If That's Moving Up Then I'm Moving Out

That's right. I'm finally all moved out of my parents' house! Well, they're moved out too, but that's another story that I do not wish to share in this blog. I officially moved out yesterday with a caravan of classy characters (alliteration) and all my stuff is sitting in the basement of my new house. I can't move in until next week because the current residents have a lease until then. So, I'm bumming beds off friends for the next week down at school; I am very grateful for all of them and all of the help I have been getting over this very testy period. Hopefully in a week, my life can begin to take on some semblence of normalcy. Once I'm moved in, I have to get started on some serious routinized nonsense. As soon as I'm in the new place, my diet begins. Cooking for myself means taking control of my diet. Add exercise and you'll have a lighter Troutman. Let's hope.

On the girl front... an interesting comment from a friend of mine. Apparently, she senses a "vibe" whenever I'm around a certain individual, a "reciprocal vibe." I need to investigate... I'm very scared to investigate because I don't want to take any vibes where they don't belong. We'll see. I'll probably just curl up into a ball and not do anything. Sigh.

Cardboard Exhaustion

I write to you all from my bed this evening. I've spent the entire day packing. Well, with the exception of a couple hours where I met some friends for foodstuffs. But still, it feels good to have accomplished something - even if that something took hours to develop. My academia and video games and sound system and everything else are currently in boxes - all that's left to tackle is clothing items. That'll be tomorrow. Or so I say.

Anyway, I'm enjoying my last two nights in my current residence. Then it's time to bum couches or beds or rooms for a week off my friends at school, followed by moving into my new house. I'd kinda like this whole process to be over with; once it's over with I will be ready to just chill and enjoy summer.

Semester in Review - Spring 2010

As I am writing this post, my junior year of college is complete. Wow. I repeat. MY JUNIOR YEAR OF COLLEGE IS COMPLETE!!! This semester has contained some of the most fantastic moments, most annoying moments, most downright wacky moments, and finally moments that are bringing about serious change in my life. In the finest of Jesuit traditions, I choose to reflect on them at this time.

1. My classes this semester were all elementary education all the time. It was like being in boot camp. We designed lessons for all content areas and even learned about how to teach English Language Learners. I do wish however that the classes were more spread out; at times it was like too much of a good thing. A lot of the information - especially near the end of the semester - was lost on me because I was just overwhelmed with assignments.

2. My research proposal for sixth grade math stands at 95% completion according to my advisor. I probably devoted more time to that this semester than I did to many of my four-credit classes, which will tell you something. The amount of work that it takes to get research on the ground is unbelievable. That factor will weigh somewhat heavily in my making the decision of what to do with my life after next May (which I will address in another post soon forthcoming). But hey, because my advisor is awesome, the process is a breeze (though really really rough). We'll see how the project develops over the summer months and how it comes to be following implementation in the fall. I'm excited about it, even if it makes me a nerd.

3. In about two weeks time, I will be moved into my new house in Scrantonia with four wacky gentlemen. It is guaranteed to be one hell of a time and I cannot wait. Oh yeah, embrace the change. That's what I'm doing. After all, it's not exactly political change (cough, cough, 2008).

4. I have decided to summarize this semester's component in my quest for a perfect love life as the semester of "WTF?!" Time after time after time did I have what I thought was a good, budding friendship that could potentially develop into something more. In every single instance, I was wrong. I wonder why I was wrong. Part of me refuses to care; I feel as though my heart has been trampled upon just one too many times these days. But part of me realizes that eventually things will fall into place... my patience says otherwise. When I was entering the semester, I was pretty sure I had something that was a "sure thing" relationship-wise. For those of you like lunaticraft and zcrescendo who saw this develop and then fall apart on the evening of the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, you'll remember how I went from high to low in a matter of ten minutes. "Crap, she brought friends. Crap, they're guys." Follow that up with... "Crap, both of them like her. Crap, she likes both of them." Follow that up with... "Screw this." Yeah, as I feared at the time, that kind of set the tone for the rest of the semester. No matter who I liked, if one can imagine a horrible way for that to go, one needs not imagine. Because it happened. Everything from that battle for the two guys sitting next to me, to liking a girl who just broke up with someone she'd been in a relationship with for a while, to liking someone who liked one of my good friends... it all happened. It's really gotta stop happening. Even as we speak, one of my friends wants to set me up with one of her friends. Quite frankly... I'm not feeling it. I now have to be the bad guy and communicate that sense of "not feeling it." Sigh. And then there's my other friend: a girl likes him, he doesn't like her. She's kinda cute. Send her my way, let's see what can be done. Eh, I'm kinda close to saying, "screw this." Overall. Seriously. Screw it. I'm done.

5. zcrescendo, my friend, save some of that Jell-Oh Puddin for me!

6. Tonight was my school's President's Breakfast, the night where all of the professors cook breakfast foods for us and we eat like pigs. I ate like a pig. I'm not feeling too hot at the moment.

7. It's almost time for Commencement-o-rama at my school. To all my graduating blog friends (including that guy who went to school not here), I offer my congratulations to four successful years (three or a fraction thereof spent with me knowing you) and I offer you the best wishes for success in whatever you choose to do next. Whether it's pursuing a Doctoral degree in your field of prefererence or it's not yet determined, all of you are very unique, special individuals. You all have amazing potential and fantastic things ahead of you, if you so choose to go after them. I'm sure I'll vocalize that in a not-so-corny way in the coming days and weeks.

As I said, I'm going to need to vent in the coming days about how I'm not sure what's going to happen to me after next year. But for now, I'm going to kick off my final REAL in-school summer in style: work, food, and friends.

