That's Just Awesome...

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as William Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.

Alphabet

Alphabets are cool

Komm Süsser Tod

Yesterday I had my first exam, for Civil Procedure. Right now I am studying for my Torts final on Thursday. It seems quite appropriate to me at the moment that I'm listening to Bach's "Komm Süsser Tod" (Come, Sweet Death). I have it set to repeat, and I'll probably be listening to it all day. What better music while studying for Torts, eh?

Honestly, while heading to my Civ Pro final yesterday, it almost felt like heading to an execution, or a session of torture, perhaps. That inexorable sweep of time marching onwards, on towards that moment when the proctor plops the final in front of you. Then you have an exam in front of you, and three hours in which to display some sort of intelligence, thereby determining your grade for the semester. I don't remember much now, besides the rude proctors and the soft chatter of keyboards around me. Afterwards, I felt completely drained. I didn't want to talk, I couldn't eat. Thank God I've got Anni to talk to, because the last people I wanted to be around for the few hours after the test were other law students.

Anybody Out There?

Does anyone beside Will and Bjorn read my blog? Or are my posts just simply too uninteresting to be commented on? Just wondering.

Thor

I don't smoke, but I still find this Flicker photo set to be absolutely hilarious.

Pics

Flickr Update: Thanksgiving!

Fun Facts for the Week

Fact #1: Annika Nitschke is a wonderful woman. My birthday on Saturday was really very fun because of her. She made a great meal, and I opened my last bottle of wine brought back from Wuerzburg, which was excellent.

Fact #2: Franken Wine is really, really good. I forgot how much I miss excellent German wine.

Fact #3: Law school finals are scary.

Fact #4: I'm going to Germany again in 2 weeks! Yay!

Fact #5: The crazy amount of studying I'll be doing in the next few weeks. See Fact #3.

December Suckage

OK, the thing about law school - It seems fine at first and all, but then things change. Then you realize that it seems like you can never get enough work done. You're body and mind start constantly feeling tired and exhausted. The competition starts getting to you, as you worry that others in the class are getting ahead of you. Then large, complicated research papers are assigned on a bi-weekly basis. We haven't even gotten to the fun part yet, FINALS! My entire grade for almost every one of my classes is dependent on these final tests, covering hundreds of cases and a few thousand pages of very dry reading. Ah, and don't forget that at a maximum, only 25% of a class are alowed an A, 25% a B, etc. The curve is harsh. Honestly, I think that at this point I'll be happy if I can get nice, solid B's. First time in my life I've ever said that, but yea, I could be happy with B's. Yea, no joke, law school is hella hard. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're really, really, REALLY sure you want a law degree.

BTW, if I don't happen to post again for the rest of the week, happy birthday to me on Saturday!

Anni & Tom @ Apple

 


A picture of Anni and I taken at the Apple Store at Easton, on Black Friday. This was taken using an iMac G5 there, with the photoshop software that comes with the system. It sounds like silly software, but it is really fun, actually. 

Break

I'm now in Delaware, OH with the family and Anni. Days of turkey, relaxation, family and study await. It's amusing how used to living in a crappy tiny dorm room I've become - my parents' house feels positively luxurious (it is quite nice, though, I must admit). It's wonderful, though, getting away from campus and spending lots of time with Anni. Farnham is over in Mt. Vernon right now too, so hopefully I'll be seeing him sometime this week.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Facts About Law School

I'm discovering that there's a reason why certain professions, in this case the law, usually result in higher salaries. Here are the reasons why lawyers should and do make decent pay:

(1) Law school (at least first year) requires incessant work.
(2) Law school drains one physchologically, emotionally, physically, etc...
(3) The competition is heavy, and the stress levels are high.
(4) The subject matter, while interesting, can often become extrememly dry and tedious.
(5) Huge-ass memo assignments from the Fleen-Machine!

I am gonna love Thanksgiving break. A full week without class, oh man. Yet of course, I'll be spending most of my time outlining for finals. Yaaay!

Learning Things

Law school has been hard. Frustration and overwork have become a normal, accepted part of my life. Yet I enjoy the challenge, and I always have that refrain running through my head, "At least I'm not at Hillsdale anymore". Thank God for that.

Speaking of Hillsdale, I took Annie down there a few weeks ago (as we sometimes do) to get away from Lansing and meet the family at the house for a little R&R. We went on campus, just to go to the snackbar and see people and profs. It was so strange being back. People didn't notice I was there until they took a double-take. It was nice seeing Stephens and a few other profs, I must admit. Nonetheless, I don't plan on heading back to that campus again anytime soon.

In good news, though, the pipe-band is apparently doing very well under new leadership. It made me very happy to hear that.

