Observation #2: the Union

I’m sitting in the back of the Union. People are scattered throughout the sitting area. These people are either sitting with a group socializing, sitting by themselves studying, or sitting by themselves relaxing, seeing as it is a Friday afternoon. The big screen TV in the corner is running the string of Sportscenter and there’s one person watching it as he’s pretending to listen to the girl talking to him. A lot of the students sitting by themselves are on their laptops, possibly studying or facebooking, or doing the Daily Tar Heel’s crossword so as to give them something to do while sitting by themselves. Most people sitting in groups are talking about the terrible week they’ve had and what they plan to do this weekend to celebrate making it through such a week. Surprisingly enough, there is no one in line or behind the counter at Alpine, but I guess at 3 p.m., the bagel rush is kind of dying down. A girl asks me if anyone is sitting in the chair next to me and, though two or three people had been in and out of it, I told her “No” so she could sit by herself and read.

Observation #1: IM basketball

I decided to observe the gym before my IM basketball game tonight. Wollen gym is a very large space and allows for free movement; therefore, it is suitable for basketball games. The people in the gym included players, fans, and campus rec workers. The campus rec workers generally interacted with other workers and occasionally with the players as a part of their job. The players basically just interact with their own teammates unless they happen to know others from other teams. The games involve a lot of physical contact. After teams score, they cheer, but if something bad happens, players usually either yell at the refs, the other team, or their own teammates. After the game, the players from each team shake each other’s hands and congratulate each other. People sitting around the edge of the gym are either cheering for teams or waiting for their game to start. In this personal space, the norms would be playing basketball, running, or socializing with other IM basketball players.

post 11: eh

yesterday was one of the most monday monday's I've had all year.

To start it off, I had anatomy lab at 8 am. I'm starting to get over the deadness and the humanness of #1 and #2 now, so it wasn't entirely terrible. But the smell is something that's going to take me a little longer to get used to. So I got out of there around 8:30, which is just enough time to not be able to do anything before my 11 class. So I went up to the gallery to study for my theater class. That was when my day started looking up. I made a 96 on my theater exam, hooray! My day was getting better!

False.

I had a sneak-attack spanish exam at 1. Those are my favorite kinds of surprises. But the good part was it was only the oral part, so I only failed part of it, woo.

As I was walking down the stairs from the Union on my way to the dorm, the U was driving away. This is small, but on monday, that was terrible.

My athletic training observation hours, however, saved me. I'm required 50 hours of observation before I apply to the school next fall so we sit in the training room and watch athletes get treated or wait for someone in intramurals to get hurt. I was there from 6-9 for intramurals and no one was getting hurt. So I had a good three hours to do some legitimate work, not to mention the baseball team's athletic trainer was there, who was not the worst thing to look at for three hours, and he helped me study anatomy.

Overall, eh.

post 10: Hooray Relay!

So today was friday!!!

Nothing special happened today. Unless you count the fact that I've just realized that the Chik-fil-a in Lenior serves breakfast and that the chicken biscuit I had this morning was the best thing I've had in months.

I then went to the most pointless drama class. It was seriously the biggest waste of my life. We have an exam on Monday and today's class was supposed to be filled with test-related questions. All we ended up doing was answering questions he's answered 3 times already and watching our professor perform a audition monologue - not test related.

To top it off, today was the final day to turn in Relay for Life team members. Of course, I had a last minute addition to my team consisting of 15 brothers in my boyfriends fraternity (in need of service hours) plus a couple stragglers. I had previously asked a Relay person if I could turn in the sheets without paying the $10 registration fee because getting $150 from NC State in a matter of 12 hours is something that I am not yet capable of doing. She said yes. Today, she said no. Wonderful. So they offered to allow me until Monday to get the money to them. How generous of them.

Needless to say my Friday has been stressful and kind of filled with bitterness.

But I am going to a chips show tonight. Hopefully that'll perk me up!

post 9: ugh

the week = not even half way over..

so it's Tuesday night and so far the past two days have been like everyone else's last-week-extravaganza of exams. I had an anatomy exam this morning and honestly, if you look past gen-ed requirements, this class is the only one this semester that really matters for me. I have to make a B or higher to even continue in the major. So I've been a little stressed out to say the least (the butt-print in the library and the 98323219 notecards in my bookbag can account for that).

To top it off, right before the exam this morning, I failed once again in swimming. We started the backstroke today, and I about drowned. Turns out I cannot swim backwards and stay above water (for breathing purposes) at the same time. Plus, surprise surprise, the student stores goggles are less than satisfactory. Who knew the bookstore wouldn't sell sufficient swim gear?

But the good thing is I get to wake up at 8 am tomorrow to participate in a research study!

False - this is not a good thing.

post 8: goods and bads

this week has been stressful, right?

But I can't really say much, I only had one exam. It was a spanish oral exam though, and for me, that's like having a biology and chemistry exam...ish. There's only so many times I can say excellente and fabuloso before my grade starts dropping.

