No Post On Sundays!!!!!!!

Oh wait....

Just a PSA regarding our safety over break!

Butt-face (no, really)

Hello, there.

Between Tuesday, December 13^th and Monday, December 19^th, I have five finals.  I just finished my third of five.  So if I skip town now (I’ve done the math), I will have attended the majority of my finals.  That makes going home now justifiable, right?  In America, we don’t strive for perfection, we strive for justification of our actions.  Thanks. (Note: There was some confusion.  I'm not actually leaving before I finish my finals.  I just want to.)

Making a lame post because all the good ones Argon.

I'm sitting in the common room making chemistry puns right now, hence the title.  This post won't actually be lame.
HOKAY.  SO.  HERE'S THE EARTH.

Sexism: three fewer letters and it'd be a lot more awesome.

Salutations, attractive readers! By the way, I'm not saying that I'm only acknowledging the readers with good looks, I'm saying all the readers of this blog are good looking. So congratulations, you're quite easy on the eyes! Wow, I'm already rambling.
Onwards? Onwards!

Hiatus is My Second Favorite Word, Behind Superfluous

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

Awwwwwwww!

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful

So finals are this week. I've got an exam on Tuesday and one on Wednesday, and I've got twenty-something pages two this weekend. Fun fun, fun in the sun. Or rather, fun in Vermont. Mutually exclusive events.

If only Harry had defeated Laffer instead.

All of the Econ jokes in this post are original, and I'm proud of that.

This week I actually want to have a good post so I started writing it on Tuesday.  All of you beside Derek will be visiting the "Create Post" page, or whatever this is called, and seeing my draft.  Perhaps reading it also.  I know that when you guys make drafts I always read them early.  It's like Nicole's habit of reading the last word/sentence/page (depending how mean she's feeling) of a great book you're in the process of reading.  Just kidding, Nicole, it's not mean.  Well, it's endearing and mean.  Anyway, I'm doing this because my posting on Friday often means my entries don't have enough time dedicated to them.

For the Next Ten Minutes

HELLO FRIENDS!  I AM STILL VERY STRESSED BUT THIS POST WILL BE BETTER CAUSE I'M LIKE HALF AS STRESSED AS LAST WEEK.  Also, Jill sees me more as a friend.  That put me in a pretty bad place for a while, but I'm pretty much better.  HALLELUJAHWWWWWOOOOEEOWEWOEWOEOEW. Okay let's go! Wow that's a lot of yelling.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . how October looked.

Greetings, fellow folk literate in the English language! I welcome you back to another college post with  metaphorically open arms. Today I'd like to write you about an event fairly prominent in societies focused on materialistic behaviors. And by that, I mean the game of "Secret San-SNOWFLAKE" (Here at Bates College, we are dedicated to make everyone so politically correct it hurts). Anyways, some people in my Debate team set it up, and so I joined in on the fun.
---Also, if anyone from Bates Debate is reading this (fairly unlikely) please stop, as I am going to divulge who I will be giving my gift to, as well as what it is.---

You Only Live Once....Berry

This definitely wins as the cutest "cutest picture of the week" hands down.

Once we overcome our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome Universe that utterly dwarfs — in time, in space, and in potential — the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.

Before I get in to what has been occupying my time over the past seven days, I'd like to make note of what I foresee happening in the next twenty-one. Starting today and going 'til Friday is my last week of classes this semester. The week after that is finals. I've got two exams and two papers, the last of which is due on Saturday the 17th, which is, incidentally, the day I fly from Burlington, through God knows how many connections (or does He?), to Salt Lake City, where I will be staying (well, not in SLC itself, but in the nearby Wasatch range) with my family until Boxing Day (eh?), at which point we shall fly back to Orange County. At least zat is ze plan.

Longest Week in History?

D.C. sunrise-

Hello, fellow bloggers.  Happy Friday.  I had a formal tonight for my fraternity, and today is Devin’s birthday, and ten thousand more things like a group project due tonight and two hours of work and lot of other stress-enducing things.  So that’s why this post is so late at night.  I had fun at the formal, but I feel like I ruined Devin’s birthday so it’s hard to know if it was worth it.  I wore my roommate’s too-small dress to the event.  Rather it is too small for her but fits me.

This week has been super long and stressful.  I landed Tuesday at 5:15 EST, or 2:15 PST, the time I had grown used to during my time on the West Coast.  I took a cool picture of D.C. as the sun went up.  It didn’t come out as cool as it was, but few things do.  Since then I have had mostly nineteen and twenty hour days, trying to help Devin get into college and do all my homework and survive life.  But I made it to the weekend so things will pick up.

Rich is Early--Must be the End of Days

OH WOW HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!?!  Well okay I'm super stressed and pressed for time so let's DO THIS!

Dirty Chai

First off, I would like to apologize for not posting on time. You see, I was in bed last night at 2 am thinking about life and how yesterday was Wednesday, so that meant today was Thursday when I realized OH GOD I MISSED WEDNESDAY. But I didn't get out of bed to write my post because I was tired. Because it was 2 am. Did I mention that I'm an insomniac now? Yeah, bad things are happening to my sleep patterns. Let's start off by learning about what I did on Thanksgiving, shall we?

I'm a Wood Elf. What are you?

So there really isn't much to talk about this week.  It was wonderful to see all of you over break, and I can't wait to hang out even more over winter break in three weeks.  I'm going to keep this post short for a couple of reasons.  One, like I said I don't really have much to talk about because I've only been at Berkeley for a few days and the rest of the time was just hanging with family back in Newport.  Two, the one thing I have been doing over the past few days (and during break) is playing Skyrim.  This game is sooooooo much fun.  It's ridiculously addicting and I probably shouldn't have got it right before my finals but whatever, I can slay dragons. And lastly, I have finals coming up as I'm sure you all do and thus I want as much time as possible composing myself mentally and leveling up my chem, math and astro skills (too much Skyrim for sure).

I think this might be the smallest post ever (lolzwait no Rich wins for his nonexistent post) but yeah I really don't have much to talk about.  It turns out my lab partner's best friend is Delara's suite-mate.  Small world it is.  Small world...  Also, my astronomy professor made a funny.  He was talking about the unification of the known four forces and said, "One force to rule them all, one force to find them, one force to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."  It was pretty epic, and I saw the opportunity for the joke coming a mile away and I'm glad he owned up to it and made it.  That's 2/4 professors now that have made LOTR jokes.  Beat that private schools.

Love you all,

Jason


P.S. I always come up with a title after I write my post.  I was thinking of what to make my title, when I realized I finally understood the meaning of your title Rich (Fus Ro Dah).  That's a pretty epic title.


OH AND WAIT I FORGOT THE CUTE PICTURE OF THE WEEK. 

HIPPPPPPOOOOOO!

I drove my feet though a desert whose mirage fluttered like a host.

HI MS. WALTERS!
HI ANYONE ELSE SECRETLY READING THIS THAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT!
HI REGULARS! (I haven't forgotten about you lot yet.)

Home is Where the Fart Is

Hello, all.  Devin and I are at my grandma’s in San Diego (well, Poway… yes, Derek, I encourage you to look at it on a map).  He took the train here today so he could spend Thanksgiving with his family, and we played a lot of cards today.

Started crocheting my next project… a baby blanket!  I’m excited.  None of you were especially impressed with the hat so I won’t elaborate too much, but I’m making a baby blanket for my friend Amber who’s having a baby in January.  She’s the one I work with who I told some of you was considering naming her kid Emma Rae, after me, sort of.  The Rae part that is.  But now she’s considering Tara and Brooklynn, each with the middle name Rose, now that she knows it’s a girl.  Regardless, the blanket takes three different yarns, and I picked pink, green, and yarn that cycles through a rainbow of baby colors.

