David

So its crazy but my summer is almost over.  I start school the day after Labor Day.  I’m looking forward to starting school again, living with Tyler, seeing Houa, having no life because of homework.  I’ll be poorer than a homeless man or woman, but that just means I’ll sell plasma again and save lives while creating life long friends with the city’s underbelly.  The classes that I’ll be taking this year are”

Type Design - A class soley focused on font.  After kids take this class, they start making fun of fonts, like which ones are ugly and useless. I think to myself “wow, weird people” and then I realize that I’m probably going to be like them.  Oh well, at least when I do it, it will be cool…right? As of right now though, all font is special with special purposes.  They should all be treated equally, they can’t help it if they are an ugly font. One man’s ugly font is another man’s treasure I say.

History of Visual Communication - Sounds like a super boring class.  It is writing intensive which I’m going to have to listen to a lecture and write a paper about stuff.  I don’t like history, especially about visual communication…how do I know?  I don’t, but I don’t like papers and this class has all kinds of boring written all over it.

Intro to Financial Accounting - this is a class that goes towards my Business Minor that I haven’t yet applied to the Carlson School of Business for.  So, to get the minor, i have to be accepted, but I haven’t applied yet.  I have the beginning courses done that are need to apply, this is one of the first classes you take once you get accepted, but I like being a rebel. I like breaking the rules. Carlson kind of takes things seriously, but i’m like “Why so serious?”. 

Beginning Hmong - So I’m taking a Hmong speech class every single day.  It does listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills so basically the hardest class ever.  I’m taking it because Houa and her family speak it a lot, and that is what her parents are really fluent in, and I think in the long run, it’ll be good for me to have some sort of idea or general understanding of what is going on. Then I can know when they are talking about me behind my back.  All I have to do is learn the words “white boy” in Hmong and then I know they are talking about me.lol

So really, it is only one design class which i’m really glad about.  At times last year I felt like I had design overload, so it’ll be nice to not have to focus on too many things at once. I’ll be working at Minitex again, to start out anyway.  I feel like if a design job opens up though I should try for it even though I’m comfortable and I like Minitex.  So we will see where I end up.  I’m not the most motivated when it comes to job hunting or applying or anything, so I don’t know if I’ll change, but at the same time I realize I’m going to need all the experience I can get before I get done with college if I want to have a half-ways decent resume. 

I’m really sorry about the job Holli even though I know you disliked the company, however, I feel like it was probably for the best. Watch The Pursuit of Happiness and maybe that will cheer you up.  I think that’s what I’d do if I ever felt like things were down career wise. Things always turn around eventually if you give it enough time. 

Game Over!

So last week Chris Fellows, his dad, his brother, Chris Smith, and I went down to Omaha to watch the College World Series finals between Georgia and Fresno State. We were down there for 3 days to watch the 3 games.  These games were really good with pitching being almost non-existent and both teams teeing off and going yard.  During the last game there was this really really old guy with no shirt on harassing some fans so 4 security guards came and escorted him out of the area and as the old guy was walking out he let out a big loud f bomb.  Musta been from Phili!  We left Monday morning around ten.  Each game was at 6 at night so during the day we hit up some malls. One mall was two stories tall and the entire second floor was completely empty.  The food court was upstairs and only 2 out of like the 8 places were open.  All the others were empty.  It was like a ghost mall.  We said screw this to that mall and went to a bigger, better mall.  We got home Wednesday at 3 in the morning.  Thanks to Matt being all amped up on energy drinks I didn’t have to drive at all on the way home and got to sleep.  Good start to the week.

Then last weekend I went to the cities to visit Houa.  I stayed with Tyler but didn’t really see him at all.  Got in Friday night and just hung out at her place for a while.  That night at Tyler’s they had a campfire going with guys eating chips and smoking hooka.  I ate the chips and I smoked the hooka.  It’s alright.  Not really that interesting or cool but not bad.  The chips were muy muy better.  Saturday Houa, her sister, and I went to her cousins’ house and a bunch of us went fishing.  Then after that we all went swimming in a lake.  Then after that we had a cookout at her cousins’ house.   Then I watched Houa, her sister, and her cousin strip… bamboo into tubs while little boys sang songs at the top of their lungs in hmong and english. (You see how I organized that sentence, how many of you had a dirty thought?  it’s okay, don’t be ashamed, it was set up that way).  That was a crazy fun filled day.  It is a little different atmosphere hanging out with hmong people because at least half the time they are speaking hmong so i really have no idea what is going on.  But then half the time they are speaking english so everything is normal.  And then sometimes they say part of something in hmong and finish it in english.  Then I’m confused. lol   Houa does a pretty good job of keeping me in the loop though which is really nice. 

