Monday, December 29, 2008

Titles are an unnecessary luxury for which I have no time.

It was a fun semester, I cannot lie. I love college and I can't wait to go back to school. Although, at the same time, I'm really happy to have a break. Non-stop school is tiring. I wish my professors would send me lists of the books I will need next semester. I'd like to get my book buying out of the way so I can stop worrying about it. However I guess I'll just have to wait, because there is nothing I can do about it.

I wish I could have a bit more time off. I would like to be able to see all of my friends without having to rush through everything. It's hardly relaxing when I have to wake up early just so I can see my friends before I go back to school in 2 weeks. Alas, what can be done? Nothing I fear, unless I wish to not see my friends for another 4 months or so.

Lately, people have been making fun of the way I speak. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I've started to speak how I write, in educated proper English. I must admit, I do speak in very educated tones. However, I felt that I did that before, instead of it being a recent alteration in my speaking habits. In addition to the fun making at my speech, I've also been recently made fun of my my uncle, in regards to the way I write text messages. Apparently proper grammar and spelling is frowned upon in the texting community. Mind you, this is the uncle who is also a teacher. A teacher who gets papers saying things like, "George Washington wnt 2 Vally Forge..." So you would think that he would be against the "texting lingo" as it were. Nope, once again, I'm behind on the times, but I tell you, this is one thing I will not budge to. I refuse to change my ways in order to reduce the characters in my text. If a person is too lazy to read through it, they probably aren't a friend who I would want to converse with anyway.

And not that my rant is over, I shall bid thee adieu, for I am in need of that wonderful Norwegian snack, a lefse.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Chestnuts roasting over an open fire....

I can't wait for Christmas. It is by far my favorite holiday. I like seeing my cousins, and eating good food, and cold weather. This Christmas break is going to be even better, because I will get to see friends I rarely see other times. Like those from high school. I can't wait to see my friends from high school. For a lot of them, it's been since graduation on June 4 since I've seen them. I want to catch up with them. See how college is going for them. Find out what their new friends are like. There is so much to do, I don't even know if I'll have the time for it all.

As I'm looking towards Christmas, I'm also looking at what I will do this summer to make money. I don't think working at camp again can be an option, I just won't be making enough. Retail is probably also out of the question, because again, I won't be making enough. I need a lot of money for spending money when I go to Ireland next fall semester. And if the exchange rate stays where it is, I'll end up having about 4 euros to every 5 dollars, which is not a terrible exchange rate, but is certainly not a good one either. Last summer my friend worked at a day camp sponsored by the the Park Service, and he made some pretty decent money. I'll have to check that out, because it might be a good option, especially because we could probably car pool, and end up paying only half the money for gas, thus saving ourselves each a fair amount of money.

I came to college, knowing what I wanted to do with my life. In a few short months, I have no idea anymore. Things have changed and I don't like it. I don't want to be a lawyer anymore. I still want to major in history, and at least minor in political science, but beyond that, I have no idea. I thank God that I have another 3.5 years to decide what I want to do, because I think I'll need it. That is another thing. I feel like I've gotten more in touch with my faith since I've come here. Seeing the copious amounts of Catholics, and talking with them about faith, have re-enforced my belief in the Lutheran dogma. I find it hard to understand how otherwise intelligent people can just take what one man says as the word of God. The Pope is still just a man. I keep getting told of Papal Infallibility, and I think, well, unless there is Cardinal Infallibility, and Bishop Infallibility and Priest Infallibility, then Papal Infallibility is in essence fallible. There are too many Catholics here who refuse to question their faith, and just blindly accept it without really understanding what it means. It saddens me, because these people could probably be stronger Christians if they would question their faith. That's what I have done. You can't learn or grow without questioning what is being taught.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

WIZARD!

I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (3rd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-14

Constitution-14

Intelligence-16

Wisdom-14

Charisma-14


Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Monday, November 10, 2008

General complaining...

It's only been a few weeks since fall break was over, and I already need another one. I have 2 weeks to go however. I can't wait though, Thanksgiving is always a fun holiday. I'm going to be going down to my grandparent's house in Pinehurst, North Carolina for most of the duration of Thanksgiving break. It may be boring at times, but I cherish every moment I get to spend with my grandparents, because I don't get to see them as often as I would like.

I've been really tired lately. The funny thing is, I've been getting more sleep than normal, but I'm still tired all the time. I'm not quite sure what's up. It might just be because I need a break, I don't know. The real problem I think is that the weekends are too short. I'm looking forward to studying in Ireland fall semester next year, they have 3 day weekends, because there are no classes on Fridays. Weekends that long would really help, plus it allows for more time to explore the country.

I miss my high school friends so much. The worst part is, I won't be able to even see them again until semester break, because I will have no time at home during Thanksgiving break, and no one else would have free time during Thanksgiving break either. There is some good to it though, I will have plenty of time to see them and hang out with them during semester break, but as these things normally do, it will be too short, and I will end up regretting not spending more time with them. I'll just have to do my best, that's all I can do.

