Sunday, August 30, 2009

Just a Quickie

I seriously need to go to bed actually, but people want to read what I have to write, its science.

Went to MegaFair!!! today. Saw literally everyone I have ever met. Mike, Ben, Bree, Pat, Scotty, Matt, everyone else...it was pretty cool. I am sad to say that I got more out of it this time than I did when I went freshman year. I saw so many clubs I would have liked to sign up for. Oh well. I did get some swag though! Half a package of Chips Ahoy! cookies from Natalie! She is my new favorite. I also got this cool flashlight from Matt's table. Then I showed him how the mini screwdrivers in the handle fit into the top so you can light what you are trying to screw...if you so choose. Anyways...

More class and all that tomorrow. Going to get that letter out to you Dad, so you should have it by the 4th, whenever that is.

It was an interesting weekend. Too bad you wern't here to see first hand.

Updates and Issues

So it's become apparent that I might not blog as much during the year as I once anticipated. On the list for today we've got: grocery shopping, homework, MegaFair (maybe I'll make off with some t-shirts?), and getting my room finally clean.

I have a new "job" this semester! I'm working as a "staff photographer" for the Campus section of the Miami Student. I'm pretty excited and hopefully I don't screw up too bad. There's one other guy who alternates with me, so keep an eye on the Friday edition!

I'd like to clear up a little bit of controversy that I encountered the other night. And if you check Facebook as religiously as others I know, you probably saw it too. I was making pizza with Pat, Ben, and Scotty--the guys I live with in my apartment. I set my Facebook status to something along the lines of "pizza, beer, and the guys." No harm done? Not. A comment-fest ensues with Eric and Matt leading the charge. (The guys of apt212). Apparently, I'm not allowed to have roommate bonding with my new apartment-mates without inviting the old ones. So I figure last night that I should see the rest of apt212, which I did. Visited Mike, then eventually met up with Matt Forrest, and Eric arrived a little later. It would've been great except that Matt kept giving me shit the whole time. There was definitely tension. And we may have pulled each other's hair. Then I get a text message later saying he just misses me. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Oh well, things'll work out eventually. For now, I'm gonna get ready to do that whole MegaFair thing. If you're going to be there, stop by the (hold judgment) Miami Chemical Society (judge away) table.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

History Has Been Made

So i was sitting in class this morning and actually awake, unlike monday, when the prof suggested that we read the first two section of the textbook. I'm like oh great I loves textbook reading. Then it hit me...I already read the first 4 section of the book! I am ahead! Maybe I will pass all my classes this semester afterall. I think this is a good sign.

I realize 'afterall' is not a real word, i just felt like using it.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

This semester will be ridiculous

So I have officially completed two days of senior year (WTF!!!!) and realized that I will basically live in a hole of books all semester. I know I know I should be working now but I had to take a break to let you all know.
Italian 301 - How do you even say that!?!?! I've been reading it forever and will admit to be completely confused.
Geography Senior Seminar (GEO 491) - I want to cry
Advanced GIS (GEO 442)- Ummmmm wow I forgot a lot more than I thought
International Business (BUS 371)- well the profs mom died so I have no gauge for now (consider it a mixed blessing)
Urban Geography (GEO 454)- will be amazing, with my favorite prof but a whole lot of work.
All in all that equal 3 semester long research projects on who knows what...ekkkkkk
Oh and add in everything I will be involved in, well don't expect to see a whole lot of me this semester. This is a statement of fact, not a complaint. I love what I'm studying and what I do around campus so it will be worth it for me, just know I wont be around as often as I would like.
I'm sorry, please forgive me?
I teach class in the morning, it should be interesting. Updates soon.
PEACE OUT!
(I added course numbers to make life seem more intense)

Monday, August 24, 2009

What a Day!

First day of our last year of undergrad. Fun! Some highlights include:

-A great walk to class with Scotty, Pat, Ben, and Alex. We looked like old freshmen, minus the lanyard 'round the neck. I still rock the pocket lanyard.

-I saw a "little person" driving a car. It made my morning.

-Dr. Tomoyashu played a clip of Sarah Palin being dumb in regard to fruit fly research in France.

-I saw a couple canoodling on academic quad after having a great lunch with Pat. (I had lunch with Pat, not the canoodlers)

-Saw some freshwomen joggers nearly get hit by an SUV on my way home after class. I chuckled a bit to myself, and the women driving the SUV shook her head in dispair and gave me that "yeah, they'll learn" look. We had a moment through safety glass...it was something.

-Alex made chicken pesto pasta. It was excellent, and it damn well ought to be, since she didn't have a single class today!

-I went running, and felt really good. I blame the copious amounts of pasta I've consumed lately. Stopped to say hi to Matt and Nathan while I was running down Spring. They were painting a beer pong table.

All in all, a good day. I have a biochem lab tomorrow and I'm not sure how much pre-lab I'm supposed to do. The instructor was a little scattered completely confused about what should be done for this week, all I know is that it's "welcome to your last 'welcome to the library' day" tomorrow. Should be fun!