I realize I haven't been posting much lately. I've been very busy, and very uncontemplative as I do my best to get equitable estoppel and jurisdiction and Erie and a limitless number of other legal miscellanea into my mind, made a "part of my legal soul", as my contracts prof. always says when he feeling profound.

Oh, and I (along with the rest of my section) absolutely dislike my Torts professor. Berkeley educated. Hyphenated last name. Obsessed with public policy. Her specialty is environmental law. She'll call on people when she notices that they might not have read a certain case. She uses a first edition casebook that has no commercial outlines or aids to help us study. The casebook itself sucks. She can't lecture, and her powerpoint slides are useless. So, in essence, I don't understand why she is teaching torts. Alright, that's my gripe for the week.

I've realized important things about myself and my recent life lately, and Annika has helped a lot with that. She is very good for me. I'll be heading to Hamburg with her over Christmas break to meet her family.

All else is good.

Annie Gets Her Gun

 


This was the first time Annika had ever shot a gun. She was quite a natural shot...must be her German side coming out. 

Max

 


It's Max! 

Annika

 


Annika! 

New Blog Color

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Hence the new blog color. I suppose I'm pretty obedient.

Funny Philosophy

Aristotle and Socrates, Tarantino Style

Good Life

Law school is challenging, and sometimes downright frustrating, but still, I persist in enjoying it. Prof. Apol, my Crim Law prof, has got to be my favorite (he's everybody's favorite, I think). I never knew that crime could be so funny. Most days he has us spend our time chanting definitions to crimes like rape or burglary, mostly to annoy the other classes. Fun times.

Suprisingly, a new love has entered my life - a certain Annika from Hamburg. She's getting her masters in P.R., and she's a great girl. I didn't think law school would be this cool. Yea, the amount of work is ridiculous, yet everything else is fantastic.

That's the basic news for now. Till next time.

Law School

Well, I like law school! I like it a lot, actually. I like my dorm (the international student and grad student dorm), I like my fellow section-mates, I like what I'm studying, and I like the challenge. Of course, I'll probably be begging for mercy in a few weeks, but for now, I'm enjoying it. Oh, and thank God I'm outta Hillsdale!

Last Day

Yesterday was my last day of work at Bun's. Initially, it was to just be a three hour lunch shift, but then they needed me to stay through till dinner, to which I gladly obliged. Then, Vasili asked me to stay for dinner too. I consented, figuring it was my last day anyways. Right in the middle of an 8-top and a 2-top, though, the power went out. Apparently there was some huge accident on 23 which took out a transformer, so the whole town was dark. It was interesting trying to serve people in the dark, I must admit. We carried on though, and about 2 hours later, the power came on, and we were all able to finally cash out in the computers and get home. It was a long final day, to say the least. It's crazy how dependent we are on our electronics.

Speaking of dependence, today I had to fill up the Lexus, which only takes premium fuel. It was at $2.91 a gallon. Stupid Chinese....my first new car is definitely going to be a hybrid.

Interesting Pictures

Penguins

I saw March of the Penguins earlier today. It was an absolutely gorgeous film. Fantastic visuals, beautiful music, and an engaging story - this isn't your average nature documentary.

Tommy

At work, everybody calls me Tommy, and in a lot of ways I've grown to like it. People seem to expect less of me when I'm named Tommy, which is always nice, just in case I screw up (rarely, mind you, rarely). It's just more affectionate, I guess, and almost everybody at work is a friend, so I like it now.

Don't think this means just anybody can call me Tommy! That requires express written permission, from me. Verbal permission might count too, if you ask nicely enough.

Cable and Internet and a Bed, Oh My!

So yea, now that the summer is almost over, my parents have decided to finally get a landline, cable, DSL, and to move all our furniture from Terre Haute into the new house. For a few short weeks, I won't have to sleep on an air mattress, go to the library to use the internet, or have only 4 fuzzy channels on the tv.

I'm not going to get anything done.

Monsieur N.

Last night I watched a French film called Monsieur N. It was an interesting flick, chronicling Napoleon's stay on St. Helena. It had an interesting premise as well, suggesting that perhaps the body exhumed on St. Helena was not, in reality, Napoleon's, but his half-brother's. The movie suggests that he won his final victory, ending his days peacefully somewhere other than St. Helena. An interesting movie, worth watching.

Apple Store

Last weekend, a manager from the Apple Store finally called me back, after not hearing from them for a month - I had basically given up hope. It appears that they now need some seasonal help. It would be the coolest job ever, but considering I've got only a month of summer left, I already have a good, flexible job, and it's a 45 minute commute, they would have to offer me some very good money to really consider it this late in the game. Of course, I would also do it for the experience of working in an Apple store, but I have a lot of preparations to make for law school, so a second job probably isn't the best idea right now. That, and my family is running low on cars. Oh well. At least now I can say the Apple Store offered me a job!

