Well, I’m back from Thanksgiving. Family was family, nothing terribly new or exciting. The only change I can ever see anymore is my cousins growing up. While this is fascinating, it can also be discouraging when you come to understand the people they’re growing up into. I also appreciate having a cousin my age, not to mention at school with me. I love my family dearly. They made me who I am today, but at some point the torch was passed to my friends. Now my family
offers me constancy, which has a purpose in that I remember where I came from.
I think somewhere along the line Sterling and I traded places in terms of our approach towards the nuclear family. He has a newfound appreciation for his family, and for that I am very relieved. Why, then, at the same time, do I find my patience ever-waning when I’m with my mother? For this entire weekend, I have felt a bit aggravated due to the common occurrence of my mom asking about some aspect of my life. She asks, I start talking and at some point, we reach a point of maximum conversation and she will turn and ask my Uncle Frank a question in the middle of something I’m saying specifically to her. She makes such a big deal about missing me and wishing I was home and then shuts me down when I am finally around her. Thus, I find that I grumble about her more and more….wow, case in point.
So let’s recap: Wednesday, I got off of the train in Wilmington to find my mom and my cousin Sean waiting on the platform. Sean, Mom and I then go out to eat with my curmudgeonly Uncle Don. Once again, I listened to my uncle’s cynical views on life and sarcastic ferocity that has imprinted on me in the form of playfully scathing humor. One has to admire Uncle Don for telling it like it is. When we were at my graduation party, my Uncle Frank asked him how the beer he gave him was and Uncle Don replied, “Not that good, Uncle Frank, how about you get me a Coors Light so I can stop drinking it.” Charming. I say that now, but I laughed when it happened. He’s a funny guy and I actually enjoy being around him a lot, despite his dark humor.
After lunch, Mom, Sean and I drove to Uncle Kevin’s. Once we arrived, Sean and I played PS2 until Brian came home, whereupon we played more PS2. Nothing interesting took place for the rest of the day. We watched Donnie Darko, which was slightly wasteful and irresponsible to show to kids their age, but I never said I was a perfect cousin.
Thanksgiving was pretty cool. My Uncle Bob showed up a bit late, but the McCarthy Thanksgiving football game went on as planned. As usual, we has the “what the hell are we thinking” teams of Brian and I versus Sean and Colin. Yes that’s a college freshman and a high school freshman against a 6th grader and a 5th grader. Problems? Anyone? Bueller? Well, an hour or so later, after Sean’s nose dive into animal dung and Brian’s accidental leveling of Colin after the little guy tried to blitz, Brian and I won the game, with decent thanks to me. Yes, I can play football, if only against kids.
The meal was excellent, but didn’t feel like a big deal. It was just a family eating together, laughing at my uncles and talking about school. Pretty standard. My uncles were actually very supportive and enthusiastic about my acting stories. I thought that my uncles would be joking about the whole tights thing, but my Uncle Bob did theater in
college and still does tech work for the high school where he teaches, so he thought it was great.
Friday, Mom and I drove down to Stone Harbor. For the first time in years, my Uncle Frank and his family beat us to their house. In fact, we were so far behind that we went straight to the traditional restaurant, and thus I didn’t see their great shore house or my beloved Jersey Shore. My mom, my cousins and I went shopping for a while. I didn’t buy much, except for some fudge for the addict at Tech. Then Mom, Erin, Steve and I drove to their house in Voorhees.
That night, Steve and I tagged along with Erin to eat dinner with her friends and see Love Actually, which is such a good movie. Damn my undaunted appreciation of Hugh Grant and my Keira Knightley fixation. She looked absolutely gorgeous in the movie. I know I sound like….something weird, but that’s how it is.
I crashed with Steve in the basement, as is tradition, and we awoke the next morning for the Christmas decorations. It’s great to know that a family’s decorating is postponed so that you can come and lug stuff around their house. Of course, I love doing it and it’s really great to see a house with that much Christmas spirit.
Saturday night, we went to a Mexican place for dinner and, as usual, ate far too much. I really wish that part of the tradition could be avoided, but how do you say no to Queso? How?! Then Steve and I rented Super Troopers and laughed our asses off for the rest of the night.
