So today I write to you from lovely Lakeland, Florida, where I am spending my Thanksgiving holiday. Rather than make the 20 hour drive home to Connecticut I caught a ride with Jessi Lucas who graciously drove me to the home of my aunt and uncle and two cousins (those last two don’t actually live here, but they’re home for the holiday). We had a great turkey dinner yesterday afternoon. My aunt made an incredible pumpkin cheesecake for dessert too. It was a lot of fun. I’ve easily had the best two meals of the semester this week.
Monthly Archive for November, 2004
Quote of the Day: “As a general rule you don’t want things exploding in your pants.” — Brett Cotten, professor of my Fundamentals of Investing and Financial Markets class, told the class a story of a bank robber putting his loot in his pants along with, unbeknownced to him at the time, an ink pack used to mark stolen bills which is triggered to explode after the thief has left the bank
Get ready America, because it’s time for another installment of the game that’s sweeping the nation…
Amused, Confused, or Worried!
I realize that I haven’t talked much about what I’ve been doing lately, which is surprising because I had a really good week last week. Here’s all that I can remember.
Even though I wrote about my A-Team leader responsibilities coming to an end as of last Tuesday I did have a couple of left over things that needed to be taken care of before it was all said and done. The first thing was going to the SAC Budget Request Hearing. I had been to one of these just about a month earlier for an emergency request (of which we were given nothing). I had also been once before last fall, so I was feeling pretty confident in my abilities. And I can tell you that I really think we knocked ‘em dead (we being Jon, Ross, and myself). As much as I hate the university (and I still do, mind you) they were actually might do what I want them to do for once.
I felt as though I was watching a tragic play.
The new champion, with his vast followers, led his troops into battle against a familiar invading foe. It had been years since these attackers had been victorious in these lands; so long that some of the warriors of today had yet to be born. The battle began, and the enemy struck first. Our champion looked to respond, but his army looked sluggish, confused, lost. This was the behavior we had come to expect from him on crusades away from his homeland, but here he had never been defeated.
Now with defeat looming, the generals summoned the old champion. Often jeered, often mocked, often taken off the front lines for his lack of consistency, the people cheered him when he took the field of battle. And he did not disappoint as he began to turn the tide. There was a spark of hope in the air. But there was only so much he could do. His defenses were caving; the enemy was closing in for the kill. With only one chance left the old champion, knowing this would be his final fight in front of his own people, hurled one final strike at the enemy…
And on his final pass, the final play of his final game on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium, Chris Rix threw an interception.
Foreword: Forgive me if I over-dramatize this entry. I feel like yesterday was a big day, the end of a season in my life, and I want to express that. But I figure I’m going to come across sounding epic or sappy, so I apologize in advance.
I have been a student at Florida State University for two and one-half years. I have been on the Navigators’ Activities Team for two of those years and led it for one. Anyone who has been on it knows that it becomes a big part of your life. Anyone who has led it knows that, to an extent, it comes your life. The first year when I was in charge of logistics I thought of myself as little more than a cog in the system and somewhat expendable. This past year I have often been refered to as the Tyrant or the Evil Dictator, but regardless I felt important and valued. I’ve been trying to remember what it felt like to not be apart of this team. Even in those brief months of my first semester in college when I wasn’t a member I was being recuited, so the impact of the team was being felt even then. I feel like I can confidently say that there hasn’t been a day since I got here that the A-Team hasn’t been on my mind.
It’s been almost a week since I’ve posted an update. It’s been a heck of a week. I’ll go over the highlights.
I have to start with this. Halo 2 was released on Tuesday. No, I was not one of the ones who stood in line waiting until midnight to get my copy. I got mine during the day on Tuesday. I played its multiplayer for the first time on Wednesday night (I got to stay up late like I used to because there was no school on Thursday) and I beat the campaign tonight. At the moment I like the first Halo’s maps better, but I think that’s because I know where everything is on those maps. I have no idea where I’m going at the moment. I do know that I love the sword and the new Ghosts and almost all of the Covenant weapons. The game came with two free months of Xbox Live but I know that as soon as I start that I won’t get anything else done for the rest of the semester. I’m thinking I might sign up for that when I go home for Christmas break and play it in Connecticut, but until then I’m going to resist the temptation.
I’ve been wanting to put up an update for quite a while now. I had a post-election entry all ready to go and then Xanga ate it. Then I had other technical difficulties, which I’ll get to in a minute.
So Bush won. I had a lot to say about that on Wednesday. I’ll say some of it now. I find it interesting that I can say that the man I wanted in the White House is there, but my vote did not contribute to his victory. I become extremely angry when people say they are going to move to another country because of the outcome, when 99% of these people are just looking for attention. I am curious to find out what this will do to Bush’s international reputation. He was thought lowly of for a number of reasons. One of course was the war, and that’s not going away. But the other was that many felt he shouldn’t have ever been elected due to that whole popular vote in Gore’s favor thing. But now that Bush won the popular vote with 51% of the country electing him you have to wonder if that will show up in the eyes of would-be critics.
I’m not sure if I’m happy this weekend is over or what. FSU lost, so that killed any life in me on Saturday. In fact all three of the big Florida schools (FSU, UF, and UM) all lost on Saturday for the first time in elevendy billion years. I ended up just doing a lot of homework and being pretty antisocial.
Tomorrow’s the big day. But it’s not big because tomorrow is the election. No friends, tomorrow is big because it’s the last day you’ll hear about why you should vote for Bush or Kerry. Campaigning will finally be over! I am so sick of all the ads and the news channels and the flyers and the sidewalk chalk and the death threats from P. Diddy and all the rest that I just want to scream! I’ve already voted (needlessly; CT was won by Kerry in 1492 regardless of who I voted for), and tomorrow the mass majority of the minority of people who are actually voting will vote. And then maybe sometime by Christmas we’ll know who won.
Here’s a little question for you in readerland (population: -2): If the country’s political beliefs were split geographically, how close would we be to a civil war? Think it’s crazy? Read your history on the election of 1876.