About the running low on cars thing...mom tried to drive the old van (you guys know the one, my pimpin' Voyager with the stick-shift and no seats in back) down to Delaware, and the clutch went kaputt. It's probably totalled, but no skin off my teeth...now I'll be takin' the Lexus to law school!

Batman...and Various Links

So, last weekend I saw the new Batman film. As a long-time Batman fan, it's definitely the best one ever made. Finally, they've returned to a dark Batman, rather than the schlock of the past two or three movies. That, and this one had the best villains of Batman lore.

Weekly Onion fun:

Marriage

Midwest

Bush

London

Quotes from World Leaders Concerning the Terrorist Bombings

Back to Work

I realize it's been quite a while since my last post. I've been quite busy with work - 5 double shifts in a row - and then I've had a fantastic 4th of July weekend. It was the first fourth I've spent in the U.S. in 3 years. I did a bit of travelling, and had an amazing week off from work.

Returning to work was fine, although my mad waiter-skills were a bit on the rusty side. I've made quite a few friends at work, so I really enjoy being back. Life in general is good. Many challenges approach, but I look forward to them.

I've finally joined the rest of the world and bought a digital camera! I got a great deal on a 5 megapixel Olympus that came with a free memory card and printer. Go to my Flickr account to check out a few of my photos.

That's most of the news for now. Till next time.

Bad Luck

Yesterday, I worked the lunch shift, and had some bad luck. First, I had the good fortune to serve a woman with food allergies. She couldn't eat anything with garlic or onions in it. EVERYTHING we serve is cooked with garlic. So I had to spend 10 minutes dicking around with her and the cooks to find a bland enough salad for her to eat. Then I served this old couple...they were nice enough, bantered with me and whatnot. I took them their check, left for two minutes to check another table, and came back. They had already taken off, without paying the bill, but leaving a tip. At least it was a good tip. Then I got stiffed by a couple of businessmen who left no tip. Lots of bad luck.

Have you seen my buns?

Well, work at Buns has been great. My training was finished in about 3 days, and I settled right back into the old restaurant-work routine. It's a great restaurant, actually. It's casual yet elegant dining, with very good food. The other servers are great. Most are in their twenties, and plenty of them are attractive females, which is always a plus. My boss is a tought little Greek guy named Vasily, and he's a good boss. The managers are really nice too. It's been really fun, and it feels good getting back to some hard work and making money again. It was a slow weekend, though, but things should pick up soon.

I've continued lifting, running and swimming. That, combined with 4-8 hours a day of frantic running around while I wait tables should make for a lean Tom very soon. Speaking of that...I'm the third Tom at Buns right now, which means I'm now Tommy R. while at work. The only person I've ever let call me "Tommy" was Sarah.

I'm just about to finish "A German Identity: 1770 to the Present Day". It's an analysis of the German crises of identity, from essentially the Enlightenment and the subsequent Napoleonic invasions to reunification (it was written in '91). The author uses cultural, political, economic and national factors to explain the various stages of modern German history as a search for identity. It's an interesting thesis, and probably correct. Germany as Mitteleuropa was very late in establishing itself as a nation-state, and culturally there were as many Germanies as there were Laender.

A Jorb!

Today I got a job at the nicest restaurant in Delaware! It's a place called Buns, and the owner, a Greek, called me this morning to offer me a server position. I just applied two days ago, and I start tonight. With any luck, Apple will give me a job too, and I'll be able to start making bonzo bucks.

In new Onion fun:

PORTUGAL FINALLY GETS IT TOGETHER
LISBON, PORTUGAL—To the relief of surrounding countries, Portugal seems to have finally gotten its ducks in a row, sources reported Monday. "Man, I didn't think P. would ever get it together," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. "But it really cleaned up its act and got its shit straight. Who would've guessed?" Cyprus said that if Portugal can do it, maybe it can, too.

Chinese Factory Worker Can't Believe The Shit He Makes For Americans

Round and About

Cool, Gaelic gets official.

Welshwoman runs across Russia. Those Welsh chicks are a hardy bunch...I travelled with a Welsh-Australian last summer in Scotland, and she kicked ass at climbing mountains. It was like she never needed breaks.

Germans don't like the euro

Spanish drought

Things are going well in my world. Went to church on Sunday with dad - it was the Episcopal church here in Delaware. It's a beautiful old stone church, and the priest gave a good sermon. It's ECUSA though, so who knows what's really going on there. There is an Anglican church down in north Columbus somewhere I'd like to try out, and there are even a few Byzantine Catholic churches in the Columbus area. Yep, I said Byzantine Catholic. I'm curious to see what they're like.