I really like staying at Uncle Frank’s. It’s just nice to be with cousins more my age so it’s more like people hanging out than Ian taking care of the little cousins and being subjected, once again, to bodily harm, party-style. Steve’s old enough that we can just hang out and Erin and I always have school to talk about. I don’t know. There are parts I like about staying at Uncle Kevin’s too.
Then, today, Erin and I took a train out of Philly back to DC. I now have a week of heavy work ahead, which is bad considering that my work ethic suffered from Thanksgiving depreciation. The solace I can take is that in five days, I will be home…my real home. I was thinking today about how family is home in a way, one’s roots. Now Georgetown is also a home to me. I have often slipped up and said, “It’s good to be home,” in reference to campus. Despite all this, however, my real home is in Alpharetta. Maybe my home is in certain people and Alpharetta is naught but a staging ground for that, but either way, one thing is certain: I’m coming home.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
"Wait, you mean not only is Ian going to be in Alpharetta for his study days December 5th-9th, but..."
"That's right, he's also coming home the 11th and leaving for Pennsylvania a week and a half after that."
"But how did he manage that?"
"Well, he only has two finals, both on the 10th and the rest are papers, also due on the 10th."
"Wow, so he'll get to come home and see people?"
"Seems that way"
"Excellent!!....hey, wait a second, this isn't actually quoted from anything, is it?"
"Fraid not, Ian's just using dialogue because he thinks it's a clever way to tell people from home."
"Oh...that's sorta sad"
"Yes, yes it is"
"That's right, he's also coming home the 11th and leaving for Pennsylvania a week and a half after that."
"But how did he manage that?"
"Well, he only has two finals, both on the 10th and the rest are papers, also due on the 10th."
"Wow, so he'll get to come home and see people?"
"Seems that way"
"Excellent!!....hey, wait a second, this isn't actually quoted from anything, is it?"
"Fraid not, Ian's just using dialogue because he thinks it's a clever way to tell people from home."
"Oh...that's sorta sad"
"Yes, yes it is"
Monday, November 24, 2003
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
11/18 – pool-pah. n. (1) The Wrath of God (2) a shit-storm.
Today I called my mom in the last morning to ask her whether or not she thought that 19 credits would be too much for next semester if I were to take a theater class I’m considering. She said that it was my choice and that she thought theater was a fine class to take because she’d been convinced that I was good at it. I found that comforting, and yet I would find that this feeling really only served as a contrast to what was to come. As we were about to say goodbye, Mom suddenly remembered something she wanted to tell me. She then proceeded to explain that she had asked her bosses to be transferred up north, to either Wilmington or Burlington, thus implying that she would move to work in their offices in one of those two places. This is how my mother casually informed me that we were moving. Granted, I knew Mom wanted to move back north at some point because she wanted to be near family again now that I’m gone, and I was ok with this general idea of the distant future. However, she had assured me that it wouldn’t be for a few years and that I would have the summer after freshman year to be with my friends back home in Alpharetta. Furthermore, her recent success with crafting had me thinking that a move wouldn’t be necessary for her to feel better about my being gone. All these things were racing through my head, as well as the fact that she had not said that she was considering asking for relocation, but that she had already done so without ever mentioning it to me, thus leaving me completely out of the loop for something that is going to seriously affect my life. I just can’t believe that she told me after the fact, because she obviously had to have considered it ahead of time. One doesn’t look up from one’s desk in the middle of the day and say. “Hmmm, I think I’ll go ask to be transferred to a completely new city.” I didn’t express any indignation at the time and just quietly listened to her suggestions that I can rent a house at Stone Harbor for the summer and have friends there. That’s such a relief that my friends will have to go out of their way to come see me. I’m more likely to find some way to stay in Georgia. A family’s moving during high school is hard, but new friends can eventually be made at school. Where am I going to make friends in Baltimore or Wilmington? And who says I want to make new friends? God damn it, I know I’m being selfish about this, but I would have appreciated some bit of consultation, especially since mom always makes such a big deal about how she has a say in what classes I should take because it’s her investment. Well, since it’s this job that provides an education to me, perhaps I should be at least informed about how things might change as opposed to being told they probably will.
