Amarillo! Tarjeta amarilla por favor!

US soccer is one of my favorite things in the world. Everyone has their own obsession that no one else fully gets (whether it be music or cars or theater or...World of Warcraft?) and this is mine. And I frankly, to this day, have little to no idea how that happened.

We aren't really a soccer family at all, and in the US, it seems like you have to be born into a soccer family to pick it up. I mean, I played soccer as a little kid and I was pretty good, but every little kid played soccer and I'm sure most of them were pretty good. But I'm sure playing soccer isn't the key, as the many opponents and teammates I've met through playing soccer have yet to produce another US soccer fanatic quite like myself.

I think it started in 2002, when the US did well in the World Cup in South Korea/Japan. I remember seeing some news story about a big upset they had, and my 11 year old self somehow decided I would get really interested. I even woke up at 4:00 AM to listen to one of their games on the radio (something I fondly recreated last year during the Olympics, albeit with a TV that time). However, after that World Cup ended, soccer faded back into a passing interest for a long time, until the next World Cup in 2006 I guess.

My return to soccer fandom (and the start of the serious fanaticism) is chronicled in the classic June 21, 2006 post I might have to start liking Yellowcard by default. In this post, a 15 year old Blake claims to have "gotten really into following soccer lately" amongst a host of other chubby, nervous drivel. The point is, my love for the team grew from that summer (which, as I noticed looking back at old posts, was momentous in a lot of ways. Perhaps this will be chronicled in another post) to the full-blown obsession it is today.

Anyway, through all of this, I had only been to one US game before, in the summer of 2007 when the love was still blooming into half of what it is today. That's what made going to the US soccer game on Saturday such a big occasion for me.

And what an occasion it was. Considering my hopes for the day were higher than probably any until the day I propose, I wanted to make sure everything would go perfectly. I assembled a superteam of the Hanke brothers, Meyer, Becca, and Paul soon after the game's location was even announced. Then I waited anxiously for the gameday in much the way I wait to use terrible similies when I write this blog.

And there it was, June 6th. We left for Chicago in the mid-afternoon to get there before the 7:00 kickoff. The car ride was fun yet uneventful ("funeventful", if you will) and we got to Soldier Field with about an hour and a half to kill. We didn't really have a taste for the gameday atmosphere until we emerged from the parking garage to see mass seas of blue-and-white clad Honduras fans.

Walking around the stadium before the game, you would never have believed that this game was in Chicago as opposed to whatever city is in Honduras. Our little pack of 6 US fans was absolutely surrounded by Hondurans the whole time we hung around museum campus. We did brave the Central American swarms to get Chicago hot dogs (celery salt FTW) before we entered Soldier Field. Everything going to plan so far, for the most part.

After we got into the stadium, we located our seats, which were a whole lot better than I had expected them to be. They were further up than the ones we had for the last US game, but I almost preferred it because you could see the whole field a lot better. It's a toss-up.

However, the location of our seats ensured we were going to be mostly surrounded by Honduras fans (which made up an estimated 75% of the almost capacity crowd), although we did manage to land in a little pocket of fellow US fans. I wasn't complaining, it's fun to go back and forth with the other team's fans a little.

It did get a little obnoxious when the Honduran majority passed this HUGE Honduras flag back and forth across the upper deck over all the fans before the game started. This happened like 6 times, but it did make for a couple interesting incidents. As a USA diehard, I refused to help pass the flag along, and even took the liberty of spitting on it a few times as it passed over my head (which is actually pretty standard international soccer fare). However, one of my particularly voracious spits came just a fraction of a second after the last part of the flag had passed over me, and hit an anonymous Honduran maybe 5 rows in front of us. He then proceeded to beat me to a bloody pulp.

Nah, he actually didn't notice. It was pretty ridiculous. One or two Hondurans around me laughed a little bit and boy was my face red. The flag did exact its revenge on me during another trip across the stands, hitting me in the face and flinging my glasses 3 rows back. Fortunately, some friendly Hondurans returned them to me unharmed. Jake suggested how bad it would have been if they had broken and rendered my eyesight useless for the whole game, which caused me to shudder and rank it as the second most horrifying "almost happened" worst-case scenario in my life. I'll only tell you the number one most horrifying worst-case scenario if you're really special. I've probably never told anyone, actually, as it is that horrifying. Moving right along...

Soon enough, the game started, and it definitely did not start well. We came out looking shaky and Honduras capitalized almost immediately, scoring 5 minutes in. Fearing a huge collapse and expecting a loss, I swore loudly many times. I'm going to exempt that moment from my new year's resolution count, due to severe emotional distress. We slowly started to put it together as the first half wore on, but I was still pretty miserable to see us losing, until right before halftime one of their defenders gifted us with a stupid handball in the box...penalty kick time.

The minute or two before Landon Donovan stepped up to take the penalty kick may have been the most intense in my life. All the passion I've been saving up for the US team came to a head as he stared down the keeper with a chance to tie the game up before halftime. He just HAD to convert that PK. If he didn't, Honduras would carry that momentum to a win, and I also would die of hypertension on the spot. The pressure kept building and building as what seemed like an eternity passed before he ran up to slam the ball goalwards. I don't have asthma but it felt like I just developed it on the spot. The air left Soldier Field and the entire crowd held their breath as Landon's cleat struck the ball.

Tie ballgame.

Just as the emotional buildup before the penalty kick was so immense, the release was equally epic. I nearly had tears of joy as I watched the small but passionate contingent of home fans jump around wildly as their team's talisman celebrated his unstoppable drive to the top of the net. That was a moment of joy and excitement unrivaled by anything I can remember in my life and served as a reminder of why I love this team so much. That was a feeling I hope I never forget.

The half ended a few minutes later and I felt confident that we would be able to get our winner in the second half. The raw emotion of Donovan's PK and ensuing celebration seemed to be enough to give our guys the swagger and momentum they needed to grab the second.

And sure enough, it came. After a frustrating number of half-chances and coulda-woulda-shouldas, it was captain Carlos Bocanegra with the gutsy diving header that was either going to end with a goal or a kick to the head. Fortunately, it was the former. 2-1 USA.

I was able to really let loose after that, after an incredibly tense first half, I was back to being jovial as I watched the crew make sure Honduras wouldn't score again. That's when some of the back and forth with the surrounding Honduran fans began, which fortunately all stayed pretty good natured. Because of my research into all things soccer, I knew a few things to say that would get the attention of the opposing fans. I got a few chuckles from the Hondurans for cheering a few ole's for the 'gringos'. Being ahead actually allowed me to have a little fun instead of giving myself coronaries over turnovers and bad crosses.

There were a couple of scary moments as Honduras desperately pressed for the equalizer, but Tim Howard and the D ultimately held strong and we made it out with a gritty 2-1 comeback victory over a tough opponent. I felt euphoria as the official finally blew his whistle after 4 long minutes of stoppage time...for I got to witness my obsession grab a determined victory and I got to feel the highs and lows as they did. The 5 who left the stadium with me may never before have seen a happier Blake and I rode that high all the way home.

A lot of people have asked me how the game was. I've mostly said "a lot of fun" but ^that^ is what I've really meant to say.

It says "hold on and take this ride"

I decided a while ago that I would save my 100th post for a special occasion. I’d say this is as special as any.

I’m typing this from the family van, and there is lightning over Atlanta. Yep, I’ve left Tampa for good. It’s crazy knowing that it’s completely over although I’m sure it will fully set in once I’m home. But I’ve spent enough time on this blog covering the decision and leaving Florida…instead, I’d like to look at what I have to look forward to.

First of all, freedom. Yeah, it does seem a bit contradictory that I’d have more freedom at home than I did when I was 1500 miles away from my parents, but that’s misleading. Sure, I was able to make all my own decisions, but I definitely felt a bit trapped from time to time. Without a car the feeling could get pretty confined. I guess the best illustration of this is how I had to stock up on groceries when my parents visited (twice), because I couldn’t ever get them on my own time. Just having a car to use will make such a difference. I can do things on my own time now!

On the flipside of that is responsibility. Yep, time to get a job. I’m really resigned to it to the point of almost looking forward to working all summer, but it’s going to be a big adjustment. When I consider that last summer I did whatever I pleased and wasted many days away, it’s going to be completely new to me. I only really have applied to jobs that I wouldn’t mind doing, so it’s not going to be Culver’s bad. Just a lot of work – but I’m ready for that I think. I’ve picked up a better work ethic from a year of college.

Good times! I’m definitely anticipating some of those. Like I said, I’ll be working a lot so I won’t have nearly as much time to replicate last year’s super summer, but there’s some classy stuff on the docket. I am primarily looking forward to the US soccer game in Chicago, but I’m sure this summer has a lot more to offer too – ’09 grad parties, golfing, and hopefully an MLS game to name a few. I feel like I’m going to really savor this summer.

And here’s a paradigm shift to look forward to – upon my return to Wisconsin, I am back on the market…ladies. I don’t have anything particular in mind, but I at least feel like I’m free to have my name back out there for the first time in 8 months or so. If the previous 17 years of my life in Wisconsin are any indication, they might not exactly be all up ons, but who knows. I think maybe all I need to do are meet some new girls who don’t have any notions about me already from my less appealing days and can just take me for who I am. It worked before. I’m not too broken up either way though – my first new year’s resolution was to make wise relationship choices, and I’m actually trying to stick to those this year.

