There Are Many Paths To Tread

The Ring Goes South

If take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.

So be it, Jedi.

November already? Jumping jellyfish, that happened fast.

I was wondering what you’re doing here.

Lightning speed post because I have zero time, go!

You fail only if you stop writing.

My name is J-term Derek.
I take my time after workouts. I have walked slowly from one end of campus to the other. I came in third place in a game of Settlers because seven of the ten development cards I drew were Knights. I have found time to go grocery shopping in town. I did no better in a game of Cards Against Humanity later on that same night. I once went to bed at 9:00. Another time, I slept in until 10:00 (I have also woken up at 6:30, though.) I have gone an entire day without doing homework. I play Mario Cart and Return of the King on Gamecube, and NHL on Xbox. I have talked to friends, loved poems, and written short narratives that make my classmates laugh.
You may have heard of me.

A mug of ale in my hand, putting my feet up on a settle after a hard day's work.

Yesterday I wore gloves on a run for the first time this school year. Last night I wore socks to bed for the first time this school year. Brace yourselves. Winter is coming.

If I was going somewhere, I was running.

That was a damn good burger I just had. I want all of you to know that. But on to less important things.

Victory belongs to the most persevering.

I hope you all enjoyed your Darwin Day more than I did. But before we get to that, let's take a look at the events of the preceding week. When I last posted, I made it clear that my Monday was far from over, so the first thing I'm going to talk about is what happened after I posted on that day.

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.

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.

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.

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 . . .

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.

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?"