FUCK!
Today I called my mom in the last morning to ask her whether or not she thought that 19 credits would be too much for next semester if I were to take a theater class I’m considering. She said that it was my choice and that she thought theater was a fine class to take because she’d been convinced that I was good at it. I found that comforting, and yet I would find that this feeling really only served as a contrast to what was to come. As we were about to say goodbye, Mom suddenly remembered something she wanted to tell me. She then proceeded to explain that she had asked her bosses to be transferred up north, to either Wilmington or Burlington, thus implying that she would move to work in their offices in one of those two places. This is how my mother casually informed me that we were moving. Granted, I knew Mom wanted to move back north at some point because she wanted to be near family again now that I’m gone, and I was ok with this general idea of the distant future. However, she had assured me that it wouldn’t be for a few years and that I would have the summer after freshman year to be with my friends back home in Alpharetta. Furthermore, her recent success with crafting had me thinking that a move wouldn’t be necessary for her to feel better about my being gone. All these things were racing through my head, as well as the fact that she had not said that she was considering asking for relocation, but that she had already done so without ever mentioning it to me, thus leaving me completely out of the loop for something that is going to seriously affect my life. I just can’t believe that she told me after the fact, because she obviously had to have considered it ahead of time. One doesn’t look up from one’s desk in the middle of the day and say. “Hmmm, I think I’ll go ask to be transferred to a completely new city.” I didn’t express any indignation at the time and just quietly listened to her suggestions that I can rent a house at Stone Harbor for the summer and have friends there. That’s such a relief that my friends will have to go out of their way to come see me. I’m more likely to find some way to stay in Georgia. A family’s moving during high school is hard, but new friends can eventually be made at school. Where am I going to make friends in Baltimore or Wilmington? And who says I want to make new friends? God damn it, I know I’m being selfish about this, but I would have appreciated some bit of consultation, especially since mom always makes such a big deal about how she has a say in what classes I should take because it’s her investment. Well, since it’s this job that provides an education to me, perhaps I should be at least informed about how things might change as opposed to being told they probably will.
FUCK!
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Since last I wrote my journal, I’ve done a few things of varying significance. First of all, I pre-registered for next semester. This involved decided how much General Education requirements I can get through without overloading myself with classes I hate. Granted, my two major classes should be spectacular next semester. My next math class, Linear Algebra, should be a lot of fun because, let’s face it, I find math fun. For instance, this week I learned how to calculate the maximum and minimum of multi-dimensional surfaces, which is just as thrilling as it sounds. Not sure if I’m being serious or mocking my own fascination with such things…probably both. So if I find that interesting, Linear Algebra will probably just be that much more interesting. As for English, I’m hoping for this amazing class about story-telling and narrative writing. The class covers everything from Homer to blogging. It sounds right up my alley, especially considering the fact that I have a fascination with the writing style.
My other three classes, on the other hand, are going to be general education. There’s my Intro to Economics class, which sounds like it will be fantastically boring. I’m also taking the first class of my Theology requirements, which is just going to be one of the countless Problem of God classes. I tried to pick one that actually sounded interesting and hopefully I succeeded, as it has potential to be an interesting course topic, but could just as easily be made tedious. Here’s to hoping. Finally, I selected an Introduction to Ethics course that goes over Aristotle and Kant, and since they’re pretty intelligent guys, I figure a class about them is worth it.
In addition to the wonders of pre-registration, I also have gotten back to acting after only a month or so of not having theater consume my very existence. Granted, I’m working on a Midnight Theater piece and it’s only a two week process, but that actually makes things more rushed, so it sort of evens out. Anyhow, I am in the play Pope and Anti-pope, which is about the Great Schism of the Catholic Church. Three cheers for historical drama! Too bad this doesn’t exactly fit into that category. It’s actually very satirical and involves such anachronisms as watches, Alexander the Great, Caligula and Jesus, all during the Schism ordeal. It’s an incredibly funny play that has the two popes and their respective scribes on opposite ends of the stage. The scenes just shift back and forth, usually whenever one pope writes a letter to accost the other. My role is that of Benedict, “meek yet sarcastic” scribe to the Avignon pope Clement, who is actually insane Roman emperor Caligula. That, however, is not at all the most shocking aspect of my role. Benedict and Caligula also happen to be homosexual lovers, so yay acting challenges.
