Two Cents and a Thousand Words

Well, I was lucky enough to have one of my best birthdays ever yesterday, even though I don’t turn 19 until tomorrow.

Yesterday afternoon my three grandparents and one of my uncle were all in the same house for the first time in years; I got to see them all at once at home. It was great talking to them all at once and getting to see everyone again. I felt like it was easier to talk to them when there was a group there instead of just one or two people.

And of course, I got some really great presents, and some really great cake and ice cream. I received PHP 4 Bible, a very nice custom-embroidered University of Maine blue polo shirt, a color reprint of my favorite newspaper photograph ever, SimGolf, a headlight/taillight combo for my bike, a Borders gift card, and some cards and money. Not to mention, of course, the iMac I’ll be receiving soon.

Above all, it was great to go home, see my parents, Jemma, and my relatives, and just relax for a weekend. I didn’t even have any homework, so it was a great experience.

Well, I got my wish today. I was able to actually wear just a t-shirt and jeans walking back from my last class of the day. Sure, I was a little chilly, but it was great to know that spring will be here in full force soon.

Jamie, JW, Matt, and I went out for a half an hour to play Frisbee. Then we went to KFC for dinner (the first time I’ve ever actually been to KFC, in fact). Sure, we’ll probably end up getting another foot of snow before the summer, but I’ll be sure to enjoy this weather while it lasts.

Can I once again stress how much I love TGIF, the Friday Jazz series in Union Central?

I’m back to my normal schedule, eating lunch at the Marketplace on Mondays and Wednesdays, at the commons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at Union Central on Fridays. For some reason, a giant pretzel with nacho cheese and a chocolate shake always seem to be just what I need around 12:00 PM every Friday. I don’t question it. I like sitting in one of the chairs, overlooking the people coming in, and best of all, listening to the great music.

It’s so refreshing to go in, have a quick meal, and hear a few minutes of students and teachers playing their hearts out on brass instruments and guitars. Just knowing I have one class left until the weekend is an added bonus. An added bonus especially this weekend: I’ll hopefully get to see most of the people in my family tomorrow and get to celebrate Easter morning at home. After that, it’s April 1, and I can’t wait.

Talk about irony.

Yesterday during calculus, I had one of those feelings inside myself that I hadn’t experienced for a few months; that one where I felt free, upbeat, and light. Of course, I’ve felt great over the last couple of months, but yesterday was the first time I had the burden of winter lifted off of me (I’m a big believer in some level of seasonal affective disorder in almost everyone). Yesterday I was able to walk to class in a fairly windy and bright atmosphere, and it really felt like spring. I’ve never enjoyed the beginning of spring as much as I did yesterday; it made me feel better than I thought was possible.

Of course, last night we got three inches of snow. That’s just Maine… I’m used to it. But walking to class this morning, I had to wade through two inches of slush. That spring feeling didn’t last overnight.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, though, it’s that snow melts. Fairly quickly, actually, as April approaches. I know that weather is always changing (I’ve had to cancel birthday parties in the past because of everything from feet of snow to floods). I’m just excited to think about what I’ll feel like in a couple of weeks. Ideally, I’ll have a job for the summer, a room next year, classes for the fall, and some great weather. I can’t wait to see what the combination of really enjoying life for once and some really great Maine spring weather feels like.

And happy birthday, Laura.

Yeah, I’ll be getting a Mac really soon. Apple’s really trying to appeal to the broader market, so they want to hear form PC users. Go and tell them what you think.

http://www.apple.com/hardware/pcusers/

I’ve decided I really like the NMS. I mean, where else could you take a boring topic like budgets and turn it into a social event at Pat’s Pizza? Tonight we’ll be heading over there at 8:00 to get some food and talk about how we want to spend the $200 that we get from Student Government. We’ve pretty much decided that we want to spend it mostly on advertising for the club.

Advertising is the key piece for what I think we need to do with the Society. We need to get people interested with it and get people to attend the meetings; then we can become a really great source for students who are interested in new media. I’d also love to get a couple speakers here from some new media companies talking about what they’ve done and what we should do here.

Funny how much this resembles my freshman and sophomore years of high school with the good ol’ math team.

So I’ve been working on the blog to make it better. The major change is that you can now view post-by-post by clicking on the Post & Comments link. The archive page is also better and can be accessed by clicking See all scoop entries link below. Have fun!

I said it’d be done in less than a week, didn’t I? Well, how’s two days sound?

I worked on this a lot this afternoon. I think the advantages are pretty clear; you can post comments now, see individual posts, and it’s all very flexible. It’s easier for me to add things, too, so you’ll be seeing more posts (just what you want, right?). Also, you can get the Slashdot-like category pictures on each post. If you’re not sure what it means, just hover your mouse over it for a few seconds.

Well, I’m off to bed. If you have any trouble with this new blog system, let me know at justin@justinrussell.com. Thanks!