Hello stalkers, I’m back!
Quick update: Life now finds me at Philmont Scout Ranch, up in the Sangre De Christo Mountains of northern New Mexico. I’m an assistant manager in the logistics department for the duration of the summer, and thanks to Travis, I’ll be writing blog posts on his laptop (which is on loan). More posts to come, stay tuned.
The last two days have been the hardest I’ve had in a long, long time. On Thursday, June 28th, I packed up my entire life into my Explorer and a Uhual truck, and moved from Manhattan to Overland Park. After living in the little apple for 6 great years, it was time to move on.
The decision to move back to the Kansas City area was easy - it’s bigger, with more opportunities for a recent college grad (well, fairly recent), and of course it’s familiar territory. The decision to move back in with my parents again was not so easy, but with my impending trip to Europe, and considering the fact that I have absolutely no money right now, it just made too much sense not to. Ok really, there didn’t seem to be any other option.
The move went very smoothly. I’ve accumulated a fair amount of crap over the years, but most of it is either really big, like bed, table, desk; or really small and easily thrown into one of dozens of cardboard boxes which are now strewn about my parent’s house. No idea how I’m going to find random small things like my phone charger, flash drive, or corkscrew. That last one is crucial. Last night at about 2am I spent 15 minutes and bruised my knee digging through boxes in the garage looking for the book I’m in the middle of reading.
I’ve already started getting the inevitable pangs of loneliness. Back in the ‘hat, all I had to do was walk down the hall any time of day or night and there’d be something going on. If there wasn’t, I’d just start sending out texts or making calls until I found something - you all know the drill. Here though, once my parent’s go to bed it’s like “well… I guess I could watch ANOTHER movie until I fall asleep.” /sigh
It doesn’t help that the last couple of months have been some of the most fun and eventful of my life. I’ve tried to pinpoint exactly when it was that my life started on the recent “fucking awesome” streak, and I think it was around St. Patrick’s day. Ever since then it seems like I’ve had something to look forward to every weekend, fun things going on nearly every night, and hanging out with amazing people during it all. Highlights include the trip to KC with work people, the last Bunker party, my sister’s visit, the Tool show in Wichita, hanging out at the UC pool, sailing, nights in the ‘Ville, Jame’s birthday party, Placate and Copus in Topeka, and ending with Country Stampede - and that’s just off the top of my head. I can honestly say that I don’t remember getting upset or feeling sad from St. Patty’s day until just a few days ago. It was a great run.
Moving on though.
New digs (well, not “new” new), new life, new attitude. I can’t really complain about anything at this point - I DO leave for another European adventure in just a few short days. That should help break me out of this recent slump. 
I know it’s been almost a year since I’ve posted. Believe me, it’s not from lack of interesting stories. Fear not, little interweb stalkers, for this post is to announce my triumphant return to the blogging world. The reason?
Well it’s actually the same reason I got into this project in the first place: a trip to Europe. Another one. Yes, yes, one more of those “once in a lifetime” experiences has jumped on my back, courtesy once again to Charlie, Susan, and Joe.
I depart on July 1st for Dublin, Istanbul, the islands of Greece, London, and Paris. Much more writing to come - Stay tuned!
Yeah, I know it’s been a while. Life has been busy. SORRY, alright!
So it’s Christmas night. It’s been a great day. It’s been a great break overall really. I haven’t done anything at all, and it’s been wonderful. Really I’ve been sleeping a lot, like 12 hours a day when I can get away with it. I guess I have been a little productive: I reworked my dad’s computer so it can keep up with the times. We had to re-fit the steam engine on it and the vacuum tubes needed replacing, but it works now.
I’ve been to visit my Grandad in the hospital a few times. He’s got it pretty rough lately. He is undergoing dialysis every couple of days and has very little strength. He has always been a very strong and capable man and he doesn’t seem to be enjoying being cared for much at all. Fortunately, all of his mental faculties are there. The only exceptions might be when the pain-killers phase him. He has full recognition and understanding, but is not always able to vocalize his reply. It seems to take a lot of effort for him to speak. Despite his current situation, the Doctors say that he may recover enough to go back to living at home, which would make a huge difference to him and my Grandmother. If you’re reading this and are so inclined, shoot out a prayer for him. It would be much appreciated. I’ve always known that I have a skewed view on mortality, not having much direct experience with it myself. The last few days have caused quite a bit of reflection, but I’m not going to write about any of it until everything’s gelled (if ever.)
The last month of school was absolutely crazy. I mean, every single aspect. It was all upside-down. Classes blow. I set a record for a new low this semester by overbooking my time and underestimating my class load yet again, despite taking only 9 hours for credit. I don’t want to talk about that though.