Apple is still pulling me along. I'm betting they don't really need seasonal help till July. They keep telling me it'll be one more week, one more week. Hopefully I'll at least get a good two months of work in. Otherwise my parents have been paying me for work around the new house, and I've been spending the rest of my time working out, reading, hangin' with the fam, writing and praying.

Apple + Intel!

Apple and Intel are gonna be in cahoots! That's crazy, and probably a brilliant business move my Mr. Jobs. Here's a good article.

It's nice when...

It's nice when you put up an account on Thefacebook, and suddenly you begin getting messages from girls you knew in high school, giving you their phone number and asking to get together sometime for coffee or drinks. Yea, it's real nice.

BK

I find it interesting that, well, this second try at reading Brothers K. I find it so much more interesting. I started it once while in high school, and found it so slow and laborious that I gave up on it. Now I find it fascinating, chock-full of love triangles and theology. It's really good stuff. I suppose it takes a certain amount of maturity to really get Dostoevsky.

EU News

Germany ratifies EU Constitution

More Random

Last night I saw Star Wars: Episode III. I actually enjoyed it quite a lot...definitely makes up for episodes I and II. Seems like Lucas finally stopped being impressed at himself with all the fancy special effects he could make and actually focused on the story. That, and Hayden Christensen stopped playing an obnoxious teenager, which made it much more bearable than Episode II. He finally becomes the true badass we all hoped he would someday be. Then he becomes a big jerk in a scary-looking life support suit. Life sure can be a bitch sometimes.

Music as anaesthetic

White buffalo!

Liverpool wins in penalty shootout!

In Orthodox news...

Quote

There's something here, my dear chap, that you can't understand yet. You see, if a man falls in love with some beautiful woman, with a woman's body, or even just with one part of her body (only a sensualist can understand that), he'll sacrifice his own children for her, he'll sell his father and mother, and his country, too. If he's honest, he'll go and steal, if he is gentle, he'll kill, if he is faithful, he'll deceive. Pushkin, the singer of women's beautiful feet, sang in praise of women's feet in his verses; others do not sing their praises but cannot look calmly at women's feet. But, then, it's not only their feet...

-Ratikin to Alyosha in Brother's K.

Good Collect

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious favour, and further us with they continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Random

In the past 5 weeks I have lost 15 lbs. That doesn't beat my previous record of 20 lbs in a month, but this time I also took final exams while losing the weight, so I'm pretty proud of myself.

Otherwise, I'm losing my patience. The day of reckoning approaches, and this time I'm serious.

A Slight Burn

Another good day
The noon sun was very hot
Now I'm like lobster

Space Junk

Cool Russian Space Junk!

Awww, kitties!

Kitties!

Crazy Scary Japanese Robo-Kitties

A good day

To see how much I do in a day, and to analyze my current eating habits, I decided to keep track of everything I did yesterday. Here's the day.

09:30 - Woke up/prayed/drank 32 oz water
10:10 - 30 min walk with mom and the dogs
10:50 - Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 egg white scrambled with a little skim mozzarella cheese melted in with salsa on the side. Drank pomegranate juice mixed with mineral water.
11:20 - Shower/shave
11:50 - Headed into town to drop off mail and check e-mail.
12:45 - Lunch: Half a chicken breast, yogurt and an apple
13:30 - Prayer/read of few chapters of Timothy 1
13:50 - Began reading "Brothers Karamazov"
14:30 - Nap
15:15 - Lifted (biceps, back and abs)/ran 1.5 miles
16:45 - Post-workout snack: OJ, handful of almonds and raisins, 16 oz water
17:15 - Poetry writing
17:45 - Continued reading "A German Identity"
18:25 - Dinner: One chicken sausage with a piece of wheat toast as the bun, 1/2 small glass red wine, 1 glass white wine, handful of chips with salsa.
18:30 - Watched the news and Jeopardy with dad
19:30 - Went to check out the new gun club with pa
20:20 - Read more Brothers K.
21:00 - Pre-sleep meal: Ate one bowl of Wheaties, some almonds, a piece of cheese, and water
21:20 - Watched CSI with dad
22:00 - Talked on the phone
24:00 - Evening Prayer/Sleep

What a good day. I love summer.

Delaware

We drove down to Ohio on Monday. We caravanned - I drove the Lexus with Grandpa and the dog, while everyone else was in the van. The trip was going just fine until we got around Bowling Green, when mom called me and told me to not get upset, because she had accidentally given my cat the wrong medication. So yea, my mom poisoned my cat, the bestest cat in the whole wide world, so we had to stop and find a vet post haste. Luckily, we did, and the vet induced vomitting, and all was well.

The past few days here in Ohio have been quite pleasant. The interview at the Easton Apple Store went really well, I thought. I think I have a pretty fair chance of landing the job. Otherwise my days have been spent with the family, working out, reading, praying, thinking and writing. It's not a bad way to live. I can imagine doing this for a while without getting too bored.

