November 9, 2007
Hello World, I am currently in the process of being kidnapped…. Well not exactly. I promised that today would be dedicated to a seven-page paper on No Child Left Behind for my Public Policy class. That plan was going great until my friends called me and invited me to go play airsoft with them at my friend’s house. They kept harassing me and finally grabbed me. That may be slightly exaggerated and I might have had some choice, but it’s the basic gist. So, I am writing this in the car on the way to play airsoft.
My friend, David, and his arsenal for airsoft
John and Alex duel in airsoft
When I last left you, the Packers were 6-1. Now, we are 7-1. Other less important events this week were quite plentiful as well. I attended Lionheart on Monday. I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew that they sang Gregorian chants, but little else. They were technically good, but I was slightly bored. I had no idea it could take someone so long to sing just one word.A fraternity threw a cultural event that I attended. It was the service fraternity and they put on a Senior Citizen’s Prom. Senior citizens from the area were brought to campus and we had lots of good food, a jazz band of Richmond professors, and a Prom King and Queen as we recreate Prom for them. The elderly had a lot of fun and I was very surprised at how nice the event looked.
The Senior Citizens’ Prom hosted by one of our fraternities
My friends and I at the Senior Citizens’ Prom
For Student Government, we had a dress down meeting, which was awesome, since we always have to wear full suits. We talked about student concerns and I introduced our first freshmen event. It will be a poker night and showing of some manly TV show. The highlight of the meeting was my receiving of an award. The secretary chooses random awards to give to people. I received the “McLovin Award” for”carrying out duties with ease and showmanship”. I didn’t really understand what it meant until I watched “Superbad” last night at the Pier for free, since it was CAB’s weekly movie screening.
I registered for my second semester classes this week. I got into all of the classes that I wanted and have quite a range of them. I will take Macroeconomics, CORE, Foundations of Sculpture, Foundations of Leadership Studies, and Calculus 2. I had not intended to take Calculus 2, but a friend of mine encouraged me to do it and I enjoyed math in high school. Another motivation was the possibility of research during the summer. There is a program called LURE which allows freshmen and sophomores to research math during the summer. I would live on campus in the apartments with my friends. Also, I plan to apply to be a tour guide during the summer for all of you who want to visit during the summer. I would go home for a while, but it appears as though my summer will be quite busy here on campus. Speaking of being a tour guide, I was able to observe several tours this week in preparation for me leading my own. I’m excited to start leading my own and hope that I can do a good job.
On Thursday night, our a cappella groups performed for a Thanksgiving benefit concert. We have four a cappella groups and they are all very good. I’m thinking about buying their CDs and have already put their next concerts on my calendar. After the concert, one of my fellow scholars that I met in Chicago asked if I wanted to go to dinner. So, I went to the Cellar for the first time. The Cellar is our on campus bar and grill. It’s a fun place and it was a blast to just share funny stories with him and enjoy a nice meal.
One of our a cappella groups, Off The Cuff, at the Thanksgiving Benefits Concert
My printer has been out of commission for two months now and I was too lazy to call Tech Support and get it fixed, since I assumed it would take weeks to fix. Anyways, I called them at 3PM on Monday afternoon. They were very nice and agreed to send me a replacement. At 10:00 AM the next morning, I received an e-mail saying that I had an overnight package waiting for me. It was the printer. In the span of 24 hours, I called them, received the replacement, and shipped them my old one. I can now live again now that I have my printer!!!In academia, I had a Spanish test that I kind of forgot to study for, readings on Karl Marx for CORE, and more of the same old in Economics. I have now worked ahead in these three classes and have focused my weekend solely on Public Policy and finishing my paper on Education. This “kidnapping” has thrown quite a kink in my plans.With a fair amount of work and social events galore, people ask when I sleep. I actually do sleep quite a bit, although unintentionally. I have a bad habit of convincing myself it’s OK to lie down on my bed and do homework. The next thing I know, I am waking up with my textbook open at 8 AM, just in time to go to class. I often just fall asleep doing homework, which happened a lot in high school too. I don’t have any caffeine from coffee or energy drinks like most people, so I need to find a way to function late at night.
My friend, Kelly, is often exhausted as well. She comes to our room for coffee.
Finally, I must comment on what I do for fun. Yes, there are a lot of social events on campus, but I have a bad habit of watching TV. Since I never can actually watch TV when the shows are on, I watch the online episodes. So, I have found new shows that I watch every week for fun. The main shows are “Aliens in America” (which is set in Wisconsin), “Phenomenon”, “Surivivor”, and “Kid Nation”. I try to catch “The Office” and “House” as often as I can. However, I never miss an episode of “The Amazing Race”. This looks like a lot of time wasted, but I don’t watch them all every week. Because they’re online, they are shorter due to the lack of commercials, but they are also available to me whenever I want to watch them.That has been my week and I hope that this weekend continues to go well with our basketball home opener tonight and me hosting a prospective student tomorrow. Wish me luck and I’ll make sure to keep you updated on the many events in my life.
Quote of the Week: “Very few burdens are heavy if everyone lifts.” –Sy Wise
Thought to Ponder: Why do we leave expensive cars in the driveway, when we keep worthless junk in the garage?
Shout Outs: Canon Tech Support for fixing my printer so fast, everyone who was on the tours that I helped give, teachers and counselors from Hudson High School