But ya know what? It’s summer! Today I did my last school assignment for 4 months. I want to take a break from worrying about how each question I answer in school affects my future. I want to stop feeling guilty for relationship decisions that weren’t even irrational. I want to stop taking everything so seriously! Yeah, I’m still going to try to get my grown-up 9 to 5 job this summer, but I’m living with my brother in an apartment downtown, I’m more responsible for myself than ever before, and I’ve got all but 40 hours a week to do everything in my power to make this summer unforgettable.

I am finally waking up

Well hey, y'all. I'm sitting in Tampa International again, waiting on my flight to leave in about an hour or so. I got my Q-no's, my hat, my stubble. All systems go.

This week is going to be an adventure. I've got 2 job interviews, a trip to MLC, a Jay Gatsby party, and I've already had to turn down Wisconsin hockey tickets to boot. For not having the same spring break as most of my high school friends, I'm sure finding things to do.

The most important part of that for me is the interviewing. On Monday I'm going into Watertown to interview for a financial internship with Northwestern Mutual and on probably Tuesday or Wednesday I have a phone interview for a 40-hour office assistant job with Epic Systems in Verona. Both of these jobs have their pros and cons, but I should wait and see if I'm offered either one before I start trying to pick between the two. Either way, it's an exciting time. A lot of people are having trouble finding decent work so I feel quite blessed that I have two interviews for what seem to be really good positions, experience-wise. I hope it all works out. I need to make money for school this summer regardless, so the added bonus of gaining experience and getting a corporate foothold would be fantastic for either of these companies .

Now that I'm seriously facing the possibility of laying the foundation for my career, it's led me to examine my place in life a little bit. I think I view college as a transition period more than most. For a lot of people, college is the place to spread your wings and have fun...but I think that was more of high school for me. Nearly every decision I've made in college was one that lent itself partially to business sense. I guess it comes with the high expectations I've felt (much of which are my own) since the start of the National Merit process. It's felt like every decision I make will have some immense impact on the rest of my life, because I feel like I need to achieve great success to live up to my potential.

So the result is my slow, early transition into your standard business guy, something I don't have too much of a problem with, really...as long as I don't turn into a workaholic who puts everything else behind that. Sometimes I worry that might happen, but it's in my power to prevent that from happening. I'm just caught between being prepared for real life and growing up too fast. The key is finding a balance.

And that kind of leads into the other key point I wanted to mention with this post, about how my time in Florida is almost up. This marks the last time I'll be flying out of Tampa International to come home from USF. When I get back from spring break, I will only have 5 more weeks at USF before coming home for good. It's a lot to think about.

Tampa has been my home, for better or worse, for about 6 months now. While I'm pretty certain about my decision, it sometimes makes me wonder when I think about how fleeting my remaining time here is. The tie-in here is that a lot of my decision was based on my future. Since Wisconsin is such a better business school and since Wisconsin business graduates are so highly regarded, it made sense to me that I'd have so many more and better oppurtunities by transferring. And I stand by that decision...during my job search I was continually reminded of the preference many employers have about a school like Wisconsin over a school like USF.

However, it all comes back to that balance I mentioned earlier. I'm giving up ease of living (the scholarship), good weather, good friends, and what was a really great relationship so that I can...get a better job when I'm old? Obviously, there are many more factors in that decision, but I say this because every time I reconsider the transfer, the business factor is the one that always brings me back to picking Wisconsin.

So that's what's on my mind a lot, especially now as my plane gets ready to depart. My goal now is to make the best of whatever comes next...for that's the best I can do. See ya in Wisconsin, and next time get yourself ready for a milestone that I have taken an embarrassingly long time to accomplish.

Here have some

I see via many facebook statuses that today is the WSMA day (for at least some high schools) and also the day of Lakeside's regional basketball final against Edgewood at Watertown High School.

Boy, do I miss Lakeside sometimes.

No, I don't miss being in high school. I'm perfectly okay with moving on to college and all, but it makes me remember a year ago where the Calebs and I went from WSMAs in Poynette to Watertown to watch Lakeside play the regional final against Edgewood. I think that was included in my second half of senior year/summer recap earlier in blog world, and was hands down one of the best days of high school for me. I'm not even certain why...of course it was fun and all, but it seemed special for some reason. I guess it just felt like a precursor to summer, with almost a mini-road trip with all the driving we did and a memorable Wendy’s jaunt with a number of running jokes born.

But, life goes on. Edgewood/Lakeside/Poynette WSMA day won't ever happen again, but lots else will. Stay tuned.

The power went out here a while ago. Fortunately, the network's still up and my laptop has 3 hours of battery life. So I can still be unproductive. haha.

Spring Break's a-coming and I'm pretty excited for that. There's an outside chance for a Jay Gatsby party, and all sorts of other possibilities (no to mention not being busy with school...of course). One of those possibilities, speaking of Jay Gatsby, is doing a video remake of the Great Gatsby to help Paul for his American Lit project. That would be splendid, old sport.

Also, my time in Tampa is slowly coming to a close (probably) and I'll be able to reflect on that more in a week as I sit in the Tampa airport waiting for my plane to take off. Because what better time to blog than that?

Other than next week's exposition, there's not much to hit on since the last post. The Real Salt Lake game was fun, I got to meet a few players including the dreadlocked and pictured Kyle Beckerman, who was predictably a cool guy. Also, February's over and for the first time I have officially locked down one of this year's resolutions: #7 - Actually go to the beach. I went to Clearwater Beach with Evan, James, Brittany, and Nick and it was a good time. Cold for the beach, but oh well. It's warmer than Wisconsin. One resolution down, 7 more to go to achieve #16. The soccer one is looking good at the moment, because I'm on an intramural team now. It's hard work - soccer is tough in Florida humidity.

A week later, Brittany and I went to Clearwater Beach at night to get ice cream, for the heck of it I guess. Sometimes the view at night is better than the view during the day. I had a lot of fun doing that. It's nice to get out for the sake of being out, and it's nice to see the ocean.

See y'all in a week.

If we both might be having the same imaginary conversation

I just listened to Cologne by Ben Folds three times, because Steve's new blog's title inspired me to listen to Ben Folds. I didn't feel much for it when I first listened to the CD, but over time it became my favorite on the album. I still don't like Way to Normal as much as Songs for Silverman or Rockin' the Suburbs, but those two were "soundtrack of your life" type CD's for me. A lot of memories tied to those songs.

I decided that I want to get rid of that people tracker thing. It's more fun not knowing who looks at your blog after all. I feel like the North Korean government, tracking everyone's moves like that.

I enjoyed having a Romanian visit my blog. Nameless citizen of Bucharest, I just want you to know that I've always had a soft spot for your national team for some reason. I was pulling for you to make it out of the Euro 2008 group of death. I like Adrian Mutu.

I learned that most random visitors to my blog came because they searched "I got dreadlocks fallin' all over me." These lyrics to MURS' aptly named "Dreadlocks" were the title to one of my first blogs from Tampa, before I actually lived in Tampa. "Dreadlocks" is a ridiculous rap song that was used by Paul, Jordan and I to honor Lake Mills High School's dreadlocked benchwarming basketball player. A live version of it can be found here and a horrible quality version of it can be found here, in a video that was clearly made in somebody's local library.

I mean, seriously, if you're going to play an MMORPG, shouldn't you at least have internet at your house?

I guess the fate of that song and this blog are intertwined. Turns out, when you google search those lyrics (which, if you were trying to find out the name of the song, you probably would because they're repeated 7 times per refrain), that post is the 2nd result.

So, marketing departments, if you're looking to pander to the elusive MURS fan demographic, I've got plenty of ad space. Call me up. I am a consumer whore.

My family is here right now visiting, and Evan is staying in my room. He's next to me right now, in fact. And I'm not being a bad host, mind you, he's doing some sort of math homework that he has to do, so I am blogging. Today we went to the beach briefly and did some much needed shopping for some much-needed groceries (and some not-much-needed sour patch kids, but I do like the little guys), but the truly exciting events of the weekend start tomorrow.

First of all, Evan and I are going to Clearwater Beach with two friends, which will mark my first time in Tampa Bay actually going to the beach for the sake of having a day at the beach. We walked on a pier over Clearwater Beach today, and it does look pretty nice. White sand, blue waters, the whole deal, although I didn't see any shells whatsoever. I guess a nice beach is supposed to be free of them. Huh.

The evening is what really has me pumped though. A Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake, is playing USF's soccer team in a preseason exhibition match on campus for 5 dollars. Being the die-hard MLS fan that I am, this excites me quite a bit, especially considering that the nature of soccer games on campus suggests that we will have ample opportunity to meet their players. Also, two of the guys from my US soccer facebook group are coming, presenting more opportunity to meet online people in real life in a non-creepy way.

Being a soccer fan in the US is really cool. Because I take it so seriously, all these guys count as celebrities to me even though most people would have no idea who they are. That just makes it so special when I find other people who view it the same way I do, because it's so rare. And if I meet any of the players and get pictures, I'm going to go nuts and put them online, even though I know about 2 of my friends will even have heard of any of them. But it makes me feel like I'm blazing a trail. Americans will care about their country's soccer in time, it just will take years of superfans like me trying to convince everyone of how great it is. Maybe my excitement will inspire others.

