So, umph... what a good time to be a tamu. I did nothing but relax the first half of the summer and now i'm working full time so i'm rolling in the dough(classes be damned). Then, to top it off i'm actually in love, which shouldn't be all that strange, but i really haven't so much as looked at a female for the past few years while i pathetically got over my first love affair. oh how women scare me.. they have way too much power. I am ever so glad they're too busy with self-esteem issues to realize that they could control the universe if they ever decided to. during the first half of the summer I just hung around while watching movies(Sun-Tzu's The Art of War was my favorite), going through complete television series in single sittings(veronice mars, the animated x-men, boston legal, etc.) and while not inside on my bed/in my chair I played tennis. I was generally playing tennis twice a day. What a great sport, I really love it because its this huge personal battle between control and power. You can hit it as fast as you want... but than you'll have no aim. Or you could hit it exactly where you want, but, then it will be slow and easily returnable. I got pretty good at it. and when i played constantly it was generally once by myself in the morning, then again with one or a few of my fellow RAs in the afternoon. that's when i go t to know my lady-friend. we played tennis quite a bit, then hung out, started hitting it off. but to throw a (little, tiny, insignificant) wrench into our love machine... she kinda had a boyfriend when i met her. but, it's not like i'm a horrible person. I didn't know. we started off all Innocent because we work together and playing tennis is a public affair. Anywaz, I'm finally in love. That being said, life is sweet. In the past few weeks I've jumped out of a plane, trekked through the 15th century, read a good book and filled a residence hall with impressionable minds. Plus, I've started my first co-op, here at the Irish Immigration Center. And I kid you not about those activities... Tamu's keep busy this time of year. First, jumping out of the plane. This was something I've wanted to do for a while but hadn't due to cost and the annoyance of planning the logistics with friends. Luckily, my friend Zac called me last week and asked what i'd be doing on Wed the 30th... I said 'going to work' he countered with 'why not go skydiving?' I replied 'sounds good, I didn't need a job any ways' Fortunately, my boss gave me the day off and I didn't have to quit my job in order to fulfill my dream. And it was awesome! I got a dvd and everything. Let's just condense the adventure into the phrase "You've never known real fear, until your rushing blind through a cloud, at 120 mph, and realize... you don't have a parachute on your back." hmmm.... lot's o' fun. and to be fair, although i didn't personally have a parachute the guy who was strapped to my back did... so it's not as if i was about to die it was more the anxiety of being so far removed from control... plus the sensory deprivation involved in being in the center of a grey cloud... plus really getting to understand gravity for the first time... awesome, truly awesome.. Second, I went the a renaissance fair down near the cape. It was my friends 21st birthday and what better way to celebrate then watch knights stab each other, while the warlocks around you debate the unique merits of their staffs. There isn't a lot to say about the festival, just that it was a lot better than any of the other fairs i've been to... there was just so much going on. Anywhere you sat, there were at least two stages with performances going. Also, 1 out of 5 people were dressed in costume so the atmosphere was really alive and all the little kiddies were stabbing each other with wood swords by the end of the day. Oh and one more thing... i've never been around a crowd of more sexual people... i got the feeling that every night after the fairgrounds closed and the attendants left, the entire staff would gather 'round for an orgy of epic proportions... just imagine a scene of debauchery where pirates and fairies frolic together. What was the third one? In the past month or so i've really gotten into comic books. Normally i read nothing but, non-fiction, but i guess i just got bored. Anyways, last week I bought one called Lucifer(a 200 page jaunt through the worlds of demons and angles). And it was sooooooo good. Great story - great artwork - lots of twist - a philosophical debate where Yahweh contemplates whether or not to destroy all of creation - it had it all. I highly recommend the series. You'd probably like it a lot. Very deep, very gory. Oh and the whole impressionable-minds-thing, isn't all that fun.. really just my way of saying school is back in session and i had all my freshman move-in to the building. Saddly, having freshman move in means RAs had to go through two weeks of mind numbing training. Every. Single. Day. I wanted to kill myself(well not me, persay, because i rock. but, i wanted to kill someone to get the soul crushing weights off my chest). Anywho, i survived through all that to tell the tale. Plus, the freshman have been fun. Last night I got to stick my finger up someone's nose. I frosh came down to our RA office and said she was having trouble switching her nose rings. I made a quick retort about her level of comfort when it comes to strangers sticking foreign objects in her nostrils... a few jokes, some story-telling and ice-cream pints later, the surgery was successful and we all went home. well, that's all for now. hope your classes are treating you well. and yes, while i do take a long time to write emails... i try to make them worth the wait. peace out, tamu