October 18, 2008
Somehow, even though I have had three days of classes and six days of break since I last checked in, life has still been crazy. We had Fall Break last week and I decided that, since I was staying on-campus, I would use the break to get ahead and push hard through my academic projects. I didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted, but Fall Break still was a far cry from a break. It definitely has turned into fall with the leaves changing and the temperatures plummeting.
The cleaning lady for our residence hall decided to decorate
The main component of Fall Break and this entire past week was community service for my Leadership Studies class. Since we need 30 hours of service, I exhausted myself and finished fifteen more hours. My main service site is working with the ESL program at Tuckahoe Middle School. I spent Monday and Tuesday in classroom work all day. It was pretty tiring to attempt to explain math problems to eight-graders who didn’t speak English. My Spanish was nowhere near as proficient as I had estimated. I also did another “site” for my Leadership Studies class. It was a police ride-along last Friday evening in the heart of downtown Richmond. Some of the incidents I encountered were: an assault at a wig store, a burglar alarm, and a drunk panhandler whom we ended up arresting. I also was driven through the largest housing project on the East Coast. It was called Gilpin Court and it was not a pleasant place. A few years ago, I wouldn’t even have been able to drive through there since people regularly shot at the police cars while they were on their rounds. Needless to say, it was a unique experience to see a completely different side of Richmond and a completely different culture. The final “site” from this week was a trip with some friends from InterVarsity to Monroe Park, a park in downtown Richmond. We talked to the homeless there for about an hour and basically just let them have someone who would listen to them.
To say that Fall Break was a complete work-a-thon would not be correct. I did attend the football game on Saturday. We were ranked 4th in the nation and played the #1 team. Even though we were ahead by eight points with three minutes left in the game, we managed to lose in regulation. They scored a touchdown, we were unable to drive and score, and then they returned our punt seventy yards for a touchdown. They did all of that in enough time to leave one second left on the clock. It was absolutely heartbreaking. We rebounded this week by beating the 10th ranked team in the nation 30-15.
Football Game vs. JMU
After the football game, I went out to eat at Carytown Burgers with three other students who were staying in Richmond for Fall Break. Carytown burgers is a quaint local restaurant and the four of us had so much fun. It was, by far, the most enjoyable time I’d had in quite some time. I didn’t even think about work and was glad to hang out with seniors that I hadn’t been able to see in a while. It was a perfect evening… until I returned to campus and fell asleep reading John Rawls’ “Justice as Fairness”.
Eating at Carytown Burgers with friends
Some of you may be wondering how it is that I am always busy. Well, it’s quite simple. Add in classes that inconveniently overlap major projects, stir in some extracurricular events, toss with organizational meetings, and then serve. It’s quite a combination. The major projects from this past week were an epideictic speech on “sincerity” for Rhetoric, a campaign ad for Campaigns 2008, and a state prediction paper for Campaigns 2008. The speech went great and everyone seemed to love it. That might be why I was accepted to be a Speech Center consultant for next year. I’ll try to post the video of my speech on this blog soon. The prediction paper, however, seemed to hate me. It simply did not want to be written. I spent approximately four hours per night for four nights on this paper. It was one of the worst cases of writer’s block that I have ever had. All I had to do was predict whether Obama or McCain would win Wisconsin and why in a 5-7 page paper. It’s now written, but far from finished and polished. On a side note, I have already voted for Wisconsin. I sent in my absentee ballot this past week.
Being a Good Citizen
Since I am Class President, my job is to plan events for the rest of the sophomore men. This past Thursday, my Cabinet and myself hosted a Rockband Tournament. It was a lot of fun for those of us who attended and it was a nice break towards the end of the week.
Playing Rockband at the Cabinet event
My friend got really into Rockband
One more fun thing occurred on Friday night. InterVarsity hosted a Scavenger Hunt and I was in charge. I made up a really fun list of things to find and then sent everyone scurrying around campus to find the items. The easiest way to tell you about it is simply to show you pictures from the event. Among the many items on the list, the groups had to:
create a human pyramid with at least six people, …
reenact a Disney scene, …
have two people kissing underneath the gazebo, …
get a random stranger’s phone number and a photo with them, …
and take a picture that best fits the prompt “I can’t believe we all fit in here”
One other item was to post a nice comment on my blog, which explains the influx of overly flattering comments on my last post. In all, it was a fun event. This week has been really busy and the next three weeks look to continue piling on the major projects, but I’m hoping for a decent break after that. I’m confident that I’m in as good of a position as I can be in, but that still doesn’t say too much.
Quote of the Week: “Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most-talented hypocrite” -Charles Spurgeon
Thought to Ponder: Why is a group of crows called a murder?
Shout Outs: Anyone who has commented on my blog
YouTube Video of the Week:
How To Ruin A Wedding: 101
