Tranquilo

The “Tranquilo” Vitamin Water I just consumed had a very unique and ironic message written on the back of it. It asked, “is it just us, or are long walks on the beach a little overrated?” It then goes on to argue that you should drink a vitamin water whenever you get the urge to walk on the beach claiming that you wont get sand in your “undies.” It also claims that the vitamins in the water (a clever mixture of vitamins a, c and e vitamins that they wittily combine to make the “a-c-e” vitamin) will make you happy! The only thing about the drink that would make me happier is the great flavor. Basically vitamin water is discouraging a proactive lifestyle and is claiming to be an antidepressant. Great. It is very ironic and obnoxious Vitamin Water claims to be more legitimate than walks on the beach when really all it is is a glorified, more expensive Gatorade. But hey they have to spend the extra money on people to write sly anecdotes and come up with appealing names for all of the different flavors.

This brings me to my main point of irony and its ties to my thanksgiving break. Every last senior in Asheville (including myself) consistently talked about how ready they were to “get out of town.” Everyone wanted to move on and was bored with their hometown and their homes in general. After a very short break everyone is talking about how much they miss their mountains. After less than a semester away from home everyone realized how privileged we were to have such a tight group of friends and such a naturally fun place. There is something about the mountains that is just majestic.

After having what was advertised to be a bonfire (in reality it was a gas fire on my friends porch, what a scam) at my friend’s house on a mountain that offers a view of the majority of Asheville, we all realized what we had. In addition to a great town and a solid set of friends we had people who were willing to do our own laundry for us! I forgot that anyone would ever want to do this after a semester of doing it by myself. We also all had our own rooms and bathrooms for the most part.

While I am eager to return to school and face the reality of doing work and exams, I can’t help but miss the mountain town of Asheville that I call my home. This is very ironic considering how ready I was to leave. While this has little to do with my rant about Vitamin Water (which, by the way is delicious) it is similar in its irony.

You know You Will Have a Bad/Good Day When...

(please note that while some of these anecdotes come from personal experience, a few have not actually happened to me…yet)

You know its going to be a rough day when:

You wake up after a very long night of homework only to realize that you are lucky enough to have to do homework all night tonight as well.

-This is one of my least favorite things, because somehow, my roommate always finds plenty of time to play call of duty, on my xbox and TV. Maybe that has something to do with his poor grades….

You wake up Monday morning and realize that you forgot to write your weekly blog and response.

-Although you had plenty of time the night before, and somewhat enjoy writing blogs, it simply slips your mind.

You walk into Lenoir only to find that one or both of the escalators are broken.

-To me, this is comparable to a black cat running in front of your car. It is just an omen hinting at a terrible day. I am not a very lazy person, but these broken escalators just don’t cut it as stairs, no matter how much they look like them. You haven’t fooled me Lenoir.

You are rudely woken up hours before your first class by a fire alarm.

-This has happened to me one too many times. I was woken up at 9 A.M., which doesn’t seem terribly early, but it was one of my beloved sleep-in days. In my early morning state of mind, I thought it would be a good idea to evacuate the building in nothing but my underwear and a blanket the size of a beach towel. Apparently everyone else took the time to get dressed. Please don’t burn your poptarts while I try to sleep.

In contrast there are a few signs that let you know it’s going to be a great day as well. You know you are going to have a good day when:

You come back to your room after classes and find that you have absolutely no homework due the next day:

-Though this rarely happens, it is quite delightful. While I always tell myself I will work ahead, it rarely happens; although I actually did do homework on a Saturday night this weekend.

You walk to the desert section in Ram’s Head or Lenoir and find an entire drawer stocked with either M&M cookies or chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips in them.

-all of the other types of cookies just don’t cut it.

Heroes (not the show)

This past Halloween I saw countless people dressed up as Michael Phelps, most of them ripping on him for getting caught smoking weed. This reminded me of something that I used to think about very often. What has happened to all of the heroes and role models that I used to look up to.

I suppose you could attribute my difficulties finding someone to look up to with my unfortunate increase in age. As an eighteen year old college student I am not going to idolize Batman or one of the Power Rangers, but it should not be this hard to find an upstanding citizen to look up to.

