The trip is growing closer, the daunting task of packing looms large, and planning seems to come in waves. I'm excited for the trip, but realize time is going too fast and I have a lot to do. Besides the packing and planning previously mentioned I've hadto decide on grad school, start looking for an apartment/at least have a general idea of my choices, earn a bit of extra money before I leave, and also try to see as many people as possible before I'm gone. So where shall we start...
I have currently heard from the same three schools I had when I started my journeys in early March, I'm beginning to think I'm an afterthought at the University of Colorado and Maryland. Maryland I'm pretty sure will never give me a reply due to a glitch that had me owing money for an undergraduate application that wouldn't have made sense for me to owe money on being that I applied to graduate school. It took two months for them to fix the issue, I was told I'd hear from the school in mid February, it's a bit passed that. As for Colorado I was told I'd get an email at some point and that has yet to come, so I figure a rejection is in the mail. Either way the MSU deadline has passed and I did not respond, so that leaves me with one true option. I pretty much decided on Wisconsin regardless of what happens elsewhere (short of a crazy scholarship somewhere), but I'm gonna wait another week before sending in my "official" decision because I have trouble committing in certain situations (but not relationally ladies, I'm all about that, small joke). Madison really seemed to be most inviting as a city and as a school community, it's not too far away from most of the people I know, and I'll still get the Big Ten Network. Plus being between Chicago and Green Bay means at least 2 Lions road games, and with Minnesota only 4 hours away, someone could be going to all the division away games this year! I feel Wisconsin's program fits me, but I guess there's only one way to truly find out.
First, however, is the European adventure staring me in the face. I can't deny that there have been days of nervousness, but never in a I'm not going to enjoy myself way, just wondering how I'll continue to adapt to each challenge. I have asked myself if going is still necessary in figuring out who I am, defining certain parts of me, and something that will help me better figure out how to live my life. I've decided that I don't really need to figure out who I am, I think I've done a better job of deciphering of late. I do need this to define certain parts of who I am and need to learn to be on my own, how to struggle, how to live my life. I've always known I'm pretty lucky in a lot of ways as to where I was born, my family, friends, etc., but I've often felt a void of not earning certain things, I feel a trip like this will help me learn how to fight for what I want, something that will be essential come graduate school. The only thing I felt I've truly earned with no real help at this point would be getting into grad school. Even the jobs I've had, maybe I worked hard to get promoted at the Tigers, but I never felt like I fully went through the process of deservedly getting a job from scratch. This trip is mine from the very beginning, maybe it goes back to when Cory and Topanga first got married and had to start off on their own with no help or maybe I'm just a little crazy.
The packing hasn't started yet, but occasionally I've found myself freaking out about something I may forget and put it in a place impossible not to remember it. The same has gone for planning, today I realized I have two weeks, which after reading about many hostels is 2 weeks too late to book, so I made sure to officially book my first hostel when I arrive in Lisbon. The first three I was considering were not available for the nights I chose, but luckily Lisbon has the best hostels in the whole world apparently, so it wasn't a problem finding another highly rated one. I'll be spending three nights in Lisbon, originally I was going to spend 2 nights and do the overnight train to Madrid on the 3rd night, however, I realized I'm going to want to get acclimated (and could always leave early) plus I would have arrived on Easter and Madrid seems more of the everything shut down religious city than Lisbon from what I've read. I'll head overnight to Madrid on the 4th day in Europe and continue you on from there.
I officially have my camera ready and am excited to put it to good use. I will try to take as much video as possible in addition to the pictures. I will take a picture of myself on a daily basis and if possible I will post my "aging/hair growing" process as the trip goes along with all 50 pictures at the end to show the full aging progression and to prove once and for all I can grow a full beard. Personally I don't even think it's possible and I'll look like some patchy haired face dirty man, but it'll be fun.
That's it for today, just wanted to give a small update. Look for a more detailed itinerary (of which will probably not hold true), cities and places I look forward to, the foods I will indulge in (sesos!), and the random things I intend to do. Now go speak some Spanish to yourself, I tried it the other night, it's pretty easy if you don't have to make sense!
-BK
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Finding my way back home
This marks the final day of my two week journey through various parts of the US and what I dubbed as a practice round for traveling alone in Europe. Obviously I cheated here by staying in hotels, with friends, and family, but this country doesn't offer nearly as many hostels. I arrived in Chicago on Monday evening where I came straight to my Sammi's place to meet her. I had to wait for her to get back from work and her dance class so I waited inside the mini restaurant/coffee shop next door. I decided to walk outside a little early since it wasn't too cold and I was just in time for the show. I don't think my sister realized I was watching, but her attempting to park for 10 minutes was quality entertainment. It's not that she's a bad driver or poor at fitting in parking spots, she's just still learning, 13 years later. She'll undoubtedly defend herself, but I don't think there are many excuses besides "I was teasing the parking spot with the honor of keeping my car between its lines." Besides that there wasn't much to do and we both had to wake up early, so she went to sleep and I watched TV.
The next morning I woke up around 7 a.m, not purposely, but it worked out. I called the rental car place to see if they had my reservation that the dude who lives with my sister was supposed to make, but he forgot. They were able to get me a car though by 9 a.m (and the discount in the end) so it all worked out, he can have his name Jeremy and the title of my sister's boyfriend back, the ring may just cost a little more from my dad. Totally kidding, anyway, I walked a mile down the road (luckily it wasn't freezing or raining in the morning) had my Mazda 6 waiting for me and drove straight to Madison. Once outside of Chicago it's a pretty easy and semi-boring drive, took about 2:30 hours to get to the hotel. I did find a great 80s radio station to sing along with, but that faded out quickly once I crossed into Wisconsin leaving me disappointed. I was luckily able to check in to the hotel as soon as I got there at 12 (check in wasn't until 3), and was able to relax for an hour before my first day of meetings commenced. I met with the graduate coordinator who set me up with a bevy of activities for both Tuesday and Wednesday. It was definitely a large difference between Colorado where they ask if you want to meet anyone or take a tour, but didn't go ahead and just do it and show you what they have to offer as best as possible. The first professor I met with was real nice and informative, I realized the more people I met the less questions I had and more awkward the meetings would seemingly become, but what can you do. He was great though, we talked for about 20 minutes and then he invited me to lunch with him and a student from abroad so I was able to snag a free lunch at a place called "Ian's by the Slice." It was good, however, I didn't want to burst everyone's bubble and tell them the real name of the restaurant is "Georgio's Pizza" at Michigan State University and clearly it was more "Ian's stolen slice," but solid "gourmet" pizza nonetheless. I took on a piece of barbeque chicken finger pizza and macaroni cheese pizza then went on my own around campus for about an hour until my next meeting. Madison had an awesome campus and one of the city's best attributes is the fact that Madison is #1 in the amount of restaurants per capita in the country, that would be something I'd love to take advantage of. So I checked everything out and really enjoyed myself, it was slightly rainy, but not freezing cold on Tuesday so I was able to enjoy what I was seeing.
