents are really unhappy with the UW System.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is about to enforce a smoking ban in the Union. After this initial ban, smokers will be required to be at least 30 feet from any campus building while smoking, and then after that they plan on making the entire campus smoke-free.

As I stood outside with all of my smoking buddies before class, we all discussed the ban and how much it bothered us. While we can understand banning smoking from inside campus buildings makes sense, banning it outside is ridiculous. We’re outside!

The mail seems to have been my nemesis lately. First, I received a threatening letter about my October car accident from the Department of Motor Vehicles that had to be promptly taken care of, and then I received a letter from my landlord informing that I have a week to decide if I want to renew my lease, but the third letter was possibly the scariest of them all.

This letter explained that I have in fact completed all of the necessary requirements to obtain a bachelor’s degree. I am officially going to graduate from college. OMG.

There is no question about how much I love the East Side. It basically goes without saying.

I’m worried though. The East Side has an alderman who seems to have a strong dislike for most of the people in his district. Ald. Mike D’Amato doesn’t like students and this is obvious from his actions.

This is my last Good Times/Bad Times. I have had a hard time sitting down to write this because this column has become an incredibly important part of my life. This paper took a chance on me five semesters ago and I have been indebted to it ever since.

I have had so much fun doing it and it is hard for me to grasp the fact that along with my college career, my life at the Post is ending.