Words, Words, Words

What do you see here? Look again! Do you see the difference? I always like to bounce ideas for blogs off my friend Jason Myles, and yesterday we talked about a blog that talked about words, especially really cool unused words. SO with that in mind, this blog is just going to be something of a rant, a story, a lecture, a report, an exaggeration, or a collaboration of some of my thoughts on words. to take a line from the internet star Bo Burnham, we are going to be like Hamlet here and be all about words, words, words.

It's always really interesting to learn about words, because it's something that most of us don’t really ever think about. There are so many words, and we hardly even use any of them. Scientists and linguists argue over the average total number of words that people know. Some say the number is around 25,000. Others put the number somewhere near 45,000. However, something that most researches agree on is the fact that the average person on any given day only uses a lilliputian amount of the total words they know, or around 3,000 words. Take a minute, think about it. Ding! So why do we use so few words? Are we really just that lazy? Or does it go along with this underlying fear that involves us going outside of our comfort zone? This Guy Over Here, reporting live, from the field. ABC news. Pun intended.

Have you ever thought about the odd phenomenon of making up words? The English dictionary increases every year with new words that have been created, either out of necessity, or out of creativity. But where do these new words come from? Why are they so commonly used and accepted? I believe that words are like ideas. They are foolproof, shatter proof, bulletproof, and all other sorts of 'proofs' but the most important thing that words are is contagious. They get stuck in your head. Sometimes, they even come out of our mouths without us even thinking it. They are masters of hide and seek, especially when you are looking for that one exact word. They are con artists, convincing us that they mean something rather than what they really do. If you hang out with a friend that says an array of different/strange words on a consistent basis, you will find that pretty soon you start saying or at least thinking those different/strange words. I always like to wonder if I could make up my own word that could become so gradually incorporated into our everyday lives that it would become an official word. Probably not, but I think it would be fun to try.



Now that those above topics have been questioned and discussed, we can move into the real stuff. Real Talk. One of my biggest pet peeves with words is that some of them have lost their value, their importance. These words are so widely overused that they don't even really mean anything anymore. This isn't the case for most words, and for some people, those words that are overused still have some meaning. Two classic examples of this problem are the words love and hate. Love is such a strong word. It is a word that used to mean so much. It is still important, but it has been thrown around like a flag on a windy day and now I think for most of us, it has lost a lot of its value. Saying I love you is almost like an everyday phrase now, something that could fall out of anyone's mouth at any time. Along with this is the word hate. Hate is such a strong word. It is one of the strongest words to orally display one's anger towards another/item. However, like love, we throw around hate like the word carries no impact or weight. There are a lot of words like this, which we have become so desensitized to that we don't even realize that the perpetual use has devalued these words down to almost nothing. Like I said before, this isn't the case for some people, but this holds true for the general public. Why do we take words that are seemingly so important and make them so non-important? It's no good!

Quite possibly the coolest thing about words is their infiniteness of possibilities. Think about how many sentences have never ever been formed, never ever been uttered, or even thought. How many things can you honestly say that you could be the first person ever to do in the entire history of the world? Well, come up with an awesome sentence and chances are you could be! Did you know that William Shakespeare invented close to 2000 words? In the plays of his that we have recorded, he wrote over 17,600 words, a tenth of which did not exist during his time. So, even though William had an awesome last name going for him, his incredible way with words and his willingness to just make up words on the go launched him to one of the best writers of all time, not to mention one of the single largest individual contributors to our current language. Pretty impressive stuff.

Anywho, back to words. Words are fantastic. They are magical. By themselves they are powerful. Together, they are unbreakable. They are what you make of them. They can be boring. They can be fun. The right words at the right moment could make life or break life. Four words more and you could be married. With two words you could lose your job. But words don’t necessarily have to always be so important. Two words start a baseball game. One word questions everything. Three words can end a relationship. The list could go on and on. It's simply humbling to think of how powerful words are and how much impact we place on words. So be quick to listen and slow to speak. It could cost you something very important.



One of my favorite things to look at about words is demonstrated above. Not many people realize that when we read something, our eyes take in the first and last letter and then our brains create the word from there. That is why, remarkably, we can still read entire paragraphs where almost every single word is spelled wrong. This always amazes me. We are so familiar with words that we don't even read the entire word in and of itself.

After reading this, you may feel yourself experiencing a burning desire to go out and attempt to learn as many cool and unused words as possible. If you have this desire, more power to you. I feel as if trying to force words into your vocabulary is never a good thing. People can tell when a person is genuinely speaking, or if they are trying everything in their power to sound intellectual and intelligent. Like most skills, learning and using new words takes time and practice. We have to feel comfortable about the new word and its usage before it starts sounding natural in our everyday language. So if you still have the desire to learn about cool unused words, I would go to dictionary.com and sign up for or subscribe to the word of the day. You can also find a link that sends you to every single word of the day for quite some time back as well. Even if we set out to expand our vocabulary with new and interesting words, we have to remember that sometimes, things are best said in the simplest manner.

I hope that you find this blog to be a bit stimulating, as some of the small topics that I’ve discussed are things that we see everyday in society, but we never really pay much attention to. Words are some of the most fascinating things in our culture/society today when you actually take the time to think about them. You can still communicate without words; however, words are a vital part of our communication. In the end, it’s all about words, words, words.

Closing tip for the week: Study for finals with a friend. One of the best ways to make sure that you know something is to explain it. If you can explain a topic well, then you know that you have a firm grasp on the subject matter.

Closing quote for the week: ‘The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.’ ~Mark Twain

Riding low with the NW333 and pedaling with the Easy Rider,
Signing off,

JD

Thanksgiving- Part 2

Hello from school after this wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I hope that this day you can find joy in something, whether that is your family, your friends, or even just the fact that you get to breathe and laugh for one more day. However you celebrated Thanksgiving, whether it was a family function or a simple meal out to eat, I hope that you made the most of the time that you were given, especially if you were with your family members. For most of us college students, we don’t really get to spend a lot of time with our families, and so when we do have this precious time, make the best of whatever situation you are in.

Hopefully, if you are reading this, then you have read Thanksgiving Part 1. If not, I’ll recap it in three sentences. Thanksgiving is a holiday where everyone realizes what he or she is thankful for. I on the other hand in efforts to be different and insightful, wrote a short list of the things that I was not thankful for. I then went back and described how everything that I was not thankful for were in actuality things that I could look at in a different light as things that I was very thankful for. Basically Thanksgiving Part 1 described how we should be thankful for all things, even for the things that we think we do not like or are not thankful for. It is the things in life that challenge us that define us. So, as promised, today’s blog will be Thanksgiving Part 2. I’ve always wanted to do something like this; so today we are going to give it a shot.

I am sure that almost everyone has at some point in their lives been told to or has made a list of the things that they are thankful for. I can also almost guarantee that at the top of most of those lists were the usual items like God, family, friends, a house, food, clothes, and other major items. I am guilty of doing this as well. However, today I wanted to take the opportunity to write about some of the most exotic things that I am thankful for. Some things I will go into a bit of detail about because you might ask yourself, “How is he possibly thankful for that.” But I am, somehow.

1. The Garage Door Opener
I wanted to start with a semi-strange item. But if you think about it, you realize how awesome the garage door opener is. Pretty darn awesome. The garage door opener eliminated the need for heavy lifting, and made driving so much more convenient.

2. The microwave.
I am thankful for the microwave for one very exact reason. It makes popcorn. I realize that we could make popcorn before the microwave was invented, but the microwave does it so much faster. And in an age dependent on time, I personally like my popcorn to be ready in two minutes.

