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stud_ball
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Name: Mike
Country: United States
State: Minnesota
Metro: Minneapolis
Birthday: 1/5/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: swimming, diving, cars, clubbing, jazz, working out, vegging out, driving around, soccer, traveling, transferring colleges, rain, thunderstorms, sunrise, sunsets, watching clouds, electronics, food network, home-improvement shows, grocery shopping, 2AM wal-mart runs, the Bob Clampett Show, music and movies - all kinds
Expertise: Cooking, Animals, Kids, Driving cross-country, making you feel important.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Business
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  ASK
Yahoo:  ASK
Member Since:
12/20/2004
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| Post-Collegiate LandPopulation: Me
I know it's been over a week since it happened, but graduation weekend went surprisingly well. Sister and her boyfriend came down friday night and went to the SPEA graduation, like i said they would. SPEA provided nice food to much on in the reception area, then the grads lined up in some side hallway. There were about 200 of us. The musician was an adjunct professor who moonlights as a jazz piano player, so she worked up some jazzy version of pomp and circumstance for us, and it was actually fun and cool.
"class speaker" was this 21 year old who, in her 3 years at IU not only graduated with a bachelor's, but also got 1 year down towards TWO masters degrees. She was all cheery and talking about trees and working for a national forest and being wonderful. (throws up). Thankfully she didnt take forever. The real show was the speaker they brought in, who is some US Senator now, but was former mayor of Ft Wayne, IN (where i spent 4 months in 2005). He was very good. Talked about the importance of encouraging citizens vs. taxpayers. Citizens take care of themselves and others when they are able, whereas taxpayers just expect everything to get done for them. Only he said it more eloquently.
Afterwards, i took my sister, her boyfriend, my boyfriend (FINALLY), and our friend megan to Cheeseburger for dinner, where the tab was picked up by sister's boyfriend. Sweet.
Next morning (saturday) my parents were leaving their hotel in indy (takes an hour to get from there to here) LATE as usual. As Boy was pulling me up to the place where you drop off grads, i decided i didnt really care about the big ceremony with the New York Times Crossword guy. Plus my mom HATES crowds, and would probably be in a shitty mood the rest of the trip, so i ditched the ceremony, and waited for them to get in to town. I did a very brief intro to the town, then we went to breakfast "on the square" then to Nashville, IN (which is very much like Mayberry). Very very cute town. Some festival was going on, and there was lots to see. My mom definitely liked that better than anything else i could have picked for us all to do, and my dad i think was happy because my mom was pleasant. We did a walking tour of campus (which my parents also found great), then i sent them home sunday.
Finals week was hell, but i did it. I'm done. No more school.
Boyfriend thought we were boyfriends for 4 months. I didn't know that, so naturally there was some frustration generated since then - so officially, we became official may 9th. Fuck his temporal recollection - he didnt tell me that i was his boyfriend way back then...
It's late. 4am. I havent been up this late for some time now... but time to go to his house and sleep until he wakes up for work at 8 and i sleep in an additional 3. Night all.
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| i blog, you blog, weblog.(lame)
so i've got 2 classes totally finished, with 3 to go. i graduate next saturday. that's 10 days away. eek.
One project, one take home final, and one final tomorrow morning. Big wheels keep on turnin.
Unlike high school, i'm actually taking off work because i want to be at graduation. I figure this is an actual accomplishment, whereas high school is more like, "congratulations, you didnt flunk out, or end up in jail." Woo hoo.
SPEA Graduation (Friday night):
Is a more intimate setting, where i dress up business professional, they call my name and i shake hands with the Dean (who taught a class of mine over the summer). All the SPEA students are treated like this. Food and drink is provided. My sister is coming (!) and bringing her boyfriend. I dont think she's completely divorced yet...
Graduation (Saturday morning):
My parents are coming. They've never been here before.
IU graduation is bigger and probably more boring. I reserved my cap and gown. I'm not looking forward to it because i dont like hats. Tassels for my major are Teal. They call out the majors and we all stand up. That's it.