Plus, Salt Lake's captain has dreadlocks, and Flight 109 has a history with those.

I just got back from the Middle East, and boy do I falafel!

Seriously, though.

As I mentioned previously, I went to a Middle Eastern restaurant and a mosque as part of an assignment for class. It was a pretty interesting experience, so I'm posting the paper I wrote about it. It should be noted that we were told to include all our basic thoughts, feelings, and concerns, so if I come off as a nervous wreck, that's pretty much why. Enjoy.

When I signed up to take the Middle Eastern Geographic Perspectives course, I did so because of my interest in the economic opportunities in the area. I assumed that my basic familiarity of the United Arab Emirates would give me a leg up on the class and the rest would just be learning about various wars. However, the opportunity to look closely at a region whose culture is so misunderstood and distorted has been eye-opening to say the least, and the best illustrations of this have been experienced right here in Tampa.

Like many other students at USF, I was raised in a conservative Christian household. Because of this, I entered this class with a knowledge of Islam and Middle Eastern culture that had been filtered by those who possessed no personal experience of the culture. Therefore, when we were told that we had to go to a Middle Eastern restaurant and a mosque as part of the class, I was excited to learn about the culture but I was also somewhat anxious of experiencing some culture shock. After all, despite my economic knowledge of the area, I knew little to nothing about the culture itself – Middle Eastern culture is not widely celebrated in my Wisconsin hometown of 5,000 white Lutherans.

To accomplish the exciting yet worrying tasks at hand, I decided to team up with two of my roommates, James and Drew, to share the experience and for support (who knew what was ahead?). Because eating out seemed considerably less threatening than going to a mosque sight unseen, we chose to go to a Middle Eastern restaurant first. We set a date in advance and researched to find the best option for authentic Middle Eastern cuisine. After about a half-hour of googling our way through Tampa’s restaurant listings, we settled on Byblos Café, a Lebanese restaurant south of downtown Tampa. We were reassured by their inviting website (Bybloscafe.com) and their story of how the owners of the restaurant came to the US after graduating high school in Lebanon seemed like a guarantee of authentic Middle Eastern food. Enlisting the help (and car) of our friend Brittany, we headed south for an educational night on the town.

When we arrived and entered the restaurant, I was impressed by the lavish décor and impeccable cleanliness (it sounds silly to assume that a Middle Eastern restaurant would be dirty just for not being Western, but none of us had eaten at one before). We were promptly seated near some sort of corporate party and a “girl’s night out” and our waitress brought out our water and flatbread.

Immediately, the flatbread was a hit. It came with a dipping oil which we found out (after asking the waitress) contained sumac. Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to scare us away (knowing of the plant called poison sumac), but we remembered sumac having been discussed earlier in class and continued to eat.

James, Drew and I wanted to make sure we ordered as authentically as possible, and also tried to vary our dishes from each other’s to broaden the experience. James ordered three types of kebab, Drew ordered the mysterious beef shawarma and I, hoping to get what would be a basic, standard Lebanese meal, opted for the decidedly vague “Chicken with Vegetables”. Our colorful, steaming plates arrived soon after, and it was time to take the plunge.

Arguably, I found my plate to be the most visually appealing of the whole table, so I had no reservations whatsoever to digging in. After all, chicken with vegetables seemed pretty straightforward, so all I had to do was hope that there wasn’t going to be some sort of repulsive Middle Eastern spice to ruin the deal.

Any fears I had were allayed with the first bite. The chicken was tender, moist, and not mysterious (always a plus with meat), and the huge vegetables and seasoning were not only unique, but far more intensely flavorful than any of the cafeteria food I’ve been solely subsisting on all school year. I have been known to be cautious about new foods, but I found myself truly enjoying the dish until I could eat no more of the more than hearty portion. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my assignment had turned into an enjoyable night out with a great meal to boot!

Reviews from the rest of the table were also generally favorable. Our experience at Byblos was comfortable and satisfying, and being forced to branch out and try something new gave me a new restaurant to list among my favorites in Tampa.

Our positive experience at Byblos gave us a little bit more confidence heading to the mosque, but it still struck us as a daunting task. I personally had a number of questions and fears leading up to the experience.

Ultimately, my greatest fear was that one of us would somehow offend whoever was at the mosque, whether it would be by dressing improperly or by being ignorant of some form of etiquette not practiced by Westerners. Additionally, I had no idea how receptive those at the mosque would be to the idea of three college kids walking around their complex looking for answers.

More internet research led us to the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area (ISTABA), located just south of campus. Once more, our friend Brittany supplied the car, but decided not to enter the mosque with us for fear of not being properly dressed (having seen many Muslim women wearing head coverings, we decided to play it safe and not risk offending anyone due to our lack of knowledge). The three of us weren’t sure how to dress, but I put on roughly what I would wear to my church – a collared shirt and khaki dress slacks – under the hopeful assumption that such wear would be acceptable in this place of worship.

When we arrived at the mosque, we were discouraged by the large fence surrounding the entire complex and the fact that there seemed to be nowhere to park (this may have been due to some nearby construction). We parked the car at a nearby gas station, and the three of us walked down to the mosque. When we arrived at what seemed to be the main gate, I was feeling more nervous than ever – a feeling that seemed to be shared by James and Drew.

Our collective anxiousness stemmed from a few things that seemed unwelcoming or intimidating to us. On top of the apparent lack of parking and the fence, there didn’t seem to be any obvious place for visitors to go, and what appeared to be some sort of main office was adorned with a sign that said “please remove your shoes before entering” – which was confusing to us, to say the least.

We stood outside the barely open gate and pondered what might become of us for a little while, until James and Drew volunteered me to enter first. Attempting to summon my bravery in a wholly disorienting and unchartered territory, I walked through the narrow opening, half expecting to set off some unseen alarm.

Once we were all inside the complex, we happened upon a reasonably friendly looking black man wearing a sweatshirt (as opposed to robes, which would have intimidated me more). I waved at him so as to prove that we weren’t just some punk kids exploring, and he came over to us and asked what we were doing there. I explained that we were students at USF taking a course on the Middle East and we came to the mosque to better understand the culture. The man turned from cautious to welcoming, and said with a smile “Well, then you came to the right place!” My instant relief was almost tangible, and suddenly the large, gated complex seemed more like a welcome center. I was certainly far more relaxed and ready for whatever came next.

The man told us he could take us to the Imam in the main office, and we all removed our shoes as we walked in. I didn’t know what an Imam was, but I felt it was a reasonable assumption that he was the Islamic equivalent to a Christian pastor.

We were ushered into the office of the Imam and I soon learned I was right. The Imam offered us a few chairs and we sat down to discuss Islam with him. The Imam fit the Islamic stereotype more than the black man did – he looked Middle Eastern, and was wearing some type of robe.
After we explained to him that we were USF students taking a class on the Middle East and just wanted to get a general idea of Islam, he gave us a detailed explanation in simple terms, asking us what we knew about it first, and building off of any ideas or (mis)conceptions we had about it.

His description was very straightforward and easy to understand, and eventually led me to conclude that Islam and Christianity are fundamentally quite similar, but are separated mainly by the Quran. After he told us the basis of Islam, I discussed with him a little bit of how my upbringing had led me to a number of incorrect preconceived notions, and how all it took to better understand Islam was simply to learn about it. Though we certainly had different ideas of faith, we seemed to share a mutual understanding that I never knew could exist between myself and a person of the Islam faith. It was astounding to see how much tension can be resolved by simply trying to understand another’s beliefs rather than condemning them and shutting them out.

I then asked how the outreach was going for ISTABA, and the Imam told us about all the services they offered to help the community while the black man went and got Qurans for us to take home. As we gratefully accepted them, the Imam joked that I could take it home as a reference and “hide it from my dad”. We laughed and thanked him and went on our way. As we walked back from the mosque to the gas station, we discussed how pleasant of an encounter it really was, despite our great fears entering.

I was so relieved to realize that our required Middle Eastern orientation went off without a hitch and actually ended up being enjoyable. My nervousness and misconceptions going into the experiences were thankfully unfounded, and I learned that the seemingly scary and intimidating culture of the Middle East may not be so scary and intimidating after all.

It looks a little different.

Q: How many WELS members does it take to change a light bulb?

A: What?! Change?!?!

Well, the new layout looks a little different, but boy howdy, now that I have the power to be able to have a reasonable idea of who's reading my blog at any given time...I could not pass that up at all.

As far as things that...aren't about my new big-brother power. The Super Bowl just happened, and it was fairly exciting. No phone calls though. And now it's Groundhog Day, which has little to no significance when you live in Florida.

Not that it's that significant anywhere else, but that Bill Murray movie is kinda funny.

I plan to celebrate Groundhog Day by taking a bio exam that I didn't study much for. We have a drop test, so I'm not that worried...but even so, I think his tests will probably be easy. The information is so basic. We shall see.

And because this post is otherwise kinda worthless, I'll do the first of my monthly check-ins on the New Year's Resolutions (how I'm doing on the year-long ones, and if any of the one-time ones have been accomplished)

1. The vague girlfriend one is doing fine, because I think I have yet to make a bad relationship decision this year. I also have yet to make any relationship decision this year, but I guess that's part of the resolution anyway.

