The Big Dawg Barks

Some Things to Establish

I am half way through my college career.

There are some things that should be documented so that I never ever doubt them again.

1) I don't enjoy dancing. I just don't.
2) I need to take notes of everything that I read.
3) Wallowing is silly! And I will not wallow on the fact that I think for a split second I turned into one of those annoying needy wallowers.
4) Basketball is good. So good.
5) I dislike schmoozing.
6) "Don't label me...I mean, I'm post-modern, atleast give me a couple labels"
7) I love sports.
8) Silence is better than squeezing out conversation with someone you don't really want to be talking to.
9) Stalkers must be dealt with firmly.
10) I still love being a vegan.
11) Jessie: "Maggie, you would never hear a comment like 'that's so retarded' here at Oberlin, everything is so PC"
Maggie: "Jessie, that is so gay"
12) I think I'm beginning to understand why LGBT solidarity is so much more than politics (but still, in my opinion, a bad thing to be the first thing you identify yourself by)

for all of the maybe 5 people who read this

it is time to make lehmann blush a little.

b/c he, and you all, should know what an incredible+hilarious fellow he is.

home

i'm at home now, listening to astro snore.
i couldnt be happier!
(actually, if the TV wasnt broken and I could be watching March Madness...)

haven't done this in a while. oops. getting sick got me so far behind, that i've been an anxious mess for a while. but really i've also had a lot of fun b/c after being sick, nothing has been able to make me 'freak out' b/c good LORD it feels great to be healthy. im happy about my decision to come home for spring break (instead of frisbee, which i havent been able to do b/c i havent been able to make it to practices b/c i've been spending all my time catching up) getting sick was really scary and time with astro and momma just feels like the necessary thing.

i'm back to full time veganism. my stint with an omelette-a-week and cheese every so often left me feeling gross. also, there was something bizarrely icky about having eating be so easy.

what else...march madness is wonderful. i've never followed college bball before, but now i dont know what i am going to do with myself when there arent 4+ spectacular displays of athleticism on tv a day. i really do wonder how different it must be for athletes who play sports that arent televised.

im going to the DR again this summer, with denny and some other students. the 'other students' should make it a lot of fun...(it was a lot of fun last year, too, but having more folks there won't hurt)

we played with a recruit who is definetly coming to oberlin next year - she's good. she reminds me of a gaby with a little more size and a little more toya. she'll help us out a lot. now we just need 5 more...lord help us.

back to studying for a chem quiz, which it is key that i do well on...(i need a C in this class) eeeeeeeek!

veganism

i ate a grilled cheese yesterday.
i ate an omelet today.

the omelet was pretty unappetizing.
cheese, on the other hand, is pretty yummy.

i ate the grilled cheese b/c i was in the place where we eat, really really sick, and nothing looked decent. there was vegetable mush, which on a day when i wasnt sick would have been fine, but i needed something substantial. so i got a grilled cheese. and then i did some thinking (b/c im really not capable of much more in this sicker-than-i-have-ever-been-state) and realized that im just lying to myself if i think im really getting enough protein...b/c i never eat those protein powders, i just don't.

so im still going to be a vegan i.e. im still not going to eat animal products when they are hidden in ingredients, but im going to eat an omelet every so often and have some cheese in normal cheese form every so often.

i havent eaten dairy in 4 years. yowza.

playoffs

about to leave for our first playoff game vs denison.

we *can* beat them.

big steps on offense, little steps on defense, and talking. we can do it.

i really dont want the season to be over.

man lehmann you are going to get a kick out of this - i was about to publish this and then i remembered what dave hopla said about 'free throws' you can't call them 'foul shots' b/c then the last thing in your mind is the word 'foul' and then if you are thinking foul of course you are going to miss. so, i cant end this post on over.

i cant wait for our season to continue!

Heaven

I went to see the Convocation Speech tonight - Calvin Butts, a Reverend from Abyssinian Church in Harlem. It was amazing. And made me, once again, love liberal thoughts, be proud of liberal thoughts, and value well articulated liberal thoughts...i.e. i don't feel like a burntout activist any longer.

One of the things he said, after describing the sight of Manhattan from a plane - from seeing the UN to to Williamsburg Bridge, from Riverside Church to the GW Bridge to Central Park: "I am sorry all of you suburban and rural people, but I regret to inform you that Heaven will be a city"

His speech was as a tribute to NYC and a tribute to the thought of an NYC dominated just a little bit less by greed...he was a masterful speaker, and made me, for the (truly) first time, appreciate religion. His usage of religion as a motivating force was so innocent.

It made me happy to know that though Geology has been great in my burntout demoralized absence from politics, I will (and am excited to at some point) return to being political and obsessed with the thought of giving my adult life to bettering conditions in the diverse heaven of NYC.

winter term

in oberlin was amazing. i was never bored, always hanging out with kind, hilarious friends, and always enjoying my bball girls, even if bball itself drove me nuts and was really, really emotional and intense. i love the bball girls.

today i 'roamed' around campus with my roommate kym who just got back from hawaii and just got SO sick of seeing random people i sort of know/sort of dont and asking about their winter terms just because its the nice thing to do/way to avoid akward encounters. i'm really a nice person but i just dont care what you did for winter term! i dont care for small talk, i just want to be surrounded by my winter term friends! i mean, i missed people and it was nice to see some people, but for the most part it was just weird.

today i went to a super bowl party at april's house - i found 20 bucks in my pocket that coach gave me over winter term (we got 20 bucks a week for food on top of 2 meals a day) and decided that i'd surprise april, and anyone who was going to april's to watch the party, with 2 dozen hot and bbq chicken wings, b/c april loves wings. i just love taking care of people.

my momma is good.

remind me to post this.

bball

is so intense. i really cant even begin to verbalize the amount of emotion that bball is becoming/became tonight. we lost, but played the hardest defense we have every played.