A Clever Plan

College

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:36:42 GMT

So, I'm done with my summer hiatus. I found that because I was in and out at such odd hours, I could really regularly update. I also found that I didn't feel the desire to update, anyway, but now that I'm falling back in a routine, the entries shall begin anew. That said, I just moved into my dorm today and it's pretty exciting to tell the truth. Everything went smoothly and I found I had a lot more space than I'd been expecting. My roommate is cool, too and I think we're going to get along just fine. I mean, I saw some of the other people in my hall, and I think I was fairly lucky. By the way, college football players look quite different from those in high school. I think I have several linebackers in our hall and I find the only word that can really describe them is "hulking." Classes start on Wednesday, and I still have one or two to sign up for, but I'm pretty happy with my schedule overall. I also need to meet with my advisor, Barbette Spaeth, and though the name sounds a bit dated, I hope she is at least somewhat nice and helpful.

KY Pictures... not jelly

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 19:48:25 GMT

Kentucky was a lot prettier than Arkansas in some respects, but both were interesting. My reason for choosing this particular place was its rock formations. I hope you can get a taste of what we saw through these.

That's the trail coming down the mountain there. We'd descended it a day or two before.

And this is Gray's Arch... quite enormous really. Some poor soul fell off the top because, according the the laminated notecard on a stump where he landed, "he was chasing a burning log in order to prevent a forest fire." What this particular gentlemen expected to do once he caught up with the burning log, no one exactly knows. Michael, Ben, and I figured he was just drunk.

The next day, we proceeded to Double Arch, the one on the right. After lunching there, Ben and I climbed that rock on the left and found we had a surprisingly good view. We camped somewhere down in the valley that night.

This is the view we had from on top of that rock. The lumpy looking one to the left is Haystock Rock and the sheer one on the right is Raven Rock. I must commend ben for this shot in particular; I think the deadwood is great.

This is where we camped the night after visiting Double Arch. Due to the relative darkness, the shutter had to stay open longer and resulted in the blur.

When we awoke the next morning, it looked something like this:

The funny thing about this photo is that that's Ben's Bandana down there in the stream. He was so engrossed in taking pictures of the water that he didn't even notice he'd lost it earlier and that it was in his shot. He found the thing an hour or so after taking this.

Here I am bonding with my inner Daniel Boone.

And these are two panoramic shots from on top of Haystack and Raven Rocks respectively.

KY/MO/Beat Down

Sat, 09 Jul 2005 06:46:12 GMT

It's been quite a while and I still haven't felt like uploading my pictures from Kentucky. In the meantime, I have also been canoing on the Eleven Point River in Southern Missouri. I'd never been canoing before, and it was a lot of fun, though by the end of it I was looking forward to some much-needed solitude.

Anyway, my big story in the interim was my experience in St. Louis. For the purposes of your entertainment and my own memory of the thing many years from now, I shall recount it.

Ben and I decided on July 3rd to go see the Switchfoot concert down on the Riverfront because it was free and we could head there straight from work. Because we knew parking downtown would be nearly impossible and/or ridiculously expensive, we rode the Metro instead. Our ride down was packed, but uneventful and we waited in line for quite a while to be admitted Laclede's Landing so we could see the concert. By the time we arrived under the arch, the they were already well into playing and we missed most of "Dare You to Move." Despite only being an hour-long set, the show was still very good and was well worth the three dollars each of us had paid for round-trip tickets to get down there. Afterward, we stayed to watch the fireworks with the plan that we would leave about halfway through the show so as not to get up in the tens of thousands of people trying to leave the city.

Our plan failed.

By the time we realized the finale had begun, it was too late because we also came to the realization that we did not know how to get off the top of the flood wall. What had looked like a stairwell when we had walked up turned up to be several stairs leading to a locked door. From the top of the wall, we could already see thousands of people streaming up the streets and gathering in a line to ride the Metro. I decided it might as well be faster to head downtown to catch the Metro at the 8th and Pine station and hopefully avoided most of the crowds in the process.

Finding Pine Street was no real issue at all, and a good number of the people leaving the park were walking down it. "You know, I really wouldn't mind living in the city," I said to Ben. "Like this, it seems kinda nice... almost like Chicago -- but with shorter buildings." Find the Metro station was only a matter of coming across the right cross street and I was sure it was only a couple blocks away anyway. At that point, we passed a little cafe on the bottom story of a parking garage, and Ben and I both remarked upon how cool it was. Shortly thereafter some man in a Mercedes pulled out from said parking garage and just stopped right in the sidewalk because the street was clogging with cars. I looked at the car which had pulled out into the current of people on the sidewalk and said to Ben, "We should just beat this down and go on," like a stampede, one casualty in the mass exodus of the city.

Unfortunately, I picked an inopportune moment to say this.