On Sunday we went to church back at Nativity where I used to go and then we went ot Baker’s Square near the Roseville mall for brunch.  After brunch went to the mall to buy my mom her 50th birthday card and a gift and I also got some flip-flops.  Wouldn’t imagine I would ever get flip-flops, but i guess when you have a girlfriend who likes them, sacrafices must be made.  Honestly though, I have been thinking about how I should get l flip flops over the past 2 summers to combat the whiteness of my skin on my feet.  Well, now I have them so bring it on sun.  It’s game time! 

After shopping we were going to meet Tyler to watch Wall-E but he decided to watch the Twin’s game instead so we went for a walk in a park instead.  I wore my new flip flops and it rubbed the skin away on one of my toes.  I took it like a man though so no biggy.  After that we picked up Tyler at his house, I dropped Houa off at hers, and Tyler and I made the trip home listening to his music and a stand up comedian who was HILARIOUS!!  Can’t remember who it was though, but man, he was good.  

So that was my week last week.  Pretty much full of traveling and just chillin.  aka living the dream. 

Side Note:  Brought the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie with me so Houa’s little brothers could watch it.  They watched it 9 times in two days.  Blew me away.

See you all at the Reunion….well, most of you all!

Game Over

So, since coming back home, it’s been jam packed with things…fun things mostly.  Last week on Monday dad, Dan, and I went down to Kansas City to move Dan into his new place.  His new place is really nice, the community is pretty sweet although their basketball court looks like it was made for midgets with regular sized baskets. 

While down there, Dan picked out a bedroom set, a mattress, and a new couch that massages your back!  We went golfing one fine afternoon and I started out shooting terrible but then I pared 2 holes in a row, should have been three.  I ended up shooting a 59 and a 53 which is pretty bad, but not too bad for a first time out with all new clubs.  We also went to two Twins games which turned out to be amazing games to go to.  Walk off homeruns, inside the park homer, 5 run comeback in the 9th.  Ultimately, those games couldn’t have been better.  Then came graduation.

Micaela’s graduation went very smoothly.  Everything went well setting things up and cleaning.  She gave a speech as she was the saluditorian and she blew it out of the water.  The speech was short and funny and had a really good message.  The only thing you could fault her for was speaking too fast, but other than that it was really good.  

One big suprise of that evening was when I turned around to see Holli and Miles.  Shocker!!  Had they gotten LOST?  Nope, they came on purpose which was really cool and a nice suprise.  Its always good to see cool people and hang out with cool people infront of all your other family and the Big Stone/Ortonville community because then they know just how cool you are.  I was like ice…like ice from the Arctic…

Tony was there too…he’s like global warming to my being cool…not cool tony, not cool at all. Just kidding!!  We were like totally trippin the entire time which was boss on so many different levels.

In the end it was a good day for Micaela and a great day for me to get to see and hang out with my family and friends that I don’t get to see anymore (Holli and MIles) or won’t be seeing very much in the near future (Tony and Dan).  At the end of the day Tony, Dan, Tom and I fought the forces of evil and we won…hence, we saved the world.  Just like the night before when not only that stellar team but Chris also included defeated the legions of Hell. 

Videos games rock!!

This week I started work at Rausch Bros. I was polishing today and I did what is called a gravey run. A gravy run is where somebody takes a van or truck somewhere to drop something off doing no work and then coming right back.  I get those all the time and they are awesome.  That is what I’ll mainly be doing for the rest of the week.  Then on Friday, Houa is coming to visit!!  I’m totally stoked about that.  We may end up meeting Miles and Holli Friday if thigns work out.  Right now though it is looking like I’ll pick her up in the cities since I have a gravy run there in the morning anyways.  We still have to talk about it though.   I’m really looking forward to having her meet the family and show her the place I grew up in.  That’ll take about 5 minutes and then we’ll spend the rest of the time in the house with no internet or cable taking naps and reading books.lol

Game Over

Game Over

Sorry, it’s been about a month but I, ultimately, just haven’t felt like posting.

