It's Approaching Radio...

In the spirit of catching creative lightening in a bottle and not relinquishing it until you manage to do something to harness its power, I present the newest section (with nifty banner!) on One Lost.

You will know get to enjoy updates under the banner of:

This section is my foray into the world of recommending/quasi-reviewing music. After promising myself that I would work on more radio pieces this semester and realizing that radio takes time, this is my consolation effort. I'm not ENTIRELY sure how this will end up playing out (get it...PLAYING out...I slay myself). I am envisioning it as a place where I can put music that I am listening to at the moment and provide a short commentary on why it has garnered my attention. It might also turn into a place to review new music.

Make sure to stay tuned (on a roll now!) for more updates and keep those comments spinning (that one was a bit of a stretch, but if you're going to pun, pun like there's no tomorrow).

OneLost out

Notre Domination

Marquette beats Notre Dame 71-64
And that was in South Bend at the Joyce Center no less. I should also probably mention at this point that I WAS THERE.

Yes, rather than attend German 40 and Math 81, the "Quad Squad" (plus Mike Z.) decided that a better use of our Monday was making the 3.5 hour drive from Milwaukee to South Bend, Indiana to witness first hand Jesuit Marquette's dismantling of "that other Catholic School."

The highlight of the trip there was a close tie between mad Chicago traffic (at 1:30 pm? Stupid high population density) and our time spent in stunning Gary, Indiana. As we drove through the latter, Brandon piloted his Toyota Camry through 15 minutes of smog, steel mills, and dilapidated, unpopulated public transit stops. Ain't the Midwest great?

Once in South Bend (after $24 of interstate tolls -- really Illinois?) and getting lost on campus (apparently left and right on Notre Dame Ave. are not interchangeable) we finally arrived at the Joyce Center for an exciting Free Spirit Reunion with...Catherine Miller of Montana!

Justin, Chris, and Catherine enjoy their Free Spirit Reunion

Nothing sweetens a reunion quite like extending the Domers' home losing streak to 2 games after UCONN ended their 45 game period of home domination.

Activities at the game included: making fun of Kyle McAlarney for getting suspended for smoking pot last year, pointing out how ugly Luke Harangody is, good natured back and forth with senior citizens, telling an 8 year old to check the scoreboard before he gloats, highfiving more random Marquette fans than I can remember, and making fun Notre Dame to Gary, Indiana comparisons.



This win was big for Marquette, who had just been announced as the #8 team in the good old US of A. The embarrassment of breaking into the Top 10 and then losing would have been too much for me to bear and could have precipitated a move to Gary.

Our sights now turn toward Saturday, when the Golden Eagles take on #25 Georgetown (the school of FS Caroline Klibanoff) at the Bradley Center. A win there would make us 8-0 in the Big East and in prime position to have a very special year.

OneLost out with an MU rah, rah

Another Project Finished

I've been kicking around the idea of trying to turn out some banners for different section/content headers for One Lost. Here is my first attempt. From now on, whenever there is content about a basketball game or other Marquette sporting event, you will find the Ring Out Ahoya banner on the post. Enjoy.

Eat, Nap, Work, Sleep, Repeat

So goes life as of late. I feel as if I am caught in a vicious cycle of ensuring my own physical survival and am currently barely hanging on in terms of fulfilling the necessities of biological existence.

Shelter: This is actually probably the most secure of my needs. The roof over Straz is still there, the heat still works, I have a bed (however hard) to sleep on. The roommates and I undertook a 4 hour cleaning blitz on Monday night to further improve the conditions of ol'1706. The floor is now visible from under all the bits of trash, the garbage is empty, no more mold in the shower, and the boxes that lay strewn in every corner of the room are either in the garbage or tucked away. The shower constituted a 2.5 hour struggle against the forces of mold, mildew, and water stains with only my ally Scrubbing Bubbles to come to my aid. After looking at the can I remarked,

"Finally, a cleaner as pissed off as I am."