2. Doin' fine on the no-man's land.

5. The MLS schedule was released this week, and I've already got plans in place to go to Chicago vs. LA in August with Heidi. Planning is the first step toward going, so I like my chances on this one.

6. Actually, last night I went to Ybor City (Tampa's clubbing district) with a few friends, and we walked by but didn't go in any of the clubs because the prices were jacked up for Super Bowl weekend. Patience.

7. I came close to going to the beach, but instead it was a pier in St. Pete that stretched out into Tampa Bay. It was at night anyway. I am sure to get this one eventually.

9. Uh...my grades seem ok. It's hard to tell this early. Last semester, I got about a .5 swing from midterms to finals, so we'll see. If I don't get it, I wouldn't be broken up - as long as the grade was respectable.

10. No cooking has been done whatsoever. But I'm trying to stop eating dairy. That's food-related at least.

11. I guess so. Kind of a stretch, but I guess so.

12. I have yet to miss church this year, so I guess that's saying something. It helps.

13. Jobs are hard to come by in these parts. As long as I get a good summer job in Madison I'll be happy.

14. I have been making a conscious effort to stop the casual swearing.

3, 4, 8, 15, 16. Irrelevant or N/A

This will force me to update at very least once a month.

I love juice

Well, school started up again. It's pretty ok so far. One part of it that I'm really excited for is intramural sports. I guess I'm part of an intramural floor hockey team started by a friend of a friend, so that's kind of just for the heck of it. What I'm really pumped for is intramural soccer...which would be my first actual soccer competition in about a year. I was already offered a position up top and my strike partner is going to be another guy who takes his soccer pretty seriously. We've also got one of my roommates, James, who played in youth leagues in Italy, at center back...so now we're ready to take on the frat teams.

I guess intramurals are taken fairly seriously here, which is good, because I really want to be competitive with soccer again. And, of course, it should help me achieve my new year's resolution to play soccer at least twice a month. It's really giving me something to look forward to.

Another thing I've thought seriously about doing in my time down here is reviving Attack Boat. I don't have a guitar though, nor do I have a piano, guitar pro, or anything else I could compose music with. However, it seems like I have enough ideas in my mind to write songs about...it's just a matter of putting it all together.

I actually did finish probably 90% of a song called "Clearwater Bleach" but I'm not very happy with it so I don't know if I'll ever finish that last 10%. I've also been working on potential covers just because I don't feel like I'm accomplishing much of anything down here, so it might be fun to revisit music. I also like Attack Boat's new picture. It's probably the least unflattering I've ever seen of myself.

And WOW. Olde English is a really funny online comedy troupe that made one of my favorite videos ever (the one about scrabble...because I find a lot of humor in tangibly awkward situations), and I found one of their sketches that...shows that they have general distaste for my blog?



Ouch. Not sure what I did to piss those guys off. Actually if you'll watch the whole sketch here
you'll find that it's merely a coincidence, and that apparently flight 109 goes to Italy?

Of course, if you watch the video, the title makes more sense. Not that I don't at least like juice, but I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that I love it.

So, what else has been interesting since I got back to Tampa? Well...I'm taking this class on Middle Eastern culture, and for the class we had to go to both a Middle Eastern restaurant and a mosque. Fortunately, two of my roommates are also in the class, so we were able to do these things in a group. It was really interesting, but I have to write a paper on it, so I probably won't describe it until I'm done with the paper. Which I guess I'll post on here after I hand it in. So there's something to look forward to, if you look forward to posts.

I finished my UW application a little while ago, and it's like high school again...I check online to see if they got everything and if they accept or not. Realistically, I should get in, because my GPA is slightly better in college than it was in high school and Wisconsin is easier on transfer admissions anyway...but I don't want to get too confident. Sometimes I think about what would happen if I didn't get in. Well, it would just mean that I'd have to stay at USF at least a semester longer.

There are often times in which I don't think that would be so bad. This is more likely to happen in the daytime, when the sun is shining and I can wear shorts in December. As I walk to class basking in the (literal) warm glow of the Florida winter, I think of how much of a blessing it is for me to be going to college and turning a profit. I think of how much fun I had at Bulls football and soccer games and how, by transferring, I'm basically giving up the responsibility-free attitude I could have had for another 3 years.

But I know I want to be back. The nights are a different story and they are often spent lonely. I have a very good group of friends, but I have to swallow my pride and admit that, as much as I'd like to grow up and be mature, I wasn't ready at age 17 to just leave everything and everyone I loved behind while I went off and made a new life on the bay.

I've certainly addressed this numerous times in this blog alone, but that's because it's a major point of struggle. I just hope I won't ultimately regret coming back.

You know that new year's resolution last year about being happy with all my resolutions? I'm going to try to actually make good on that this year.

Light in the dark as I search for the resolution

Relationships
1. Get a girlfriend/improve relationships or whatever
I am intentionally leaving this one ambiguous because...I'm not really dying to have a girlfriend right now. Nor do I want to, actually at all. I am very much sworn off of girls until at very least summer, by which time I will probably be in an apartment (/the Chapel) in Madison with a job and a future in Wisconsin. Obviously I couldn't start dating again in Florida because I'll be leaving soon, and it's not worth trying to get something ready back home for my return. But that's not to say I want to be single all year...I'm just not ready for anything for the foreseeable future. Thus, the ambiguity. I'm not sure how all of this can be translated into a goal for the year, but I will say "I wish to make wise relationship decisions this year". Which leads me to my next resolution:

2. Spend no more than a month in "No Man's Land"
This actually stems from a discussion I had after midnight, but I felt it was a really good New Year's Resolution. The 6 or so people I was talking with described No Man's Land as "that awkward close friend, almost relationship zone" which is something that I have spent way too much time in. And it's not a good thing at all. I put that I want to have less than a month, because I realize there needs to be at least a little time there before a relationship can start, but I'd personally not like to spend any time there at all. Long forays into No Man's Land just haven't brought me anything but disappointment.

3. Find myself a good MLC marriage track girl
Heh.

4. There's also another half-facetious one that was lost on the cutting room floor.

Experiences
5. Go to at least one MLS game
This was on last year's, but the summer proved to be too busy. But this year I've already got 3 travel partners in line to hop down to Bridgeview and watch the Fire, of whom I have purchased a t-shirt. And I guess have pledged my allegiance to. I never wanted to commit to a team, but it may as well be the Chicago Fire. They are the closest to me right now, and being that Chicago is in my (tentative) long-term plans, they probably will be the closest team to me for some time yet.

6. Go Clubbing
I am in the right place, Tampa is a major clubbing hot spot. I want to go this summer with some high school friends too, but whether there is a club scene in Madison remains to be seen. I guess there's Milwaukee too, but I kind of hate Milwaukee.

7. Actually go to the beach.
Even though Tampa Bay is home to some of America's best beaches, I haven't been to any since I've been going to USF. Hopefully, I'll have a little more time to see some of the nicer parts of the area.

8. Remember to celebrate Stabby the Green Pepper Day

Personal Improvement/Achievement
9. Finish with a cumulative 3.9 GPA at USF
Which would require me to get four A's and one A-

10. Learn to cook passably
I would consider it a necessary step toward independence and well-roundedness.

11. Find a way to play soccer at least twice a month
I truly love it. The Sun Prairie foreign men league was pretty great last summer, maybe I can pick that up again this year. It would be great for staying (er...getting) in shape, and I think I'm just happier when I get to play regularly.

12. Keep the Lord in my life
I wanted a spiritual goal, but I couldn't pinpoint anything specific. Just as well. Spirituality isn't by nature a very specific thing.

13. Work and find enjoyment in it
I would like to be employed for second semester and the summer because I'm going to need to pay for college now, not to mention I could use the experience. The only other job I ever had, at Culver's, I truly despised. So, hopefully I can find a job I will enjoy (not food service) and will pay well so I can smoothly transition back home, financially speaking.

14. Swear less
Especially at Mario Party.

15. Get a scholarship
All the scholarship application trouble I saved by going to USF, I will get to experience this year as I try to find a way to pay for Wisconsin. I've got one external scholarship already, but the more the merrier. It's going to be a rude awakening to see all the money I saved this year evaporate in one semester.

16. Accomplish at least half of my New Year's Resolutions
Because I didn't last year.

Monkey See...

Well, I guess it's about that time to recap the ol' New Year's resolutions before coming up with some new ones.

Last year...last year was not exceptional as resolutions went. Not only did I only come up with 5, I didn't do a particularly good job of accomplishing them, on the whole. And let's see how...

1. I will attempt to make and keep friends in all facets.
Well, how about that. In a bad year for resolution success, I accomplished this old classic. I managed to not only keep my closest friendships from high school, but I also seriously strengthened a few of them, despite the distance. Additionally, I call this one a classic because it was a vague rewording of the usual "Get a Girlfriend" resolution, and I accomplished that one too. I'm disappointed with myself for how I went about some of it, but at least I proved to myself that there isn't some secret agreement to not date me that was signed by all girls ever. Apparently only Wisconsin girls signed said agreement.

2. Be happy with all my decisions.
This sums up how I did with that one. It took me less than one semester to go back on my decision to go to USF, I've changed my class schedule at least 3 times since I built it, and I can't even pick a favorite MLS team. This year, I have changed my mind like a girl changes clothes, to put it in radio-pop terms.

