Señor Year

I haven't really checked in this year. And a lot has been going on in my life. So here we go:

Lets start with what's first: Location, Location, Location.
I've been settled in at 519 College for a little more than 2 months now. And its been pretty good. Some of you have been able to see and stay here, and saw that Pete's mom really did-up the place. We actually have been pretty good at keeping it clean too. Pete is a clean freak and Eric is just tidy. Dinger probably is the messiest, with me close behind. But I keep the messy to my room, not public spaces. There haven't been any conflicts yet, except Pete and Erin arguing over whether Frisbee is a sport (REALLY fun to watch - Pete doesn't consider diving or swimming a sport, btw). We've had some fun pre-gaming here, and the Alumni Party has been the only big rager. That's mostly because there's been big stuff goin on every Saturday night.
Other notables:
-We all, cept Pete, wanna bring Louise's dog down for a few weeks
-Pete never walks or bikes into campus - he drives.
-We call it our "Fake Nice House" because every once and a while something goes wrong or breaks or leaks (our front door literally fell off with the wind storm last week), but our landlord is a jolly guy who comes down the next day

Skool
I'm taking 3 of 12 credits of comps. Those three credits were gained when my comps proposal was accepted last week. Writing the proposal was difficult because it involved doing a lot a secondary research and finding a set of primary sources I was going to use. Something I should have done more in the summer, but did none of. So now I have 10 pages of my comps due the first day of Winter Term. We'll see how that pans out because currently I have not touched my comps binder since I turned in my proposal 3 weeks ago...

Next term is nice. One class (a 100 level African History Course) and 9 credits of comps. Holla.

I also decided that I am going to graduate early. Finances have a big role to play in the decision, but I also think that it will provide me with a lot of really cool options and opportunities with how to spend my time. I may audit a class, play around in Boliou (especially in the wheel-throwing studio - I miss it!), volunteer a lot more, study for and take the GRE, find a job, attend lectures and presentations, walk dogs, etc. I went in to talk to Hudlin Wagner and she said, "I think you should do it. It would give you an almost spiritual experience during your last few months here than many students don't get the time to have." Hm.. Dunno about the spiritual part, but it would give an experience that most people don't have while at Carleton (and during great weather). There is the other side of it too. For example, Hannah N. said, "Well that means, whenever I or anyone wants to drink, no matter what or when, you're gonna have no excuse not to." My pocketbook and my liver are cautiously excited.

Other Shtuff
A lot of personal shit has been going on too in my life. My dad is getting married this month. When did he decide to schedule the wedding for? Oh, just during Finals. Thanks dad. It is no doubt going to be a show. He also is moving from OP to Chicago - somewhere on the redline. The condo he just moved into a few years ago isn't big enough for him and his new wife (That sounds like a fat joke, but its not). I don't know the fiance very well, but she is a VERY good polish cook. And then my grandma died too? Did I mention I have pneumonia? That prevents me from being in the pool for at least 10 days. VERY frustrating. What an eventful month already!

But it's been a fun term though so far. Some of us tubed down the cannon the day before classes. Stevie P threw a hell of a inauguration ball, fireworks and all. Swimming was going great before I got sick. The freshman are a fun bunch. We had one of the better cocktail parties I've been to. And I attended the best Sayles dance ever (and I normally hate sayles dances) - lemme just say it was a big swimmer contingent in the core of the dance, we a had a fancy bottle of some pink drank, and the next day everyone called it "Sweatfest 2010" and was very sore.

Aight. That's all for now. I'll leave you with this:








Also, Elliot have fun in da OP!