The Life of Forrest Gump

Oh sweet sweet Christmas time (or for my Jewish readers, Hanukah. btw, Shalom!). That one time of year to gather with friends and family, discussing the year's events (I'm talking about who in your graduating class has gotten fat, or what Britney Spears has done this time...I dont mean important, worldly events. I think there was an election this year...eh, whatev), receiving a Mt Everest sized stack of family Christmas Cards (Ours is featured on the right), and the one time of year it is OK to stuff your face with ridiculous amounts of sausage balls, 28 layer dips, triple chunk double chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and other low cal, no fat foods (Reader, let me introduce you to Sarcasm. Sarcasm, this is Reader). The time of year meant to bring rarely seen families and friends together...but delivers the question of "Is it time to go yet" 7 minutes after arrival- thank 7 pound 8 oz sweet little baby Jesus for those no cal sausage balls being shoved down your throat. (And to my friends and family that are reading this, OF COURSE I was glad to see YOU, I'm talking about different people!...)

Now, to my massive audience base, I have received a cornucopias amount of fan mail asking where my dear little writings have been and why the hiatus (and by massive base I mean 3 people, and by fan mail, I mean those two people asking "Where the hell happened with that blog thingy). Well as you can tell by my use of the word cornucopias, I am in grad school. So that end of the semester thing got a little intensive. What did you miss though: my lulling on of why I believe writing papers are unnecessary (That would have obviously been during the time of my paper writings), the results of the election (the Presidential, Idol's not on til January), dressing as Bleaker from Juno for Halloween, Thanksgiving festivities, and discovering how this whole economy thing is really effecting me (basically I blame everything on the economy- which turns out to be the correct blamee 97.4% of the time). So you didn't miss too much. I know you have been extremely worried. But you can now stop it.

Back to the whole Holiday thing though (I said Holiday this time for our Kwanza readers as well. Which reminds me, Happy 1st Day of Kwanza!), December is also the time for the never ending Tacky Christmas Sweater Party themes. Or as some like to unfortunately call it, "Another party to wear the tacky clothes I wear the other 364 days of the year." For the rest of us, Goodwills are raided, closets are ransacked, and our parents current wardrobe is sifted through to see what tacky sweaters we can find this year- along with light up necklaces, santa socks, and reindeer antlers. Obvi, this is my Christmas Sweater in the picture. I don't like to use Tacky to describe it though. Instead, I like to use.....Awesome. If it weren't for my mother, it would have been worn to the Christmas Eve Church Service. Instead, I had to get ready using real clothes in the dark (b/c our power conveniently went out during Church preparations. Not because we were trying to be good to the environment, saving electricity or anything). Anywho, in short, I heart my Christmas Sweater.

I now have a week left until I must report back to duty in South Carolina. What will I be doing until then you may ask? Good question? That is what I am asking myself. Ill be using some gift cards and stocking up my forced grown-up, old person wardrobe (that means ties, button downs and pants and the like for work....not old person like black velcro comfort walkers from walmart or depends...) and doing a little New Years Celebratin! And with that, here's to wishing you and yours a Happy Chrismahanukwanzakuh and New Year!

Notes: The "special effects"=AMAZING! Love the Tazmanian Devil tshirt from approximately 1984. Also, what makes this even better, she is wearing an Auburn Shirt in the bottom one! She has recorded this, watched it, then decided it was just so good that she had to put it on YouTube! Enjoy!!

So I woke up this morning to go get my fitness on at the Strom (rec center), stepped outside, and it was a mere 40 degrees! Now, I've come to discover over the past months, since more than half the people in my program are from the north or northwest, that my definition of cold/hot is slightly different. Fact: I was shivering at the USC vs LSU game Saturday wearing a jacket (straight up reppin the 80's in the Member's Only). I was then made fun of....because it was 60 degrees and that is considered everyday weather in the north. I figure today's 40 is preparing me for later this week, when I head to Cleveland, OH for a conference with 5 other grad students. Who WOULDN'T say a 13 hour car ride in a 15 passenger van to a place that will be 37 degrees from Tuesday to Saturday is the best time ever!? 

Last weekend was my first trip to the University of Alabama in a really long time. I went to stay with the sweet sis and see the crazy cuz- both too much to talk about in one post!! My sister is a freshman at Bama, so you may be asking yourself, "Wow Josh, did you go down to hang out with a gaggle of 18 year old girls all weekend." My response, "Gaggle? I don't think that is the correct term to use for a group of girls. Geese maybe, but not girls. And I wouldn't say I hung out with girls- they should be described as Alabama Sorority Girls." Yep, I'm pretty sure that is how I would respond to that question.