Almost time to wrap it up

As I am writing this blog (and procrastinating completing my work), only two assignments stand in the way of summer vacation. Both are due tomorrow and I left vital materials for both assignments at my work, so I guess tomorrow will be the final fun marathon that I have to run. I need to write a research paper on any topic in Educational Psychology; the fact that I forced this paper to mirror my honors tutorial piece on Positive Behavior Support helps. And the final unit I need to prepare is for English Language Learners using a method far different than my preferred method of planning.

That reminds me... My semester in review will be soon coming.

I'm also contemplating spending a year abroad teaching English... not sure where.

We're gonna get so drunk that Terry Schaivo will seem conscious!

1. My God, it's May 10th. That means it is a mere three weeks (21 days) until I have to move into my new house on E Gibson Street with a colorful bunch of characters! And I cannot express my level of excitement in mere words alone. However, with my situation being drastically different than my housemates, there is a certain level of apprehension as the time nears. With my family relocating to the Upper Hudson River Valley near Poughkeepsie, NY, it's not gonna be like they're fifteen minutes away for me to pop in and say hi to. I'm going to miss out on many significant moments in my brother's and sister's life (i.e. the brother going through high school, the sister getting old enough to date - wait, no it's good that I'm gone for that one). Of course, I will make an effort to get out there and see them, but it's going to be very weird at first with them gone. I'll get used to it, of course, just have a bit of patience with me over the next couple of weeks while everything sorts itself out.

2. This past weekend rocked! A bunch of friends and I went mini-golfing up in the mountains to the north and with our sorry lot it's guaranteed to be a ridiculous time. As it was. Highlights of the evening include my buddy Ol' Lumpy getting harassed by preteens and good yummy greasy diner food! Oh yumminess indeed. Saturday night was our annual final band/choir combined concert down at school and it was, as is always the case, fun times and showcased talents. Afterward, we went down tuh duh bar (a phrase I am still not used to saying) for hours of fun and some excellent conversation, as well as some not-so-excellent conversation (see title). It included some "guys being guys" conversing about how love lives are not necessarily what we want them to be (or, in my case, existent).

3. This coming week will not rock. It's "Dead Week," which around these parts means no exams and time to study for finals. Well, for those lucky enough to be named fishy89 and have no finals, Dead Week becomes Finals Week. I HAVE SO MUCH CRAP LEFT TO DO THAT I AM BEGINNING TO PUSH THE "PANIC" SWITCH! And, given the move about to occur, my mind is not exactly on academia, as it should be. I'm hoping the move will result in stability that, among other things, will allow me to focus my mind on what it needs to focus on.

4. I'm starting to figure out what I want to do this summer adventure-wise, and I'm getting nothing. Albeit, living at E Gibson with 4 of my friends will be an adventure in of itself. I just need more. For lack of a better comparison, it's like in The Little Mermaid when Ariel wants to broaden her horizons and get out there and do something. Or, it's like in Beauty and the Beast where Belle "wants adventure in that great wide somewhere" or something along those lines. God, I need to come up with better examples. And some summer ideas. Food for thought? Please submit ideas!

5. Apparently I have been losing weight, which brings me to my actual summer initiative. I will drop a ton of weight (not literally) over the summer, because my focuses are going to be eating healthy -- maybe I'll eat healthy if I am feeding myself -- and utilizing the empty gym at my school. I'll be there for 40-hour work weeks anyway, so I may as well use the gym afterwards.

6. The "Affairs of the Heart Blog Point" - Empty as always, except for what I feel.

Well, that's all folks. Check back soon.

What do ya get when you cross a fish and a tiara?

I officially say it. zcrescendo, I have stolen your idea for the bullet-point blog format.

1. Yesterday was my 21st birthday! With it marked my initiation into the society of legal drinkers at ye olde local watering hole, and did my birthday get kicked off in an interesting way. I will not go into detail about the events that took place but will choose rather to dwell on one aspect of the weekend. To have almost twenty friends join me for dinner and to have, at points, upwards of thirty join me to ring in midnight is absolutely astonishing. Yes, at times I do feel left out and disappointed because my life is not exactly what I thought it would be at age 21, but it's moments like that that make me realize I am loved and cared about by other people. Sometimes, that realization can mean a lot. This weekend was one of those times. So, to all of you who in some way helped me celebrate my birthday, I thank you and know that you are awesome. (Even those of you who, because you didn't show up, got angry drunk voicemails at some point =D)

2. We are pulling into the home stretch for this semester, as they would say at the racetrack. The amount of work I have left is staggering. I have to go, as we say in ye olde music room, "balls to the wall" for the next fourteen days. There may not be enough hours in the day, especially for my two big research papers. Grr. Whatever, it will get done. That I know. Just, if you see me over the next couple weeks and I look exhausted, out of it, or stressed... that's why.

3. I hate group work. I was very fortunate to be placed in groups with people who are very responsible, but seriously, I'd like to get graded on work that is purely mine.. just once.

4. My heart is being made curious from multiple directions over the last couple of days, and it's not just the recently-discovered notion of alcohol speaking. I feel like as events occur that make me realize that some girl somewhere will make me happy - it will happen - it makes me want it to happen more. There's Girl A, the interesting freshman girl in ye olde orchestra, who is really pretty and I would like to get to know. Then there's Girl B, who I've gotten to hang out with a couple of times over the past weeks, realizing that on top of her very good looks she is also very funny and can have a damn good time. Then there's Girl C, who remains one of my good friends. *sigh* It's the end of the year, too, so let's see what happens. I'm, quite frankly, annoyed with myself for having feelings toward people when, really, all that's been happening this semester is the worst possible scenario for each individual case. If you know me, you know the deals there.

5. I really like the fact that I am not picky about my beer.

6. It's a mere 30 days until I move out into my own house. Oh. My. God.

7. Hey, zcrescendo, pass the Jell-OOOOh Puddin Pops, please?