Home is where the PIE IS.

Hello dear readers,

My week has been fairly interesting, I would say. However, these past few days have been pretty average due to the fact that most of my time has been spent writing a paper, doing homework and watching tv shows stored up on my DVR. But Wednesday and Thursday were sort of interesting. So let us start there.

An Entire Week to Remember

So I have a lot to talk about in this blog, and thus I will be all about efficiency.  So without further ado:

Awwwwwww

And that is the cute picture of the week!

Well, I'm Back

I have every intention of keeping this post, like its Samwisian title, relatively brief, and this is because I have every intention plus some extra ones of seeing all of you in the coming days. First off, though, I'd like to draw your attention to the 'stats' page on our blog. It came as a bit of a surprise to me that people have viewed our blog from so many countries, and I feel we've left out our foreign friends. So to our eight Latvian viewers I say sveiki, to our two Brazilian viewers I say ola, to our pair of Danish viewers I say hej, and did you know I'm half Danish? Most importantly, to our whopping 93 visitors from Russia, I'd like to say Ovechkin sucks.

Home Soon

             This week I had a wake-up call.  It was as powerful and over-caffeinated as the last drops of my Sweet & Spicy tea when I let it steep for too long.  It was because of this scholarship essay I wrote, I guess: this blog really matters to me, and you guys really matter to me.  I should put more effort into my blog posts.  We should see each other over Thanksgiving break.  Now onto our regularly-scheduled programming.

FUS RO DAH

EDIT: FULL POST COMPLETE.  I have a rehearsal coming up in a few minutes, so I can't do a full post in time, but I'll be back before midnight!  Let me just give you a quick synopsis if you wanted to go to bed at a reasonable hour/live on the least coast.
1. This play is stressful
2. SKYRIM IS FUCKING AMAZING
3. I'm really excited for Thanksgiving
4. I miss you guys.

I'll create a title later . . .

I cannot deny it any longer, dear friends. I must speak the truth, and I must speak it now.
 Or maybe later . . .NO, now! You have a right to know.
Right . . . NOW.

TO THE SHADOWLANDS!!!!!!!!

Monday night:  I wonder what I'm going to write about on the blog tomorrow....  I already have the cute picture of the week chosen, and I guess I can talk about my initiation, but I don't think many will care about that... Hmm... I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Tuesday Morning:  HOLY SHIT THAT WAS THE BEST DREAM I HAVE EVER HAD.

Now Dawn the yellow-robed scattered all over the earth.

There shouldn't have been anything particularly surprising about the alarm going off at 5:00; after all, I did set it to do exactly that, but then that's never stopped me from being surprised. No matter how much you want to accomplish something that necessitates an early wake-up, you never really want to actually do the waking up. But you all know this. What you do not know, however, are the specific circumstances surrounding this particular Saturday morning, and I am here to rectify that deplorable situation.

(Crochet) Hookah, please!

Tonight is the night for hot chocolate, the Kevinly blanket, and a good book.  Instead I have nothing to drink, a crochet hook, and “Roman Holiday” (an Audrey Hepburn classic).  But hello!  It was a long, interesting week.

If there had been a time lapse camera following me around this week, there’d be a lot of careful ins and outs and ins and outs of tiny crochet stitches, usually under Devin's careful watch.  This week that was my project.  Perhaps that’s an awfully domestic thing to learn, awfully feminine, but it’s also useful!  I’m almost done with a hat.  Next I want to make a blanket, but that takes a lot of time, and I don’t actually know what I’m doing.

SKYRIMSKYRIMSKYRIMSKYRIM

OH GOD YOU GUYS SKYRIM COMES OUT TOMORROW I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED LET'S GO.  Also, I'm on time.  So fuck all y'all.

Dances, Debates and Ann Gray

Imagine you are in a public place like the quad outside the library or in one of your college's buildings just having a nice time. It's possible that you are standing around hanging with friends. You could also be alone. Suddenly a man you have never met before gets behind you and starts pressing his pelvis against you repeatedly. This seems inherently wrong, no? It can be classified as sexual assault or at least harassment, especially if you tell him to back off and then he just comes back a few minutes later to try again. There is definitely something perverse about this situation, and I would hope you all would agree.
Now my question is: Why does adding music to this situation make it socially acceptable? Friends, I am talking about college dances. These profoundly confusing events are quite different from high school in one aspect. In high school, if you choose to get hot and heavy on the dance floor, it is with someone you know. It is consensual. It is still creepy, but I digress. Here at college, males just prowl through the masses of dancing students, single out females, and then exert their will upon them.

This issue has forced females who attend dances to create a system of defense. The girls must dance in groups together, staying close to one another in order to defend themselves against the men. It's almost like how animals move in a pack to protect themselves against their predators. In the female's system of protection seen at dances, they dance fairly close together, and it often could be seen as intimate if it weren't for the fact that the reason they do this is  the "stalking" males cannot.

Explosions, Brotherhood, and Mordor

Thermite reaction anyone?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to put on a warm coat and walk into the middle of a cornfield and spend the night there? Well, I have . . .

Note: I didn't actually spend the night in a cornfield, which would have been very difficult this time of year considering the harvest has come and gone, but I think it would be kinda fun. But maybe I'm just weird. Yeah, that's probably it. Does anyone remember that cornfield you have to run through in Left 4 Dead 2? That was fun. And this isn't the last reference to zombie video games in this post.

The Sea in Storm, a Night with No Moon, and a Concrete Owl

Hello everyone.  I apologize for essentially dropping off the face of the Earth till now.  I had a semi-shitty week, and realized at 2 AM on Friday that I only had -2 hours to post.  So yeah.  Anyway. EDIT: I wrote this intro before something cool happened just now.  I promise only about 1/15th of this post is pissy.

Skype cannot replace hugs. I miss my boy.

9:30 AM EST: I'm in class and I am not paying attention and I was looking forward to Rich's post. )=

3:21 PM EST: Everytime you check the blog something will be different!  Right now I am adding this Little Bee quote about tea because Jason and I miss tea!  Backstory: She is a Nigerian refugee talking to someone from Britain.

“Tea is the taste of my land: it is bitter and warm, strong, and sharp with memory.  It tastes of longing.  It tastes of the distance between where you are and where you come from.  Also it vanishes- the taste of it vanishes from your tongue while your lips are still hot from the cup.  It disappears, like plantations stretching up into the mist.  I have heard that your country drinks more tea than any other.  How sad that must make you -like children who long for absent mothers.  I am sorry.” (emphasis mine)

All this tea talk makes me want to call my Mom!

I love that: "like children who long for absent mothers".  Has tea ever made you feel that way? Me neither, but it's a beautiful image.  I highly recommend the book.  And to clear something up: Nicole said it's no Middlesex, which is no Name of the Wind.  I haven't read Name of the Wind and I know I won't convince anyone who's read it, but I'd assert that Middlesex is better than Name of the Wind.

What is this white powder on the ground?

It's Wednesday! Known to many as hump day! Hump in this case is a noun. Calm down. Don't mount your nearest classmate. Well, I mean, you can. But I would advise against it.

So the week before last week was break. And I didn't talk about it because I was too busy being a college student who scheduled things poorly. But do not fret! I will let you in on a little secret. All I did was sleep, consume massive amounts of food, and watch "Doctor Who", "A Very Potter Sequel", "Easy A" and this show called "The Misfits" with my friend Victoria. That's right, Rachael. We watched "Easy A". I thought of you giggling the entire time. 