Dont know what else to write about for now... Like most people, Boy is more emotionally open when he's drunk. Kind of frustrating because he doesnt really say anything of any value unless he is. Nothing's been said of what's happening with us after i graduate, whether or not i stick around or what, so i'm assuming he's apathetic and will just move on to the next boy. this kind of attitude is venomous for me. I want him to want something. He's just so passive. grr. sorry for the ventillation, i'm going to class now. Bye!
It has been 0 days since i last checked TJ's blog and I'm already having withdrawl symptoms.
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| 3 weeks3 weeks and i'm done with class. Finals are the following week, then graduation on May 3rd. In these 4 weeks i have 2 races (this saturday, or sunday if it's crappy weather), 2 projects (one i have sooo far to go on  ), and 2 finals. I just today found out that one of my classes does not HAVE a final. The last test for it is this thursday, and we just present a project the week before finals week. Good deal.
Rowing is going very well. As you dont know, we are a club team, and we often get shafted by the university. They donut accommodate anything that would help us run better. The machines are all separate and ill-maintained, and we're not allowed to use the womens team's equipment because of some Title IX bullshit. Yesterday, however, was beautiful, so there weren't many people exercising inside. We moved the ergs (rowing machines) onto the track in one long straight line, just like we sit in the boat. We practiced our starts, and went through every part of a 2k race. 1st 500, including the start that is insane, the middle 1000, and the last 500 where you just sprint. I was wore out.
Boy #1 i forgot what I was calling him, but he gave me a key to his apartment.  Boys (1-n, where n = the highest number i may attain) will be on hold for a little.
Still no talk of a title, but i think we're both avoiding it because it requires some decision making. I'm done with Bloomington at the end of May (maybe earlier), and he's staying here at least another year, followed by grad school, which will likely be here as well. I've about outgrown bloomington. I love it here, but you know me... i have trouble signing a year long lease. 2 is unheard of. And more than that? Hell no. I scared.
I'll have to stay somewhere someday, but it wont be here - not now at least, and not anytime soon.
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| T Minus 4 weeks of school leftScared and excited at the same time. Stop asking me what my plans are after graduation. Besides a trip to London, i have none.
Work is taking over more of my weekends, as i worked lunch and dinner saturday, followed by sunday morning, and i do it again next week. I'm starting to think i ought to put in my 2 weeks. My favorite manager has his last day today, so he can go and transfer to the Indianapolis location to be with his wife he married in December. I got them a toaster oven. I enjoy work enough that I dont mind doing it, but i wonder if i should even be there anymore - if i should devote my weekends to closing out my tab at school, trying to get my research papers done, and going to all the fun parties that will undoubtedly be happening. At press time, i have invites (on facebook) to go to 6 parties between tonight and April 12th. I'm not popular, but that's just giving you an idea of how much is going on.
This year, Little 500 is on April 12th (11th too, if you count the girls race). The whole week leading up to that weekend is sort of a drunken mess. For everyone. Teachers schedule tests and big homework around it, and the closer saturday gets, the less you are expected to go to class. Lucky for me, i have a regatta in indianapolis that morning to be at, and undoubtedly i will have to go to work that night. And that's after me bargaining with work. I told my team that although i'll be sober after the race because of work, they are all expected to not be. I'm thinking bottles of coke or sprite (that don't only contain coke or sprite, if any at all) on the way home. Sort of a leveling mechanism. Especially for the freshmen that haven't ever done Little 5.
For school, I've got one paper down, 2 to go:
1 (done): Managing Information Technology - Propose some new technology to implement in a business setting, evaluating costs, feasibility, and results. Me and my handsome straight partner chose iPhone's Enterprise Technology.
2: Post Cold War Intelligence and Espionage - Paper due tomorrow at 11, my title is Making Mission Impossible Possible: Keeping Up To Date With Technology. I have no fucking clue what this is going to be about. Initially it was about a firm called In-Q-Tel, which outsources to other companies and provides tech to the CIA. No source limit or minimum, so I smell a bunch of BS coming. For this paper, i also have to speak on it at the Hutton Honors College Undergraduate Research Symposium. Joy.
