The Beginning of My Endurance

So finally things have reached a steady flow... not for me exactly, due to the fact that I'm still somewhat unstructured from the summer. But things are as they were when I left in May (only without as much drama). I feel somewhat prepared to sink back into the efficient groove that I was in, but it's always a tight squeeze after a long break. Classes are beginning to assign their arduous tasks, work is beginning to yield both fruit and more work, and I think I've reunited with just about everyone from last year in one form or another.

In the RA world, both Mitch and I have come across a unique discovery. There is a spark of Pembroke character alive and well within some of the new residents. It is now our job to billow that spark into a flame. This discovery was made at a vollyball match the other day. See, we in Pembroke sponsor our lady vollyball players and we go to all of their games. In the beginning, it was only us RA's down on the front row holding our sign. The rest of our boys were spread out with other friends partly watching the game, partly hitting on chicks. So we did what you do at a sporting event. You talk trash to the other team and yell obnoxiously loud. This coupled with our enormous vollyball sign caught the eye of a photographer, and thus the unity emerged. The rest of the guys all of the sudden wanted to be a part of the picture as we and some of the alumni were gathered there. So the rest of them came down and huddled around. For the rest of the game they joined in and started talking trash and yelling. One of them even went back to his room... threw on the shortest shorts I've ever seen on a man, and came back to do spirit dances and distract the other team. We call him Daisy Duke now. To top that off, we got some of the guys to lift and hide one of the RA from another community's moped. It was beautiful to see. Now the guys seem to have that spark in them. It will take more cultivation, but even the president of the university was impressed. He came and talked to Mitch and I personally and congratulated us on getting our guys to the game. The next day we also received a letter from the coach of the team saying how much he and the girls appreciated our presence and cheering, something that had never been done before. It is good to see hope is in its rizing.

Tonight was good in that I made it to a grocery store for the first time all year. I bought up enough food to last a little over a week, and I plan on only eating that for the next while. I cooked spaghetti tonight in the Hail kitchen and all sorts of girls came down acting all impressed (as if that wasn't my intention in the first place... ;). The food was good and, though I still might need to invest in some dishes of my own, it still beat fast food. I've been eating nothing but fast food for the past month. I can't believe I'm still alive! Let alone that I haven't gained any weight. But I think I'll probably feel better now that I actually have a low cholesterol intake.

Tonight also might be the first night that I begin my organization in attempts to aleviate my subconscious from all of its toilings. My trick is that I write a journal much like this as a way to express myself, I listen to classical music, I write all of my duties and obligations down on paper for the next day, I organize my room, I drink some hot tea, and I sit down in peace and turn my thoughts to Christ. This way I can posess some sanity from day to day. Otherwise I would probably just have a melt down and start chewing on the legs of my furniture. Having said all that, I should probably start heading in that direction shortly. I have a long day tomorrow and I need to start getting more sleep.

Oh, but one more thing. I went back and I read my journals that I wrote when I was a freshman. It really helped me to remember how I felt when I was in freshman shoes. I was full of piss and vinigar for MONTHS before I accepted college as normal and brought a slight sense of maturity into my character. It also helped me to see that I should expect no less from these guys. They will be crazy for the first little while, but then they will come down off their cloud and transform magically into men. That's what I'm here to see to atleast. But the hope is now visible. Peace and love.