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...

A Small Reminder of Home

I was awoken this morning by the harsh sounds of my cell alarm jolting me out of not just sleep but out of a weekend haze that had been utterly therapeutic. It was two days of utter unproductively and lack of commitment, which, as it turns out, was just what I needed to reenergize me for the final push until Thanksgiving Break. A brief breakdown of how "stressful" my Saturday and Sunday were.

Friday Night: Basketball game vs. Houston Baptist at 7:30 (our regular season home opener). I screamed and jumped until my legs and voice were soar and went back to Straz around 10:00, singing bad love songs at the top of my lungs the whole way home (with other people...not by myself...)

Saturday: Woke up at 8:00 for an 8:30 crew workout. Was utterly SLAUGHTERED by said workout (no comment as to whether Friday night had anything to do with this). We rowed two 30 minute pieces, which other than just destroying my legs, also gave me quite the butt soreness from sitting on that tiny, hard seat. Got back to my room at 11, went to bed for an hour nap....that lasted until 3. Called Dad (like a good little bear cub), went to Cobeen for pizza to celebrate a friend's birthday (official birthday wishes to Dani), then went and saw Dark Knight for $2 at Varsity Theater.

Sunday: Wake up bright and early at 11, go to the Annex to watch the Broncos (another WIN, the week can't be so bad now), cloister myself in the library to spend the rest of the night writing an English paper. Much to my surprise, the paper sort of pops itself out in just over an hour and a half. Go back to Straz, spend the rest of the night doing other work or lounging to celebrate my success.

Basically, the last few days have been perfect, until that damn alarm rung this morning. I know I'm feeling better, both in terms of sleep and this pesky 3 week cold breaking, because I can actually conceive of myself being able to get through the week, which is a marked improvement over last week.

This morning also brought a stunning realization that I made mental note to write of. Back in Alaska, I could wake up every morning, look outside, and no matter what I saw in the sky, I knew it would be cold. Up until now, the opposite was true in Milwaukee. If it was sunny when I woke up that meant sweatshirt and a nice day. If it was cloudy, jacket because it was going to be chilly and windy. Today was the first day that it has been sunny and also brutally cold and windy. From the cozy confines of the Raynor Bridge (where I am currently plopped) the day looks no different from all those perfect summer ones I got to experience in August, but my computer tells me its 32 degrees out.

It's good to be back home...at least in weather.

We have another basketball game tonight against Chicago State, a fact that is doing much to brighten my day. I will be sure to post recap and pictures of both that game and the Houston Baptist one in the next day or so.

One Lost out

It's a Good Thing This Candle has Two Ends

In a movement of solidarity with my good friend and fellow blogger Laura Nelson this post will be on what is becoming an o'so familiar aspect of college life: The Long Night.

My friend Tom and I have come to this theory that college is, quite possibly, the worst place on earth to learn. We are given heaps of outside the classroom work and then thrown into a building with 150 other students our same age, and somehow this is supposed to be a productive work environment. It is basically impossible to do homework in the dorm, especially living in a quad. With people constantly popping in to say hi, talk, play video games, etc distraction becomes the rule rather than the exception.

Luckily there is the library, that last bastion of peace, quiet, and focus that I have come to rely so heavily on. Unfortunately, I have some chemical imbalance (which must come from dorm food, because it seems all of us have it) that prevents me from doing any serious work before 9:30 pm. That is why I am posting this. I am currently plopped in the library surrounded by "Der treffende Ausdruck" (my German book), Sophocles "The Three Theban Plays," Machiavelli's "The Prince," Soren Keirkagaard's "Either/Or," Albert Camus' "The Plague," my glasses, and one very large mug of mocha. I somehow need to read or work with all these book in the next three hours and I'm not sure how that is going to happen.

To complement my late nights, I now have two early mornings a week -- 6 am crew practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am no longer burning a candle, but a blow torch. The highlight of my day may very well have been my two hour nap (the first one of the week) this afternoon. I've found a lot of college stereotypes to be blown out of proportion, but the late night idea is defiantly fully true.

And now, a brief list of things I've learned during late night study sessions:

• The girls at "The Brew" are basically goddesses. They are probably more important to running this school than the president. After all, even Father Wild needs coffee.
• Facebook is the anti-matter of work. It is literally impossible to do any substantive work with facebook running in the background
• Falling asleep in the big library chairs is simultaneously the worst and best feeling in the world
• Did I mention how much I love coffee?

A caffeinated and tired One Lost will now tackle The Prince...and out

Halloween, Hip Hop, and History

Drummed up a nice alliterative title to compensate for the lack of posts this weekend on Monday. Hopefully that makes up for all the abandonment issues all my readers have.

Halloween was GOOD. As previously stated, I planned to go as a unicorn, but when the all white long johns fell through and all that was available was red (for free...thanks to Katie from crew) I had to adapt. Solution: Thing One and Thing Two costumes with the Joe Marinelli. I was helped by the fact that the spirit shop sells perfect wigs for the costumes that will also be worn during basketball season (first game is Friday!). I was going to bring my camera but as you will see I didn't exactly have pockets to carry it in. Other costume highlights included: another set of Thing One and Thing Twos, Rod from Hot Rod, The Pope (fitting at a Catholic school), a whole rookery of penguins, and (the best part) NOT ONE SARAH PALIN!

