Sunday, August 31, 2008

Week One Update


Week one done and I've got a pile of work next to me that resembles that piles of work I had that the end of previous semesters except this is the beginning of the semester and when thinking about the work that I will have at the end of this semester I begin to worry if it will resemble the height of our table which would be sad because our table is very tall.

That might be an exaggeration, especially since I just stacked everything up and it took a lot of creative supplementing in-order to make it high enough. And that would truly be ridiculous and nobody should have to do that amount of work and if they do my sympathies.

All of my classes are good and I think that after these first few weeks the group of us will settle into a nice schedule of work, playwriting, and Transcript work. Some reading. Some more reading. Hopefully some reading for pleasure.

And that's it because my brain is about to explode in stimulous overload. Have a great one.


Pictures: First is our table leg and how tall it is. Second is my actual stack of work. Third is all the stuff I would need to make my stack of work as tall as the table leg. Check the stack. It's amazing.








Saturday, August 23, 2008

To OWU and Beyond

Back at OWU. In my apartment. With it's slanted ceilings and rounded windows. And it's kitchen. And it's fridge that has BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, water, and some old pizza . . . I think there might be a shopping trip calling us. Majority of students move in today and all the freshmen moved in last weekend so they could participate in OWU's week long orientation.

I think Austin will be good for Zoe and I. There is more space than I remember there being . . . especially with the big hole in the center of the room because we don't have a couch or anything yet. It's funny looking because we've got out beds and such set up on one end and then we've got the kitchen and table and shelves on the other end and this big empty space in the middle. But I figure it will take us a few weeks to get everything set up. Most pressing is food; we've got a kitchen and we need to use it. Besides, BBQ and ketchup stew doesn't sound very appetizing . . . not at 7:30 am, not ever.

Austin Pictures of Our Room and Stuff:


Thursday, August 21, 2008

OWU is Calling and the Cincy Crew is Sad


Tomorrow I will be returning to my home away from home, OWU, and I believe there will be some crying. Leaving home is always hard for me because I dislike relocating. I am relocating to an amazing place, Austin Manor with my kitchen and everything, but leaving home is difficult. But I believe there will be come crying outside the family as the Cincy Crew is also splitting up and out future is uncertain.

Being juniors, the next step for most of us are internships and travel. Katie is spending the fall semester abroad in the Netherlands and Turkey. Mike returns to school and next summer he is looking for an internship anywhere from Cincy (he says with a wink). Rosemarie is permanently relocating to Columbus and Olivia graduates in four months with every intention of returning and living out the rest of her life in Cincinnati. My own future is a bit uncertain as far as location is concerned. An internship would be cool and there is always the book and its progress uncertain. So we had our before school fling.

Mike hosted a bonfire at his place where as our conversation went; "I'll bring the fire and you Sam, bring the people" and it went very well. 170 pictures later, we were all camera blind but nobody fell in the fire nor got beaten with a croquet mallet so I suppose it was a successful evening. There was the potential for hammock fatalities but I believe the only one at risk was the hammock.

Then we had a girl night of poker complete with arguments on the rules of the game. It had been two years since we'd played and apparently we'd been playing by different rules in our respective cities. There was food: Alfredo, pumpkin roll, chips and dip, salad . . . and it was yum.

And tomorrow I am back at OWU. Junior year here I come.

Have a great one.

Pictures: First is the fire. Second is the hammock and us not in it. Third is our friendly croquet game. Fourth is the Cincy girls.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Books That Make the Heart Go Pitter-Pat


I've done a lot of reading this summer. More than any other summer because my summers were usually bogged down with required reading and while required reading is good because books are involved it is required and that word, required, seems to put a damper on any situation.

Moving on; books.

Twilight -Stephenie Meyer, and you talk about a book that makes the heart go pitter-pat . . .
it's a book that is hard to put down because the characters are beautiful and natural, perhaps cheesy, but it a cheese that is easy to tolerate, like a medium cheddar instead of a sharp. Despite it's length, 498 pages, it's a quick read, three days for me, and I think the best part about finishing it is knowing there are another few books of equal length with the same characters. Need some love in your life? Check out Twilight.

The Scarlet Pimpernel -Baroness Orczy. While this is a little out of my reading zone it was the choice of the newly begun Rose, Olivia, and Samantha Book Club and it was good. The beginning is a bit dragging while the characters are sorted out and the plot unfolds and by chapter three I still wasn't sure who the story would be following but after I knew my protagonist, I really jumped into this tale complete with backstabbers, country hopping, disguises, and common brilliance. It's a shorter read between 250-300 pages and a little slower (five days for me) and overall lovely.

Extras -Scott Westerfeld. This is fourth book in the Uglies series that I remember reading in high school. Usually I am disappointed by series continuations and honestly, the trend that continued after the opening novel Uglies was disappointing Extras surprised me. The characters were new and exciting and the city was different and inventive. While the old characters return, the build up to their return was my favorite part of the story. After that, I found it a bit predictable because of the rest of the series.

The Things They Carried -Tim O'brien. I read the short story are OWU and was able to pick up the novel this summer and I wasn't disappointed. It left me melancholy but a novel of it's sort is supposed to and for that effect I won't describe it to you. Just read it.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay -Michael Chabon. This is another long one dear reader and the near 700 pages took me a good three weeks to power through but in the end I am glad I did. Kids and comic book artists and WWII and giving a life to art and the pros and cons that come of that life. I suppose the lovely thing about it is that it is a novel that is easy to come back to and slip back into the story and, of everything I read this summer, it was the funniest.

So there you go reader, five books for your reading pleasure. Drop me questions in the comment section and have a great one.

Picture: Samantha says, "Read them so I don't have to go down the hill again."

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Bumpers, Blues, and BBQ

So, there were bumpers which were old and shinny. There were blues which were bluesy. There was BBQ which was amazing. My dad ate alligator. Olivia attacked me with powered sugar. Mike. The cousins chilled with us. There was minimal sunburning. It was a good day.

Blogging through Pictures (enjoy):



Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Allergic to Dynamite

While I always try to avoid explosives, I've learned another reason, in the plethora of reasons, to avoid dynamite. I am allergic to it. Honest to goodness allergic to dynamite. According to an e-mail I received, one of the many ingredients in dynamite is the peanut. I am deathly allergic peanuts and therefore I am deathly allergic to dynamite.

Have a good one.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Visit Day Completed


And so we have another visit day under our OWU belts . . . I wonder if the bookstore sells OWU belts. It wouldn't surprise me that much, their a bookstore and all, and how cool would it be to have an OWU belt, so cool, but the bookstore has other cool stuff like books and sweatshirts.

Anyway, visit day completed. I suppose that says it all. i left my house at six am, arrived on campus at 8 am, gave tours, sat on a panel, had lunch, left campus at 1pm and got home at 3pm.

This blog has the potential to be the shortest blog ever . . . though I am recalling a sarcastic response blog a few months back . . . but if I just published the above paragraph it would be my shortest blog ever but why would I want to do that make life at OWU easy? We are a rigorous school and honor of that, I will make this blog long and pointless . . . not that I am implying that rigor equals long and pointless, it's just that rigor is part of all our advertising and I felt like inserting an advertising world and neither relationships nor real-world experience seemed appropriate.

Academic rigor is cogency.

Have a great one.

Pictures: First is an OWU belt (and if we had them I am sure they would come in black. Second is cogency.