Ben and I sidestepped the car and from behind us came several voices, "You think you funny?" I thought nothing of it and assumed the young gentlemen to our rear were simply talking amongst themselves. Then again, one of them spoke up. "Yeah, you, blue shirt. Imma come up there and beat you down, white boy." For those unfamiliar with my state of affairs as of that point, I was both white - something which I persist in being - and in a blue shirt. I turned around with a combination of confused smile and a smirk. Clearly this must have been some sort of joke that I didn't get. By Ben's count when we looked back, there were eight men of African American descent in their teens or early twenties and one of them walked up along side me. "What you smilin' 'bout nigga?" he asked. "You heard me." I became even more confused and with Ben, by his own admission walking next to me and laughing, wasn't really sure what to think. Seconds later, I found myself completely jarred and looking at the street from rather a different angle, that of the ground. There had been no sensation of being hit or of falling, just of my head ringing. In the half second it took for me to assess what was taking place, one of them kicked (or attempted to kick; I'm not really sure) me. Then when I looked up, Ben was standing over me and the assailants were running off. One man rushed up from behind us and helped me off the ground and made sure I was all right. Another woman handed me her bottle of water, and when I looked around, all the people were staring at me, gaping. Ben later told me one of them had punched him, too, but it was not well-placed and didn't do much. As far as I understand, the one hit me was on my left and swung around to hit me either in the jaw or the temple. Regardless, I blacked out momentarily and my head bounced off the concrete. Fortunately, I only suffered from a split lip and a cut face; there was no concussion. After getting up, Ben and I walked to the Metro station, took it to UMSL North and Ben drove me home in my car.

I relate this not because I am trying to point out the dangers of being in the city, or to further some racist cause, but because I think it was a pretty exciting story and one I know will dim in my memory with time. I honestly have no fears about wandering around downtown again, and there was no reason to fear for my life at the time, though I know the thought ran through my mind. We were down there with thousands of people and there was no way any serious harm could have been done. And anyway, I like being able to say I got beat down in the city.

Kentucky

Sun, 26 Jun 2005 22:59:03 GMT

I am leaving for Kentucky shortly. Michael, Ben, and I will be backpacking in the Red River Gorge Geological Area. Pictures will most likely ensue upon my return.

Sleeping Bag/Facebook/Pool/Work/Eyes

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 03:35:45 GMT

So...

My sleeping bag arrived recently from Moonstone, and I must admit it's very exciting. I challenge any of you not to be excited about a sleeping bag because I am certain it cannot be done; for one thing, it is translucent and squishy. Perhaps that was two things, but regardless, it makes me excited.

I signed up on thefacebook.com and I was pleasantly surprised to find that a number of other people in my class had done so, too. They all have nice pictures and bios on the site even if it doesn't make me feel any closer to them. I think facebooks are a good idea, though, because I'll be able to find out about people in my dorm and classes.

I have visited Adriana's grandparents' pool several times in the past week and have found it to be quite fun. Swimming is good excercise and have been doing a good job of sunburning myself. Actually, I'm only mildly itchy, but I'm more irritated that out of a group of five girls, none of them had any sunscreen over SPF 6. 6!? The following exchange resulted from this.

Michael: SPF 6?! What does this even do?
Adriana: It doesn't do anything.
Michael: Then why did you buy it? Here, I'll sell you these rocks from beside the pool for two dollars. They don't do anything either.

From there, as might have been expected, it devolved into various insults.
I have also decided that Adriana's grandfather is a cool old person. He has a lot of good insights and knows a whole bunch about trains. I will have to sit down and discuss life with him. It will be like Tuesdays With Morrie except that he isn't dying and I'm not as retarded as Mitch Albom.

Work has been good lately, and I have been getting a bunch of hours, but I'm not sure I like it. Thirty hours is a lot of time to be spending wandering around a store selling people things they don't really need. This makes me think of something else that has been bothering me for a while. I've been had these socialist wonderings of why we're forced to pay for things that are basic necessities of life; we have to buy food from the grocery store, don't we? The same holds true for medicine and housing, and to some extent clothing. Seems to me that food, clothing, and shelter should be free because I don't like the idea of folks' profiting from something I'm forced to buy. That gets me to thinking about the Missouri mandatory auto insurance, too. Granted, if the government were to provide all these things, then my taxes would be higher, so it's not much of a trade-off.

My eyes have been bothering me as of late, so I've been in glasses for a majority of the time. The problem is thus, after seven years of wearing contacts, my eyes have suddenly decided they are foreign bodies and have begun producing a bunch of mucus as an immune reaction. The result is that my left contact gets covered in a milky white film and makes it impossible for me to see. Anyway, my optometrist says I can get gas-permeable lenses, although I really have no idea how that stop my eyes from eating my contacts. I'll also be getting new glasses out of this.

Graduation

Sat, 04 Jun 2005 06:01:24 GMT

Graduation went very well. I'm not sure I expected any less, though. Anyway, for those of you who have not heard, I have several funny occurences to relate.

Occurrence #1

The scene: I am standing on the podium behind the governing while the class files in.

Gov. Blunt (turning around and extending his hand.): Hi, I'm Matt Blunt. Pleasure to meet you.
Me(In awe.): Nice to meet you, too...
Dr. Cook: This is Andy Peters, an all-around nice guy.

Apparently, I forgot that I'm supposed to introduce myself in situations like that. Hehe... oops. We had a nice brief conversation after I got over my initial shock, though.

Occurrence #2

Colleen's take on the situation as she saw it while walking in, "I was like, 'Andy just had an orgasm.'"

I suppose that's one way of putting it.

