Life

     Three more weeks after Thanksgiving break, then this semester will be over. I can do this...right?

     Last week was crazy. Had three tests, a huge class project, and a paper to write. So I wake up Monday moning about six o'clock, check the news and Facebook, eat a protein bar for breakfast, all that. I decide that since I'm up anyway, may as well finish the last Strat chapter quiz and the test. One test down by 7 a.m. - Good feeling. Classes were about normal that morning, then right out of history I head to the Carrie Underwood Finish the Lyrics contest we were holding; a class project in MassComm that went much, much more smoothly than the rain barrel did. The university was given a certain amount of tickets to her show on Wednesday, and it was our job as MassComm students to figure out ways to get them to people who wanted them. We brainstormed ideas for a while, settling on a crossword puzzle, a tie-in to the NSU Facebook page, and (my idea) a lyric-finishing competition. Our teacher said, "Those are great. Run with them. I'll be out of town this week, though." Our response: "We got this, don't worry."
     We drafted the rules, made up posters, scribbled advertising on the sidewalks, borrowed a PA system, hung the posters in high-traffic areas; everything. It was kind of cold to be standing outside doing nothing, there were four people who signed up first hour. The last person in line won the tickets, so we had plenty of time to keep drumming up interest before the next hour's contest. That went a little better, six people signed up, and two advanced through the first round, after about three rounds of a face-off a guy finally won. That generated a lot of interest, plus one of the sororities heard what was up for grabs and came trooping down en masse. Nineteen(we'd set a cap of twenty, never dreaming it'd reach that high) people tried for the last pair of tickets, about seven advanced to the second round, it was a nailbiter all the way through. Several people suggested I should enter; but that kinda seemed like it would violate some ethical code, being as it was my idea and everything. Our teacher thought we did a great job of coordinating/running the project from start to finish, that was cool. Then I found a MacGyver marathon on TV, which was pretty awesome.
     Monday night was a study-group meeting for Wednesday's history test with a couple of guys I know, that went pretty well; got two of the three chapters completely covered in about four hours.

     Tuesday was a study day, like usual, finishing up my argumentative paper on why raw milk ought to be sold to consumers. Got to talking about theology while helping Russell home after psych, it's a little hard to explain the doctrine of sanctification in ten minutes. I listened to a sermon online that evening, and also to a recording of last summer's talent share at camp, then went to CCF that night, thought I ought to force myself to spend some time around people. Then I looked up a bunch of bluegrass versions of hymns on YouTube before going to sleep.

     Wednesday had the last small-group Strat class, so I officially have two credit hours down. As a class, we got chewed out for forty-five minutes for writing stupid English papers on the disobedience thing; that was a little rattling. And this history test was hard. So I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but much better than the score I figured I'd gotten.

     Thursday morning I went down to Morgan's Bakery, had to see how the new oven was working(the old one had been replaced after more than sixty years' service, they'd been closed all the week before while making the switch). It doesn't make magic Tiger Cookies like the old one, but I think it's kind of like stoneware; takes a long time to break in, so the more it gets used the better the food it creates is. And I'm about halfway done with my try-everything-that-they-sell project, the new things sampled this week were gingerbread men and chocolate long johns.
     Then we had a special test on Chapter 6 of our psych textbook, on "Developing Close Relationships": Friendships, dating, marriage, and divorce, pretty much. It came out of nowhere, we were kinda surprised, but I think it went okay, won't know how I did until tomorrow.
     There was a Mario Kart tournament for Nintendo 64 in the lounge, single-elimination, I was racing against my creepy neighbor Drew. Having Controller 1, he got to pick the track, and so we were racing on Rainbow Road??? Seriously? Thankfully, in the N64 version, unlike the Game Boy Advance, Rainbow Road has wall-barriers to keep you from flying into space. Still, it's a hard track. His Bowser shot off to an early lead over my Yoshi, about halfway through the first lap I slip past and build up a good-sized lead. He catches up with the help of several bananas and well-thrown Koopa shells, we're neck and neck all during the second lap, the other dozen or so people involved in the tournament watch breathlessly, marveling at the intensity of this race. Throughout the race he's placed about half-a-dozen bombs and bananas in key points, I drive my kart a little too hard last lap and hit four bombs, and so Bowser wins by about three seconds. It was a good race, though; while it lasted.

     Friday went all right, found out I'd gotten a B on the disobedience paper, and after some petitioning we got a day of editing on our argument papers before turning them in online(I need to do that. Hmm. After I'm done with this.) Started in on the Cold War world in history, that was interesting.
     Nothing much happened after that, I studied some, and then wrote up the FFH review. Was thinking of going to the soccer game, but my stomach was a little upset, just stayed home. The youth group had a get-together at our house, think that went well fro mwhat Mom and Courtney said, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, talking about a lot of things, and of course, ping pong.

