things are winding up as they’re winding down at the debate debacle, get your opinion in on marriage while you still can.

today i met a girl.
she asked me how my life was, something i am typically should be asking and answering myself. i had to pause and think “well, the morning has been bad but i think things are going to get better from here” i said. “are you happy? …i’m happy” she said, once again i had to think “i think so. sometimes i think i lose sight of how good things are though, i am doing what i want to do.” perhaps i have to think about this one more…for those of you who don’t know, these past few weeks have shown me how happy i am with the way things are going, even though my day to day attitude may seem drab. later in the conversation she told me her current “motto for life” for lack of a better term:

Tiger got to hunt
Bird got to fly
Man got to sit and wonder
Why,why,why?

Tiger got to eat
Bird got to land
Man got to tell himself
He understand…
(from Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut)

(i actually found this the on the internet at http://www.furman.edu/guuf/tib19990620.htm, an article which i find interesting and somewhat along my thought lines, by some unitarian guy.)

she asked me what mine was, something i should be on top of, after briefly thinking again, i told her it was “figure out your own answers, because those are the only ones that will be good enough.” which is the basic tenant from my “do it yourself” philosophy on life.
i think we’re talking about the same idea, life is an art, you decide the rules, what you will do, how you will do it: in effect, you answer your questions and the only evaluation of it is ultimately your own. in the end the answer you make to the question “why why why?” is something you will understand, because you made the answer, and if you think about it, you made the question too.
looking back on what i just wrote, i realize it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense unless you’re me or you already feel that way, ah well :)
so yeah, i knew my day was going to get better, and it did.

tonight was the first time in around five years that i took a girl to a formal event. the first/last time was the homecoming of my sophomore year (in high school), where i rounded out the number of guys in a group. i didn’t really know my date, we didn’t talk very much, and as soon as we got to the dance she split on me. after that i promised myself to never take anyone to some event just to have someone there with you (perhaps why i go to many things alone). tonight i went to the winter initiation banquet in indy with one of my friends who is really cool and it is difficult to see normally (we are both busy people); we had a really good time. i am glad i have stuck to that promise.

anyways, in other news, another alex lo has contacted me. he lives in england and has posted to my guest book and message board. i have updated the alex lo network page and added the list.

rush rush rush
rush in the morning to class, you woke up ten minutes past class start time. again. run up the student parking lot stairs, to class, catch your breath before you make a fifteen minute late entrance.
rush from class to talk to Kinley about personal statement, it’s crappy because you’ve been writing it in a rush to get it done for the jan 30th deadline. as you finish talking to Kinley you realize that you’re two minutes late for an interview you arranged yesterday, run up those library stairs, bitch.
rush to blumberg to start homework for or, never mind the dinner you napped through, you can eat later, you’re already a half hour late for your study group time.
8:50pm, shit! you have to be at the pike house in badge attire in ten minutes, run to your car, leave everything in blumberg, drive with most of your windows frosted over, is that something behind you? is that a person to the front and right? you donno…jump into your dress clothes, run to the house.
now it’s over, get back to blumberg so your group doesn’t do the rest of the work without you. run into blumberg, yeah, run i say. your group hasn’t made too much progress, working…wait, i want to get food from the cafeteria worx, they close in five minutes “you better run” they said. oh yeah, that’s the story of the day. run over, get your food, run back, scarf it down, work till 1am. shit, i was supposed to call my parents earlier...i mean tuesday. run to your car, race home, finish your other work so you can sleep so you don’t end up being too late tomorrow.

splitting hairs
i gave myself a hair cut last night, actually turned out pretty well, check it:

before:	after:

been very busy lately, unfortunately when I am at school my blogging efforts have been low, i will attempt to do better in the future.

right...
so last friday, i was drunk, and i talked to a few girls that were in the house. the next day an associate asks me "did you get any last night?" and i said "get any what?" in all seriousness, because i didnt know what he was talking about. he thought i was joking and said, "you know from all those girls you were talking to last night" and i was like "oh" as i realized what the first question was really about, and smiled, "obviously not" i replied. pathetic, i know :)
oh, for those of you who wondered, the seven dollars ended up being a partial refund on the t-shirt i bought from wmhd (rose-hulman radio station), i still have to go pick that up...

pennies from heaven…

…or dollars by campus mail, today i got seven crappy condition one dollar bills in a non-descript envelope, i wonder what this is about…
school has been sticking it to me these last few days, plenty more to come, sweet.

you know that zen feeling you get when you are riding in the back of Baldauff’s van lying on the laps of three people face upwards looking at the stars singing u2’s “i still haven’t found what i’m looking for” at 4am after a night of relaxation after a week of stress? yeah, it’s cool. and I’m drunk.

i just got this promo email, i wanted off the list so i sent in the request to remove me - it emailed me back saying 3 seconds later:
"Thank you for your request to be removed from our database. Please allow 7-10 business days.”
what do they have, chimps at ibm370s attached to the internet with shoestrings tied together? sheesh. removing me from the list is less complicated than sending me the freakin email.

culture

well, happy new year to you all, i wrote a little something about the coming of the new year but i guess i forgot to post it...may find it and post it later. anyways, today the family and i went on a cultural excursion which had a good start at one of my favorate places in the world - heaven on seven, from there we went to see the van gogh and gauguin: studio of the south exhibit at the art institute of chicago. i had been the exhibit before earlier, but still quite a nice trip, really shows the development and influence of the two artists on each other. from there we went to the garfield park conservatory (one of the largest indoor gardens in the world) to see dale chihuly’s “a garden of glass”. the exhibit is excellent, one of the coolest things i’ve ever seen, glass sculptures integrated into the gardens in strange and cool ways. every minute i was there i was kicking myself for not brining my camera, many there had their digital cameras, and one guy had a camera that took 4x5 inch negatives - i was jealous. the website has pictures, but sometime in the future i would like to go back with my camera and get some high res shots. anyways later we went to eat at penney’s noodle shop, quite the day.

oh yes, for those of you with aol instant messenger, try im’ing “GooglyMinotaur”. he’s really the only guy you need on your list, he'll play hang man with you and listen to everything you say. plus he knows movie times.