But even so, it’s important to be optimistic this week! The holiday season is all about gratitude and elastic waistbands, and as far as I’m concerned there are at least a couple elements of student life that haven’t gone to total shit just yet. Being the glass-half-full kind of guy that I am, I’d like to kindly remind you to count our shared blessings this holiday season. (Also, you might hold off on looking at your Winter Quarter bill. Nothing like a sobering antidote to spiked eggnog!)

1. The strange house on top of the Jacobs School of Engineering: a real conversation piece!

This week, local news outlets and people in my Latin Dance class were all over the latest addition to the Stuart Art Collection: a slanted house that’s supposed to look like it’s landed atop the Jacobs School as if by hurricane. No word yet on whether the kitchen is fully stocked, but still: Let’s rejoice in the fact that this week, the conversation surrounding the university isn’t all police brutality and rising fees. We’ve got weird modern art to either bitch or brag about, and it’s here to stay.

2. “The Real World: San Diego” makes us look less boring.

I know this one’s a little dated by now, but hear me out: Not since a handful of SDSU frat boys got busted for a zillion-dollar drug ring have we unwittingly benefitted from such trashy publicity. Untold thousands of pimply tweens (and whoever else watches “The Real World”) must think “La Jolla” is synonymous with nightlife, hot tubs and terrifying displays of drunken rage. (Hey, let’s take what we can get.)

3. We have Hullabaloo.

This in itself isn’t a huge consolation, since apparently the food trucks recruited to campus for the event had no free food. Plus, whoever told me that it would coincide with a Beer Garden is a liar. But there were rides, which I think people who aren’t terrified of heights probably enjoyed. There were also performances from at least four bands I have never heard of, and that can’t be worse than one from a rising hip/hop act who’s too cool to stay on key. (Lupe Fiasco wasn’t in this year’s budget.)

4. The Cataracs came to campus.

But without Dev, which makes me a little less thankful. As such, I personally made no effort to make it out to Price Center West on Nov. 18, though at least two of my Facebook friends were pedaling tickets for dirt cheap, or demanding a refund from the box office, or something. Either way, student life isn’t dead, everyone! Enjoy the eggnog and therapy fluffies, and remember: It could probably be worse.