     Had absolutely nothing to do Saturday morning, it was a quiet news day, nothing happening in the world, and there is zero interesting shows on TV on the strange array of channels we get here in the dorm  So I wrote up a review of a Taylor Swift CD.
     Watched football in the afternoon, went to the basketball game that night. I completely fail as an ordinary fan, it seems. You just can't really turn that critical observation system off...kept wondering how I could spin the all-too-familiar action into a new package that I hadn't used recently. NSU played horribly. Armadillo-speed offense, everyone standing around the perimeter, then some guy launching a 3. True, they usually went in; but on a night when they don't, they're going to get crushed. The defense had gaping holes up the lane, and rebounding was a sometimes accomplishment. Only thing was, the other team was even worse, and so NSU coasted to a thirty-point win, 77-48.
     It's a nice gym, though a bit on the small side. Felt like I was watching high school ball, the Demons or the Knights at the Eagles, about the same size and atmosphere, and NSU played just like the Lady Knights did while I was with the Free Lance. Run out to an early lead; then make mistakes the rest of the game and hobble to a victory. Exhausting to watch, hard to write about with a positive spin.
     The gym was built in 1955, they're going to replace it with a $13 million facility off-campus by the football field next August, seating 3,000 people with new offices and everything. I estimated Dobbins Fieldhouse to hold about 900 people fully packed, there was maybe 300 or 400 in attendance Saturday night. Yeah, it's great to have a lot more seats...but if nobody's going to fill them, won't that look even worse? I've heard the women's team is a lot better than the men; going to need to watch one of their games to compare. From what I've seen so far, though; college sports' atmosphere is one of apathy. It's kinda sad. Completely empty and dead, most of the fans(?) aren't even paying attention to what's happening on the field or the court.

    Listened to a GBC sermon yesrterday morning, then walked a mile down the gas station to get a Sunday paper. Read through that(I love reading newspapers), watched the NASCAR race(tried watching the Cowboys, but they were just too terrible to bear), then went over to Grandpa's. Petted the dogs and helped Robbie plan the Thanksgiving meal.

    Got mostly positive reviews of my argumentative paper in English this morning, went over more Cold War facts in history(I was starving, and he kept going into irrelevant disgressions today, little hard to pay attention). Had Chick-Fil-A for lunch like usual; it's sort of neat when the cashier notices you did something different from your routine, lol. "You're not getting nuggets today?" "Nope...just thought it was more of a sandwich type of day." Braces make it very hard to chew; it's weird. I have a very high pain tolerance, except for my mouth, which is extremely sensitive to pressure. Nuggets are easier on the jaw to chew; which is why I typically get those. If I'm really hungry, though; I'll get the sandwich, need the extra carbs from the bread, though the meat is thicker and therefore requires more pressure to chomp.
     In MassComm we had a great lesson today on advertising analytics; how to use the data gathered by polls and review services to best place advertising, and thus sell your product. It was terrific. And then, being an Olympic-level klutz, I clock myself in the chin while putting my backpack on as I leave. Still aches, gonna need to take an ibeprofen.

     The Tim Tebow Saga continues....now anonymous Jets have been quoted as stating the world's most famous backup quarterback is "terrible", according to several New York papers and endlessly debated on ESPN this week....he's not a great football player, no. His mechanics are weird, his delivery strange, and the way he conducts himself is unusual. But he is a very good quarterback. There isn't a way to measure the ability to win games, to spread confidence and hope among your teammates, that yeah, we're down late, but we can still pull this thing out. He's a great leader.
     And, oh yeah, remember how everyone said he'd be used in the Wildcat? Hasn't happened hardly at all. Mark Sanchez is one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, statistically and team-leadership-wise. And the Jets suck. But they still aren't playing Tebow? Last time I checked, Denver was in about the same place as New York is last season; and he nearly took them to the AFC championship game. If he's just going to stand on the sidelines, he's not going to terrify anyone, and you aren't going to win.

     Those 80th anniversary Steelers throwback uniforms are HORRENDOUS. "And I seen five or six convicts a-runnin' up and down..." Or maybe that was bees, Andy. Ugh....I literally leap backwards in fright whenever I see those.

     And just when we thought things had settled back down again in college football, and just getting used to the way things are arranged with the conferences and everything, Rutgers bolts from the Big East(Very smart move), and Maryland divorces the ACC(which they helped found sixty years ago), both headed to the Big Ten(which now has fourteen teams. Go figure) So...here go the dominoes again....and as we inch closer to the playoffs(yay!) and the banishment of the BCS(YAY!) and the development of four 16-school superconferences, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech go to the Pac-12, Kansas State and West Virginia join the SEC, any Big East team runs for shelter anywhere; and Boise State goes to the Canadian Football League, where they win eighteen Grey Cups in a row. (Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly. But it could happen. Now we're back to anything and everything is possible in college sports, with nothing for certain any longer. To find out which schools belong to which conferences at the moment, check any and all reputable sports sources as often as possible, and things will stop shifting when there's pro hockey again, the NFL has a team in London, and people say "Dad, when you were my age, people listened to Katy Perry and Lady Gaga?...And thought they were good?" "Well, yeah. We also listened to Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift, news was read on paper, Toy Story ended, football was The Main Sport, and nobody dreamed that Oregon-Missouri would be a huge rivalry." "Wooooww....you're oooolllld." "Thanks...." "Can you tell me a story about when you were growing up, like what it was like when the Thunder got started?" "Sure! Well, I was fifteen when the Seattle SuperSonics..." "The who?" "The - Oh...you're too young to remember, but there was once an NBA team in Seattle, and....")