3. Dreams
I absolutely love to dream. Even though it rarely happens, my dreams are so random and sporadic and so darn entertaining. Dreaming is a way for me to express my own creativity, and I love seeing just how crazy things can get before I eventually wake up. That is if I ever wake up. Creepy reference back to Inception.

4. Snow Boots
I don’t know about you but one of the things that just bugs me to no end is when my feet get wet. So, this becomes a very big problem as winter approaches in the North where snow is always prevalent. But, with snow boots, my feet almost never get wet and they can go about enjoying the comfort of being nice and warm and dry. So thank you snow boots for the top-notch protection.

5. Sidewalks
Many of us never really stop and think about the sheer awesomeness of sidewalks. Just think about it.

6. Music
This one is kinda an obvious one, but I just wanted to add it in here because I am feeling especially thankful for it at the moment. Music has this really weird ability to reach into us and latch onto our souls. It is a modem of human heart to heart connection. It can define us, and it is a great writer of history. So thank you music for all that you do.

7. Ladders
This one is a bit of a stretch, but I am thankful for ladders. Without a ladder, we would have never been able to get up to higher places. Well, there were other ways, but the ladder was the first manufactured item to show us that seeing our topmost capability isn’t really as hard as we make it out to be. With a few simple steps, we rise above what society deems as our ‘potential’, and when we do that, we are in a whole new world.

8. Darkness
I love darkness. This might sound weird, but I assure you that it is not at all. I love darkness for multiple reasons. For one, I have trouble sleeping if it is not really really dark. Therefore, I love me some darkness. Also, I am absolutely fascinated with the stars. And when is the best time to see the stars? In absolute darkness. Yessum. Darkness is our friend. Along with darkness comes sunset, another one of my favorites.

9. Cameras
Life is so beautiful around us that I wish I could just carry around a little camera to capture all of the moments that make you laugh, smile, or show an outward expression of joy. My favorites are the times when you draw in your breath in that awkwardly quick fashion, when your mind can’t think of anything other than “wow.” Those moments don’t really come along all that often, but you know when you have one. Cameras allow us to capture all of those moments. Love it!

10. Hot chocolate
I am so thankful for hot chocolate because I think it is humanly impossible to be angry when holding a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold night. Well, if your hot chocolate isn’t very good I can see where that could spark some feuds, but that is why you go to Greyhouse! Ask my best friend Jason about it. He knows what’s up. Hot chocolate = pure happiness.

This blog is a bit late so I am just going to wrap this up really quickly. For everyone that is in school, finals are most likely coming up, so I hope that you can excuse my lateness. The rest will go in my next blog.

Throwing up the NW333 and cruising with the Easy Rider,
Signing off,

JD

Thanksgiving- Part 1

After about a week of mulling and contemplating possible topics, I decided that I wanted to start a section about Thanksgiving, but I have multiple parts to this idea so this is going to be the Thanksgiving Part 1. Tonight I got my first taste of Thanksgiving as the dining courts at Purdue held a Thanksgiving dinner. I was able to go with my roommate and some other friends, and it just made me think about how lucky I am to be where I am at. Saying that, Thanksgiving Part 1 is not going to be one of the typical list and sappy stories about type out the top 100 things that I am thankful for. For one, that is a wonderful exercise and something that you may see in Thanksgiving Part 2 or Part 3, but not in Part 1. This part is going to switch things up a bit and look at things from a different perspective. So tie yourself to the ship, we're flipping this deck.

Before we jump into the actual 'meat' of Thanksgiving Part 1, I'd just like to hit on some of the more recent and relevant things that have been going on up at Purdue in the past week. First and most importantly, basketball season officially kicked off last Sunday night! The Boilers are sitting on a 2-0 record as of now and we all know that the left side of that column is only going to keep going up. Even without Robbie Hummel, I have been surprised by how well the Boilers have played, and I think that we have some serious talent in the freshman class, which is always promising for the years to come.

This week went back to normal temperature wise. Cold. Anyone who was a true fan and endured the hardship of last weekend's game against Michigan deserves a huge round of applause. I hate to mention that I almost left early, but it is true. My roommate convinced me otherwise, and my hands weren't very appreciative when they were frozen as I was walking back. But, all-in-all, it was worth it. Last weekend, I got to sit down with two awesome guys at Greyhouse and just talk about life. You never really know how much you have to talk about until you actually begin talking. It's a cool feeling to make new friends, and an even cooler one when you know that you have so far to go with these new friendships. Anyways, that was a really good time.

The funny thing about Thanksgiving is that for such a seemingly trivial holiday, it has probably had the most anticipation on campus of any holiday, break, or event so far. I've talked to kids who have counted the exact number of classes until they get off, or even the total number of hours until they can leave. As I started thinking about this, I realized that Thanksgiving was actually a lot deeper than I was giving it credit for, especially for those who live away from their families. There are some college students who really haven't seen their families or their friends since they came up here in August, and so for them, this Thanksgiving is so much more than just the usual merry company and tasty food. For others, it's a chance to see relatives that you wouldn't normally see, or a time to just relax and not worry about anything. Whatever your reason for enjoying Thanksgiving this year, make sure that you make the most of it. Reflect on those things that you are thankful for and take time to appreciate all that you have been given.

As I started getting into the Thanksgiving mood, one of the things that you naturally do is start making a list of the things that you are thankful for. Whether you get five things on that list or 100, naming things that you are thankful for or things that make you happy always makes you feel a little bit better. However, for the sake of Thanksgiving Part 1, I have decided to go through and make a list of all of the things that I am NOT thankful for, and then see if I can find ways of why I should be thankful for those things. Because in reality, we should be thankful for life in general. Life isn't perfect. It has its bumps and cracks. But we are living. We are functioning, thinking, breathing, acting, running, laughing, crying, loving, and feeling. We are living. We are beautifully and wonderfully made with care. We are a creation. We are loved, cared for, thought about, cried for, trusted, desired, listened to, honored, and all together needed. So those things that we think we aren't thankful for, well we'll see about those, starting with my own personal list.

I am not thankful for: Waking up.

If you know me at all, you probably know that I am a night owl and that I haaaaaaaate to wake up. I despise mornings with a passion that is hard to match. However, as I was thinking about this terrible action, I had to realize that the act of waking up is kind of like a chalkboard erasure. With each new sunrise, there is a new day and brand new things to accomplish, people to meet, or fun to be had. I really like the chalkboard erasure analogy, because if you have OCD like me, you are/were always upset at the chalk dust/ chalk lines that the erasure just seemed not to be able to get. Even if you erased over a certain area, you could still almost always see a faint outline of what was there before. It's the same way with life. Even though every day is a 'clean slate,' there are still things from our past that linger with us, that we can't quite seem to erase. Nobody is the perfect artist, that is why we each get an unlimited amount of erasures because we can never truly draw the perfect day.

I am not thankful for: freezing cold temperatures.

I do not think it is humanly possible to enjoy the feeling of your fingers being so cold that they could snap like toothpicks. Buuut, think about it. If we didn't have cold, we wouldn't know the feeling of snuggling up next to a fire with a blanket and some hot chocolate. We would never get that awesome feeling of being wrapped from head to toe in a blanket. We would never see the wonders of snow, or the joys of building a snowman or other great things that accompany freezing cold temperatures.

I am not thankful for: people who do not listen.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone who you are clearly trying to talk to is not paying attention to you whether it is on purpose or not. The "ahem, clear throat, cough twice" trick can only be done so much until you just want to grab the person by the front of their shirt and demand that they listen. Buuut, think about it. These people who annoy us so much by not listening are the ones that teach us just how important it is to listen. This goes along with the concept that we never truly know how important something is until we actually want or need that thing. Listening is a huge skill that we take for granted, and I am sure that we all have at one point in time been the person that is just too busy to listen. Well, now we may not be!

