I know it is a cliché to get to the end of the year and then state your surprise that you’ve completed another lap around the sun so quickly (“Has it been 365 and quarter days already? Are you sure?”).
But seriously, with the senior year shenanigans, post-graduation diaspora, and other diverting upheavals, I’d swear it’s been no more than five months since I was glue sticking snowflakes for back-to-school door decorations in Cramer Hall.
Anyway, to borrow an idea from others’ blogs, to give a general rundown of the year, I’m going to take the portions of the first and final postings of each month (and in some cases, the first entry was also the last entry of the month. For those of you who thought this website started in June, you’d be right. I’m including clips from the former “World According to Gap” to fill out the year. Even with that supplement, however, I still lack entries for April, May, and July. Instead, I will offer a brief synopsis of what occurred in those gaps.
So lets speed up to 88 miles per hour, churn up 1.21 jigowatts of needed electricity, and let the flux capacitor do its thing. On with the time traveling!
Good always trumps evil… eventually.
I have grown up believing that, and not just from underdog movies either.
Note: I was going to make a G.R.E/GREat joke, but my friend Erin has already used that device. Flittering through my head for another “gre-“ word, gangrenous was the next one that came to mind. The adjective that is sometimes defined as “suffering from tissue death” seemed apt to describe the experi-ence that cost me countless brain cells sacrificed in the name of higher education.
Last night, for church I showed up in slightly disheveled appearance. This is partly due to the fact that when my usual ride to church knocked on my door, I was sitting before my computer, dripping wet, clad in towels and franticly typing.
Okay, so I bought my graduation cap and gown today. I haven’t done that in a while.
I can’t recall filling out the paperwork for my high school graduation gown, though I can vaguely recollect the Jostens man who always seemed to be there in the spring trying to sell rings. I definitely can’t remember doing anything for my middle school graduation – which we had in my town because that was the only graduation a mentionable percentage of the students were going to get. I think I looked better in the gold middle school gown better than the black high school gown, though I didn’t lose my cap beneath the bleachers during my high school graduation.
Recently my Mark Twain (he was really Samuel Clemens, I know) English capstone class had an interest set of parallel assignments based on Life on the Mississippi.
We could either A) Do a mini-research project and then have a 10-minute presentation in which you report your results
B) Write a one-page personal essay about a change or changes you’ve seen in your hometown over the years.
Guess which choice 90 percent of the class chose?
Let’s just say April Fool’s Day lasted a bit longer this year. Papers, projects, exams, and sleepless nights abounded.
Apparently all those late nights spent on video games, internet surfing, music downloading, and talking with friends didn’t hurt my grades that badly. I graduate from college a couple times (I earn multiple degrees, and thus, must sit through multiple ceremonies). I also start summer courses where I aim to get more confidence editing and designing papers (and further delay my entry into the “real world”).
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end…
So here we find something that is familiar but somehow new and previously unknown.
Saddle up. We're aiming to strike out for the unexplored territories, again.
Frontier ho!
Bad taste is a disease that strikes without warning.
It moves silently, can hit hard, and can be contagious. The dangerously infectious ways are demonstrated by various fads like wearing your pants backwards, buying accessories for your pet rock, and listening to “boy” bands made up of guys who are all 27 or older.
I turn 23, if such sources like my parents or my birth certificate can truly be believed. Many mornings, days, night spent at the paper. Many early mornings spent unwinding after the previously mentioned activities, eating microwaved meals and watching late-night Sci-Fi channel programming.
No phone, no internet, no cable...
I feel like I'm a belated addition to Gilligan's Island, only without the benefit of a near infinite supply of coconuts and a doctoral degree in with which to apply them.
Quick contact correction.
223 Dix Road, Apartment #38,
Jefferson City, Missouri 65109
The phone number is: 573-635-8872.
Look familiar? Good. This is almost the address I gave earlier. Coinicidentally, it is the one that should have appeared earlier, but didn't.
Note: The term "weekend," as used in the title of this post, does not quite fit the typically expected two-day, or three-day time expanses the general public employs. Rather, the "weekend" to which this post refers stretches from Thursday night to Monday night. I apologize for this hijacking of the English language.