3: Applied Statistics - Design a research project based on some current political issue. Try and establish some sort of cause and effect relationship. My topic is what forms our opinions on gays? I figured i'm a senior, and that i should probably be more comfortable with my sexuality by now, so i should try and do something that makes me more confident in that. I need to make a survey with 30 questions, print out 300, and get them filled out by IU students at the library. Questions pertain to opinions on gay marriage, and personal historical evaluation - upbringing, adolescence, parental views imposed on them, and stuff like that. I'm behind... eep. I also have to have 10 sources. Thankfully, the Kinsey Institute is right here on my campus...
Okay, enough of me being a loser and dicking around the internet. Time to go work.
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| Spring breaaaaak 08Spring break is well underway now.
It started thursday night at 5pm when i got out of my 4th midterm (3rd one of the day). Most everyone was either studying for a friday midterm if they had one or making some sort of progress on getting their spring break going, so i opted to hit a concert that was going on at the local theatre. This really good band called Punch Brother was playing (i read about it in the paper earlier that day), so i went. It was excellent. Bluegrass(/"newgrass") is something you dont often hear. I like it because there's something so natural and wholesome about it. Every now and then bits of songs would give me the feeling i can only describe as the tingle on top of a fresh glass of coca cola. I feel it at the top of my head and i am completely entranced by it. Anyway, bluegrass is not for everyone, but I definitely loved every second, and it was worth every penny.
Stuck around Btown until Saturday. Boy number 1 came over and ... oh wait. Boy update:
Boy #1. Things are still going strong. Until i left saturday, him and i had slept next to each other every night together except one for 13 consecutive nights, which makes him the current record holder for anyone sleeping with me - both in consecutive and total nights. Friday night we made pico de gallo, drank mexican beer, and played guitar hero III until 6 am. Very nice and laid back. Saturday I cooked Mojito Chicken (which i had prepped the day before) and we had that for lunch before i packed up and left for Alabama to see my relatives. Boy #1, i feel, has not expressed any interest in anything with "us" happening beyond my graduation. I moreso feel like i'm his "for now"... We don't really
talk about anything meaningful, but he still tells me good night and
lets me be part of his daily routine. We dont have sex (hope that doesnt surprise
you), and i don't plan to, but we havent talked about that either. He's more like a best friend in the making - except add a little passion in there. We hang out a lot, and have a great time, but I
need someone to not be okay with me not being in their life. And when i
leave, i'm not okay that when I leave, there won't be a cavernous void in him that can't be filled. Maybe i'm selfish. (Probably.)
Boy #2's large roommate bitched me out on AIM for being a dick. I was apathetic, but conceded to her "recommendation" that i dont talk to him anymore. After getting several pleading texts from him begging to answer when he calls, Boy #2 dropped the "I love you" via text. Bye Boy #2.
Boy #3 i think is completely gone. Havent heard from him lately, so i guess not talking to him or initiating any sort of conversation /hangout sent the message that i'm not into him. Maybe I'll go to the optometry school (where he works) for some glasses and do some dangling. I'm an asshole. But i need glasses. I have none (only contacts that i could probably share with Mr Magoo). I dont particularly DISlike him, it's just that he just comes up lacking among the others in the "magic" department.
Alabama's good. I came down primarily because i heard my grandpa wasnt doing so hot - that he's going through some sort of dementia. I prefer this to Alzheimer's because he remembers people and everything, except
he repeats some things... maybe that's just getting old and telling
stories to too many people that you forget who you share things with
really quickly. It's like his brain is full, and he can't intake new information. Also he apparently dreams things of thinks about
things that didnt happen, and believes they did, and can talk about
them in great detail. Today he talked to me about a painting above
their couch of some mountain scene complete with waterfall and cabin.
He said he went there and that it was in colorado, and he traced with
his finger the trail they took through the mountain pass. Then my
grandma chimed in something that validated his statement, so i guess he
could have actually been there, but now i just tend to be on guard that
he might be spewing bs. Not sure how much longer i'm staying, but i'm thinking head back to IU on wednesday or thursday. I'm pretty much free to do anything for the rest of break, although i
do have a shitton of work to do on a project in order to have some sort
of progress report (due) next tuesday.
There might be more soon (what? Boy #4? ... shhh), but i figure this is long enough.
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