This list could go on, and I am sure that each and every one of you have things that you are not thankful for. However, as I quickly found out, if you look back at those things, you can begin to realize and piece together ways that you are in fact thankful. Even the most minute actions that seem to get us down can in some way be taken for a positive light. I guess it all comes down to perspective. We have the ability to cast our own perspective on life, and because of that, some of us are a lot more thankful than others. So on this Thanksgiving day, before you sit down and make a list of the things that you are thankful for, make a list of all of the things that you are not thankful for. As you make this list, you will soon realize that there aren't as many things that you might have thought. So many 'problems' that we experience are so trivial compared to what most people go through on a daily basis. We are not thankful that we have to ride our bike when others can drive. We aren't thankful that we can only afford to eat at these restaurants while our neighbors can eat at these nice fancy ones. At least we can get something to eat. So make your list. Mull it over. Think about how each thing that you are not thankful for actually helps you in your life, and think about where you would be if you didn't go through what you do.

So, that basically wraps up my thoughts in Thanksgiving Part 1. I know that it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but trust me, I only have 9 more classes or 13 more hours of school work until break! Make sure that this weekend you live with purpose and be safe!

Closing tip for the week: This weekend, Inception is playing at the Stuart Center on Friday and Saturday night. If you haven't seen this movie, I would recommend going to go see it. Students are free with their student ID's, and it is definitely worth it!

Closing quote for the week: "The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving." ~H.U. Westermayer

Throwing up the NW333 and riding a wheelie with the Easy Rider,

Signing off,

JD

The Spirit Of Adventure

Off we go! Hello everyone and welcome to the new segment of This Guy Over Here. Today’s topic is the spirit of adventure and what that entails. Before we begin with that, just wanted to talk about how things have been going in the past week. Yesterday, the temperature peaked at 70 degrees, making it one of the warmest November 9ths in the past 15 years. It was like we had gone through our mini-winter and the new spring was here. However, the worst is still to come. We all know it, so lets soak up these last few rays of sunshine while we can.

On Monday, I had the opportunity to eat lunch with two Old Masters. The Old Masters program is a student-based organization on campus. Every year they bring back 10 individuals who received their master’s degree from Purdue University. These ten people have all made a relatively large impact on their industry, environment, or peers. The two individuals that I got to eat lunch with were Linda Huff, and Bob Peterson. Both were fabulous people; however, I really got into talking with Mr. Peterson, and it was actually through our discussion that the idea for this blog topic came up. If any of you have seen the movie Up, Finding Nemo, or Monsters Inc, then you offhandedly know who Bob Peterson is. He was a voice in all three of those movies, including Doug the Dog in Up. He was co-director of the movie Up, and was a Screenwriter for Finding Nemo. As we talked about his career, and some of his movies, we really got into the question, “What constitutes an adventure?” And so, in response, let’s go on our own adventure!

To infinity and beyond!

So we are going to start by defining adventure. What is an adventure? How does one go on an adventure? Why do we go on adventures? These are all questions that I hope to answer. According to dictionary.com, adventure means participating in exciting undertakings or enterprises. Merriam and Webster define it as the encountering of risks. Personally, I think it is a little hard to put words to something as flexible. Merriam and Websters definition actually leads me to my first point, which is: Do we have to be encountering risks to experience an adventure?

Hollywood has done such a good job of tying together adventure and risk that the two seem almost inseparable today. We are raised in this lifestyle that tells us in order to have adventure, or in order to have fun, we have to take risks. Now backtrack here a bit. Taking risks is a sketchy topic, because we want to encourage the youth of today to take risks and try and fail to grow and mature. However, there are some risks that shouldn't be taken, some that actually lead to peril and harm, and some that aren't really risks at all but stupid behaviors. Does adventure come with risk? Sometimes. Does it have to? Not at all.

The second misconception about adventures is that you have to go somewhere to have an adventure. This is completely not true. The reason why people tend to find that they are more adventurous as they travel is because they have a limited amount of time in that set location, and everyone wants to make the most of the time in a new place. Sometimes we get caught up in living life that we forget that we can still find and experience adventures in our own backyards, neighborhoods, or dorms. The adventure shouldn't be defined by the place but by the person.

The third misconception that people have about adventures is that you personally have to do something that is outrageous and or so irrationally different in order to truly have an adventure. What we need to realize is that sometimes, the greatest adventures comes when we don't do anything. The world moves at such a fast pace. Granted, it moves faster in some places than in others; yet, sometimes we get so caught up in the rotation that we fail to simply stop and take in the wonderful things that are happening all around us. Another way to experience a great adventure is to just listen. So many people have so many absolutely wonderful things to say and share; we just never take the time to get to know them and to listen. I always like to say that you learn twice as much everyday as we do now if we actually listened.

We've grown up in an age where when most of us think of the word adventure, we instantly begin to think about fictional movie characters such as Indiana Jones. Seeing as many of us aren't going to be going through the Temple of Doom, how do we manage to get adventure into our everyday lives? See that's just it though.

Our everyday lives are our adventures. I believe that everyday is an adventure in and of itself. We aren't guaranteed that we will be here tomorrow. We aren't even guaranteed that we will be here in the next hour. So why not make each and every day an adventure in and of itself? This doesn't mean go out and do stupid activities, and then blame this guy because I said that you should live as if life could end at any time. Obviously there is a strong line between living vicariously and living irrationally. If we focus on making each and everyday a new adventure, we will get the most out of life, and we will be happy.

For all of you gamers out there, I just got Call of Duty Black Ops today. So far, it is legit. Too legit to quit. I got to go out to eat with my mom today which was a nice way to spend a Wednesday afternoon. If you haven't yet today, tell your parents that you love them. That's basically all I got. Have a great week, and thanks for reading the thoughts of This Guy Over Here. Feel free to leave a comment or write me on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/bobbalockinosmagockin

Have a wonderful week!

Closing tip for the week: As many of you have probably heard/ seen, there is a dining court in the basement of the northern most part of Cary Quad. This is only for the student athletes, and many of you may be disappointed because you realize that you will never have the opportunity to dine as the athletes do. Think again my friend. If you sign up through the Dining Court system to do reviews on the dining courts and their service, you are guaranteed at least one meal in this super exclusive restaurant. It's obviously well worth the trade off of a couple of pages of reviewing the dining courts.

Closing quote for the week: 'Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." ~Andre Gide

Throwing up the NW333 and speed racing with the Easy Rider.

Signing off,

JD

Welcome makers, all. I've been trying to think about what to blog about, and so in the meantime, while I am still thinking, I wanted to give a recap of Halloween weekend up at Purdue. To my knowledge most of the students managed to survive Halloween weekend, but the same really can't be said about the Purdue football team. I mean 93 points in two weeks? I know that there have been injuries and all, but we are a Big Ten School. We should at least be able to compete.

In better light, the basketball season kicks off tomorrow night as the Boilers take on Indianapolis at Mackey Arena. You always know its basketball season when it starts getting so cold that your basketballs in your garage become deflated, and your backboard turns into a rock hard slate, that gives no love for the bank (if it wasn't this way already). Basketball season is always a time of excitement, because it is something that defines the people of Indiana. It has a certain ability to make nothing else seem important for a brief period of time. It can fill a gym, break hearts, or be the cause of long road trips. It can turn some people into insomniacs or unite any group of people it comes in contact with. My high school coach always used to say that basketball was so special because with only five players on the court at one time, it is the sport where the individual represents the greatest amount of the team: 20%. He forgot doubles tennis, but it was still a meaningful quote. So this winter season, go out and catch a game if you haven't ever been to one. For those of us who grew up with the rock in our hands, stay loyal. It's a wild ride, but it's so worth it in the end.