Anyways, that was my break. Now let us look back upon last Thursday, where I spent the entire day, when not going to classes, working on my reading for Chemistry and meeting with my Lab group to work on our lab (surprise, surprise). I was so busy that I didn't have time for dinner. Yay! My new diet plan: always be working. Alright, that was the boring part of the week. Now onto FRIDAY!

November 26th. Cha for Tea. Be there or be square.

I don't know what I really want to talk about this week.  I swear this isn't like a follow the leader thing where all I do is imitate whatever Derek's post is about.  I just really have no extra special things to talk about this week. After typing up that last sentence I made what Favio now refers to as my duckface.  Apparently whenever I relate something that is sad or disappointing I make a "duckface" frown of sorts.  I tried looking up duckface on google images to find a picture in case you wanted some help visualizing this but the images were...less satisfactory than what I was looking for.  My duckface is definitely more of a frown, not whatever those people are doing.  At least I hope its not...

Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.

I don't know what I'm gonna blog about today. Let's see here. What happened last week? Hmmm. Well, I went to class a lot and did a lot of work. Okay, I just remembered something blog-worthy. While we (meaning the XC team) were doing our Thursday workout, it started snowing. Very exciting. I guess. Well, it's actually not that exciting, unless your Kevin Dales and have never spent time in the snow, which I am not. I suppose what's new for me is being in this sort of in-between state. I'm used to being in either a temperate climate with no snow whatsoever or being in a complete winter climate, and I've never really given thought to what a place looks like after only an inch of snow on the year. So that's what's up with the weather.

Bigs, Bracelets, and Buildings

Happy Friday, friends.  I love being the beginning of your weekend.  I will do a good job this week and outline everything I’ve done.  I hope Rich forgives me for not being a good Christian; I didn’t read the Bible this week.  If you want to stop here, Rich, you can.  Just cover your God-loving eyes.  That’s not a stab at all; I actually think it’s awesome that you’re reading it.  You ought to be one of those atheists who can out-Bible someone who considers themselves a die-hard Jesusphiliac.  Before I begin: I can’t promise a lot of caps lock; I don’t want to follow your lead as many others have decided to.

HELLO FELLOW YELLERS!

The other day I was thinking about how I should write a post like how Jason or someone usually writes theirs (essentially, without yelling).  Then I realized that THAT'D BE FUCKING HARD.  Anyway, sorry for the post so late in the night, but I just finished taking a chemistry practice test.  (91% WOOOOO!).  Okay, let's go.

A few words.

Hello all,

I really do not have time to write a post today. Not even this week. So this will be the substitution for the moment. I have so much going on right now. To show you my work load and to help myself get organized, I will now write out all the things I must do.

I have an uber-scary, long, and confusing lab report to write up that is due this Friday.
I have another lab report that is due Tuesday.
I also have a Chemistry essay that is due Monday.
I have two LARGE packets of articles to read for Chemistry that was given to me today, must be read by tomorrow, and will probably have a quiz accompanied with it.
I have a research paper in progress for my FYS that, although Miss Topping has prepared us for, is freaking me out a bit because I have no time for it.
I have reading for my FYS as well.
I have debate today from 4-6 which I cannot skip because I'm going to a tournament over the weekend.
I was GOING to go to an extra credit thing for Enviro from 6-8, but now I CANNOT.
On Thursday I also have debate I cannot skip, and I have to meet with my Lab group to talk about the Lab.
For my Environment and Society class I have three large packets to read by tomorrow. Which I cannot skip reading because we talk about them extensively in class.
For Chinese, by tomorrow I have to memorize an entire paragraph of Chinese that was just given to us today, as well as impress the man coming in to listen to us speak tomorrow. He gives out Chinese internships.
I also have 7 pages of Chinese workbook to do as well , which is due Monday. This would be fine if I WASN'T GOING TO BROWN FOR THE WEEKEND FOR A DEBATE TOURNAMENT. So that means I have literally no time Friday or Saturday to do my work.
Also, on Sunday, besides having to work on my essay, workbook and readings, I must also meet with my Lab group to work on a different lab.
So yeah, I cannot write a post for a bit other than this.

Love you all.

YELLING IS SO GREAT AHHHHHH!!!!!

So, in the spirit of Derek's post I thought I would try something new this week.

I AM GOING TO BELLIGERENTLY YELL AND CHANGE SUBJECT RAPIDLY BECAUSE IT TURNS OUT TO BE A LOT MORE FUN!

A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.

Telluride, Colorado, aka retirement option 1A.

"Hello Derek, my name is the Weather, and I'm here to tell you that I'm colder than the freezing point of water. IN OCTOBER. HOPE YOU BROUGHT A SCARF. Later bro."Yes, that is an accurate account of a conversation I took part in yesterday, and by "took part in" I mean "listened to and said nothing." And yes, the Weather is apparently a bro. Go figure.

So Fall Break is happening right now. We get today and tomorrow off, which means I have all day to generate the most awesomeful (it's a word, trust me) post ever. Well, at least in theory. Speaking of theories, I came up with a pretty good one recently. It goes like this: Vermont is cold. DISPROVE THAT ONE, CREATIONISTS. Oh what's that? You can't? Sound familiar? Right.

Fetch & Monuments

Alright boys, cute Danser—excellent friends: generous, helpful, intelligent.  Just kindly listen.  My name often precedes quite raunchy, sensual things, unlike very white xylophones…  Yell, “zenith!”

That doesn’t make much sense but it’s alphabetical anyway.  I couldn’t fix that y, z at the end but whatever.

I’m in lit class and we’re talking about Shakespeare and Milton.  Who of you know Milton’s first name without looking it up?  I always like when we ask these kinds of trivia questions, especially when I know the answer.

I won't yell during this post.

JUST KIDDING!

A week to remember, and then to forget, and then promptly remember again.

Hello all you literate folk. It's time for another sloppy post. By the way, right now I'm stalling as I try to remember what I did this past week. But don't tell anyone that I told you that. It'd make me look unprofessional. And we all know that the writers here at "Tertiary, My Dear Watson" are dedicated to only publishing the most delicately crafted and thoroughly edited posts. Alright, I think I've remembered the basic components of my week. Onwards? Onwards.

Frustration at Current Circumstances

I write this in honor of a friend, someone who has been disrespected and someone for whom I care.  I write this with anger and frustration, feeling helpless to act.

Fuck all of the bigots in the world.  Fuck their predispositions that cloud their viewpoints.  Why do you still exist at one of the most liberal colleges in the nation?  I thought I could escape you, but I guess not.  I guess I can never escape the stupidity of your beliefs.

I can only move forward.  I can force myself to be the better man.  I can force myself to have the courage to speak up when people use inappropriate language.  I can change what is around me to something better, a community that is more accepting and is not ignorant of other avenues of life.  I can support my friend, who deserves more than what has happened to him in the past twenty four hours.  I can step up to the plate and be the person I know I can be.


<3

Jason

You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.

"It's funny 'cause it's true." - John Michael Gunn

 I saw this on a blackboard a little while ago. I don't know how well you can read it, so I'll spell it out for you. The y-axis is labeled "People's attraction to me" and the x-axis is "How well they know me." The rest should be self-explanatory. For most of you. And really funny. 'Cause think about it: you don't know this person at all and you love him already. (Sorry Rachael and Nicole for assuming that it was made by a guy. But seriously, there's no way that's not a guy.)