I don't know yet what I'll do if I don't get this job. Maybe it's time for a road-trip. My best buddy Jared lives in NYC, and I would like to get to Illinois as much as possible over the summer.

I'm still very much in love, and very content. God is good, and so is life.

Wenn alles fertig ist...

Graduation went splendidly. It's surprising how much fun it is when you're the one graduating. Having gotten over all my Hillsdale-hangups, I was able to enjoy the ceremony, and I looked awful perty with my cum laude stole and various honors cords. Ken Starr's talk was actually quite good, and I sang the alma mater with pride. Hillsdale actually is a pretty special place. I leave glad to have received my degree here, and somehow I think I am now psychologically ready to go to law school.


Now it is summer. Today I caravan with the family to the house in Columbus. I will be interviewing for a second time at the Apple Store. With any luck, I'll be an Apple Specialist in training by the end of the week. It will only be a part-time position, so I will also have time to do all the reading, writing, thinking and working out I've been putting off for so long. If I don't get that job...road trip!

Old Friends

Junior, Britt and Ass-Clown were all in town last night. It was fantastic hanging out with them...just like old times. I'd forgotten how hilarious Jr. is.

Tonight is my last official Friday night as an undergraduate - I'll have to party like it's 1999.

Crazy Aussies

You know you come from a country of convicts if....

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Officials bought 15 pizzas to secure the release of a guard who had been held for 42 hours by inmates at an Australian top-security prison, police said Monday.

Twenty prisoners were involved in the standoff, which began Saturday when inmates occupied part of Risdon Prison on the southern island state of Tasmania, complaining about conditions in the aging institution and taking guard Ken Hannah hostage.

Hannah finally was released late Sunday night after authorities caved in to demands for pizza.

"The final sticking point with the inmates was that they were requiring pizzas to be delivered," senior prisons official Graeme Barber said.

"We had held off in relation to that -- we obviously wanted the release of our staff member," he added. "Our staff member was negotiated out by the delivery of 15 pizzas."

The last prisoner involved in the siege gave himself up Monday. No one was injured.

The siege followed months of violence and unrest at Risdon, which holds one of Australia's most notorious convicts, Martin Bryant, who went on a shooting rampage at Tasmania's Port Arthur historic penal settlement in 1996, killing 35 people.

Those Aussies...gotta love 'em.

Random News

Finals week is always the most intense week emotionally for me. I don't know why that is, but it always seems to be the case. Life's been very, very interesting and fun lately. I only have 2 more finals, a paper, and one last German oral exam, and then commencement is on Saturday. Both sets of grandparents and my uncle will be coming up, so the house will be full for the first time in quite a long while.

Church on Sunday was very nice. They gave me a card for graduation, and I got a chance to address the parish, thanking them for letting me serve them as a subdeacon. I was surprised that I got a tad emotional.

In other excellent news, after seeing "Kingdom of Heaven" on Saturday night, I came home to a message from the Apple Store in Columbus! They offered me a second interview! I immediately called back and scheduled an interview for next week, so with any luck I will be working part-time at the Apple Store over the summer.

Kingdom of Heaven, BTW, was a pretty decent flick. It was difficult to feel much emotional attachment to anyone in the film, especially pretty-boy Orlando Bloom, but on the whole it's a good film.

Deadly Sins

One more link to a site found off boingboing: The 7 Deadly Sins in Gummi Bear.

Legoland

Ha! This site has a picture of the lego version of nerds lining up for the Star Wars site. That's just cool. BTW, I got this link off boingboing.

Accuracy

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

And apparently I've got nice gams, too!

Great Quote

This is from another Onion article, in reference to the "hyperbolic chamber":

[it will be] "more useless than 12 rows of tits on an NFL fullback."

Best metaphor ever.

Winding Down

Oh man

Herbert Kornfeld

Those are the links for today. In other news, the semester is beginning to wind down...I've got some tests and papers to write, and then I am done, although I won't be quite out of Hillsdale. It seems that since I've been accepted to MSU Law, I may as well stay up here and work over the summer, making it easier to get a place in Lansing set up and ready to go. Otherwise, things are good, and I'm enjoying living.

Recently I've also come to a crazy realization. Funny how sometimes certain things just sneak up on you, certain feelings take you by surprise. Then again, maybe the nice weather's just driving me batty.

Till next time, kiddoes.

Save Toby!

Ha! NBC News did a piece on this website last night. For some reason I find this site to be hilarious. This guy is promising that if he doesn't get $50,000 from donations or merchandise, he's going to butcher and eat his rabbit. Suffice it to say, these guys are geniuses...I guess they've already made around $20,000. Nothing like making a buck off of emotional blackmail.

Sad Story

I found this article on Foxnews.com....