I was happy with how my speech turned out, and I managed to make five dollars off it, as well. Mr. Steinhoff sent me a note beforehand explaining that if I were able to somehow include "fishing worms" in my speech, he would give me five dollars. Afterward, I was five dollars richer and I'm not sure anyone outside the Steinhoff clan was any the wiser. Hee hee. In no way do I wish to sound conceited in saying this, but I was very very excited about the fact that the Governor quoted my speech twice during his own speech. I honestly don't mean to come across as pretentious, but it's just that since I'd like to be a politician too, I get overly worked up about that sort of thing.

Project Graduation went quite well, despite the fact that Bryce, Michael, Ben, and Colleen chose not to come. I'll admit the premise for such an event was a little weird. I mean, why have a middle school type lock-in for people who are supposed to be celebrating their newfound freedom? Regardless, it was enjoyable, and I think a good time was had by... most.

Speech pt. whatever

Thu, 26 May 2005 05:50:29 GMT

So, school's out... and over. How awkward. Though I realize it's the beginning of a new part of my life, it also strikes me as being the beginning of the time when I will grow apart from all my friends. Sure we've got the summer together, but it's not quite the same; the days of passing people in the hall or complaining about a class we have together are over. But anyway, that's not really the point of this entry.

I have reworked my speech a bit and have gone to different teachers for a vote. Everyone except for Dr. McKiddy and Mrs. Wootten sided with me (making it a 5-2 vote) so I'm just going to ignored Dr. McKiddy and do my speech. It really doesn't matter if he gets mad because he's very short and not my teacher anymore.

Good evening, honored guests, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to thank you for taking the time to come to this year’s graduation. Without your involvement and commitment over the years we wouldn’t be here tonight. Before I begin, I’d like to take a moment to thank the band and orchestra. For three years before this, I played with them down there and believe me; I don’t think I ever really realized how much my hands could hurt until I played Pomp and Circumstance for twenty minutes straight. That’s no easy task. Let’s give them a hand. Thanks guys.

For many of us, this seems like the end of an era. Thirteen years we’ve been going through school together, hanging out with friends, writing papers, forgetting to write papers, and making memories, and for what? It’s all been for tonight; the night where we stop being boys and girls and become ladies and gentlemen. We came onto this field still students of St. Charles High School, but when we leave, we’ll be starting fresh in the real world. That’s why it’s called Commencement; it’s a beginning. When I look out in front of me tonight, I see hope, potential, and above all else, the future. We are the Class of 2005 and we are the future.

It doesn’t seem so long ago we were just learning how to tie our shoes or count to ten; we are all examples of how much change can occur in just thirteen years. High school has only been a part of it, nearly a third, but we’ve witnessed ourselves grow up. It may have been trying at times, the arguments over the music we like or the curfews we wanted, but I think we know, and I think our parents know, we’ve come out pretty well. Just to be sitting here this evening speaks of an accomplishment. Over the years, our class has gotten smaller, but for those of us here tonight: we’ve made it. We’re like the Marines, “the few, the proud, the class of 2005.”

Such an accomplishment, though, gives us a new burden of responsibility and now that we have proved what we are capable of doing, even more is expected of us. Success is something which is earned, not given, and when I look out in front of me and see what we’ve achieved over the past four years, I see what is possible in our future. There is potential in each and every one of us, but it is how we put that potential to use which will determine our success in life. It’s important to remember, however, that success does not mean the same thing to all people. To some it may mean a loving family and financial security, to others it may mean having the ability to wallpaper their homes in hundred-dollar bills. Looking back, when we stepped through High’s doors on that first day of school, we were faced with one question: do we want to succeed? As I look at all of us now, I can say with absolute certainty, we have, and this is one choice we won’t regret making. Whatever your ideas of success may be, I wish you the best in achieving them.

This is it, guys. What’s left now are the memories we’ll take with us and the results of the choices we’ve made. There’s no turning back the clock. While a simple basketball game isn’t a life-changing event, I’m glad I chose to go to the one against Duchesne this year, and I think everyone else who was there knows exactly what I’m saying. It’s hard to put to words the excitement we felt when it was all tied up with less than a minute to go. And the thing is, we’re in the same situation right now. These are the last few minutes of high school we’ll ever have. The clock is running out. For four years we’ve been a part of the game and now the buzzer is about to sound. All things considered, we’ve done pretty well.

I’d like to leave you with one final thing before I step down tonight, and that’s a quote from my favorite musician, Ben Folds. In his song “Philosophy” he says, “It’s not that you can’t see the forest for the trees – you’ve never been out in the woods alone.” It illustrates to me exactly what we’re going through right now. It’s not that we’re too busy trying to figure out what’s ahead; we’ve never been out in the real world before. So tonight’s the night; we’re going to step out into that new world, and, Class of 2005, I know we’re ready for it.

Graduation Speech Pt. 2

Thu, 19 May 2005 01:55:30 GMT

Haha, that was just a clever joke on my part according to Dr. McKiddy. In fact, I'm guessing only about ten lines from that one will go into my "real" graduation speech. I didn't mean for it to be "generic and crappy," but we shall see if its next iteration will please the demonic imp.