To the batmobile.

I said earlier that I wanted to recap on Halloween Weekend, and some of you may be scratching your heads, because in my last blog I mentioned that the fact that people would continue to talk about halloween after it was over was going to be extremely annoying. However, I am not really talking about Halloween in general, just the best/worst costumes that I saw. You know someone has to do it. If you wore any of these costumes, I am sorry, and I am not trying to offend anyone. I am just going off of what everybody thinks.

So we will start with the best costumes, and very quickly move into the worst, because let's face it, a lot of people just didn't even try.

THE BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OF 2010

1. The magic genie lamp from Aladdin.

After careful consideration, I decided that this costume took home the crown. It met all of the requirements of a great costume. It looked good, it was creative, it was relatively cheap, and most of all, it was semi-clean yet effective at the same time. I give mad props to the man who thought of this, and if I had enough money, I might have even created a shirt to award you for your awesome accomplishment. But, that didn't happen, so you will have to settle for a shoutout.

2. The Napolean Dynamite Crew

This is a group of my friends that go to IU, and I have to give out the second place ribbon to them. Not only did they come up with a very original idea, but the costumes are near perfection. Once again, all the requirements or greatness were met in these costumes. Even though the magic genie lamp from aladdin takes the top spot, you guys were a very close number two, and bravo for the laughs. From left is Kip (Mark Lottes), Napolean (Alex Bryant), and Deb (Jessica Daniel).

3. Steve Urkel

So I was at McDonalds on friday night around 2 in the morning, and guess who walks in? Steve Urkel. Literally. Well not really, but his costume was so perfect that it could have been. He had the suspenders, and the large glasses with the hairdo and all. Kind of on a side note, the word hairdo always makes me think of the word up-do, which then leads me to want to watch Can I Have Your Number. 'Xcuse me can I talk you for a minute Steve Urkel. I stood in Mcdonalds with my miniature McFlurry and fries, I knew what I had to do. I had to get Urkel’s autograph. I then decided against it, and walked back home in despair and self-pity. It is a decision that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

4. Fake Cop

So as my friends and I were walking to Mcdonalds on friday night, we passed by this fantastic foursome of drunkeness. They were yelling, flipping off cars, laughing obnoxiously. Basically, they had it all going on. Anyways, we passed without much of a problem. A few loose handshakes were exchanged. If you have ever tried to shake hands with a drunk person, you know how awkward this can be. We had continued walking for a bit, when I looked back over my shoulder and saw this cop approaching the foursome. My group stopped for a second to watch the ordeal. From where we were, the cop looked legit. He had the handcuffs, the hat, the crisp uniform, and even a holster with what looked like a weapon. Long story short, the cop was actually fake, but since he fooled me, it deserves a spot on the top five list.

5. Bomb Squad

The bomb squad will wrap up this years top five best halloween costumes. The beauty of the costume was in the design. The costume appeared to be pretty much hand made, and they were puffy. It's like they stuffed pillows into their sweatshirts. By this description, it doesn't sound very cool, but the best part was that across their chests, they had bomb squad in these white letters. With an all black costume, the bomb squad writing was the hit of the black light party. Also, there were four of them. I am always a sucker for costumes that require multiple people. It is always so much better than the one man stand.

THE WORST HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OF 2010

1. Yourself

This costume seemed to be in high demand, especially amongst the guy population. This may be because it is so much harder for a guy to find a decent costume than it is for a girl. When a guy dresses up as himself, they give off the impression, "I am not creative enough to come up with a costume, or I am too self-concious to allow myself to be in a position where people can laugh at me." Lame! You have to at least give an effort. So because of this, anyone who did not dress up, and still went out, officially sported the worst costume this halloween.

2. Referee

Let's face it after a while, almost every costume gets really old. However, one costume that got really old forever ago was the referee/blind referee combination. On Halloween, creativity is awarded and similarities are treated like always a bit awkward. For example, on Friday, I saw three Waldo's from Where's Waldo. How am I, the common citizen, supposed to know which one is actually Waldo, and which two are the fakers pretending to be Waldo to throw me off of his trail? It's tiring business. So when I saw at least 6 referees in one night, I realized how over worn the costume was and so that is why it takes the ranks as the number two worst costume for 2010 Halloween.

3. The Animal (Any)

Again, it is always good to try and stay away from costumes that cause a general sense of confusion. On Saturday night, I was standing next to this girl that was dressed in what appeared to be a cheetah costume. She was one of the few girls that wasn't grinding all up on somebody, so the guys swarmed to her like white on rice. The best line of the night by far though was said by one brave lad who approached cheetah lady. He prepared himself, got the confidence, and went up to this girl and said: "Nice Cheetah costume. Do you want to dance?"

To which the cheetah lady responded, "Um, I'm a leopard." And boom goes the dynamite. His entire night was over just because cheetah lady decided to sport a highly confusing animal costume. I saw an array of other animals as well. There were cows, and dalmations, and other cats, a dog, and a fish just to name a few. The animal farm came out as the number three worst costume. And that's that.

4. Robbie Hummel's hurt ACL

Okay so this was a complete way to cop out and not really dress up, therefore it had to have a spot on the top 5 worst costumes of 2010. Maybe people thought they were going to be witty and funny and save money. What you really did though was make everyone cringe a little bit more inside, and remind us about how you like to laugh at broken hopes and dreams. Way to go.

5. Jersey Shore Cast

Ah the infamous Jersey Shore Cast. There were three problems with these costumes. The first is that nobody actually likes the show outside of watching it. Everyone watches it because their friends watch it, but it's definitely not something that you try to replicate in everyday life. Two, for guys, unless you are as buff as Paulie D or Ronnie or whoever, then you most likely went with the fake abs and muscles costume from some local Halloween Store, which just reads total doucher all over it. And finally, what girl really wants to be snooki? I mean she's short, fat, and is just overall nasty! Blah, it gives me the wiggles just thinking about it.

Because I only took the top 5 of each, I could not include all of the costumes that I thought were either very good or really bad. However, I have included a list of notable mentions for the best costumes of 2010 from the weekend. They are:

Hulk, A Lego, Bed Intruder, Scuba Steve, Indiana Jones, a Sim, Maverick from Top Gun.

If you feel that your costume was extremely awesome and was not put on here, please leave me a comment letting me know, or drop it on my facebook page:

(http://www.facebook.com/bobbalockinosmagockin) and after careful examination from my panel of judges, I will decide whether or not to update the current rankings!

Oh and a special congratulations to the Napoleon Dynamite Crew. You officially are my first picture that has been upload onto my blog page. Great work guys.

Thanks for reading the thoughts of This Guy Over Here. Have a frabjous week!

Closing tip for the week: For those of you who don't know, the Purdue Busing system actually offers a very neat opportunity to know when buses are going to arrive at your bus stop. Each bus stop has its own individual 'code', and if you text BUS and then the 'code' to 25252, it will tell you when the bus is going to next arrive at your stop. It is super helpful, especially on cold mornings!

Closing thought for the week: " I bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween" ~ Anonymous

Throwing up the NW333 and ghost riding with the Easy Rider,

Signing off,

JD

Hallowhat?

Boo!

Hey all and welcome back. Thanks for stopping by and reading what This Guy Over Here has to say about life on the Purdue Campus. At my bible study on Tuesday nights through Campus Crusade, we do something called "Happies and Crappies," and so I thought I would implement that into my blog because I like the idea, and it is a catchy way to tell people about what has been going on since the last blog. SO, since last friday, there have been both some Happies and Crappies. I am always hesitant about which to start with, but for today, I will start with the crappies just because they are shorter. My major crappy for this past week is that the New York Yankees lost in the ALCS to the Texas Rangers. I am a Yankees fan, like it or hate it, but I was very disappointed when the pinstripes went down. Anyways, let's get off the toilet. On the other hand, I had a fantastic weekend that consisted of a water park, making lots of new friends, and a skit that was so good it could have been written by the Shakespearean legend himself (or Ronald Dahl).