A beer truck flipped over on a roadway overpass in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Monday, prompting local officials to comment on the tragedy.

"It is sad," Capt. Scott Logan of the Halifax Regional Fire Service (search) told The Daily News of Halifax. "Chances are they won't recover any of the beer."

The truck, hauling 46,368 bottles of Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale (search), skidded to a stop against the overpass's guardrail, luckily avoiding a 50-foot plunge down to another road.

The female driver was pulled out of the cab uninjured — "more frazzled than hurt," according to Logan — letting rescuers focus on the calamitous aspects of the disaster.

"I had a tear in my eye, actually, when I was watching it," said police Constable Mark Hobeck. "It was full of beer. We were hoping a Hostess truck full of pretzels would come by, but no such luck."

Law-yer school and vidyer games

On Monday I finally received a letter from OSU. Well, Ohio State wait-listed me. Oh well...at least I still have a chance. Nonetheless, I still spent Monday evening pretty pissed off, because OSU was really the school I want to go to. After kicking various random objects around the house, and then going for a really angry run, I calmed down and realized that it's not such a huge deal...I'll get in eventually. I've been accepted to MSU, and they've offered me a 25% scholarship, yet I really don't want to live in Michigan, and I especially don't want to live in Lansing.

Yesterday, I got Fifa Soccer 2005 in the mail. Nik York exposed me to it. He was right, that game is like crack...I played for like 5 hours last night. Such a great game...its going to take a lot of self-control to not play it for hours every day. I'm starting to think that my personality is way too obsessive to handle such good games.

Return

I've returned to good old Hillsdale, and I've got ridiculous amounts of work to do. I've got a German exam on Friday, for which I need to catch up on about three books. I've also got my philosophy comps on Wednesday. Four hours of philosophy exam fun. I can't wait.

In good news, I went and applied in person at the Apple Store in Columbus. I filled out the form and gave a manager my resume and cover letter. A few minutes later another manager came out and gave me an interview, right then and there. It went really well, I think, and he said he'd let me know in a week, which is a good sign. Keeping my fingers crossed. BTW, as a point of clarification, this is a part time Apple Specialist position. If you look at the job description on the Apple website, this is not a technical position, this is a retail position. They want people who can sell computers, so really communication, teaching and interpersonal skills, coupled with a passion for Apple products, are what really matter for the job.

Spring Break

Well, I'm on spring break. It's fantastic to get away from the Dale, and it's been pretty nice being with the family. I've been helping my mom with chores around the house...my sister is so amazingly lazy that my mom just loves having me around for some help. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Columbus to visit my dad. The poor guy is living by himself right now until he and my mom can move into their new house in Delaware. It'll be nice seeing him, and I'll be able to apply in person at the Apple store. Hopefully while I'm there I'll also be able to talk my dad into buying a Mac...I'm so close...he's looking into a Powerbook. With any luck, I'll also talk him into getting me a 20in. iMac G5 for graduation. Druel. After seeing the paterfamilias, then it's back to Hillsdale so I can see my best bud Jared. He's taking a break from his acting internship in New York. It'll be great seeing the guy.

Till next time, kiddoes.

Guns and Japanese Chicks and Law Schools

This is why gun control is ultimately stupid.

I met lots of South Africans while I was travelling in Britain, and they were some of the nicest people. It's a shame they have to deal with so much violence.

Here's a site with some crazy Japenese ads.

I decided to call OSU today...they aren't going to have my application status known till after April 1st. At least now I know.

Game

Tonight, I've realized to my utter disappointment, that I really have no functional game whatsoever. I seem to remember being at one point witty and charming around girls. Now it seems that I just don't care enough to really try. Maybe my subconscious is tripping me up due to years of difficulty and hardship with Sarah. Or maybe everyone around me knows that I will be gone in 2 months, and as such they could care less about me.

Again, back to the whole Hillsdale being boring theme. Perhaps I'm complaining too much, but why do 95% of the people here seem so boring? Or perhaps, are they simply just bored with me? Am I the boring one? Let's hear a vote...am I boring or not?

Of course, it could just be the 3 hours of sleep I got last night talking. I get cranky, like a baby.

Otherwise, I still despise it here...who'd have thought not having any real friends would be so hard? I plan on leaving Hillsdale, and not coming back for a very, very long time. I will not return for homecoming, I will not return for fundraisers. I will not be a graduate student who comes back to party in Hillsdale. I will not be a part of Hillsdale College once I have left. If I move, I will not give my new address to the college, and I will tell my parents to withhold it from them. I will not give money to the college. I will do my best to be the most apathetic alumnus humanly possible.

And no, I still haven't heard from law schools yet.

Next time I have a post, I'll try to sound more positive. I promise.