Er... I'm not actually that mad and was planning on changing a number of things. He was just evil to me this morning when I showed it to him.

Wed, 18 May 2005 04:21:37 GMT

Well, here it is in raw form. Refinements will come later.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to thank you for taking to the time to come to this year’s graduation. Without your involvement and commitment over the years we wouldn’t be here tonight. Before I begin, though, I’d like to take a moment to thank the band and orchestra for playing here tonight. For three years before this, I played with them down there and believe me; I don’t think I ever really realized how much my hands could hurt until I played Pomp and Circumstance for twenty minutes straight. That’s no easy task. Let’s give them a hand. Thanks guys.

For many of us, this seems like the end of an era. Twelve years we’ve been going through school together, hanging out with friends, writing papers, forgetting to write papers, and making memories, and for what? It’s all been for tonight; the night where we stop being boys and girls and become ladies and gentlemen. We came onto this field still students of St. Charles High School, but when we leave, we’ll be starting fresh in the real world. That’s why it’s called Commencement; it’s a beginning. When I look out in front of me tonight, I see hope, potential, and above all else, the future. We are the class of 2005 and we are the future.

It doesn’t seem so long ago we were just learning how to tie our shoes or count to ten; we are all examples of how much change can occur in just thirteen years. High school has only been a part of it, nearly a third, but we’ve witnessed ourselves grow up. It may have been trying at times, the arguments over the music we like or the curfews we wanted, but I think we know, and I think our parents know, we’ve come out pretty well. Just to be sitting here this evening speaks of an accomplishment. Out of the 317 people who came with us to High our freshman year, at last count only 220 will be graduating here with us tonight. 220 out of 317! We’re like the Marines, “the few, the proud, the class of 2005.”

Such an accomplishment, though, gives us a new burden of responsibility and now that we have proved what we are capable of doing, even more is expected of us. Success is something which is earned, not given, and when I look out in front of me and see what we’ve achieved over the past four years, I see what is possible in our future. There is potential in each and every one of us, but it is how we put that potential to use which will determine our success in life. It’s important remember, however, that success does not mean the same thing to all people. To some it may mean a loving family and financial security, to others it may mean having the ability to wallpaper their homes in hundred-dollar bills. I’m certainly not going to stand here and say I expect to see all of us on the cover of Time, or even the National Enquirer. Whatever your ideas of success may be, I wish you the best in achieving them.

I’d like to leave you with one final thing before I step down tonight, and that’s a quote from my favorite musician, Ben Folds. In his song “Philosophy” he says, “It’s not that you can’t see the forest for the trees – you’ve never been out in the woods alone.” It illustrates to me exactly what we’re going through right now. It’s not that we’re too busy trying to figure out what’s ahead; we’ve never been out in the real world before. So I guess tonight’s the night, then; we’re going to step out into that new world, and, Class of 2005, I know we’re ready for it. Thank you.

Senior Citizen Dance Redux (Or: How I have a suave and sophisticated title for this entry.)

Mon, 16 May 2005 01:58:32 GMT

The Senior Citizen Dance went remarkably well. I mean, it's not like a whole of old folks showed up, but there were enough to make me feel like the thing had actually been good. Props to the Jazz Band for being amazing and coming up with all that stuff on such short notice. Anti-props to Margaret Bush for giving me a lame excuse as to why she couldn't show up or help me in any way with an even she had known about for three months. Haha... she can no longer berate us for not coming to things we'd known about for a long time. Anyway, I hope Colleen Cullen will feel like doing this again next year since it seemed to work out this time. I, like Bill Clinton, will have a legacy yet! Or, maybe I'll just make a bunch of questionable pardons.

In other news,
Piano: Deaf judge gave me a one even though I forgot the song, but I'm not complaining. I'm playing in a pop music competition with free food -- I think -- and an open audience at that piano place in Earth City sometime between 1 and 2 on Saturday, if you're interested.

Calculus Final: Nicer than expected.

Choir Concert: Decent, though some of the solo choices were poor, and I really don't like any group other than Madrigal.

Ultimate Frisbee x 2: Fun both times, much more constructive than drinking at Jack's, and ultimately more rewarding.

Steak 'n Shake x 2: I depleted my Steak 'n Shake bucks rather quickly, but it was fake money well spent.

Work: Semi-productive

Super Troopers: I think everyone agreed it was hilarious.

Graduation Speech: Err... not done. Oops. I think I'll go do that now, or at least think about doing it anyway.

Wed, 11 May 2005 23:56:43 GMT

I'm all better, now.

I have food in my tummy, and I'm much happier. (Whether there's a correlation there, I don't know.)

The dance will go on regardless of whether I have fifty people. Even if I have fifteen, I'll feel like it was a success. I've just been really stressed out lately, and my ranting was the culmination of that and many other things. So, I won't be fretting anymore, at least not about the dance anyway.

Your SAT Score of 430 Means:

You Scored Lower Than Howard Stern

You Scored Lower Than George W. Bush

You Scored Lower Than Al Gore

You Scored Lower Than David Duchovny

You Scored Lower Than Natalie Portman

You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the under 80 area

Equivalent ACT score: 10

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score:

Saint Paul's College

Paine College

Coppin State University

Any community college

What Does Your SAT Score Mean?

