Random Update (10.16.12)

Some of the anonymous commenters have been wondering about the blog not being updated for a while, and while I cannot give a reason, I can give an update. 

So the Friday of the Northeastern game my phone got soaked and for the next 9.5 days I was sans iPhone. Which I thought might be bad. Which was not bad. On the contrary it was kind of liberating and I would not have minded going for another few weeks... except other people started complaining and it was probably best I had a phone. So I got a new iPhone 4S on Columbus day. Oh, and I don't know why the iPhone 5 is so awesome. Also went into Boston on Sunday with some friends to buy a new pair of shoes and just hang out, which was really fun. 

From Monday night up until this past Friday, I was pretty overwhelmed with school work. I had two papers, one history and one Spanish literature, each that kept me up late two nights. I had a Physics midterm last Tuesday and an Econ midterm last Thursday. And I spent all Friday afternoon doing a pain-in-the-posterior physics lab with Mike, one of my roommates who's in Waves and Vibrations with me. This week is pretty laid back, thankfully. Oh, and what with overloading classes and club soccer, I decided not to do 4Boston this semester... I do not have a free day and I have so much to do it just wouldn't make sense this semester. 

Soccer is going really well. We played BU at home two weekends ago and a whole bunch of friends came to watch. I played the whole game (hamstring felt pretty ok) and almost scored! Had a shot that got saved and parried off to the side, and then quickly finished by Smeallie to put us ahead right before half. This was a league game and we ended up winning 3-0, which was crucial to qualifying for the regional tournament that's going down this coming weekend in Downington, PA. As a warmup, we also played Harvard again last Saturday and won 3-1, which was sweet (hamstring 98.46% recovered). Now for some photos, which is the only part of the blog I'd probably look at if I didn't write it.

Lineup for Regionals. We are seeded #7.

Red Bandanna run. Got 18:12 to finish 4th place. Top three ran sub-17! Crazy.

Rita has arrived. Pat and I got a poster.

He's from Macklemore's song, "Thrift Shop". Inspiring. Just inspiring. 

Brie.

Fall.

Pumas.

Dempsey is the man.

Random Update (10.1.12)

Weekend of September 21st-23rd recap: 

Pat was gone home to Maine for an ultimate frisbee tournament on Saturday and Sunday. There was a club soccer party at some of the guys' off-campus place on Friday, which was entertaining. The BC varsity soccer game on Saturday was nuts: 2-1 win over USanFran in 2x overtime with 11 seconds left! The Acapellafest concert later that night was also a success; a couple of friends are in various singing groups... Garrett and our RA Steven to name a couple. Saturday night saw an ordering in of delicious Indian food which was slightly too spicy, to which Mike can attest. Sunday the club team played Harvard in the afternoon at their place. Their field is terribly tiny and terrible in general. I started at central defense and played the whole game, which was outstanding. It's far more than I expected to be playing so much my first year on the team! We ended up drawing 1-1.

Last week recap:

Nothing really stands out... I read some cool short stories in Spanish... yeah. OHHH and FIFA 13 came out on Tuesday so I went with Zach, Alex, John, and Miguel to get it from Gamestop. That game has a bad influence on my schedule. 

This weekend recap:

We played Northeastern on Friday night in the rain on their very nice, FIFA regulation sized field. I got the start again and we were miraculously up 0-2 within 15 minutes! Unfortunately, I tweaked my left hamstring about 4 minutes before halftime and could not sprint without fear of more serious injury. Anywho, Northeastern really turned up the heat second half, getting a goal back and almost stealing a tie in the last few seconds. Our goalie foiled these efforts, however, and we won 1-2 to take 1st place in our division, a big step towards going to the regional tournament later this fall. The rest of the weekend was pretty non-eventful... I have a lot of work this upcoming week so I got a head start. The whole weekend was rainy, but today looks to be sunny and in the 70's.

Random Update (9.20.12)

Been busy. Last weekend Mitchell and Dad visited which was nice. Shout out to Jane for her birthday yesterday. One year closer to death! But yeah I have been busy. Club soccer has practice 2.5 times a week, I'm taking 19 credits of classes (5 classes + lab), and then there is, like, college: the (allegedly) best time of my life going on that I should gobble up like I gobble up Cool Ranch Doritos. But I do find time for the important things in life like puns and blogging. 