As the Purdue students have gone through the week, they have probably noticed one of two things. The first is that this weekend is Halloween. That should be obvious. It's the only thing that anybody talks about. What are you going to dress up as? What parties are you going to? What are you going to dress up as? Wait did I already mention that? Oh well, what are you going to dress up as again? It's like a contagious virus that is spread throughout campus. Speaking of contagious viruses, the other thing that most Purdue students should have realized is that this week marked the kick off of Humans Vs. Zombies. Who knew that nerf guns and thin strips of orange cloth could cause such a controversy. As I was standing outside my math class today, I overheard this dialogue:

"AMBUSH!!! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF"

"Ouch!" followed by a banging noise, and the sound of someone being tackled (this does have a very distinct noise)

"Gotcha. Alright man give me your feed code."

"No way man. You totally got sideshot before you poisoned me."

"Really? You're going to be that guy?" (To which I responded: I'm This Guy Over Here. Not really. But I should have)

They say nerf guns are for children. I think not. Especially with their wicked sideshots that can kill zombies. Anyways. Enough with that. Back to the first main thing going on at Purdue. Hallowhat?! Halloween! When I was little, I used to dress up in these awesome hand made costumes courtesy of my mom and my best friends mom. Now with no one to make my costume, I am a bit lost in the wardrobe department. With so many possibilities out there, it's a bit hard to narrow down the options. However, I have never really understood the idea of Halloween, and that is what I want to talk about for the remainder of this blog. Hallowhat?

Halloween!

Halloween is the one day of every year where kids and grownups alike can dress up as whatever they want to be. According to history.com, Halloween was originally an ancient Celtic practice. It was one day that straddled the seasons of fall and winter, and it was a say where the dead could return to earth. Now that is some scary stuff. However, throughout the centuries, this custom has been watered down to now degradative image that we see reflected in every skimpy and sleezy halloween costume.

The more I got to thinking about Halloween, the more convinced I became that Halloween actually accomplishes the complete opposite of what it intends to do. Halloween is meant to be a time where individuals can dress up and disguise themselves with costumes and extra weird make-up. However, I believe that people already do a pretty good job of putting on different masks to fit in with different crowds in everyday life, and therefore, I've concluded that on Halloween, the good majority of people actually behave more like themselves than they do on any other day of the year. They feel more comfortable being who they really are because people won't judge them. How can they? It's Halloween.

Do you ever think about who first started the idea of trick-or-treat? I always pictured it as a creeper looking to rob a house, only to find that the owner is inside. This owner just happens to have quite the sweet tooth, and so he keeps a giant bowl of candy right next to the door. The creepy guy peeks in, takes a handful of candy, and runs off with his loot. He then precedes to make every other homeowner in the neighborhood feel guilty by showing them just how good of a neighbor the sweet tooth home owner was for allowing him to take some candy. And so starts trick-or-treat. Fact.

I think that sometimes, we as a society don't really think too much about the reasons why we do something. We simply base our actions on the merit of tradition or norm, but what is norm when it comes to halloween? Is it scary movies? Haunted Houses? Maybe. Is it creepy guys trying to rob houses only to come up with a bag full of candy. Possible. Or is it a day in which people are actually the most open and real with each other? I haven't really decided yet, but one thing I do know is that everybody at Purdue will keep on talking about Halloween, and they probably will keep talking for a solid two weeks after this weekend. It's that legendary.

In terms of the future, I emailed the student newspaper, as I am trying to get them to run something called the "Unheard Voices of Purdue." This would be a small section somewhere in the Exponent that would feature blogs or commentaries that are written by Purdue students that are more underground. It would be similar to a "Letters to the Editor" type of thing, except it wouldn't be random one time blurbs but updates on actual sites or maintained social critique. So far I haven't heard back from them, but I'll keep you all updated on any advancements. If you have any ideas for the future, or any topics that you want me to blog about, feel free to leave them in the comments section along with your name, so I can give you a shoutout!

Finally, as many of you have realized by now, at the end of every blog, I include a line about how I "throw down The Rock." In case you didn't know, this was a reference to my roommate, Evan Staton. It was originally the nickname that I had given him for the purposes of this blog; however, my dorm floor has come up with something a bit more classy, and so from now on for all extensive purposes, you will see that I refer to Evan Staton as Mr. Easy Rider (The Mr. is not always necessary, it just gives it more flair).

That's it, and thanks for reading the thoughts of This Guy Over Here.

Closing tip for the week: If you ever need a really pathetic way of getting out of class, go to the corner of Martin Jischke and third street where the dorm hall Meredith sits. There is a tree out front, and on this tree are some berries. These berries smell like an awful throwup, especially when they are smashed. Saying this, scoop some up, go to class, crush some of these berries right outside your building and make sure that you get some residue in your shoes or on your fingers. Make sure that your hair is ruffled, and you look like you just woke up. Walk into class coughing, and tell your teacher that you are sick and that you are throwing up. The smell will confirm it. You will get to miss class, and you will get brownie points for dragging yourself to class to tell your professor personally that you were sick. Double bonus.

Closing Quote for the week: "There once was a man that was never born. He was made." ~ Me.

Think about it.

Throwing up the NW333 and ghost riding with the Easy Rider,

Signing off,

JD

Click!

Welcome to the wonderful world of West LaLa. This Guy Over Here is bringing you the latest news on campus, as well as some social critique. For some students, this week consisted of setting up meetings with advisors and trying to figure out what classes to take next semester. Some stood in line on Tuesday night for reserve basketball tickets, whose value went down significantly with Hummel's injury. Other's are still trying to figure out how to differentiate this week from any other week previous. As I'm having lunch and simply observing people in their everyday life, I wanted to talk about something that I have been mulling over about. It can be defined in this one sentence: "how do you be someone that other people want to follow?"

This seems like a pretty easy question right off the bat. Many people would simply answer that if you are nice, polite, and intelligent, people will want to follow or listen to you. However, to those people I am quick to bring up that sometimes the nicest people can't persuade even the dullest person to follow their cause, because there is something almost scary about a person that is too nice. Even the most polite person still has trouble gathering a following at times, and the smartest people in the world can't always find people to back up their causes. So how can you insure that others will willingly follow and support you?

It is a combination of different skills, and this combination has to be finely tuned. Imagine each different characteristic or attribute as a knob on a giant control panel. You can mix and match the values of these knobs, and therefore, you are given an endless possibilities of possible talentry. Some people may be really good at public speaking, but they lack in the one on one conversations. Others can be really personable, but they can't communicate to a large group. The trick to being someone that other people want to follow is by finding the right combination of settings that your "knobs" should be set on. So how do we find this combination?

Well first of all we need to practice. Practice makes perfect right? Well not necessarily, but it does make your further attempts a lot easier. But then we stumble along the problem of how do you practice different lifestyles? We don't wake up one day and decide to adjust our character to certain degrees. So, I want to lay out the three most important characteristics to monitor and practice in order to make other people want to follow you.

1) Confidence

This is the most important character trait, and it is also the hardest because in today's society, confidence is so easily mistaken as ego. There is a huge difference between ego and confidence; however, we can cross over from one to the other without even knowingly trying. It is a known fact that people follow people who seem to have their life together. People are attracted to people who are confident and sure of themselves. Note that the last statement does not read that people are attracted to people who are so sure of themselves that they do heed advice (egotism). The confidence factor is one of those traits that has to be just right. You have to be extremely confident and comfortable with yourself, without coming across as egotistical, and that is very hard to do.