Saturday began as the worst day I can remember. We had a cross country meet in Albany. I thought the bus was leaving campus at 9:45 that morning. It actually left at 8:45. I missed it. I didn't race. Albany was the qualifying race to move on with the team into championship season. So, all things considered, it could have been worse. I could have woken up at 6:00 six days a week for the entire summer and ran obscenely long distances and then have it all not matter at all because I never got to compete in a meaningful race. Oh wait, that's exactly what happened.

There... and Back, Again.

I have never related to anything more than this.  I love asofterworld.com

I’m glad that our blog is on Pacific Time.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN TWO WEEKS IN A ROW?

Rehearsal took way longer than advertised.  I would write a post now, but I type too loud and am keeping my roommate up.  Tomorrow, I swear.  Love you all.

EDIT: Okay Rachael wants me to edit this post instead of making a new one.  FINE (Disclaimer: this is the week before break for me, so I didn't really do anything this whole week.)

Technically I'm Still Being Productive

Derek and Rachael, you will finally truly
deserve my love once you understand this.

Hello, sojourners of the American education system (Specifically college. Tertiary, my dear Watson). I have decided to write my blog post early, although it may not seem early to you. You see, right now it's Tuesday night. Well, not RIGHT as you read this. No, now it's Wednesday. For you. But it's not. Not for me. Because it's Tuesday. Hoorah! Writing is like time travel! Timey Wimey, anyone?

Anyways, the reason why I am writing my post early is so that I can focus on studying for my midterm on Wednesday. So even though I technically should be studying for it right now, I'm still being productive because eventually I will have to post a blog entry. Onwards?

Point Reyes, My Future Home

Yes. Be Jealous.

More Than a Feeling

Yes Rachael, this is us racing two days ago.

Get it? Boston? No? Whatever.
On Saturday I participated in the Open New England Cross Country race in, surprise, Boston. I say "participated" because it would be inaccurate to say "raced." This is because I was, and indeed still am, rather sick, and therefore ran an awful time. So I'm not going to talk about that. Or the fact that Austin beat me by three and a half minutes. Honestly, if I was healthy, he would have still probably beat me by at least half a minute. But anyways, I think Rachael demanded some pictures of us. Unfortunately, I forgot about this request. Sorry. Just imagine the two of us in a sweaty embrace. Or look at the year-old picture that you've already been looking at 'cause it's right in front of you, and pretend we're wearing racing singlets. One other item of note regarding Austin: he hasn't shaved since he got to Wesleyan a month ago, so he has this disgusting (or cute, whichever tickles your fancy) goatee that he's really fond of.

Wait...YES post on Sundays?

Hey everyone!  I know I didn't post on my particular day...or the day after...orrrr the day after that.  BUT I HAD GOOD REASONS I PROMISE!  Okay so yeah here we goooooooooooooo

"There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours. "

Hey, there.  I will reinstate the trend where people post on time, albeit barely.  I wrote this a long time ago but just got back from a showing of The Princess Bride <3 (That's what my title quote is from btw)

There is a lot I can talk about but I will be focusing on the latter half of my week, mostly because Wednesday and Thursday were two of the longest days I’ve had since arriving at AU.

A few announcements: (A) I had a paper and two midterms this week.  Those numbers are misleading because they are small numbers and do not convey the Goliath-esqe amount of effort involved. (B) Happy your-birthday-is-a-week-from-today, Derek.  Hopefully you get lots of nice presents. (C) My parents have requested to see more pictures of me, and since they pretend to read this blog, I will include those here.

OMG TWO IN A ROW

Hey everyone, I just got back from a crazy thing I didn't even know was happening that I'll describe tomorrow but my roommates are trying to sleep so I can't type but yeah super sorry I'll post early tomorrow.

EDIT: Okay I'm really sorry you can post Rachael I have to write a paper I'll write tonight/saturday [ =( ]

-Rich

Nicole's Breaking the Rules

I'm going to go through my week briefly, with no interesting theme or clever segues.

Thursday (see, I wasn't kidding about the lack of segues):

On Thursday I finished an Environment and Society essay at the last possible minute, printing it out 20 minutes or so before class. A new experience for me, to be sure. And my essay was quite a mess. Today I get it back. I do not want to see the score I received. After Environment and Society I had debate. I decided to watch instead of actually debate. It was fine. 

Fleshlights anyone?

There are many things I'd like to convey in this post.  Many of them, however, will not get said due to my sickness which has been progressively getting worse over the past three weeks.  Yes, I've been sick for three whole weeks, and am still not better.  This is due to some stupid doctor who wouldn't believe me when I said I wasn't getting any better and my sore throat felt like strep throat (having had this before).  She insisted it was merely a virus that I would get over in a couple days.  So, upon revisiting the doctor (a different one this time) this morning, she (also a woman doctor, but not to be confused with the other bitch) immediately thought I had strep and sent me down to the lab to take a strep test.  Luckily, it turns out I don't have strep, but I most likely have laryngitis (Mr. Coe anyone?) and I've been prescribed some antibiotics.

My issue comes with this fucking joke of a doctor that saw me the first time I went in.  I understand the new trend towards not giving antibiotics as readily as they did before, but this doctor was insistent that I had a virus without even taking a look down my throat. She based her diagnosis on the fact that because my sore throat had improved (minimally! I said minimally!) ever so slightly, it was a sign I was on my way to recovery and apparently didn't even deserve the attention of an oral examination.  So my point is: bitches be crazy... and we need better doctor's out there. So Rich... Get to it.

So I'm not really feeling all that well, and right after I post this I'm going to try and go to bed.  My one story I will relate to you guys this week is my pledge event that was held on Saturday.  An interesting event this turned out to be, we all (the pledge class) bused over to a store by the name of Good Vibrations.  Good Vibrations, in case you're unaware, is a sex toy shop.  Our goal for the day was to have a conversation as straight-faced as possible about one of the sex toys with a worker there. Quite the interesting pledge event...

One of my fellow pledges learned that when using whips, it is much easier to enjoy smaller whips than larger ones.  Large whips often tire one out because you need to use your full arm.  Shorter whips are much more efficient because you only need to use your wrist muscles, making you last longer.  Also, my other pledge brothers found out that lube generally has an inverse relationship when it comes to flavor and moisturizing qualities.  I'm sure you are all glued to your seat, scribbling down all these wonderful tips for use later, so I won't beat around the bush and I'll get to what my conversation with Terri (yes, fucking Terri. I'm pretty sure she was a lesbian as well) was about.

I had a lovely conversation about a certain vibrating fist dildo that happened to be on display.  I pretended to be a "novice at being penetrated" (quotes are from my actual conversation) and wondered "how I could ramp up to such an erotic device."  She informed me that "like any muscle in the body, the anus (this is where I almost broke down laughing; something about the word anus still cracks up my inner twelve year old) needs time to adjust and expand."  She suggested I try one of the dildos with varying widths so I could start small and eventually get up to the magical fist.

So yeah, that was the highlight of my week. How was yours?

Jason

P.S. Just had tom yum noodle soup. Pretty delicious. I only thought to include this because I think Rich told me to try it like a billion years ago. That is all.

Death, the most dreaded of evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist.

Salutations, fellow bloggers.

I'm gonna talk about Winkler for a little bit right now because he kicks ass.
Throughout the old man's lectures, he incorporates loads of demonstrations, often involving volunteers from the class. I won't try to remember all of them because that would be nigh impossible, but I can certainly recount a few from the last seven days.

"Time is making fools of us again"

When making fun of Palin, the question not "Why?" but "Why not?"

It’s already Friday again?!