The wait continues

Today, I opened my mailbox, certain, it being Monday, that I would find that nice big fat envelope from Ohio State. Disappointment, yet again. However, in good news, OSU informed my father that if accepted, I would only have to pay in-state tuition at OSU, which is awesome. That's what I was hoping for, and will save me 10 grand for the first year.

Procrastination and wasting time turns out being useful, after all: this morning while laboring away in the graphics lab, I discovered I could apply online to a job at the Apple Store in Columbus. They have three positions available, and I have a chance, it seems to me, at at least one of them. I did so, and with any luck, I could be working my dream job as an Apple Specialist part time throughout the summer. Yes, I know I like Apple way too much, and yes, this may be setting my goals ponderously low, but at least there's one job in the world I would love doing.

This site features some wicked cool cars tricked-out with Mac Mini's and iPods.

Parents Weekend

I'm not really sure why parent's weekend disgusts me so much. Maybe its all the yuppy parents who descend on Hillsdale. Its as though my school is being invaded by all these foreigners who don't normally belong. Maybe its just because my parents never come.

I got the iPod Shuffle armband yesterday. I had to wait more than a month for it, it cost $30, and I'm a tad disappointed with. Yes, its small and looks great, but 30 bucks seems a tad steep. $20-25 would have been much more fair. Apple overprices their accessories, but oh well, at least now I can run and lift with my iPod Shuffle conveniently out of the way.

Every day I open my mailbox, hoping to see that big fat envelope from Ohio State. Every day so far I've been disappointed. Its one of the many things in my life slowly driving me insane. I've already been accepted to MSU, but the prospect of spending the next 3 years in Lansing does not appeal to me at all. If I don't get into a law school I want to go to, I'm just not going to law school next year.

Till next time.

Considerations

I haven't blogged in a while. I drummed at Eileen's senior recital last Friday. Its was just a little set of Scottish tunes, but everyone on campus has been complimenting me on it. We practiced for like 10 minutes the night before. I'm like, "its just what I do". Either I'm really talented on the bodhran, or people just have no idea about drumming. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Man, its been a hellish sort of week. I've realized that I'm a few weeks behind in a few of my classes, which has me in a tizzy of self-punishment. At least I'm actually beginning to study again.

Sarah and I talked on the phone for 2.5 hours on Saturday evening. She realizes she wants to be with me, but only if I really, really want to be with her. I'm still not sure what to do...all I know is that I'm pretty lonely in that big ol' house of mine, but I'm definitely not ready to start seeing anyone else. If only Hillsdale didn't suck so bad.

In good news, I'm gradually beginning to recover my faith. One eventually tires of delving into the morass of philosophic inquiry.

Why is it that whenever I talk to people they seem bored with more, or not interested in me? Am I a boring person? Yet, this only seems to happen at Hillsdale. Must be that Hillsdale people are boring...or perhaps I'm just bored with Hillsdale people. Either way...I just need to fucking get out of this place.

Angst no more

For the past week or so, I've been sorta moping around. I suppose I feel slightly lost, now that my future has completely changed since Sarah and I broke it off. Today, though, I've realized I need to stop moping and start accomplishing. Time to rid myself of my existential listlessness and begin caring again. A life where one is not engaged, with no passion, is hardly worth the bother.

Of course, this all might be pushed by the looming spectre of midterms coming up, and I'm pretty far behind in most of my classes. Too much time spent with NCAA Football.

In other good news, I'm surprised at how I'm beginning to enjoy my Reist class. I think he's beginning to dispel the debilitating doubt about Christianity I've had for the past two years. Strange, too, that now that I've broken up with Sarah, I thnk I believe in God again.

Weird, huh?

Observations

Observation 1: Being sick with some sort of wicked virus for 2 and a half days really sucks.

Observation 2: I was truly fooling myself when I thought things with Sarah were going well...I think I was talking myself into it. It's pretty lonely in Hillsdale for me anymore, and I think I wanted to avoid being alone.

Observation 3: Being single isn't that bad.

Observation 4: Dances at Hillsdale suck.

Observation 5: I feel like I've dodged a bullet.

Till next time, kiddoes.

Free iPod

Hey, and if you haven't heard, you can actually get a free iPod. For real...just go here and check it out. If you're still in doubt, go read this Wired article

Genesis

And on the seventh day after its release, Tom said, "Let me have an iPod Shuffle". He received the iPod, and saw that it was good, and he blessed it. And there was much rejoicing in the land.

Changes

So, now I'm in day three of pseudo-singlehood. I had a talk with Sarah over the phone last night, and she seems to be doing alright. Yesterday I was pretty down most of the day...it seemed like it took a while for it to really set in and hit me. Today though, I think I'm gonna have to change my attitude...insteady of moping around and doing nothing but play NCAA Football on the Gamecube or go to the gym to wile away the hours, I should look at this as an opportunity to make new friends and aquaintances. I suppose I could go out on a few dates with some girls if I felt like it. I've gotta try doing something to fight the loneliness.