Earlier in the year when I found out about the whole Michael Phelps drama I was in shock. Its not the fact that he does it, I personally do not but most all of my friends do it and I am indifferent about it, it is the fact that he got caught doing it that made me so upset. Michael Phelps is an American icon, and without a doubt the most impressive swimmer of all time. There was not a medal he couldn’t win nor a record he could not break. His future full of endorsements and magazine articles was great. Now, instead of being the hero he once was, he is the laughing stock of the world. He is made fun of by stoners and model citizens alike.

Another story similar to this is Lance Armstrong. He is the Michael Phelps of cycling and easily as famous for his success in the Tour De France and his career in general. He has recently admitted to using steroids and, in my eyes, is just a generally bad person. If you look past his “livestrong” campaign for cancer, you will find that he left his wife who was deathly ill to be with Cheryl Crow. That is not something I respect.

This goes past cocky athletes whose veins are full of steroids, it is even seen in our past presidents. Towards the end of his second term, the words “George Bush” were often used to start a joke. Also, Bill Clinton, despite his career success, was involved in a large scandal that I am sure everyone is well aware of.

I find it very disappointing that it is so hard to find a good person and icon to look up to. As a kid I was a huge Mike Vic fan, and then he got himself locked up. I know there are role models out there, but I find Bono very annoying (I don’t know if its his name or what) and don’t enjoy U2 at all.

Halloween Every Night

I know it is probably what most people will resort to for this weeks blog, but it must be discussed. Halloween on Franklin Street was everything I expected it to be and more.

my night began looking very boring; with no parties lined up before or after walking around Franklin Street. We walked up and down Franklin Street a good five or six times before a friend of a friend somehow knew someone who got us into a Clef Hangers party of all things. It was completely random, but they actually threw a pretty good party. After hanging out there for a little bit we decided to head back to Franklin Street. This is when things got interesting.

This was one of the largest gatherings of people I had ever seen, and to make it better, they were all wearing costumes! It was really sort of eerie how people leaked out of every corner of Chapel Hill and made their costume enhanced pilgrimage to Franklin Street. People gravitated toward Franklin Street from places i didn’t even know existed. I was very impressed by the creativity of some of the costumes I came across.

here are a few of the interesting costumes I saw:

All four Tilletubies

A group of men hilariously dressed as women (they were all pushing forty years old)

About seven matadors and one bull

A really creepy cardboard turkey creature

Legos

The ice cream man in his ice cream truck

One to many people dressed as Micheal Phelps

Someone dressed as Facebook (a personal favorite)

Various fruits (grapes, bananas etc)

A dead Micheal Jackson

Two awesome kids also went as Starsky and Hutch

After some good sightseeing a friend of a friend somehow got us into DU; This was a great time. Coincidentally a bunch of my friends showed up around the same time. I ran into three of my neighbors dressed as rock, paper and scissors, a friend dressed as Michael Phelps- this costume was made up of a speedo, goggles and the mandatory drug paraphernalia- and a friend dressed as Indiana Jones. They played very good and not fratty music in a very cool basement. I spent a lot of time talking to a group of friends dressed as ninja turtles and Hermione? it was an interesting combination to say the least. After leaving at a pretty reasonable hour I realized that I had left my keys in a friends room. I had no idea how to get back into my room so I ended up sleeping in a friends room in Craige.

When I came back to my room today my roommate asked how we got separated last night. I told him an apparently unconvincing story of how we got separated in the large crowd and my phone died. He countered by saying my phone was answered (apparently by my pocket)....whoops. He has been in a pissy mood ever since. This is the closest thing I have had to a girlfriend since I have arrived at UNC. Its a pretty terrible situation. Regardless of this, I had a great night and a great weekend. I hope you guys did too.

The Anti-Homework

If homework were jesus Facebook would be the anti-Christ. Any spark of productivity is usually quickly extinguished by this virtual master of distraction. Once I begin really working on something it does not take me too long to crank it out, but my momentum is quickly stopped when i hear that “pop!” that alerts me that someone is talking to me and is eager to draw me away from something much less important. I would not be at all surprised if you were on Facebook as you are reading this; I can’t blame you.

I work fine (maybe even better) with music on and can even manage my roommate playing video games or watching TV inches from me, but when it come to the anti-homework I just can not say no. Its the closest I have ever come to an addiction. It has been greatly amplified by my acquisition of a lap top. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a study tool.