Well, finished finals with flair and style. I pulled of 2 B’s, 2 B+’s, and an A in weight training. Overall I’m pretty happy, especially when I thought one of the B’s was gonna be a C.

For the summer I’ll be working at Rausch Bros. again making some sweet moola and living at home for free, Golfing with my boyz, hanging out with my aunt’s, kickin it with my cousins.

In other news, I now have a girlfriend. Shocking! I know.

How we met is what I bet you are all asking yourselves. Well, we both worked at Minitex (the library where I work at on campus). We started hanging out once a week to watch LOST, just as friends. Eventually we started hanging out more and more and then bam, we hooked up! Her name is Houa Lee, she is 21 so she is older then 18 so no worries there. *wink!* Also, she is shorter than me which is a plus. You all have facebook, so this is probably old news to you, but yeah, she is amazing…in bed! hiyooo!  jk!
She is of Hmong heritage from Laos.  Her entire life she has grown up in the U.S. in Wisconsin and recently, 3 years ago or so, she moved to the Twin Cities.  She can speak Hmong and is a Catholic although her family quit going when she was a little girl.

Sorry about the long delay.

Dan and I went home this weekend…for about 22 hours.  Yes, we came, we ate, we saw, we slept, and we ate again, and then left.

The subject of our road trip had to do with Cinderella.  Micaela was fantastic as Joy who was one of the evil step sisters.  So full of not joy and she did such a great job that she and Rachelle (the other evil step sister) had the crowd in the palm of their hands making the audience laugh at will…or me anyways.  It was a “joy” to see her succeed at being so “not joyful”.  If you had seen the play it makes perfect sense in all the right ways.  No slap of silence for her!

Tom was good too!  He got to dance with a girl which puts him about 2 years ahead of me in the “dancing with high school girl” category.  Other than that, he smiled a lot and just was a stud.  You’re probably thinking to yourself, “that’s not impressive, I could do that too” and Paula is probably thinking “Hogan is the only real stud on this earth!”  You are all wrong.

That was Friday night.  On saturday Dan and I stayed for lunch, talked with the fam for a couple hours and then we bounced.  We met Tony and his buds Nathan and ******, Tyler, Chris, and Miles and Holli at Godfather’s Pizza which was delicious.  Then we hit up the concert.

Ben Fold’s was awesome.  Lots of songs, lots of good songs, some nice comments like “Your gym is nice” and …um…. “Your gym is nice, it has nice acoustics….”.  The only downer - he didn’t play Army.   I mean, c’mon!!  Army IS Ben Folds.  First Ben Folds song I ever heard. I mean, YOU DON”T EVEN KNOW!

Other than that it was total awesomeness.   Side note- Tony’s hooded sweatshirts doesn’t fit me.

Sunday came and I awoke to come downstairs to find Chris Smith sleeping on the futon in my house!  Like Christmans but so much gayer.  Nah, I knew he was there.   He spent the night instead of driving back to Marshall that night which was cool.  We watched an episode of The Office that night when we got back.  Sunday we played MLB The Show 07 and then Dan, Chris, Chris (bren’s fiance) and I played Rockband until around 1 or 2.  Then Chris took off, Dan and I went shoe shopping and then came Mass.  Invited my friend and fellow LOST partner Houa to church with us.  She’s a Catholic that hasn’t been to mass since she was a really little girl so that was really cool.   Afterwards at our house we had a grillout so we had brats, hamburgers, and grilled chicken while we all sat out in the deck.  It was really peaceful and relaxing.  That night Sarah and I watched Once which was a pretty decent movie.  I liked the music, movie was a little slow, but it was short too which kind of made up for it.  I’d give it a B-/B.   I then fell asleep on the couch waiting for the PS3 to update.

My weekend in a nutshell.

“It was a shell of a good hit!”

“I like it, step up!”

If you can guess what movie that quote is from you get 10 points.

Game Over

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted.  Things are going pretty decent here in Minneapolis/St. Paul besides the fact that it has been snowing out this past week.  Nothing major, not like Big Stone which had school cancelled, but it is still a bummer all the same.  This past week was probably one of the easier weeks I’ve had since school has started with nothing due for classes for the entire week.  It was nice.  I’m not complaining.
This week is a little busier with a project due in Drawing and Illustration class.  We are drawing animations and my animation is a guy holding a sign that says “Save the Trees”.  Then you see the transformation of this man turning into a tree himself.  Then a cloud comes up from the background, pours gasoline on him, and throws a bolt of lightning at him which then makes him light on fire.  Then, alas, he burns to the ground and in the end there is just a pile of ash with the sign just laying propped up against his ashy remains.  Ahh, the irony.