Food: The break afforded me a much needed break of Sodoxo dorm food, a break that unfortunately has come to an end. Further compounding this problem is the fact that the offerings of the dining halls have undergone exactly zero change since first semester. I think I might have had potatoes tonight, but I don't remember potatoes being a fully liquefied, lumpy, pale heap of starch that oozed over the whole plate. Can tomorrow please by Mac & Nuggs day?

Clothing: The problem here isn't a lack of, but rather a surfeit of clothing. My drawers are literally busting open. I apparently didn't realize that I had about 25,000 T-Shirts at college with me and a matching number of undershirts to wear with them. Also, everytime I told my mom that boxers and socks make great gifts because, "I can never have enough of them," I was wrong. I can have enough. I have enough when they no longer all fit in the dresser. That point has been reached.

Sleep: The battle for rest wages on, but I fear it is a war of attrition at this point and I only have a finite stock of provisions. I won't last long. 5:45 crew practice 3 times a week plus and 8:30 Saturday practice is really starting to grind on my ability to stay awake, be coherent, and behave like a human being. I almost fell asleep walking back to the dorm today after class. Naps have become less of a luxury and more of a daily necessity (2.5 hours today!). I'm beginning to realize that I would never be able to hack it working a night shift. One more thing to cross of the list of career options.

Work: Not actually a necessity for survival, but a requirement if I am to stay in college. With the exception of a bitter feud with one Danial Dafoe, this is actually going pretty well. My two credit drop in work load is seeming to make a HUGE difference in homework time, although I have yet to be assigned a paper or anything overly significant.

There is a basketball game against Depaul this Saturday, so I'll be sure to take pictures and put an update on that up this weekend. Also, Monday the roommates and I are roadtripping to South Bend to watch Marquette play Notre Dame on the road. Is this a good idea. Probably not, considering we probably won't get back until well after midnight and will have to "attend a class in absentia" (figure that one out...). I will take photos so long as beer does not get thrown on my camera.

OneLost out...

By Way of Apology and Rededication

Well loyal readers, or, at least those of you that are left, this post should tell you that despite a conspicuous lack of posting over the last month, I do still exist. One Lost Grizzly Bear begins anew - with a fresh title banner signifying my rededication to providing dispatches from Marquette University on a basis that comes close to daily. The Grizzly is back, and the Grizzly is (insert witty adjective/verb here....hungry, moving, thinking, tired?)

I actually arrived in Milwaukee nine days ago and was going to post then - a sort of commemoration of my return to the always foreign and always surprising Midwest. Luckily, returning to school also got me back into my old habit of masterfully procrastinating and rationalizing my failure to complete basic tasks. I give to you, my day by day breakdown of excuses for not blogging.

Sunday: "WOOO! Back at Marqette. Geez I'm tired!" And then sleep
Monday: "New classes, new teachers, reconnecting with friends. I'll blog on Wednesday once I get acquainted to classes."
Tuesday: "Wouldn't want to break Monday's promises, now would I?"
Wednesday: "Ugh...5:45am crew practice. S...o...t...i...r...e...d."
Thursday: "What's that you say? No sir, a 4 and a half hour nap is defiantly a productive use of time. Blogging Friday sounds good though!"
Friday: "FIRST WEEKEND BACK." I will write no more of this day lest parents read of it.
Saturday: "I should just blog on Monday. I have the day off, and I'll have nothing to do. Plus, I can update everyone on the weekend that way."
Sunday: "I can't bring my computer to the 12 hours of Church I plan on going to. That would be wrong!"
Monday: "Boy does the day seem short when you don't get up until 1pm. Oh yeah, and when you spend 4 hours cleaning your room."
Tuesday: "Damn it. No more creative/plausible excuses. Time to blog"

So there is a post. A post to begin things with. And I wrote it on my birthday. I shouldn't have to work on my birthday! But for you readers, I give my life and time.

Moral of the story: Start paying attention again and I'm sure your life outlook and worth will increase exponentially with each post. It's good to be back.

One Lost out...for hopefully less than a month and a half.