Before my 3:30 meeting I decided I had more time to kill so I'd embark on a journey that I normally wouldn't. I went in to a coffee shop and decided to order something and couldn't find tea or something out of pure blindness, so I went with the most random sounding coffee. Apparently this one comes with a warning as before the order was processed I was told "this drink has 3 times the amount of caffeine as normal coffee and you need a flavor to counteract added in." So like any person who was caught in this situation, I told them it sounds great and I'll take it to avoid any embarrassment of telling the truth that I had no idea what I had really ordered. I took the drink, sipped it and it actually tasted good. If you know me and the effects of coffee and/or caffeine, probably wasn't the best idea. I drank about 3/4 of it in a matter of minutes and went to my meeting. could feel a bit of shakes coming on as I arrived at the grad advisor's office, we talked for a while, she answered some more questions and I fought my leg from shaking uncontrollably as often is the case without caffeine, so with it just means a larger fight. I left campus and went right to the hotel where I immediately passed out (because that's what coffee does to me in the end). I woke up, went back to the State street area and walked around some more. I had forgotten that Madison was the capital of Wisconsin until I had started walking that night and looked up to see the biggest fucking state capital building ever. I felt slightly embarrassed that the whole day I had been walking up and down the streets I didn't notice that behemoth in front of my eyes.
I went to bed around 1 last night, though I had one of those dreams where you feel yourself sleeping (and by "one of those" I'm just hoping this is normal I guess), but you feel someone is staring at you during this process. I tried to wake myself up in fears that the person was about to murder me, I could feel myself in Hulk Hogan sleeper hold mode, putting one arm up only for it to collapse against the mat. I tried it again and boom right back down on the mat, but finally the third try I got my burst and was able to wake up a bit more terrified than when I went to sleep. I turned on the TV and thought "that'll be a fun dream in Europe when I actually am in a room with 10 other people who could be staring at me in my sleep." It took about 30 minutes more to pass out again, but I did and escaped the night with dreams of seeing an old high school friend who went to Madison at some party, which was weird, but nobody was trying to kill me.
I went back to campus to meet with another Professor and have another full day. Once again it was very nice to talk with these people. Today was a bit different in that I met with actual students and went to lunch with a couple of them. They were real nice and not hard to interact with, which was nice. It was also good that I didn't have to initiate the contact necessarily because although I am starting to get better in that category, I don't know if I'd just go up to random students not knowing if they were even part of the program and be like let's go to lunch and tell me all about your life and the programs. After that I went with them to class, it was class that was getting a tutoring on iMovie and since I want to think I was more versed in it than the guy they brought in to demo it I found the lesson amusing. I skipped out of class early since I had a final meeting with a professor. I went to that meeting, said thanks to the grad coordinator and went on my way. Wisconsin was extremely generous with everything and it kind of made me think maybe I was smart or something the way they spoke about how difficult it was to get in this year and how highly rated their department is. After everything I hopped in my car and proceeded back to Chicago where I am currently conveying my message.
Now comes the decision time, I enjoyed Madison a lot and Michigan State I already know well. Colorado I have yet to hear from, so I'm not sure about that one, but I liked what I saw there as well. Michigan State makes their students decide by March 23rd, leaving 11 days to decide if I'd want to return. I know I have to make my own decision by April 7th before I leave for Europe, but it'd be nice to know all my options and weigh all the financial implications etc. for a couple more weeks. I have no idea where I will end up. Each school is unique and offers their own style of program, I won't know any students at any of the schools (I'll still know people in the state of Michigan, just not up at MSU to my knowledge). If you got an opinion on the matter, if I should move on to another school, stay in state, or stay in Europe let me know.
I get home tomorrow night and while I'm enjoying traveling I am ready to be home to plan the major excursion. I'm envisioning a very busy few weeks where time will fly and not much will truly be planned, but I'm hoping to continue putting together a rough sketch of the order I'd like to arrive in cities and the better sounding hostels to seek out. I will still keep this journal up to date with the details of European planning and my final graduate school decision, but for those looking to take a break for a few weeks I will be sending out the link to the journal one more time before leaving for Europe.
Thanks for joining me these two weeks, hope you've enjoyed yourself. Now go put on some headphones, look in the mirror, turn up the Rod Stewart and ask yourself Do ya think I'm sexy?
-BK
The next morning I woke up around 7 a.m, not purposely, but it worked out. I called the rental car place to see if they had my reservation that the dude who lives with my sister was supposed to make, but he forgot. They were able to get me a car though by 9 a.m (and the discount in the end) so it all worked out, he can have his name Jeremy and the title of my sister's boyfriend back, the ring may just cost a little more from my dad. Totally kidding, anyway, I walked a mile down the road (luckily it wasn't freezing or raining in the morning) had my Mazda 6 waiting for me and drove straight to Madison. Once outside of Chicago it's a pretty easy and semi-boring drive, took about 2:30 hours to get to the hotel. I did find a great 80s radio station to sing along with, but that faded out quickly once I crossed into Wisconsin leaving me disappointed. I was luckily able to check in to the hotel as soon as I got there at 12 (check in wasn't until 3), and was able to relax for an hour before my first day of meetings commenced. I met with the graduate coordinator who set me up with a bevy of activities for both Tuesday and Wednesday. It was definitely a large difference between Colorado where they ask if you want to meet anyone or take a tour, but didn't go ahead and just do it and show you what they have to offer as best as possible. The first professor I met with was real nice and informative, I realized the more people I met the less questions I had and more awkward the meetings would seemingly become, but what can you do. He was great though, we talked for about 20 minutes and then he invited me to lunch with him and a student from abroad so I was able to snag a free lunch at a place called "Ian's by the Slice." It was good, however, I didn't want to burst everyone's bubble and tell them the real name of the restaurant is "Georgio's Pizza" at Michigan State University and clearly it was more "Ian's stolen slice," but solid "gourmet" pizza nonetheless. I took on a piece of barbeque chicken finger pizza and macaroni cheese pizza then went on my own around campus for about an hour until my next meeting. Madison had an awesome campus and one of the city's best attributes is the fact that Madison is #1 in the amount of restaurants per capita in the country, that would be something I'd love to take advantage of. So I checked everything out and really enjoyed myself, it was slightly rainy, but not freezing cold on Tuesday so I was able to enjoy what I was seeing.
