The Myth & The Majesty

Have I ever told you how much I hate good-byes?

Oh, the humanity! I've got a thiry-page paper due to my boss tomorrow. Things were going well. I hit fifteen pages with no real effort. This morning, I wrote three more literature reviews without even blinking (except for that short period where my contacts were so dry they almost fell out of my eyes on their own). But then ... There are still plenty of topics to cover, plenty of studies to summarize, plenty of results to outline and discuss. But for some reason, everything I type comes out sounding like a four-year-old wrote it. "Bacterias are good. I like playing with them." No! No, no, no, no, NO! I remember a point in my life when I never had writer's block, when a blank page was a story waiting to happen and not a threat. I remember when words flowed like a river (sometimes as disorganized as one) and I had to cut parts of papers to fit within the maximum number of pages. Somewhere in there the ability disappeared. My suspicion is that the Tech mindset took over ...

The magic of the longest day of the year is upon us. The sun blazes, the temperature rises (it’s about stinking time), and thunder cracks overhead while rain falls on the little city of Rapid. Oh, and the sprinklers are on across campus. Nobody understands that one completely. At long last it feels like summer. After an uncharacteristically cool start (take, for instance, the snow in May), some of us were wondering if we were going to get our hot weather at all. This week, the highs are in the 80s and 90s. There’s even some genuine humidity; not quite like at home, where you step outside into Insta-Sweat conditions, but palpable nonetheless. It's evident everywhere on campus -- lab students dare to wear sandals, geology field campers stink more than usual, and visiting high school girls run naked. Well, not quite, but I suspect that's the next step after the level of clothing they currently wear. Actually, I'm not a big fan of summer. I have a much easier time warmi...

Spork and Sarah are married! How weird is that ... The wedding was beautiful, the reception was pretty cool (and the steak was awesome), and now it's back to real life. Actually, the weekend as a whole was beyond psychotic. After work on Friday I headed to Storm to catch Eric for a little while and meet his new girlfriend. I have to say, Eric, she's pretty cool. Maybe it's the math major thing. :) Didn't end up leaving until 2:30 in the morning, at which point it was useless to go to bed. Barb and I left RC at 6:30 to pick up Ashli and head to Iowa for the wedding, and I got a little sleep between Wall and Chamberlain (a little under a two-hour drive). Unfortunately, that was all for the day. Egads. We booked it to SuFu, where we met up with Andy and continued on to Iowa. The wedding was held in the best-looking little town I've ever seen (it was almost frightening), and after the reception we headed back to SuFu for the night. I deserted the other three an...

Ahhh. I'm all sweaty and gross, and it's good. No, not because of that. A few of us were playing ultimate Frisbee in the quad ... Good stuff man, good stuff. The best part is that it's the second time in a week -- I went hiking on Saturday, too, which also felt awesome. My poor body's been craving some good ol' physical exertion since it's been pitifully deprived this last school year. (There's physical exertion due to exercise and there's physical exhaustion due to lack of sleep and food and too much mental stress. Not enough of the former, far too much of the latter.) Camping was glorious this last weekend. Ah, the beauty of the Hills ... and the rain. Lots of rain. My tent is surprisingly waterproof, a fact of which I was extremely thankful. Regardless, it was good to see, since the Hills have been a bit dry as of late. And by "a bit" I mean "desperately," of course. Anyway, camping was great. The recharge time was grea...

Hey look! I'm still alive! Sometimes I start to wonder, okay? All the same, nothing much is going on around here. I worked twelve hours yesterday, so I was off early today. Yay! Nothing quite beats an early out on a Friday. Especially since I intend to go camping and would like to be able to get a spot (those first come, first serve ones like to disappear ... silly tourists). Got an interesting email yesterday about my room assignment for next year. This is interesting for two reasons: 1) In my "guaranteed single room" (as stated directly in the email) I have a roommate. His name is Michael and he's from Pierre. Betcha he'd be surprised, too. 2) I cancelled my housing for next year LAST WEEK since I've come to my senses and have a house lined up. Ah, the wonders of Residence Life. "Residence Life" ... I'm pondering the name for a moment. Around here, it's kind of a large assumption. Not all that many residents have a life, to be honest (I...

A year ago today was the first "official" day of work at Storm Mountain. I'm not frequently a nostalgic person, but thoughts of last summer will probably always come with a misty-eyed smile. That was the best three months of my life thus far, and today has served as a day of flashbacks. The whole group was together for the first time (except for Emilie, who was cavorting in ... California? right then) that morning for breakfast. The guys joined us after camping out in Red Cross for the night, followed by our "bonding experiences." The challenge course, some training stuff, and the Fanta dance, a thirty-second incident that will always be imprinted in my brain as my first really clear memory of Eric and Aaron. Honestly, I don't know why it's stuck so firmly in my brain. It wasn't a damaging incident. Actually, it was rather funny. I suppose it was an indicator of the rest of the summer ... A year later, things seem almost out of place. After ten weeks...