2) Funny

This trait is something that you either have or you don't, because everyone knows how annoying the person is that tries to be Mr. Funny. For those of us who did not get the funny gene, we are at a disadvantage, and therefore have to find other ways to make up for this lacking. However, lacking the ability to always make people laugh is not a bad thing. If you are the class clown, the funny person, or the person in the group that everyone turns to for a laugh, then it is much harder to be taken seriously. Also, if you are that person, being funny almost becomes an expectation, and that can be a lot of work in and of itself. Saying this, people usually tend to follow individuals who make themselves feel good.

3) Intelligence

People listen and respect individuals that are intelligent. However, like confidence, an intelligent person can very easily come off as being cocky or even belittling. People with above average intelligence also have to figure out ways to communicate this intelligence in ways that everyone can understand. Only then can they really be an effective leader. If we took a group of high school students and sat them down in a Astrophysics lecture being held by the Director of NASA, they wouldn't necessarily want to follow this speaker simply because of the intelligence of the lecture.

The hardest part of being a leader is making other people want to follow you. Sure we can all go out and tell the next 50 people that we see that if they back us up on this or that then they win $100. But that's not real leadership. True leadership comes when others join with us simply because they like the direction that we are headed in. It's as simple as that.

This relates to us at college, especially at a big college like Purdue, because with close to 40,000 students, what are you personally doing to stand out and be a leader? Are others around you willing to follow you based on these characteristics above? These are not the only characteristics of leadership by any means; they were just the three that I thought were most relevant and useful. So be a connector. Branch out. Find out what makes you uncomfortable and do it. Adjust your personal knobs so that you can be the best you that you can be!

I came across a bit of exciting news a few days ago, but it was just confirmed today. My blog will now be hosted on boiler.camp.us and so I will be blogging for two different sites, but if you are used to reading on here, don't worry blogs will still be on the way. I am hoping that this will help expand my readership and get me more involved with the students of Purdue.

Closing tip for the week: Hicks Undergraduate Library was voted one of the best places on campus to study. There is a reason for this. It is AWESOME! Go there and check it out if you haven't been there yet. If you have, I am sure that you would agree with me. If not, go to a psychiatrist.

Closing quote for the week: "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." ~ John. C Maxwell

Throwing up the NW333 and throwing down The Rock,

Signing off,

JD

Carpe Diem

Sieze the day. A phrase that has been steady throughout the ages. Sieze the day. A way of life that exists on the purpose of spontaneity. Sieze the day. A saying that gets really really annoying if you keep repeating it after every sentence, but is still so true that it needs to be said after every sentence. Hello and welcome. Today is Sunday and I am about to start my team building meeting for engineering; however, I had a little bit of free time so I decided to fire up the comp and jot down some of the thoughts/events of the weekend.

The first thing that I would like to bring to the attention of anyone who reads this is the campaign called Swipe out Starvation. It is being run by Campus House at the moment; however, it is really more of an idea that we are trying to make happen on campus. Basically the idea is as follows: Every student at Purdue that has a meal plan gets a certain number of meal "swipes" per week. Yet, every week, students find themselves coming up with a certain number of swipes left over that they do not use. This is especially true of holiday weeks. Sure, Purdue already has a system where you can go to "On-the-Go" and get food that is definable to an equivalent of a meal, but some students do his and still have extra swipes, or they do not want the extra food and therefore swipes go to waste every week. What if we could not let those swipes go to waste? What if we could take the equivalent of food or money that is involved with one swipe and find a way to turn those equivalencies into tools to help those around us who are less fortunate. The Swipe out Starvation campaign is going to aim to do just that. There have been some concerns raised, and these concerns are a main reason why this is still an idea and not a project; but hopefully, it will soon be a experiment, and then a project, and finally something that is installed into everyday life at the Purdue campus. That is just a heads up of a new project that is relevant to all of us here at Purdue.

So moving onward.

If you have been on campus at all in the past week, you have seen the 'Maker' campaign that is popping up all over the place. I am a maker. I like the general idea; however, someone told me that the school was trying to get their name changed from Boilermaker to maker. I am totally against that. The cool part of the saying right now is that there are so many words/phrases that go with maker, i.e. difference maker, peacemaker. Boilermaker fits in that category, and therefore symbolizes that we are all of those phrases that are associated with 'maker'. Don't change the name.

If you saw the 'maker' campaign, you were probably around to hear the tragedy that befell all purdue students and fans alike this weekend. The news hit the student section of the football game in the 3rd quarter and spread like a wildfire. Just after we had gotten over the ACL injury that Robbie Hummel suffered at the end of last season, that ended his season along with the hopes of Purdue basketball, this happens. This season, with Johnson back and Hummel back and healthy, Purdue was ranked in the top-5 for pre-season polls. Yet, nothing gold stays, and last saturday during a practice, in one second, Robbie Hummel single handily destroyed all Boilermakers dreams and hopes of a National Championship when he re-tore his ACL. I am not blaming Robbie, and we will still have a good team, I just know a lot of grown men that cried themselves to sleep on Saturday night (I was not one of them. Maybe)

Well it's time for my meeting. Thanks for reading and feel free to post any comments. Hope your week is fabulous!

Tip for the week: At the football games, buy one of the bottomless cups. It may be a bit more expensive at first, but if you save it, you can bring it back into the later games. I have done this the past two weeks and saved $21 dollars on drinks. You may have to sneak the cup in, and if you get caught, this guy didn't tell you anything. (I am not supporting crime, just enlightening the Purdue students)

Closing quote for the week: "Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." ~Spanish Proverb

Throwing up the NW333 and throwing down The Rock,

Signing off,

JD

Myth Debunking: Pumping some Iron

So Purdue's fall break is over which means that we actually have to go back to class now. The only good thing about break being over is that we only have a three day week which is always nice. Professors think that just because we came back from break we are suddenly rejuvenated. We are the complete opposite. Well most of us. Nothing too exciting has been happening since I returned to Purdue. I've been studying quite a bit, catching up on some homework, and I even made it to the gym a couple of nights ago. Since I like to point out common roles and norms of society, I had a great time coming up with a list of the average people you will see at your local gym. They are as follows:

1) The really strong guys who grunt/ make loud awkward noises.

Okay so your arms are twice the size of my head. Congratulations. While you were busy trying to catch up to Arnold Schwarenegger and taking your steroids, I was out being a bit more productive with my life. It's perfectly okay to work out but unless your going for the Strongest Man In the World competition, it's not something that has to consume you to a point where you look like Hulk Hogan or other wrestlers from WWE. As for the steroid use.. no we won't even go into that.

(I am not inferring that every really strong person uses steroids. Just the good majority of them)

2) The awkwardly strong girl

Guys love girls that are in shape. Key words: in shape. Not the girls that can bench press more than us. I mean come on if you want to take that approach, chop off your hair and call your self Mike (sorry michelle). There is a fine line for women between what guys consider working out, and actually working out. As tricky as that may sound, there is a difference. Be careful girls just how strong you get, because that is something that guys get easily offended at, and that is where most of the allegations of steroids and beaver tranquilizers comes from.

(Again, unless you are competing for the Strongest Female in the World, which I am not even sure if that exists, then you should really moderate your workouts.)

3)The weak guy who always tries to do more weight than he should.