That cheered me up too, though it brought back the harsh memories of being denied at Coppin State University. Curse you Coppin State Dean of Admissions!

Senior Citizen Dance

Wed, 11 May 2005 23:00:09 GMT

shoot me now.

i tried to do something different. i tried not to be the same old nhs president who has mrs. ehlmann coordinate everything. i tried to somehow, in some way, set myself apart. i was andy peters. i was going to actually do something as nhs president. i was going to set an ambitious goal and i was going to achieve it.

now it looks like that isn't going to happen. we got back in touch with the retirement homes today and none of them said anyone was coming. we'd talked to them too late. "you should have come in february for something like this," they said. so many people have been working to prepare for this night, and no one is going to show up. fifteen kids from nhs will be the only audience for the jazz band and orchestra. the cake will go uneaten, the punch will get lukewarm, and i will sit there realizing i did not work hard enough to make this happen. i mean, even kristy sago got people to come to the ill-conceived mr. st. charles high, yet i'm not even going to get five, much less fifty people to show up to this senior citizen dance.

i may just have to cancel it. i'm sorry to those who have put in time, or asked off work, or staked their graduating with nhs cords on the points they got from this. the sole event i knew i wanted to do since the beginning of the year probably isn't going to happen.

how does this bode for the future of my leadership? what about other goals I may set for myself. if i'm incapable of organizing and carrying out an event like this, how can I ever hope to be a politician who does that for a living? i'm setting myself up for mediocrity, where i'll stand back and applaud the people who actually mad things happen. i'll say "yes, ma'am" and "yes sir" to people who were capable of following through on their goals. maybe it's a dire prediction, but at the moment i don't care too much

But, leaders don't lose hope and they don't despair. So perhaps there is still some chance, however remote that I might be able to pull this off. I'm not sure what I'll need to do for this to work out, but there must be some way for avert total disaster. If I can even get 10 seniors to show, I'll feel it is a success. As I said at the last NHS meeting and right here in this journal, if you know anyone anyone over the age of 55, please tell them to St. Charles High at seven o'clock on Saturday night. There are a bunch of senior citizens in st. charles, and I'm sure that not all of them live in retirement homes, so I've got to see to it to get those people to High that night. As much as I hate the man, I would even be overjoyed to see Battlin' Bob Hoepfner show up at the doors.

Prom/after prom/superlatives/today

Thu, 05 May 2005 04:27:38 GMT

I've unexpectedly slid (is that reall the right past participle? It doesn't sound right) into a dour mood. I have sneaking suspicions of why this might be the case (one of them being the fact that I forgot I had an essay due tomorrow and won't be able to do it till tomorrow morning before class). I'm also a ways behind on school work already because of my golf outings, but I'm not facing any problems in classes that matter, like calculus... or maybe calculus. My eyes itch terribly, too. I will like it when spring is gone. I'm not sure these minor irritations are contributing to this mood, though. Ah, forget it.

Prom was just as good as last year, though slightly less exciting. Then again, my date and I didn't leave each other as soon as we got there as happened last year with Ms. Sago. To be honest, that was pretty neat; I mean, I don't think I saw her the whole night except for her to take my keys when she left to remove her purse from my car. Sweet nostalgia! After Prom, Kelsey and I went our separate ways and Adriana and I ended up wandering about to different houses in search of fun. I don't think any fun stories arose from that, though.

Superlatives were yesterday. I was happy with the ones I got (Most like to be President and Millionaire) and I can only hope at least one of them will come true. Colleen got the President one, too, but she thought it was all pretty funny since her first reform would be to legalize gay marriage, an act which we agreed would be unanimously condemned by the student body.

Oh, yeah, and this kid named Dan commented on here because he stumbled upon this journal while looking for William and Mary bumper stickers. I took a look at his lj, and I think he works at Sears, too somehwere in the Northeast. What a coincidence.

I think I had more that I wanted to write, but occasionally this journal's status as an open forum prevents me from doing so. That or I'm just too tired to remember what I was going to say. Take your pick or ask me later.

Today/Seniors/Meme

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 03:23:35 GMT

I missed yet another A day for a golf tournament today. I didn't do well, but I felt like I played much better, and I got to steal a bunch of golf balls from the range, so that was cool. This evening, Kelsey and I went shopping for a tie to match her dress after she came over, met my parents, and confirmed that my current tie was indeed not fit for prom service. Come to think of it, it wasn't really shopping. We walked in to Sears, headed straight to the tie I wanted, paid for it, checked to see if I had any scheduling issues, and left. It was the perfect shopping experience.

More seriously, I'm very worried about this senior citizen social thing. Unless I get working, no one is going to show up, and this entire experience is going to be miserable. Hopefully, the retirement communities will be cooperative, but in the end it all comes down to whether or not the old folks want to go. Right now, I don't think any of them know about it. I wish Jenny Steinhoff were down here to help me with this because she had a very succesful senior citizen dance my freshman year. I've talked to her, but I'm still not sure how she did it. We only need 100 people to show up, maybe not even that, so if you know senior citizens, please tell them we're having live entertainment by the SCHS Jazz Band and Orchestra from 7:00 to 8:30 on May 14th in the SCHS cafeteria. It's completely free. What's not to like?

