Sup?

I've started to get involved in stuff since classes have began. My present activites include the Carleton Amnesty International group, writing for the Carl (the Carleton entertainment & humor mag) and maybe the Carletonian (the Carleton weekly paper), weekly meditation at the Northfield Buddhist Meditation center, running again, and reading to kids at the Northfield library through the Carleton volunteering organization. I also may or may not have a radio show with a couple of my service trip bro-bros. Gentlemen's Breakfast Club Carleton Chapter should be underway in a month or two. I've got the first meeting planned out already, believe me. I don't really want to write what I've been assigned to write about for the Carl (the Intonation Music Fest--yeah, I know), and it was something I kind of stumbled into, but at least I'm writing something.

The roommate situation has thusfar been pretty good--both nice guys. I had my first kind of awkward moment with one the other day, though. My dorm was having a brick-painting session (the bricks are used as doorstops, everyone can paint their own special brick, etc.). I decided mine would be an existential angst brick, painted all black with "agony", "the inevitability of death", "long lines", and a frowny face on different sides. For whatever reason, one roommate of mine just did not seem to understand why on earth I would think this was funny. It's in the room now, though. Maybe it'll grow on him.

So my grandmother's house was apparently fucked up pretty badly by Hurricane Katrina: mold everywhere, water damage, and a tree on the roof. My dad is en route to New Orleans right now, apparently, to help do some work on it. I'm not sure I can say anything about the massive failure the initial relief effort was that hasn't already been said, yeah. Would've been nice if people had known what they were doing.

Katherine Thompson, thank you for your kind note. It's a shame we didn't bump into each other while you were on campus. Jim, enjoy seeing Franz. David, thanks for stopping by campus.

Good work on the first issue of the WEB, kiddos. Out of the Happy "Greg and Ricky go to college" and the Sad "Greg and Ricky go to college", I'm not sure which was poking fun and which wasn't, but it was sweet of you guys to put it in there. Nice nicknames, too.

I'm still enjoying college a whole lot. I can't realistically conceive of a much better place to be at. I think that when thrust into totally new surroundings, essentially one of two things can happen to a person: either they're influenced by their surroundings to such a degree that part of the self is constricted, pushing things inward
-or- they become more of themselves, with who they are really expanding within the space provided for it. I'm pleased to say I think the latter is true of me, and I feel like, well, more of myself. Which is a pretty good thing to be, I think.