Call me crazy but I feel that lap tops actually distract us more than they help us. I constantly see kids playing games, using Facebook, and other non-class related things in many of my courses. These distracted deviants greatly outnumber the students using their tools for taking notes and studying. I luckily have not developed this nasty habit, I have enough to take in without discovery whats on the mind of my friends and seeing how much fun they had over the weekend.

However I can not restrain myself once I am back in my room. I had a midterm and a tough spanish assignment due on the same day about a week ago and was about to go on fall break. I could not for the life of me start my engines and get my work done. Finally, around 9 I left my room along with my phone and computer and laptop and went to the study room. I accomplished more in the thirty minute period (before being kicked out of the room because of a student government meeting) than I had in the two hours before then that I spent trying to study in my room. When I came back I was immediately distracted by my boisterous hall mates and roommate.

This is just an example of the problems that are caused by online networking. I would have been much more studious had I been born twenty years earlier. I sound like a nostalgic mom but sometimes I really do feel like the “good old days” were superior without all of these new means of communication.

Let the Pranks Begin

Very recently my roommate and a friend of mine decided it would be a good idea to prank me when I left for class. This was a big mistake as me and my friends went through a huge pranking stage during high school; we mostly did car pranks, but its the same concept. The pinnacle of this pranking stage was probably when I came outside with my girlfriend to find my Jeep up on blocks.

But back to the story, they decided that it would be hilarious if they hid roughly 4x6 pictures around my room in inconspicuous places. These places included the inside of my laptop, the drawer containing my keyboard, the page in a book I had bookmarked, under my covers, in the bottom of my hamper, and my personal favorite, the inside of my lampshade (Don’t worry i checked my feeder 2.2 folder and it was spared). This last one was actually really funny, I could not see the picture until i turned on my lamp, the light eerily illuminated this very gross picture and I could not help but laugh. They also put a very nasty background on my computer and set my internet explorer homepage as something equally disgusting. I did not find much humor in this as it lacked any creativity.

When I found all of these pictures strewn about my room I reused them and hid them on his side. These were spur of the moment and I couldn’t plan it out too much but some highlights were hiding them at the bottom of his cereal, taped on one of his soda cans and stapled to the bottom of his shower flip flops.

After about an hour of passively brainstorming I came up with one for the record books. He brought with him a masterpiece of a painting that he created last year in high school. It is a very large blue lion... I don’t know. It now resides in a nice frame on our wall. It is very dear to him, if anything happened to it, he would be furious. For this reason I decided it would be my painting. The next weekend he leaves town I plan on photocopying this picture, hiding the original, then, after vandalizing the photocopied lion (I plan on giving the lion a mustache and many other things, add suggestions in your comments), put it in the picture frame for him too see upon returning from his time away.

Music and Me

Ever since the release of MGMTs album i have been really into electronic style music. I love how it goes back to the 80s and uses synth driven styles that had long been forgotten. Many bands spawned from this 80s revival and I love almost all of them. This inspired me and a friend (who had previously been in an alternative rock band together) to make two songs right before the end of the summer that were really different and interesting. We did all of this on a cheap keyboard and garage band; we had no other recording devices. One song was about getting stuck in the stomach of “metal alligator” (not my idea) and the other is a somewhat comical portrayal of the apocalypse. I also wrote some fun lyrics regarding based on a crash in the Bermuda Triangle and enjoying. The thing I love about all of this music is the quirky persepctive it gives life. When writing I try to uphold this tradition. Below is a sample of what i have written. Its pretty rough but I hope you enjoy it:

Come crash with me

find yourself washed up on the beach

hide the wreckage beneath the trees

I can see it now on the TV

Wake up and feel the breeze

We are trapped ive never felt so free

When the world brings you to your knees

turn your back, stand up, and do as you please

Taste the salt and feel the breeze

Hear the waves crash down upon the beach

Smell the ocean smell the see

I see you and I see me

We keep on living you are all I need

Lay with me on a bed of leaves

oh lord ive never been so at peace

What happens here well it stays

we're staying here till the end of our days

take this ring its all i have

I hope it sticks on you like a leech

we wont have to plan our honeymoon

we are already on the beach

no our big day it wont be much

you play the organ i'll play the priest

you play the organ and i'll play the priest

If you enjoyed this tell me, also I can let you listen to the two songs me and my friend made, he is a very talented singer. We didn’t even bother to come up with a band name so expect a myspace or anything.