Where were you born?

Where do you live now?

What is your name?

What is your nickname?

What food do you buy most often?

What is your favorite drink?

What song did you last listen to?

What is your favorite scent?

What is your favorite word?

What are your favorite shoes?

Fri, 15 Apr 2005 04:15:04 GMT

So, at long last here are the pictures from Arkansas as promised (or perhaps as threatened). I was going to put this behind an lj-cut, but then I got all done with it and realized I was in rich text and I didn't feel like putting in the pictures again, so I'm sorry for the enormity of this. Actually, I'm not sorry. These are cool.

Fun waterfall

We climbed down that rock face to get to the waterfall. Note Jill and Adriana at the top wondering how to get down.

Nothing exciting to say about this picture.

Arkansas isn't all bad.

Most of the trails on which we hiked looked like this. Very... pastoral.

A spider of this same size and species crawled out of Ben's shoe the next morning.

More bucolic bliss. Stupid powelines...

Crossing this stream barefoot and having to dry off while no one helped was one of the main reasons I bought myself a pair of waterproof boots. See how Jack ignores my plight and merrily skips rocks.

Same river - no wet Andy.

This is from our first day. That's an ATV trail heading off up the hill. Adriana is conspicuous in her blaze orange fleece.

My hair after the first night was rather unfortunate.

In black and white, this shelter looks kinda eerie. I like the fog coming up the embankment.

Some nice man came by and took our picture in the wake of a mudslide. Thank you, nice man.

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 03:28:40 GMT

We lost at golf today against West and it was pretty much my fault, but I suppose it's okay. I mean, if I hadn't gone and screwed up my perfectly good round with a 10 on the last hole, we would have won, but what's in the past is, well, in the past. Moving on, I am extraordinarly happy about calculus. After two quizzes, I still have my 101 one in there. I'm beginning to regain the hope that the semester isn't all lost.

We're doing debates in Gov. now, too, and I'm excited. I love debating, though I wish I was getting to debate gay marriage with or against Colleen. Such was not to be, so Ben and I are arguing for Affirmative Action instead. I'm honestly not too worried because well, I'm just not. Watching Steven and Greg go against Colleen and Meghan will super-exciting so I can't wait.

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 04:26:34 GMT

So this is it. All the college acceptances (and the denial) are back, so it's up to me to filter through this mess of information and come to some semblance of a reasonable conclusion by May first. This is going to be long, but if you have any interest in my college plans, it ought to be all right. The point of this is to get input anyway.

As I am fond of doing, I shall recap first, then explain my predicament.

College Status and cost (in alphabetical order)

University of Chicago - Accepted - $35,000

Colgate University - Accepted - $29,000

Dartmouth College - Denied - $75 for the application

Franklin and Marshall College - Accepted - Financial Aid Pending - $18,000 of $36,000 paid with scholarship

Truman State University - Accepted - $0

Tulane University - Accepted - $12,000

College of William and Mary - Accepted - Financial Aid Pending - Base cost is $28,000

My predicament is thus:
While I applied to seven schools, I didn't intend to seriously consider all but three of them, and now with my denial from Dartmouth, that shrinks the total to two. Colgate and William and Mary (WM)are both appealing schools with a national reputation for academic excellence. Granted, Franklin and Marshall and Tulane should probably figure into my my equation somewhere, too, simply because they are offering so much money, but I don't want to go to either of them. When I applied to both, my thinking was that I would be happy with them if I were denied by my top choice schools, but now that I have been accepted by WM and Colgate, it seems silly to me to just turn such good schools down... throw away what I could have had. My consideration of Tulane and Franklin and Marshall isn't really the crux of the matter, though.

The real question is

Should I choose Colgate or William and Mary?

The arguments...

Colgate: Colgate is a small school with only 2700 students and affords each student an excellent individual education. Because of this classes are small and closely-knit. Professors can easily interact with their students on a personal level unheard of at larger institution. The Colgate name is also synonymous with quality in the Northeast, and while it's not on par with the Ivies, students from Colgate can easily find placement in some of the country's leading graduate schools. Academic factors aside, Colgate lies in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, upstate New York. With the Adirondacks to the north and the Catskills to the south, there would be plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation (read: backpacking). Climate also plays a part, and in general it is cold with a lot for the better half of the school year, though this allows for activities I haven't tried before like cross-country skiing. Combined with a well-supported outdoors program, Colgate offers a great deal to anyone even mildly interested in the wilderness. Also a plus is the school's intercollegiate Ulimate team which, while not sanctioned by the NCAA, routinely competes with colleges in the surrounding area. Socially speaking, campus life revolves around fraternities and drinking, although it is said that other options abound for those who look.