So for a really long title, this role is actually pretty common and pretty self explanatory. There is always one gentleman; one young guy who thinks he is really stronger than he is. I know I know you are thinking how will I ever get stronger if I do not try more heavier weights. You're scared because sometimes you can't lift the weight that you go up and you are now thinking that you are this person. No, that is not necessarily the case. This person is more clear-cut. He usually doesn't visit the gym very often, and therefore he does not know proper gym etiquette (look it up). If you do at any time feel like you are becoming this guy, or you know that you have been in the past. I would recommend going and getting the second lightest set of dumbells and cranking out a quick 20 set. This shows that you can do some lifting, while not being so degraded to have to lift the lightest set.

4) Marathon Runner- The guy/girl that runs on the treadmill... FOREVER!

Whenever you go to the gym, there is a guy or a girl, sometimes both, who are running on the treadmill when you get there, and they are still running when you leave. It's like they are running every second of every day, on this journey to be the next Forrest Gump. The first problem with this is that they hog the treadmills. Good for you marathon man you can run for hours on end, so go outside and run and leave the treadmills to those of us who actually need them.

5)The Averagers.

Basically, most of the other people fit into this category. They are the people who just go to the gym because it is something to do. They run, they life, bike, whatever, but they don't get super serious about it. It's more of a hobby for them than a lifestyle. There are so many more roles inside this category, but it would take too long and be too annoying to describe them all. Some of them include: the sweaty guy, the Stair master, the Ab pro, and the Wanderer. However, when taken at a larger angle, all of these people are really just common goers, who are there without fail.

Now I have described some of the pretty common roles at the gym up on Purdue's Campus; yet, these are the common roles for most gyms. The people change but the roles are pretty consistent. How do you know if you are falling into one of these roles and what can you do about it? Well, the first thing would be to ask your friends. The second would be to video tape yourself working out. Just kidding. Don't do that, we don't need another Richard Simmons workout video out there floating around.

So next time that you go to the gym, if ever after reading this, you will know the common roles that people fit into. You may even be able to try and pull out some of this knowledge in a really pathetic pick-up line to the hot girl who is currently on the treadmill like

"Look, I know you're a marathon runner, so I am just going to run next to you and maybe by the time I turn 25 we can have a drink somewhere." Perfect. But seriously, guys that try to go to the gym just to get a hook-up are pitiful. It's a place to exercise, not to date.

That's about all I have for today's blog! I have to run to class so I'm going to wrap this up with the usual stuff, but I hope that everyone has a fabulous weekend and I will post something within the next week!

Closing tip for the week: For all of us people who live from Meredith and farther west (Shreve, Earhart, McCutcheon, Harrison, Hillenbrand), I am sure that you are all perfectly aware of this, but if you aren't then this will be helpful. There is a back entrance to the CoRec that makes things so much easier and quicker. Look it up

Closing thought for the week: "I don't like going to the gym because I don't like being with people I don't know in that intense environment. " ~Utada Hikaru

Throwing up the NW333 and throwing down The Rock,

Signing off,

JD

You Just Got Served

I know that most of you do not even know what 2:00 a.m. in the morning looks like because you have never been up that late, but for those of us who are night owls, let's just say this is when the fun begins. But seriously, what am I doing up this late, and why of all things would I be writing this? Those are two very good questions that I am going to answer right after I finish this extremely long sentence that really has no purpose but to delay the inevitable. So one, I am up this late because I could not sleep. Two, I am writing because it helps me express my thoughts and it's almost like a way of talking to myself, which sounds overly creepy and makes me look like I need some sort of psychiatrist, but it's a good way to kinda just let everything out. Moving forward.

Today officially marked the start of Purdue's fall break, and it also marked the first time that I have ever seen tumbleweed rolling across the street. For such a large campus, you would be amazed at how quickly it vacates. However, I decided to stay up on campus tonight, partially because of my crazy random desire to be different, and partially because I am an avid sports fan and our volleyball team just happened to be taking on the Penn State Nittany Lions, who ranks among the best volleyball teams in the nation. I have made it to 6 of the 7 home volleyball games this year (something that I am very proud of), and I did travel down to IU for the IU vs. Purdue Volleyball game so that makes up for my one home game that I missed. For all of you out there who think I am a little off my rocker for liking volleyball so much; I will just pretend that you aren't thinking that because I know that if you had a student section that was even a tenth as good as the Block Party, you would love volleyball too.

So I showed up to the game, grabbed a front row spot next to my friends Becky Wilson and Michael Dunbar, and got ready to see some good old big ten competition. The girls got down quick, losing the first two games, and as Phil Morton said at the half-time break, "Everybody better be ready to stay, cause this thing is going into five!" And he was right. The Boilermakers ended up coming back and beating Penn State in the 5th game, giving Penn State their third loss in the last three years (it was the first time that Purdue had beaten Penn State since 1987). I was just happy to be a part of it. I was going nuts, the gym was going crazy. It was a great cap to a pretty good week.

After the game, I went and caught the movie Social Network. It was very, very good. I would recommend it to all age groups. However, it was leaked that the movie was not completely accurate, that Zuckerburg was portrayed as someone that he wasn't, and that there were other various details that didn't match up with what really happened. It throws me for a loop that someone that was relatively the same age that I was created something that has changed the entire world. As I walked back to my dorm room after the movie, I was really thinking about what it would take to change the world, and why more people don't aim for this. Taking religion out of the equation for a second, what is our purpose in life? If you don't believe in higher power, than why are you here? Why am I here? What does our lives mean? How do we measure success? Is it by how much fun we had while we lived, or how people remember us when we are no longer here? Is it both? How can I change the world, and should I even be concerned with that? Why not?

I saw my third shooting star tonight that I have ever seen in my entire life. Maybe it's a sign or something. This is coming from the guy that keeps every single fortune cookie fortune, because I have yet to get one that I cannot apply to my life somehow. That's about all I have for right now, if you have any comments or suggestions feel free to leave them below. They are much appreciated! Make sure you do your part and tell your friends or someone about this blog, and I'll keep up my end of the bargain and keep the posts coming. To follow This Guy Over Here, just make an account. It's that easy. twss

Tip for the weekend: At most of the dining courts, make sure to check out the hot chocolate dispenser. It is usually near where the coffee/ice cream is, and it is surprisingly delicious. Perfect for a chilly day.

Closing thought for the weekend: "When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."

~Author Unknown

Throwing up the NW333 and throwing down The Rock,

Proud to be a Boilermaker.

Signing off,

JD

It's Fall Break Time

Hey all. It's a beautiful wednesday up at Purdue, and I am siting on the porch of Meredith just taking it easy. I had my first engineering test today. It was a bit crazy, but what's over is over. Let's move on. Today, I want to bring up a few topics that have popped into my head over the past week, and sort of fill you in on what my week has consisted of since my last blog. For Purdue, our Fall Break starts this weekend and goes until next Wednesday. I feel really bad for the students at the colleges that don't offer a Fall Break, and by those colleges I mean IU (hey their students have to catch up in intelligence somewhere!). That last statement was probably uncalled for; however, if you go to Purdue or go to any Big Ten school that has a rival, so can sympathize with me because since day 1 I have had it drilled in my head that IU sucks. We are two different schools with specializations in different areas, why can't we just exist in a quiet and uninvolved harmony. We can be competitive in athletics, but then again, what Big Ten School isn't? We even have a school that is mixed between IU and Purdue, yet we still act as if we cannot stand one another.

Another thing that I have been thinking about as Fall Break is approaching is this sense on entitlement that everyone gets the day before a vacation to skip or leave early. This was a huge factor in high school with spring break, as our Spring Break really basically started on the thursday night. As Fall Break is right around the corner, I've noticed that the same principles apply in college, at least at Purdue. Teachers are canceling classes (I am not complaining about this), students are making travel plans that include skipping what classes they have remaining on Friday, and others are even leaving two days early. What I have been wondering is where did this sense of entitlement come from? Why do we think that we are owed this extra day before a vacation? I'm not really sure what the answer to that is, but it is always something that I have wondered about.