I also have my math Final on wednesday so after Wednesday I no longer have math class.  I find it very odd to finish a class a month before other class but whatever, I’m not complaining.

In other news, Dan and I defeated Army of 2 which I found to be a very fun co-op game.  Pretty intense.  Quite repetitive, but when the thing that is repetitive is fun (blowing people up), I’m not complaining.

Brenna and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Art which is a free Art Museum with tons and tons of paintings, sculptures, furniture, photography, etc… The place is gargantuan and never seems to end so that was very interesting.  I need to go back again because I feel like we didn’t get through most of it and we spent about 2 hours there.  That is the second time I’ve been to an art museum.  They aren’t bad, i’m not complaining.

Looking forward to going home for the play this weekend and then to the Ben Folds Concert.  That should be pretty boss.  Micaela is one of the wicked step sisters and Lauren is Cinderella which is good for them.  I think they are going to do a fantastic job.  If not, they shall be shunned for the next three years.  It is the Schrewt way.  I’ll hit them with a slap of silence.

So yeah, life is going pretty well.  It would be nice to have better grades which would make me feel better.  I think I’m getting a D in Business Stats.  Other than that though, at this exact moment, life is alright.  I’m not complaining.

Game Over

I had the entirety of last week off. Because of this, I ventured down to Miles and Holli’s apartment to get myself LOST two weekends ago. We watched 29 episodes from Friday night to Sunday afternoon making it past Season 1 into Season 2. They sure do know how to show a lady a good time.

Some of the oober exciting things I did was watch all 3 Lord of the Rings extended editions. One on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Dad and I made this little venture together with Sue and Tom joining in on the Two Towers and then the whole family excluding mom and Steph for Return of the King.

Also, I began reading a book that I have been avoiding for the past 3 years. Avoiding, not because it is bad - it’s is fantastic - but because it is book ten of an a series that puts Lord of the Rings to shame as far as complexity goes. I finished 9 and was so overwhelmed and tired of trudging through some of lesser exciting story lines and that I couldn’t go on…until now. The book is amazing. I’m 1/3 of the way done and it is fantastic. A little break did me well. The series is The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.

Went shopping with mom and got some new jeans. AND some corduroys that I think are my favorite pair of pants now.

Other then that I did some homework, played some COD4 at the powerplant with Tyler, Chris, and Tony. Apparently Mark and the other managers play it as well as it was on their agenda in the meeting room. Kinda weird, but mostly awesome. Actually not mostly, totally.

Easter was good. Ate so much food I was going to explode. Watched Ratatouille and Wild Hogs on the biggest hd tv I’ve seen. In a basement that is more like a theatre than a basement. Well, it’s like a theatre in a basement. Wild Hogs was pretty good. Laughed a lot.

Now I’m back doing the school thing. It was really nice being home for a while and eating meals made by mom and hanging out with the rest of the fam.

Oh yeah, almost forgot.  Saturday night Dan, Tom, and I played Diablo II after Vigil Mass and beat town 1 in nightmare mode.  Good times good times.

So, school is alright now.  I’m caught up in everything which feels fantastic.  I actually took time in between classes Thursday to go work out instead of doing homework during my 3 hour break.  That’s almost a first all year.    This weekend i’ve been working on homework in a more laid back fashion since I’ve had the time, but now I’m stuck on my business stats.  I never know what I’m doing in stats when I start my homework but I can normally figure it out problem by problem.  I can’t this time.  I’m dazed and confused which sucks because I was hoping to have it done by tonite.  In my drawing class we are doing illustration animation so I’m going to draw a guy with a sign that says “Save the Trees!” and then he is going to turn into a tree, and then a cloud is going to come and strike him with lightning and he is going  to burn to the ground.  Or I might have the cloud dump gasoline on the tree and light him on fire with a match or something.

