Procrastination station

So some stuff has happened recently that has been pretty freakin' awesome. To put it in a list:

1). iHelp
2). Football concessions ending
3). Dropping ECE 205 and 206
4). The end of TAM 210
5). Society of Women Engineers National Conference
6). Job offers

So basically, I have more time than I expected today. Blog post? I think yes.

iHelp was pretty fun. I created an event for my sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon. They are a pretty swell bunch of young women. We made cookies for local firefighters, and both the sisters and the firefighters seemed to enjoy it. The only kind of downside to it is that I think I hit a creative slump after iHelp: I kind of stopped creating new Philanthropic events for the sorority. But my co-chair and I are ramping it up for the end of November/beginning of December with a toy drive and some caroling, so we'll see how that goes.

Football concessions for our section of the Society of Women Engineers have finally ended, so now I can smell like things other than Johnsonville Brats on Saturdays. Seriously though, it was a lot of fun working the stand; I expected it to be a lot more mind-crushingly boring, but I had a great time getting to know my fellow SWE-sters. :) The funny thing is, even though I've been working the stand for a ton of Saturdays, this last time is the first time when my roommate called me out on the brat smell. Nothing like, "Gosh, you smell like brats" to greet you after a 7-hour shift at Memorial Stadium.

Earlier this semester, after a lot of though and deliberation, I decided that 18 class hours + SWE fundraising + A.O.E. philanthropy + iEFX advising +WIMSE event planning + Tau Beta Pi initiate things = one really crazy Claire. I needed to cut something out, but what? Although I loved the lab section and learning about the course material, I realized that this semester, I could not handle Electrical and Computer Engineering 205 and 206. I loved learning about all the cool things in circuits and what they did; unfortunately, the amount of coursework and the difficulty level of it was too much for me. Although I will have to retake it next semester (looking forward to and dreading it at the same time!), I am so glad I dropped the course--I feel like I have my life and sanity back.

No more Theoretical and Applied Mathematics 210 (statics)!! Need I say more?

The SWE conference was freakin' awesome. It was in Orlando this year. I had a terrific time meeting SWE-sters from other collegiate and professional sections, as well as getting to know UIUC's officer board better. The corporate suites after the opening day of the career fair were really swanky: several of them were raffling away iPads (who cares if they can't play Flash--they're free!). Plus, I walked away with two interviews--one of which was probably the best of my life, one job offer, and a ton of corporate free stuffs :) It was nice to take all the learning experiences back to the UIUC SWE section. However, it was awfully hard to leave the sunshine and palm trees...here's to cold Chicago for next year!

Over the past few weeks, I've also accrued a few internship offers. While this is exciting, it's also kind of stressful; I feel like I'm not only weighing the options for this summer, but also for a future career. I'm a little stressed about this, to be honest.

I've been thinking a lot about what I've been doing recently. Although I love SWE, A.O.E., WIMSE, iEFX and all those other crazy acronyms that I'm involved with, I'm wondering what exactly the point is and what my motivation behind joining them is. Although I do want to improve my leadership and programming skills, as well as develop myself professionally, I'm not sure that this is exactly the path that is right for me. I've found myself thinking about Peace Corps and Teach for America recently, instead of future technologies and new entrepreneurial ventures. The desire to truly help others in desperate need has grown to a fever pitch inside me. I see myself becoming complacent with the life I live, living in the protective petri dish of privileged university life. I'm wondering if this is just a phase, or if it's something I should confront head-on. Engineering is a noble profession, but I believe I might be in it for the wrong reasons. I love math and physics, and I'd like to be at least marginally wealthy. But with all the resources that I have, why the heck am I not doing all I can to help those who need it the most? Something to ponder, for sure.