The only other interesting thing that’s happened recently is the fact that today I got to attend a workshop on audition techniques led by John Carroll Lynch, who appeared in Fargo and, probably more recognizably, played Drew Carey’s brother on the Drew Carey Show. I found that pretty cool and I made sure to get him to sign my friend’s copy of Fargo that I had borrowed. It was actually bizarre that I watched the movie yesterday and then only learned today that he was going to be on campus. The workshop was helpful, though more oriented towards people considering professional acting. I’m definitely not in that category, as Mom flipped out when I said my friend was trying to convince me to take sculpting with him. Nonetheless, it was interesting to learn techniques and to appreciate the audition itself instead of what it might lead to.
My other three classes, on the other hand, are going to be general education. There’s my Intro to Economics class, which sounds like it will be fantastically boring. I’m also taking the first class of my Theology requirements, which is just going to be one of the countless Problem of God classes. I tried to pick one that actually sounded interesting and hopefully I succeeded, as it has potential to be an interesting course topic, but could just as easily be made tedious. Here’s to hoping. Finally, I selected an Introduction to Ethics course that goes over Aristotle and Kant, and since they’re pretty intelligent guys, I figure a class about them is worth it.
In addition to the wonders of pre-registration, I also have gotten back to acting after only a month or so of not having theater consume my very existence. Granted, I’m working on a Midnight Theater piece and it’s only a two week process, but that actually makes things more rushed, so it sort of evens out. Anyhow, I am in the play Pope and Anti-pope, which is about the Great Schism of the Catholic Church. Three cheers for historical drama! Too bad this doesn’t exactly fit into that category. It’s actually very satirical and involves such anachronisms as watches, Alexander the Great, Caligula and Jesus, all during the Schism ordeal. It’s an incredibly funny play that has the two popes and their respective scribes on opposite ends of the stage. The scenes just shift back and forth, usually whenever one pope writes a letter to accost the other. My role is that of Benedict, “meek yet sarcastic” scribe to the Avignon pope Clement, who is actually insane Roman emperor Caligula. That, however, is not at all the most shocking aspect of my role. Benedict and Caligula also happen to be homosexual lovers, so yay acting challenges.
The only other interesting thing that’s happened recently is the fact that today I got to attend a workshop on audition techniques led by John Carroll Lynch, who appeared in Fargo and, probably more recognizably, played Drew Carey’s brother on the Drew Carey Show. I found that pretty cool and I made sure to get him to sign my friend’s copy of Fargo that I had borrowed. It was actually bizarre that I watched the movie yesterday and then only learned today that he was going to be on campus. The workshop was helpful, though more oriented towards people considering professional acting. I’m definitely not in that category, as Mom flipped out when I said my friend was trying to convince me to take sculpting with him. Nonetheless, it was interesting to learn techniques and to appreciate the audition itself instead of what it might lead to.
Ok, this is my warning. Do NOT click the Freakishly Accurate link in my profile. It is a link to a "crush compatibility" site that if you should put names of your crushes into, it sends those names to me. This is all the warning I'm giving people, because I would like to get someone with it as I was heartlessly tricked by someone.
Saturday, November 08, 2003
I really don't care what anyone else says. I loved The Matrix Revolutions. Sure, some things were cliche, but frankly, I'm tired of people saying that about movies. A whole lot of things have been said and done in movies and it's difficult to just come up with a completely new way to express something that in the real world would be expressed just like a cliche. So why laugh when someone says "I love you" as if it's some cheesy overdone line. Yeah, it is overdone, because love is a huge part of movies, and unless some script writer decides to write a new way to say it, then I think the normal way is great. That goes for a whole lot of other lines in the movie as well. And as for people who thought that it was just an action movie. It was about a war. Wars tend to have action in them. I had no problem with that. Maybe my mind just decided that it wasn't going to overanalyse the places where the fighting was unnecessary, but looking back, I still have trouble deciding just where that would be. Finally, as for the ending, I think it was fantastic. Someone told me that it was good until the last scene, so I was waiting for some crazy The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-esque scene, but it was a perfectly fine ending. It was resolved in a way that was consistent with the story and I'm fine with it.