Before my 3:30 meeting I decided I had more time to kill so I'd embark on a journey that I normally wouldn't. I went in to a coffee shop and decided to order something and couldn't find tea or something out of pure blindness, so I went with the most random sounding coffee. Apparently this one comes with a warning as before the order was processed I was told "this drink has 3 times the amount of caffeine as normal coffee and you need a flavor to counteract added in." So like any person who was caught in this situation, I told them it sounds great and I'll take it to avoid any embarrassment of telling the truth that I had no idea what I had really ordered. I took the drink, sipped it and it actually tasted good. If you know me and the effects of coffee and/or caffeine, probably wasn't the best idea. I drank about 3/4 of it in a matter of minutes and went to my meeting. could feel a bit of shakes coming on as I arrived at the grad advisor's office, we talked for a while, she answered some more questions and I fought my leg from shaking uncontrollably as often is the case without caffeine, so with it just means a larger fight. I left campus and went right to the hotel where I immediately passed out (because that's what coffee does to me in the end). I woke up, went back to the State street area and walked around some more. I had forgotten that Madison was the capital of Wisconsin until I had started walking that night and looked up to see the biggest fucking state capital building ever. I felt slightly embarrassed that the whole day I had been walking up and down the streets I didn't notice that behemoth in front of my eyes.
I went to bed around 1 last night, though I had one of those dreams where you feel yourself sleeping (and by "one of those" I'm just hoping this is normal I guess), but you feel someone is staring at you during this process. I tried to wake myself up in fears that the person was about to murder me, I could feel myself in Hulk Hogan sleeper hold mode, putting one arm up only for it to collapse against the mat. I tried it again and boom right back down on the mat, but finally the third try I got my burst and was able to wake up a bit more terrified than when I went to sleep. I turned on the TV and thought "that'll be a fun dream in Europe when I actually am in a room with 10 other people who could be staring at me in my sleep." It took about 30 minutes more to pass out again, but I did and escaped the night with dreams of seeing an old high school friend who went to Madison at some party, which was weird, but nobody was trying to kill me.
I went back to campus to meet with another Professor and have another full day. Once again it was very nice to talk with these people. Today was a bit different in that I met with actual students and went to lunch with a couple of them. They were real nice and not hard to interact with, which was nice. It was also good that I didn't have to initiate the contact necessarily because although I am starting to get better in that category, I don't know if I'd just go up to random students not knowing if they were even part of the program and be like let's go to lunch and tell me all about your life and the programs. After that I went with them to class, it was class that was getting a tutoring on iMovie and since I want to think I was more versed in it than the guy they brought in to demo it I found the lesson amusing. I skipped out of class early since I had a final meeting with a professor. I went to that meeting, said thanks to the grad coordinator and went on my way. Wisconsin was extremely generous with everything and it kind of made me think maybe I was smart or something the way they spoke about how difficult it was to get in this year and how highly rated their department is. After everything I hopped in my car and proceeded back to Chicago where I am currently conveying my message.
Now comes the decision time, I enjoyed Madison a lot and Michigan State I already know well. Colorado I have yet to hear from, so I'm not sure about that one, but I liked what I saw there as well. Michigan State makes their students decide by March 23rd, leaving 11 days to decide if I'd want to return. I know I have to make my own decision by April 7th before I leave for Europe, but it'd be nice to know all my options and weigh all the financial implications etc. for a couple more weeks. I have no idea where I will end up. Each school is unique and offers their own style of program, I won't know any students at any of the schools (I'll still know people in the state of Michigan, just not up at MSU to my knowledge). If you got an opinion on the matter, if I should move on to another school, stay in state, or stay in Europe let me know.
I get home tomorrow night and while I'm enjoying traveling I am ready to be home to plan the major excursion. I'm envisioning a very busy few weeks where time will fly and not much will truly be planned, but I'm hoping to continue putting together a rough sketch of the order I'd like to arrive in cities and the better sounding hostels to seek out. I will still keep this journal up to date with the details of European planning and my final graduate school decision, but for those looking to take a break for a few weeks I will be sending out the link to the journal one more time before leaving for Europe.
Thanks for joining me these two weeks, hope you've enjoyed yourself. Now go put on some headphones, look in the mirror, turn up the Rod Stewart and ask yourself Do ya think I'm sexy?
-BK
Sunday, March 8, 2009
A whole new world
I arrived in Seattle on Friday night to visit my friend Emily. This portion of my trip, like Las Vegas, was non-school related. It was a quick breather in between checking out more schools as I figure schools shouldn't really be visited on the weekends and I should go to as many places as possible while I'm out traveling. Just like the previous stops this one showed me a world I had not yet known. For those who know my family and myself, we strictly adhere to the Apple products only policy in our household. Being in Seattle I landed right in the backyard of the competition. With my friend an employee of this unnamed company I quickly found myself in enemy territory. Friday night we got a quick bite for dinner before heading out for the night. We met up with a few people, stopped by a traffic light party, which I had never heard of. This concept didn't work out as the company/city apparently has 700 guys to 1 ratio. We departed after a few minutes and continued on to meet up with some other people as we intended to before hand. We ended up at a bar that previously held the task of being a funeral home. I'm not one to frown upon originality, but with coffin doors, a sign for flower delivery inside, and the fact that for 30 minutes I was eerily thinking of death (not even realizing why until later) I can't say I endorse this place. I did respect the no cover, however, gladly would've paid in exchange for the thoughts of I'm going to die soon. We didn't stay long and called it night.
Saturday gave me a preview of how weather in Seattle is and would continue to be for the remainder of the trip. It would pour one minute, snow the next, and be sunny shortly after. We didn't do much in the afternoon besides get lunch with this trend and knowing it'd be a late night ahead. I didn't realize at the time, but I'd soon be venturing into unchartered territories in various ways. We went to dinner with about 30 people, many who work for the company in celebration of a year after a surgery for someone. It was a good meal, though I did state the obvious that Apple was better to those around me. One of them was willing to admit he felt the same way, while the others defended their products claiming much of the reason Apple is "better" was marketing, and not necessarily the product itself, but with Windows 7 things are going to change again. Everybody was really nice though and the discussions were good, so I can't really rip on them much. After dinner we headed to another bar, just one for people to relax and drink, but there was another plan for the rest of the evenings that I had previously heard rumblings about, but was not sure if we'd be partaking.