The Bunker had another bash - our first since the overwhelming good time that was “CEO’s and Slutty Secretaries.” This one had mixed success. We had live music for the first time: Pineapple Truck and Copus set up and played live sets in our basement… which absolutely rocked. It constantly amazes me how many skilled musicians, and musical groups, there are in Manhattan - a town with a suffering music scene. Unfortunately, the party ended on a sour note as just a few (maybe even just one) bad eggs started some shit and we had to clear the house early before things got serious. I won’t go into detail, but if you were there you know that it sucked. After that we are pretty sure that we’ll be reworking our invite-system. More details to come.
As far as personal life, I have been in a constant state of bewilderment for a while now. I don’t write about “girl” stuff much, and I’m not about to start, but suffice to say that I am no closer to having girls -ANY girls- figured out than I was when I was born (not that I’m trying.) Concluions: none. Understandings: none. Girls mad at me for various reasons, many of which I don’t understand: several. It is unbelievable the number of times that simple honesty has gotten me in trouble. I always try to be honest and tactful in my communication, no matter who it is with or what it is about. The only conclusion I am able to reach is that girls want to be lied to. Absurd. But we all knew that anyway, right? 
I am leaving tomorrow morning to go skiing in Keystone, Colorado for a week! I am really looking forward to this, as I have been in a serious state of ski-deprivation for a few years now. Last year’s trip with the Harrison brothers was great… but I need more time on the mountain! Those of you that know me well know that there’s few places I’d rather be than standing on top of a jagged cornice, looking at a slope of virgin powder, with a pair of 165 parabolics on my feet… ah I’m PUMPED. I haven’t packed at all, so I think I better run off and do that. Then later tonight I’ll read The Shepard, one of my all-time favorite Christmas stories.
I hope all of you out there in internet land had a happy Christmas and will have a great new years… if you’re not doing anything and you’re in the midwest you should DEFINATELY be in Manhattan to watch Copus play at PJ’s and then do some partying in Aggieville. See you all next year!
Hmm, where to start…
Ok so I’ve been sick lately. In fact, last week I would say that I fell firmly into the category of “very sick,” but fear not, I fought the good fight and I’m currently up to 90% and rising. It all started over Halloween weekend… [dissolve a la Wayne’s World, diddly doot, diddly doot, diddly doot…]
I love Halloween in college. For several nights in a row everybody just has an excuse. Really I think good Holidays are all about excuses. St. Patrick’s Day is an excuse to wear green and drink, Thanksgiving is an excuse to eat a shit-ton and drink, 4th of July is an excuse to blow stuff up and drink… and Halloween is an excuse to wear whatever the hell you want - and drink! Most girls just wear the absolute sluttiest thing they can get away with and still call it a “costume.” and guys either try to get creative with ideas such as a “one night stand” or they go for easy costumes that are likely to draw attention from girls, i.e. pimp, caveman, firefighter, cop, Ron Burgundy, etc. Despite the cliches and ridiculousness, any college student will tell you that Halloween is a lot of fun.
Friday night I went party-hopping, dressed as a fireman. I felt completely justified using my costume to it’s full advantage in drawing attention from girls because I AM a fireman. Yeah, it’s a perk. The first stop was a Halloween/Birthday Party for Lindsey over at Lindsay, Lindsey, and Alison’s apartment in UC. They had decorations and everything, so you KNOW it was a good time. They even made cupcakes. There were probably 100 people crammed into their tiny 4 bedroom apartment, so I was burning up in my insulated rubber firefighting costume. Also, with three beautiful girls hosting the party, the guy-girl ratio was inevitably off. I drank some beer, ate lots of cupcakes, and hung out with mostly naked girls and drooling guys. It’s good that I had rubber boots on.
After a while, the migration was on. Next destination was Ashley’s party, just up the street from the Bunker. I have only been to two parties at this house, but both times have been a lot of fun. I never know very many people there, but they have a very friendly crowd so it’s easy to meet new people. For this party they had a bar set up in a side room with a guy they had hired to tend bar. He had brought his own set-up with a 2 keg cooler complete with taps, and enough liquor for a few of the more popular mixed drinks. He seemed very proud of his little venture and went on and on about it when I asked him. He asked if I had parties at my house and I said yes, then he told me to make sure I got in touch with him for my next party so he could bartend at it with his set-up. I rolled my eyes a little, thought about mentioning the Bunker just to see if he had heard of it… but then decided that it just wasn’t worth the effort, and left after thanking him for the beer. Small potatoes, bud. Small potatoes.
The party was a lot of fun until Manhattan’s finest broke things up. Despite several invites to other things going on that night, I elected to walk the 150 feet down to my own bed and call it a night. The next morning I had to get up early to Big Cat at the football game.