3. Learn to appreciate mornings.
I have...gained a better understanding of the benefits of waking up early. I have not successfully put it into practice. I still stay up late and sleep late. But I guess I do appreciate mornings, just not enough to wake up in time for them.

4. Go to an MLS game.
I straight up failed this one...but I should be able to take care of it next year. I already bought my Chicago Fire shirt, so I guess that's who I'll be cheering for. They're the only team I could feasibly go see anyway.

5. Eat a full-size Mr. Goodbar.
Yeah, for all intents and purposes. While golfing.

So that's...what, 2 for 5? That's not great, but hey, I should have more resolutions for next year. I've already got a few thought up, but I'll come up with a few more in time for New Year's. Perhaps one of my resolutions should be to accomplish at least half of my resolutions.

Just one more plane ride and it's done

...at least for the rest of this year

4 years of Flight 109...wow. How fitting that it is celebrated on a day which I spend at both of my homes, flying from Tampa back home to Wisconsin. An awful lot has happened in the 4 years since I started this blog because blogging was more popular back then. Back in the pre-facebook era.

I just went back and looked at my only other anniversary post, which was on the 1-year Flight 109 anniversary. For whatever reason, other than that year and the first, December has served as an absolute graveyard for Flight 109 posts, not even being touched in the other years of the ol' 109. But I guess that changes today.

Wow, was the 1-year anniversary post depressing. I mean seriously...cheer up, former me. Back then, I thought my social problems were SUCH a big deal and everyone needed to cheer me up. How wrong I was on all the things I thought...truth was, I just was missing out on the important stuff. Looking back, I had an enormous net of friend support...maybe not quite as good as now, but even then when I was feeling sorry for myself for not having a niche, there were an awful lot of people who really cared for me and showed it. Thanks, guys.

And the thing that got me so down in the first place? A girl. Of course. I have no explanation whatsoever for what got me so enamored with my locker buddy. We were pretty good friends, sure, but I talk to her now (rarely) and I feel nothing in particular. But for whatever reason, hoo boy, I had my heart set on her and myself completely convinced that she was the only person for me. I feel pretty dumb now for thinking that, but now at least I can just look back and laugh. And I often do, seeing that the person I hated most in that overdramatic drama is now my best friend.

But, man, up till then I had never felt that way about anyone, so it effectively dominated my sophomore year...which I look back on and that makes me mad at myself, but all's well that ends well, right? I did a lot of growing.

And that was when Eisenhower began to be established too...good stuff. Katie was the basis of more than a couple Eisenhower songs...well, actually, just a couple, but one was Seattle, so it's a pretty big deal. So it's funny that while that song continues to live on and defines my very status as a musician, I no longer have even a semblance of a feeling for the subject (not to mention that I moved to the East Coast, but not Virginia...and I really didn't leave to escape any pain. But I will remain in Wisconsin, after all. "Fort Atkinson life?" haha. Gotta admit though, I still think the Pacific/Atlantic blue eyes bit was kinda clever.). But the point is that Eisenhower, even by way of the emo song that every high schooler is required to write at some point (Homecoming), was a big, big help during an otherwise worthless year.

I want to digress a bit to talk about some of Eisenhower's songs. There's literally like...1 Eisenhower song that remains even half-relevant to anyone in the band. There are a total of, let's see...I had to go back and calculate this...6 or 7 girls who can claim full or partial inspiration to an Eisenhower song (yeah, because I'm sure they're gonna put that on their resumes...). And only about 2 of them are still close to any of us. And they’re in the same song.

All that goes to show is that we all progress and grow a lot, which was more or less what I had been getting at with this entire anniversary (blogiversary?) post.

I love how in that one-year anniversary post I comment on how much I had changed over the past year. While I’m sure I did, it doesn’t seem like it looking back. At least not compared to now – then I was 13 going on 14 and didn’t understand a thing about life, social and otherwise. Now I’m 10 days from 18…and I still don’t really understand anything about life, but at least I realize that now.

I’ve done and experienced a lot since then. I started a band, I got a job, I got a drivers license, I graduated high school, I lived on my own for 4 months, and I experienced my first relationship in its entirety. Now I’m frighteningly close to being an adult (in age and in responsibility), something that seems so far away from where I was when I started Flight 109. But 4 years is a long time, and I’m thankful they went the way they did. Life in Wisconsin got good enough to come back for…and to have that at any stage in your life is something to be thankful for. I’m still in limbo in a lot of ways, but I have somewhere to come home to. And coming home I am.

And that’s an entirely literal statement. I’m actually on the plane right now. I think we just flew over Atlanta…or some other big city with a large domed stadium that is between Tampa and Milwaukee but closer to Tampa. Being that ATL fits those parameters and most other cities don’t, that’s probably what it was.

The airport experience was once again rocking. Nice work, Tampa International. And I didn’t hear the Brooklyn accent lady this time, but the questionable fellow who talks about “beautiful children” was at it again. I guess that’s proof that it wasn’t a joke and that he’s just sort of creepy. The Tampa airport is now synonymous to blogging for me. A lot of this was written in terminal A.

I love having the window seat. The views are so amazing (and distracting, for that matter). For instance, we were flying over completely clear skies the entire time, but now that we’re in…probably southern Tennessee, there’s impenetrable cloud cover as far as the eye can see in every direction. How that could be the case when the rest of the Southeast was sunny is beyond me. And clouds look so much cooler from up here too, especially when the sun is setting, which is another advantage of this great Tampa to Milwaukee flight – it runs once a day at 3:32, which is perfect timing for the sun to be setting during the flight. So beautiful. There’s a warm orange glow over seemingly endless miles of puffy cotton...sometimes I just love flying. And I very rarely hate it. It completely tires me out, but I find the experience enjoyable. It’s a chance to listen to my music, maybe get some rest, enjoy some great views, and hey, I don’t mind a Sprite and some crummy little airplane pretzels now and then. Of course, the flights back home are always better…so I guess a lot depends on the context too.

And boy, am I ready to be home. The last couple of weeks have been a grind. That really long paper was the bane of my existence for the week I was writing it. In hindsight, of course I could have not put it off to one week, but I’m reasonably proud of myself for doing it over the course of a week instead of waiting for the last night or something. I’m not so sure I could write 15 pages in a night, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could do 8 in one night, seeing that the longest paper I had done until that point was 5 pages.

The moon just came up over the horizon, and it’s huge and orange and I think full. So cool. I’m like a little kid with how much I am astounded by airplane rides. But I digest.

If the paper had been about something really interesting, I probably would have liked it more, but at least the sources were plentiful. I mean, I wouldn’t even want to read a 15 page paper on the 2008 election…much less write one. And if I was getting a good grade in that class, it wouldn’t have caused me so much anxiety. While C’s get degrees, B’s don’t get you into really good grad schools, so I was hoping this paper could bring me up from my between a B and B+ range. And I still don’t know. That professor likes to torture his students by waiting until the very last minute to post grades. And by giving them 15 page papers, for that matter.

The moon is big, bright and round now on my right, and the sun is in its closing stages and creating brilliant colors on my left. This is so picturesque. I want to make it my desktop, but I don’t have a camera…plus it’s panoramic and can’t be done justice by photos anyway. You’re all so jealous. Come fly with me sometime.

But while I was hating my life over my 3.4-ish at midterms, I managed to pull myself up to a somewhat more respectable 3.7 range, by my estimation. We’ll see once I get all my final grades, but I feel a lot better about that second number. And I’d like to add that I always hated grade perfectionists in high school, so I feel ridiculous now, but for some reason, paying lots of money to go to school for two more years is a very important goal for me, and that’s a lot easier to do the better the grades you have. I don’t know how bad those grades will matter once I transfer, but if nothing else, it proves to me that I’m starting to develop a work ethic that matches my potential. There were a lot of nights that I really dug deep, and I’m proud of myself for that. I was such a screw-off in high school. I realize that most people were, but I’m glad that I proved to myself that I am capable of actually working hard. I’m going to need that in the years to come.

But as for now, I am a college student flying home to take a break. I will fill my cup and live it up and catch up with friends. There is a time and place to worry about all those things in the future, but I am not an adult just yet. I’ve got a solid base, I’ve got a bright future, and for the first time in months, I have 3 weeks to go to holiday reunion bashes and just enjoy myself without worry. I’m so excited.

I've got my things, I'm good to go

Flight 893 to Milwaukee with a stopover in my mind. And thankfully, not a stopover somewhere tangible. Like Denver.

It's the day before Thanksgiving, and the airport was supposed to be busy. Instead, I got through it quicker than any other time flying, probably because Tampa International is the most rocking airport of all time. There are no lines anywhere, everything is brand new and clean, the internet is free, and I can plug in my laptop all over the place.

Of course, I didn't expect the Tampa airport to be this rocking, so I got here 2 and a half hours early. So I blog.

I've seen some funny stuff already at this airport. It's like every airport worker feels like goofing off today. The guy who checked my ID looked at it, then me, and said really loud "YEP THAT'S YOU!" and then laughed a little. And then he did it for the guy behind me too. And some of the P.A. announcements have been funny. One of the ladies has a Brooklyn accent and said in like 100 different ways that rows 15-25 were boarding.

"15-25 are now boarding, that's rows 15-25. Row 15 through Row 25. That's 15 all the way to 25. Rows 15-25 are all boarding now. Rows 15-25 for JFK. Thank you."