So hey, go see it. Like it, don't like it, but if you see it, don't go in expecting to see this awful movie everyone's been telling you about, even if that means not taking my review to heart either. It's about choice...ironically.
So hey, go see it. Like it, don't like it, but if you see it, don't go in expecting to see this awful movie everyone's been telling you about, even if that means not taking my review to heart either. It's about choice...ironically.
Friday, November 07, 2003
All Time Top Five List of Word Play Songs (in no particular order)
Meat Loaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light ("Love you till the end of time")
Barenaked Ladies - Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel ("You're the last thing on my mind")
Eve 6 - Promise (The fan joke)
Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me ("I could hide out under there")
Eve 6 - Open Road Song ("I crack a window and feel the cool air cleanse my every pore, as I pour my poor heart out")
Any more that people like?
Meat Loaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light ("Love you till the end of time")
Barenaked Ladies - Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel ("You're the last thing on my mind")
Eve 6 - Promise (The fan joke)
Barenaked Ladies - Pinch Me ("I could hide out under there")
Eve 6 - Open Road Song ("I crack a window and feel the cool air cleanse my every pore, as I pour my poor heart out")
Any more that people like?
Monday, November 03, 2003
As usual, when the pace of life picks up a bit, my journal gets left by the wayside for a while. Maybe I just haven’t had anything interesting to say lately. Things here at Georgetown are pretty regular these days, with the exception of Halloween.
Ah, Halloween, the day of the year that I get to dress up, become someone else, and…only be recognized by a handful of people. I mean, I explained my costume to some, but only a few people knew I was a Boondock Saint purely based on my tattoos, which, admittedly, is the only thing that would indicate I’m not just wearing normal clothes. The girl in my philosophy class who pulled me aside after class to compliment my tattoo job made my day. I should have gotten her name, but I’m kind of thoughtless these days. I don’t know; after a certain number of weeks, I stopped learning names with that Orientation-prompted absorption, so that now if I am introduced to someone, I forget their name before the conversation is over. Some internal thing just says, “I have enough friends,” I guess, which is sort of ridiculous, because who can have too many friends, or at least people to nod or smile at when you pass them (something that thankfully requires no name recognition).
Anyway, Friday I walked to the waterfront with some friends, then rerouted myself back towards campus to meet theater people for their pregaming of the Trojan Women Opening Night Halloween Party. On the way through the overrun and often completely halted streets of Georgetown proper, I spoke with Miss Hanley Smith on the phone, which thankfully lifted me out of the crazed world of costumed strangers. Once I arrived at Henle Village, I sat for a while until John Dzundza and BTA came along, whereupon I went into Joe’s.
It was fun. We played “I’ve never” as a pseudo-drinking game. Those of us who didn’t feel like drinking could just use fingers, though occasionally I partook of the delectable (“as was the first”) drink the masterful Chris Hajduk had concocted for me. Some things were funny for me, like someone selecting the use of food in a sexual situation. I figured that, at Sterling’s party, the caramel situation, though Truth or Dare, was more sexual then culinary, or so it was intended when Katie and I created the Dare. Interesting…I’ve never thought of how it’s sort of funny that Katie and I, after writing the slips, got that one.
I like hanging out with theater people. I haven’t felt this welcome in an already existing group since St. Benedict’s teen group, and that was a great experience, despite my change in beliefs since then. I guess I like the environment because of the varying ages, something also present at church. It’s just cool to hang out with people regardless of age. It also gives a sense of connection to the future when you hang with some of the seniors who, theoretically, are on the cusp of real life. Of course, by real life, I mean grad school or jobs. Real life in its purest sense often hits a lot earlier than college. Anyway, to be able to chill with Haj, Joe and the others always leads to a subconscious consideration of my own future. Where will I be in my senior year? I must say interaction with younger people was a bit of a problem for me at church. I mean, I hung out with a lot of people a year younger than me, but after that, I didn’t really have so much of a devotion to the younger members. Maybe that contributed in a minor way to the death of the teen group, as it was. I didn’t really reach out to people the way Matt, Meghan, Andrew and others reached out to me.