Here are some puns (all original, but the good ones are usually not mine):
Why are solar-powered cars so popular in Southern Africa?
-They never Madagascar.
Why does South America smell so bad?
-Peeeeeeeeeru!
Why did the East African wear high socks and short shorts?
-He only wanted to Tanzanias. 
What do you call mosques in Quito?
-Mosquitoes. 
Why can Ecuador open locks with its feet?
-It has a key-toe (Quito). 
Why are writing classes so hard in Nashville?
-They have to write Tennessees a week.

Apparently now is the time to sign leases for off-campus housing for junior year. Freshman year just ended and people are planning for junior year. I have 4 years of housing and I also will be living off-campus for the rest of my life. I will not be part of this off-campus scramble. A similar time-crunch is experienced with regard to the study abroad office. I want to go to Spain in spring of junior year, and applications are due early next semester. Meaning decisions about those applications are due much sooner. My major and core requirements do not share my desire to go abroad. They scream, "Stay and finish us, you lazy, worldly bumpkin!". To which I reply, "Be quiet. I order you to be quiet!". To which they do not reply, because this personification of silly things has gone far enough. But the picture you get.

JM, Jim, Veb, Zach, Mike, me (Pat and Jose m.i.a.)

Not doing names here.

Freakin' sweet.

BC

Caaaaaalling all squad cars in the aaaaaaaaarea!

Random Update (9.8.12)

Well the big new is, I made the BC club soccer team. I had trained all of August with my old coach, Rob, and my goal was to make the team. We have a game today (Saturday) at Yale, so I'll be waking up around 10:30 AM to get in a van and bus over with the new teammates. They are some chill guys. Also, looks like I'll have some home games for parents' weekend, for those who are interested.

This evening, the varsity soccer team played Maryland (#4 in the nation) and lost 0-4 despite our loud and boisterous cheering. My friend Ethan from 4Boston has organized the fan section pretty well. He done made BC soccer proud. Clever cheers are the best. My favorite (G-rated) is when the goalkeeper walks around his goal-box, we yell "LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!" as he takes his little meaningless steps. Then when he stops walking we yell "STAAAATIONARRRRRY!". It's good fun. Also we knew his girlfriend's name.

As far as classes go, I found out that it's not recommended to take Micro and Macro Theory at the same time next semester, so instead of taking Micro and Macro Principles this semester, I am taking a Chinese history class to fulfill part of the BC core requirements, and only taking Micro principles. Excitement. Oh, and Micro/Macro refer to economics courses. Sorry.

The spired building on the left is Gasson.

#19

8th floor is where it's at.

Random Update (9.3.12)

Moved into the new room Thursday afternoon after adventures in New Jersey, such as camping and experiencing the infamous Jersey Shore. On camping, I like it. On the infamous Jersey Shore, I don't see much hope for some of its people. But anywho Hannah, Angela, Lauren, Christine and I bused up to Boston and thus began sophomore year. My dorm is on main campus and has ready access to classrooms, gym, dining hall, soccer fields, and subway. Oh, and the roommates are Pat (direct), J.M., Veb, Zach, Mike, Jose and Jim. This is an outstanding crew. It's also outstanding that classes don't start until Tuesday. But it's also outstanding that they do, because I bought all my textbooks for my humanities class and my Spanish class and they all look quality, top to bottom. Here are the classes I'm taking:
Principles of Economics I 
Principles of Economics II 
Waves and Vibrations + Lab 
Western Cultural Tradition V-VI 
19th Century Fantastic Short Stories (Spanish)
It's just felt right to be back. Basically the last couple days have had no schedule and involve going wherever and seeing whoever happens to be there that I haven't seen for a while. I've also met a bunch of new people via the new dorm neighbors, new summer friends, and soccer. I really only feel like remembering Sunday, so I will briefly go through it. I got up at 8:30 AM and went for a few laps around the Reservoir, then went to the plex and did some exercises, then did about 3/10ths of a mile swim. Then I washed off back in the room and took a 30 minute nap until a big introductory meeting with the dorm staff in the theater. After the meeting I played soccer with a bunch of people on the new football field. Then I went with my friend Ethan and two other guys to watch the Barcelona-Valencia soccer match. Ethan is a Valencia fan and I met him through volunteering/playing soccer last year, just to let you know, if you're curious. After the game, Ethan's friend (from Barcelona) who watched with us tells us of some more evening soccer going down on the baseball field. So I go play soccer again with a bunch of Spanish-speaking Boston College kids, which was a blast. After that, I showered and got hungry, so Miguel, Pat, Mike, and Christine all went to a nearby burrito place and got some late night food, ate, and returned to watch the movie Drive which is a quality film. Then we played cards and people shuffled in and out of the room and now I type this and Now I'm going to sleep.

