Sick Day

You know when you just don’t feel like going to class? You don’t feel all that great, there really isn’t anything new going on, and the next assignment isn’t due yet? Well I guess that’s what my History of Warfare professor thought.

It’s my own fault for not checking my email before class. So when I arrived at my classroom this afternoon bright eyed and bushy tailed I saw the sign on the door that tells me that class has been cancelled. Uh! Oh well, I am ok with taking a little drive. It was a beautiful day today. So after I got back from campus I called a friend of mine, Scott, and we had lunch together.

He is a really nice guy, loves video games. He just bought an xBox 360 about a week ago. Yeah, yeah I know heresy! How could he not get a Wii. Well there were two good reasons. One, one of his most favorite games is on the xbox 360, Blue Dragon. It’s an RPG and actually I watched him play it for a while, its pretty cool! Second, the Wii is still in short supply. I have not seen a Wii in a store since I bought mine almost a year ago. It is crazy that Nintendo is not increasing production in order to meet demand. Oh well, I guess it’s the Japanese honorable thing about keeping your word. Bless them! I love Nintendo! Amen.

Recuperation

I went to the club last night with my friend AJ to listen to some live music and chat with my bartender friend. Oh yeah! We finally had our coffee date and we seem to hit it off really well. I even got a kiss to end the night, how awesome is that?! So AJ and I sat at the bar and listened to music and chatted. After a few drinks we were feeling pretty good and somehow got to talking about weird things to do when you are bored. One of his suggestions was tying a maraschino cherry stem into a knot in your mouth. Intrigued, I asked how it was done and he said that it can’t be shown but that you just have to learn how you do it on your own.

Determined to unlock the mystery of the knotted maraschino cherry stem I asked my bartender friend for some maraschino cherries. With an inquisitive look I got a small glass full and I went to work. AJ managed to tie up 4 of them in no time while I struggled to tie only one. Undeterred I continued to work at it, and after 45 minutes I was finally able to take the knotted stem from my mouth. I was thoroughly pleased with myself. The bartender thought it was cute too. lol.

Sleepy Time

Presentations suck! I gave a presentation on Wednesday. I had to dress up in a full suit and tie, which was kind of fun. In addition I also had a 12 page research paper that was due that day. I had originally started the paper a few weeks ago with gathering research and starting to lay out the format for the paper. However, I didn’t actually start writing it until last Saturday. After turning in the paper Wednesday and giving my presentation (how to hold a successful meeting) I was pretty much dead on my feet. I am so exhausted right now.

Rejecting The Null Hypothesis

The fourth step of the hypothesis is to state whether your data supports the null hypothesis, thus rejecting or failing to reject what is trying to be proved.

After collecting both quantitative and categorical data on relationship advice, applying the appropriate statistical formulas, and accounting for outliers I have come to the conclusion that I am improperly wielding my assets.

The advice has been unfavorable. However, I am ready to accept that since I am really not very good at making new relationships. However, over the past few months that seems to have changed drastically, and I think it’s starting to make some of my old friends worry.

I think that they are uncomfortable with the changes that have been occurring to me over the past year. So many things are different now and I think that makes even my best friends a little uneasy. I think change can be good for many reasons; perspective, empathy, appreciation, and understanding are all things that come with change. All of which are very important in a relationship. Not bad eh?

Happily, I got to talk with my bartender friend again. I can’t wait to meet up with them again and chat. A coffee shop sounds like the perfect place to mix a little socializing with a little nosh.

Rough Enough

You know you’re in for it when you get an exam back on Monday that you took the previous week and you set the curve in your group with a score of 68%. Ok, I think to myself, a minor setback. It’s no biggie, the first test is always the hardest, do better next time.

Wednesday rolls around and I head off to my concepts of management class. There we also get our exam back that we took the previous week. I get my exam back and look at the score, a C. Ouch! Not again! But wait there’s more. There is a note on the back page of my exam that says something about seeing the professor. So after class I go up to him and ask what he needed to talk to me about.

Apparently I had completely missed the point of the final question on the exam, all essay by the way, and that because I had done well on the other questions he decided to give me pity points so as to not kill my grade. Great! Not only did I get a C, I didn’t even deserve it! Grrr! Oh well, it was better than nothing and I had to admit it was might kind of him to not kill me on the first exam. So I thanked him and went home.

On top of this I am getting extremely conflicting advice from my friends about relationships. One says I am way out of line and am moving too fast, and the other says I’m not doing anything wrong at all. I needed a drink after that class on Wednesday so I went out to the bar with AJ and unwound a bit.

Thank the goddess the weekend is almost here. I think I need a few more drinks, and a hair cut! It always helps to look good when you do whatever it is you do.

Back To Reality

The worst thing about having an awesome weekend is that when Sunday afternoon rolls around you start to feel the tug of reality, and it sucks. The weekend went splendidly. There was much drunken debauchery had on Saturday; so much so that my neighbors knocked on our door. When I answered the door I saw two good looking girls, one of which was wearing nothing but a bath towel. Seriously, no lie! They wanted to know if he had plans for the evening and if we wanted to get together at some point. I invited them in, however, the one in the towel made a bolt for their apartment to finish getting ready for whatever. Mandy, as she introduced herself to me as she entered my apartment turned out to be a student from Ferris State University, and grew up in Big Rapids.

It turns out she was pretty drunk and soon after returning to her apartment passed out and was out of commission for the rest of the night. Her room mate, whose name I never caught went out to the club.