Monday, October 27, 2008

What an amazing weekend...

My weekend was excellent, one of the best since I've been here at college. There wasn't even one specific event that made it great, it was just all around awesome. On Friday, we played a great game of Apples to Apples. Some great moments were had by all. You know you're in a great group of friends when everyone laughs at the same things.

Saturday didn't really see much goings on. At one point we went to the Cold Stone Creamery on Monocacy Boulevard. That was fun, Cold Stone has great ice cream. While we were there, I saw one of my friends who is still at high school, and we got to talk for a bit and I was able to learn what is new at my high school this year, which was fun. Then, at around midnight, we were bored, but not yet tired, so we decided to go to Wal*Mart. We were in Wal*Mart until around 1:45, then we finally decided to head back to school and go to sleep. There is nothing funnier than the things that they sell at Wal*Mart when you are awake past midnight. I've come to this conclusion, because I returned to Wal*Mart Sunday afternoon, and nothing was even close to as funny as it was the night before.

Sunday was a great day. We went into downtown Gettysburg, and looked at a few shops. We went to the Hat and Leather shop, where I purchased a red artilleryman's kepi, which I now wear around as often as possible. A kepi looks like this. After that, we went into another shop that sold Civil War recreations for re-enactors. We were in there for a while, just looking at all the cool stuff, when a group of obnoxious kids came in. They were about our age, if I had to guess, I'd say they were either from the local high school, or Gettysburg College. They were loud, and interrupted one of our group who was talking to the store owner. They left making rude comments in general. When we were walking back to my car, we saw them loitering around the shop where my car was parked. Knowing full well that they would be obnoxious as soon as we got close, I decided to mess with them a bit. So I pressed the panic button on my car remote. They got all freaked out, and started to leave in a hurry, lest they get in trouble. It was quite funny.

Today the week started, and life has become slightly more dull.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

I had a great fall break

My break was excellent. It was greatly needed too. A full week to relax was a tremendous help. I didn't get to do as much as I wanted, but I got to sleep as much as I wanted, so that made up for things. This past weekend, before break was over, i went down to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. I ended up driving, because with gas prices going down, the train just cost too much money. I got to hang out with my friend Barrett, and laugh at all the drunk people at a Frat Party. I didn't get to spend much time with my friend Meg. It was a little depressing, but she lives closer to me, so I'll be able to spend time with her over semester break.

William & Mary is a very lovely school. I would seriously consider transferring there if tuition wasn't free here. The campus is 10 times larger than MSM, I was really surprised, but the student body is about that much bigger than here as well, so in retrospect, it isn't that surprising. I really liked all the old buildings, they were quite interesting. It was so cool to think that I was walking where Thomas Jefferson walked, and where he went to school. That's one of the reasons I love Colonial Williamsburg, and other historical cities. Being where such great men have been really gives you a great feeling.

I got my ticket for WHS Homecoming in the mail the other day. I haven't decided if I'm going or not. The only reason I would go in the first place is to see all of my old friends again, it's certainly not because of the dance. I hate school dances. So if no one who I want to see is going, or if only a couple of the people I want to see are going, I'll just save the gas and stay here. After all, I'll see them over semester break anyway. I'll just wait and see what comes up.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

I feel that...

...I'm a little behind on my posts here. I'll have to be sure to stay more on top of this blog.

This was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun. I got to sleep in both Saturday and Sunday, and just have a lot of fun. On Saturday night, I got to do the ghost hunt thing with John Zaffis. That was really cool. First he gave a talk to everyone at the Knott Auditorium and told us about what he has done. Then he took the group of us that had signed up to the place behind IC Chapel where he took out this device that could apparently detect answers from spirits. We started asking questions, but we didn't get any answers. Then we moved over in between the IC Chapel and the Terrace, and asked more questions. There we got a lot of activity. We started asking questions, and we gathered that the spirit we were talking to was a Nun who had known Father DuBois, and that there were orphans and soldiers. We don't know exactly who it was, but it was cool none the less. We asked if she was looking over us, and she said yes, that that was really cool.

Sunday I did my laundry because it had to be done. Then later in the afternoon we went into Frederick to go to Brainstorm Comics. We got some dice for our Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Don't worry, we aren't' obsessed, it's just a fun thing to do with our free time, after we do our homework. Then we went to Taco Bell and got some dinner. We finally drove back to campus and we stopped at Patriot to get our meal plan dinner, and get them in to-go boxes so that we could eat them later, because we weren't hungry (due to Taco Bell).

I'm looking forward to next week. I'm really in need of fall break. A week free of school will do my mind good. On Saturday I'm going to the Renaissance Festival with my family. It just so happens that so is Dan from my hall. So I'll get to hang out with him instead of my family, because as much as I love my family, they aren't as fun to hang out with at the Renaissance Festival than friends are. The next weekend, the 17-19th of October, I'm going down to Williamsburg to see my friends who go to William & Mary College. Other than that, I have nothing planned, and I'm OK with that.