William and Mary: William and Mary is the original "Public Ivy" and it carries national reputation especially in its history and government programs, the very ones in which I am interested. A glance at the rankings shows that WM is the sixth best public school in the US and the number one small public school. These results should be tempered, however, with the knowledge that US News and World Report college rankings are often said to be rather arbitrary. Regardless, WM has made a name for itself across the country and a degree with its name is widely respected. As with Colgate, an education at WM can be instrumental in acceptance to a worthwhile graduate program. Turning again to factors outside of academics, WM is located in the Tidewater region of Virginia, about two hours from mountains and two hours from the beach. Outdoorsy things are a reasonable distance away, but not entirely unrealistic for a weekend trip. WM, too, sports an outdoor club which makes frequent trips to nearby state parks, caves and rivers. It is not as large or as organized as Colgate's but seems to be run by a dedicated group of people. Ultimate is offered as an intramural and as such does not compete against other colleges but does appear to take part in numerous tournaments around the country - some even as far away as Palo Alto, CA. Social life on campus has been described as lacking ("If you want a party school, go to UVA.") but many say that is misleading and that the social scene entirely what you make of it.

So, yeah, those are my two most interesting options and I don't know what to do. Maybe the right choice is really obvious, and I'm just not getting it. I don't know. I realize my journal doesn't get the sort of traffic that Colleen's does, but any input from passersby would be appreciated.

Wed, 30 Mar 2005 04:55:00 GMT

The last three days have been phenomenal. I shall sum them up briefly.

I got accepted at Franklin and Marshall with the best scholarship they offer, plus a free Mac computer.

I got accepted at William and Mary.

I got accepted at Kelsey Anselmo. We are going to prom together.

Hooray for life.

Reply/Backpacking

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 07:51:48 GMT

As I told you outside of my electronic thoughts, Colleen, I got done with my rant and then promptly forgot why I was mad. I've resolved to be less critical myself. But aside from that (or maybe because of it) I've come upon the rather obvious conclusion that we're all flawed. But by saying we're all flawed, it just goes to show that we're all equal, as well. I mean, honestly, I can go around saying that I'm a perfectionist and try to live up to some unattainable standards, but for what? Religious issues of salvation aside, none of the decisions anyone makes affects his worth as a human being. It's too bad that it's so late and I'm too tired to know where I'm going with this. It seemed like a good idea at the time. On to a lighter subject then...

Backpacking was exceptionally fun and to the best of my knowledge a good time was had by all. Ben has close to if not more than one hundred pictures from the entire thing, and they're spectacular. Putting aside my usual sarcasm, I can't think of any better way to spend my senior spring break than with some of my friends in the backwoods of northern Arkansas. As a note for personal satisfaction, Jill and I held fast to our pact and were not steered off course by Jack's temptations. I found it to be rather like a game and felt as though we'd won some small victory. Yay for us, Jill. Anyway, pictures are forthcoming and stories too, perhaps, but for now I am a tired bunky and must go to bed.

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 06:04:12 GMT

Backpacking begins tomorrow, so this is a time to sum up my thoughts and say anything that needs to be said before I embark on my journey.

As is my right, I shall have a bit of a rant, then.
If there is one thing I do not like more than anything else, it's when people laugh at or make fun of me. Now, understandably, some joking is to be expected and everyone takes a little ribbing from time to time, but it becomes an irritation when there is a tinge of seriousness to the kidding around. I lose things all the time and people make fun of me for it; that's fine and I even joke about it myself. On the other hand, it bothers me when people make fun of the fact that I tend to mumble when I'm unsure of what I'm saying,(or perhaps all the time) or that I will often add a slight laugh to the ends of my sentences for no apparent reason. I know that I do those things but harping upon them only serves to make me more self-conscious than I already am. I never really think about it, but if someone comes along and says, "Dude, maybe if you didn't mumble so much, I could have understood what you said," then I'm stuck thinking about it for the next half hour, and that just sucks. Even more irritating than comments on things I do subconsciously are the jabs about decisions I make on how to lead my life. For instance, maintaining a 4.0 is quite important to me. If I lost it now in my eighth semester, I'd be really mad. It doesn't do any good for folks to make light of the importance I place on grades. In the same way that I don't understand how people could not care about them, people who don't care about them probably don't understand why I do. Mediocrity and I just don't get along very well, I suppose. Similarly, my inability to be forthright about anything can be the subject of jokes. And while I could have just had this entire entry be something to the effect of, "Colleen, I wish you wouldn't say things like, 'If I were your mom, I'd just make fun of you all the time,'" I figured I could best express myself otherwise.

Chalk it up to my not being able to take criticism.

Anyway, as I said, backpacking begins tomorrow, and I'm very excited. It will be good to spend four relaxing days in the woods away from everything. Though I haven't gone hiking in earnest except for last spring break, I think I can still say I thoroughly enjoy it. Oh, and just so I can see it for myself in writing, I am committed to not drinking on this entire trip. Jill and I have made a pact, and I believe we intend to stick to it.

So, until I return, I'm going to miss milk a lot... (mumble mumble mumble)

Shakedown Hike/Sickness

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 23:20:57 GMT

Sunday we went on our shakedown hike in Weldon Springs. Adriana and Jill did just fine; they should be perfectly able to do everything in Arkansas and they seem to be looking forward to it, as well. I know I am. The hike was about five miles and was fairly fun, though I'm not sure I should have gone because I ended up being much sicker than before.