Is It Over Yet? (sob)

This is the most intimidating first day of class ever. I will fill you in on what I have experienced later.

...

Since you have been waiting so patiently, here it is. While my lovely girlfriend was lamenting having to dance both the male and female parts in her social dance class (grandpa Ray would be so proud), I was being reminded over and over how little I actually retain from year to year. I wonder what I am going to end up having for dinner? At 8 in the morning, being told that you need to remember how to do Eigen value problems by a small Indian man (forehead, not feather) is enough to make you cry. Then at ten I learned that complex numbers will be important in my circuits class. For all of you who forgot high school math already, complex numbers are also known as imaginary and the teaching of them stops at "they exist" for most people.

Two of my classes handed out review sheets to exactly quantify how much had leaked out of our heads. A quick survey revealed the answer to be "more than we thought was supposed to go in in the first place." I think the saddest moment of the day came when I realized that one of the classes I felt least dumb in was the one that continued off of a class I got a D in.

A good note is that I am actually excited for aspects of three of my 5 classes. The two in the morning are just going to suck entirely. Also, since it is the first week, two of my labs are not meeting tomorrow so I don't have anything until 2:15 unless I want to get up at 11 and learn what I need to know about imaginary numbers.

OH! I picked up an intramural sign up sheet so if anyone wants to be on my volleyball team they best tell me soon and start practicing. Mediocrity will not be tolerated. And go to the rec and check out the awesome action shots taken by our very own Matt Smola, featuring Bree Erwin and myself. I hear we look pretty good. But seriously, I already have 3 people who want to play. Sand is only 4v4 so if we get enough we will make 2 teams. Let me know.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Vanvertisements and Refrigerattitude!

My room is still a mess. A big one.

In other news, living with Pat, Ben, and Scotty has been great these first few days. We'll see what happens when classes start. I imagine doing work will suck. And blog posting may decrease proportionately with the number of pending tests and projects.

Eric's party was excellent. Perfect mix of people in a great space. Eric's house is quaint and starkly decorated (as in not decorated), but still nice. The basement is a creepfest...I'll let Eric elaborate because I wasn't down there too long before I decided I never wanted to be there again. Ever.

Today was the Heritage Commons LLC kickoff featuring several things. First, an incredibly awkward RA trying to act cool in the face of upperclassmen, one of which he has a history of puking on, [Edit: Apparently, he's just like that] followed by a cookout with a bunch of people who didn't seem to be trying to hard to meet other people. I'd at least like to know who lives on my floor. I seem to know a bunch already. The cookout was fun, but I waited in line for a long time for food, but whatever, it was free!

The title of this post has no relevance to anything I just wrote about, so here's the skinny: We saw an advertisement for "Birdwatcher's Digest" during move-in weekend, and Ben dubbed it a silly "Vanvertisement." Tonight, Scotty brought a ton of groceries back, and I rearranged the refrigerator so as to fit them all effectively. He thanked me for my "refrigerattitude." Time to clean my room--class starts tomorrow!

Your Party Got Owned!

Two nights ago, as we were walking from place to place, Andy suggested that we should have the people come to us soon, for all the walking was getting old. Yesterday afternoon around 4:30 or so we discussed this idea further and decided that it was a good day for a gathering. I sent out a text (sorry if you didn't make the text roster, Verizon only allows me to send mass texts to 10 people), Andy called some people, there was a little interest, things were looking good.

A break in the action followed where we did nothing. I put a lock on "my" bike and rode it around town a bit. Invited some people in person who will not be invited to future parties and came home to play internet games for several hours. Internet gaming time was interrupted by a trip to the old apartment to acquire surfaces. AND I FOUND MY DEWEY'S PIZZA GLASS THERE!!! That made my day. I immediately came home, washed it, and started drinking (out of it). I warmed up Olive Garden leftovers for dinner. Courtney came over to eat. I confirmed that a party was happening. Courtney called a few more friends. Andy ate the breadstick that was for Nicole. And we all waited for the fun to begin.

During this time we came up with the back-up plan that if no one came to our house, we would go to Matt's, drink as much as we could, and break things. I feel a house rivalry coming on.

As it turned out, all the people I wanted to come did and it was a great time.

We wanted to play beer pong, for everyone loves a little alcoholic competition, but Andy and me do not own a table of proper proportions. Thinking quickly I recalled there being some plywood in the creepy basement (i will blog about that more later). It was kind of dirty and only about half as wide as regulation, but it was the perfect length. The thin aspect made it much easier to carry up the stairs. We set it on a card table and the day was saved.

In the end it was unanimously voted that our party rocked and we should have another one in two weeks when Andy turns 21. That too will be off the chain.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

You're blowing up a pool wearing a rain coat?

