Scattered Thoughts

C.O.P.E. on a rope!

I'm in a much better mood now.

I'm sorry to all of you who were worried about me after the last post I made. I was in a very strange mood that evening and I'm sorry that I made you worried. Things are looking up now, I'm a much happier person and I'm much more ready for the summer to start.

It's reached the point in the summer that I will be making weekly posts to my blog-I'm not going to be able to post daily/quasi daily because of camp. I haven't posted for two weeks now because of camp. I went out last Wednesday after the flurry of doctor's appointments on Monday and Tuesday. I've been playing Ranger, which is quite fun to me. I got to drive the tractor to mow on Wednesday and then I got to drive around the GMC on Thursday delivering cots around camp. It's been enjoyable because Laura, Dustin, Nathan and Luke are great people.

National Camping School started that Saturday, so Bill, Sox and I drove over to Osceola Missouri. Let me tell you, the camp was located at in-the-middle-of-nowhere Missouri. I was lucky that I had a cell phone signal to make a few, quite broken phone calls. The physicality of the camp was kinda crappy. There were tire tracks in the grassy areas, the campsites were all rocky and nasty and the buildings were in a bit of disrepair. But I had an awesome experience.

They say that if you surround yourself with greatness, you will be great. Well, I believe that if you surround yourself with awesome people, you will have an awesome time. I spent one week with thirty of the best people that I have ever met. Here's a shout out to Dependable Drew, Dynamo Dave, Crazy Ed, Wild Will, Ambiguously Awesome Andy, Commander Amander, Dangerous Donna, Deadeye Deb, Jocular Jeremy, Jumblin� Josh, Jumping Jim, Kind Kim, Lascivious Laurie, Malicious Mason (not me), Marvelous Mayfield, Never-Without-A-Smile Nick, Nifty Nonchalant Notorious Nasty Never-Without-A-Brain Nate, Persistent Phil, Plucky Paul, Scrupulous Scott, SCUBA Steve, Swingin' Steve, Smiley Stacey, Papa Smurf, Talented Todd, Crusty Chuck, Nervy Neil and Cherrie Charlie. You guys made a wonderful week for me and changed my mind about working at summer camps. I was going to throw in the towel probably a few weeks into the season if my mind hadn't been changed. You guys all showed me that I can have fun and make a difference in a boy's life and it doesn't matter the cost, because the rewards far outweigh it anyway.

The last week was one of the best weeks of my life. We played games, built up trust and made huge impacts in each other's lives in six very short days. I became so close to these guys that I did not want to leave them at the end of the week. I wanted to take every single one of them back to my camp and have them help me run the C.O.P.E. course. That's logistically not possible because I would be stealing 30 of the best C.O.P.E. Directors in the country.

At the end of the week, we all went out to a place called The Poor Farm Bar. We all had a great time at the bar. They only served six beers – Coor's Light, Coor's, Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch and Busch Light. Let's just say that I had about a twelve pack of mixed varieties. I mostly went out to celebrate with the aquatics folks that I spent time with at meals and flags. I felt their pain and I didn't get to go out last year.

Anyway, that's about the wrap up of my week. One last shout out before I go. It goes out to my good friends Eric and Carly for hanging out with me all week. You guys are awesome even though you don't have C.O.P.E. names – I won't hold that against you

Anyway here's the end of blog low down:

What I see out my window�
Nothing, it's dark outside – I feel the hope of a better day tomorrow and am looking forward to returning to camp tomorrow early evening.

Song of the day Savoy Truffle – The Beatles

Quote of the day

Ldmp365 (11:21:43 PM): im not THAT random
Ldmp365 (11:21:50 PM): i think you bring out the randomness in me
tlmason AEA (11:21:55 PM): um….:-X
tlmason AEA (11:22:03 PM): haha, probably
Ldmp365 (11:22:04 PM): hahahaha
tlmason AEA (11:22:10 PM): we're combined randomness
Ldmp365 (11:22:32 PM): yes, yes we are
Ldmp365 (11:22:36 PM): we're almost dangerous

Quote of NCS "After being out on the course all day, seatbelts just don't seem adequate enough to provide safety." — Dynamo Dave after a day out at the high course.

Mac Fund $628.48

I'll post again next week sometime before Friday.

