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