Coming Home

This weekend is my first at home since I moved into my dorm. It was a rather surreal experience. It's weird to think about a point in my life where my home suddenly stops really feeling like home... As far as the love of my family, it will always be my home, and home-cooked meals will always have a special place in my heart (especially when compared to dining hall food), yet after living with Jack for a month, having most of my necessary possessions in my dorm, and a new era of my life being introduced, it's scary to think of home as something other than home.

Of course coming back to my girlfriend is something that is special. Seeing my little sister and listening to her bubble along about what is going on is fun. And working again, however tiring and monotonous it feels after a one month hiatus, makes me feel a little better. It's nice to have constants in your life. College is such an amorphous, strange experience for me, and having ties to things I know helps keep me balanced and grounded with all of the new experiences.

I advise everyone to take their first visit home seriously. While we have all been having a great time connecting with new people, enjoying new clubs and groups and stressing over quizzes, it is important to remember that our home is a place (I hope for most of us) that has helped us get where we are. When we go back home we can remember moments that helped us become who we are, helped guide us into this great experience at the University. Enjoy the food put in front of you; there is something about food produced for 4 instead of 4000 that is just more enjoyable sometimes. Tell your parents about what has been happening, keep them in the loop (and censor stories as necessary.)

Maybe this is just me as a nerd in CSE, but even doing a little bit of homework at home where I used to helps me focus and gives me a little nostalgia about awful problems in physics, difficult readings and fun projects. It is good to embrace your new experiences; clinging onto the past is never a healthy or productive way to succeed. I just think that it is important to remember your roots, remember the significant experiences in your life. Doing so will help you be more self-aware. In my mind self-awareness is one of the most important traits that helps one really enjoy life. When you know who you are, you can tailor what you do to who you are, rather than the other way around.

Remember to thank your parents, your siblings, teachers, friends or anyone else who really impacted your life and helped you get where you are. Those who helped drive you to your goals, whether directly or indirectly, deserve an enormous amount of thanks from you. There are so many teachers and friends that I need to thank for everything they did to help me get into the college I wanted and helped prepare me for this academic onslaught.

Keep in mind those who helped you. Remember your roots. Enjoy any stay at home that you get, even if it is just for your own bed or a home-cooked meal. And if you do all of this, your past will drive you forward into the future that you have dreamed of.

The Loss of a Roommate

Destiny is here to play.

I'm sure for some of you this means a whole heck of a lot. For me, it is a rather worthless statement. The only thing I have just realized that it means to me is that I have lost my roommate for the next few months.

Jack is not addicted to video games, but he is very excited about this particular one. Yes, watching him play I must admit the graphics are impressive and of course it's a rather different form of game than the average RPG or First Person Shooter. It is simply that I, despite being a CSE kid, am not terribly intrigued by video games. I will play the occasional game of whatever Jack owns here, just for kicks, but I have never been very good nor have I aspired to be.

Losing Jack is hard. It is hard to see him sucked into a vortex of other-worldly sights and sounds, lost from contact beyond the realm of the game. The graphics alone are enough to desensitize even the most curious person from the real world. Jack is a smart kid, but I feel I have lost him forever. Emotional support would be nice.

I do apologize for my hiatus from posting, and starting off again with this sad post. It is simply that I felt the need to voice my concern over this transitional period in our relationship.

Video games are an odd thing for me. I do understand the appeal, and some do impress me as far as strategy is concerned, though overall they have become the perfect marketing ruse.

To those of you who have lost loved ones to Destiny, I empathize with you and I would love to organize a support group. I need one as much as everyone else. To those of you who are hurting those closest to you, either by neglecting them or denying them play time on the game, I simply pour my heart out to you so you can provide some interaction, something to let us know that the glaze in your eye is not personal, that it will pass and we can have you back from the future world that is Destiny.

Frisbee and Bumble Bees

In addition to being very tech-savvy, good at math and engineering, and multi-talented in general, today the guys of CSE showed their medical prowess and calm demeanor.

During a fine game of Ultimate on the Mall lawn, our good friend Peter happened to step on a bee while barefoot. It got him right between his 2nd and 3rd toes. Rough stuff. Grimacing, he hobbled over to the edge of the lawn while the rest of us went to work, getting the stinger out rapidly and discussing briefly the best medical treatment. As it was Labor Day, Boynton was closed, forcing us to trade off carrying him back to Frontier from the Mall. It was a hell of a walk, but Peter was a trooper. And there were definitely worse candidates for the sting as far as getting carried back goes. 

As I'm writing this, Peter is lying on his futon, sipping on tea, hoping that the benadryl will kick in soon. He'll be fine.

If anyone else asks though, especially if you talk to Basel, he got shot in the foot and we carried him 6 miles with a t-shirt around his foot to stop it from bleeding.

I must also give a shout-out to Daniel, the one CBS kid who was with us who actually got the stinger out.