Not Here Fast Enough

I really need 2008 to end.  It has been a hard year and I look forward to it being over.

In the Air Tonight

Phil Collins generally makes me feel better about my life. Even when he's singing about sad stuff. Like in Both Sides. Or No Son of Mine. Most of the time, he's relentlessly positive, hopeful, and not at all ironic. That's how I choose to hear it, anyway. I could be wrong. Listen to Tarzan. Or Brother Bear (if the kid had imagined that he was a bear, this would have been a spectacular movie. Since that wasn't the case, it sucked. Also, the book Frankenstein - if Victor was also the monster (it's possible - re-read it), it would be even cooler.).

I heard he wrote "In the Air Tonight" during his divorce. Still, that song kicks it. It's such a stark dichotomy to his other work. Even if it wasn't brilliant on pretty much every level, you'd still notice it. I would. I did.

Oh my. I just looked at my smart friend's blog (see post below), and hers is so much fancier than mine. I feel inadequate now.

Cause & Effect

They were a band once.  Maybe they still are.  I don't know.  I'd go see them if they played a show nearby. And it was cheap.  Like $18 cheap.  Anything more than that and I'm out.  But anyway.  

They had a hit.  And I liked it (Thanks, Katy Perry).  

A very good friend of mine who's much smarter than I am suggested I start a blog.  At said person's request, coupled with my current station in life, I'm going to do so, or, at least, continue with the one I started but abandoned shortly thereafter.

Back to Cause & Effect, and more on my smart friend later.  I went to Camelot Music in 1992 and had saved up a month's worth of allowance to buy 2 cd's.  Here's what I bought:

1. Cause & Effect / Another Minute

2. Pearl Jam / Ten

*As an aside, I just googled Cause & Effect and they're still around and are playing in Seattle next month.  Pre-sale tickets are $15.  Sadly, I do not live in Seattle.  

Back to my point, which was...I actually liked Cause & Effect better at first.  True.  I thought the songs were catchier and I was annoyed by how much Pearl Jam songs would slow down.  Even Alive & Porch.

I know nobody cares about this stuff but me.  Thanks for sticking with the post.  It could be worse.  I could be telling you this in person.

Styx Was Wrong

I do NOT have too much time on my hands.  In fact, I'm finding I have nowhere near enough.  We've barely begun the academic portion of the class and I'm finding myself with about 40% less sleep than I'd like.  In other words, I go to bed late, get up early, and don't get to nap.  Fortunately, classes are interesting and I have a tendency to talk, so dozing off doesn't seem likely. 

Had I been writing every day, I'd have better recollection of our ropes course day, ethics class, and various meals with my teammates.  I'd also go into greater detail about my running loops by the golf course, through west campus all the way to the hospital where I took the elevator to the 8th floor and saw Dad's class photo, and sneaking into Cameron, where I pretended to shoot 3 pointers.  However, it's Thursday, and I've been doing a lot of reading and homework and can't elaborate on the aforementioned.

It's 4:30 and I've been in class since 8am.  I am reading case study from now until 6pm, at which point, we have a presentation/lecture/q&a from/with the Dean.  Then, it's a quick dinner followed by a team work session for a presentation tomorrow.

Day One

Orientation was scheduled to start at 1:30 PM and I wanted to get there early so I could pick up some notebooks and maybe a t shirt.  I left the house at 10am, and after a quick breakfast stop at Bojangles for a Cajun Chicken filet biscuit, I was en route in Mom's Sebring with the following CD's on full blast:

1. Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell

2. Trio

3. Everly Brothers

4. Disneyworld Anniversary CD

5. A silly mix I'd made for mom and dad some time ago

6. KT Oslin's 80's Ladies (yup, I'm serious)

The drive went well and, per Theresa's instructions ("Just take Science Drive; it's in the 180s"), I started to pay attention to the exit signs at Exit 180.  Oops.  When I got to Exit 190 and was pretty sure I had driven past Durham, I turned around. And I drove back.  All the way to Exit 170.  

Wasn't planning on the extra 40 miles of driving, so I skipped going to the Bookstore.  Oh well.  

I went straight to the business school, checked in, and headed to the dining room.  I have no idea who I sat with for lunch, but we didn't talk much because orientation was starting shortly.  Off to the giant conference room for 3 hours of, well, orientation (it's pictured at right).

It's late, I'm tired, and am going to bed.  More on orientation and everything else tomorrow.

It Can't, It Won't, and It Don't Stop

The red-eye from LAX to CLT was pretty uneventful.  I took an Ambien before takeoff and was out within 30 minutes.  In that 30 minutes, I messed with my iPhone b/c I had just updated the software with the leaked version of software, and it's a good thing I did, as the following day's official release was a complete disaster.  We had our own taste of said disaster when we got in line at an AT&T store shortly after 8am.  30 minutes later, Dad decided he didn't want to wait.  I questioned this decision, but it was the right one - people waited in line for 6 hours on average.  We had more fun playing bad golf at Irish Creek - bad until the last 3 holes, anyway, all of which Dad parred.  

After golf was my power hour in the shower and dinner at Costello's with Mom, Dad, and fountain Sun-Drop.  Stuffed pizza was absolutely delicious as always.  After dinner we went to Target for some last minute school supplies like laundry detergent, gatorade, and cheerwine - the essentials.

A quick trip to Cornerstone for dessert later, we were home and I was packing my bags for my next morning's trip.

Carolina on My Mind

Unlike Tree and Sarah, I'm not much of an aspiring blogger; however, due to overwhelming demand (read: Mom said I should start one), I thought I'd keep this for your benefit and mine while I'm doing these Duke residencies.  So with much further ado, here goes.   If I would remember to take my phone with me, I'd have more pictures to post.  I'll be sure to remedy that in the coming days.  In the meantime, you're stuck with my purple prose.  I'm gonna start a new post so I can figure out how this thing works.