Arcade shenanigans. 

 New York.

 Those clouds.

Those sands.

About One Year

I met a lot of new people and also got to know myself a lot over the last ~year. I want to pat my year-younger self on the back for starting (and also give Luke a firm handshake for inspiring) this blog. It hasn't been much more than the title: little peeking holes into whatever the  hell , I mean heaven, I'm doing in the world. While it certainly isn't everything, when I look over a couple old posts my brain fills in the in-between with terabytes of memory. When you have all that assisted memory recall, it's makes writing a summary a lot easier. I have arrived at the following, followed by the list of what I've learned.

The Following
Being eighteen was a blast. It was my first time being an adult. That didn't scare me. I had never been more in-tune with my # age and how old I felt. However, it probably scared some concerned family members pretty darn good, though, them tossing the lines to dock and letting me go on my own for a little bit. I will start from the first week of college. It's a bunch of recently-christened adults pretending to be less nervous than they are. Some adults discover that things they thought they couldn't or shouldn't do before, can be done now. Some adults want to find his best-man or her maid-of-honor for the wedding: they're ready to make friends. My roommate Jeff and I decided to have fun, and see where it took us. If you meet your best friend for life, that's cool. If you just make a sick catch during pick-up ultimate and never recognize anyone you played with ever again, so be it. With this in mind, I did what I do best: find a soccer ball, quote Monty Python like it's my job, and see what this whole "Boston College" thing is all about. It's been working out just fine. I've tried to do as much as I can, to do what I can do well, and always to look for better things to do. My head is like a magic sorting machine for people and activities. The lesser are left behind; the worthy remain. That may sound strange when talking about people, but it's not a pessimistic mindset... it's more like always looking for outstanding friends. It's easy to only hang out with one group of friends all the time. The truth is, there are a lot of people out there to find. So I try to. Now for some supporting evidence. I met Christine right before Thanksgiving by randomly introducing myself at lunch. Laura and I only started hanging out a lot right before Christmas, same with Pat after Christmas. Sam and Matt I met on spring break, Dennis a week or so after that. Charae and Nick I got to know really well only just this summer. Other friends don't apply to this ongoing search; I knew in the first week or two: Alex, Matt, Jeff, Lorena, to name a few. The end of year-one is a contrast with that first week. At the moment I'm getting ready for year two, and the long-awaited reunion after summer. And that's how freshman year goes: come in wanting something new, leave missing something old. 

The List

1. All Brazilian IDs are fake.
2. Squirrels make ACC football games mildly entertaining.
3. Monty Python is the fastest way to find great people.

     3a. I like traffic lights.

4. Midnight is a darn tootin' early bedtime.
5. Fenway is a classy ballpark.
6. Thanksgiving comes at exactly the right time.
7. Boston has beaches.
     7a. Maine has nicer beaches.
     7b. Duxbury has nicerer beaches.

     7c. Santa Cruz wins.
8. Newton campus is a good time.
9. Newton bus is not.
10. Climbing a mountain is really something.
11. Federal drinking laws are more of a suggestion for most people.
12. Dining Bucks die quickly, and there are no funerals.
13. The Emirates Stadium is gorgeous.
14. Spanish-speakers cannot understand you when you speak English extremely quickly.
15. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is stunning.
16. The Boston Celtics are not, but it was worth going once.

17. The dudes in Dispatch are awesome dudes. And talented. 
18. 48 Hours < Appalachia.

19. Lost is a quality show.
     19a. ditto New Girl
     19b. ditto The Newsroom

20. You can see Gasson from the top of the Prudential building.
     20a. You can see the Prudential building from the top of Gasson.

21. Marathon Monday: 3 hours of sweat and heat, 3 days of pain, sweet accomplishment.

22. Jello shots: 1 cup water + 1 cup "water" + Jello mix.
23. Having a soccer field at your doorstep is heaven.

24. Dr. Pepper is delicious.

     24a. ditto Brie

25. Radiohead knows how to end a show.

26. Brasil can play soccer.

27. I attract crime.

28. The New England soccer chant, "Re-vo-lu-tion!", could mean something entirely different if it were chanted somewhere else in the world.
29. Santa Cruz relaxes the soul. Brah.

30. It's nice to be home.

Random Update (8.13.12)

New room + boxes

New room - boxes