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.