I'm sitting outside the girls across the street are blowing up a kiddy pool...with rain coats on...ummmm hmmmmm We stuck out again because we didn't have a bike pump or hose...fail on TKD
We need to finish putting the house together today. It is a slow process that we hope to finish today!
I have not written in a while but it has been a very busy week wrapping up work, touring to groups of 50 (thanks to everyone who was "too busy" to work) and trying to finally get moved into the house. Pair that with everyone coming back to Oxford at the same time and as you can imagine nothing gets done. :-(
But do not worry I am alive and well...I really need to buy some text books. We still have a lot of furniture to get rid of...any takers?
Peace Out!

Would You Like A Hand Massage?

So it's been awhile. Sorry to the avid readers. It's also 7:04 in the morning on Saturday. Ben and I were gonna go to the rec, but we got there at 6:45ish and they were closed. Til 8:00.

I realize the last post was made last Tuesday, nearly a week ago. That's a little pathetic, given our previous streaks of several posts within one day. I don't want to write a book, but here are some of my highlights from the past few days.

-Drove home to get things for school. Also got a haircut from a strange place since the normal lady that I've gone to since birth isn't working currently. Let "strange place" = "day spa," and you can imagine how fish-out-of-water I felt. No, I would not like a hand massage while you wash my hair (?!)

-Moved into the new apartment. For future reference, my roommates are Scott, Pat, and Ben. Ben is Mike's brother. Pat's visited a few times this summer. I don't know if Scotty's been referenced before. We're working on a name for the apartment.

-We participated in the harassment of freshmen as they marched to convocation. Beer at 8:30 in the morning is about as good as it sounds, but since they thought they'd dodge the party on Tallawanda by marching through North Quad, we brought the party to them. Scotty, Pat and I step into the curb lawn to go find Mike (an RA in Emerson!) just as everyone else seems to get the same idea. My point: We looked like we were leading a mob across the street. I got a Class of 2013 (?!) pennant from two of the freshmen. They're gonna wish they had those later in life.

-Matt Nathanson came to campus last night for a concert. It was really enjoyable and I had more fun than I expected, then made a mini tour-de-parties, stopping at Slow Idaho, Kristel's, and then back to Slow Idaho before a jaunt uptown for bagels. Ben went with me and met some of my summer Tour Guide friends. I saw Matt for the first time a few days, and Eric too!

That's all for now, but I imagine there'll be more coming in the next few days. My room is currently a mess, so that's priority number one until it's finished. If you're on Skype, look me up!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I don't Have Any Cups

Neither does Courtney

But if you have any that you are not using let me know. Same goes with outdoor furniture. Apparently the pile in front of Matt's house is not up for grabs.

I'm pretty sure you could die in my room

I moved into my house that I am going to be living in for the semester over the weekend. Its nice, has high ceilings, a dishwasher, new microwave, washer and dryer, counter tops, and a really nice bathroom. Still waiting on the first visitors though.

Anyway, downstairs is rather cool most of the time, like bearable. Upstairs is like a sauna only not luxurious. I have yet to move my mattress upstairs and sleep in my living room. My desk is also still in the living room. Its heavy and I would just break things if I tried to move it myself. The only thing I do upstairs is get clothes and take cold showers. Its times like these I wish I was rich. The house has central air and my room has a window unit, so I could make the place cold, but it just costs too dang much.

I just glanced around the library (it took me three tries to spell around correctly) and I am pretty sure computers are killing posture. Every person in sight is hunched over looking at the screen.

Marines ROTC has been eating at Martin this week. They are so intense about everything. I like food too much to be in ROTC. They sit down and eat in silence excepting the officers yelling at the new recruits. I would be like "Man alive! This chicken is DElicious!" and then an angry sergeant would kill me.

Come visit me.

Oh, I was recently quite bored and counted how many posts I have made. Out of the 137 posts on this blog, 54 are mine. My math is a little rusty, but I am pretty sure that is over my rightful quarter.

Monday, August 17, 2009

MatsMatsMats!

The rec opened up again this morning. It'd been closed for two weeks for annual maintenance or something. All I noticed today was that the pool was drained completely. Good thing I gave up my swimming kick a couple months ago.

It was an interesting and heartfelt weekend for the men of apt212. On Saturday, Eric, Matt & I packed up all our last tidbits and left apt212 forever. (I also cleaned the toilet nearly barehanded...there were bits o' poo...eck.)I don't miss it all that much, but I will miss seeing everyone so often. I'll simply have to visit a lot!

In other news this weekend, I was attacked by red ants, took a spiderweb to the face, played some sand volleyball sans Eric (he wasn't happy to hear this), and essentially dine-'n-dashed an impromptu potluck dinner at Laura Flamm's.

I'm going home tomorrow for the 5th time this year, and it's going to be a whirlwind of unpacking, sorting, repacking, shopping, birthday celebrating, friend visiting, and driving back. But Scotty and Pat move/stowaway on Wednesday, and I'm moving in Thursday! It'll be good to see everyone again. More on that to come, obvi. Yeah, you read that right.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

I keep forgetting to tell everyone about the most hideous shirt I have ever seen in church. I will tell you now. To start, they are bright teal. They have the cut of Hawaiian shirts, never tucked in. I am using the plural because a whole family wears these shirts. To top off the horror, the pattern is a series of ovals about a foot high with Obama in the middle. This shirt is gross anywhere, and highly out of place at a church service. What would people say if ANYONE wore a McCain shirt like that?

