Saturday, August 21, 2004
Moving In.
Hi-ya. Early this morning I attended a CPR training class at Creighton. Most of the city streets around the campus were either blocked off entirely, or swarming with people holding signs (telling the directions to various dorms). It seems that this weekend was move-in weekend for the undergraduate students.
I don;t know about all of you, but I have mixed feelings about "moving-in" at college. It was nice to see your friends after all that time away (except on your freshman year, when you knew almost no one). But on the other hand, I have never been big on packing, unpacking, or meeting new people. Not that I don't like to meet new people, I am just not good at it.
I've been me long enough now to know that I am an acquired taste. People don't look at me and say "there is a guy I need to hook up with." Similarly, my actions in public rarely have any sort of magnetic value either. If I speak in class, it is usually to ask/answer questions ("nerd"), help someone who is lost ("know-it-all nerd"), or make a side comment, which I think is funny but others aren't always so sure ("annoying nerd"). The "Carl" that is interesting and worth getting to know comes along in those rare moments of heartfelt communication. In that, or in my semi-anonymous blogging.
That being said, I did some moving in of my own this week. It was my first week on campus as a pharmacy student. My new classmates all look so young... well, most of them. They seem smart and confident, and dare I say, well off financially (by their dress). I find myself identifying cliques already, and I don't fit in to any of them. I have joked all week about only meeting a few people, but it is true. I have honestly tried my hardest, and I have (in fishing terminology) had few bites. I did miss a "good" opportunity to mingle Friday, as many students convened at a local bar. But I didn't feel comfortable or motivated to do that; not yet anyway. In 30 years, I've never been to a bar on a Friday night (except once at an Old Chicago to meet with an out-of-town friend).
I also moved into my laptop computer, so to speak. I agonized over what to load onto it to make it feel like "home." Here's the list, just to reveal a little more about me to all of you.
1) Some music... as in, all of my Talking Heads albums. You don;t realize how essential this is to my survival.
2) My wallpaper... a scan of a hand-written note from MK Gandhi. Now only does it reference my birthday (Nov. 10), it has a fantastic message of wisdom in simplicity. A college president had asked Gandhi to send along some words of wisdom for the university students. Gandhi's reply was that all he could say to them is to put character before literary knowledge. One sentence, and a million years worth of truth. Just as Gandhi serves as a key inspiration to my life, his words still echo in the ages (in digital form) inspiring me to push myself to always consider character.
3) Chess. I have been able to squeeze in some chess between sessions at school, and I am planning to do so whenever I can. I love chess. As I have aged, I have lost interest in a lot of things... only to have fewer, but stronger loves replace them. Chess is one of these passions. And I stink at it. : ) I read books on it, replay games from the masters by myself, play others, and even meditate about moves in games I haven't played yet... but I still struggle to win. It's an art form; it is spiritual and timeless. It takes concentration, creativity, and a little bit of psychology. But, it is also a time thief. All of the studying, playing, and analyzing eats up a lot of my spare time... only to see my rating drop below 1400 (which is bad). Author Raymond Chandler once said of chess, "as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find anywhere outside an advertising agency."
So there you have it. Moving in. I hope that as life progresses, I have fewer moves ahead. Having said that, I will reveal to you that I am pursuing a new job, locally, which means more moving in to be done...
See ya!
I don;t know about all of you, but I have mixed feelings about "moving-in" at college. It was nice to see your friends after all that time away (except on your freshman year, when you knew almost no one). But on the other hand, I have never been big on packing, unpacking, or meeting new people. Not that I don't like to meet new people, I am just not good at it.
I've been me long enough now to know that I am an acquired taste. People don't look at me and say "there is a guy I need to hook up with." Similarly, my actions in public rarely have any sort of magnetic value either. If I speak in class, it is usually to ask/answer questions ("nerd"), help someone who is lost ("know-it-all nerd"), or make a side comment, which I think is funny but others aren't always so sure ("annoying nerd"). The "Carl" that is interesting and worth getting to know comes along in those rare moments of heartfelt communication. In that, or in my semi-anonymous blogging.
That being said, I did some moving in of my own this week. It was my first week on campus as a pharmacy student. My new classmates all look so young... well, most of them. They seem smart and confident, and dare I say, well off financially (by their dress). I find myself identifying cliques already, and I don't fit in to any of them. I have joked all week about only meeting a few people, but it is true. I have honestly tried my hardest, and I have (in fishing terminology) had few bites. I did miss a "good" opportunity to mingle Friday, as many students convened at a local bar. But I didn't feel comfortable or motivated to do that; not yet anyway. In 30 years, I've never been to a bar on a Friday night (except once at an Old Chicago to meet with an out-of-town friend).
I also moved into my laptop computer, so to speak. I agonized over what to load onto it to make it feel like "home." Here's the list, just to reveal a little more about me to all of you.
1) Some music... as in, all of my Talking Heads albums. You don;t realize how essential this is to my survival.
2) My wallpaper... a scan of a hand-written note from MK Gandhi. Now only does it reference my birthday (Nov. 10), it has a fantastic message of wisdom in simplicity. A college president had asked Gandhi to send along some words of wisdom for the university students. Gandhi's reply was that all he could say to them is to put character before literary knowledge. One sentence, and a million years worth of truth. Just as Gandhi serves as a key inspiration to my life, his words still echo in the ages (in digital form) inspiring me to push myself to always consider character.
3) Chess. I have been able to squeeze in some chess between sessions at school, and I am planning to do so whenever I can. I love chess. As I have aged, I have lost interest in a lot of things... only to have fewer, but stronger loves replace them. Chess is one of these passions. And I stink at it. : ) I read books on it, replay games from the masters by myself, play others, and even meditate about moves in games I haven't played yet... but I still struggle to win. It's an art form; it is spiritual and timeless. It takes concentration, creativity, and a little bit of psychology. But, it is also a time thief. All of the studying, playing, and analyzing eats up a lot of my spare time... only to see my rating drop below 1400 (which is bad). Author Raymond Chandler once said of chess, "as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find anywhere outside an advertising agency."
So there you have it. Moving in. I hope that as life progresses, I have fewer moves ahead. Having said that, I will reveal to you that I am pursuing a new job, locally, which means more moving in to be done...
See ya!
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