Writing for the sake of writing

Nothing terribly eventful is happening in my life, but I feel like writing something here anyway. Partly it's because it's only 2:41 and I'm out of studying to do and I'm bored, but it's also that I'm feeling pressured to write more. Certain people have referred to their own blogs expressing the sentiment of "I actually care about my blog... I write more than once a month."

To them I say... fine. I'll start taking this thing a bit more seriously. From now on, my goal is one post a week. Ambitious? Not really. An improvement? Yep.

It's not that I don't enjoy writing here -- I definitely do -- it's just that it's something I try to fit into my spare time. It's not a top priority of mine. I started writing this thing back in April, when I was feeling writing withdrawal (the KTR was nice, but it was an article a month, and English class... well, anyone familiar with Alan Hickerson knows how fulfilling THAT was). Now that I'm in college, I have three classes that are writing-heavy, and I'm trying to write for two student publications at once. Life isn't the same anymore.

Anyway, I'm not giving up on this project. Blogging is a beautiful thing -- you get an unbelievable amount of freedom to write about anything and everything. Free expression is amazing if you have the initiative to take advantage of it. So, to people who write blogs, I salute you. To people who are considering it but are unsure, I encourage you. And to people who used to write, but have since given up, I say... Guthrie, you are such a quitter. Stop being so lazy.

The big downside to writing here is that it's likely to make my sleep patterns even worse than they already are. I unfortunately made the recent discovery that my most brilliant work gets done at three in the morning. This has led me to screw up my internal clock in the worst way. I sleep from 3:30 to 11:30 some mornings, and from 5 to 1 on others, and so on, and so forth. This can't be good for me. I'm almost always getting in a solid eight hours, but still, I think there must be something wrong with me. (Besides the fact that everyone on my floor hates me whenever I get out of bed at one in the afternoon mumbling "g'morning.")

In fact, I may even sign up for some morning classes next semester. Like deliberately. I wouldn't have to change my courses; I could probably just switch the sections I was planning on requesting, and it would work out fine. As painful as it will be for me to do this, it's probably for the best.

I guess my 3AM writings have been good while they've lasted though. Today is most likely my last baseball article, a piece for the Daily about the Astros' performance in the World Series. I'm doing an NBA preview article for the Observer, which comes out Friday. I'm posting random babblings about life on this blog, writing to millions of adoring fans worldwide (a slight exaggeration perhaps, but you never know, it could be true). And I'm occasionally finding time to write papers and essays and things for classes.

But anyway, the clock has just struck 3:27 in the morning, and I'm tired of sitting at this computer. This infernal thing has brought nothing but bad news tonight. My fantasy football team, despite doing so well to improve to 5-2, even with Jake Delhomme and Troy Brown on a bye week, still can't break into first place. The snow that everyone had been forecasting for tomorrow night is now a 90% chance of more rain and a low temperature of 41. And my Daily article comes out looking weird on the website because the word "resumé" looks like a bunch of question marks. Stupid accent mark.

So... like I was saying... I'm going to bed. Clearly I get a bit cranky late at night, and I need tons of sleep. Big day tomorrow -- psych lecture, two loads of laundry (at least), and a Davis Square shopping spree (translation: I'm out of ramen). Okay, fine. Boring day tomorrow. Whatever.

On the frustratingness of October

Hmm. I've never written anything on here at 3:30 in the afternoon. I'm guessing this entry won't be as interesting as most of my others, thanks to the lack of utter randomness that comes flowing out of my twisted mind at 2 AM. I apologize, but my Tuesdays are too light and I'm too bored to do anything but update this infernal thing.

Anyway, I'm pissed off at that whole sports fan cliché that October is the best month of the year because all four major sports are in action. In actuality, October has done nothing but laugh in my face. The Celtics are now 1-2 because they lost by 19 to, of all teams, the Bulls. The Patriots are just 3-3 despite the downright pathetic state of the AFC East. UVA waited for me to leave town before beating Florida State (and host a Stones concert too, but that's neither here nor there). Plus my fantasy football team (the one in the Tufts league, not the one I gave up on about nine rounds into the draft... let's face it, that one can't beat anybody but Cort) choked majorly last night. Torry Holt was having a big night, and I was on my way to being 5-1 and in first place, but then Monday Night Football decided to cruelly twist my fate, so the Colts' passing game just went nuts. Having an opponent with both Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne is no fun.

Oh, and by the way, I hate baseball. The Red Sox and Angels both decided to forget how to hit, so I end up looking like an idiot with my prediction that the White Sox would flop in the postseason. I don't mind seeing the Red Sox lose -- I knew all along that it wasn't our year -- but I just can't stand seeing the other Sox win. Ozzie Guillen is pretty much an idiot, Kenny Williams is barely any smarter, Carl Everett makes me lose faith in humanity, and Scott Podsednik and Jon Garland are the two most overrated players in baseball.

Anyway, I still don't think those Sox have what it takes. Anyone can look like the best pitching staff in the game when their opponents are a slumping Damon and Nixon followed by an even-worse-slumping Vlad and Garret Anderson. That doesn't mean that the Buehrle/Garland/Contreras/Garcia combo is good enough to win a World Series. I'm picking the Astros in six, although I wouldn't be surprised if the series ended up shorter than that.

Anyway, enough about sports -- I write enough of that here at Tufts anyway -- there are other reasons that October gets on my nerves. Like the fact that schoolwork is really picking up around here. Psychology reading is becoming an actual physical pain... I just can't stand to open up that god-foresaken book. Plus I have another English paper this week, and a bunch of Rousseau reading to take care of.

