Saying Goodbye

Ever since I was a little kid when my dad would leave the house I would say goodbye and get corrected and told it was only see you later. I think the reason for this is goodbye's are sad, where as see ya laters didn't hurt quite as bad. As I have grown up though there has been more and more times where a simple see you later wouldn't work, because that would have been lie. All growing up is is learning about yourself and knowing who you are enough so when you do have to say good bye you can carry on without them. I have had to say good bye to both my parents so you would think it would start to get easier. I had to do it again with most of my friends back in Utah, I will see some again but for the most part we will have grown so far apart that its almost as if we are strangers. The most recent time for me to say goodbye was today, I finished school for the semester and moved out of Paty, and on my way out I said see ya later to everybody because I knew we would both be back next year. My roommate helped my take all my stuff down to my car and when I left him he said well goodbye man, I knew the proper response was just to say goodbye because he wouldn't be coming back next year. I couldn't though, throughout this year he was just about the only person I could trust and I was just going to never see him again? So I corrected him, and told him it was just a see you later. Now whether thats true or not I will find out, but it made me feel better.

Miss Paty?

I left Paty today for what I hope to be my last time. When I was driving away all the memories I had from Paty were running through my head and I started to wonder if I would actually miss the old building others considered their home. Almost Immediately I got my answer in an immediate hell no. The happiest thing about being done with my first year of school isnt that I wont have to take another test or go to another class all summer, its that I wont ever have to sleep on those beds made of plastic again.

Cleaning up

This past weekend I started the grueling process of packing up my stuff and cleaning my room so I would be ready to check out of Paty. I was reading over the checklist they gave me for what all we needed to do before we could leave and one was vacuum. That wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that Paty has a strict 24/7 quiet hour policy going on for finals. So just to vacuum my room I had to get my RA and have him watch as I vacuumed my room so I wouldn't get into trouble. That just seems a little rediculous to me, and it also just another example of how horrible it is to live in the Paty Projects.

Skateboarding

I found out yesterday that it is illegal to do skateboard tricks on campus. A friend of mine was threatened to get SNAM'ed if he didn't stop showing us how much better he had gotten immediately. The officer proceeded to tell us that it is legal to ride your skateboard as a transportation device but not to do tricks do to the fact that if you were hurt doing tricks on campus you could sue the school. I wonder if you could also sue the school if you were just riding your skateboard around and was injured. I could use some extra money...

Crawfish Boil

The Schaefer Eye Center Crawfish Boil happens every year in Birmingham and is always a good time. Its a huge concert with quite a few big stars that wouldn't normally be there together and probably the most craw fish you will ever see in your entire life. This years cast included Fergie, 3 Doors Down, Gavin DeGraw, seether, t-pain, and a few other great bands. This one is over now but I would definitely encourage you to go to next years if you love good music.

Childs play

A few friends and I went to the local chuck e cheese this weekend. Go ahead and laugh it up but we had a reason behind it. We don't enjoy over-priced pizza that tastes like cardboard or the creepy massive robotic mouse thats in the building. We also didn't go for all those wonderfully spoiled children running around with slobber and cake smeared all over their faces. We went for one reason, the video games. Tuscaloosa doesn't have one arcade in it besides the one inside chuck e cheese. Think about the amount of money that could be made by opening up an arcade for the older kids and young adults to go to. In fact don't think about it, its my idea, and Im dropping out of college to do it.

evil empire?

I just found out that a new wallmart just got approved in my hometown in Heber City Utah. While nice things like always low prices and the more options that wallmart provides are nice, it is going to put our local grocery store out of business. This is horrible news because I am really good friends with the owner of that local store. In years past my hometown always voted against a new wallmart being built but it looks like a combination of move-ins who dont value the small town feel as much as others and sell-outs have voted to have my friends business to be run out of town by wallmart. My logo would be a smily face too if i knew i could go into any town and take it over.

Parking is against the law

Why has the university of alabama decided that it wants to be so strict on parking? We all pay to go to school here so why cant we drive to class and be able to park near our buildings. The parking passes are expensive and they give you the right to park in a little areas around where you live that is always filled up. Only certain colors of parking passes can park at the rec center, why is that? Shouldn't the rec center parking lot be available to everyone who pays tuition and who has paid for the over priced parking passes? I know next year im not buying a pass, I am just going to use other peoples cards to get out of the parking deck and do my part to keep my money away from the university. Sell your stupid buses and let me park where I want.

Mallet vs. Paty

Once you find out you live in the paty projects you find out quickly that your expected to hate the mallet kids. There reasoning is that the kids are weird and should be avoided. The same is taught to the mallet kids about the people who live in Paty. Throughout the year there have been numerous fights between the two buildings this year and not one of them should have happened. There really isn't much difference between the two, they both like to sit out front and smoke cigarettes and they both attend the same school. But because they live across the street your supposed to hate them. Another fight happened today that could have been avoided and I just wonder what started this hate between the two buildings, and what can we do to stop it.

Art at the ferg

The art gallery at the fergeson center really got to me as im sure it did to everyone else. I think sometimes we get to comfortable with our surroundings and don't realize that you can never take safty for granted. I never knew that there were so many people who have been sexually abused. I have never been very interested in art at all, but after seeing that and having it almost bring me to tears I think I will at least go check out the art gallery whenever I am in the Ferg.

A-day

This past Saturday I attended our annual A-day game along with 78,199 other people. This was less that last year which packed out the entire stadium at 93,000 and had to turn away thousands of others. Even still we had almost three times as many people as the cow college had at their game and more than anyone else has ever had in a spring game except for us. Plenty of schools have a hard time getting that many people in their stadium for a game, much less a scrimmage. I wonder what makes football so much more important here than in other places. Is it really just because we don't have stuff to do here? I think it has everything to do with pride. We hear often enough how people down south talk slow and think even slower, and how we don't have as nice of stuff as the yankees do. Football was/is a chance for us to be dominate, and show our worth and superiority. Maybe its a little silly that our pride and joy is a sport, or maybe all that matters is that we have something to be proud of no matter what it is.

Lai Lai's

I go to this restaurant called Lai Lai's about once a week. Going that often has earned me the status of "regular." I have become really good friends with Lisa, the owner there. She was telling me that they made more than 50% of their income just during football season. When you think about that its pretty impressive. That also shows how important football is to this town. ESPN may joke that we are too serious about our football down in the south, but I would hate to see what would happen to Lai Lai's if we weren't so passionate about football in Tuscaloosa. Sorry about the rant, but I just wish that people would try and look at all sides of an issue before they try and make light of it.

Favorite place on campus

I was thinking the other day that no matter where i have lived i have always had a place where i could go and just relax and think. In Utah I had this spot on top of a big hill that overlooked the city I lived in and I would just drive up there. When I came to the university of Alabama i was stuck in the Paty dorms, aka the Paty Projects. In my one room the size of a small walk in closet i have two beds two desks one fridge and microwave combo and one sink. I can lay on my bed and reach the other one with my hand. With this in mind it is easy to understand how it would be hard to have some privacy and be able to think without someone always in your room right next to you. So I had two options, go insane or find a place of solitude. I chose the latter and quickly discovered that even the "soundproof" study rooms weren't very peaceful and that Paty had earned its reputation for a reason. One day I woke up from another uncomfortable night of sleep which was disturbed several times by my roommate's snoring and stumbled my way into the community shower. I was upset and tired but once I got under the warm water from the shower I instantly started to relax and my muscles started to relax. I probably stayed in that shower for 20 minutes and when I came out I was fully refreshed and rejuvenated. Thats when I realized that I had found my new spot, the wonderful Paty Projects community shower.