Halloween Costume Ideas

Halloween Ideas

Every day brings the holiday of halloween closer and closer. Halloween is in a dead tie with christmas for the best holiday in existence. Ever since the I could remember I always knew what I wanted to be for that one great night. Whether it was Robin, one of the Power Rangers, Ninja turtles (or just straight up ninjas) or Cyclops from X-men, I always knew. My older brother would of course accompany me as Batman, another power range (I black ranger and he was of course red) or Wolverine.

This is my first year away from home and I can’t decide what to be. I either have too many great ideas, or not enough. Me and a very good friend Jarred are considering being three possible duo’s: Starsky and Hutch, Maverick and Goose (from Top Gun, one of the greatest movies of all time) or two matching greenmen from the show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I will weigh the pros and cons of each of these.

At this point I am leaning towards Starsky and Hutch but I still have plenty of time to decide. I feel like i could make a good Starsky, and my friend, who has wavy blonde hair could probably pull off a pretty good Hutch; the only thing he is missing is a broken nose. The good things are that we both look somewhat similar to the characters, and I my hair is getting more 70’s-esque by the day. Also, most people would recognize Starsky and Hutch. The tough part might be finding costumes. Clothing as classy as that will be hard to find and will take countless scans of multiple Goodwills.

Maverick and Goose is also a very good concept. This is one of my all time favorites and I would love to pull it off. The only problem is the price. If we go for the low grade flight suits we will simply look stupid and like little kids who are dressing up as army men. Also i would have to get a Tom Cruise haircut which worries me. My greatest fear for this costume is that not enough people have seen the movie and would just give us confused and disgusted looks.

The Green man is a whole new animal. This would be hilarious to anybody who has seen the TV show “Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” But we would be hiding behind a green spandex mask all night. Yes I said it, green SPANDEX. This is the other down side. I am not sure how comfortable I am wearing a full body spandex suit the whole night; I would need to lose about 15 pounds to be excited about that. But then again it could be motivation to do so. Also, people who don’t watch the show would be generally weirded out and unamused by two green men walking down the street.

Please let me know what you think about me being the following characters.

Its OK I Have a Military ID

After a pretty relaxing weekend consisting of watching Top Gun (one of the best movies of all time), disappointing football games and hanging around the school with my friends, something pretty significant happened. I left Chapel Hill for the first time since I got here.

My good friend from high school goes to Army Preparatory Academy in New Jersey and will be playing lacrosse next year at West Point. His family lives in Cary, which is about forty minutes from campus. Out of the blue, he called me and asked if I, along with two other friends from high school wanted to “get some wings and watch some football.” He eventually picked us up and we headed towards South Point Mall. This in itself was an interesting experience.

This is a kid can make any situation more entertaining than it should be and always makes his life sound a thousand times more exciting than yours. No one is spared as long as it results in a good laugh. After spending the majority of his summer at Army Prep, he understandably was very impressed with the women here and felt that it was necessary to strike up a conversation with each one.

Anyways, we make it to south point in record time after pushing his dad’s old Toyota Camry about as hard as it would go. I had never felt so strange riding in a car on the highway, it was one of the first times i have been in a car since I arrived. Once we arrived at South Point we found a nicely overpriced sports bar called Champps. When the hostess informed us there would be a wait she gave us a buzzer and asked for a name to which my friend quickly responded: “frat boy,” handing the buzzer to another friend who is a pledge at a fraternity on campus. Once we were seated at a table that somehow was situated in a way that made it awkward to look at any of the one hundred TVs in there the frat jokes relentlessly started to fly. It was incredibly entertaining, but at the expense of our pledge friend.

After a good meal during which I watched the least football I have watched on a sunday since the beginning of the season we decided to check out the Halloween store before getting back on the road. This place was repulsive. Some of the costumes there were amazingly rude and tasteless. A few examples are the various captains, pilots and sailors with names like “Dick C. Normous, Dr. Rigorrmortis and Dick Amazing (not even mildly clever).” My personal favorite was a knight costume named “A Knight to remember” this costume was a simple knight featuring a very large “sword” if you catch my drift. This thing was massive and before leaving the store we only found it appropriate to leave it hanging out of the costume bag. Shortly after a mom and child walked by. This was flat out hilarious.