Not that the parishioners of St. Marys have the best church fashion sense. There is the old guy who wears the cut off white T-shirt every week. And by old I mean 70 if a day, flabby arm skin, white pit hair poking out of the arm hole. Or the girl with the booty shorts. Or the dude who wore a cut-off leather jacket with sunglasses inside. He was pretty cool.

I don't like Obama. If you do, whatever, but this is what the Canadians think and they don't even live here. I especially like the opening quote.

Coming back to Oxford tonight. Can't wait for the first backyard party!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Ok I honestly do love you all

So it has been a hectic few days with moving out of the apartment and into the house and here and there and getting everything done. Needless to say I did not get to post. Though I do have Internet where I live - but no computer because it's being repaired - fail.

In sadder news almost all of my stuff as been removed from Apt. 212 and Eric is the last one remaining there :-( Though we get to have a lot of fun cleaning it the next two days! YEAH!

I am barely all settled into the TKD house and by that I mean not at all though we do have an awesome new house sign that I touched up and now you can finally read it. I'll take pictures, I'll post them so you can see it in all of it's glory.

Eric's last post is debatable, and Matt does not know what he is talking about it was dark there was no way of seeing the tears in my eyes knowing if I was teary eyed.

On another note everyone is starting to come back to campus! YEAH!!!! Though I am very defensive of Oxford and do not want people flooding back into the city we have had all to all selves all summer it will be awesome to see everyone again! I am really excited.
We got one last weekend aka tonight and tomorrow to truly enjoy the Oxford summer (aka get drunk :-)! ) and then everything winds down. I will be sad to see summer go, not going to lie but it will be exciting nerve-wrecking terrifying WTF an adventure to start of senior year.

I propose we keep the blog going if our hundreds of devoted readers want to see what ridiculous shit we get ourselves into over the next year then I say we keep going! Let me know if you're with me!

PEACE OUT!

August 14 1848Oregon Territory is organized by Act of U.S. Congress. - OREGON TRAIL!!!! AHHHHHHHH! Salem, Oregon was also the last reported sighting of Carmen Sandiego. Don't you think I have given up on this one! More information to come as the story progresses!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I swear I am a Happy Person

I have been told that my posts have been angry lately. I find it disturbing that the people who made these statements do not know me well enough to realize that that is how I am sometimes. Either that or they have never had their most useful mode of transportation stolen.

Today I set up utilities for the new house. Water sewage and refuse was an easy quick stop by the municipal building. Oxford knows its place as a college town and has everything nicely bundled together. Gas was a depressing jaunt to the outskirts of town, where I had to pay a 132 dollar deposit. I somehow feel like I was being ripped off, even though I will be getting that money back someday.

Work was okay. Linda Jones keeps trying to make me feel bad about working at Harris this semester. I had no idea these halls were such bitter rivals...either that or I didn't realize how much everyone really loves me.

Bree, you are an eyehole

I was once taught a game wherein you drive around a town or suburb that has sidewalks. When you pass a person you yell out the window "Hey! Its you!" It works even better if you have a sunroof or even better the fully open roof of the new Jeep Liberty. Just hope you don't run into fireworks traffic and the people walking catch up to you. Its awkward.

Is that nice enough? Not too much anger here? Geeze, this blog is not supposed to be analyzed to find the underlying feelings. Its just a spontaneous expulsion of ideas onto a virtual page.

I am also sad the summer is over. It hurts every time I come home and the place is empty. I hope they all turn their keys and passes in so we don't get charged. Bree, make sure Mike has done this please.

Hey! Its you!

Change of Pace

I will never spend another night sleeping in apt212. Wednesday evening, I moved the futon which had been my bed, and most of my worldly possessions out of 212 and into Matt's house, "Tappa Kegga Day." It is definitely the end of summer.

On a happier note, a lot of my friends are back in town for RA training, so although I don't see them very often or all the time, it's good to run into them when I do.

I saw Alex last night! She'd been working in DC as an intern for the Library of Congress and we met her in Colerain for a late dinner (I had cheesecake). Scotty, Sam, and Nick were there too. You probably have no idea who those people are. Ask me about it sometime.

After we moved Matt's stuff and my stuff from apt212 to TKD, we "hung out" with Matt's mom. It was fun--she brought really good "oar-dervs" (I can't spell French, ok?), and beer! Sadly, a 95-lb. 45-year-old (I get my stats from Matt) beat me and Audree in beer pong...but Matt bitch-cup'd her in Cluster/Boom/You Got Got.

Last night during one of what have now become almost "traditional" post-drinking pre-bedtime talks, I asked Matt what will become of the blog. He got all teary-eyed and said he thought I was rushing into the end of the summer that he didn't want to think about it. That being said, we haven't really thought about what's gonna happen with the blog once summer is over. I guess stay tuned?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

You're An Eyehole

I suppose now is the time to back track to the copious amounts of fun I had while at home last week.

