i leave for n. carolina in t minus 9 hours. i'm packed for the most part - though its weird to look at my backpack and think, "wow, i'm going to be living out of this for four days. sleeping bag, tent, food, water. wow." actually, i have a water filter that lets me drink water from rivers, which is pretty cool. in case you're wondering, jesse, matt, and justin and i will be in the linville gorge/falls wilderness northeast of the smokies (where heidi and andrew will later be). its primitive, pack-out everything, and pretty much you wake up when the sun comes up and go to sleep when the sun goes down. i packed a healthy diet of powerbars, nature valley harvest bars, paydays, some beef jerky, and trail mix. that's my diet for the next week. i can't wait to tell you about the traditions jesse & i have set up, including waterfalls and red lobster. i'll tell you about them when i get back.
i'm looking for this trip to be a true "break" from a lot of things:
-school. i've been stressing out over my two projects, plus the usual crap that goes on while taking 18 hours of school. this semester has been great and trying at the same time. i've learned a lot, but its taken a lot out of me.
-work. while i'm glad that rcc seems to be moving in the right direction, and i'm really happy working with brian and mike and the other area coordinators (garrett: how do you do it? pulling all-nighters, etc.), i'm still glad for a break. as brian can attest, its been a trying semester.
-friends. i think you need a break from friends sometimes to realize how much you need them.
i'm looking for:
-God. you can see a lot more of his creation in the mountains than in the cornfields.
-beauty. see above.
-solitude. i need some time to think.
-comradery. some people think i'm funny, which is ok i guess, but i'm nothing compared to the three guys i'm going with. we're bringing the poker cards (we may have to improvise on the chips) and i'm sure there'll be a grilled steak here and there when we're back to civilization.
so i'll be sure to post when i get back, maybe on friday or so. in the meantime, i hope all you readers have a good break (if you're on it now) or that you make it through the week (if yours is next week).
oh, and thanks for your encouragement andrew, but i guess i'm still disappointed that colorado is no longer looking as feasible as i dreamed it would be. it's wherever God wants me, you know? i guess it depends on him then, how hard i have to work to get there (as if 4 years of college wasn't enough).
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thumbs up: spring break. ahh......
thumbs down: driving 500 miles with 4 guys in a 91 honda accord
quote: "you guys are gonna have a blast" - kurt, who can't go with us :(
cd rotation: weezer: blue
"Hi Eric, good news! You have been accepted to the graduate program, however this acceptance is made without financial support. A letter will follow. Congratulations!"
that's from colorado. it's good i got accepted to the graduate program, but its not good that they are not offering financial support. as much as i'd like to go out to colorado, it's not worth $10,000 for out of state tuition. maybe i could get some loans or something, but it would be a lot easier if they just would support me. we'll see what the other schools have to offer.
to recap, i've been accepted to ohio st., penn st., and colorado. no other financial news yet.
this morning i woke up after a nice 6 hour sleep and looked out my window to find it snowing heavily. i waited a little bit, looked outside again, and it was still snowing. so i went downstairs, scanned in my homework, and emailed it to my thermodyanmics prof up at UT. i only have one class at UT on thursdays, so i decided that driving 40 minutes through blowing snow wasn't worth turning in my homework. after sending the email at 8:30am, i went back to sleep until noon in my new sleeping bag. i think it was the best sleep, ever. i'm sorry that you're jealous, but you know, thats the first time i've really slept through a class all semester.
since brian didn't cancel tomorrow's meeting, i'll be up at 8am, then to a meeting with my math professor. once that hits, it looks like spring break is here! i have a few loose ends to tie up-jesse and i are scheduling our spring break hikes over lunch, i have to close the labs at 5pm, and pick up my parents car that they so graciously let us use. other than that, its smooth sailing. the forecast for linville falls, north carolina: high between 50-60 every day, low 30-35, one day there's a 30% of rain, every other day is sunny. backpacking and relaxing.
tonight jesse and i bought our food for the trip, consisting of powerbars, nuts, raisins, and thats about it. its weird to look at two bags of food and say, "well, i guess i'm living off that for two weeks." i'm actually looking forward to it. i haven't shaved in a few days, the hair is long, you may mistake me for a mountain man when i get back.