In good news, today my iPod Shuffle arrives...Oh happy day! It actually came yesterday, but the FedEx guy couldn't leave it because I wasn't there. I've signed the slip he left on my door, and by the end of today I will be enjoying my new iPod. Nothing like the simplicity, ease and elegance of an Apple product to ameliorate my pain. I'm a consumer, I know it, and I ain't ashamed to admit it. The first step is admitting I have a problem.

Till next time

Oi

Well, I've had quite the time since my last post. Last Thursday I couldn't find my cell phone, so that stressed me out quite a lot, 'cause I hadn't talked to Sarah in such a long while. I ended up finding it in the back of my car...of course, it was in an obvious spot like that. After doing nothing Friday night (I don't even bother in Hillsdale anymore), I was getting ready to head up to Ann Arbor on Saturday morning when Sarah called with important things to talk about. I guess she's got some issues in our relationship that she has to deal with. Nonetheless I came up to Ann Arbor and visited her, and after a good talk, we went and had a very nice dinner at an excellent country Italian restaurant in Ann Arbor. All in all a very nice time. I did nothing on Sunday, except Sunday evening I got a call from my mother, telling me that I'd forgotten to get the backpack out of her car when I'd returned from Ann Arbor. So, all my books were now in Terre Haute, Indiana. So, I had to spend 5 hours Monday evening driving halfway to Terre Haute and meeting mom to get the books. At least I got a Pizza Hut meal and a couple beers out of it.

Yesterday morning, then, everything seemed fine, until Sarah called me again. It turns out I was a real asshole to her before I left for Europe, without even realizing it, and she needs a "break" for a little while to deal with everything and be sure about us. Great. Right when I think things with Sarah are really well, and I finally don't feel like I need a break, she does. It's sorta ironic, I suppose. So, I guess I'm sorta single now. I'm trying to not be selfish, but all I know is that my Saturdays with Sarah are the only fun I ever have...I don't really have many friends around here anymore, and I'm really tired of parties and drinking. Yet, if she needs time, she needs time. I had my break over the summer in Europe where I got a chance to think things through, and if she needs that too, so be it. I'll survive.

von Eichendorff rocks!

Good news...the von Eichendorff that I mentioned yesterday has actually turned out to be very pleasant to read. It actually reads like normal German and is readily comprehensible! I was really starting to feel quite stupid after reading Kleist and Goethe, but with this I'm able to read it and barely need a dictionary. It's a great little story too, about this Taugenichts ("good for nothing") who gets kicked out by his hard-working miller father and sets off on his own. He's the classic romantic who never worries about a thing, and immediately gets picked up by a couple good-looking foreign girls in a travel-carriage and ends up at a castle, where he's charming enough to be hired as an assistant gardener. Of course, he doesn't work at all...he has much more fun observing the women who live in the castle. Fun stuff.

Otherwise, all is cool. Going to the gym tonight. I'm using a workout from eas.com right now...I like it quite a lot. Its a good, balanced general strength workout. I already feel much healthier after only 2 and a half weeks.

Tonight Taliesin will be playing in the snack bar...it's really our first performance since last year, so it should be fun...we've been sounding great. 10:00 pm, snack bar...be there.

Tschues!

Another Day

I woke up this morning around 7:30 and briefly contemplated getting out of bed to make it to my 8:00 Reist class. I quickly changed my mind and fell back to sleep, using up my one skip in a Reist class. Unfortunately, I was tired enough to forget to wake up my 9:30 to make it to my bio lab, so I missed that too. What a crappy way to begin a day...plus, its been a dreary, drizzly day. Oh, and then I had scheduled an officer's meeting for Phi Sigma Tau, and not a single person showed. So, considering all this, I'm really in a decent mood.

I'm subbing in the graphics lab, so I now get the privelege of sitting on my butt for the next 4 hours at $5.75/Hr. Not too bad...it'll give me plenty of time to start reading Eichendorff, the next author in my German seminar, which is an incredibly difficult class, BTW. Maybe this guy won't take me 15 minutes per page to read.

Do you like to rock! I thought so..then check out these fonts.

In other news, still waiting to hear back from law schools. Stupid LSAC "service". So slow and inefficient. With any luck though, I'll be hearing from OSU within the next couple weeks.

Still waiting on my iPod Shuffle. It should be shipping by next week. I can hardly wait.

Tom out.

Let it be!

So, I've had a blog before, but I ended up not liking it, getting bored with it and deleting it (supposedly, although for some reason you can still access the old one). Here's my blog, v 2.0, and I hope it'll be more successful this time around.