“Playwright” is a cool title one to add to any job listing. See how it livens up the following vocations:
Actor/Playwright/Producer
Poet/Playwright/Pulitzer Winner
Short Story Writer/Playwright/Nobel Prize Winner
It even works for those who labor beyond the artistic fields
Fisherman/Playwright/Boat Owner
Playwright/Coal Miner/Canary Specialist
Postal-Worker/Sharpshooter/Playwright
It adds a touch of class to anyone’s skill set.
My shoes are fertilized, the J.C. apartment is more cramped than ever, and a "For Sale" sign is finally set to go up in front of the house.
It's official. We had the final "final weekend" in Sullivan. It took an extended stay, multiple missed meals, and strong personal control not to lash out at the other members of the family (it helped that most of the weapons and tools were cleared out of the house at the end), but we got the job done.
Personal Point-Counterpoint
This is the part of the Blog we give fuel to our critics who argue that I’m mentally unbalanced (of course, this is accomplished in regular posts as well, but the distinction is even clearer in this case). This is also where we get to refer to ourselves in the third-person (and later plural singular and then by a series of grammar-warping pronouns).
I’d also like to note I fully align with neither of the two philosophies proposed by the dueling personalities. To have a strong, fair debate you need to believe in what you’re saying, so I’ve split my outlook between two voices. As always, I believe you can only find the truth if you examine both viewpoints.
My computer is angry.
I’m not sure if it has a specific beef with me (maybe the fact that I never named it) or whether I’m the most direct outlet when it strikes out at the world. The only thing I know for sure is that it ate the post I stayed up late working on and now seems to be having digestive troubles.
A noise that sounds eerily like electronic demon crickets holding a deathmatch keeps emanating from my hard drive. I fear the end will be soon (either for the glitch or the computer).
Lost Log: Episode 2.9
Or “All the Pretty Horses”
Blah, blah, blah, last new episode of the year, let’s get going...
Reunions near a grave - remembering who we’ve recovered and who we’ve... um... for lack of a better word, lost.
I am part of the first generation that grew up hearing about HIV and AIDS.
World Aids Day was founded by the World Health Organization in 1988. Before then, the disease wasn’t widely known, or even as it did come to the surface, it was only mentioned in whisper.
Even with its growing prominence, I still vaguely remember people being confused on how it was spread and being afraid of people who were said to have it. Our knowledge and understand have come a long way, though I believe we should keep repeating the lessons we have learned.
I know it is a cliché to get to the end of the year and then state your surprise that you’ve completed another lap around the sun so quickly (“Has it been 365 and quarter days already? Are you sure?”).
said...
Sheesh, Caleb, how are you going to be a copy-editor if you can't even spell gigawatts? C'mon, giga- , as in gigantic . . .
And, yes, before you ask, that does mean everyone in the world of computing is pronouncing gigahertz and gigabytes incorrectly as well. I don't complain about those though because I expect them to be phased out with the penny very soon.
This has been another installment of Keith commenting on a minor detail instead of the point of the post. Thank you for your time.
Caleb Michael said...
Keith, while I appreciate your tenacity on behalf of the English language, I’d like to defend my use of the term “jigowatt” in relation to the Back to the Future movies. The term was grossly misspelled in both the screenplays and the novelizations (of which I own Part II and Part III). The Wikipedia link I provided on flux capacitors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_capacitor) also mentioned this.
There are almost always exceptions to grammar rules. So the next time you are tempted to take issue with my usage, keep in mind I may be consciously employing the alternative. I also could have jacked up as well, but not necessarily.
Either way, keep your comments coming, Keith.
said...
actually, the wiki says that it is spelled gigawatts and pronounced "jigawatts". Then it goes on to say "(In addition, since Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale were unfamiliar with the term, they misspelled it in the script.) Because of this, a "jigowatt" (as spelled in the novelization) will sometimes be referred to on Internet forums as a fictional unit or to make fun of someone's electrical knowledge.)"
Guess you better refresh your researching skills too. :P
Caleb Michael said...
The books that I own that would settle this arguement are, alas, deep in storage. I propose we postpone further debate on this topic until the proper authoratitive sources can be consulted.