Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Things I Learned at School this Year, Part 1

Well, a while back, I promised to write some original material. And I didn't do it. And then I went more than a month without posting anything. This past year was a big one for me. I had lots of trials and tribulations, victories and defeats, plenty of oh-my-God-why-didn't-I-start-on-this-earlier moments, and plenty of fun. Here is a list of a few of the things that I learned, in and outside of class. Some of them I already knew and were just reinforced, some of them were totally new, and some of them still make no sense to me at all.

  • Being at Elon long before the school year starts, and more importantly, before my friends arrive, is boring as hell.
  • The moment where the school year begins is not when class begins, but when you get to just casually hang out with your friends again.
  • Jeez, people are stupid. Especially those that run the cable company.
  • "Hell House" is the perfect nickname for a house, because you can make jokes like "You're coming to visit me? Then I'll SEE YOU IN HELL!"
  • What ever you do, DO NOT take a class with Professor Rudy Zarzar. Unless, of course, you are a workaholic with no need for sleep and a fascination with Pluralism.
  • I am really not that great of a competitive swimmer.
  • Joining a swim team for social reasons is not really that great of an idea if you have glasses, because you won't be able to see anyone most of the time. "Oh hi, faint blur! Remember that time we, uh, swam? Yeah, that was great."
  • Besides, their parties suck.
  • When you take a course because you expect it to be easy, you'd better be damn sure that it's easy, or else you'll have all hard classes and your head will explode from overwork.
  • Living by yourself (especially in a fairly isolated house) makes you CRAZY from thinking too much.
  • I work, and just generally function better when I've had enough to eat.
  • Not eating enough, not getting enough sleep, and overthinking at the same time is a very bad combination. You end up with many very long, complex, and probably wrong thought, and not remembering how you got there.
Hey, I think I'll go have lunch.

  • You know everything they say about how a TV show/book/movie/etc starts out with a really great script and gets edited until its not nearly as great? Yeah, that's totally true.
  • Making videos is still as much fun to me as it was in high school.
  • New Yorkers are actually pretty nice. Or at least they are if you have a hot girl with you.
  • A parking ticket in New York City costs about $105 more than one in Elon. But if you don't plan on ever parking that car there again, they will probably never find out.
  • Turning 21 is AWESOME.
  • New car smell actually lasts for a very long time.
  • It takes some time to get used to being able to buy alcohol legally.
  • When it comes to friends, it is quality and not quantity. Though quantity is nice as well.
  • I don't need to drink alcohol in order to have a good time. But it sure helps.
  • Most people are at their cruelest when they don't even realize it.
  • Damn, people are stupid.
  • A meltdown is the perfect time to recast yourself.
  • God is the only one who is 100% reliable. He even tolerates your half-committedness.
  • When you feel overwhelmed by a ton of work or the problems in your life, put on some motivating music. I recommend Van Halen's "Right Now," or if you're feeling cheesy, "Push it to the Limit" from the Scarface Soundtrack. If nothing else, it will give you a reason to procrastinate for a few more minutes.
  • Don't wear a really scary costume to a party where people will be getting very drunk, especially if they are people that you don't know. You may cause them to flee in terror.
  • The play "Carousel" is freaking awful. Unless you don't mind the entire story stopping for a half hour in order to do a dance routine about going on a picnic.
  • If you start to lose a solid grasp of who you are, go look where you last left it (Where you were when you were most recently certain about it). Home, for example.
  • The first newspaper published in America was basically a trashy tabloid that only had one printing.
  • Go do some volunteer work. You'll help others, make yourself feel good, and some hot girls make catch you doing it and think highly of you.
  • It is, in fact, possible to pull off a surprise birthday party.
  • What doesn't kill you really does only make you stronger. I know it may sound corny to some, but the Bible says this several times, and it is incredibly true.
  • Never underestimate the poser of a well-placed goatee.
  • When a blog entry is getting too long, split it into two parts.
Keep a lookout for part 2 of this, where I talk about the second half of the year, which included my trip to Europe and was generally more awesome than the first one.

2 comments:

Vicus Scurra said...

B+. You have obviously learned to find a spell checker, and it would be churlish to point out the mistakes.
Now, did you get laid?

Adam said...

Actually, I have the new version of Firefox, which has its own spell-checker.

I'm afraid that no, I didn't get laid, but I do have an awesome girlfriend now. And this one isn't even a little bit retarded! More on her when I get around to part 2.