Seriously, I cannot make this stuff up! Even if I did it would be this good. So anyways, back to the sad and inevitable truth that the weekend is almost over and it is time to get started on a research paper that I have been putting off for weeks. Writing the paper won’t be hard, it’s the research that sucks.

Party Time

I managed to put together a little birthday party for my good friend and room mate. I thought it would be nice to have some friends over, go out to a nice restaurant and chill. Besides, it was an easy way to justify a party.

Everyone seemed to have a good time. After dinner we came back to the apartment, and had a cigar to celebrate the evening. The rest of the time was spent chatting and playing Wii sports! I love the Wii! Now I am a little drunk and I think its time for bed.

A Third of The Way

It’s been a hell of week. Two exams one on Monday for my IS project management class, and another was yesterday for my other management class. These are both heavy classes with teacher who take the content very seriously. My first exam was true/false, multiple-guess, and essay. Needless to say the vast majority of that exam was just that, a guess. However, I do think that I manage to articulate some decent essay answers.

The second exam that was yesterday was all essay. Why a professor would want to put themselves into the position of having to grade 5 essays from each of the 50 or so students in each of his 3 sections is quite beyond me. However, in our favor is the fact that this professor isn’t so much instead in if you could regurgitate what was in the book as much as be able to pay attention during class discussion and to relate that to concepts in the book. Its really simple, show up for class, pay attention (the hard part), and ask questions. If you can manage that then the exam should be easy. Surprisingly he was true to his word. The exam was far easier to get through than I had thought.

Tomorrow should be easy, the exams are over and the professors will be busy grading so we will not cover a lot of new topics. I couldn’t ask for better timing as I am throwing a birthday party for my room mate. I have invited a bunch of people over and we will be celebrating at a Japanese steakhouse nearby. It’s sure to be memorable as I’m pretty sure this will be a unique occurrence. I have to admit I am partly doing this for selfish reasons. There is no bad reason to have a party right? Holla! \o/

P.S.—The bartender has yet to respond to my email request for a meeting. I want to meet for coffee so we can chat and get to know each other a little before we tear each other’s cloths off… What? I don’t like sticking things in places I know nothing about!

I Met The Bartender

So, after Holly and Brandon finished singing their karaoke duet we got ready to head downstairs to the dance floor when holly pulled me aside and said, “You need to talk to the bartender!” She nudged me over to the edge of the bar. I smiled like an idiot and said hello to the bartender as they were cashing out someone. They wrote something on the back of receipt paper and handed it to me as said, “It was great to meet you.” Bright red with embarrassment I smiled and turned to head down to the dance floor.

Everyone was heading to the dance floor when I arrived on the lower level. Sadly I am a horrid dancer, and being fairly drunk would surely not help things. But after being yelled at by everyone in attendance, including people who I didn’t even really I succumb to peer pressure and went out to the dance floor to make a fool of myself.

Thankfully everyone else was really drunk too so they thought I did just fine. Score! We danced for a while, taking short breaks during slow or bad songs until closing time. The lights went on and we slowly made out way to the exit, stopping along the way to say high to people. I made it outside and stood waiting for our cab to arrive. Brandon had somehow managed to get a hold of a couple of cigarillos but could not get them lit. He ended up breaking one in half.

AJ tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the entrance to the club where the bartender was standing motioning for me to come over. I immediately panicked thinking that I must have forgotten to pay my bar tab or something. I went over and to my surprise; I received a big hug and a thank you for stopping by.

Now I have a phone number and an email address. The ball is in my court now, so I guess I better play it.

It Was The Best of Times

Hell of a weekend, that’s all I have to say. This weekend was just one of those weekends when you through caution to the wind and really allow yourself to experience new things. For those who have yet to experience sensation, I highly recommend it. Just find some good friends and go do something you have never done before.

Friday night I went out with some friends to a new club in downtown Grand Rapids. I knew this was going to be an interesting night as it didn’t begin there. It actually begins about 5 hours earlier at my friend Holly’s apartment. I arrived at her place about 7:30pm. The plan was to hang out until about 930p and then head over to Applebee’s where her friend was bartending. So at the appropriate time we made our way over to Applebee’s and had a few drinks. Mind you we had already pre drunk at her place. She had a glass of Arbor Mist, her all time favorite, and I had a hard cider. Hard cider is an interesting beverage, think of it as a cross between apple cider and beer. Its brisk babe!

We hung out at the bar with her friend for a while when a friend of mine, AJ, arrived. I had spoken with him earlier and had decided to join us. So the three of us sat and talked until the bar closed, around 1145p, when we staggered for the door. I must remember to thank Brandon the bartender. I don’t think I paid for a single drink. He r0x0rz!

Since Holly and I were both pretty drunk at this point and AJ had decided to be the DD, bless him, Brandon too Holly and I went with AJ. We both left and headed for the club. AJ needed to stop back off at his apartment to get a pack of smokes so we were a few minutes late getting there.

We got a table on the upper level of the club and Holly ordered us a round of shots. I forgot what they were called, but they were blue, and tasty. Shortly after that I went to get a gin and tonic. I needed something to clean out the sugar from my mouth. Whatever that shot was it left a weird aftertaste.

After sitting back down and taking a few delicious sips Holly came over and leaned into my ear saying, “hey, the bar tender thinks you’re cute!” Embarrassed I looked over and watch as the bartender mixed another drink. Holly whispered again in my ear, “Seriously Justin, the bartender wants your phone number.” At this point I was glowing bright red, even in the darkness. And that is just the beginning. To be continued...