Halloween was followed by an 8 am wake up to be at the boathouse by 9 to take the dock out of the water for the winter and clean of all the boats. Months of sitting in the Milwaukee River had made our launches (the motor boat the coach uses) DISGUSTING and it took several hours with high powered chemicals to scrub the grime off. That fun was followed by a good natured game of two-hand touch/"aggressive" two-hand touch football on the Quad with the 17th floor guys (plus a few others). Which brings me to Saturday night and ATMOSPHERE.

I went with Katie, Maggie, and Elise to see the man from Minnesota that makes all the people go crazy. For those of you not in the know, Atmosphere is a hip-hop group from Minneapolis that I like...a lot. He played a great show (4.5 hours with two opening acts!) and the energy in the theater was amazing. The only downside was the gigantic, thoroughly drunk man that kept shoving everyone and making an ass of himself (sorry for the language) until we got security to kick him out of the stage area. I returned to the room, legs and back completely dead to watch an episode or two of Battlestar Galactica (let the nerd jokes begin) on my computer.

To complete the trifecta promised in the title I now come to History. Dr. McMahon is officially the coolest professor ever. Monday and today have been B-E-A-UTIFUL; temps in the 60s and 70s without a cloud in the sky. McMahon according moved our history lecture outside to the garden-plaza-fountain area in front of St. Joan of Arc Chapel. There is something really cool about learning about the Hundred Years' War and Joan of Arc while sitting in the sun in front of a church she actually prayed at during that time. Probably one of the most surreal "Marquette Experiences" I've had to far."

But before I get too excited about my history class, another Marquette Experience starts on Saturday. BASKETBALL SEASON! I will be at the Bradley Center, ticket in hand, at one o'clock to watch the 16th ranked Marquette Golden Eagles take on...(drum roll)...the Colorado State-Peublo...um....whatever they are. We have a cupcake out of conference schedule, but it will still be fun to put on my wig and indulge in some good old fashioned school spirit (after all, no football here to care about).

More posts to follow. Time to go take a nap (6 am crew practice today = yuck)



One Lost out.

The Obligatory Poltical Diatribe and more Fun!

Phew...Wednesday has come as a major relief. Spent the whole day yesterday either in class or cloistered in the library working on my sizable stack of reading and work to do. I never though I'd be so excited to go to crew today- it will be nice just to get outside and be active for a bit.

As a former Senator Stevens supporter, I feel the need to offer my two cents on the verdict in a forum that isn't moderated by facebook status comments. As many of you know, I interned with the Senator this summer, which only added to my tremendous respect for the man. He told me to my face that he was innocent; and I fully believed him. I had no reason not to and 50 years of public service that told me he was telling the truth. Unfortunately, sometimes people disappoint. I stood by him all through his trial, but told myself that if he was found guilty, I would not continue to support him. Well, that has happened now, and thus, I took my name off his campaign list.

Yes, I know. He is maintaining his innocence and appealing the verdict all while running for another Senate term. Perhaps he is right; perhaps the prosecution really did unfairly throw the trial (they certainly did a terrible job, regardless of the verdict) and maybe he was wrongly convicted. At this point however, the rational side of me says that he just got too powerful and thought he could get away with this. He was wrong. I am upset about this case, not only because he has disappointed me, but also because I think there were elements of a witch hunt going on. Plenty of politicians have inappropriate relationships with special interest (cough, Obama and McCain, cough) and yet, for some reason, they chose to go after one of the Senate's most controversial, but also respected, figures. I will continue to feel that he was unfairly, not unjustly, targeted until I see the Justice Department seriously investigate other high ranking members of Congress. Ted Stevens is not the only one DOJ...Alaska does not have a monopoly on corrupt politics.

In other news, Sarah Palin continues to be utterly embarrassing to the state. I honestly don't think McCain will be elected at this point and when Sarah comes back to Alaska, I think she will find that her approval ratings are down. She may not even be reelected as Governor, let alone to a higher political office. Long story short, Alaska politics are somewhat disappointing right now...at least Ethan Burkowitz is there to keep me excited.

Tonight I get a break from politics when I go to the History Honor Society's screening and discussion of the historical classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Should be a really fun event. I will bring the camera just in case, but expect at least a text recap tomorrow.

To all you Free Spirits: COMMENT MORE! Read Kelley's blog and all the other ones linked into the little network and provide feedback. It makes our day to know that someone is reading all this.

Wasting Away in Marquetteville

After such a productive Saturday (including a 2 pm wake up), I decided to take today easy and get NOTHING done. 12 pm wakeup, followed by volleyball, followed by a nap, dinner, and a TINY bit of homework that I am still trying to get through.