The clock struck midnight and the large crowd dispersed except for a small group who were planning on continuing the party. The new plan was to go a bar called "R Place." That was fine, however, based on the normal crowds I see at bars this would be different because it turns out this is a gay bar. We drove down the bar and at first struggled to find parking, leaving a slight chance that we may have to cancel this portion of the evening, but to no avail a spot was found and the journey began. We walked up to the door and saw 2 giant men dressed with crazy fullout makeup talking to the bouncers outside showing us the correct way in. I felt as if I was about to enter the benefit party in the movie Chuck and Larry. I walk through the door and am immediately hit with a $7 cover charge, which I think if you're a straight male entering this place you shouldn't have to pay. I did anyway and immediately ordered a drink. After everyone got their drink we headed upstairs to dance, at least it wasn't downstairs. We got up there and the place was definitely a party with quite a lot of people dancing, many of the same sex together. It wasn't that big of a culture shock when we arrived up top. I actually noticed a lot more female couples being provacative in their dancing and actions than the men, which may have been selective sight on my part, but those women were definitely not frowned upon by myself. Unfortunately another thing not difficult to notice were the men in just underwear (clearly stuffed as I actually saw a guy readjusting the toilet paper)dancing for people on little platforms seeking tips. The dance floor was quite hopping, we stayed on the edge for most of it, but a couple people wanted to head into the eye of the storm and dance right in the middle, so I followed along. The middle was just more crowded, though it seemed more females existed on the inside. The most awkward part of the middle was the leaking water from the ceiling, it kept hitting me in the head and semi-freaked me out being hit by random splashes of water in the club ummmm. We were only in the middle when the bar made an announcement for last call and closed up at 1:40, which is kind of bullshit because you have until 2 to at least let people keep dancing. I had no problem getting out of their though. There was one more club open down the street that we walked down to of the homosexual persuasion, but with the daylight savings stuff pushing the clock to 3, a long line, and a $10 cover for a place that would be closing at 4 we called it night. We headed back to the apartment and called it night.
*Just as a note to that previous paragraph, it was extremely difficult to type because every sentence sets me up for gay jokes, which I had to throw at least one in, but I really tried to avoid as many as possible. It's more of a mocking myself, but I know you are personally thinking of awkward innuendos to go along with the sentences like "Giant men in makeup showing us the correct way in."
Sunday was back to a normal day, I woke up early to watch the MSU game while people slept and we later went to brunch with a bunch of people. Later in the day we walked around downtown Seattle and went to the markets etc. Seattle's a decent city, I had been once before so I didn't have a need to see all the touristy things. It was a very nice afternoon though, perfect for walking around the town. Of course right around the time we got back the clouds turned gray again and snow fell upon the city. I had a good time here, it was a nice change of pace and good to venture out a little.
I hope to escape tomorrow before more snow takes over, as anything above in inch seems to scare the city into paralysis. I'm due east to Chicago where I will somewhat stay as I continue to check out schools, this time Madison. As previously stated I did get recommended for admissions there, so this is one visit that (hopefully) cannot backfire and end up being a total waste. I'm going to drive to Madison on Tuesday, but still not sure if I'll be staying overnight or just making a real long day trip out of it. I'm about to "lose" some more hours in addition to the extra one I did last night in heading to Chicago so for once I may be too tired to just stay up all the time.
It is now officially one month until I head to Europe, I'm very excited and also have some small fears. I think I've done a good job on this mini trial run and although I haven't been on my own like I am about to be, I think it's good prep for someone like me. I should be back in Detroit on Thursday, so if I don't stop by before I'm sure I will see you then where we'll start putting everything together, making some more decisions, and get the fuck outta the country.
Hope you enjoyed your time here to today and if you were offended at all, just remember you're the only one who cares.
-BK to the 5000th
Saturday gave me a preview of how weather in Seattle is and would continue to be for the remainder of the trip. It would pour one minute, snow the next, and be sunny shortly after. We didn't do much in the afternoon besides get lunch with this trend and knowing it'd be a late night ahead. I didn't realize at the time, but I'd soon be venturing into unchartered territories in various ways. We went to dinner with about 30 people, many who work for the company in celebration of a year after a surgery for someone. It was a good meal, though I did state the obvious that Apple was better to those around me. One of them was willing to admit he felt the same way, while the others defended their products claiming much of the reason Apple is "better" was marketing, and not necessarily the product itself, but with Windows 7 things are going to change again. Everybody was really nice though and the discussions were good, so I can't really rip on them much. After dinner we headed to another bar, just one for people to relax and drink, but there was another plan for the rest of the evenings that I had previously heard rumblings about, but was not sure if we'd be partaking.
The clock struck midnight and the large crowd dispersed except for a small group who were planning on continuing the party. The new plan was to go a bar called "R Place." That was fine, however, based on the normal crowds I see at bars this would be different because it turns out this is a gay bar. We drove down the bar and at first struggled to find parking, leaving a slight chance that we may have to cancel this portion of the evening, but to no avail a spot was found and the journey began. We walked up to the door and saw 2 giant men dressed with crazy fullout makeup talking to the bouncers outside showing us the correct way in. I felt as if I was about to enter the benefit party in the movie Chuck and Larry. I walk through the door and am immediately hit with a $7 cover charge, which I think if you're a straight male entering this place you shouldn't have to pay. I did anyway and immediately ordered a drink. After everyone got their drink we headed upstairs to dance, at least it wasn't downstairs. We got up there and the place was definitely a party with quite a lot of people dancing, many of the same sex together. It wasn't that big of a culture shock when we arrived up top. I actually noticed a lot more female couples being provacative in their dancing and actions than the men, which may have been selective sight on my part, but those women were definitely not frowned upon by myself. Unfortunately another thing not difficult to notice were the men in just underwear (clearly stuffed as I actually saw a guy readjusting the toilet paper)dancing for people on little platforms seeking tips. The dance floor was quite hopping, we stayed on the edge for most of it, but a couple people wanted to head into the eye of the storm and dance right in the middle, so I followed along. The middle was just more crowded, though it seemed more females existed on the inside. The most awkward part of the middle was the leaking water from the ceiling, it kept hitting me in the head and semi-freaked me out being hit by random splashes of water in the club ummmm. We were only in the middle when the bar made an announcement for last call and closed up at 1:40, which is kind of bullshit because you have until 2 to at least let people keep dancing. I had no problem getting out of their though. There was one more club open down the street that we walked down to of the homosexual persuasion, but with the daylight savings stuff pushing the clock to 3, a long line, and a $10 cover for a place that would be closing at 4 we called it night. We headed back to the apartment and called it night.
*Just as a note to that previous paragraph, it was extremely difficult to type because every sentence sets me up for gay jokes, which I had to throw at least one in, but I really tried to avoid as many as possible. It's more of a mocking myself, but I know you are personally thinking of awkward innuendos to go along with the sentences like "Giant men in makeup showing us the correct way in."
Sunday was back to a normal day, I woke up early to watch the MSU game while people slept and we later went to brunch with a bunch of people. Later in the day we walked around downtown Seattle and went to the markets etc. Seattle's a decent city, I had been once before so I didn't have a need to see all the touristy things. It was a very nice afternoon though, perfect for walking around the town. Of course right around the time we got back the clouds turned gray again and snow fell upon the city. I had a good time here, it was a nice change of pace and good to venture out a little.
I hope to escape tomorrow before more snow takes over, as anything above in inch seems to scare the city into paralysis. I'm due east to Chicago where I will somewhat stay as I continue to check out schools, this time Madison. As previously stated I did get recommended for admissions there, so this is one visit that (hopefully) cannot backfire and end up being a total waste. I'm going to drive to Madison on Tuesday, but still not sure if I'll be staying overnight or just making a real long day trip out of it. I'm about to "lose" some more hours in addition to the extra one I did last night in heading to Chicago so for once I may be too tired to just stay up all the time.