Saturday night was more party hopping. Alex and I started out at a house party where a local band, Pineapple Truck, was playing. One of the guys in the band, Brandon, is a friend of ours and a Bunker regular, and I had missed several opportunities to see his new band already, so I didn’t want to miss this one. The party was relatively small, and the band played in a basement that couldn’t have held more than 30 people. I spent the second half of the set sitting on an amp, holding a shorted XLR plug into its socket so the PA would work, but I still enjoyed the music a lot. I look forward to seeing these guys play in a larger venue.
The party was mostly dead when Pineapple Truck finished, so Cheri, Danielle, Alex, and I set off following Mike and Scott in search of more beer. We were a parched Ninja, Construction Worker, Firefighter, and Little Bo Peep who were on a mission. I have no idea what street we ended up on, but we wandered from party to party scamming drinks along the way, and had a great time doing it. What night of random wandering and drinking is complete without a trip to Bob’s? Answer: none. The runny eggs and horrible service beckoned to us. We ran into Meg, Jamie, and some friends there, who were nice enough to let us cram into their table for a while until another one opened up. A greasy omelete has never tasted so good.
One other thing happened at Bob’s that I was very amused by. I ran into one of my students - and she was as drunk as I was. I used to bump into students in various stages of intoxication on a fairly regular basis last year, but this year it hadn’t happened until that night. We laughed about it, and I gave her some crap about being in class on Monday as we all left.
Sunday I hit the road for Lawrence to see my sister play in -and win!- her SECOND intramural championship in as many years. I don’t think of myself as particularly un-athletic… but she definitely got the jock genes. And the smart genes, and the good-looking genes, and the music genes, and the… yeah my sister’s a badass. Anyway, after winning in soccer last year with her sorority, this time her co-ed team won in touch football. Afterwards the fam went to eat at Old Chicago’s in Lawrence. Highlight: I hit my first landmark on the OC beer tour and got a deck of playing cards. Woohoo!
Monday was actually Halloween, and by this time I was getting pretty exhausted and already a little sick. Staying in was not an option, however, because of the Halloween costume contest at Rusty’s. Meg, Jamie, Morgan, and Tara had big plans that I wasn’t about to miss. After hours with the airbrush and paintbrushes, JD had the girls all painted up in body paint. Morgan and Tara went as fish, and Meg and Jamie were a Jack Daniel’s bottle and a Heineken bottle. Their costume was good enough that it made collegehumor.com. Meg and Jamie were definitely the crowd favorites, and if you look at the pictures it’s easy to see why. They ended up getting screwed and finishing in third, losing out to a pathetic version of “The Price is Right” that required almost no creativity, talent, or time to create. I hope those guys got mugged on the way home from the bars and the $1000 prize stolen. Still, it was a great night.
Tuesday morning I woke up and could barely breath. It took quite a bit of hacking, gagging, and pseudoephedrine to get me feeling even halfway decent again. I put up with this all last week, even missing the regular Thursday night at the bars for the second time EVER since turning 21! This last weekend I crashed an AXO date party with Jonathan, and then laid low the rest of the time. I would be really pumped to go out and make up for lost time this coming Thursday at the bars, except I have a freaking Perception and Sensation test at 10:30 Friday morning. Grr.
Overall: GREAT Halloween weekend. Totally worth getting sick for. Overall sense of happiness and well-being has been quite high lately, despite egregous amounts of thermonuclear snot - Life is good. Now to apply for a job (more on that later) and head to Ogden for some firefighting.
Living in The Bunker has been -and continues to be- a wonderful experience. The people, the atmosphere, the house, the bar, and the parties all combine to make this what I consider to be the ideal college house. One of my few complaints, however, is the distance to campus. We are about four blocks away, which constitutes a ten to fifteen minute walk. It could be much worse of course, but after living on campus for two years and then for one year right across the street, the walk twice a day (sometimes four) was beginning to get on my nerves. During one of my trips back to KC during the beginning of this semester, I picked up my dad’s mountain bike.
This has changed the fundamentals of my everyday life more than I expected. The first noticeable consequence was definitely a soreness in my quads that persists even now - months later. It was only a few days later that I threw my life into completely uncharted territory by resetting my alarm clock to 7:55 - a mere 35 minutes before I have to be on campus to teach my class! I still get up at about 7:30 out of habit, but this way I just have more time to shower and eat my frosted mini-wheats while reading the news online. I can now get from my driveway to the doors of Bluemont Hall in six minutes, depending on pedestrian traffic.