Now that the Basketball-induced haze has blown over, I remembered the brief anecdote I was hoping to share on Saturday. At Friday's crew practice we somehow managed to take out the boat that was rigged for a crew composed primarily of midgets. As Coach Mr. Jim Peters so articulately put it, "This Boat was made for a WAY smaller crew." After getting over the obvious knock on our weight, we tried to practice but it just wasn't happening. After deciding to come into the dock, we took a page out of Top Gun and tried to make a flyby at about 45 mph. The result was a near crash into the dock at hull-shattering speeds that was narrowly avoided with some quick thinking from crew and coxswain alike. Just a perfect way to cap off the world's worst week of practice (though at least this one was bad in a way we could laugh at).

Things happening this week that I am looking forward to:
1) Atmosphere concert on Saturday at the Pabst Riverside Theater
2) Halloween and the debut of my unicorn costume
3) Finding out what Dr. McMahon will dress as in History on Friday
4) The result of the Ted Stevens trial
5) Finding out the new levels of pettiness that both McCain and Obama will sink to in the days before the election.

That's two posts in two days...progress is being made on bringing this blog back up to speed.

Another Week, Another Post

Yet another daily post delayed 6 days. This weekend was filled by crew obligations and in the bustle of midterm week, I guess I've just forgotten to archive my life and thoughts in digital form.

The Team competed at the Head of the Rock Regatta in Rockford, IL this weekend and the novice 8 took 5th out of 20 boats. No hardware to come home with, but considering how little time on the water we've all had, rowers and coaches alike were pleased with the results. For your pleasure, I've linked the results for the whole regatta here.

This race was really a big one and we left Saturday afternoon and spent the night in Illinois. After a delicious dinner at one Marquette alum's house, coach Jim drove us to another to spend the night (and also get breakfast the next morning!). It really made me realize how tied people stay to Marquette, since these people weren't even former rowers. Both families came to the race the next day to cheer and brought food. I couldn't even believe how nice and generous they were.

Monday was marked by yet another crushing defeat of the Strabbotsford Pro-Hoes and Joes (pause of anguished sighs). Luckily we secured our playoff birth 4 weeks ago when we registered so all thoughts (all 2 minutes worth of them) are turned toward next week's tournament. We will persevere.

I had my first and only midterm of the semester today in English class: 8 short essays worth of fun that went better than I expected them to. That means that I basically just have to coast for the next day and a half until I hit FALL BREAK!

On Thursday I am taking the train into Chicago with rower Tom and getting hauled around the city to all the best sites (and food stands). I will spend the night in the suburbs at his house, return to the big city on Friday, visit with a friend at U Chicago and then head over to Evanston for the rest of the weekend. Northwestern will be the site of my second 3-way Free Spirit Reunion of the year, during homecoming no less. I am, in a word, excited beyond all belief.

The rest of the night will be filled by Comm Studies (vomit) and a Battlestar Galatica viewing party sponsored by Dr. P for my Honor's Seminar. Not only do we get to watch the miniseries for class, he's buying pizza for the 12 of us!

A package from home came today that may have the cord I need for my camera, and if so, expect lots of pictures of Chicago in the coming days.

Qualified Success and New Seasonal Experiences

A brief update on the success of everyone's favorite collegiate crew team (that'd be Marquette).

This weekend we competed at the "Tail of the Fox" regatta in Depere, WI, which is just west of Green Bay, about 2 and a half hours from campus. The novice men's 8 (a boat with 8 rowers, all of whom are in their first year) took second in a 4 K race with a time of roughly 4:10. I rowed in the 5th seat of the boat (number one is in the bow...now visualize) which is two seats further up the boat than I usually sit. We beat a team called Qrew Chicago, which is a novice team of older people...we think. No one could quite figure out just what their deal was (college, professionals, community team, random collection of people found on a street corner?). Michigan Tech beat us, which engendered some good natured competitive anger. We'll see how that carries over to this week's race in Rockford, which will be a lot bigger (12 boats in our race...gasp).

In other sporting news, the Strabbotsford Pro-Hoes and Average Joes lost their second game of the Intramural Coed-C League soccer season by a crushing score of 3-1. We were worried about our playoff potential, but then we remembered that all the teams make the postseason tournament, so we just got ice cream instead of fretting.

(Note: the name of the team is derivative of the names of the two dorms represented- Straz Tower and Abbottsford Hall. "Pro-Hoes and Average Joes" comes from "Honors Program - Pro Hoes- and the rest of the team who are Average Joes).

Quote of the Day: "Mother-Son is not a good thing" -- Dr. Spargo's commentary on sexual pairings and their acceptability in society during our study of Oedipus Rex.

My digital camera now officially has a charger, but still no USB connection cable. That means that I could be taking pictures of Marquette, but you wouldn't be able to view them without coming down here. If you came down, you could just look at Marquette...in real life, making the camera still pretty useless.

To those of you in Alaska: Its still in the 40s and 50s down here...I've been watching the weather in Anchorage and the Schadenfreude is almost unbearable.

Lastly, they have fall here? Who knew? Apparently its a time when the leaves turn colors in between summer and winter. More updates on this "new" season to come.