It is now officially one month until I head to Europe, I'm very excited and also have some small fears. I think I've done a good job on this mini trial run and although I haven't been on my own like I am about to be, I think it's good prep for someone like me. I should be back in Detroit on Thursday, so if I don't stop by before I'm sure I will see you then where we'll start putting everything together, making some more decisions, and get the fuck outta the country.
Hope you enjoyed your time here to today and if you were offended at all, just remember you're the only one who cares.
-BK to the 5000th
Friday, March 6, 2009
Gettin lost to find my way to get lost again
When I arrived in Denver on Wednesday I took the easiest drive of my life to Boulder. It was a very simple drive, simple directions, I imagined the whole state to be set up like this, I turned out to be quite wrong. Around 4 p.m after I was all checked in to my hotel I decided with the weather a solid 75 and sunny I'd take a walk around campus. I had a general idea of what buildings I was looking for, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. The campus is right next to the hotel, that wasn't hard to find, but once I stepped through I felt like I was in that Sonic dreamland where he's spinning around trying to find the ring. I knew the basic direction of where I was going, but then decided to get fancy, I saw an open walkway and took that instead. I walked and walked, passing the same buildings every 15 minutes, realizing I just went in a complete circle numerous times. I didn't want to look like a lost kid on a college campus, so I just kept on walking, trying to glance at the campus maps around the school without actually stopping to check them out. Finally I thought I caught a break, there are a lot of "underground" tunnels at this campus, which is pretty exciting and this one was no exception. I thought it may be one of the ones by my hotel, but I was quite wrong. It turned out to be the exact opposite direction, but it led me to where all the food, bars, and random college stores existed. I was starved since I hadn't eaten since early and it was already 5:30, my legs were killing me from walking, and most importantly if I did end up going here I need some solid college fast food. I went to a grilled sub place, I forgot the name, but I was satisfied. This was until I realized I still had no idea how to get back to my hotel. The sun was starting to go down so I began walking again. This time I thought I had it figured out, I kept walking and walking and even found the Journalism building, which would've been good except I didn't actually know where it was. By this time it was getting dark, there was a CU basketball game starting in about 30 minutes (I wanted to attend at first, but realized the pain from walking for 2 hours was starting to work it's way in) and I still had no clue where I was going. Around 7 p.m I got smart, I followed everyone to the basketball stadium since I knew it was by my hotel, found the fancy tunnel and I finally was led to where I needed to be. I had walked about 8 miles in those 3 hours, it was real nice campus at least and I had a slight idea of where I needed to go the next day. After getting some late night dinner, I passed out immediately.
Yesterday I woke up early, I was going to check out the campus with an actual tour, just so I would know where to go for a meeting I had scheduled that afternoon. This was one of the buildings it originally took me over 2 hours to find. I walked in and talked to the tour chick, she essentially told me to take the self tour and the info/tour was too based on freshman so wasn't worth it for me. Luckily she handed me a map for this time and I did my own thing. I felt after the campus and I got to know each other better the day before it would be smooth sailing. Shockingly it was and I started to enjoy my surroundings. I was walking around campus confident with where I was going, but then it happened. I heard someone walking in the distance with a faint voice. I was stopped at a light waiting to cross and this acne faced white student stands beside me with his ipod blaring. A moment later the kid started singing and he wasn't very good. Top that with the depressing lyrics associated with whatever he was trying to make out, probably not the best forum, save it for your car. I didn't want to laugh at him so I walked faster than he could, but he kept getting louder! Finally I turned off the road, the singing went from funny to loud and annoying. I'll be the first to admit I've been caught many times screaming songs from my room, whether it be at the old ZBT house or 266 Durand, or even sing quietly walking down the road, but the yelling in the middle of campus means you're an attention whore.
After my self tour, I was confident enough in my campus abilities that I felt there was something missing. I kept reading about a "Pearl Street Mall" and had no idea where or what it was. I decided I'd check that out for lunch. I grabbed the car at the hotel and drove to where it was located, about 5 minutes past campus. It's the downtown Boulder area and was pretty nice. I had read about a place called Illegal Petes, specializing in the college style burrito, as I ventured through the streets I found my destination. I was satisfied, I enjoyed the atmosphere of that place and Pearl street and it's shops in general. That was until the burrito realized it didn't like me. The classic tale of having to take a dump with no bathroom around had hit. I decided I'd go back to my car, which would've been awesome if I knew where the parking structure was. I feverishly walked up and down the streets, finally remembering which road had my structure. I was losing hope when I turned to my right and I was actually at the structure. I ran, got in to my car and felt relieved, I started driving in the structure and realized I couldn't find an exit. This was a fucked up design, it just kept going up, it was a 2 way ramp, you had to exit the exact same way you came in, I didn't realize that until I reached the roof. I contemplated just flooring it to see if I could land on the street, but I turned around and finally made my way out. I knew how to get back to my hotel, but it seemed the road was longer than I remembered. I almost turned off to try to find my way through, but I stuck it out and found how to get back to my hotel. About a minute away the stomach problems subsided, like the eye before the storm. I parked the car, got out and then it was on. I ran to my room, and my fucking key didn't work. I had the pre-shit sweats going looking flustered no doubt as I ran down to the front desk and told them my key for some reason didn't work anymore. The guy took his time punching in numbers, finally got the key to work, I jetted back to my room, the key worked, I entered and you can figure out the rest for yourself.
After that rousing experience I had to go to my meeting with the grad coordinator. I walked around the building talking with her, it was nothing too exciting. After I decided I'd take advantage of one of the many fields around campus and read under the sun with my ipod. I only had a couple hours because I wanted to attend the Nuggets game and any chance of a random cute girl coming up to me inviting me over because of my boyish good looks had subsided. I did my thing and headed back to the hotel.
I left about 6 p.m for the game that was slated for 8:30, they said (and by they, I mean my iphone) it would take about 35 minutes, but I figured I could check out a little of Denver. The ride down to Denver was simple, until I got near what I thought was the arena. I tried to understand the directions, but apparently I did a poor job. In fact I ended up at Mile High Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos. It was only about 6:40 by that point though, so i figured I had plenty of time. I rerouted my iphone and continued to reroute my iphone for the next 20 minutes until I finally had directions that I could figure out. This time it called for a different exit on the expressway, I took it, followed the road around and had arrived at the Pepsi Center. I quickly parked at the first lot I saw, bought my ticket and stood in line to enter. Apparently they don't open the gates until an hour before.
