Another Day, Another Dollar...

I actually did find a dollar on the street the other day. It was pretty neat.

Anyway, it's been a somewhat less busy week, but the I've been pretty solidly doing stuff, from drill practice, to final bits of homework, to preparations for studying for finals. My studying will kick into full swing after class ends tomorrow and I get to the weekend...

But before that, I want to express the celebratory cheer!

SNOW!

At least a light dusting. It finally makes winter seem worthwhile. Well, kinda. Sunday night, we got a very decent amount of snow, and it seemed everybody on campus went out around midnight for snowball fights like the world has ever seen. It was absolutely perfect packing snow, and people took advantage of it. Dorms had wars against each other... (think 400 people in two battle lines charging at each other with war cries) people built statues (including one epic monument to male anatomy that I took great joy in leveling with a shoulder charge) and such. I heard at South Quad and West Quad, some of the football players were out there in the midst of it. Weird to think of, because normally you think of those guys as approaching celebrity level.

Unfortunately, after that great night, all the snow melted and we received the joy of 50 mph wind gusts of icy chill that cut through clothing like it was mist on a sunny day. Metaphorically speaking.

Enough of the weather... tomorrow, I get to go home! For... a few hours. I'm gonna head home about 330-4ish hang out for a while and see the family, then head over and watch the high school's play, "Scrooge." After that, I'll go to bed late, get a minimal amount of sleep, leave home at ridiculously early hours and get to Ann Arbor in time for Drill Team Practice, then Parade Practice, and then the End of the Year parade itself.

Then there's the Markley Ball, which is like informal, semi-formal, wear something mildly nice end of the year thing for our dorm. At least, that's what I got out of the ads. That's Saturday night, and then Sunday... I think just studying, although I could be forgetting something. I forgot to write down my schedule this week.

Anyway, have a good Christmas preparation! Hopefully I'll see some of you soon.

-Paul

Finals Week...

DUN DUN DUN...

Hey, so sorry I haven't posted in a bit. It's been a bit busy the last few days... aside from the extreme amounts of laziness I've partaken in. You see, I'm kind of in a bubble where there isn't a whole lot of new homework, but it feels to early to study. Thus, I accomplished very little studying-wise over the weekend. That wasn't entirely my fault though... Saturday and Sunday were both INCREDIBLY busy for me.

First, though I suppose I should mention my Chemistry exam that I took last Wednesday. I managed to pull out an awe-inspiring class average once again. It's weird because I thought I was going to ace this test, up until I actually took it. Strange how that works, isn't it? Ah well, as long as I can keep myself in the upper 50% of the class, I'll be happy at this point. To tell the total truth, I absolutely DESPISE chemistry. Luckily for me, I'm done with it after this semester. Woohoo!

And now back to the weekend. This Saturday was the final blimp competition for my Engin 100 class, and I ended up being there from 1230 to about 4. We did pretty well in the end, pulling third place in the time trials overall. That was pretty awesome, in retrospect, because our blimp was an absolutely massive piece of material.

We lost to one much more aerodynamic blimp, and one that the professor was surprised worked nearly as well as it did. Ah well, it was fun, and brought back memories of robotics. Plus, I think we got a pretty good grade on it.

Then, Sunday was drill team initiations, along with the usual drill team practice and flight meetings. The initiation basically ended up being very reminiscent of what we call a 'gatekeeper,' where we have to hold our bearing while getting asked various questions from our 'Warrior Knowledge' packet such as chain of command, Code of Conduct, ranks of the various branches... and so on. After that, we were split into three groups under potential drill team commanders for next semester, made a quick routine, and went outside into the cold to perform it and march around for a bit. After a brush with frostbite, we came back inside and got our cool hats and gloves that we're going to use for the Parade. (Note, not an actual parade, just one inside a building for ROTC.)

Speaking of that, this Saturday consists of the end of ROTC for this semester (as well as the end of my classes!) and from 10-11 am we're having a 'parade' where we'll essentially give out awards, show off some drill stuff, and have a performance from the Rifle team (ahem... me.) Parents and family are invited... *hint hint* and afterwards we have our End of Term party. Pizza. Booya.

That's all I've got for now... I've got to settle down to a bit of studying. Only one week left after all!

Hasta Lavista. N' stuff.