Back to Reality

Well, today is the first day of September, which is also my dad's birthday. He's 51, and I just turned 26, which means I'm more than half his age now. Last year I was exactly half his age, and the year before that I was less than half his age. On my first birthday he was the age I am now, and I was 1/26th of that. I did the math, and at that rate I'll be the same age as my dad in another 25 years. Frightening.

September should be a good month. It's already getting cooler, and last night it even stormed! Emilíana Torrini has a new album out on the ninth, the fifth season of The Office starts on the 25th. Of course, season three of The Venture Bros. just ended, and the current seasons of Robot Chicken and Metalocalypse are wrapping up, but South Park is coming back in October, which makes up for it.

For everyone else, school starts on September 8th, but for a few of us geology majors we start tomorrow with a week long field trip to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. It should be fun. Unfortunately, there's stuff to study before the trip, which means I'm already behind on homework and school hasn't even started. I'm not happy about that. I've spent several days memorizing stuff, but the more I memorize the less I can hold on to. I should have started a month ago when the reading material came in the email. Oh, well.

Overall it's good and I'm excited for a new semester back with all my old friends, even though it'll be a crazy workload. On the other hand, the people who oversee construction on campus are idiots. I know construction people aren't really known for caring about how their working impacts other people, since it's just another day at work for them, but this is just ridiculous. I got my financial aid, and was all ready to get a head start and buy my textbooks before school started since I'll be out of town until Sunday and school starts Monday, plus I was going to buy a Time Capsule hard drive so my data is backed up.... but they moved the bookstore and it's closed, presumably until tomorrow (when I'm gone at 6am!) but possibly later than that! There's no notice of when it will open! Who thought it was a good idea to move and close the bookstore with one week left before school starts? And I thought it was annoying when they repainted the parking lot the last week of last semester, right before they'd have six weeks of an empty parking lot to work with.... then they ripped up the whole lot with the new paint the week after school got out. It makes no sense to me at all.

Of course, I shouldn't criticize The Lord's University because it means I have no testimony of the gospel and am going to Hell. But I was always headed there, so I might as well not worry. I think there are better parties there, anyway. Plus, if I go there I can still watch Fight Club and Sweeney Todd, which I don't think would be appreciated in Heaven.

Oh, and I had to shave my beard because school is starting. Whenever I do that at the end of the summer, I listen to Nirvana singing Half the Man I Used to Be (click to listen, it's a great song). One more year, and I can keep the beard.