My teacher didn't show up at office hours today...

Disheveled and sleepy, Sam Arkin trudged into the computer science class room, ready to "teach", or at least talk about, english 28b, comic and tragic vision. His lesson plan consisted of reading a couple of pages of Titus Andronicus or The Bacchae, while musing to his class about how screwed up Dionysus was... or something like that. Before class he had just finished inhaling steroids into his weak lungs while gazing longingly at his dusty saxaphone in the corner of the room, and thus had no time to relieve himself before class.
Looking around, he noticed a man-child in a pink polo, looking rather resigned and humbled to be seen in such a lowly undergraduate class. "I'm a 5th year double majoring in classics and fantastical medieval civilizations," he proclaimed. His goatee twitched.
Next to him sat Scarecrow, from Batman and Cartier eyewear advertisement fame. He looked around pointedly, ready to exchange critical analysis gems of knowledge with anyone who dared make eye contact with him.
All of a sudden, Arkin noticed a certain shorter Asian girl wearing a Yale sweater staring rather intently at his shoes. Intrigued by the reppin' of his alma mater, he noticed that she seemed to be mouthing "Je t'aime" over and over again, with a fanatical glaze over her eyes. When Arkin off-handedly mentioned his ex-woman from New York, he saw her laughing uncontrollably, and then furiously scribbling in a small notebook. Slightly weirded out, Arkin headed over to Starbucks after class, to host office hours. Much to his horror, there the girl was again.
She tried to force feed him a croissant. He managed to get out of the way of the buttery snack, brushing the flakes off his shirt. She tried to share a chai latte with him. He refused to participate. People were starting to stare. Finally, with a desperate glance around the room, she got down on one knee and proposed. Unable to take it anymore, he ran out the door. Needless to say, meeting with students to go over analytical essays was no longer a priority.

Forward Motion

The New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) basketball squad won today after losing 51 straight times in a row. It reminded me that no matter how many times we fail in life at something, we can always get back up that 52nd time and change, and succeed. God will still be there with open arms, welcoming us back.

The Edge retreat over the weekend was not only fun, but inspiring. It was already a success in terms of meeting some new people and getting to know others better. The key to making it a fully successful retreat though, is to carry through with what we learned, and follow up on the conclusions/revelations we had. Personally, I realized that I had to stop accepting a state of stagnancy in my life.

in anthropology discussion

So of course a day after my rather inane "life is good!" post on here, I get struck down with a debilitating fever. Tuesday I was bedridden from 2 o'clock in the afternoon all the way til midnight. At that point I woke up feeling a little better finally, but the next morning I was feverish again and coudln't really function. In between, I experienced the modern day marvel that is socks. I was experiencing shivers and entire body coldness while in my sheets and comforter, unable to fall asleep. I put on some socks--promptly fell asleep, and woke up sweating profusely.
I somehow managed to go to two of my four classes that had mandatory participation, so sorry for those in my classes who witnessed the atrocity that was me during those two days.
In other news:
I am sitting here in anthro 2a discussion, meaning I am officially taking 20 units. Let's hope this doesn't bite me in the butt.
The Cubs and the Cardinals should make a pact that once you play for one of the teams, you can't play for the other. Jason Marquis, Jim Edmonds, Aaron Miles, now So Taguchi?! When does the insanity stop!
UCI 52, Pacific 51 !
Edge Retreat this weekend !!

struggling without struggles

If I were a baseball player right now, I would be riding a 2/38 slump right now and on the verge of being benched in favor of Aaron Miles.
If I were a musician I would claim to be exhausted from non-stop touring and taking artistic license to not come out with a new album for 4 years while releasing concert DVD's and B-Sides so as not to completely dissapear from the face of the earth.

The blogging idea well has run a bit dry as of recent. I worry about this when/if I get my own column.

Maybe it's because I'm too happy right now. I think if I were to take a step back right now, I would agree with all those adults that wistfully tell me that college is the best years of my life. While I hope that's not true because it is depressing to think that life is all downhill from here, I have to say that I am pretty blessed to be me right now. I think it's the nature of the beast that people write a lot more when they're troubled/not content/struggling. You naturally just think about things a lot more compared to when you're content. It's why music and art is heavily centered around depression, sadness, and love. "Awow", "Story of my Life", "Bain of my Existence", "my eye", "suriously", "bloody", "gaish" and etc have one thing in common and that is they do not proclaim general jovial happiness. There are no movies or shows made about people who are simply content and happy, but without juicy love stories or epic struggles to overcome. Except maybe Mr. Rogers and his make-believe neighborhood.

Much love to all the good buddies who took the time to drive up to Irvine this week to visit and made this week a blast, and all you other good people in Irvine who never fail to crack me up... Much excitement for the humor and styles of Mr's Harrison and Arkin minus further class cancellations...

Time to Say Goodbye

to 2008.

Today on the way back from the Spectrum, five of us in my Mountaineer listened to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman sing pretty much the best song ever. There were four guys of college age, and there was opera. There were no complaints. No mocking. No noise. Just appreciation and a blissful harmony.
It was akin to the end of some epic movie where all five characters just gaze out into space, listening to the absolute and stunning beauty of the music. At peace.

Here's to many more similar moments in 2009.