The game itself was a blowout, Nuggets dominated. The woman next to me owned seats 2 and 3, I had seat one. She didn't seem too thrilled I was sitting there. She talked to me briefly asking my story, once I told her I'd be cheering for the Nuggets and was a fan of Chauncey I figured she'd be excited. It didn't work out that way as she immediately turned away. I got the impression that seat 1 was open 90% of the time and that the woman umm needed the extra room. I heard her talking about the season tickets from the year before where she had to move back a couple rows for more leg room this year, I'm just saying. I got a "bigger, better hot dog" for dinner there, it was solid, got to choose your own toppings. It was a very nice arena, beer was cheap compared to other stadiums though I chose not to partake with the amount I had gotten myself lost the past 2 days. I left about 2 minutes before the game ended, the Nuggets were up 15 and they had taken out all the stars at that point. I was terrified I wouldn't find my car, but I did with ease, drove back to the hotel and figured it'd be smooth sailing the rest of the way. I got back around 12, went in my pocket and my room key was missing. The kid working the desk was a bit out of it, but after about 10 minutes got me a new key.
Overall (and now that I've learned every part of the Boulder and Denver areas) I really enjoyed the campus and the surroundings. We shall see if I get in, the decision isn't due for another couple weeks, but what can you do. I am headed to Seattle for a break from school traveling for a few days and then on my way to Chicago. I was accepted to Madison so I will definitely be trekking up there to visit next week, hopefully the weather stays above freezing.
Anyway, I must depart, I've been in the business room for an hour and I must use the facilities, this time, however, I think I know where I'm going.
If my stories offended you in anyway, you weren't entertained today, or you just read these because of a deep hatred for me let me know so I can mold this to irritate you even more.
-BK
P.S happy birthday to Andrew, I wish I could be 3 again!
Yesterday I woke up early, I was going to check out the campus with an actual tour, just so I would know where to go for a meeting I had scheduled that afternoon. This was one of the buildings it originally took me over 2 hours to find. I walked in and talked to the tour chick, she essentially told me to take the self tour and the info/tour was too based on freshman so wasn't worth it for me. Luckily she handed me a map for this time and I did my own thing. I felt after the campus and I got to know each other better the day before it would be smooth sailing. Shockingly it was and I started to enjoy my surroundings. I was walking around campus confident with where I was going, but then it happened. I heard someone walking in the distance with a faint voice. I was stopped at a light waiting to cross and this acne faced white student stands beside me with his ipod blaring. A moment later the kid started singing and he wasn't very good. Top that with the depressing lyrics associated with whatever he was trying to make out, probably not the best forum, save it for your car. I didn't want to laugh at him so I walked faster than he could, but he kept getting louder! Finally I turned off the road, the singing went from funny to loud and annoying. I'll be the first to admit I've been caught many times screaming songs from my room, whether it be at the old ZBT house or 266 Durand, or even sing quietly walking down the road, but the yelling in the middle of campus means you're an attention whore.
After my self tour, I was confident enough in my campus abilities that I felt there was something missing. I kept reading about a "Pearl Street Mall" and had no idea where or what it was. I decided I'd check that out for lunch. I grabbed the car at the hotel and drove to where it was located, about 5 minutes past campus. It's the downtown Boulder area and was pretty nice. I had read about a place called Illegal Petes, specializing in the college style burrito, as I ventured through the streets I found my destination. I was satisfied, I enjoyed the atmosphere of that place and Pearl street and it's shops in general. That was until the burrito realized it didn't like me. The classic tale of having to take a dump with no bathroom around had hit. I decided I'd go back to my car, which would've been awesome if I knew where the parking structure was. I feverishly walked up and down the streets, finally remembering which road had my structure. I was losing hope when I turned to my right and I was actually at the structure. I ran, got in to my car and felt relieved, I started driving in the structure and realized I couldn't find an exit. This was a fucked up design, it just kept going up, it was a 2 way ramp, you had to exit the exact same way you came in, I didn't realize that until I reached the roof. I contemplated just flooring it to see if I could land on the street, but I turned around and finally made my way out. I knew how to get back to my hotel, but it seemed the road was longer than I remembered. I almost turned off to try to find my way through, but I stuck it out and found how to get back to my hotel. About a minute away the stomach problems subsided, like the eye before the storm. I parked the car, got out and then it was on. I ran to my room, and my fucking key didn't work. I had the pre-shit sweats going looking flustered no doubt as I ran down to the front desk and told them my key for some reason didn't work anymore. The guy took his time punching in numbers, finally got the key to work, I jetted back to my room, the key worked, I entered and you can figure out the rest for yourself.
After that rousing experience I had to go to my meeting with the grad coordinator. I walked around the building talking with her, it was nothing too exciting. After I decided I'd take advantage of one of the many fields around campus and read under the sun with my ipod. I only had a couple hours because I wanted to attend the Nuggets game and any chance of a random cute girl coming up to me inviting me over because of my boyish good looks had subsided. I did my thing and headed back to the hotel.
I left about 6 p.m for the game that was slated for 8:30, they said (and by they, I mean my iphone) it would take about 35 minutes, but I figured I could check out a little of Denver. The ride down to Denver was simple, until I got near what I thought was the arena. I tried to understand the directions, but apparently I did a poor job. In fact I ended up at Mile High Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos. It was only about 6:40 by that point though, so i figured I had plenty of time. I rerouted my iphone and continued to reroute my iphone for the next 20 minutes until I finally had directions that I could figure out. This time it called for a different exit on the expressway, I took it, followed the road around and had arrived at the Pepsi Center. I quickly parked at the first lot I saw, bought my ticket and stood in line to enter. Apparently they don't open the gates until an hour before.
The game itself was a blowout, Nuggets dominated. The woman next to me owned seats 2 and 3, I had seat one. She didn't seem too thrilled I was sitting there. She talked to me briefly asking my story, once I told her I'd be cheering for the Nuggets and was a fan of Chauncey I figured she'd be excited. It didn't work out that way as she immediately turned away. I got the impression that seat 1 was open 90% of the time and that the woman umm needed the extra room. I heard her talking about the season tickets from the year before where she had to move back a couple rows for more leg room this year, I'm just saying. I got a "bigger, better hot dog" for dinner there, it was solid, got to choose your own toppings. It was a very nice arena, beer was cheap compared to other stadiums though I chose not to partake with the amount I had gotten myself lost the past 2 days. I left about 2 minutes before the game ended, the Nuggets were up 15 and they had taken out all the stars at that point. I was terrified I wouldn't find my car, but I did with ease, drove back to the hotel and figured it'd be smooth sailing the rest of the way. I got back around 12, went in my pocket and my room key was missing. The kid working the desk was a bit out of it, but after about 10 minutes got me a new key.
Overall (and now that I've learned every part of the Boulder and Denver areas) I really enjoyed the campus and the surroundings. We shall see if I get in, the decision isn't due for another couple weeks, but what can you do. I am headed to Seattle for a break from school traveling for a few days and then on my way to Chicago. I was accepted to Madison so I will definitely be trekking up there to visit next week, hopefully the weather stays above freezing.