Lets see...

Courtney came up, that was kind of fun. We went to BWs with my friend Emily. I love that place so much. Everything is so good. And the one we went to gives you 2 cups of ranch FOR FREE!!! I got 4. It was awesome.

Then we went home and played five dollars. I hope most of you know how that works. One person bats, everyone else is in the yard catching, its pretty simple. Well Courtney likes to let the ball hit her and now has a bruise on her wrist and her hip. We tried to tell her to use the glove to catch the ball but to no avail. I don't have a whole lot of room to talk though, but I was using a glove that is essentially a piece of leather with no padding. Plus our yard is scary. Only the ignorant get in front of a ball once it hits the ground.

The next day I don't know what we did. Not much. That night we went to my friend Tony's house. He is the first of my high school friends to meet Courtney. It was pretty fun, played some ping-pong, played some pool, good times.

CEDAR POINT!!! That's where we were Friday. Millennium Force is so fast. Best coaster in the world. Argue all you want. Rode Magnum three times cause its its birthday. Raptor twice, too bad there was a chotch telling people where to ride and we happened to get put towards the back both times. I wanted to ride front row. It is so much better. Dude had stupid hair too. I hate him.

Sat around Saturday

Lake on Sunday! Went out on the boat twice. Swam a lot. Almost drowned once. Too bad the boat was full one of the times they took it out so me, Katelyn, and Joe had to stay at the cottage and watch Stick It. Gross.

Check it out, three posts in a row by me...again.

You're an eyehole

People are Idiots

Earlier I watched a lady put spray sunscreen on a child (possibly a brother, she didn't look that old, but you never know). She took at least 2 minutes taking care to cover every inch of him. As soon as she was done he jumped in the pool. I hope they both get burned.

On my drive down yesterday, three people left their turn signals on. I don't mean like they changed lanes and left it on for a few extra blinks. I am talking like it was on when I saw them in the distance, as I caught up to them, and as I continued on past them. One person in particular even changed lanes the opposite way and STILL had the other blinker on. Pretty sure everyone around them thought they were morons. Cause they are.

I don't think mandolin music is a must have M of summer

Monday, August 10, 2009

Today sucks

I drove 3 hours in the searing heat.

I have to work from 5:30-8 tonight

My bike is gone

My class schedule is messed up

Century 21 still won't return my calls

I am kinda pissed right now.

Oh, and my computer still takes three tries to start up, awesome

Thursday, August 6, 2009

True Life: I am an Eagle Scout

So we went cabrewing last weekend, as roughly outlined in Matt's last post. In my last post, I said I'd provide all the nutty details later. The time has come.

10:30AM--CVS PARKING LOT
Some tour guides have assembled as Matt and I walk up from apt212. We head inside to buy Dr. Pepper, since Mr. Boston needs a friend. Matt also bought allergy medicine. We load up the cheap styrofoam (yay Earth!) coolers with the liquid consumables people have brought, and after waiting what seemed like forever (in actuality, 10-15 minutes), Callen, Kristel and Kristen (the two of which shall be abbreviated Kristel/n) show up. Callen looked baller and put Kristel/n to shame with his limitless towel-based headwear. With everyone present, we depart CVS with the simple directions to get to Brookville.

11:10--SOMEWHERE NEAR THE OHIO/INDIANA BORDER
We see the directions forget a small detail, and face a decision to turn left or right, even though the street isn't marked as it should've been at all. We make the wise choice to turn left, and then intuition tells us to turn another random street. It pays off and we find where we're supposed to go.

11:20--WHITEWATER CANOEING
We pull in the gravel parking lot and see several signs which read "Parkin" "Campin" and "Johns," all shaped like arrows pointing to parking lots (glorified fields), campgrounds, and restrooms (didn't explore these). We get in line to rent what we'd hoped would be rafts, and wait for everyone else to show up. The line was long and before we got to the front, we were a complete group. We were then told that they were out of rafts. At this point Kristen begins complaining how we should've left sooner/canoes suck/I can't canoe/etc. We ignore her panic and get 6 canoes for 12 people. I'd like to note I was somewhat hesitant in putting my information down as the contact person, as I would've likely been stuck with the $1,200 cost quoted for a lost canoe.

12:00-4:30--WHITEWATER RIVER
We're getting into our canoes, and Callen, my canoe partner, fell in. In an effort to keep his shoes (who wears shoes?) dry, he laid in the river with his feet over the side and in the canoe. It was a sight. I have to admit I also doubted his canoing abilities. He turned out to be a great canoe partner.

A little ways down the river and it's clear that we're not good at staying together as a group. We pull over, distribute beer, and pair up, so that two canoes are tied together with the life jackets we were no longer wearing (the river was really shallow and yes it only takes an inch to drown but deal with it). Callen, Brittney, Avery and I were together. Avery and I enjoyed watching other canoes zig-zag down the river since they had no idea how to steer. Not to name names, but it was Kristl/n and Rachel/Jen. The entire time we were on the water my history as an Eagle Scout was brought up, and not always in the reverent way it deserves. It's ok though, because some of the mockers were thanking me later when I helped steer them down the river.

