Opinion

The University of California system possesses one of the most diverse and unique student populations that can be found across American college campuses. Despite their many differences, there's one thing that all UC students have in common - they've had to study hard to get where they are. Since the system's inception, potential students have known that countless hours of studying, strong SAT scores, and extracurricular involvement were all required to ensure a spot at one of the premier public universities in the country.

The experience of fulfilling this week's list item can also be referred to as "the night I learned how to drink and forgot how to walk," or, more simply, "the night I turned 21."

Get up. Go to class. Listen, take notes. Stay awake. Hour's up, time for the next class. Listen, take notes. Stay awake. Time for lunch, but not too much time, you have another class. Listen, take notes. Stay awake. Give a presentation. Go home. Change clothes, go to work. Work. Change clothes, go home. Study for quiz, work on paper. Prepare for other class. Eat dinner. Last minute reading. Bed.

Besides maverick, change, terrorist, hope and plumber, there's been one word we've heard a lot of in this campaign: taxes. And that's great, 'cause I don't want to talk about the other five.

As most of you know, our university prides itself on the vast number of amazing internships it has to offer. As a student, you have the opportunity to observe doctors in the field of your choice, work with politicians at the state capital and assist scientists with groundbreaking research. Since it is my final year at UC Davis, I made the decision to take advantage of the remarkable opportunities offered to me. I went to the Internship and Career Center, talked to an adviser and searched the Aggie job link thoroughly before coming to a vital and informed decision.

Is this guy a drunken asshole or does he sincerely believe I look like a curvier Natalie Portman? Why don't I ever meet guys who try knowing my name before we grind? Is this girl going to have sex with me or what? Let's be honest, the dating market sucks. It is an inefficient, confusing and exploited market that needs to be fixed.

Dear ladies, gents and lady-gents, I'm going to assume if you read this column last week that you deduced two things. The first is that I look like a tweaker in my picture. The second is that I'm a tad lacking in the common sense department. You see, I seem to have little of it.

My name is Chrys Komodikis, and I am a student at the Graduate School of Management here on campus. I am writing to you as a passionate supporter of Proposition 1A - a vote on whether to issue a $10 billion bond to finance a modern high-speed rail system through California.

Californians have the opportunity to do something truly visionary at the ballot box on Nov. 4.

Proposition 1A authorizes the state to sell $9.95 billion in bonds to fund planning and initial construction of a high speed passenger rail system from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The measure allows the bond proceeds to supply only one-half of construction costs and requires the government to seek federal and private funds for the rest. Future bond measures would extend the network to Sacramento and San Diego.

Ah, box-checking day. Nov. 4 is lurking just around the bend and, as the leaves turn, American voters are preparing themselves to march to their polling places and take that final Pepsi challenge. Another four years are behind us and it's time again to exercise our privilege as white landowning Christians free and equal citizens to make our voices heard in the selection of our representative government. Yessir, you can positively smell the Red, White and Blue® in the air.

After all my huff and puff about world peace last week, I am incredibly discouraged to have to write this. I hope a lot of you on campus have heard of Nonie Darwish, the speaker that Davis College Republicans have booked to speak tonight. I'll keep this simple: She is an Egyptian woman who used to be Muslim, had a bad experience with Islam and now is traveling the country warning people on college campuses about Muslim Student Associations "recruiting terrorists;" jumping on the hater-bandwagon ... as I always say.

First off, I'd like to apologize for that awful picture of me that appeared last week. I asked to run the same mug from the previous year until I could take a new one, but to my surprise they dug up some random old picture that gave you an intimate look at my flaring nostrils. I'm sorry if any seizures occurred, but lo' and behold, the situation has been fixed. And look, bangs!

This summer while interning for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office in Washington, D.C. one of my main duties was answering the thousands of phone calls from people from all over the country. The phone calls ranged from a sweet-sounding old lady who assured me that global warming was just God's way of hugging us closer to a man who spent 20 minutes trying to convince me that the Soviet Union had not actually collapsed.

Last Thursday, I had the distinct pleasure of opening a copy of The California Aggie and seeing a letter to the editor from Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi commenting on my previous column.