How does time pass so quickly?  Dumbledore ne’er said a truer thing than the title of my blogpost.  He probably said other equally-true things, but ne’er a truer! Ne’er!  Yea, verily!

Speaking of which, I emailed Ms. Topping this week to have her look at a poem I’m submitting to our literary magazine and titled said email “Yea, verily!”.  Oh wait what I wrote poetry?!

All the single ladies? ALL THE SINGLE LADIES!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS TITLE HAS SOME RELEVANCE TO MY LIFE?!

Come Here For Sex Jokes. Haha . . . Come.

Once again it's time for me to post exciting stories about my week at Bates College that leave you unsatisfied with your own college experience. However, remembering my past week is very difficult for me. No, not because I black out all weekend long due to excess partying. It's because I have a horrible memory (quite a useful trait for college courses, eh?). Well, I shall try my best to relate my week to you, as I know you adore my posts. As I write this, I envision you greedily reading my words, hungrily scrolling down the page for more information about my life. Ahem. Anyways . . .

A Weekend to Remember

This past weekend has no doubt been one of the best weekends up here at college. And when I say "up here" I am referencing my location to our "permanent address" of conservative Newport (which I have learned must be differentiated between our local address at each of our respective colleges) and not your local addresses which I do recognize to be north of me (even you Rachael! 1 degree!). So most of my post will thus be focused on Saturday and Sunday, and will exclude the rest of my week which you can assume was chock full of studying and homework for my midterms that did/currently/will forever haunt me.

Galileo Figaro Magnifico

It will come as no great shock to any of you that the first thing I think of when pressed to summarize the most recent seven days that I have lived through is work. Classes have really started to pick up and accordingly I have been spending a great deal of time studying. The nice thing about my workload is that it is mostly reading, so even if I have, say, five hours of work, as was the case yesterday, I'm spending four and a half of those hours attending to something written by someone other than me, which is considerably easier, I think, than attending to something written by me and by that I mean writing it myself.

Kan Chu Lai, it's Lion King Time!

Another week has passed already somehow!  The weeks go by so fast that I have to look at my planner to assess what I’ve done.  Turns out it’s mostly homework.  But there were fun moments, too.  I’ll focus on those.

ELLO ELLO ELLO!

Why is my title british and yelling?  I DON'T KNOW!  Anyhow, my week was interesting.  LET'S HEAR ABOUT IT.

A Very Contagious Virus

Good day, my contemporary contemporaries! Have you noticed how busy you have become? Or how you seem to not have adequate time to do all the things you wish? Have you begun to barter away your precious hours of sleep to learn more about the solar system or political climate in Mozambique? What about your sudden need to consume caffeine at high quantities? These issues, my dear compatriots, are side effects of what the scientists call "College". Do not be alarmed! College, when dealt with appropriately, can be cured in about four years (unless it evolves into the Graduate strain). This condition that we have obtained ( I believe the scientific name for the virus we've caught is called Fültyme enrolmint) is very easy to deal with if you take the necessary steps to survive. 

Where is Poppy when you need her?

So this week's post is going to be super short due to two reasons. One, I am extremely sick. I have been sick for about two weeks now, but it has recently gotten much worse (i.e. coughing up phlegm and having my voice sound like nails on a chalkboard). Thus, I feel shitty and am not in the mood to write an extremely elaborate post. Sorry guys. Second, I have my first midterm tomorrow on Chem 4A. This class has proved rather challenging in the past two weeks (eww quantum mechanics) and thus I need as much time as possible to study for it.

The lesson I will take away from this past miserable week is that college life is not conducive to an ill person. You can't simply call out of class like you did in highschool, because if you do you're basically fucked. And thus all of your time is still spent doing college activities; not resting, which is what I should be doing. So yeah that's basically it, I'm going to go to a chem review session right after I post this, and then should be up all night studying. Yeah FML.

Love you all and I'm sorry this post was so short, I'll try harder for next week.

Jason

P.S Here's something you might enjoy found in one of our classrooms.

Ubi Est Italia?

According to my usually reliable memory, nobody reading this (assuming my audience here is what I think it is) has been to Middlebury. This being the case, I'd like to devote a few words to a description of the campus.

Middlebury is rather hilly. There are few places to which you can walk and not undergo a noticeable elevation change. This creates an interesting dynamic for many of the buildings on campus. Very often, if you walk into a building on the ground floor and you cross to the other side of the building, you will find that you are no longer on the ground floor. For instance, if I want to exit my dormitory building from the west, I can walk directly out without using the stairs, but if I want to use the eastern exit, I must first ascend a flight of stairs. The larger the building, the bigger the elevation change tends to be from one end to the other.

Once you go Rebecca Black you can never go back

Title because it's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday?

Happy Friday, all. We made it through another week of college. Well, I think we did. I made it anyway, which is what counts.

A brief week summary (keep an eye out for the two links I've provided!):

Last Friday besides all of my technical difficulties in posting up my blog, I went to a cute farmer’s market across the street and got three orchard-fresh apples and four cookies. I don’t know if you have had orchard-fresh apples, but they’re worth the hyphen and extra three syllables. They look good, they taste amazing; they SMELL like heaven. I’m not going to real heaven but orchard-fresh apples are close enough. Promise. (Tell me how heaven is though. Since Nicole and I are outliving the rest of you, being vegetarian and all. Of course we’re all pretty atheist so probably none of us will get there. Jason would have except he’s a boozehound. Google it!)

TIME TRAVEL

"Wow Rich, I could have sworn you were supposed to post on Thursday."
"IT IS THURSDAY WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT" /embarrassed

Okay.  I'm sorry I didn't post on time.  Skip ahead to "YESTERDAY" if you want to find out why.  Or, if you care about my life, read the whole thing! =D

A Good Day for Tea

Surprisingly, I do not have a lot to say. I've gotten quite accustomed to life at Bates thus far. It almost seems like I've lived at Bates for a few months already.

Originally in this post I described my usual day and facts about my classes. But it was really boring. Instead I'll talk to you about my extra curricular activities, which also happen to be boring.

So, I went to the activities fair in one of the gyms (lovingly referred to as "The Gray Cage") where all the school clubs assemble to hassle young, impressionable freshmen into joining their club. It's nothing like the CdM club rush. This fair is SCARY. It is noisy and crazy, with upperclassmen screaming at you and waving signs, putting papers into your hands, and blowing whistles. I signed up for a few things, but I'm only going to talk about one of activities I signed up for. First, I signed up for the Debate team. It's awesome. On my first day, the older members debated upon whether JFK, if given the choice, should release 1000 velociraptors upon the USSR. It was hilarious, and well articulated. At the end of the debate, they opened up the argument for the audience, and I stepped up. I talked about the biological side of the issue. Mainly, the fact that the dinosaurs would die quickly due to the fact that our atmosphere is quite different from what they're used to. And they would choke. And die. Aaaaanyways, If I stay dedicated to the club, I have the chance to travel to England and around the world for the international college debate competition. That would be awesome, right? Too bad I have no idea how to debate. These are the moments in my life where I wish I was as good as Rich at making BS sound like words of pure wisdom.

Now for a nerd rant (and at this moment you're thinking "Nicole, you just went on for a paragraph about Debate Team. All you've been doing is nerd ranting." And to that I kindly say "STFU". Ah, Debate Team has taught me so much about articulate elocution, can't you tell?).

The first order of nerd business is Doctor Who. Currently in my possession are two FREAKING AMAZING posters of Doctor Who theme. I have also watched three new episodes of Doctor Who since my arrival at Maine. I am happy to say I enjoyed them, though maybe not as much as I could have.

