Random Drivel

Back in Terre Haute. Tonight we went to see X-men 3 at midnight, which was an all around decent movie. The best part was the trailer for Snakes on Plane. That is definitely on my must see list for the summer. Snakes. On a PLANE. It doesn’t get any better than that. Samuel L. Jackson has already got my eight bucks for that movie.

Friday, 19 May 2006, I completed my senior year of classes at Rose-Hulman. That day, I only had one class, and it was at 3:30. Not bad. So I slept in, turned in a paper and some homework, had lunch, started packing, and went to class. After class, I went with some friends to the Bally for free pizza and cheap pitchers. Free pizza. All college kids worldwide have at least one thing in common: we all love free food.

Well, I had planned on leaving for Oklahoma after that last class, but I hadn’t even finishd packing yet and I was out with friends. Around six, I decided it was probably a good idea to finish packing, so I went back home and started throwing stuff in the truck. Around 8pm, I had most of my belongings ready to go. The drive to Oklahoma is about an 8-9 hour drive. Even with the time change, leaving at 8pm meant that I’d be pulling into the driveway at (the earliest) 3am. I don’t know why, but for some reason there just aren’t that many people on the road that late at night. I think I was the only person on the turnpike for miles. I felt bad for the kid who took my money at the tollbooth.

Driving by yourself isn’t that hard, it just takes some music, and a steady stream of friends to call you to make sure you’re still awake. I usually only stop once to fill the gas tank. I got a few calls late at night from friends who knew I was driving, and that really helped. I pulled into the driveway at about 3:15am, right on schedule.

If only I didn’t have to wake up 4 hours later to go to Angela’s graduation! Graduation was good, I saw a few people from high school, and got to cheer on my sister as she walked across the stage. It doesn’t feel like four years have passed since high school, but now that I’m graduating from college it all comes into perspective.

I’ll probably be leaving sometime in the next few days to go hang out with friends and celebrate the end of the year, and then its off to California. Maybe I’ll plan it so that I’m driving through the big cities at night.

So, word on the street is that this is the last week of classes. Apparantly, there is this finals week thing next week, that I don’t have to go to because I’m a senior. And after that is done, graduation? Only, they are calling it Commencement. It sounds fancy, yes, I know. I didn’t come up with it.

My beautiful sister, Angela Renee, is graduating from high school in just a few days. I guess Viriginia, my friend Ryan’s sister, is also graduating. She’s kinda cool, too (haha, you know I’m kidding). Congratulations to you both, and enjoy your summers and everything that college has to offer you! Also, smart choice on not becoming engineers. Come visit me in California because I’m going to be lonely as hell. I love you both.

So anyway, all this Commencment stuff has gotten me thinking about that song that came out when I was in high school, “Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen)”.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

It was a good song, and had some good advice. And now that I’m graduating again, its good to look back on it and see how many of those things I’ve been holding onto these past four years, and how many I’ve forgotten. I still have a shoebox full of every hushedly passed note from Freshman and Sophomore year of high school (even a few from you, Kelley!).

I know that I have a tendancy to be overbearing, and I’m sure that I’ve burned a few bridges and lost a few wonderful friendships, or prevented wonderful friendships from forming in the first place. I apologize for all of those things, and the one person they hurt the most is probably myself. Some people here are anxious about getting out of Terre Haute. I’ve said it a few times, myself. I’m sure some people mean it. For what its worth, I am glad that I met the people I did at Rose-Hulman, and I really, truly will miss you all.

I’m pretty sure this is accurate. If its not, I’ll update and fix it. I’m sure my dad knows for sure where I’ve been. I’ve lived in seven of these states (In less than a month I’ll add an eighth one).

create your own personalized map of the USA

I found this question online somewhere, and thought it was pretty good.

The question: How many 5 year-olds could you take on at once?

The specifics:

- You are in an enclosed area, roughly the size of a basketball court. There are no foreign objects.
- You are not allowed to touch a wall.
- When you are knocked unconscious, you lose. When they are all knocked unconscious, they lose. Once a kid is knocked unconscious, that kid is “out.”
- I (or someone else intent on seeing to it you fail) get to choose the kids from a pool that is twice the size of your magic number. The pool will be 50/50 in terms of gender and will have no discernable abnormalities in terms of demographics, other than they are all healthy Americans.
- The kids receive one day of training from hand-to-hand combat experts who will train them specifically to team up to take down one adult. You will receive one hour of “counter-tactics” training.
- There is no protective padding for any combatant other than the standard-issue cup.

* The kids are motivated enough to not get scared, regardless of the bloodshed. Even the very last one will give it his/her best to take you down.