Spring Break starts next weekend.  It was a weird coincidence because I was wondering what to do, whether to stay here and work, go home, or what. I came up with the idea that I’d like to stay with Holli and Miles for a few nights and hang out with them.  Next thing I know I get this LOST party invitation for the same weekend as my spring break to stay at their house for the weekend.  What a coingkidink. I no longer had to ask them because essentially they were asking me.  How cool is that!  Now if only that would happen with the president. I was still undecided cuz driving their, home, then back all costs money, gas money and I’m really conservative.  I made up my mind today though that screw, I’m going.  Then I’ll be back in BSC for the rest of the week to chill and be chill.  Maybe work for dad if he has something up his sleeve for me to do.

Oh yeah, started selling plasma again.  Haven’t had time until this past week.  It is amazing.  I had forgotten.

Game Over

Last week on Friday I had to go through portfolio review.

I was never actually in the Graphic Design College, I was a Pre-Graphic Design student.  After taking the beginning level foundations courses, you take your pieces from those classes and you present to a board of 3-8 people and you explain your work using Design talk.  bleh!  You get two tries to get in and if you fail both times it is time to find yourself a different major.

Once you get accepted then you are allowed to take the upper level design courses otherwise you are out of luck.  Also, you get a second advisor assigned to you to help you with research possibilities and scholarships and stuff like that.

Not very many people fail the first time and I’m guessing probably nobody fails the second time because if you fail the first time they assign a professor to help you correct whatever it is wrong with your portfolio.

This was pretty stressful as I didn’t have my McNeal Hall drawing done a couple days before rview which is one of the centerpieces of everybody’s portfolios.  I had all of last semester  to work on it and christmas break but I didn’t get it done until basically the last possible moment.  I wanted to get it done earlier, by my directed studies teacher who was helping me with it was a very hard person to get in touch with and meet with so that really dragged it out a lot.

Anyway, had it last friday and then yesterday I got an e-mail saying that I got accepted into the College of Design.  So that is one hurdle down.  I figured the moment would be like a Rudy with the suspense of opening up the letter (in my case the e-mail).  Not the crying or anything, but the suspense of “Did I do enough, did i make it, am I good enough?”  This was all dashed as the subject of the e-mail was “Congradualtions!”.  So I knew as soon as I opened my inbox.  No suspense for me

To celebrate, I was planning on picking up some frozen pizzas (Tony’s are the best), some Apple Juice (gave up pop for lent), and renting a movie (much cheaper than going to see one).  I was gonna call Tyler and see what he wanted to watch when he actually called me first.

I was on the bus home and we decided to go eat at Perkins, then go pick up my groceries and then go rent a movie.  We spent like an hour or more looking at videos before deciding there wasn’t anything we felt like watching until I saw Unbreakable sitting there.  Tyler hadn’t seen it so we got it.  It was good as always.

So yeah, yeah me!

Game Over

So I have another cold.  I had one two weeks ago and it was sooo bad.  I couldn’t breath out of my nose for a week.  It got to the point where I’d go blow my nose about every 10 minutes.  I bet I owe the school a lot of money in paper towels.  I hate it when your nose is stuffy, then your going in and out of the cold into the warm school and it starts to run.  It was really awkward once on the bus.  It started to run like crazy and you don’t wanna be constantly wiping it or snorting.  So this cold was drastically bad and then one morning I woke up and it was gone.  Weird.

Now, I have another one and this one is a little different.  It’s more of a coughing cold with some stuffy nose. It’s 11:44 AM and I’ve probably blown my nose 6 times since 8:30.  So not as bad as last time but it is still super annoying.  The coughing really stinks because for weight training yesterday we did 8 minute abs + i did bench for the first time in weeks.  When I cough my whole entire body, especially the abs, cry out in pain.  I’ve started to have coughing fits where once started it’s hard to stop and my muscles feel each and every one of them.

A possible reason for this bacterial onslaught against my body may be due to the fact that two nights ago I waited outside for buses for 40-45 minutes.  It was super duper cold out.  I left at 7 and didn’t get home until around 8:30.  It was terrible.  This only increases my dislike for buses.  I like riding them, it’s calming and kinda fun, but waiting for them is absolutely terrible.  I think that is the biggest thing I dislike between the Cities and DSU.  I think of how much time is wasted going to and from school and how if I were at DSU i could be using that time for homework  and stuff. I  probably spend 2 hours a day riding buses.  Probably more.  At DSU I could get anywhere in 5 minutes.  Two hours a day for everyday equals mucho much time.

Game Over