After a funny trip to a costume store it was finally time to go home. This took much less time than it should have and stripped just about all the rubber off that Camry’s tires. After warning our friend about the countless policemen in Chapel Hill he simply responded: “its ok I have a military ID.”

Our country is in good hands as long as he is enlisted.

College Style Observations Pt. 2

For my last blog I talked about my recent observations of men’s style at the University of North Carolina. This week I will attempt (and likely fail) to describe what I have noticed to be popular styles among woman.

Looks like rain:

It has been raining recently and it amazes me how much joy it brings certain girls. They are thrilled to finally have a reason to wear their enormous twenty pound rubber rain boots. I remember wearing something similar to those when it rained when up until the age of seven, and even then I was not happy to wear them. It also gives them reason to break out their arsenal of polka-dotted and leopard printed umbrellas. At least these people find some joy in rain.

The amazing athletic shorts:

The most amazing phenomenon in college fashion is perhaps the women’s athletic shorts. They are usually primarily black and are usually very short. They aren’t cotton, but they aren’t exactly mesh either; whatever they are, girls love them. If someone had patented this design, they would probably amount enough wealth to purchase all of South America. I still don’t know what is so great about them.

The lounging athlete:

The shorts described above usually signify the “relaxed classroom style.” other signs of this are a T-shirt (usually long sleeved) and jogging shoes. A pony tail nicely compliments this look as well. If a girl is not wearing either the shorts described above or a pair of Carolina sweatpants, it is not proper relaxed classroom dress.

The gladiator:

This next observation is one that I noticed more and more in my home town of Asheville, strangely enough, it is not as prominent here at Chapel Hill. This is an observation about the gladiator shoe that is becoming more and more popular. This is a modern twist on a shoe worn by ancient Greek and Roman warriors. This new style is not very appealing to me. I am more frightened by these shoes than I am amused, wear these if you want to appear as if you might slay someone at any second.

These are some of the more obvious styles I have seen thus far, of course you have the typical girl in her sundress as well as the jeans and interesting shirt look. One thing that has interested me is the increase in girls wearing baseball hats. This is not to say that they should or should not wear them, I have just not seen it so much before.

College Style Observations

Before you read this blog understand that I am in no way a fashion expert; for example, I practically have a mullet but can’t see any pros in getting a haircut considering the facts that I don’t know where a barber shop is and no matter what i tell the barber, my hair always comes out very close to a bowl cut and makes me look years younger. No, I am no expert or fashion junky, but I am a fairly observant person. I will proceed to describe the types of styles and stereotypes I have observed while here.

In this blog i will only describe men’s style, this section will be more accurately described than a girl’s fashion section since I am, in fact, a guy.

The first and perhaps most stereotypical style is the one generalized as “frat” style (I am not opposed to frats and am considering rushing next semester, but come on, I had to do it). This style is fairly broad but easy to identify. As far as shoes go, this style features one of three things. A pair of leather flip flops are acceptable as well as a pair of casual exercise type shoes such as Newbalances. But the classic footwear is a pair of boat shoes such as Sperry’s. They will also be seen wearing any variety of khaki shorts or pants of various pastel colors. It is mandatory to wear a shirt with a collar, either oxford or polo. Another identifier is a hat or even a visor featuring either UNC or some obscure mascot of some obscure team.

Another popular style is that of the jock. These “jocks” most likely don’t even play a varsity sport at the university, but give off the appearance of doing so. They usually wear a type of running shoe or a comfortable sandal (these are not to be confused with the frat-flop, it is usually made of rubber and has no thong in the middle so that socks can be worn with them once it gets cold). Also they always wear some type of athletic shorts, but almost never khakis. As far as shirts go, they wear as minimal as a shirt as possible; the shirts are often constricting and/or sleeveless. The keystone of this style is the buzz cut. it is absolutely necessary. The overall goal of this style is to look as if you can and will work out anytime and anywhere. Observers should not be surprised to see you doing pushups on random sidewalks or pull-ups on tree branches.