And then there was this really weird one where this guy announced that parents with children could board some flight early. And he said something like "if you have precious children, you can board now. And bring those beautiful children on down." I don't know if he was trying to sound like a pedophile to be funny or just always sounds like a pedophile. Either way, strange things are afoot at TPA. I love airports.

I really do. I love seeing people coming in or going out from all these varied places in the US. I'm kind of a US geography person too, so hearing all these cities coming and going and seeing the people that came from there or are heading there...it's terribly interesting to me.

I'm rocking my designated airport weary traveler look at the moment. I am unshaven and approaching burly lumberjack status. I've got my backpack and old jeans and my Air Force long sleeve on, because I imagine airport people like travelers who support the military. I am also wearing my Tampa Bay Rays hat, which is continuing its fading to gray.

I bought that hat based on a visualization I had of wearing a hat while I fly on my own (because it's easier to be confident with a hat on, I guess?). Tampa Bay, so to not look like a tourist. So today, it serves its purpose. But wow. This hat has quickly become almost moccasin-esque with all the events in my life it's been present for. Since I bought this hat in June, I think I've learned and grown more in these 5 months than any other period of my life. I guess independence does that for you.

Hopefully this hat lasts a while and I don't have to write a funeral post for it anytime in the near future. I never really wore a hat too often before this (except for post-8th grade/pre-freshman year) but it seems to be working out pretty well. I shower at night, so I often need it to cover my bedhead anyway.

And it represents Tampa Bay, which is an area I have truly grown to like and probably always will, regardless of where I end up. If I don't live here, I could definitely see myself becoming one of the thousands of old people who come down here for winters/to die. Or at least I'd like to vacation down here with my family. I have also adopted their baseball team (which I was going to do even if they didn't win all those games/make it to the World Series. I refuse to be accused of fair-weathered fandom), which has to be a sign that, despite my yearning for Wisconsin, there's something I like about this place.

Yep, from Summerfest, Mustard Fest and countless rounds of golf to moving South and my first kiss, this hat has already been through a lot, and I'd like to think it's just getting started.

In 3 or 4 hours time, I will land in the snow of Milwaukee, and I'm more excited than I can even let on. It's only for a few days, and I probably won't see everyone that I want to, but I am coming home and I can't wait.

Tom Schoenfeld smothered by hundreds of puppies: A maverick change we can believe in.

With 0% of precincts reporting, I am calling the election coverage dumb.
Although I saw this picture and laughed for a week.
superpoop.com

There are a few people in the floor lounge watching the post-election coverage intently, biting their nails each time a state gets called after about 100 votes have come in. I don't know when CNN will learn about this. Anyone remember "Dewey Defeats Truman"?

Regrettably, I am forced to watch at least a major chunk of the coverage because of my election class, because I'm taking a quiz tomorrow in which I have to remember each of the 50 states and how they voted in this election. I think it's for extra credit, but still. It's college, I could use it.

Being 17, there were a handful of things I could do to help influence the election without voting. We had to support a candidate for our election class, and I supported McCain (devil's advocate, ya know?). I also encouraged my girlfriend to vote when she didn't feel like it, and I got a free McCain-Palin shirt. I also tried to get real informed and attended Joe Biden's speech at USF.

I pretty much did everything I could to be informed, involved, and in touch. And boy howdy, am I glad it will be over.

The election class has been interesting and a real eye-opener, but what I really hate about politics is how everyone thinks they're just so freakin' smart. I don't know how much more I can elaborate on that, but I've seen so many know-it-alls who really want everyone to know how much they know about politics. Oof. Basically, it's good to be involved, but don't be closed-minded and aggressive about it. I look forward to the days when the plaza in front of Cooper Hall stops being a loud, obnoxious political thinktank and returns to just quietly smelling like Subway.

And to think, once I considered being a poli-sci major.

Well, enough political garbage. Y'all've heard enough of it. Bet Y'all'ven't been hit with double or even TRIPLE contractions though. More some other day.

We have great potato salad

I have a big 'ol paper to write for tomorrow, but I wanted to blog update more often, so I'm going to dig up an old draft that never made it to the blog. Not sure why this one never got published, but it's over a year old and chock-full of memories. I think I'll comment throughout. This will be much faster than writing an actual blog and I can get back to my comparison of McCain and Obama's convention speeches. Womp Wommmmmp. I guess I could post that once it's graded, but it'll probably be mad boring. But I digest. Without further ado (and also without Freddy Adu), I give to you...an old unfinished post from June 20th, 2007.

Whoa!

Camp Phillip is crazy.

I recently spent a week and a half up there, and it was quite the experience.

First of all was junior staff training week, which I never can do justice to on a blog. I'm not actually sure I've ever tried to do justice to it, because the majority (or totality, possibly) of my readership was there for it. [On this note, does anyone non-Becca read this anymore? I guess Bethy and Paul read the last one, but...blogging seems to have gone the way of myspace and the dinosaur, I suppose. Oh well, I will work to keep blogging alive.] So I'll say this - C'mere, Sonny.

That isn't actually a reference to anything that happened during training week [Rather, one of the funniest things Kyle Fax has ever said], but there were a lot of fun things that happened, a few highlights, in no particular order

- PM/PM [technically "A.E.P.M" but who likes that name?] after campfire on Wednesday
- Doing our campfire (The sheer enjoyability of working with my group, getting some laughs etc..[and of course, cheating to make sure we all ended up in the same group. So clique-y. But our campfire rocked, so it's okay. "I'm ruined!!"])
- Playing "Bubba ball" with Andrew Lehman, many females, and Pablo the random hispanic boy (I'm pretty sure that was his name, at least the Pablo part)
- Finally having Elliott Kasprzak as a counselor in his last year at Camp

And obviously there are more, those are just four that were on the top of my head. Overall, a fun week as always.

Next after training week was Family Fest (A.K.A. "WELS stock" - actually a pretty good name for it). I didn't really know what to expect for family fest, because I had never been to one before. The only reason I was staying was because I was unexpectedly [of course I was unexpectedly scheduled...is anyone expectedly scheduled for Jr. Staff duty? Put it together, Blake of 15 months ago.] scheduled for pee wees the next week, so it was far easier to just stick around.

Family fest ended up being, through all the activities and attractions, mostly kitchen work. Just as well though, the kitchen has its moments. It all counts as volunteer hours for scholarships, eh? I did get to end up seeing a lot of people I probably would not have seen this summer otherwise, including but not limited to: My host family from Manitowoc day camp, Dan Brunner and Dave Moldenhauer and this girl that came with them who I didn't know but everyone else seemed to for some reason [this was Hannah Brunner. Looking back, I feel dumb for not knowing that at the time], Adam Carruthers (yes!)[Evan told me that during SALT training, Matthew was talking about campfire planning and how when taking camper suggestions for games like Fortunately/Unfortunately, stuff like "Adam Carruthers!" should not be picked, because not everyone would get it. He actually used that example, which I find hilarious, because I think I started the Adam Carruthers at campfire thing.], and Ben Stein, who is getting married.

But essentially, family fest just meant that I was more tired for the half-week of exhaustion also known as pee wees.

For those who don't know (which I doubt is anyone), pee wees is a camp that runs a good portion of the day (but not 24/7) for kids in grades K-2. I'm not sure how much I have to say about the actually counseling portion of the week, because as long as you can imagine me trying to corral 7 very different 6-year-olds during each activity, you have a pretty good idea of how it was [Might I add, this will make me a totally awesome dad. I hope. I would like to be a good dad some day...and also a good uncle, because how sweet are family gatherings going to be when my family convenes with Uncle Evan and his? I'm already looking forward to it.].

But because of the ages of the kids, they're only with us for the day, and they're with their parents for the evening, so we get a lot of time to hang out with our fellow pee wee staff. This week, though, because of the far greater number of female junior staff as compared to the numbers of males, the ratio of junior staff was 7 girls to me.

So that was a little different. If I was going to hang out with anyone, it was going to be with girls (most of them younger than me too, only one of the seven had done Jr. Staff before - a couple of them were campers during the most recent week I junior staffed [I remember looking at the sheet of volunteers and not seeing any names I recognized and then asking Sarah Thurs to volunteer so there would be someone else I knew working pee wees with me. And she obliged, how nice of her. But I actually made pretty good friends with a bunch of the newbie group, which included the likes of Clare Sievert, et al. And now Caleb Schmiege is friends with Clare, and not even directly because of me. Small WELS world.]). Luckily they were a neat bunch, but I was in on more "girl talk" than I think I've ever been in my entire life up to that point. We even had a soul-pouring out reflections, that involved crying.

Well, I wasn't crying, but still. It gives you an idea.

It was fun though, they were a really neat bunch of girls. It was just a totally new experience to me.

So I guess this is why this draft never found its way onto the blog...because I couldn't come up with an ending. I also chuckled at the title when I opened this, because I believe it's from a long-forgotten series of texts and phone conversation(s?) with a certain disgruntled Badger Girl's State attendee (not Allison) and myself. Not sure what else I can comment on in that post that I didn't already cover throughout. But let me just say this: C'mere, Sonny.

I'm a bear, etcetera

- Mike Birbiglia.

So, my life is a vacation with classes.

