well this is my website, which i occasionally use to post top news stories of my life, and i feel like so much has happened since i’ve last posted that i don’t know where to begin.

how about school.

I have more homework now than i’ve ever had… probably since high school. a lot more homework than i feel comfortable with. me and my study buddies get started at a moderate pace after classes end, and we usually don’t finish until around 9 pm. It’s not so much the volume of homework… it’s the rate at which we have to complete it. every day, the consecutive assignment on the big list of homework is due. And i have no fun electives, either… it’s all business. er. i mean engineering. Despite this, i have managed to squeeze in plenty of essential fun.
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so far, school is going just fine.

my music listening (appreciation) class is great. the teacher is a lively greek who loves to sing and get the class of about 150 students to do so too (along with practicing conducting and various other fun musical activities) she’ll play the beatles right next to mozart. after only two classes, i feel like i’ve learned a thing or two and had fun in the process. now that’s higher education.

my archaeology class is taught by a crazy canadian who is perhaps the protype for the “nutty professor”. i’ve never heard a lecturer get so far off on a tangent before in my life. occasionally, i think she forgets that she is actually teaching a class and her lecture turns into various incarnations of story time. so, needless to say, the class is extremely interesting, but i have my doubts about how much material we will actually cover. then again, it’s only the first week.

aside from class, i’ve had only a few spare moments to really take a breath and take stock of life around me. hopefully, things will settle, and in the tradition of great war generals before me, i’ve formulated a battle plan for creative and academic success this semester. it’s contains three points and is called the “anaconda plan” after some battle strategy that i remember learning about in history but i don’t remember who used it or why or for what. i just remember thinking, “man if they loose, at least their plan had a cool name.” anyway, on to the plan:

1. get plenty of sleep and exercise. (so far, not happening as planned)
2. force self to do something creative, fun, happy everyday (sounds cheesy, really works for me…so far….on target)
3. stay ahead of class (no update as we just started)

so there you have it, a (somewhat) full-proof plan for greatness thought up in 3 minutes as i typed this entry.

in other news, i’m thinking of making (publishing?) a hand-made, short, seasonal “magazine-like thing” of my drawings and poems, stories, life-reflections, ect. and sending it out to all my good buddies. not that they want to hear more from me than they already do…i just thought it might be cool. it would come out with the change of every season (i.e. fall, spring, ect.) and would be mostly nature-oriented with reflections on the seasons and how they relate to my/our life/lives along with a few illustrations. if i was really ambitious i’d send a cd of things i had recorded to date, but seriously i’m a student, and i’m not so confident about getting any of that done. anyway, i’m interested in other’s reactions about this. if you have any experience with “things of this nature” (as ahnold would say) or would like to possibly contribute ideas on graphic design, let me know before the fall passes me by.
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fall and the quest for knowledge has begun yet again.

The semester got off to a quick start yesterday as i had three of my five classes. so far:

- my folklore class looks like it has a lot of potential, and hopefully the prof. will deliver with great lectures about interesting things.
- biology is huge. probably about 450 people. we have clickers to answer on pop quiz power point presentations. the book costs $140. ouch. on the bright side, learning about cells can be fun, if not a little tedious. highlight of yesterday’s class: Pierre showing up to take notes on paper plates!
- french looks fun and happy with a peppy cajun (Mdme. LaFleur). unfortunately, the class is still departamentalized which means oodles of silly rules to follow which makes getting an A difficult. i predict a mixture of joy and frustration.

other things to note include:

-lsu has a billion milllion students. i always seem to be forget this and then be overwhelmed on the first day of class.
-i have, miracle of all miracles, two, count-em, two, repeat class mates.
-as pierre says, “the prophecy has been fullfilled, the triumverate (me, ben, pierre) is now a force on campus. no word on paul as of yet.

in unrelated news, i’m going to spoil the suprise and say that i was going to get a drumset for my birthday. but, now faced with the overwhelming cost of books (over $100 per class), i’m no longer really willing to make the leap into percussion. however, no need to despair, as i still have some cash to spend on a new instrument, effects pedal, ect., i just haven’t decided what yet. perhaps a banjo is in my future?
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And now, with a thick and haughty British Accent.

Ahoy, ye mateys, fellow voyagers on the pursuit of an academic goal! Tis quite a journey, that we’ve begun once a-gaine, following directly from whence we’ve left off. I sit here, my healthy bum lodged upon this mighty oaken chair, with the sunshine spilling over the endless walls of this gargantuan lair that i call my own, sipping sweetly from a frost-encrusted sparkling golden vanilla cream soda, and brooding and bemusing as to the possibilities before my presumptuous self!

End of the thick and haughty British Accent.

• i have an 8 AM physics class with an engineer/professor who’s a stickler for everything
• an 11 AM statistics class with a professor who has never taught statistics
• a 1 PM electrical class with an engineer who, literally, wrote the textbook we’re learning from
• and a 2 PM multivariable calculus class with a scatterbrained old southern mathematician who laughs at his own scatterbrainynesses.

and homework in every one.

what a great semester.
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well i’m here.

my dorm room is the best ever. there’s so much space in here. and everything is so clean and new and apartment-like.

but right now, in lieu of posting a fulfilling entry, i’m testing my new bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

i’m off on my sophomore journey tomorrow.

i’m tired. i’m dirty. i’m emotionally drained. i haven’t even finished packing.

so strange. i’m optimistic, but melancholy. anticipating something i think important, but perhaps not as important at all.
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one more week till i’m back at school. hmm.

shall i elaborate on my feelings?

my anticipation of challenging classes and new professors? my excitement with my new and luxurious upperclass dorm? my hopes of seeing college friends? my absolute yearning for the freedoms of the college life again?

and all the while, these emotions constantly clashing out of sync with my steadily beating heart: experiencing, for the first time, imminent isolation from my love?

how do i deal with something like this? allow me to revive a short poem i wrote in another age.
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it was fun. all 3 of us had fun. besides the inconsistent weather, the mosquitos, the sweaty nights, the disasterous food outcomes, the sweaty nights, pierre’s sickness, the frickin sweaty mosquito-infested nights, the forgotten items that we had to go buy from the stores, and the under-friendly fish-eating neighbors…

we really did have a blast. Everyone agreed it was a success. i loved every minute (besides the minutes mentioned above).

Really, truly it was wonderful.

you missed out this time.

Next summer i’m getting a motel room and we’re eating out.
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