Well, back to Halloween. I meant to go to the Exorcist with my Harbin friends, but I got sidetracked by a phone call and I had to miss the Georgetown tradition. Damn it, that really bothers me, especially since I still haven’t seen it. As I was waiting outside for my friends after getting off the phone, theater folk wandered my way and I went with them to the Trojan Women party.
At the house, I got a few comments about my costume, which was reassuring. Almost everyone who knew what I was thought it was great, even the other two Boondock Saints I had run into before dinner, who thought my arm cross was impressive. Am I gloating? Oh yes I am. The party was cool. Joe’s Frank the demonic rabbit suit was awesome, as was the girl who came as Trinity. The resemblance was uncanny. After some dancing, mostly in a circle with Illusion cast members, a few of us made our way back to campus. I believe I then went to sleep, but I may have stayed up and played around on the computer as I always do.
The rest of the weekend went well. I didn’t have a great deal of work, so I relaxed a lot, taking advantage of God’s fascination with screwing up the weather patterns. Celeste, James and I took a walk to the monuments Saturday, bringing along some interesting conversations. We strode through the FDR memorial, took a picture of James standing in the bread line with a bunch of statues and then turned back towards the hilltop. Saturday night, I went to see The Shining, which scared me out of my wits once again. For the rest of the night, we stayed in (yeah, I know, but I liked it) to play some Cranium, which I believe is one of the greatest games ever made. I got back to my room and was getting ready for bed when I noticed I had a voicemail. I heard John on the other end thanking me sarcastically for being at the Play in a Day competition, which I had missed to play Cranium. I called him back and he said he was just joking, but that a bunch of people were at Tomasina’s house, so despite the hour and the original plan for sleeping, I walked all the way out to T street and watched people play old school Nintendo for a few hours, heckling them all the while.
This was a really good weekend, in retrospect. I guess I should have gotten more work done. I’ve gotten this reputation as a serious slacker. I skip classes, and almost always opt to do things besides homework. So far, I have gotten my work done for my classes and I never skip a class I think of as important. Well, at least I haven’t since I missed a really important day in math. I guess I just seem really laid back about work to people. Senior year just made me realize that some things are more important than others to me. I’m not saying the people who work hard are wrong. On the contrary, I admire them for having that will. As for me, I guess I do things my way. Wow, a lot of first person pronouns there. So far, my grades are doing well. I get A’s pretty constantly in Spanish. I think my Calc average will be 100, but I’m getting my second test back tomorrow. I am more than a bit disappointed about my B- on my first English paper, but I understand the grade, not to mention the fact that this in no longer high school and the work isn’t supposed to be a breeze. Nonetheless it takes a lot to get used to getting B’s on my papers. Damn, this college thing is hard…wow, that’s deep.
Ah, Halloween, the day of the year that I get to dress up, become someone else, and…only be recognized by a handful of people. I mean, I explained my costume to some, but only a few people knew I was a Boondock Saint purely based on my tattoos, which, admittedly, is the only thing that would indicate I’m not just wearing normal clothes. The girl in my philosophy class who pulled me aside after class to compliment my tattoo job made my day. I should have gotten her name, but I’m kind of thoughtless these days. I don’t know; after a certain number of weeks, I stopped learning names with that Orientation-prompted absorption, so that now if I am introduced to someone, I forget their name before the conversation is over. Some internal thing just says, “I have enough friends,” I guess, which is sort of ridiculous, because who can have too many friends, or at least people to nod or smile at when you pass them (something that thankfully requires no name recognition).
Anyway, Friday I walked to the waterfront with some friends, then rerouted myself back towards campus to meet theater people for their pregaming of the Trojan Women Opening Night Halloween Party. On the way through the overrun and often completely halted streets of Georgetown proper, I spoke with Miss Hanley Smith on the phone, which thankfully lifted me out of the crazed world of costumed strangers. Once I arrived at Henle Village, I sat for a while until John Dzundza and BTA came along, whereupon I went into Joe’s.