Anyway, I must depart, I've been in the business room for an hour and I must use the facilities, this time, however, I think I know where I'm going.
If my stories offended you in anyway, you weren't entertained today, or you just read these because of a deep hatred for me let me know so I can mold this to irritate you even more.
-BK
P.S happy birthday to Andrew, I wish I could be 3 again!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The old woman at the park
Today 2,923 people attended the Padres vs. Dodgers spring training game at the Peoria sports complex, but one woman stood above the rest. I made the decision to attend another game around 11:45 a.m and am glad I did for multiple reasons. First, this was the beginning of going out on my own to events often known for attending with others. If I can't do it in Arizona, a land of friendly old people, it's just going to get more difficult in Boulder, Lisbon, Madrid and so on. I took the car and trekked 35 minutes to a different ballpark than the one I attended yesterday. It was a much different atmosphere as the Padres and Dodgers are not nearly as popular as the Cubs and hometown Dbacks were. This led to a more relaxing atmosphere and the ability to choose my seat in the house. I bought my ticket and entered the stadium. For those unaware I have a sick obsession with burritos, so I decided that would be my ballgame food of choice. The day before I had a chili, cheese, jalapeño and fritos hot dog or Mesa dog so I figured I'd find a different way to clog the arteries today. The weather was much better, 80 and cloudy (of course it still helped burn my skin a little worse) as I took my seat 3 rows behind the right side of home plate, next to the Padres dugout. In front of me sat a little old lady all by herself, she attends most Dodgers spring training games as well as many others around the Arizona area. Her uniqueness isn't the fact she attends so many games, but that she hand writes the scorecard to every single game she attends. Most times I would think that's one of the sickest things I've ever seen, but for some reason this woman grabbed my attention. Every concession worker, usher, and most fans around the seats knew her well. We spoke about her hobby and the hundreds of baby notepads with meaningless Spring Training stats that she had collected over the years. She didn't mind being at the ballpark alone quickly engaging any passerby in conversation whether she knew them or not. The rest of the people in the section were just as kind, knowledgeable, and led to quite a relaxing atmosphere. This includes the heckler who would scream at San Diego Padres player Jody Gerut each time he would come to bat sayings like "Jodie Foster!" and "You were in the movie Contact!" For the first time in a while I began a slight enjoyment of baseball again. It was a good experience to get out on my own; I feel like I'm in a video game, level one was to attend an event solo with kind old people as the challenge.
Tomorrow I leave for Boulder, Colorado. I won't have computer access for a couple days there, thus why I decided to add another brief entry tonight. I'll arrive in the afternoon, rent my first car, and head to Boulder around 2 p.m. I'm not sure what I am actually going to do there, but I'm looking forward to exploring the city on my own. The hotel is supposedly a block from campus, so I'm thinking I'm going to become alone at the bar guy tomorrow night and see if I can actually pull it off. When that doesn't work, I have my eyes set on attending the Nuggets vs. Blazers game to keep myself busy.
According to Wisconsin they email their decision tomorrow to all applicants. I feel like at some point they should text applicants that "it's just not going to work out" or offer the rejection hotline. I guess it saves money and paper on the people who aren't worthy enough as is for these universities, but I feel if I'm spending $50 to apply to your school, you can spend 15 cents to reject (or accept) me. The MSU email held the subject of "acceptance to the MSU masters program" and the ASU rejection stated "ASU deny letter." I like how they both get right to the point. The MSU was personalized from a professor while the denial was an automated letter. I look forward to seeing if an acceptance is always by a faculty member and rejection automated or if schools mix it up a bit. Throw in an erectile dysfunction ad at the bottom of a rejection, it'd be a fantastic money maker for universities.
For now though, I must continue on my trek. Thanks for stopping by and give yourself a treat today, maybe an old WWF wrestling ice cream bar or some fruit by the foot.
-BK
Tomorrow I leave for Boulder, Colorado. I won't have computer access for a couple days there, thus why I decided to add another brief entry tonight. I'll arrive in the afternoon, rent my first car, and head to Boulder around 2 p.m. I'm not sure what I am actually going to do there, but I'm looking forward to exploring the city on my own. The hotel is supposedly a block from campus, so I'm thinking I'm going to become alone at the bar guy tomorrow night and see if I can actually pull it off. When that doesn't work, I have my eyes set on attending the Nuggets vs. Blazers game to keep myself busy.
According to Wisconsin they email their decision tomorrow to all applicants. I feel like at some point they should text applicants that "it's just not going to work out" or offer the rejection hotline. I guess it saves money and paper on the people who aren't worthy enough as is for these universities, but I feel if I'm spending $50 to apply to your school, you can spend 15 cents to reject (or accept) me. The MSU email held the subject of "acceptance to the MSU masters program" and the ASU rejection stated "ASU deny letter." I like how they both get right to the point. The MSU was personalized from a professor while the denial was an automated letter. I look forward to seeing if an acceptance is always by a faculty member and rejection automated or if schools mix it up a bit. Throw in an erectile dysfunction ad at the bottom of a rejection, it'd be a fantastic money maker for universities.
For now though, I must continue on my trek. Thanks for stopping by and give yourself a treat today, maybe an old WWF wrestling ice cream bar or some fruit by the foot.
-BK
Monday, March 2, 2009
Vegas and some Zona
I always wondered what life would be like as a male stripper, I don't have the physique and probably other parts of me lack the ability to truly make it in that profession, but when I stepped on Flight 1189 to Las Vegas I found myself thrust into the midst of a Bachelorette party. My parents were seated 2 rows behind me, thus leaving me as a random straggler. Apparently seat 31-C was not random, but in fact a perfect location for partying. Of course with my luck the woman getting married was in her late 30s accompanied by her 46 year old sister, and many other women not anywhere near the age that would have made the experience that spectacular. The woman's mom was even an attendance secretary at my old high school, calling the class of 2002 the worst attendance class she ever had. So instead of sleeping, reading, or listening to music I came up with names for the bachelorettes in Las Vegas, got drunk talk for 4 hours, and realized how unlucky I was. The truth is there was a girl in the same row as me, unconnected to the party who kept staring at me and much closer to my age. Following her another good looking girl of similar age and finally the guy whose seat I should've had. It was strange because I have no idea why the girl was looking at me, but I would've liked to find out. Even one of the drunk girls said, "man you're probably thinking what the fuck did I do to deserve this. I'm stuck with these old drunk women and there are 2 hot girls in the same row talking it up with the other dude." All I could do was nod my head and agree. As the flight ended and my flight party was over I proceeded to wait for my parents and get off. Of course the party was waiting for me, yelling "I love you Benjie, come party with us later" and the final party shot by one of the women "Thanks for the good time, that bathroom on the plane will never be the same again after us." It didn't embarrass me for some reason, but all I could do is think to myself how crazy women truly are.