The coolest side effect of my new transportation is that I’m actually enjoying it. A lot. I had forgotten how much fun riding a bike can be. It took me a week or so to get back in the hang of dodging traffic, curb hopping, and quick shifting, but you know what they say… it’s like… riding a… bike. Yeah. Quite frequently now, I’ve taken long detours on the way home just to cruise a little more. The cold weather is setting in, so I think these days may be numbered, but I’m going to keep it up until the last possible moment. I’m already thinking about hitting some trails next spring.
This semester is going great. I am keeping very busy -which is the way I like it- and having the time of my life. In fact, I might go so far as to say that this might be shaping up to be my best semester of college yet. Here’s some updates on several facets of my busy life.
Big Cats is going great now that lines of communication with the cheer squad have opened up again. The first couple of weeks were very busy; we walked 6 nights out of the first 9 I was in town. The newbies are doing an absolutely amazing job. They’ve got tons of energy and are more than happy to help out with anything. It is a real pleasure to lead such an enthusiastic group. Much earlier in my Big Cats career, when the legendary Kendell “Boss” Powell was wearing the captain’s hat, I remember the rest of us on the squad feeling kind of frustrated by the fact that Boss didn’t walk much with the rest of us. She said that she would rather just manage and let us do our thing, almost like she was burnt out. I think I know now what she meant. I still feel very dedicated to the program, but I just don’t have the enthusiasm I used to. I don’t know if that’s just something that goes away over time, or if I’m burnt out from years of fighting with the athletic department, but that’s the way it is. I don’t have any regret about this, however. I am very content coordinating and doing ground crew while the next generation has their time in the spotlight. Who knows, I might pull rank and walk at a game or two this year just to remember how great it felt.
My teaching is going alright. All of the classes I was assigned to teach meet at 8:30 in the morning which -needless to say- BLOWS. I am definitely not awake at that time, and neither are my students. After teaching last year, I expected this year to be a breeze, but it seems that there are several factors working against me. First is the fact that I am not only teaching the psychology lab like last year, but also an Enhanced University Experience “study skills” type course for incoming freshmen. The course is set up in a rather confusing way, even to me as the instructor. The saving grace here is a fantastic textbook. I don’t usually buy into self-improvement lessons, but this one is very well structured. It is very easy to learn from, and as a consequence, very easy to teach from.
The other major block I’ve hit is that the professor I am teaching in conjunction with is new. He has a new book, new teaching styles, and hasn’t yet seemed to find a “groove” in his class. This is pretty frustrating from my standpoint because it makes my job of supplementing his teachings much more difficult. I expect it to improve as the semester continues though, so hopefully my class will smooth out as well.
Already some of the naivety in my freshmen students has gotten annoying, but not to the point where it bothers me. Yet. These kids are starting out wide-eyed, with absolutely no idea what lies ahead. Part of me envies them: they are just starting out on a crazy adventure that I am reaching the end of. I can’t help but think back to my own freshman year and some of the questions I had or things I was confused about. It blows my mind to think that was only four years ago. Everyone I know, myself included, has changed so much in that time, it seems like another life. The original derb crew: you guys know what I’m talking about.
Firefighting is going well. I didn’t even have my pager turned on for the first couple of weeks I was in town, mostly because I didn’t have time and my car wasn’t in service anyway. Lately though, I’ve been going to training again and the pager is back on. Pat and I have started training with station 3 down in Ogden in addition to regular county training and whatever training we get from station 12. We got to know a lot of the people at station 3 through the Firefighting 1 certification class we took down there. They were all fun to work with, seemed to know their stuff, and trained regularly, so one day we just asked if we could train with them as well. I haven’t been to a single call since I’ve been back in town, but I suppose that’s a good thing. Still, some action would be nice.
There’s a lot more going on, including working at AXO as a houseboy again, rewiring the headlights in my car (or not), Life at The Bunker, Our first huge party of the year (which freaking ROCKED), and me being sick because I barely sleep anymore. At this juncture however, I think I’m going to work on that last one and hit the sack. More updates later.
So it’s been about 2 weeks since I got back from my trip and since I last posted to this page. I think it’s about that time again. The primary reason I haven’t been posting lately is that I was just too busy. I’m going to divide this up into a bunch of bite-sized posts to make it a little more managable. To tide over my little army of stalkers out there: I’m real busy. I was sick. I’m better now. More later.
So starting a blog has been on my list of things to do for a long time now… I’ve just never really gotten around to it. Until now. I thought my upcoming trip to Europe (more on that later…) would be a perfect time to start blogging so all my little stalkers out there would be able to keep tabs on me as I wander about the old country. People who have known me for a long time might remember my weekend updates that I used to send out on email throughout my freshman year (yeah, I was blogging before blogging was cool!). I’m hoping that this blog will be reminiscent of some of those. I’m still feeling out a writing style, so bear with me.
This is a test. This is only a test. Had this been a real blog, the content would be witty and meaningful. This is only a test.
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