there goes the neighborhood

Week-at-a-glance. The Convocation Lunch. Different hours at Rogan’s. Freshman vomiting outside of a Circles party.

All of these things make us aware that this summer is over. For the first time in months, I have to go to real class. That’s not to say that class in L.A. wasn’t real – that’s to say that it was infrequent, and, as far as Government and Media was concerned, useless.

Although my first class isn’t until noon, I dread walking into Friends knowing that for those fifty minutes, I am prisoner to the professor in front of me. So what have I been doing to prepare to live on someone else’s terms for two more semesters, to get over this daunting steeple ahead of me?

first-day-of-school

I bought a planner. I’ve recently realized that I never know what’s going on. Nor do I know when it’s going on. So I got this planner, which, thus far, only has the time and location of my first class written in it. I’ll probably ditch it by October first. Now, it’s one of those things that, at the time being, I’m hopeful of, like Jordan saying that he “really wants to get good grades this semester, I know I always say it, but I’m really gonna try.” I know that in a few weeks, I’ll be tired of carrying it around and feeling like a nerd. I’m just gonna reassure myself that “I’ll remember _____,” until whatever-it-is occurs, someone reminds me of it, and I’ll think, “damn, if I only had that planner.”

I headed up to the lunch on campus where I invented the omnivore burger: A beef pattie and a veggie pattie on a bun. Twice the meet, half the carbs. Vegetarians may be shaking their heads at this, and I do apologize, because I think when I put the veg pat on, the tongs may have grazed the beef pat. Get over yourselves. I do apologize, though. While I was on campus, I ran into some old friends, immersed myself in the campus and came to terms with the fact that I’d be spending a fair amount of time up there in the coming weeks. I even got a shout out WICB. Thanks, Aaron Terkel.

Lastly, perhaps most importantly, I’ve given a final salute to summer, a season I’ve been reveling in since my flight left for Los Angeles January 10th. With plenty of Natty from Rog’s, an invitation to the Circles, and a beautiful night to swill, I took down the last sips of summer.

Goodnight, and see you on campus, if you can will yourself up there.

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put that needle to the groove

There is something about Ithaca that makes me feel welcome. Well I have been coming here for eight or so years (with an older sibling as an alumni) and even though its been that long, any amount of time can go by and it always feels like home. It is hard to feel like an outsider here. There will be someone stranger, larger, smaller, normal, crazier, older, younger, someone more uptight or loose— someone is always flying their freak flag. And I LOVE IT.

Being just three blocks from the commons- the walks over are so pleasant. Having too much time to think can go either way, but right now its definitely a good thing. A way to get your mind in order before classes start and before your every day commitments (for the first time in eight or so months!) lie ahead. Even though this long summer is coming to an end and we will all miss it VERY MUCH- I am definitely looking forward to getting my brain in gear and having some serious fun.

Until then I plan on spending all of my time and money milling around ANGRY MOM records. It’s in the basement of Autumn Leaves and they have a sexcellent selection of serious vinyl. Check it out- it’s never too late for a beautiful hobby like records in wax.

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August already?

I am just a man, one who sometimes gets annoyed by the little things in life and
likes to bitch to his friends about it in a comedic way, and with the summer slowly winding down, allow me to rant. I cannot wait for senior year and am looking forward to moving in and sharing some drinks with some good friends and enjoying my last year of school, there is something sad about the summer drawing to a close.

June and July have now turned to August and back-to-school ads are starting to pop
up in publications everywhere. Are we really ready for the freedom of summer
to end and the school year to start again? Coming back from Los Angeles
(which was a glorified vacation, no matter how hard any of us worked) and then
taking the summer off (I am quite lazy, more on that later) I have not done “real”
school work or “tried hard” since last December. I know that once classes start
I will be in for a rude awakening and unfortunately, we only have three
weeks left. The great weather, girls in bikinis, July 4th, everything just seems better
in the summer.

I want this vacation to last. I want to keep sitting on a couch. I want to be able to day drink and not feel bad about it. I do not want to feel obligated to go to some trivial class and listen to some lame lecture from a tenure-seeking professor. So rejoice in the last few weeks of summer, bathe in the last few rays of sunlight, and stay thirsty my friends.

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