i ran 4x1600 today, tried to keep them around 6 minutes each, in reality they were between 6:00 and 6:10. I felt pretty good despite the snowy track and biting wind. of course, my legs are done. i'll keep it real with a short run or a day off, depending if people shovel their walks or not.
i met with the honors program director this morning, to talk about my senior honors thesis, and we talked about grad school, and do you know what he recommended? that i shoot higher. he says, "why not apply to MIT?" i think MIT would be a bit over my head, i'd be pretty dang overwhelmed there, but i didn't tell that to him. so now i'm going to look at applying to a major school, like MIT or CalTech or Stanford or even Michigan. who knows what will happen? anyway, it was a good conversation.
brittan, i hope my somewhat-short email will suffice. andrew, lookin forward to seein you around.
i turned in my physics take-home today. i have a 10 pager due wed, a 4 pager due thurs, and my big calc exam on tues. i'm going to try to get them all done by tues, it would be sweet to start christmas vacation a little early. so tomorrow will be a study day.
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thumbs up: wet snow (not to be confused with yellow snow)
thumbs down: school that hangs over my head
quote: "can you do that dance again?" - colleen, steph, and lisa, in reference to the show last night
cd rotation: coldplay: a rush of blood to the head
well, the pinewood show went well, or so i thought, the skit turned out okay, even if it didn't make sense at the end. we thought it was funny, anyway.
but for some reason i feel empty. maybe its because we didn't play praise songs at the end (the h2o band did instead). i dunno. i think we were all trying to feel pretty 'rock star' and got a little caught up in it all. i'm miffed, i don't know why i'm feeling down, or maybe its the post-anxious stress or something, i'm all jumbled with emotions, i can't wait for this school year to be over, i think i'm gonna go crazy when it does.
i was really happy to see tim and his friends at the show. i love that kid. except he's not a kid anymore, he'll be 17 next week!
brittan, you continue to amaze me. i'm happy to find other people with pure hearts, i think a lot of fellow bloggers fall into that category. i love you guys and your thoughts and the way you strive to do good and follow God's will.
you know what's pretty cool? noticing a pretty girl, then noticing that she's listening to "you gave your love to me softly" by weezer. that's cool. (don't worry, i'm not that shallow that i'd say, "she's hot and she likes weezer, i'm gonna ask her out" of course, i'd have to ask her if she likes jimmy eat world too) (not really, i turn the radio station when i hear them now) (but i can't think of a better rhetorical question, so there you have it)
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thumbs up: temperatures above 30 degrees
thumbs down: an empty feeling
quote: "why are all american girls so rough?" - weezer (aka homie)
cd rotation: the get up kids: something to write home about
justin, i kind of do have a 'second secret blog' where i write, and i was looking back on an entry from this summer, and it was acutally a poem, and it was actually really good. i mean, usually i look back at the stuff i wrote, and say "bah, that sucks" but after reading this poem, i was like "aw yeah!" but i probably will never post it.
and i tried a variation of your secret blog, showing it to your wife (or someone close) some day out of the blue. you see, with a previous relationship with a girl, i wrote a few of letters to her, never sent them, intending to show her some day in the future when i would be able to say, "see how much i cared back then" etc. but then we broke up, and all i was left with was some old, crappy letters that i threw away a few months later. i realized it wasn't worth it, for me anyway. i was trying too hard, i think. anyway, sorry to rain on your parade!
brittan, i hope my reply was okay, it felt inadequate next to your email full of goodness. you can write. and you made me think, and i appreciate that.
the decisions that define us & our character:
work vs. play
"the rules" vs. humanist
motivation vs. apathy
solitude vs. social
living vs. faking
surface vs. caring
striving vs. coasting
present vs. future
this week: i choose work, humanist, motivation, social, living, caring, striving, future.
today's lesson: taco bell is not a good post-run meal to eat. in fact, it may be the worst meal i can think of to eat when you just finished running.
the smell of pipe tobacco is great, just above the smell of gasoline, just below the smell of a pine forest, i think.