I just got back my first political science paper, and it scared me. My professor wrote me a 12-point list of all the reasons that my argument didn't make sense, essentially tearing everything I wrote to shreds. I then proceeded to look down to the bottom of the page (which was filled from top to bottom, single-spaced, with analysis of how horrible my paper was) to see that I had somehow managed to get a B. College makes no sense.

All bitching aside, life does have several good things going for it, I suppose.

-I get to judge the good ol' CHS debate team when they come to Harvard this year. That should be tons of fun.

-The burritos at Hodgdon, as I discovered last week, are absolutely without a doubt the greatest culinary creation in the history of mankind. Beef, rice, salsa, sour cream, refried beans, lettuce, cheese, and one humongous tortilla? Yes please.

-The latest on the governor's race in Virginia has the Kaine-Kilgore polls "too close to call." That's a moral victory if you ask me... just look at the polls from this summer, and look at them now, there's improvement. I'm not exactly in love with Tim Kaine, mind you, but he's definitely less satanic than the alternative, so I'm happy.

-As soon as the email went out last week announcing registration for next semester's classes, I whipped out a catalog and started planning things. It turns out that if I stick with the five classes I have in mind now (Math 11, History 88, intro comparative politics, intro philosophy, and astronomy), I'll have done it again. I'll have no morning classes... STILL. I really should stop bragging though... I'm bound to get shot by a jealous classmate or two. If I stick with all five classes, then I'll be off to a great start toward getting my 34 credits in. If I drop one, then I'll be (again!) down to just seven class periods a week. Tufts, have I told you lately that I love you?

-The Daily now has four Sudoku puzzles a week. Gotta love it.

-And last but not least (who am I kidding, it's obviously first), my birthday's coming. I'll be nineteen a week from Friday (the 28th). It may be the most useless age there is (it's not the driving age, it's not the R-rated movie age, it's not the voting age, it's not the beginning of the twenties age, and it's not the drinking age), but at least it's a new age. I'm tired of being eighteen.

In case you haven't noticed by now, I hate writing conclusions. So let's just say that I'm gonna go spend some time with my good buddy JJ (Rousseau). That's all for now.

On the joy of October

I apologize to everyone who has been bugging me to write things here. I know it's been a while, and faithful readers like you deserve better than this. I'm a horrible human being. I'm truly sorry.

Anyway...

My excuse is that I've spent every waking moment not occupied by schoolwork on watching baseball. That was an incredible two weeks, and I have no regrets about putting so much time into watching so many games. (Especially because it's my job... for proof, you can click here, here, or here.)

I've spent the last week being scared out of my wits that my beloved Sox would choke at the last minute, and let their spectacular start to the season go to waste. Now that they're in the playoffs, with a share of the division title (kind of), I'm confident that my life can get back to normal, just in time to get some serious work done. The timing ended up working pretty well; last week was fairly light in schoolwork, whereas this coming week brings with it a poli-sci paper and a psych exam. Yes, there are playoffs, but those games are fewer and further between, and I can't stand Fox enough to watch an entire divisional series game anyway.

Last year I was a perfect 7 for 7 in my playoff picks; I called the four divisional series, and picked the Red Sox over the Cardinals before the playoffs began. To be honest, I'm not as confident this year; there's a frightening amount of parity in baseball this season, and I don't see any clear favorites in the AL series. But I have to try for a repeat performance, so here goes.

Red Sox over the White Sox
Angels over the Yankees
Cardinals over the Padres
Astros over the Braves

Angels over Cardinals in the World Series

This clearly isn't the outcome I'm rooting for (not just because I want the Sox to repeat, but also because I want another ALCS rematch), but if I were a betting man, I'd say this is the most likely sequence of October events. Bartolo Colon's won ten of his last twelve, and any team with Vlad Guerrero is always a threat. I really like the Angels this time around.

Back to the story of my life...

-I recently discovered the joy of the dollar store in Davis Square. They sell Top Ramen packages at six for a dollar, which makes for good stockpiling. Their grape sodas are pure evil, however; one exploded when I opened it, and I had to spend about an hour cleaning my room afterward. That was pretty much the epitome of suckage.

-I just sold two Weezer/Foo Fighters tickets on eBay, and made a whopping profit of $4 after paying for them at face value. I really wish this concert didn't conflict with parents' weekend at Tufts... that really makes them impossible to move without scouting people out online, which is a pain.

-I can't believe I got talked into shaving off my beard today. Basically, the secret to getting me to do anything you want is to just annoy me into submission. It pretty much works every time. Whatever... it'll grow back in a week anyway.

-I'm pretty sure it's time to give up on getting Sox/Sox Game 4 tickets for Saturday. Apparently they're pretty much impossible to get for face value, and the cheapest I've found otherwise is $215 for standing room on the roof. No thanks.

-The CambridgeSide Galleria is quite possibly the world's coolest mall. Friday really reminded me of how lucky I am to be at a big-city college. Malls with only one floor are just lame; this was a welcome change.

-I want to find out who put the prefix "mini" into the word "minifridge," and kill them in their sleep. I found a really good deal on a refrigerator for the dorm room, only to find out that the worst two hours of my life were ahead of me, because I had to carry it from Cambridge back to Medford. A shuttle bus, a subway ride, and another shuttle bus just weren't enough... it was still incredibly painful.

-I suck at doing laundry. Honestly, I can't wash and dry a shirt without it coming out incredibly wrinkled. It's horrible.

-I am loving my English class more and more every day. The assignments are so much more original than anything I was ever assigned in high school. My homework for tomorrow is to write an essay on legalizing prostitution. I'm not kidding.

I'm under increased pressure every minute to hurry up and publish something, so I guess this entry should end here. I'll be back next week, once the wave of schoolwork blows over, and hopefully I'll have interesting things to say then. If so, enjoy them. If not, read it anyway. It would really help my self-esteem.