Eyes Open

It's the AM, and writing is much more appealing than studying for an Inorganic Chemistry test. In about five hours, I'll be scribbling down notes and symmetry point groups that I've spent the last six hours or so memorizing. But for the meantime, I'm going to abandon my science endeavors and indulge in the some creativity.

Recently, I've had this preoccupation of not sleeping. Somewhere in between my homework and everyday life, I've carelessly waved sleep good bye. I'll come back to the apartment, after work, school, and anything else oriented to that great idea of my future, and social hour will begin because I'm too dazed to commence actual homework. Midnight or the AM hours roll around, and the severity of deadlines pushes me to my studies, leaving me to little sleep (and illness).

I would have to say getting sick has become routine once a year. Each year illlness is guaranteed, just like a parking ticket when you illegal park for the first time. Luckily for me, each year has been less severe than the former.
Freshmen Yr: Conjunctivitis and Upper Respiratory Infection
Sophomore Yr: Upper Respiratory Infection
Junior Yr: Cough, Sneeze, and Stomach Aches
So I'm giving this cough and sneeze a week at most, before I try medicine and, eventually, antibiotics to knock it out. Meanwhile, I'll try and avoid prescriptions or even OTC's just for the sake of building up my immune system.

Other than illness, the entertainment factor of my life has been on the rise. Sharp Top Cove was just this past weekend. Young Life high school kids energized the weekend with the buzz of "he said/she said," and the pops of flour bombs and water balloons during the field games. Glowstick frizbee games, rock climbing walls, Harry Carey skits, and Banana Man vs. Blockhead made the weekend worthwhile. All in all a great weekend to recover and reconnect with God.

STC wasn't and isn't the only extent of this week's charades. Just this evening I attended a Mat Kearney Concert. The concert was one of the best I've attended. Naturally I bought his CD "Nothing Left to Lose" after the concert. It has been spinning in my computer for each minute I've devoted to Inorganic Chemistry. It's a sort of balance to keep me sane in the midst of this intense studying. Tomorrow, a tour guide meeting at Mellowmushroom awaits so that I can stuff my belly full of tomato sauce, melted cheese and pizza crust. Then, a date party will round off the evening at Piebar with Talleymac.

And at last, I will come back to this small white room, crawl into cool sheets, and sink into darkness. I look forward to that moment.

Crash

Three eighteen hour days of scribblings, mad dashes, and appointmetnts. My eyelids sag from exhaustion, and sleep is but just a few probability problems away. Regardless of the work I have left to do, sleep saturates my mind. Sleep crawls and conforms to the corners of my brain, leaving me incapable of thought. Then the feelings set in. The feeling that when I fall asleep, I will sink into deep blackness. A feeling that I'll roll in waves of blankets and sheets, relaxing every sore joint and every tense muscle. Like lazy river water park, I'll drift in my rectangular box on cushions of cotton and pads of foam with ease. Finally, an intoxicating warm numbness will emerge from the friction of body and sheets that's equally enjoyable as it is dangerous. The danger relies on not waking up to red digits and a loud buzz, and the alternative is to tap the snooze for five minutes of bliss - a guilty pleasure that we all indulge in from time to time.

The Loop

Recently, my i-pod shuffle decided to go rogue, blinking frantically with alternating amber and green lights. All of my tracks were muted to a low buzz through the headphones. Being no expert of technology, I rummaged the help website looking for answers or quick fixes. Fortunately for me, a new restore upgrade had been released from Apple after over a thousand complaints surfaced for the same problem from shuffles users across the nation. Sadly, the upgrade did not remedy my malfunctioning i-pod. A solid week was spent silently riding on the C shuttle, tapping my foot to conceived air drum solos, and starring at annoying traffic light signals from the shuffle. Call me spoiled, but I did buy my own i-pod. If anything is to be said, it's that I just like music.

I relied on my I-tunes to pull me through the shuffle's absence. So long as a loop of music was running in the morning and at night, then I could muster enough enthusiasm to get to class or to begin the usually tedious bits of homework. For the past week, I've had Jack's Mannequin and Jack Johnson on a continuous loop to kick off sunrise and sunset. It's been relieving, but nothing compared to the white headphones pumping volumes of Spoon, Taking Back Sunday, Snow Patrol, or the White Stripes into my ear. Music is the pacemaker to my life. Every note, every drum beat, or guitar strum is a head nod toward what I have to accomplish. Whether it's finishing the third mile or commuting to class, there's a little motivation in the tunes that prepares me for what's to come.