I live in Tampa, which is more or less a vacation capital for yankees like myself. It's incredible, I'm 30 minutes from Clearwater Beach (widely considered one of the best in the US, and even t-shirt material for Hollister), and I still hear some of my classmates complain about how campus isn't close enough to the beach for their tastes. Might I add, it was 93 degrees today, it will be 93 degrees tomorrow...and it has been over 90 for almost every day I've been here. Come wintertime, it will usually be in the mid-70s to 80s.

Some of you would kill for this. Just a little bit. (just a little bit, you would).

It's pretty ok. I'm also getting a little tan (in relative terms, at least). But life-wise, college has been solid. It's kind of a let-down from my amazing summer, but anything would have been, because my summer was amazing.

But I've met great people. Most of my nights are booked with social activity and there's almost always a group to study with in the dorm lobby. Also, we watch a lot of movies, leading to my 3-day streak of watching a Rachel McAdams movie.

Most people have celebrity crushes, or at least fictional character crushes (I'm looking at you, Edward Cullen. Stop enchanting our teenage girls and go back to vampire-land. I'm gonna carry around my F. Scott short stories anthology and throw it at the next person I see reading "Breaking Dawn"). It's something I've never really given a lot of thought to for myself, but I guess if I had to pick a celebrity crush it would be Rachel McAdams. Partially because I think she's hilarious in Mean Girls, and I like her character in Wedding Crashers. And, well, I think she is pretty, which is why people usually pick Keira Knightley or Jessica Alba. But Rachel McAdams seems pretty chill and like she'd be fun to hang out with. She also attended the MLS all-star game - bonus points!

Although I did dislike her character in the Notebook - that girl was pretty needy. But I have faith that it was just Rachel working her acting magic.

But like I said, it's not like I gave much thought to it. But I never really had an answer to that question of favorite actress, so there ya go. But I digress.

I should be blogging about how school is, moreso, but I don't know what more there is to say. Classes are fine. I already got a blurb out there on how my friends are. My roommate is cool. The food is satisfactory.

It's just kind of surprising to me that this huge change in my life is hardly registering in my mind. I guess I've always been comfortable with changes.

Well, I shouldn't say it's HARDLY registering in my mind, because I often think about home and how great it would be to see all the people back there that I had come to love. But I'm hardly homesick, it just makes me really look forward to Thanksgiving weekend (when I hope everyone is free to get together for a while). But I'm not really lonely here, I just occasionally find my mind wandering back home. Stuck between Drunk Girl and Hurricane, I say. But I'm not too concerned by it. Life is pretty good.

One thing about Tampa life that I feel I should mention is the church I go to. There's only one WELS church in the area, and I have an arrangement with a very nice couple to pick me up and drive me there every Sunday. They also have invited me back to their home for lunch a few times and are doing everything in their power to make me feel comfortable.

Very un-WELS, don'tcha think?

I kid. Sort of. The church itself is very small, and the pastor's a younger guy who seems very excited to serve his Savior. It's so cool to me, that even down here in unfamiliar territory, I can go to church on Sunday and still sing the same 300-year-old German hymns I would back home. It's comforting, in a strange way. You take that stuff for granted when you live next to Lakeside.

Another cool thing, that I already told a bunch o' the MLC kids, is that I got to talking with one of my best friends I've met here so far about faith and church and etcetera, and to make a long story short, I invited her to church and she's going to come with me. We were going to go to church together this morning, but my alarm didn't go off and I overslept. I basically wanted to die, but the pickup couple that I stood up accepted my apology and next week is on. All is well again at Northdale Lutheran.

So, yeah, Tampa is cool. That's pretty much why I'm down here. Because it seems cool. Haha. There's much more to it than that. But I've found that a surprising amount of what I do is an attempt to make myself look "cooler".

I wear a baseball cap
I wear aviator sunglasses
I go to school in Tampa

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and admit it now, much of my decision to come down here was because it seemed cool. Yes, it was financially responsible. Yes, I am going to college for free. Yes, I am creating a business network in a major metropolitan area. But an embarassingly large amount of my decision, in hindsight, was because I thought it would make me totally cool.

Which really doesn't invalidate the decision. It changes the way I look at it, but I don't know if I can say that there was a better decision, based on career opportunities and financial management, available.

But there is much more to life than career opportunities and financial management. Whether those other intangibles will prove to be better or worse down here remains to be seen. That's when I can decide whether this was a good decision or not. It is much too early, of course.

But at least I'll be cool.

Maybe someday on the blog I'll talk about the main events that eliminated the college contenders one by one, because I think it's fascinating looking back. But I want to do it in style, with pictures and graphs and music, or something. It would be kind of a big project. I doubt anyone is THIS interested in my life and my little future-planning struggles, but if I feel creative it's something I'd like to do. All I know is that "I'll follow the Sun" by the Beatles would figure importantly in such a presentation. Get it? Florida? Sun? Sunshine State?

Plus the Beatles are just good, so...

Also, I'd use "Seattle" (because I love myself, of course...) and "Driving South" by the Early November. Not sure what else there would be. Also not sure why I'm hypothesizing what songs I'll use for my likely never to be finished project. Maybe I'll have to do some big powerpoint project for Public Speaking or Computers in Business. If I do that, I'll be sure to show it to all "y'all" at home. See, I live in the South now. Gonna go grab some Chick-Fil-A. Drink an iced tea. Drawl. Ya know.

But that's about all I have to say about that. The paper, take us away.

And she drifts so far away...

Right now, I can't get "Hurricane" by Something Corporate out of my head, because I'm bunkered down in this hotel room in Tampa because of tropical storm Fay, which they say will become a hurricane. It's crazy. I haven't even formally started living in Tampa, and mother nature is already all like "ROAR GO BACK TO WISCONSIN PASTY ONE". Congratulations, lucky reader(s) of Flight 109, you will be treated to hurricane commentary by me, someone who has not ever been close to one. With my descriptions, you'll feel like you're in the hotel room with me, watching the storm out the window and fringe olympic sports on the TV.

Of course a blog about only a tropical storm (better known by their scientific name, "hurricane wannabes") would be awfully drab, so I'll do a REAL blog, and just highlight real-time Fay updates.

6:40 - There's complete cloud cover, and there has been for most of the day. It's been raining on and off, and right now, it isn't raining. Many area businesses are closed, and some beachfront hotels have evacuated. I'm basically expecting the storm of the century here, but right now, it barely even looks threatening.

Well, I’m only hours away from moving into my dorm room, my home for the next three months. And let me say, it is scary and feels kinda lonely. I’m conflicted on that part, because I realize that lots of people are moving into dorms just like I am, but I also know that if they get truly homesick or lonely, most of them are just a few hours or less from home, or at least have some friends from home nearby (I’m looking at you, MLC kids). But this is the decision I made, and I really have no reason to feel sorry for myself there. I’m going to school in Florida for free. It could be so much worse. I just worry myself.

6:55 - I went out onto the hotel room's balcony. I felt something of a pressure change, but that's about all there is to speak of. Birds are still just hanging out, planes are still taking off, and a guy just walked by. Not a hurricane-hardy master of disaster, but just an honest, no-fooling guy, completely unfazed by the harsh weather (or lack thereof).

One of the parts that has actually really affected the fact that I feel this way is that I’ve never enjoyed being home as much as I have this summer. I’ve gotten really close to some friends, and as I suggested in the last post, the stuff I’ve been doing this summer has made it the best of my life. When I decided on USF, it’s not as if my friendships were bad or my life wasn’t fun, but I didn’t view it as something worth missing out on this opportunity for. My experience this summer has kind of changed that point of view.

7:22 - My attention from blogging, the hurricane, and fringe olympic sports has been diverted by the start of the Rays game. B.J. Upton, Jason Bartlett, and Nathan's favorite, Gabe Gross just saved a few runs with some brilliant defense. I'm liking my new hometown team, but they're losing now, unfortunately. I'd feel worse about this digression if Fay was doing anything whatsoever.

But still, there are things to look forward to at USF. Some of the people I’ve met seem cool. “Cute orientation girl” actually has me pretty excited about moving in, at least in that respect. There are new people to meet. This I understand. The thing that worries me the most is that I never really have that safety valve of surrounding myself with loved ones regardless of how bad it gets. That’s just something I’ll have to get over. God is there.

8:09 - I took a break from blogging for some dinner. The amount of nothingness that the storm is doing here is mind-numbing. Don't play like this, Fay. You can't just threaten to throw your hurricane parts all up over everyone (and make people evacuate their vacation sites) and then not do anything. Those vacationers must be peeved.

My other main concern is over the quality of school. I’m sure USF is a decent school in its own right (if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have picked it), but my other main option was Wisconsin, which is a GREAT school (and closer to home, but that’s already been addressed). The downside is that it isn’t free…but the price difference might be worth it, who knows. Wisconsin is a school that I grew up envisioning myself at, and would be a very good school to graduate from.

8:43 - It's dark outside, but that can be mostly attributed to the sun going down. The winds have picked up quite a bit, but they aren't even beginning approach any category. Cars still driving, planes still flying.

The way I look at it now, I’m thinking that a transfer to Wisconsin somewhere along the line is a distinct possibility, and perhaps even probable. I realize I haven’t even started at USF, but part of me feels like life was too good to give up in Wisconsin (for more reasons than just friends) and I’d like to “come home” sooner rather than later. Who knows, maybe I’ll take to life in Tampa like I took to their baseball team (if I get nothing else out of this, I at least have a baseball team to root for…Rays with a big comeback win tonight! What a distraction).