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thumbs up: spring break. need i say more. also erin kozey's teaching at h2o was awesome
thumbs down: the fact that i won't be able to get to sleep until like 2am since i've only been up for 13 hours
quote: "pretty much all i do is put food in my mouth" - jesse, and his nutritional eating habits
cd rotation: weezer: maladroit (which means clumsy, it was a GRE word)
heidi has pneumonia, i just thought you smoked too much! sorry to hear that, hopefully you'll be better from spring break. speaking of spring break, its only two days away. that's right kids, my math midterm was made into a take-home due after break! how awesome is that! just five problems, and he's making us come to him tomorrow with questions - he loves to help us out, and so the more time you're in his office, the better the grade you get.
mike, i've been having troubles reading your blog (the frame won't load or something) so hopefully i'll read it on campus tomorrow or something. thanks for flagging me down in the union (pronounce like onion) today.
so we won our first game tonight in a close battle against ryan hughes' team, i had a sweet block on him but they called a foul even though he and i both know it was clean. our second game was tight until the end when the other team pulled ahead. we just ran out of gas. unfortunately i'm not one of our leading scorers so i usually sit when we're behind late in the game - which means i don't get to play as much. but hey, a 7-1 season isn't bad, i'll sit all you want me to. plus our team was really fun and they said they'd fly me in from wherever next year to be on the team again. thanks, guys.
i'm in no mood to do homework, but it looks like i have a thermodynamics quiz and a shload of probability problems due tomorrow. problem is, its 12:30 and i haven't showered, my first class is 9:30 at UT. i just have to squeeze in another nap tomorrow afternooon.
i found a $1 bill today in the snow. it was so heavy with ice that i thought it was a few bills all crumpled up, but a dollar is still a dollar. plus yesterday at blimpie, when the "sandwich artist" (what a stupid name!) was making my sub, i asked her if i could open my gatorade because i was thirsty, and she willingly obliged. well, i paid for my sub ($2 tuesdays, btw) and completely forgot to pay for my gatorade and walked out the store.
so you'd think that fate wouldn't be on my side, that i cheated blimpie out of a dollar, so i should lose a dollar somewhere else. but NO, i found ANOTHER dollar! next time i'll shortchange the grocery store like $20 and see if i can find a $20 bill laying around in the parking lot.
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thumbs up: 7-1 season, can't be sad about that
thumbs down: my feet smell very, very bad (i can smell them sitting here typing)
quote: "that's why i'm glad i can't jump very high" - garrett, when justin said he almost fell over while jumping for a blocked shot
cd rotation: reggie & the full effect
wags: thanks for putting so much time into RCC. i really appreciate you building it up and trying to change it for the better. unfortunately, not everyone else thinks so. but who needs them?
heidi, mike, and jesse were our number one fans tonight. i'm glad you got to see our good game - we won by about 50 again. at least this team was nice and tried to have fun, not like the other team we beat by 50 who were bad sports. and after the game was over, i grabbed the rim. who says i don't gots no ups yo!
the other game was another story. our opponents shot at least 50-60% from beyond 3 and even higher in the key. its a coed league, one girl on the other team had at least 15 points by half. we got smoked by 15 or 20 or so. we ended up at 4-2, it was a good season.
in the midst of these games we had pinewood practice, were jesse and i tried to work on some new stuff while everyone else screwed around and played pool (yes we have a pool table in the practice room). wags, i equate jesse with you, he always tries hard to get stuff done, but it never seems like anyone else really cares. this kid is a musical genius, anyway. its frustrating sometimes though because he'll hear something in his head and try to hum it or tap out the rhythm - but it's hard because i don't actually hear the melody in my head. he's got so many ideas, i'd really like to see him drop stupid business classes and go out on the road.
tomorrow (groan) i get to hear what the deal is with my midterm. that's right, my midterm is on friday (or it may be a take-home) and my professor still has not told us what's on it. i'll have exactly 48 hours to study for it, wow. you know what i'd like to do? put some of these professors in a phone booth like in dumb and dumber and bang on the window and say, "have you ever heard of the concept of OTHER CLASSES? math, being that other class? oh he turned his back on me! i can't believe it, he turned his back on me..."
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thumbs up: playing well in front of friends & having a good time on the court
thumbs down: leaving for school at 8:30am, getting home at 12:20am
quote: "maybe your friend and my friend will hit it off...or maybe, we will" - dashboard
cd rotation: reggie & the full effect
&
dashboard confessional unplugged
i think i'd like a new car. my 91 honda does the job, but that's about it. of course, i abuse it going over the plethora of speed bumps near my apartment (i remember seriously thinking: is it better for the car to go faster over the speed bumps? because the time is minimized, although it doesn't sound like the shocks like it so much) and i slide around in the snow (yes, hondas can do donuts). garrett and i decided that a volkswagen jetta is pretty cool, they make a v6 turbo diesel. of course if i had lots of cash to spend i might get a honda crv or a truck or something. i'll cross that bridge when i get to it though (in about 30 years).
so i'm working in a computer lab for the first time in about two years. i mean, an actual 4-hour shift. of course i brought some homework to do but i can't ignore the PC sitting in front of me connected to a T-3 supernet. i transferred a file between two servers on campus, the speed was measured in milliseconds. this network is fast. anyway though, i've been getting all nostagic remembering my shifts in mac (remember franklin?) and conklin, passing the time two or three nights a week by going to hot-or-not or IM or whatever. ah, those were the days.