Until then, peace out yo!

tm

:-/

Sometimes I wish things didn't happen…

Just got home from watching X-men 2 and I've been thinking a lot about all the shit that's happened in my life. I wish a majority of it didn't happen, at least 70%. During my interview for the CSS position, they asked me "If you could go back in time and do one thing over again, what would it be and why?". I couldn't be honest with this answer because I would say "I would go back to the day I was born. I want to live my entire life again, I want to not make a lot of the decisions that I have made and now have to live with. I've made too many mistakes, hurt too many people, hurt myself one too many times, betrayed too many people's trust, let myself down, disappointed others excessively… I want to start over." If you were interviewing me for a supervisory position, would you hire me after that answer? Probably not. This is why I told them that I wish I would have started working at camp earlier because I've missed out on a lot of good times with the staff…

To add to an already declining break, I'm starting to miss all my friends…a lot… I want to be able to hang out with them just as if school was in session, but without the stress of classes and/or work. I'm missing them so much that I'm not looking forward to this summer at all. At the begining of the semester, I couldn't wait for the camp season to start so I could work with the scouts and be with the staff…now I'm having my doubts. I don't want to be that isolated from everyone. I mean, the summer distance is enough, but then add the inability to contact anyone 90% of that summer…that sucks badly. Ransburg is as much a part of me as my right hand, but I'm seriously thinking that it's time for me to move on. I'm going to be graduating in a year and a half *crosses fingers* and I really have not had any on the job informatics type experience. I need to make butloads of money and take classes… I can't do either of those from camp…

What I see out my window…
A broken tree, a storm tattered city… We were hit hard in the ville by the storms that passed through Indiana a couple days ago. It's very windy and things are breaking. Maybe this is why it seems like my life is being turned upside down. Maybe it's time for me to set sail with the winds of change and start a new path in my life… Maybe the winds that almost blew me off the road today and appeared as a nusiance are trying to send me a message. But then again, I don't believe in omens, I don't believe in fate… It can't be either of those things.

Song of the day The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Gordon Lightfoot

Quote of the day "You can share a room with me. When I get lonely I just pound on the wall and say 'Dustin, Dustin' and it makes me feel better" – Laura…one of the people I'm actually looking forwrad to seeing this summer.

Mac Fund $456.24

tm

School's Out for Summer

I would normally be excited about this, but for some reason, I'm not really looking forward to this summer as I have in years past.

For one, all my friends have gone home, there's nobody around to hang out with. I wanted school to be over so badly at the begining of the semester, now I'm begging for another month just so I can hang out with everyone. I didn't want everyone to move away, I wanted all the classes to stop so I could hang out with friends 24-7. I'm back home in the ville…nothing exciting ever happens here. I have three doctor appointments in the next two days. I have one on Monday, to have a biopsy of my tounge done, Tuesday is both an eye appointment and regular every day doctor for normal checkups and perscription getting.

Finals went well. I actually did a lot better on my stats exam than I thought I would and religion was cake. I just e-mailed my java professor because my grade did not reflect the make up that I did for homework 4. It still shows that I have a zero for that class; however, I still have a B without that grade. I'm not too worried about it, just want all the points that I can get.

Last night was the last meeting of the KKDC for the semester. We all went over to 322 for a pre-bars game of biz, then headed out to the Bird for some $.75 Miller Lite drafts. It was very good times. Tony got quite wasted at 322 and then came out with us to the Bird too. He got even more wasted. After the Bird, we headed to Taco Bello for some drunk food. While at Taco Bello, Tony passed out… Once we got to the top level of the parking garage, Tony decided that it would be a good idea to puke off the top onto the bottom sidewalks. I don't know how that went, but I'm sure he was feeling better this morning because of it. He ended up staying at our place last night, and left before I could say bye to him…bastard. I'm sure I'll see him at some point over the summer.

I'm now offically moved out of my house….well, moved into the basement. I've got all my stuff packed in rubbermaid boxes and placed around the house so that I can put them in the basement when Nick moves all his stuff into the bedroom. All of my camp stuff is sitting on the futon, so fun times there.

I'm stuck on dial up internet access until I get back into bloomington, hopefully I'll be able to use the internet at camp this summer. Anyway, I'm going to go now, so I'll post again later. I have laundry to do.