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thumbs up: mild winter day
thumbs down: january, february to look forward to
quote: "well, have a nice life" - phil, my eng professor, upon realizing that the last class period was up
cd rotation: still more reggie & the full effect goodness
i hope you go to the pinewood show on thurs because you're going to laugh so hard you'll cry, and then laugh some more. then cry again. a big mixture of laughing and crying.
brittan, i was thinking about our conversation today (if thats what you call it), and i'd like to grow up but i'd also like to stay and play, its hard compromising either, especially with some of the friends we have. more thoughts on that tomorrow maybe, i'll think some more.
and chalk up another t-shirt. we won our intramural 3-on-3 tournament. i wasn't even at the champ. game, my teammates are great. i think i'll get blue this time.
thank the good Lord for palm pilots.
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thumbs up: hump-day tomorrow
thumbs down: trying to fall asleep in the library but not able to after 20 mins
quote: "good one, bricks" -brad to rick
cd rotation: reggie & the full effect
do you ever have those days that you put on clothes in the morning, and you hate the clothes you put on, but you don't change them? today was such a day. my sweater was really stupid.
surpisingly, i'd have to say, we won two games in 3-on-3 tonight, so the championship is tomorrow night. i'm playing with garrett and two of his friends that i just met, i'm glad they're on my team cause they're good. and so is gc.
thanks for the 'clever' answer andrew. i meant, was "words" something you created or lyrics you heard or somethin like that. and a non-sarcastic thanks for referring to me as dr. eric schroeder.
if you're reading this, and you'll be in town on thursday at 8pm, come see pinewood play at h2o. i'll write more about that later this week.
today was the last monday of the semester! awright!
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thumbs up: winning
thumbs down: floor burns on the knees
quote: "your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones, turn in, to something beautiful, and you know, for you i'd bleed myself dry, for you i'd bleed myself dry" - coldplay
cd rotation: march mix (which really isn't very good compared to october)
i skipped classes on friday to go skiing with kurt. actually, i left right after class on thurs to spring arbor where kurt goes to school. we drove to houghton lake, mi where my new friend karen lives. we did some 4-wheeling with sleds tied on the back with her and her friend rachel. after waking up wayyy early, a few more guys joined us, and our group of 11 people headed for boyne to hit the slopes. and get this, it was a 6-for-1 deal, so we paid less than $5 a person. not too shabby.
i haven't skiied in a few years so i was a bit rusty, but kurt showed me some grace and helped me out all morning. by afternoon i was turning and gliding pretty well. not swishing yet. but close. i had a few spectacular wipeouts, too.
and so on this trip i was able to chill with kurt a lot, which was cool, since i don't see him much during the school year. and karen's family defintely hooked us up with a place to stay and food and hospitality, the whole bit.
i was thinking a little on the content in justin's, mike's, and andrew's blogs, and especially mine, it seems we yearn a lot for proof of living, to experience everything and not live with our eyes closed. this weekend was such a time for me. living, as i was thinking of it, is doing something out of the ordinary, not conforming as mike may say, and really searching for awesome experiences.
so that's how i feel alive. by skipping class and going skiing, when everyone says to go to class. or running outside in 20 degree weather, when everyone says (including my body) to stay inside and be warm. or talking to random people and getting to know them, when my instincts want me to stay in my own circle of friends. "you bleed just to know you're alive" may be a stretch - but i think i'm on to something here. to get out of the mundane routine of school, work, and sleep, and instead to do something that you'll remember, to have an experience that will stick with you, that's living to me.
thanks for reading through that.
props to brian on max on the dinner.
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thumbs up: being back, actually
thumbs down: monday 9:30am appointments
quote: "i walked around this crazy town and tried to find someone like you, just got lost along the way" - slick shoes
cd rotation: supertones: chase the sun (how old is that?)