The group is doing well, and we played in the current and skipped rocks when we took a break, but shortly thereafter, it happened. Tied to Jen and Rachel's canoe, Kristel/n's canoe is rocked into the water when their partner canoe does something silly. There are few, if any witnesses other than the victims themselves. Bottom line, canoes were full of water, the river was full of beer, and my small flotilla of Callen, Brittney, Avery and I stopped to help. By "stopped to help," I mean that Brittney and Avery (but mostly Brittney) clung to a dead tree near the shore while I caught the paddles floating downstream of the wreck. I started walking upstream against the current so that they could have paddles. I later found a small piece of rust in my heel from my 50 yard trek upstream. Thanks ladies. When I reach their canoes, the Eagle Scout comments rage on and I help them get set to go again.

Things are scooting along down the river, although the pair of canoes holding Matt, Audrey, Laura and Kahlil have abandoned us. And, to their disappointment, the beer. We set off thinking we'll see them "just around the riverbend," but no. They're probably 30 minutes down stream as we're leaving our dead tree. Brittney's a beast. So things are going alright, and then Kristel/n, who seperated from their buddies, managed to flip. Again. Seeing that they weren't too terribly screwed, we left them, expecting them to paddle and catch up. That didn't happen, and we didn't see them until nearly an hour or more later.

In the meantime, we caught up with the rest of our group who had abandoned us. They were fairly loud (read: drunk) at this point, and we were happy to see them because they had food, while they were happy to see us because we had booze. It was at this point I realized I was missing the true meaning of cabrewing: the brew. I tell Avery, who's next to me, that I'm not in the right mindset for this, so she makes me chug Mr. Boston and Dr. Pepper, who it turns out are rather good friends.

With a better mental outlook, we continue on and eventually stop to wait for Kristel/n. I skip some rocks, recall how CALLEN FELL IN, and eventually Kristel/n show up. They're acting rather forlorn and need to stop to pee. They do so, and Callen and I pair up with them to make sure they get back ok. They did. Eagle Scout comments abounded.

Like Matt said, we took a janky (thanks to Nathan for the adjective) bus back to where we started. And from there, the night continued.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Sorry for Partying or "Callen Fell In!"

No wait I'm not and that also slightly contributes to the lack of blog posts. However, I was talking to my mom and despite all our fun this summer I was the only one in my class I'm taking now to get an A on the research paper and I just got an A on my second exam so I think I'm doing ok. Now I only have one final to make it through and success, so keep on chugging! (Sorry Mom)

So where to begin so much has happened since Thursday. I got into my house for next year on Friday and then followed that by a fun night of a tour guide pot luck. Check out Matt's post he provides vivid ok detail through the blur of the beverages that were provided that night.

Saturday it was time for what we had been waiting ages for...TOURGUIDE CABREWING and it was very cafun! We got to Podunk, IN (better known as Brookville) and set out for a fun day of canoes and drinks. After fighting through the line and one pissed off women who thought we cut (we did not!) We made our canoes to the water - Laura and I also witnessed this girl eat a massive sub and made countless sexual innuendos ("Do you have a bag big enough for that?").
We boarded our Canoes, my capartner was Audree and off we set - sadly we realized we had very little beer in our canoe (Oh yeah! Callen fell in while trying to get in his canoe) and so we were made to stop and gather more from the other canoes. At this point we decided to tie two canoes together - we choose Laura and Kahlil because they went fast like we did. And off we went slowly moving down the river, drinking and avoiding getting stranded on rocks. After a rather uneventful few seconds we stopped at a rocky island and decided a shot gunning was in order - the champ that Kristel is told us we all suck. The we played in the current and got raped by this log that hid under the water and comes out of nowhere as the current pulls you along. Once Laura was able to stop being bladder shy and pee we were off again. Naturally our two canoes was hours ahead of everyone.

We tried unsuccessfully to commandeer several rafts, saw a pirate flag, begged for liquid and sang several rounds of "Just around the river bend." However, luckily because we were moving so fast the 4 of us saw a rope swing and got to stop and have fun. We had to do this shady shimmy up some roots to an over crop and climb a tree and swing into the river (and once done avoid landing in a canoe). Laura did great and then Kahlil freaked out once he got up there and we had to convince him to do it. He finally did and he instantly wanted to do it again (we didn't), I enjoyed it was well and then back to canoeing. We floated on and finally Jen and Rachel caught up to us, followed soon by Matt, Callen, Avery and Brittney. Apperantly because we were going so fast we missed the part where Kristel and Kristen flipped over (TWICE!) and lost all most of our beer - Kristel also lost her bathing suit bottom - missed that too. So we were required to pull over and wait for them to catch up. We did and successfully made it to the end (even if Jen had to get out and pee 50 some times). We then jumped on a janky bus and headed back to the cars (Yes we brought DDs don't worry).