The second order of nerd business is the fact that I have now met two nerdfighters on my college campus. We have bonded over our love of all things nerdy (read: spectacular). I have also turned one of your own ( non-nerdfighter folk) into a nerd fighter. I am just here to inform you that we will slowly but surely take over the world.

And finally, the last order of business on the nerd agenda for the day:

I GOT INTO POTTERMORE!

*Blasts Hedwig's Theme*

BaNA na na NA na NA NA, na na NA NA na NA!

It probably won't live up to any of your guy's expectation, but I thoroughly enjoy sitting back, relaxing, listening to the Harry Potter soundtrack, and clicking through the magical world we've all come to love and cherish so much. I got my wand last night. It's quite a rare combination. Vine (very uncommon) and Phoenix Feather (the rarest, good friends!). 10 3/4 inches (I would have liked it a bit longer, but such is life. Also, that's what she said. [ Rachael: It was away, it was in a box!]). Tonight I plan on taking my sorting hat test. I'm willing to be sorted into any house, as I think they all have their strengths. For instance, Hufflepuffs are particularly good finders. (A Very Potter Musical? Anyone? No?).

And lastly, some sad news about my life. This paragraph is for those who enjoy to bask in my misfortune. I got callbacks from the acapella group I tried out for (wait, isn't this good news?) but I didn't get in (ah, there it is!). I don't mind too much. I had fun singing. Another bad thing that has happened is that is seems that I am coming down with some kind of sickness which includes stabbing stomach pains and a sore throat. Do not worry, I have taken up tea-drinking (Mostly because I'm a Hogwarts student now. Which is in Britain. And British people drink tea. I know, I know. I was surprised to find that out too.) And the saddest piece of information yet (Rich, get ready to have your heart broken.) My cat, Shotsy, died. She was old. It was expected. But I grew up with her since I was 4, so it's a bit sad to know I won't be coming home to her.

So that's a good way to end a blogpost, right? Haha. Sorry.

Oh hey, I know something that will end the blog post on a pleasant note!

I can have soft serve ice cream and dessert whenever I want!

Please do not comment on my weight gain when we meet up again.

I'll update you on the Hogwart's House information,

UPDATE: I'm a Ravenclaw! No sassy remarks on how I shouldn't be due to my ineptitude with the English language. I don't re-read my posts. Deal with it.

Nicole

Cuddling a Hobo... The Life of a Fraternity Pledge

So I'd like to start this wonderful Tuesday off by saying that about 5 hours prior to posting this I played badminton with Kevin Bam Bam. Yes I know, my life is better than all of yours. Except contrary to that point I would like to point out that upon reading all of your posts, your lives are just as awesome as mine, perhaps more (don't get used to this flattery). I especially enjoy reading about all of the little things you four relate in your posts. The expression on my face upon reading all of your posts is nothing less of sheer happiness, due to the fact that I can still keep in touch with some of my best friends.

Okay, enough of this rubbish sentimental stuff, down to the nitty gritty. So another preface to this post today is that I will in fact depart from my planned schedule of going into much detail on one specific topic and rather tell you all about my extremely busy week. I originally wanted to do the one topic per week idea because honestly I thought most of my weeks would be just alot (RAWR! I hope more than just Rich gets this) of time spent on class and homework. This turns out not to be the case, or at least not for this week. This week was fun because I had my first activity with my pledge brothers at the fraternity I joined... Yes. Fraternity.

A FRAT!?!?!?!?!? YOU JOINED A FRAT!?!?!?!?

Yes. We drink and fuck women daily.

Except, we don't. Shame too, (sorry Derek, review for you) because a study was done that if you ejaculate 360 times a year you significantly reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Weeee! The more you know...

So yeah, I was unsure if I was going to rush (some of this stuff is from the second week of school till now but I didn't get to include it in the first post so I'm going over it now) at all, and almost positive not first semester until... Cole of all people wanted to go to a rush event. So yeah, apparently Cole was texted by this guy who used to go to our school (Sam Parks, I think only Derek will know him) saying we should come by the frat he's in because they were having a barbecue. So, being a college student, I obviously obliged to getting free food somewhere. This was the first night of rush (though I was unaware at the time) and it was a sort of kickback just to get to know the brothers. I went with Joel (yes be jealous) and Cole (ehh, your choice) to mainly just get some food in my belly.

FLASHBACK!!!!! The first couple days at Berkeley I was out partying on Frat Row and I had been to a party hosted by this frat (Phi Kappa Psi, or Phi Psi for short), which was definitely the best/least sketch of all the parties I went to. Just FYI.

We ended up staying there longer than expected, Man-flirting, as the activity is dubbed. This was where I first got a feeling that a frat isn't just the partying lifestyle it is portrayed as. All of the brothers were extremely chill and they were, for lack of a better word, more "real" than I expected. So yeah, my interest was slightly aroused (good verb choice I know) so I decided to attend as many of the rush events for this particular frat, as much as I could anyway. I ended up going to: Game Night (BP essentially), Ultimate Frisbee (quite fun), Sky High Dodgeball (OH MY GOD READ BELOW), and Wing and Cigars (no smoking for me, but the wings were tasty). Sky High Dodgeball is something we must do when we see each other over Winter Break. It was one of the most fun things I have ever done. Bouncing on trampolines while playing dodgeball is unlike anything else. Sidenote: Kevin also joined a frat (different one than mine) and he concurs that Sky High Dodgeball is fucking amazing.

The way the fraternity system works is you (the rushee) go to rush events throughout rush week, and then the brothers of each fraternity will decide whether they want to give you a bid, an invite to become a pledge at the fraternity. Now, this sounds really simple... and it kind of is. There are no names being taken down for records, no registration fee, no formal tours of the house. There is essentially no structure to rushing (fraternities that is, sororities are much different, extremely structured) and thus you just need to try the hardest to make sure that the brothers at the fraternity you are interested in joining know you, and know your name. Being loud and obnoxious is surprisingly effective (take note Rich).

So now that you know how frats and he rushing process works, I got my bid during the 3rd rush event I attended on the 5th day of rush (I missed 2 days for random shit) and although apprehensive about becoming a stereotypical frat bro, I decided to accept because I figured it would be a good way to meet new people and cultivate my social life. One way that my college experience is completely different than all of yours is that I was already friends with so many people before I came to Cal. This is significant because having so many close friends to begin with makes it much more difficult to branch out and build new friendships. I've managed, but knowing so many people from high school definitely puts you at a disadvantage, not to mention I'm rooming with someone from high school along with being in the most antisocial dorm.

Pledging up until this weekend was so far uneventful. We had a couple of meeting (in chapter meetings one of the things we do is pass around the gavel and make a little speech about how our week is going, and I dropped the gavel on the first chapter meeting, sooooooo awkward... my speech made up for it though and I got an applause at the end), but other than that nothing has happened. Up until this weekend, where we had our first pledge event: Scavenger hunt in San Francisco and Berkeley. SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!

Sell one of the brother's wisdom teeth. Five cents please. Take a picture with Bush Guy (a homeless man who tries to scare the fucking shit, surprisingly successfully, out of people by popping out of foliage he holds up to camouflage himself). No Problem. Cuddle with a homeless guy. How about cuddle with two homeless guys! (Note: Derek no homeless person will ever replace you in my heart, or in my bed. And Jack, if you are reading this the answer is no, your roommate is not gay. Derek and I just have something special.)

