Ups, Downs, and a Slightly Lighter Wallet

I've come to a realization today. I hate driving in Dallas. It is such a pain in the butt...seriously. I drove to the church my brother suggested for me this morning. I absolutely loved the church(except for one thing the pastor said that i'll get to in a minute), but the drive was horrific.
First of all...the only good road to take to get to the church is a tollway, and will cost me $4.00 for a round trip. Second I saw at least 15 speed traps in the 25 min trip up there. Also...the roads in Dallas, especially those near the highways, are retarded...they do all these crazy loops and turns but don't tell you what direction to go...it's frustrating.

UGH

Anyway...the church was amazing. They started out with a great worship session, then had a very entertaining and well done sermon. Though the pastor did say something, inadvertently, that upset me. Well the church is very overcrowded, and they are raising money to build a new building or something, so the pastor mentioned this fundraiser at the beginning of the sermon. He was trying to illustrate how much he hate to turn away the people who come there not sure about Christ or the church...which I understand. But he chose to illustrate this by saying, "now those who have been in the church their whole lives and know Christ, and are looking for a new church home, them I don't mind turning away. But those who aren't sure what they think about Christ of the church, that just can't happen." Considering I perfectly fit his description of those he "doesn't mind turning away"...I felt kinda unwanted...and it honestly ruined the entire sermon for me. I know he didn't mean it that way...but I'm still kind of upset about it.

Tonight I had freshman convocation...which was a boring waste of my time to be honest. Though I did get free food, and a cool UTD Tee Shirt...it was not worth it...

and that will conclude this installment of my adventures as a disaffected college student.

A Roller Coaster of Emotions(more of a kiddie ride)

Well today was my second official day of college, and it was pretty easy. I had one class today, kind of a freshman orientation class, and it looks to be very easy. She's giving us 2 weeks to "write" a 2 min speech about something we are an expert of...needless to say this will be a piece of cake.

I did however receive some semi-depressing news today. Yesterday after history I learned, on an off chance, that UTD does in fact have a debate team. So I went to the debate team website and sent an email to the coach expressing my interest. Today I got a reply, in which he informed me that the team only competes in CX debate(and for those of you who don't know debate, this is the devil of all forms of debate). I then replied to the coach stating that i very much was not interested in competing in CX, but also said that if they, in the next few years, decide to compete in parly(my form of debate) I would be more than happy to join, and even help teach the finer points of the event. I have yet to receive a reply to this email...but if anything interesting happens I will certainly let ya'll know.

Me and my roommates are also beginning to look for ways to furnish the common room of our apartment. I may be getting some furniture from my brother-in-law(to my family: yes other people read this blog) and Kazi is working on getting a TV from his friend. Hopefully soon we will be able to actually sit down in the common room and have something to do...but that may just be too much to ask :P

Well...that about covers it. So I'll conclude this installment of my adventures as a disaffected college student.

First Impressions

As I mentioned in my last post, my classes started today. Well...now that I'm starting to do it and see what it's gonna take...I realize...I got this. I know it's not gonna be easy and all that jazz...but I got this. I can handle this.

In case you're interested, I had Music, History and Discrete Math today. Music will be very easy...it's basically an understanding music/European musical history class...two topics in which I'm fairly well versed. History has never been hard for me, and this class seems like it won't be the exception. We're covering American history from the colonial to the civil war. One good thing about this class is that we are using novels as our text, not a huge textbook. This also means that the reading assignments will be tolerable, perhaps even enjoyable. I do tend to enjoy reading historical novels, and these novels seem like just the kind of books I like to read. Discrete Math, the topic of much speculation between my mom and I, actually seems fairly straight forward. This was the only class i was really worried about because I wasn't sure how much Calculus would be involved...well I can rest easy now. The professor said that there is no direct use of calculus in the class...but we will use calculus ideas and theory. This is the best news I could have gotten...cause I have no problem with calculus IDEAS...it's the work that kills me.

Overall it has been a very good first day...I'm starting to learn the layout of the campus very well, and think i have figured out the quickest paths between my classes.

And now...it is getting late and I need to rest up for my second day of classes...so...here ends this installment of my adventures as a disaffected college student.

A Residential Exodus

Well, In case you don't know, as I forgot to mention this in my last post, I was placed originally placed in a sophomore room as a temporary home until a freshman room opened up. Well yesterday afternoon I found out that just such a room had opened and I was going to move there today. Happy as I was to be in an apartment with other freshmen, and to be away from my "odd" roommates, I did not look forward to moving again. So I woke up early this morning and packed up my stuff and got everything ready to be moved. The guys who volunteered to help me move, for whom I am very thankful, arrived around noon and i had my furniture in the apartment by 12:45. However...it took slightly longer(2 hours to be exact) to get the keys to my new room. But after a long drawn out process I finally got my keys and began to set up my room.

One positive note is that because this apartment has a different floor plan, I have much more wall space in my new room, meaning my furniture fits much better. Another positive note is that my new roommates actually socialize with other human beings. This is opposed to my old roommates who would shut themselves in their rooms, with the lights out, for several hours at a time, leaving only occasionally to use the bathroom. Now I actually have someone to talk to, which is surprisingly refreshing.

I'm starting to get hungry, but at the present moment I am much too tired and unmotivated to actually cook something. It's been a while since I've had fast food...think I'll hit up Taco Hell as a sort of...umm..."New Apartment Celebration"
<.< >.>
Anywho...Classes start tomorrow...and I'm fairly excited...though I'm not looking forward to walking all the way to the music building in the morning...Hopefully I can figure out how to fix my bike sometime tonight so I won't have to.

Well...that about does it for this installment of my adventures as a disaffected college student.


PS. OH YEAH...I've decided to start making youtube videos to keep the more "politically inclined" side of my brain active and happy while I'm here. (I refuse to talk politics with anyone here...already had some bad experiences) So if you have any ideas about a good premise for my videos, leave it in a comment. Thanks.

The Begining

I guess I'll start from move in...Seems like the place to start something like this.

So...Me, my mom, dad and sister drove up from H-town(houston for you not so bright readers) on wednesday evening and stayed in a hotel for the night. Then on thursday morning we went over to the school to get me moved in. Well...we got there and no one working there knew who i was...not a good sign. I then took over an hour to get my lease made and all that bs. Afterwards we got the keys to my apartment and went to check it out. Well...we get to the door, and open it...and what is the first thing we see? A HUGE bottle of vodka sitting on the counter next to two boxes of wine. We continue into the apartment to find that the entire apartment is absolutely disgusting. Now of course I didn't want to live there...but I'm not one to raise a fuss...but my mom is. She marched back down to the office and came back with the manager of the apartments. He immediately agreed that the room was unacceptable...and another hour later escorted us to a shiny clean apartment on floor down. So I got moved into that one with no more drama, thank Jesus, and my family left to head back home.

The next morning(friday) I packed for and left on Comet camp. Lemme tell you...it was FUN. Don't really feel like explaining it all...cause it would take me forever, but here are some highlights:
FOOD
dodgeball
soccer
dodgeball
new people
dodgeball
crotch shots(multiple)
blue team wins!!!!
home
shower

and that's about it for this first installment of my adventures as a disaffected college student.