The ride home was uneventful, we made it back around 6 and Matt and I decided we needed to keep going otherwise we would crash and lose steam. So we showered (separately) and rallied. And Pat came too! And Courtney! So we went to my house for next year and Austin and Nathan were here too! Matt and I worked at convincing demanding that as many tour guides as possible to join us, some like Kristel had no choice because she was locked out HA. Did I mention Callen fell in? Anyways, so several rounds of beer pong, cluster and letting Cooper out (Bree made us watch her roommates rat like dog) we headed uptown and went to skippers? Yeah! That's where I ran into Stephen (sophomore year roommate) and much reuniting and shots we had by all. Apperantly I got really tiered really fast and without saying a word got up left and walked home (sorry everyone I'm not sure of my reasoning either.) I was more surprised when I woke up and remembered that upon taking Cooper out I accidentally walked to my apartment instead of Bree's and decided he could just sleep in my room - that was a surprise to find a dog in my bed in the morning (and I still had a pink headband on - hmmmm)

All in all a pretty awesome amazing outstanding KristelChrissyOrmond type weekend.

Peace Out!

Home For Cedar Point

I came home from a night out and found blood on my shirt and shorts. Matt said I killed a guy. I'm hoping not.

A recent dinner conversation:

Mom: I stopped reading your blog, I don't think it is mom rated.
Me: So I can stop censoring it?
Mom: No, your father still reads it and he repeats everything he reads.
Dad: Its off the chain!

It was raining really hard when I left Oxford yesterday. I ran from the door of my apartment to my car and back and I was soaked.

There are 11 people here for lunch. My house is nuts.

Yeah, so it was a pretty gnarly storm. At one point I was driving down the road and could feel the thunder. Thunder is one of those things that you don't really think about much. Some people are afraid of it, others think it is angels bowling. But really, how cool is it that air rushing into the space vacated by electricity can cause a shock wave that shakes buildings miles away? I think its pretty bomb. Thunder is generally stupid phat.

Its rather upsetting to me that there are 4 contributors to this publication and I have three posts in a row. Get your asses in gear boys.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Hulu at Shrives

That's what I'm doing. Watching Royal Pains to be specific. On my second episode. Still have an hour till I need to be back at work. Maybe I will snag some food before my shift starts. I am getting hungry. Man, watching TV on the internet really drains the battery. Since I started sitting here I am getting these weird pains in my stomach, they are putting a serious damper on my afternoon. Maybe I need to eat.

Its my brother's birthday. Everyone say Happy Birthday Adam. Hope its off the chain.

I got to Work an Hour Early So You Get This

I wish they would tell me when they serve meals. The schedule says 7-10, turns out that means 8. I am going to clock in wayyy before 8. I specifically checked this last night, so I will be real surprised if I am the only one here. Real surprised and a little steamed.

I think I am going home tomorrow. I think Courtney is coming up Thursday. And I think we are going to Cedar Point Friday. I am pretty excited about all of these things.

It was a cold ride to work this morning. I don't like this weather at all. Its August and it has been cold more than it has been warm. Scientists are doomsday morons. There is no global warming. And since it seems to be getting colder during all seasons I would guess it is going the other way. I don't like the cold when it is supposed to be uncomfortably hot outside. It was hot the day I wanted it to be nice, which figures.

Yeah, so no one knows why we are here so early. This is on the chain.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

4 Days 4 Time Zones

So I'm back in Chicago now after spending a day in Ohio, a night in Salt Lake City, and the day before in Tahoe. It was quite a journey.

We left Tahoe for Reno and got to our flight 2 hours early like we are supposed to. Turns out our flight had a mechanical delay. This meant we took off two hours later and missed our flight to Cincinnati. As a result, Delta Airlines put us up in a hotel for the evening. However, this was not before they had sent the most important luggage we had (all our scientific samples and equipment) on a much later flight meaning we had to spend 4 extra hours in the Salt Lake Airport. This included us leaving the security checkpoints, but then reentering security to use our meal vouchers for dinner because we couldn't leave without our samples that had to be frozen overnight.

Finally, we got everything we needed after 4 hours of waiting and went outside to catch a shuttle to our hotel. Only they didn't have a shuttle coming. They told us they would be at the airport in 35 minutes. Eventually, Miguel shows up and takes us the 2.5 miles to our hotel which shall remain nameless because as I found out today a woman in Chicago is being sued for an offhand comment about a company on her twitter followed by 17 people. Anyway, we get inside at 10:30PM (We need to get up at 5AM to catch our flight) and we get comfortable. While arranging my pillows I find an unopened banana laying in between a couple of my pillows. Not thinking much of it other than this is really really disgusting, I threw it out, went to bed, and got up for the airport.

Getting to the airport, Andrew (The Graduate Student I work with) was told we could check in at the kiosks. I was told we had to use an attendant. As a result we waited 30 minutes in the full service line until we realized we had an hour to catch our flight and we had moved 13 feet. We took a chance and tried the kiosks, it worked, we caught our flight and got home. 