Other, less popular styles are as follows: the indie style, which is less easy to identify but is usually given away by a v-neck or trendy band T-shirt. The plain and simple college casual just wearing what ever works and whatever is most comfortable.

To be continued....

Dorm Room Survival Guide

Dorm Room Survival Guide: what to bring, what not to bring and what to expect.

When preparing for the first year of college, and presumably, your first year away from home, you might be nervous and unsure of what you need, and do not need to bring. Look no further, this survival guide will attempt to answer all types of questions about dorm life.

One point I must stress is: do not over pack. A dorm room is a small space for two people and you most likely will not have room for your TV, your couch, your refrigerator and three suitcases full of clothes. At first this small space will catch you off guard, but do not let it get the best of you; after a few weeks, every college student is a master in space management and efficiency.

Here are a few things you could do to maximize your space:

a) bunk your bed

This always creates the awkward alpha-roommate situation. Around the age of ten, the thought of sleeping on the top bunk moves from exciting to annoying and inconvenient. If you can score the bottom bunk, then by all means bunk the bed, otherwise I would not suggest it.

b) loft the bed

This can optimize space and can create more room for activities. Also, it offers the option of creating the "study cave," made by moving your desk and dresser underneath the lofted bed. I chose not to loft the bed because I personally do not enjoy sleeping ten feet off the ground and inches from the ceiling.

Now that I have covered space optimization and room layouts, I will list a few specific necessary items available at Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, etc.

bathroom tote:

this is essential for carrying all of the miscellaneous nicknacks to and from the shower and is usually forgotten by incoming freshman.

multiple towels:

Having just one towel is just gross and, the lone towel will most likely still be wet next time you have to use it.

laundry detergent:

Having to do my own laundry for basically the first time in my life, I neglected to bring laundry detergent and have been borrowing from whoever possible. Bring it

Reading light/lamp:

Please do not keep your roommate awake with the bright overhead lights, bring at least a lamp to keep him or her happy.

ear plugs:

If you are not a late night person, and you have a roommate who, alternately is, a night owl, you will really want a pair of earplugs. You might have to look in the "beyond" section of Bed, Bath, & Beyond to find these, but, I promise, they will come in handy.

Other desirable items: stapler, extension cords, water bottles, toiletries, writing utensils.

Try to avoid buying any of these items at the over-priced student store; get them with your parents before you arrive. All of these items should come in handy throughout the course of the year. Take not of all of this information, configure your room however you please but take not in the information above. If you have all of these things before you get to campus, your first days at college will be less hectic than they already are.

My First Days at College

To set the scene, I will begin by telling you that I attended a private boarding school named Christ School. This school is half the the size of my largest class. Their were 60 people in my graduating class, and, by Christ School standards, that was huge.

Needless to say, when I arrived at the University of North Carolina, I was in awe. The most shocking moment was walking, with map in hand, to my first class and couldn't help but notice the similarity of this fiasco to that of a large anthill. I was amazed! This is not to say that I am in any way opposed to this; my high school was too small and everyone knew everything about everyone else. I was simply out of my past environment and in a brand new one full of young people like me, all trying to scurry to their classes.

What is even more amazing than the sheer number of students here is the challenge that the University faces with accommodating them all. For one, there are innumerable amounts of building, some old, some new, many resembling or smelling of old and creepy hospitals, and they are all clean. Next the University has to find a place to house the majority of its students, which is a great feat in itself. But maybe the most impressive is the school's ability to feed all of these hungry mouths. The length line for Ram's head suggests that John Lennon rose from the dead and was at the end signing autographs, and not that there was just decent food waiting at the end.

Through all this, a student has to work hard to make himself more than just another PID or another serial number. I am sure many students (especially freshman) feel belittled and insignificant by the towering buildings large masses of people, all of whom seem so comfortable hanging out with their group of friends. A student could become a part of something such as a club, group, fraternity (although I am mildly opposed to them), or sorority in order to a sense of belonging and meaning. But through all this I would encourage that person to keep their own identity and not be engulfed into the amoeba of kids sporting the standard issue oxford, khaki pants (or shorts for the summertime fraternity outfit) and of Sperry's.

In conclusion, I expect that plenty of new freshman share this same reaction. I encourage them to push through the first few days of school, it will get better and become more fun than it already is.