Anyway, I stayed home from school today because I felt like poo when I woke up and didn't want to risk getting sicker than I already am. Compromising my ability to go to Arkansas next week would no fun at all. That said, I felt like my stay at home was at least somewhat productive. I slept a lot and read the entire chapter on the judicial system for Government and Politics in addition to watching The Magnificent Seven which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Play/Calculus

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 04:46:02 GMT

I enjoyed the play immensely, and I'm sad it's had to come to an end. The cast party afterwards was all right. I got to play my emo song, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, so I think I'll be going on tour sometime soon. It's really too bad that I didn't get involved with drama earlier on in high school, but I realize now that I was missing out on quite a bit.

I'm going to have a B in calculus for this quarter. The real question, though, is, "Will I be able to get an A for semester?" I will be more mad than I have ever been in my life if I manage to go seven semesters with a 4.0 and then somehow screw up and get a B in calculus. I'll be working extra hard, now. Hopefully my grade in there won't go down too much after this test.

basketball game/distillery/scotland, pa/meme

Sat, 26 Feb 2005 07:45:09 GMT

Tonight was all right. Play practice didn't go forever, but I need to remember the order of my lines. I have a whole bunch that say the same thing, and I can never when to say them. It'll get fixed before the play. I went to the basketball game after play practice and dinner. St. Charles High led for a while, but lost by twelve or thirteen points in the end. Traffic in and around west was going to be horrendous, so I headed out early. Jill, Adriana and Kristen came over to Jack's for a bit afterward to watch as Michael and Ben constructed their distillation apparatus at The Office. Despite being illegal, I think making moonshine is a terrific idea, especially if the stuff turns out to be any good. Watching the caulk set on the condensing coil was only fun for so long, though, and Michael and Jack had to leave,so Colleen, Ben, and I came back to my house to watch Scotland, PA, an adaptation of MacBeth set in the 1970's. I thought it was very good.

Now, then, the meme from Colleen's journal:

Ten Things I've Done that You Probably Haven't

1. Consistently drunk nearly three gallons of milk per week for as long as I can remember.
2. Purchased a book on the Airbus A310. (And also, because I feel they are part of the same topic, I won't put "purchased books on identifying diesel locomotives from 1950 to 1987")
3. Gotten into a trashcan to put out at fire at the instruction of police officer.
4. Taped corresponding maps of Illinois and Kentucky to the wall of my room.
5. Had a wristwatch broken by an errant drive from a bad golfer
6. Been to my senator's office in Washington, D.C.
7. Subscribed to Model Railroader and Trains magazines.
8. Been dropped back into the womb immediately after having been delivered.
9. Stolen a tub of ice cream from an elderly janitor... though unintentionally, I might add.
10. Pooped on the floor to inspect it.

I'd put explanations for some of these, but I prefer to leave the reasoning for a few of them up to speculation.

By the numbers. (Calc, Pants, Comment)

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 04:36:10 GMT

Here are three numbers:

The first: My grade on my calculus test.

The second: My quarter grade in calculus.

The third: How bad today was on a scale of 1 to 10.

Apparently I am not only absent-minded in that I lose things all the time, or that I'm not very observant, but I seem to forget to do things for problems on tests. Like, the question on the calc test had a cosine in it and I just dropped it when I did the work. A problem on the back page said, "make four trapezoids" and I made three. It's irritating because I'm quite capable of the doing the work and probably understand it better than most of the people in my class. Honestly, if I didn't understand what I was doing, it would be one thing, but since I completely understand it,yet make ridiculous mistakes like thinking the square root of 1-0 is 0 and fail to catch them, I get annoyed. If only all my classes were music, english, and history.

Oh yes, I officially hate the band, as well. I went into the orchestra room and had to climb over a stack of chairs twenty feet wide to reach my locker. After descending into the depths of the chair pile to find my music, I got caught on the locker clasp trying to to get back out, tearing my pants in the process. They are now destroyed.

However, I was most pleased to get the chance to respond to Jack's anonymous comment in Adriana's journal. Jack is a silly goofus... he ought to put his name on things.

I haven't updated in a while.

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 04:28:29 GMT

So, two weekends ago was Ben Folds. As stated before in Carina's and Colleen's journals, it was awesome. We were in the front row. No more needs to be said.

The play is shaping up very nicely, I hope. I'm still working on memorization of lines with less than a week to go, so I'm wishing myself luck. I'm sure it will be done in time, though because I always tend to procrastinate. My German accent is still bad, but people think is amusing, so I'm going to keep it. I'm also wondering whether it would be wise to put real alochol in my flask; actually I'm not planning on doing on that at all, but the possible results could be humorous.

College search is going well. Franklin and Marshall has asked for financial aid information which equals acceptance. Colgate has said, "We've reviewed your application, we just need mid-year grades" which I hope is a good sign. Dartmouth has contacted me asking for an interview, so I'm quite hopeful about that. I've talked to the gentleman who is doing the interview and he's a nice fellow. William and Mary has pretty much completely ignored me. If they don't want me... well, that's their own fault. I'd rather go to Dartmouth or Colgate in the first place. The grapes were sour, anyway.

Oh yes, and this "blogthing" was interesting.

You Are the Achiever

3

You're confident and competent - with a lot of energy.

Eager to reach your goals, you are ambitious and competitive.

You are good at movtivating yourself and motivating others.

You're also a charmer, with a great sense of humor.

What number are you?