Bree met me at the airport and we came back to Oxford. As I was telling the story to her, she kindly reminded me that if there was a banana in the bed, clearly no one had changed the sheets from the night before...I still feel dirty.

I'll be back in Oxford in 5 days for RA training. Hopefully the doctors will get me healthy tomorrow.

The Wheels Stayed On

I made pudding for the tour guide pot-luck. I am not a tour guide any more than I was an Eagle Scout last year, but I think I would give a damn good tour. I made Kroger brand instant pudding with a hint of Ryan's Irish cream. It was cheap and delicious. Everything else was alright. The games were kind of lame, but I won Apples to Apples. Matt was judging the word Cosmopolitan and said that all we had to do was make him laugh. As he was deliberating I suggested he pick mine. He did. That was a better story when it happened.

Last night was fun. Courtney got let off work early and I convinced her to come up and spend some quality time in Oxford. I made a drink in one of those jars with the lids that seal with the metal latch. It tasted like Christmas, ask anyone. It was off the chain. I think some other stuff happened, who knows. I sent Matt a text telling him about someone taking a mint.

The freaking dog keeps touching me.

Thats all. TTYL

(419): Oh for sure. She took a mint.

There's a LOT to write about/remember/try to remember from the past couple days. I'd keep it short, but I've never been particularly good at that, so suck it up and deal. Here's what's on the agenda for today's post: Tour Guide Potluck, Cabrewing, Last night.

Tour Guide Potluck:
So last week, Avery brought up the idea of having a tour guide potluck. We were all rather supportive; however, some tour guide who has since left the state offered to host, then retracted his offer a day before the event. Anyway, after work Friday, Matt and I went to Kroger to figure out just what the hell we were each going to make. Having RSVP'd a "main dish," I couldn't cop out and bring chicken fingers with parmesan and vodka sauce (although we found out on Thursday just how tasty they really are). Besides, I like to cook. So I bought bowtie noodles, a tomato, red onion, bell pepper, alfredo sauce, and two packages of imitation crab meat (which ended up being a good choice because imitation crab is actually fish [surprise!] and is therefore kosher). The end result? A concoction I now call "Cajun Crab Alfredo with Wheels." If you want to know where the wheels bit gets in the name, come visit me, I'll make some for you, and I'll tell you. Or Eric can blog about it. Whatever.

Anyway, Eric, Matt and I went over to the potluck and ate of the goodness. Everything was really really good. Even Laura's lentil salad thing. I might ask her for the recipe. We sat around eating and then played some Apples to Apples, a game which I find a little more frustrating than entertaining, but you get an interesting combination every now and then. After a round or two (there were 15 of us, so a round was plenty long, mk?) we switched to "dirty Jenga," with each block having some sort of--dare I say--task, usually involving drinking, kissing, lap dancing, or phone calling. Mine were fairly docile, but I did get to call someone's friend and act drunk (because I wasn't actually and a legit phone call would've been boring). I added a british accent (it was nece'sry) and managed to really piss this guy off. It was great. I told him my name was, I wanna say...Walter Stanforth? No, Walter Stanforth, Esquire. I even spelled it out. Anyway, we all headed uptown afterwards, but Matt Eric and I joined up with Sam, who turned 21 at midnight. Yay!

Cabrewing:
Matt and I woke up Saturday morning and got ready for Cabrewing, a tour guide event in the works since roughly July 8. Actually, thinking about it now, it might deserve it's own post. Yeah. It does. Stay tuned!

Last Night:
So the must-know details of cabrewing are that Matt and I reached the desired end goal of cabrewing by at least 3:00 in the afternoon. I guess there's only one detail. Whatever.

We get back from cabrewing, and decide to shower, eat, and head over to Matt's house for the year, where a somewhat impromptu party is beginning. We played some pong, clusterfudge (you're not an avid reader if you need help on that one), and just hung out for a while. It was fun, and my mental state progressed as expected. Eric and I made Irish Carbombs...I owe Austin a Guinness. By the time I left to go uptown with Pat (!), who was visiting, most of our beloved tour guide friends were there, as well as Courtney and Eric.

Pat and I left to go uptown, and met a couple people he knows at Steinkeller's. I was offered some beer from someone, but only if I didn't take "pussy sips." I think I succeeded. Anyway, we left after a little bit and met everyone else at Skipper's. There was general revelry at Skips, and I think before we left I had a bagel from Bagel & Deli. Yeah, I did. So Nathan, Kristel and Kristen were the only ones sticking it out for "latenighting." I don't really know what happened to everyone else. We picked up a pizza at Bruno's, and headed back to the Blumpkinn.

Latenighting changed to "damn, I've been drunk for 12 hours...shit;" however, I managed to stay enthralled in conversation and left the Blumpkinn at roughly 5am. While never as late, this has happened before.

Anyway, that wraps up the past few nights, with the exception of Cabrewing, which will receive its own super-awesome account, dripping with details (haha, get it?). Stay tuned.