Let's see, what has been going on in the past week... Well as I said before, I had my first engineering test today so that has been my primary focus for the last 5 days or so. On Friday night, I went to a "creative date" with some girls from church, and it was this giant murder mystery game. My character was Kenny Kickit, a jock during high school who turned into a free lance assassin. I thought it sounded pretty cool, but I never obtained one of the murder weapons, so I couldn't even break out my stealthy ninja assassin moves (the ones with the ninja stars and that long wicked sharp chain). INstead, my services as a body guard were hired out and so I used all 6 feet, 150 pounds of myself to protect michael (a.k.a Rohan) from harm. And let me tell you I was a darn good body guard. If I was a little bit bigger, I think I could make a profession out of it. Note to self: check if they is a professional school for body guarding.

Because I had so much studying to do, I stayed in on Saturday night. (See how I used the studying as my excuse? It works. You're in college now if you ever don't want to do something, just say you have to study. Every college kid can study a little bit more.) I legitimately needed to study though, so it worked out both ways. Anyways, I ended up watching 'The Departed', which was a very confusing movie. I did my best to keep up at 2 in the morning, needless to say I was a little bit tired for church the next morning.

The rest of my week passed without anything too exciting or adventurous. The Brunch Bunch doubled its previous attendance in one week, so I think that we are moving in positive directions. My President's Leadership Class went to the low ropes course on Monday night, and I learned how to climb over an 11 foot wall with the help of one of my friends. I unfortunately watched bits a pieces of another dismal Colt's loss, but I have to give it up to the Jaguars' kicker. That's about all I have for this week, I'll be sure to update you all on what's happening at Purdue, and keep you up to date on anything that strikes my fancy! Also, I am adding in a new part to my traditional closing. Hope you enjoy!

Tip for the week: When at a friendly bonfire with people that you do not know, and these people just so happen to be making smores, take and hold onto the bag of marshmellows. This allows you to control the distribution of marshmellows, but more importantly, it allows you to meet people and make new friends. Try it!

Closing thought for the week: "Vacation used to be a luxury, but in today's world it has become a necessity." ~Author Unknown

Throwing up the NW 333 and throwing down the Rock,

Signing off,

JD

Hello world. It's been a while since my last post, but with time constraints and such, it's the best I can do (not really, I am just trying to convince myself of that.) These past few weeks that I haven't written anything have allowed to me to soak up the college atmosphere and really get into my classes. Of of these two actions has been fun, the other not so much. I'll let you figure that one out. However, as most of us have realized, Indiana has once again graced us with her mysterious ability to change seasons in a day. Last Thursday, it was the hottest September 23 recorded in the past 20 years at 92 degrees. The next day, it dropped down to somewhere close to 65 degrees, and I marked it as the official start to fall.

Because this is my first fall on campus, it was funny to take in all of the subtle changes that come with the fall season. The first and most obvious would be that the sun now sets 4 hours earlier. This is totally inaccurate, yet it does feel like it. Along with fall comes the sweatshirts, the jeans, and warm slippers. The number of students in my morning classes has substantially dropped, and I think the 45 degree weather at 8:00 a.m. is taking a lot of blame. At night, everyone can see their breath, which is cool for about the first three minutes while it is still new, then it becomes super annoying and stays that way until February. When I first came to college, my dorm hall was crowded and busy on the weekends. This is not so much the case anymore, and I put full blame on televised football (although I do like the Colts).

With fall, there are less people randomly sitting outside around campus. There are less people throwing the frisbee every night, or sitting out on the porch in front of my dorm. I like to think about what all of those people are doing with the their free time; the same way I like to sit and think about what the people in the planes are thinking about as they fly above us, totally unaware that I am looking up at them gazing into their souls. That last part sounded a bit creepy, but let's go with it. Back to fall on a college campus. Fall is a time of bonfires, smores, and colorful annoying leaves. Fall has the unique ability to make you just cold enough that you need a light jacket, and it's specialty is making you suck your breath back into your lungs when you first go outside.

But enough of the season, let's talk a bit about what has been going on in my life. In the past two weeks, I have had two exams. One was easier than the other. And that's that. No one likes to hear about the troubles and hardships of school, because it is relatively the same story for everyone regardless of which college or high school you attend. Lecture, homework, lack of understanding, understanding (sometimes), more homework, test. It's that last part that always gets us. It's almost as if we know the whole process, but we are always angry that there is a test at the end.

Outside of school, I have spent most of my time working on school; however, since this is the first year that I am not going to some practice or game everyday, I have taken it upon myself to join as many intramural teams as possible. I think the current number is six, but it is sure to keep going up as more sports become available. I consider myself a pretty competitive guy, and I think that those people that know me would agree with this statement. It used to be so much worse, hulk status worse, but I have found ways to deal with this crazy need to be the best at everything, some of which are more sane than others. But one of the things that I have noticed in these first couple weeks of intramurals, is that for every team, every squad, every group, there is always that one person who thinks that they are really better than they are. I am almost 100% positive that I am not that person on any team that I play for, and this sureness stems from the fact that I could name at least one person on every team who fits that role, and they are not myself. So saying this, I wanted to outline the roles on an intramural or pick-up team.

1) Coach

Classic. The guy or girl that goes around giving advice, telling other team members what to do better. Seems to be nice and looking out for your best interest, but every time that they talk you have a desire to cover their mouth with duct tape and point your finger in their face and ask tell them to worry about themselves. (This may not be the same desire for everyone, again remember that I can tend to be a bit competitive.)

2) Guy that tries to be bad.

Some guys are ashamed of their natural athletic ability, and therefore, they act like the are really bad at the sport, but they do so in a laughing joking manner, like look at me "isn't it funny how bad I am?" This usually draws some laughs out of the audience or the team, and so he thinks that people are laughing with him, but in reality, we can see through his fake nose and glasses and we all know how much of an idiot he is making himself look.

3) Similar case but for females

As sad as it is to say, a lot of girls won't put forth the effort to try and be good at a sport because they don't want to prove that they actually aren't good and that they are a hinderance to the team. Therefore, they will pull a "Teehee, I'm a girl so you can't rely on me to make that play" attitude.

4) The cheerleader

This role can be for either female or male, and most of the times it's the awkward guy that gets this award. Someone is always there saying, come on guys, we've got this, or other cliche pump up phrases that really mean nothing in the jist of things. Occasionally, a team will have a cheerleader that is touchy feely, and that is really when things start to go south. A high-five is good at the end of the game, not fifteen times in between. And guys, never ever go below the upper arm. A back pat is sometimes acceptable, or a shoulder punch, but that is basically it. Just know the bro code and you should be fine.

5) Cornucopia

Finally, there is an mixture of individuals that fit all types of roles, but it basically narrows down to two categories. There are the actual athletes, and the people who wish that they were athletes. If you don't have any athletic ability, or you can't beat an old lady down the street, then intramurals are probably not for you. If you can beat the old lady down the street, but you still have no athletic ability, I can guarantee you that this will not change simply because you join the flag-football team.

Well, it's about that time again to actually get dialed back into school mode. That's basically what has been going on in the past few weeks. I know exciting right. Remember, life is what you make it, and most of us can't cook so what does that tell you. Don't try to make your life following some instructions, or someone else's recipe. This talk of food has made me hungry so I am going to go and hit up the wonderful food service here at Purdue.

Closing thought for the day, "And why do we do what we do? Because if we didn't, who would?"

Throwing up the NW333 and throwing down the rock,

Signing off,

JD