don't you hate it when your fingernails are long but you don't realize until the middle of the day? because you can't do anything about it sitting in autoCAD 131. and i'll forget tomorrow out of the shower, i just know it. that and cleaning the ears, do most people have regular schedules for these things? i'm always like, "holy jeez, it's been three weeks since i last used the q-tips! no wonder i can't hear!" well, not really, but you know what i mean.
if you read this before tues. night please come out and support intramural sports. my co-ed team plays at 7pm, my guys team is at 11pm, both at the field house. and yes, you can paint a belt buckle on your chest, wags.
my numerical professor said at 10:19 this morning (class is out at 10:20) "be sure to read section 11.5. i'll talk about the midterm on wednesday." ok, hold on here. there's been NO talk of an actual exam at all this semester! now you're going to tell us about it two days before we have to take it? i seriously write about 3 pages of notes per class, multiply that times 3 classes a week, 7 weeks completed, and i have a good start on a novel. what are we going to study? the crap we've been doing for the last few weeks isn't even in our textbook! wow.
franklin, my roommates went to windsor last weekend too, and they also got the third degree from customs for not having their birth certificates. i guess people are flocking to the u.s. from canadia, our nations 51st state in record numbers or something. notice how they don't care when you go over the border to their country, only coming back. "look, canada, you gave us alanis morissette and celine dion, i think you owe us. we didn't want their music but you gave it to us anyways. how about you let me go between countries to make up for your lack of musical taste."
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thumbs up: my new flip wallet
thumbs down: that sound my car makes when switching from reverse to drive when its -4 outside
quote: "well tim, someday you may be taller than me" - my dad, as tim looks down on his bald spot. by dad for some reason likes to joke that he's taller than all of us boys, but unfortunately he's 5'8" and tim's 5'10", jeff is 6'0" and i'm 6'1"-6'2".
cd rotation: further seems forever: how to start a fire
wags made my day - giving me the new mac os 10.2.4. i downloaded safari and borrowed keynote at the same time. in case you're a pc user, know this: mac os x, plus safari, office, terminal, flash, dreamweaver, photoshop, is by far the best operating software i've ever used. period. much better than my pentium III with xp at work. wags, thanks a lot.
i tried to study on the 7th floor of the library today, but instead i stared out the window at the snow & falling temperatures and talked to some friends online. i have only one midterm this week, which i'll learn about tomorrow i guess. plenty of time. right. it'll probably be a take-home exam (insert groan here). i'm not feeling the heat from school just yet, so my motivation is pretty low.
bible study was awesome - for those readers who say "bible study? shmible study!" i say this: these guys in my bible study are awesome & full of integrity and are real spiritual seekers. its not like we have all the answers or anything - but its pretty exciting learning about God and how he makes himself known on earth through ordinary people that we have class with or work with or whatever. plus the bible, in spite of its apparent dustiness is actually pretty interesting. it's not just stories, but a philosophy and a way of life for lots of people.
for the first time in about a week we had all 5 roommates (plus pat's brother for a week anyway) here at the same time. apartment q-4 is bumping tonight, mainly because the toilets are feeling the wrath of polleyes' breadsticks. ouch.
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thumbs up: mac os 10.2.4, and waggoner, of course
thumbs down: wow, -4 is the low tonight
quote: "einstein has proven that time is relative. age is a function of time, therefore, age is relative" - the cousin jay
cd rotation: ben folds: rockin' the suburbs
praise the lord for whoever invented the weekend. its the time i actually get to do fun stuff since the week is always shot for school and work. yesterday i spent the night over at brett's where jesse was recording vocals, we made some headway but still have a lot of work to do. i think franklin, suzy, and justin would all agree - recording vocals is frustrating and hard and ridiculously time consuming. and i can't sing worth crap, either.
jesse & i saw the falcons win a nailbiter with fulch & skilly today, the mvp of the game was football player turned point guard cole magner, who hit a few clutch 3s and made some awesome defensive stops. the falcons had only two eligible subs late in the game (since two players had fouled out) and three other guys had 4 fouls. if the game went into overtime, i don't know if bgsu would've been able to finish the game. but they won by three anyway.
i'm really getting blitzed for spring break, jesse & i are making it 5 consecutive backpacking trips over spring break, this time we're heading to north carolina with a couple other guys. what a better way to spend spring break: miles away from any campus, textbook, or college student for that matter. backpacking's sweet because once you establish the mindset of survival - all you need to live is shelter, food, and water - everything else is bonus.
i have no desire to ever go to a mall again. there's way too many people, hot girls, and clothes that i would look cool in but are way too expensive. so i'll settle with my usual style, which is basically nothing.
do you think runner's world will care that i sent my payment in late? i'm staring at the bill; it was due yesterday. but what are you gonna do? leave it there until monday, that's what i'm gonna do.
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thumbs up: spring break in t minus 5 days
thumbs down: snowing outside, again
quote: "everybody knows, it sucks to grow up" - ben folds
cd rotation: dashboard confessional: mtv unplugged