It was fun. We played “I’ve never” as a pseudo-drinking game. Those of us who didn’t feel like drinking could just use fingers, though occasionally I partook of the delectable (“as was the first”) drink the masterful Chris Hajduk had concocted for me. Some things were funny for me, like someone selecting the use of food in a sexual situation. I figured that, at Sterling’s party, the caramel situation, though Truth or Dare, was more sexual then culinary, or so it was intended when Katie and I created the Dare. Interesting…I’ve never thought of how it’s sort of funny that Katie and I, after writing the slips, got that one.
I like hanging out with theater people. I haven’t felt this welcome in an already existing group since St. Benedict’s teen group, and that was a great experience, despite my change in beliefs since then. I guess I like the environment because of the varying ages, something also present at church. It’s just cool to hang out with people regardless of age. It also gives a sense of connection to the future when you hang with some of the seniors who, theoretically, are on the cusp of real life. Of course, by real life, I mean grad school or jobs. Real life in its purest sense often hits a lot earlier than college. Anyway, to be able to chill with Haj, Joe and the others always leads to a subconscious consideration of my own future. Where will I be in my senior year? I must say interaction with younger people was a bit of a problem for me at church. I mean, I hung out with a lot of people a year younger than me, but after that, I didn’t really have so much of a devotion to the younger members. Maybe that contributed in a minor way to the death of the teen group, as it was. I didn’t really reach out to people the way Matt, Meghan, Andrew and others reached out to me.
Well, back to Halloween. I meant to go to the Exorcist with my Harbin friends, but I got sidetracked by a phone call and I had to miss the Georgetown tradition. Damn it, that really bothers me, especially since I still haven’t seen it. As I was waiting outside for my friends after getting off the phone, theater folk wandered my way and I went with them to the Trojan Women party.
At the house, I got a few comments about my costume, which was reassuring. Almost everyone who knew what I was thought it was great, even the other two Boondock Saints I had run into before dinner, who thought my arm cross was impressive. Am I gloating? Oh yes I am. The party was cool. Joe’s Frank the demonic rabbit suit was awesome, as was the girl who came as Trinity. The resemblance was uncanny. After some dancing, mostly in a circle with Illusion cast members, a few of us made our way back to campus. I believe I then went to sleep, but I may have stayed up and played around on the computer as I always do.
The rest of the weekend went well. I didn’t have a great deal of work, so I relaxed a lot, taking advantage of God’s fascination with screwing up the weather patterns. Celeste, James and I took a walk to the monuments Saturday, bringing along some interesting conversations. We strode through the FDR memorial, took a picture of James standing in the bread line with a bunch of statues and then turned back towards the hilltop. Saturday night, I went to see The Shining, which scared me out of my wits once again. For the rest of the night, we stayed in (yeah, I know, but I liked it) to play some Cranium, which I believe is one of the greatest games ever made. I got back to my room and was getting ready for bed when I noticed I had a voicemail. I heard John on the other end thanking me sarcastically for being at the Play in a Day competition, which I had missed to play Cranium. I called him back and he said he was just joking, but that a bunch of people were at Tomasina’s house, so despite the hour and the original plan for sleeping, I walked all the way out to T street and watched people play old school Nintendo for a few hours, heckling them all the while.
This was a really good weekend, in retrospect. I guess I should have gotten more work done. I’ve gotten this reputation as a serious slacker. I skip classes, and almost always opt to do things besides homework. So far, I have gotten my work done for my classes and I never skip a class I think of as important. Well, at least I haven’t since I missed a really important day in math. I guess I just seem really laid back about work to people. Senior year just made me realize that some things are more important than others to me. I’m not saying the people who work hard are wrong. On the contrary, I admire them for having that will. As for me, I guess I do things my way. Wow, a lot of first person pronouns there. So far, my grades are doing well. I get A’s pretty constantly in Spanish. I think my Calc average will be 100, but I’m getting my second test back tomorrow. I am more than a bit disappointed about my B- on my first English paper, but I understand the grade, not to mention the fact that this in no longer high school and the work isn’t supposed to be a breeze. Nonetheless it takes a lot to get used to getting B’s on my papers. Damn, this college thing is hard…wow, that’s deep.