Is falling an adventure only the fortunate few are able to experience? Or better yet, falling and being caught by the one who pushed? Knowing you have found a potential who can make the grass greener and the sun brighter. Finding a potential who can open those heavy eye lids with ease in the morning, or causing hardships in shutting them at night, tiredness being replaced with anxious glee. How do you know when that has been found? Or, how do you cope if your "Pusher" does not want to also be your "Catcher?" Rejection can come as harsh as those office flourescents.

This is the funniest video I have seen on YouTube. I hope you cry laughing!

BA

That means Bad Ass (sorry mom), and that's basically how I describe the MTSU Sigma Nu Fall Pledge Class 2008. I went back to MTSU this past weekend for Smoker Night and Bid Day, and let me just say I wasn't disappointed- like most 19 year old girls were when they found out Britney WASN'T performing at the VMA's, tear jerker, I know! It was great getting back there and seeing everyone. And watching 30 new guys run out, all adorned in navy Sigma Nu Bid Day shirts, with a look of elation and pure ecstasy, knowing they were the biggest pledge class of any fraternity for fall '08 made the trip that much better. The cream of the crop (why do I always think of creamed corn, a little sickening) is basically how to describe them if you don't want to say BA.

The show kind of pre-dates my years, and I've never come across TV Land to see an episode, however, I DO know John Travolta was in it. That's beside the point though, get Travolta out of your head, greased hair, spandex-tight bellbottoms, multi-colored disco floor, and all, and just play the theme song in your head. Why am I doing this, you may ask? Well, because I told you to and it makes the story better if you have a soundtrack going in your head...and that is the song I have chosen. Any who, it was announced today that Sigma Nu at Middle Tennessee State University has been approved to have our charter reinstated! In laymen's terms, we are technically a fraternity once again!!! I won't go into the deets (that means details) but let's just be excited, bust out the streamers, poppers, and celebrate us a good ole time. To top that off, fraternity recruitment started this week- what kinda coincidence is that! So I'll be heading back to the boro (short for Murfreesboro. I just like to keep you up to speed on my extremely cool lingo and abbrevs usage- again, that means abbreviation) this weekend to participate in my first Smoker Night (Formal Night) since Fall 2006 and Bid Day on Saturday- again, the first one since fall 2006, but hopefully that was already obvious by my previous mentions. To say the least, I am more than ecstatic for the weekend and proud of the guys that worked on the piles of paperwork to get them there. {Insert Air Fist Pump over left shoulder and Air Fist Pump Over Right Shoulder HERE}

As I am on this whole Greek kick (the fraternity/sorority thing, not the actual country thing), sorority bid day at MTSU was on Monday and I wanted to say Congrats (hopefully I do not need to debrief you on that abbrev) to a few of my friends who went through! I could insert one of those extremely corny sisterhood quotes here, but I won't...because like I said...they're corny, and I don't like corn (especially on the cob. Don't you hate when it gets stuck in your teeth, then forcing you to crudely pick at your teeth, jamming your entire fist in your mouth doing so, all the while sitting across from the Queen of England, who then, for some peculiar reason, thinks you're being disgusting and gives you the stink eye). In short, congratulations, I couldn't be happier for y'all.

I now want to have a brief convo on the weather- not that I feel as if I am experiencing an awkward pause in the conversation with you and have run out of other, actual subjects to discuss (you know exactly what I am talking about)- but because I just want to mention it was somewhat cool in Columbia today. That is right, the normal humidity was absent, causing my clothes to stay dry for more than 17 seconds after stepping outside and becoming drenched with sweat. I dare to say it was cool, and pleasant. I have a friend who moved from South Carolina to MTSU to start his freshman year this fall. I wrote on his wall (facebook terms, not his actual living room wall. My name is not Harold and I do not have a purple crayon [google it]) the other day asking why it was so humid (this is obviously not a question I was looking for him to answer), and knowing exactly why he moved out-as the day I wrote that it felt like 107 degrees. To that he responded, and I quote, "It was a cool 75 here today, with a nice breeze. It probably won't be like that in SC till November." I have since deleted his friendship.

Oh sweet weekend. Full of heat, fun, garnet, football, angry SC fans and triumphant UGA fans. 

As I was born and raised in the south, I want to take a second to talk about religion: football. More specifically college football. Yes, southerners care for the NFL, but it's the college league that reigns king. I mean, why would you eat at Olive Garden, when that Italian place with the real food is closer to home. I've had two main sources of excitement so far this week, both relating to said religion. First off, Middle Tennessee had a little upset this past weekend. They won. And not just to that college from Podunk, Wisconsin where the importance of football falls right under something like Volleyball...or bowling. It was against Maryland. Again, not Central Maryland College West at Sumter, just plain Maryland. That's the big time, boys. The video proves it.

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