My family stayed at the Encore, the room was great, but it didn't have that great casino feel or give me the desire to gamble much. That didn't stop me (unfortunately), but table limits were often high and much of their goal was to push you in to the connected Wynn for gambling, shopping, and the Sports Book. In addition to the Encore feel, the people in Las Vegas were increasingly odd; clearly coinciding with Nascar being in Vegas. This led to an increase in unattractive women wearing clothes they shouldn't be.
Friday night I had the privilege to go see Criss Angel "Mindfreak" and his show "BELIEVE." The lie part is really bolded in his title and the privilege was the fact that in the end I didn't allow myself to take my own life and survived the 2 hours. A bunch of us on the trip were sent to this show while the adults saw another show. He started off with potential, did a couple of his disappearing acts, basic magic stuff, but somewhat entertaining. After those 7 minutes, however, it was all down hill. His favorite thing was to attempt tricks from his TV show, in fact he'd say, hey remember season 1 episode 6 when I did this, well I'm going to do it now! I never watched his show, but either way just do the fucking trick. So he builds up this big trick where he gets "shocked" by 6 million volts of electricity, he shows the highlight from his show and they bring out the contraption. So I figure it'll at least be fun to see if he gets electrocuted. Then he brings out a potato in aluminum foil saying he is going to throw it in first to show how powerful it truly is. As he slowly walks towards the box an "explosion" occurs he falls down, before the explosion actually happens and the show proceeds to be "if Criss Angel died." Apparently he liked the movie Donnie Darko as it was filled with terrifying dancing bunnies, monsters, and clowns. If you go to Las Vegas and feel like losing money without the potential to get it back, just buy a ticket to Criss Angel. (Side note, his show is being revamped and he'll be gone for 6 months, so make sure you coincide so you don't miss wanting to kill yourself).
The most exciting day came on Saturday. I woke up early in the morning with the knack to lose money on college basketball games and blackjack so I could make sure to have no money for the next 12 days and reach in to my European funds. I ran down to the Sports book around 8:15 a.m, and sit down in a row by myself. Moments later I was lucky enough to be joined by Larry King. Little did I know my day would be filled with celebrity encounters. I didn't say anything, he was all about his horse racing and I figured why bother him, especially if he were to be losing money at the time. A few people went up to him, but for the most part he was left alone. Now we'll skip ahead to Saturday evening. Originally the plan was for my whole family to go to a big charity event at the Bellagio with our friends from California. Unfortunately for my sister and I our chance to go fell through, however, the night was not lost. We went to see the Beatles cirque de soleil "Love" with my Uncle. It was a fantastic show and as we were sitting waiting for the show to get started in walked Kristin Davis (Charlotte from Sex and the City, for those not as clearly gay as me for knowing who she was). She came in with some random dude and got the royal treatment. She had popcorn, some Fiji water, programs delivered to her. She took a picture with the program for the people and then the show began. Clearly they did not realize I was sitting right there or I would've had my picture taken too for them. As the show ended she was quickly escorted out by the director before any person could talk to her, once again I was overlooked. From there we proceeded over to the Bellagio for a small bite to eat and to hang out waiting for the parental units.
As we proceeded over a text came through from my mom that Hilary Duff was one of the celebrity guests at the charity event. For those of you who don't know, xoxo Hil and I go back to 2003. I was being harassed about her being there, I'm not as crazy about her as back in the day so it wasn't as big a deal to me. I still think she's a very pretty girl, but the connection for me was more to the Lizzie McGuire character and the image of her being that girl who is your best friend, but for some reason you're so fucked in the head it won't allow you to take the chance to see if you can be with her. This was the story of my existence and when she finally made the move on Gordo I thought that's how life should be and thus the perfect person was created. I've gotten over myself since then (not really, but her at least) and that image is no longer as prevalent as in the past. After dinner we waited for my parents and got the call the event was over, Zigfried and Roy performed their final trick and people were leaving. As we walked to the other side of the casino, it happened. Right in front of me walked Hilary. It all happened too quick, which in the end is probably a good thing because any awkwardness that would've ensued ("Hey, I used to wake up to your song So Yesterday as my alarm for 3 years in college.") could not have ended well for me. I did see her though, and that's a step. Maybe it means we're destined to cross paths again, I mean she did date a "Benji" she obviously didn't know she was missing the "E."
On Sunday morning I woke up again to gamble, I figured why not go Vegas Vacation on the casino and try to win my money back. For those concerned I won about half my money back, something that was much needed. My Uncle and I watched MSU win the Big Ten title to cap off the weekend and headed south to Arizona.
I was going to split this in to two, but if you're still here I'll just tell you about Arizona. It's a lot more undeveloped than I envisioned. We woke up early to drive to the ASU Phoenix area where the journalism building is. It's in the middle of downtown Phoenix, which isn't much of a downtown at all. A lot of construction and modern architecture occurring, but nothing that exciting. From there we proceeded 20 minutes to the main campus. I enjoyed the main campus much more than the building I'd be stuck in and realized that it would maybe suck to be in Phoenix when all the students are actually in Tempe at the real campus. I was surprised not to see anybody condemning students to hell or even a loud campus in general. The good news is since I wasn't totally enamored with the part of the University I would be at, as comically predicted I got an email tonight stating Arizona State has removed their name from allowing me to consider them. So for those hoping I stay in Michigan you're one step closer.
All is not lost though. I did go to the Cubs vs. Diamondbacks Spring Training game today, I had never been to a Spring training contest. There were over 9600 fans there, many families, classic old Arizona couples, and my personal favorite the drunk heckling baseball fan. Being that it was 90 degrees and the only way to handicap the fight for hydration even more is to drink beer this venue was fantastic. We got seats on the GA lawn area, a solid outfield seat for $7. The main victim seemed to be "Evan Frey." No matter what he did 2 men on the grass would not leave the kid alone. "You're a minor leaguer, use 2 hands when you catch the ball, Go back to France, Frey!" He seemed unfazed, never even glaring back, kudos to you Mr. Frey.
With one day left in Arizona and no need to go back to visit the campus I find myself still ready to enjoy the 90 degree weather for one more day. I got sun burnt today, not a shocker, but I have to find a way in the future to evenly distribute sun tan lotion, I have a tendency to make myself look like the 103rd Dalmation when I should look more like a Benjie. I think it's even, I think there is enough on me, but I never get it right. Or it's just sun poisoning, but what can you do. I'm having a good time so far and for some reason the rejection didn't effect me, I heard the more times it happens the easier it gets. Plus electronically receiving the "You've been denied" email gives it that fake feeling. May go find another game spring game for tomorrow and become heckling fan guy myself. I leave for Colorado Wednesday, fully expecting another rejection email Wednesday evening from there, but hey at least I'm seeing the world.
Congrats for making it to the end and thanks for coming here a second time. Leave comments, use the toilet and don't forget to shake.
-BK
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