Among other things we did were: take a picture on a cable car, get a phone number from an Abercrombie model, have a race on Lombard street (the crookedest street in the world, also inconveniently uphill), act out "The Play" (Cal vs Stanford 1982) on a crowded sidewalk, act out a scene from Jurassic Park in front of the full skeleton of a T-rex in the Valley Life Sciences Building (toilet scene anyone?), call a number written on a bathroom stall (apparently someone lost a Hello Kitty planner), "party boy" a studious Asian girl in the library, and finally perform a synchronized swim routine in the largest fountain on campus (Heeeeeey Macarena!). Overall, a successful day.

This scavenger hunt was probably one of the most fun things I've done since being at Cal (oh and Sky High Dodgeball, can't forget my hard on for that). ANDDDDDDDDDD (brace for it Rachael), total coincidence that the San Francisco Urban Race was the same day as the day we went into San Fran. Here are some pictures (see below) of my time in San Fran.

Pledge class at top of Lombard Street.

Urban Race peeps at the beginning of their long day (blue shirts).

A cool fountain I saw.

Um, what is tastier than fucking alligator bread.

Yeah, so I hope this extremely long post made up for my shorter one last week. I truly did have a lot of fun on my scavenger hunt, and I cannot wait to see what else lies in my Frat future. Another thing to note is the identity of my suite-mates. They are two enormous black football players who I really haven't gotten to know too well since they are gone most of the time for football. They're pretty chill, but there really isn't too much I know about them, so until a later date this is as much as I can tell you about them. Sorry that this is late for three of you, I tried getting it out earlier but I just had so many things I wanted to say that it was hard to compose it quickly, especially with the busy schedule that is college life. See you next Tuesday!

Stay Classy,

Jason

A Sea of Stars

I didn't proofread this, so there might be errors. I'm tired. Sorry. Not really. I'm never sorry.

A week ago I left you, following my first weekend in my dormitory, on the eve of general move-in day. So let us visit my last Tuesday, the twenty-four hour period responsible for the doubling of the population of my little cubiculum.

My roommate's name is Jack Hunsicker. He hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota, though he attended a private boarding school in Massachusetts (just like everybody else here) prior to his arrival at Middlebury. I, regretfully for the sake of this column's entertainment value but thankfully for the sake of my sanity and my comfort, which to me but not necessarily to you trumps the former, have no qualms about Mr. Hunsicker. Also, he is very tall.

I worked so hard to get this put online, so love me.

Evening, fellow bloggers.

I’ve been thinking about what to talk about for a while, and naturally all of it escapes me now. But the nugget of wisdom I’ve mined from college thus far is this:

-It’s all about having your hands full.

Physically: how do you close an umbrella while holding a purse, laptop, key card, textbook, newspaper, and hot chocolate all while opening a door to avoid getting drenched? Mentally: college, at its worse, is hell, and at its best is heaven. Not HELL, hell; I’m happy here. But there are moments of how-the-FUCK-am-I-supposed-to-read-two-newspapers-daily-AND-everything-else-you’ve-assigned-me? and wow I miss people.

Width (not mine)

Hey all.  I adjusted the width of our blog because I noticed as I was writing my post that extra-large pictures did this really annoying thing where they stuck off the sides of the border.  If this fucks up your viewing experience, let me know in the comments and I'll fix it.  Thanks!
-Rich

Profanity. Did you miss me?

Hello everyone!  This is Rich.  I'm the thursday guy.  Also, I'm the one going to Reed.  So I guess I'll start talking now.

I live in a divided triple with Kevin Mitchell and Ted Sand.  They're cool kids.  We're in the sci-fi fantasy dorm, which at first I was a bit nervous about cause I didn't want to be way out-nerded, but I'm doing alright.  Copious Firefly/Doctor Who knowledge is saving my life.  Okay but anyway.  I'm just going to do this a week at a time, brief summary of HOW AWESOME MY LIFE IS.  And even though it's been more than a week since I wrote...fuck all y'all, I'll do what I want.  (This post will have short days because I kind of just realized I would be writing it like this, so I can't quite remember every thing that happened all these days.)

Rain, Pictures, and Word Vomit

Good day, young explorers of the mind. Today, you will embark on a journey. A mental journey, my friends (for why would I be the one to make you suffer through physical exercise?). It is time to travel back to the day I arrived in Maine. It was a rainy day, one quite like today (she said as she solemnly looked out at the drizzly Lewiston weather). I ate at a pub endearingly named "Gritty Mcduffs" and begrudgingly allowed a half-hysteric mother to snap photographs any time something was deemed important. Like a sign. Or another sign. Or a building . . . with a sign. I believe I heard the phrase "just one more picture" about twenty thousand times. Hyperboles aside, it was a fairly pleasant day.

The next day my parents and I drove to Bed Bath and Beyond. This was when it started to really storm. I was quite excited by the weather, but judging by my parents' pale complexions, I might have been the only one. We headed into Office Max to buy some school supplies and I took my sweet time deciding what pencils to buy ("There are so many types! Should I get the ones with the big erasers or just a whole bunch of cheap pencils?! Look at this pencil's nice grippy thing! This one is smudge proof!" "Nicole, they're pencils. Choose."). Needless to say, MissIndecisive was resurrected and it was an hour before my parents and I strode up to the counter with folders and organizers in tow (If anyone was curious about the pencil thing, I got both fancy pencils and cheap ones). At that moment, the power went out. Alas, the materials we had brought up to the check out station could not be bought. Instead, my family and I ate lunch and came back to buy the stuff later on. There was also a lot of picture taking. But this time my friend Adina was pulled into the shots. I must apologize to her again soon. And pay for her therapy.

Fast forward to my AESOP trip. You will be pleased (or resentful. You guys could go either way.) to know that on my surfing trip I did, in fact, surf. I caught waves, stood up, and rode them to shore. I also got hit in the head by my surf board twice and got beat up by a few waves, but, you know, you take the lows with the highs. I met a bunch of wonderful freshmen on my AESOP trip, and the junior leaders were amazing as well (and, quite attractive, if I do say so myself. Which I do). Sam (one of my leaders) and I bonded over a mutual love of Firefly, Arrested Development, Doctor Who (Which I haven't watched the newest episode of yet! Rich! I am so full of fury!) and surfing. He was a little jealous of the fact that I lived in Newport Beach (Thus, I was nicknamed "California" while we surfed. Although, it might have been less of a term of endearment and more of a "I forgot your name, but I remember you live in Cali" kind of thing). Anyways, my AESOP group had a lot of fun chilling at the beach and hanging out by the campfire. While we roasted s'mores we met a new friend. He was found trying to steal our graham crackers. We named him DeadMau5. It was a mouse, by the way, for those of you (Derek) who don't get the pop culture reference (Derek) or just couldn't piece together the facts (Derek).

When my AESOP group got back to campus, Orientation began. Let the awkward socializing begin. Or so I thought. Apparently, I am quite good at being social. People actually talked to me. I made some friends at the Pizza Social, and the Ice Cream Social, as well as at The Commons, which is the cafeteria for the entire school. They have 64 types of cereals to choose from (My friend Jack has decided to consume every cereal choice, one flavor at a time), a vegan bar, a vast range of desserts always at the ready (ice cream station!) and awesome pizza. The meal plan is this: if you have your i.d. card, you can eat. Whenever.