Also, I epically failed in LFIT again, except this time we weren't even swimming, we were in a resistance training lab. First off, I get the bungee with the most difficulty without knowing they were different. So I couldn't do anything without either looking really weak, or just looking stupid trying to lift my arms over my head. Finally, I was able to do one of the exercises and the bungee comes out from under my foot and hits me in the face. Awesome. I quit after that.

The dook game was definitely a highlight. And when I say the dook game, I mean the actual game. Yes, it was thrilling and certainly an experience, but running from Hinton James to Franklin St. was less fun in practice than it was in theory. And also, the fear of being caught on fire or trampled on was kind of overwhelming. I'm still confused about the victory fires?

Thank goodness for the weekend.

Event #1: Performance at Memorial Hall

Tonight I saw “Talk Sex with Sue Johanson” in Memorial Hall. This show was absolutely brilliant. Not only was she able to entertain us with talk of how to best pleasure our partner, but it was also quite the educational experience. She shed light on an idea that I had not thought of – the difference in expectations of growing males and growing females. She explained that it is more acceptable for a male to discover his body on his own than it is for a female. Now I’m not trying to gross anyone out, but is that not the case? This doesn’t apply to every single male but, in most cases, is it not the male that speaks more openly about sex, while females try to “be the nice girl.” For example, Johanson said that most sex education programs are cloudy in their explanation of female anatomy, but not for male anatomy. So much so that many females don’t know their own anatomy. It’s a disturbing thought.

This event adds to my experience as a university student because honestly, who doesn’t want to see 78-year-old talk about sex. It was a great experience because it made me enter an atmosphere that I wasn’t particularly comfortable with and it made me find humor in the reality of the subject instead of the perverseness which is what we most encounter. Her language was fitting. Johanson started off with the anatomical backgrounds of the male and female reproductive systems giving the talk a scientific initial feel. This gave off the impression that she took the subject of sex very seriously. But she was also able to reach her audience of late-teen’s/early-twenties by joking around with the scientific jargon. Rhetorical devices she used include alliteration and mostly repetition, especially when trying to convey an idea she felt strongly about. Overall, the performance was educational and entertaining, but still mostly awkward.

post 7: new stories

the last couple days haven't really produced anything blog-worthy.

Tuesday was a highlight because I was able to receive phase one tickets for the Maryland game. It was really awesome until I realized my luck was not as fantastic as it seemed and I got stuck in front of the infamous i-know-everything-about-basketball fan. No lie, this has happened every single game I've been to. But there's not much that can ruin a Carolina basketball game so I wasn't too worried about it.

Thursday was a lowlight (ha!) because I had been determined to make it a good day, which never works out. I woke up early so I could get to the union to read and eat a little breakfast before my swimming class. I also had to buy goggles, which they conveniently sell in the bookstore believe it or not. It wasn't until I had finally relaxed and started reading my new for-entertainment-and-my-sanity book, Death by Black Hole, that I realized that instead of swimming, we had an LFIT lab, in which case my swim suit, towel, and goggles were worthless. This also meant that I had to make my way to the end of the world (HJ) and back in 30 minutes. Thank goodness the buses were on my side. I made it back with 2 mintues to spare.

As for the 'new stories' teaser in the title, I'm thinking of starting to tell a story in this blog. The story of one of my friends, who shall, because you'll think she's literally insane, remain nameless. Her story is a story of epic proportions; of love and loss, of creepiness and kindness. Look for it to begin in the next couple posts. I hope you enjoy.

post 6: Relay!

this weekend was a somber weekend.

I had to make the unfortunate four hour car ride home to mills river, nc for a friend's funeral. Tom was diagnosed with bone cancer our senior year and had made it an amazing nine months before the cancer moved to his lungs. The doctors gave him a couple weeks to live, but he wanted to be home with his family. Soon after he was unplugged from his pumps, he died. I wasn't really wanting to go home, but going to the funeral was important to me.

On the bright side, I got to see a lot of my friends at the funeral and then later during the weekend. One of my friends and I visited a friend who plays volleyball at a local college. She had been doing conditioning and whatnot all day so we just relaxed in her room watching the Sound of Music and HSM2, emulating the singing and dancing styles of both the Von Trapp family and Zac Efron.

All in all it was a nice, short visit home. I can't help but prefer my mom's cooking to ram's head (crazy, I know). Plus sleeping in my own bed and getting the opportunity to take a real bath are things I'll always enjoy. On the way out the door, mom also slipped my a $20 bill reminding me that I get money when I come home. She is a master in coercion.

I'd also like to use this opportunity to plug for my Relay for Life team. If yall don't know what the Relay for Life is, it's a fundraiser sponsored by the American Cancer Society to raise money for cancer research. I'm captaining a team (cleverly named team Team!) and we have dedicated our relay to my friend Tom Randall. We'd appreciate any help from yall, whether you'd like to join the team (it's only $10), donate, buy a luminary, or just with your prayers.

For more information, please visit team Team!'s website: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/teamTeam