What I see out my window…
I would show you, but I left my quick cam in Bton.
The ville had some pretty bad weather earlier today. It's passed and the skies are starting to uncloud themselves. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a great day. We'll see.

Song of the Day Papercut – Linkin Park

Quote of the day "I don't care if he's a star basketball player, I've got to go! He can talk on his phone outside." – random guy in the bathroom at the Bird. Tom Coverdale was in the bathroom stall talking on his cell phone. I don't blame him, bars are loud places. The guy was pretty mad that he was taking up the stall to talk on his phone.

Mac Fund $456.24

Everyone have a safe summer!

tm

Finals, Yuck

It's Finals Week, no time for fun here in Bloomington…

This last weekend was fun anyway. We had Banquet on Friday for KKPsi and TBS. It was really good times. I had fun and it was great to see all the brothers and sisters before the end of the school year. I know for sure that I'm going to miss all of AZ this summer. I don't want any of them to leave town.

After banquet we all went over to 322 and had some good drinking fun, celebrating the end of classes. We played some beer pong, that quickly turned into cups. We had cups games all night, and at the end of each game, the house was the loudest it has ever been. I AM THE ANCHOR MAN hahaha. Anyway, Rachel anchored for the other team, the one team that beat the KKDC. Her team may have won, but I smoked her when the cups got to me. hehehe

Saturday was an Alpha Zeta picnic. We went out to Hundred Hall, about 15 or so brothers were there. We had some subway, played some basketball, tossed a frisbee, and then played Goldrush. We ended up playing something like eight games of Goldrush just because everyone enjoyed it and wanted to keep playing. I ended up getting myself all muddy and nasty. When everyone left, Vince, Neil, Graham, Mike and I went out to Karst Farm and played some disc golf. I didn't win this time either, mostly becasue my rythm was thrown off because we started on hole 10 instead of hole 1. Hole 1 was so crowded that there was a line of people to tee off. I shot a +4 losing to Neil on a playoff hole by one stroke. Whatever, it was good times anyway.

Sunday I had to work from noon to two. When that was over, I went out to Hundred Hall again where the Delta Xi New Initiates were doing their joint service project. They cleaned all the drumline equipment minus the cymbals (that's for Mike to do when we all get back to school;) ). After they finished, we went over the bid process with them so they weren't in the dark when things started happening next semester. We all made a journey to the Wright Food Court afterward and Holly treated us all to lunch, on her meal card. It was definitely good times, I'm glad that these guys decided they wanted to join KKPsi, they're freakin awesome!

Anyway, then I came home, watched some Road to Perdition, did some studying, and went to bed. Today is going to be full of work, and studying.

Tom's Exam Schedule
Tuesday – A201, Java, 5:00pm
Thursday – M365, Stats, 10:15am
Thursday – R170, Ethics, 12:30pm

I could have taken the R170 final Sunday afternoon, but I'm glad I didn't. I was able to hang out with the coolest NI class ever.

What I see out my window…

There it is, the aftemath of the nighttime storms. As you can see by the wake that the truck is making, our intersection does not drain. Pebble Beach is gone, but we still have the ocean. Today shouldn't be too bad, it's starting to get sunny now. I took that picture about twenty minutes ago. The storm has passed and the sun is startin to melt away the clouds. Work today will be boring, so I can get some much needed web design done. Hopefully I will be able to hang out with some friends tonight. Allison, my friend from high school who now goes to Ball State will be coming to town later this evening to visit one of her friends who transfered to IU from BSU. There are also a couple other people I would like to hang out with tonight, or at least a couple times before we all leave for the summer. I wasn't this attached to people last summer. I guess that something great happened this year that made me a lot closer to many more people.

Song of the Day – Mad World Gary Jules

Quote of the day "You guys took the black right out of me" – Emma at Wendy's last night.

Mac Fund $340.04

word

tm

PS: Here is my summer contact information…
7599 East Waldrip Creek Road
Bloomington IN 47401
EVERYONE should write me because if you do, I will write back. Plus, I'd like to hear from y'all a lot this summer since we won't be able to hang out.

lata

K K … Psi

Kirsten and Emma made my day

They were driving down tenth street toward Hundred Hall and yelled the KKPsi yell out the window of their car at me.

In other news, you think you've got balls….read this

Hope it makes your day like Kirsten and Emma did mine

tm