During Orientation there was a President's Welcome, in which the president and the main(e) (Haha, get it? Maine? Aaaahhh . . . ) admissions director talked to the entering freshmen and their parents. The admissions director talked about how amazing the entering class was. She talked about "a gentleman in the crowd" (yeah, yeah, whatever) who had devoted all of his time to building a stronger community (or whatever, I wasn't paying attention) and a girl who interviewed people from Bill Clinton (*yawn*) to Jane Goodall (or something like that, I wasn't listening). She also boasted about having a "young woman in the audience" (eh?) who traveled to Central America (I'm listening . . .) to study primates (Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!) and research their behavior and environment (Me? Is she talking about me?!) as well as work with well known organizations to help spread awareness about the issues of primate well being (Oh, yeah! Me!). Out of all of the 513 students to choose from, I was spoken about as an example of some of the "exceptional" students of the entering class. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. They must have had a bad year in admissions.

Anyways, I have been spending most of my time with my new friend Jack, who I met at the Pizza Social. He's almost as funny as I am. Almost. He really likes ice hockey (Derek) and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah (Derek). He also is half Jewish and reminds me a bit of Daniel Flaxman. In a good way, of course. We've been going to orientation things together (there was an awesome one that was led by two speakers. They were a gay couple. They were wonderful. Rachael would have liked them.), movies at Bates (Thor), and lunches (BBQs) etc. Of course I have other good friends as well. Oh, what's that? No I don't? Oops. I should get on that.

Today was my first day of classes. All of my professors and hilarious. My Chem professor started out by saying that he was teaching us with the assumption that we know nothing about chemistry (an accurate assumption, to be sure) and that he wasn't going to bother teaching us mathematical concepts and formulas because we would promptly forget them after the class was over. As you can tell, he is my kind of professor. My FYS professor is the same as my Environment and Society professor, and she's quirky and clever. She already has us writing a paper that is due on the 14th (which is why I originally logged on to my computer. I got distracted, as you can see). My Chinese teacher is funny, as well. She makes jokes, and just says things that makes the class burst out in smiles and laughter. Although, sometimes the funny things she says are not intended to be funny. But alas, they make me giggle none the less.

My room mate, Lydia, is very kind. We have gotten on well together. No fights, no tense moments. Just helpful behavior and a mutual respect for each other's privacy and belongings.

Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed reading my word vomit. I literally just typed down whatever came to my mind, so I'm sorry for the messy structure. I'll get better with time. I'll plan next time. I just wanted you guys to know what I was up to. I miss you guys quite a bit. No one here plays Taboo or Catan, so that's a bit upsetting. Although they do play bananagrams and have a scrabble club, which is good. Bates also has a competitive eating club, which could be an adventure. Sorry, I'm rambling again.

I should go do some college work. Wouldn't it be funny if after all that time I spent working hard to get into college, I just started slacking off?

The answer is no. No, it would not be funny.

Don't Blink,

Nicole Danser

Oh Herro!

Tuesday: The second day of the week. The... now here is where I thought I would put all my memorable Tuesday experiences, finishing with a, "And now the day of my blog post." Sadly, I don't have any memorable experiences that have happened on a Tuesday. Tuesday isn't the day where I had my first kiss. It isn't the day when I decided I would be going to Cal. It isn't the day when I first got drunk, although Rachael might want it pointed out that Tuesday does rhyme with Booze-day. It isn't any memorable day to me because, well nothing happens on Tuesdays. But I guess now it is the day I am to post in this blog of sorts. So starting now, I guess Tuesdays do have meaning.

To begin, I will preface this post with a disclaimer that it is probably not going to be as good as Derek's post which I have yet to read but assume to be quite entertaining. I thought reading his post might make me think of myself unworthy to post on this digital forum for all (mainly the 5 of us because as Nicole pointed out no one else will be interested in our lives) to read. The good news is, as I said above, that I have not read Derek's post, and am thus quite excited to be writing this now. I am excited to be reconnecting with my high school friends who I do feel the absence of though it has only been a couple weeks. People generally say that college is where you make the majority of your friends that persist into your adult life, but I have a hope that those college friends can also be joined by some from my high school days.

Ok, now down to the nitty gritty. I don't really want to go into anything too specific in my first post, I feel more like it should be an introduction of what is to come. A small glimpse at all the, hopefully, fun and interesting stories I get to share with you. Therefore, I won't go into the 2 male friends from Texas I have made who are conservative Christians yet slap each other on the butt and stroke each others thighs. I won't go into Cole's OCD that I see evidence of almost daily or the fact that he has a flatulence problem. I won't go into the girl that I have found most...interesting, and how her name is quite ironic. All of these can be left for another date, specifically another Tuesday.

What will I tell you in this post then? Basically, that I am wholeheartedly enjoying my new life at college. I love the freedom to do whatever I want and to go wherever I please. I love my Chemistry class taught by an Australian professor who writes in 5 different colors of chalk in the neatest writing I have ever seen. I love having the ability to eat at any time, and frequently at that. There are so many things that I am loving about it, and I can't wait to see what other new experiences I am able to participate in.

So yeah... Hey! I'm still alive! I can't wait for all the interesting stories I am sure all of you will post throughout the year and I apologize if you would've liked a longer post by me but I will surely make up for it throughout the year. I'm going to focus on each post being about something specific and having all the details about that one thing, rather than taking you through a tour of my experience week by week. You would probably get tired of me complaining about math homework otherwise. Which, coincidentally (except not really at all) I am now about to do. Can't wait to read everyone else's post!

- Jason

Protip

Hey folks.  If you haven't read Derek's post yet you should.  It's gold.  However, one nitpicky thing--if you're going to write a nice long post with juicy pictures (which you had all dammed better be), try to include a jump.

BUT RICHARD, WHAT ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH IS A JUMP?

A jump is that little thing that says "Read more..." and when you click it it takes you to the full post.

Like this. (More after the jump)

I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good

Let's start this story up on the twenty-sixth day of August, which, for those of you who didn't just check your calendars, i.e. all of you, was a Friday. Two Fridays ago, to be precise. I'm at home in Newport Beach on this particular Friday. In my room, again, to be precise. My dad walks up the stairs, hangs a quick pair of rights, and starts talking to me.

"So you know how we're supposed to fly out on Sunday?" he says. I am, of course, paraphrasing.
"Yup."
"And you know how the plan was to go from Long Beach to JFK (That's in NYC, Jason.) to Burlington?"
"Yup."
"And you know how there's a hurricane going on back east?"
"Yup."
"Well, we've had to rearrange our flights."
"And . . ."
"We're still flying out on Sunday from Long Beach, but we go to Orlando via Austin, spend a night in Florida, and fly up the coast to Burlington Monday afternoon."
"So what you're saying is we've got an entire morning in Orlando."
"Derek, why are you smiling?"

No Posts on Sunday!

So don't even try. Oh wait.

Oh so Rich is so fancy!

Mr. Big Shot got the first post and I know today's Saturday so I'm posting out of line but hi, guys! Miss you.

Just wanted to remind all of us that our weekly posts will begin September 5th, with Derek's Monday post as the first one. Yay us!

The Schedule:

Mon- Derek
Tues- Jason
Wed- Nicole
Thurs- Rich
Fri- Rachael

Also, I know everyone was worried about missing a day or not having time, and this might be too complicated for some of us (read: Derek) but if, say, Nicole is really swamped Wednesday and writes a post on Tuesday she could click "Post Options" and have it post the next day.

Just another option from your favorite blogger!

-Rachael

First!

WOOOOO! Made the blog.  Anyway, this is really a sample post just to let you guys know that if you want me to change what email you post with or whatever, you've gotta let me know.  I just used the one I had in my contacts.  Umm...anyway.  Comment on this post if you want to join Derek and my skype call and learn how to tag your post etc.  Derek, you comment on this post so that I know when we're gonna have said call.  Anyway.  Night.

-Rich