STORM OVER - At least I think so... no rain, barely any wind...nothing at all to speak of. I guess I still don't know what to expect of a true hurricane. Unless THAT was a hurricane. Then I'm pumped.

Well, the most important thing that you, the reader, can take from this is send me things in the mail. Wait, what?

That's not very life changing advice from me, but I'll give you my mailing address (probably in a Facebook note, which will be a first for me) as soon as I can find it, and I'd love to get mail. For sure.

That was kind of a needy end to the post, but I had to throw it out there. Because if you feel generous, creative, or like becoming my hero, that would be the way to do it. Thanks in advance.

And then, so long from Tampa. Look forward to my first post from my new home.

I will now listen to nothing but Ben Folds for this post

...and I would advise the reader to do the same.

Facebook - the greatest known nemesis to blogging.

Since that fateful night of October 25, 2006, when Becca, Danielle Pett, and Ellie Baum christened my facebook with its first ever comments (don't worry, I had to go back and check...), Flight 109 has played a heavily under-appreciated second fiddle to the internet's biggest timesuck.

So tonight, facebook, I will bite my thumb at you. I need to blog for the first time in 6 months (and for only the 3rd time in the past year). I'm overdue like a...book, I guess.

Haha, I just looked back at the post with that title, and in the beginning, I apologize for having not posted in a month. Amusing.

Anyway, now that the requisite apology for failure to post in a timely manner is out of the way...now to the meat and potatoes of this blog post.

See...therein lies the problem. I don't have any meat and potatoes to post.

But when did I ever, really? As John Pauer once mused on his blog, what are blogs for, outside of telling the world whether or not your mom packed a cookie in your lunch for school?

I probably butchered that quote, and took it way out of context, but I can't go back and look at his blog and double-check, because it's sadly lost forever in cyberspace. I enjoyed his blog.

But there have been some things on my mind lately, and there certainly have been a lot of happenings this summer that have been blogworthy.

I'll start by saying that this has probably been the best summer I've ever had. Or, alternately, the best six months ever (being that my last post was about six months ago). So much has happened between then and now. I'll give a quick summary, and if you, collective loyal Flight 109 reader, were there for that memory, perhaps I can elicit a smile.

(although I said I was biting my thumb at facebook, I admit I used my wall's history to remind myself of some of these more obscure references. I nearly forgot some great ones, and when I saw them again, it put me in a pretty good mood. A begrudging thank you, semi-enemy Facebook. You win again.)

January
- I made the decision to not apply for Camp Phillip SALT staff (despite Tyler Shinnick's constant urging). I'm sure it would have been fun and a great experience, but right now I'm glad I didn't. I will seriously consider it for next year, but what with moving away, I think the time I've had at home this summer has been really important. Like I said, I've really enjoyed it.
- I became backup kicker for the Fort Tokyo French Toes. 2 people at most will get this, but one of them will laugh if he ever reads this.
- I, filled with some bitterness toward the Lakeside soccer program, and some of my closest friends banded together to form the powerful indoor soccer team "Royal Westminster FC". We only won once (by forfeit), but we had by far the best jerseys, and I think the most fun, of anyone in that league.
- We celebrated snow day after beautiful snow day by going to Ming's to ruin our digestive tracts by way of Chinese food and watch old pre-CGI Disney movies. Pocahontas, surely you appreciate being watched by a bunch of male high-schoolers (and Nancy).

February
- I watched part of the Super Bowl, and talked on the phone for half of it.
- I found out that I qualified for a full scholarship to USF, where I am going next year, but cautiously. More on that caution later. I'm in for the long haul here.
- Arizona State University bought me a delicious steak. Thanks guys. I'm not going to go to your college, but I suppose I'll cheer for you in sports now.
- I went to a Bon Jovi concert with Kyle Fax and Paul, almost spontaneously. Bon Jovi may be cheesy, but "It's My Life" is a great song. There's no getting around it. The middle aged women in front of us surely agree. Although I think they preferred "Bed of Roses".
- Along with Paul and Jordan, I became part of the biggest JV girls basketball fan group Lakeside has ever seen. I had none ulterior motives.

March
- I got my first ever job, working backline (fryers and bun prep...classy) at Culver's in Johnson Creek.
- I hated my first ever job.
- I enjoyed one of my favorite days of high school ever, the day that we had WSMA solo-ensemble in Poynette. When we were done, the Calebs and I got outta Dodge, went to Wendy's, shared perhaps the funniest car ride I've experienced ("here have some!" and Jackson Pollock's, er...smoothies), went to the Lakeside basketball game, and then hit up Sydnie's for some party.

April
- Jaclyn got mad at me online for no particular reason. I am not the only person this has happened to.
- I went Irish dancing. I rish you could have been there. ha! ha!
- I celebrated Stabby the Green Pepper day. The day went so well (probably entirely uninfluenced by Stabby, but stranger things have happened) that I will almost certainly celebrate next year on April 10th. I haven't deleted that text message.
- Evan and I started the Craftsman F-up series of racing. I won the first race. No one needs to know about what happened in the subsequent races.
- I secretly began to listen to Z104 in the car. Not much a secret NOW is it?
- I won Get on Da Mic, because of my superior knowledge of the song Rubber Band Man. I DO have a 45 in my other hand, thank you for asking.
- I went to WLA's prom with Becca. I had a great time. The dancing was decidedly non-Lakeside, but that isn't really why I enjoyed it.

May
- I went to Lakeside's prom with Becca. I had an okay time. The dancing was decidedly Lakeside, but as I alluded to before, the style of dancing doesn't really change how much I enjoy a dance.
- Sometime around here, Caleb Meyer and I became even better friends (despite the mock hating of each other's guts during the mock trial. You are an evil, evil man, Mr. Doering). Not sure why it came at this point, but it's something that has made this summer really fun.
- I quit my first ever job.
- I graduated high school. This is probably the only thing that will appear noteworthy from this summer looking back 20 years from now, but it seemed quite insignificant while it was happening. Through all the festivities, it seemed like mostly just a rush to get to the next grad party.

June
- Meyer and I set off on our long-awaited trip to Fond du Lac for Becca's and Hannah Sugars' grad parties. Again, probably one of the best weekends of my life. Caleb racing to the mall and driving aimlessly afterwards, "sleeping in the car", and hitting Christmas Kringle before we left...I had such a great time. It surely will be done again.
- I went to Jay Gatsby's fabulous pool party. Went nuts over a soccer game, played closet Mario Party, rid Caleb Schmiege's basement of flood, and bid Tom Mackey and Caleb a fond farewell before they left for Washington. I miss Tom.
- Tornadoes almost killed me...if funnel clouds over your house could kill.
- Steve Pelischek and I Fort Atkinson Youth Center'd with Sy, which mainly consisted of filling sand bags for flood relief. It was actually pretty fun.
- Pablo "El Ocho" Garcia Ingles scored a hat trick to lead West Ham to its first ever Champions League berth. Ecstatic yelling ensued.
- Not sure if it was June, but some time around here I started playing Sun Prairie pickup soccer with a bunch of people, including Sergio, the incredible foreign old guy. Sergio inspires me.
- I had my graduation party, and celebrated by not eating any of my graduation cake. I had some crazy good assists in barefoot backyard soccer, before we got kicked off for being downwind. According to several completely made up sources, my party was "rappin'"
- I made a lyrical reference to my own song "Seattle" because I thought it was fitting. Caleb Meyer did not pick up on it.
- I went to Tampa, Florida for mandatory college orientation. My roommate was pretty sweet, but unfortunately he won't be my full-time roommate. I began to have second thoughts. More on this later, as previously mentioned.
- Fax, Schmiege, and I went to Milwaukee to pick Meyer up from the airport. Contrary to popular belief, we did not buy any Webkinz. We don't really even know what they are. We also learned in the airport museum all about a man whose name is too easy to make fun of.

July (of the dearest sort)
- The Class Prophecy was finally posted on Youtube. I was pleased.
- Instead of watching fireworks, I celebrated July 4th in the company of my friends at Less than Jake's Summerfest concert. It was eventful to the last drop.
- I went to Racine Day camp for a day with Heidi, Bethy, Corrine, and Monica, whom I hadn't really met before. It got me to start considering doing camp next summer.
- I sat down and committed myself to writing a new blog post, which has taken me well over two hours. Good thing I don't have homework or something.

It's 12:34 and 56 seconds right...now. This fills me with second of joy.

I think that's a more than sufficient recap of the past, just instead of doing it in small doses, I went for the gusto. I suppose I'm only hurting myself by doing that, because it only gives you a few comments for all this information. And bloggers love getting comments. It's like...citrus twist tic tacs to us (or to me, at least). The most gallant blog commenters could possibly have a field day on such an action-filled post, but at this point, I'm not even certain I still have a readership.

I almost included a sentence at the end of that paragraph suggesting ways for people who have not read my blog before to find my blog, but then I realized that if they were reading that sentence, they would have found the blog. I must be tired.

I promised earlier that I would elaborate on my thoughts/concerns about college (or the future in general, whatever), but I think I've done enough blogging for tonight. Once I reach a completely un-pre-determined quota of people having read this post, I will deliver the aforementioned college report. Until then, take us away, the paper.