the ohioans have officially come and gone. my old roommates ray and patrick, plus the younger ben "not kelly's brother" evans pulled in a little after 3am on tuesday night. we slept in, then hit up DC on wednesday and did the usual tourist thing there. i'm still amazed and the dimensions of some of the monuments; lincoln's is enourmous and washington's is the tallest thing around. we also checked out the newly-renovated national archives where we saw the original, yet very faded declaration of independence, constitution, and bill of rights. so crazy that our nation is based off of those three pieces of parchment.
we watched the bosox and cubbies win yesterday (what a good day for baseball!) over at jim's house and came back here, exhausted. this morning i had all my classes again so we said our goodbyes in the a.m. and there went the first people i've actually known, for the last two months. we reminisced about our old apartment - its crazy how everything seems so easy, so safe last year. so home-y, so comfortable. because its been the exact opposite in maryland - yet i feel so much older & mature, like i'm actually doing it, i'm actually going for it and forsaking all the comforts of home. but i still miss ohio a lot and think about my friends there daily.
honestly, that's one of the weirdest feelings, seeing old friends after making new friends for weeks. and goofy old friends at that. our waitress' name at the hard rock cafe was 'flo' which is awesome on so many levels; we took a picture with her and the nametag. she had a southern/NYC accent which was really bizarre.
the only sucky thing was that while i was chillin with the guys, i kept thinking of how much other stuff i had to do, and it was a drag...my last few homework assignments haven't been the best (i put in more hours than i got points, it seems) but there's a little redemption and re-working the problems. but who wants to do that when i've a million other things to do.
so tomorrow i'm heading to the eastern shore with the mcf church, to take a day off and leave the city for the coloful trees in the countryside. i'm looking forward to it, but unfortunately i still have a shload of stuff to do so i hope to shelve that out of my mind and concentrate on the present.
sorry to anyone that's emailed me and i haven't replied, esp. andrew, kelly, kathy, this list goes on. maybe this weekend i'll get a minute or two. i mean, you're worth more than a minute or two, but sometimes that's all i've got.
have a good weekend back home. and rock it out at homecoming, tim. taking the queen, what a stud! and you too kelly, suzy, or whomever else reads this in HS.
music: reggie, "under the tray" - i listened to music in my car for the first time since i've been here, i was blasting it and belting it, oblivious to everyone else
quote: "this is nonsense." - professor's comment on my homework
patrick, ray, and ben drove from ohio to come see me, arriving late last night.
they drove two cars; one of which i purchased from my parents late last week.
so finally, i can do away with biking to campus twice a day, biking in the rain, biking at night, biking in the rain at night, etc. don't worry though, i still plan to bike it to classes in the morning while its still warm out, but come snow or sleet or rain, i'll be warm sitting in my car pushing through the ugly traffice on rt. 1.
and i'll be able to buy groceries when i need them.
and i'll be able to explore the counrtyside, the eastern shore, DC, shenandoah, NYC, and anywhere else the accoridan will take me. i'll even be able to drive home.
our plan today is to head into DC and see the city, then kick it back on campus, chillin' and catching up with my old roommates. and i'll put off worrying about bad homework grades until tomorrow.
music: weezer "waiting on you"
quote: "we got up to 100 on the way here." - pat, telling the joys of riding down a hill in neutral
i spent 12 hours in my dumb little office today. but homework is finished, grading is completed, and i am really tired.
the surprise is still coming tomorrow! gotta keep you baited for a little longer.
i found out in an email that i made the ultimate 'a' team. i can't wait to play with some really good people, because how do you learn unless its from the best?
music: fsf, the sound
quote: "what, do you hunt or something?" mike, asking robin how he gets by on $20 of groceries every few weeks
my 5k this morning was run in 18:15, good enough for a top 10 finish at the terp trot. it was absolutely gorgeous this morning with temps near 60 and some sunny skies. after the race (and after i enjoyed a free smoothie and a few bagels) i played some ultimate in our tournament (pronounced tore-na-ment) for the new guys. we played ok but sometimes its really frustrating because some of the new guys aren't very good. but it was nice out so what better way to spend a sunday afternoon?
i graded some homework while watching the cubs win (why so doubtful justin? they've got some pitching) and hoping that yankees lost, but of course they didn't because they're the yankees. and my roommate bruno who lives in the basement with his wife of one month came up to talk a lot about the random thoughts that come into everyone's mind...but bruno's from france and has only been in the states for a year or so, which makes for some interesting points of view on most controversial national issues. i won't go into them here but i'm learning how to diversify i suppose.
so i have lots of grading and homework to do still but i'm exhausted from the race & tourney. so here's to putting things off till tomorrow (raises glass).
and i may have some exciting news on tuesday.
music: kiss, i want to rock and roll all night (and party every day)
quote: "that should have been a triple play!" - fox announcer thinking that an umpire's mistake could have resulted in a triple play. the problem is, you can't get the same guy out twice. nice thinking, guys.
i just saw school of rock and like justin says, it was great. nothing bad to say about this film - its jack black at his best, its funny, and its positive. i esp. liked the part when he was showing the class his new song, "um, ok, i'll play it for you if you want to hear it, the lyrics aren't really finished yet and i wasn't planning on playing it but i can give you what i've written so far..." etc. that's the way a lot of pinewood songs were written, too.
i planned on doing lots of work today but of course i didn't do anything. good intentions, no motivation. the terps won in front of a sellout crowd today, the game was great but it got chilly real fast towards the end. and for some reason we have a 40-year-old black guy named 'special k' wearing a cape who leads the students in their cheers. he even gets to stand on the field.
tomorrow morning is a 5K race, the 'terp trot' which sounds like it should be really slow because a terp is basically a turtle, but i guess aesop taught us slow & steady wins the race. right. i'll tell that to the 100 people that will beat me tomorrow.
music: classic rock, anything by led zepplin or ac/dc
quote: "you, shortstop: security. turkey sub: roadie." -jb
