September 27, 1999
A Sigh of Relief

MONDAY – chapter meeting
TUESDAY – Society of Women Engineers (SWE) meeting
WEDNESDAY – Career and Internship fair, SWE “Evening with Industry”
THURSDAY - ???
FRIDAY - ???

I feel much better. Last night as I was lying in bed I couldn’t sleep because the only thing I could think about was finding enough time to get everything done that I have to do. After my Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI) meeting last night I realized what a huge time commitment it was going to be and it worried me. It took me about a half-hour of insomnia to realize I had to reconsider joining SAI. The funny thing is that as soon as I made that realization I went to sleep pretty quickly! Ruthie, the pledge vice president, called me tonight for some information and it was the perfect opportunity for me to discuss my problems with her. I told her that I had decided not to join SAI for several reasons, the biggest of which being that membership deserves more time that I can give.

A weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Not that I don’t think I would have enjoyed being a sister in SAI, but I wouldn’t have had have enough time to enjoy it. The requirements of the pledges seem pretty demanding (maybe they only appear that way, but it was enough to scare me away). If I was a music major of some kind this sorority would be beneficial to me, but since I don’t know if I will ever even take another music class at the University of Florida it’s not the same. I love Alpha Chi Omega and I love being a sister here. There isn’t anything else I would rather devote my free time to and I want to be here for the important stuff this year rather than worrying about getting enough SAI interviews for the next meeting. I don’t want to miss anything thing that happens in the sorority where I have devoted the last two years and SAI would keep me from here. Tomorrow I have to tell Ammy, my SAI big sister, that I dropped out. That isn’t going to be easy. I feel really bad that I have done this because she was excited when I pledged. Now she is going to be left without a little sister, but at least I didn’t wait until later to make this decision. I think it is the right one for me.

Speaking of big sister and little sisters, yesterday was Big/Little Sister Day at Alpha Chi Omega. There were no new additions to my family (as I have been lamenting about for at least a week) but I got to walk around the house and watch the happy new members find out who their big sisters are. It was fun even though I didn’t really get to participate. I was hoping that my Guardian Angel (GA) would tell me who she is, but no such luck. For those of you who don’t know every sister has a secret GA who gives her presents and usually the sister finds out who she is at some point. I have been a sister of Alpha Chi for almost two years (I was initiated October 17, 1997) and I have no idea who my GA is! I think she graduated without telling me anything. Great. I have two cherubs, by the way (that means I am the GA for two different girls); does anyone want to guess who they are?

We just got through with our weekly chapter meeting. Since our house has been in the Alligator, the independent student newspaper, recently for alcohol violations and unregistered parties we had a long meeting. If anyone wants to hear the whole story you can email me and I’ll tell you all the details, but the pretense of the newspaper articles has made my house sound bad. We are not a bunch of drunks and we certainly don’t use drugs, as has been alleged. Please ask me questions if you have any about this situation and don’t believe everything you hear. Thanks a lot guys.

It is time for me to get back to my homework. I don’t have class tomorrow until 3 PM and that is making me feel pretty good right now. This evening has been a good time for that, I guess. My grades are the most important thing to me right now (mainly bringing up the ‘ol GPA) and I think I am on the right track so far. Except for that dynamics test last Friday – but we’re not going to talk about that! My week is going to be pretty busy, as seen above, so be on the lookout for some new entries soon.