what have I gotten myself into?

Current Mood: cold and lonely
Current Music: "Dust In The Wind" by Kansas

Wow. Obviously, I'm finally set up with internet in my room here at Purdue.

Let's take a tiny trip back in the past to a few days before I left (August 7th), because I forgot to mention anything about the baseball game I went to with my dad. Dadly and I usually go to a Red's game every summer, and we almost didn't make it this time. Probably because I no longer get free tickets for being on the honor roll at school (because I didn't make honor roll, exactly, or because they don't give tickets out anymore I refuse to think about).

We had a be-a-utiful Sunday, sunny and bright. We dined at Frisch's for breakfast (interesting...when Brad is with us, the three of us order the same meal, the #1, with slight differences- I get hash browns, eggs, and bacon...Brad gets the spicy spuds, Dad gets ham) and headed downtown. I thought of Sis working downtown as we parked in the Scripps building and headed to the Great American Ballpark.

Walking to the stadium, I noticed two homeless people. Not completely uncommon downtown (in any city, really), I politely avoided eye contact with the first woman because her cardboard sign literally had a paragraph on it. It started with "I'm homeless and need food blah blah" and I quit reading. If you want my charity, you need to be concise. The second one, a man, didn't have a sign...just a digital camcorder. In one single moment, he destroyed the street cred. of an entire block of bums because dude, you totally could pawn that thing for a hotel room, haircut, and some new clothes. Show me you've gone to some interviews or at least tried.

The Red's played the Florida Marlins (my second favorite team) on "baseball card day", so I got an '05 set of Red's cards. They lost 2-0, but there were some great plays, and some really bullshit pitching to first. Still, got to talk to my dad and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the nosebleed seats, where the common folk sit. The head honchos that ran MWCC have box seats behind home plate, but I like sitting that far up. It's tradition. And it has shade. The song of the game was "Listen To The Music" by The Doobie Brothers, the ball was hidden behind Skyline #1, and Rosie Red won the race. Made me think of Kristy when the vendors peddled their wares, but she's busy defending freedom. Semper Fi! My hopes, once again, were dashed as the Jumbotron failed to find me. Someday...

Anyway, if you're wondering why I bothered to talk about the bums, that's because on the way back to the car, we found a guy who had a sign that said:

Alcoholic. Want booze.

So we gave him a buck. I sometimes wonder if "food money" becomes "heroin addiction money", but this guy wasn't bullshitting anybody. Lesson: charity is selective; I reward honesty.

Moving on...

Left home *slightly* later than planned, around 3pm on Wednesday (instead of 9am). Time changed helped a bit, but mostly it was the help from Brad and Dad that got me all set up in my super-swank dorm room here at the Hill. It only took three carts to get all my packed stuff up to the third floor. I must say that moving in the second year is much, much easier. I managed to cut out some extraneous things and pack even lighter.

That's right, folks. I said super-swank. I'd heard nice things about Hillenbrand Hall before, but I'd never been there to confirm...and this room blew all of my expectations away. The whole building is clean and new, and air-conditioned like a son of a gun. The air controls in my room were set on "arctic blast" and despite not feeling my toes, I didn't touch them for the first three days...just because I could. McCutcheon Hall was okay, but this place is a palace. It's huge, the furniture is great (and it even has notches cut in the desk, so you can run cables around and not clog everything up...sweet), the closets are huge, there's a wall track for hanging posters...it's great. Our floor is currently devoid of all residents save me and my RA. There's a giant lounge/study area that replaced the "study closets" at MCut. Our Hall has my job downstairs, a dining hall and a retail store, and a laundry room twice as big as I saw at MCut. Perhaps best of all, I don't have communal prison showers anymore. That's right, I share a bathroom with roommate and two suitemates. Out of bed and into my own shower. The water pressure is a *bit* high, but I hope when the other 750 residents move in, that might help. It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where Kramer got the elephant-washing spray head.

Still, my room is awesome. Super-swank.

And super-lonely. I'm not afraid to admit that I liked it when Jason played his XBox religiously in our dorm last year. It was comforting. I'd study, and tell him to turn down his HALO mission or that annoying Madden commentary. Still, it was something familiar, and as much as I like cranking my music with impunity, I sorta miss having a roommate. Somebody to tell me to turn down my music, y'know? Even my suitemates aren't here yet. I moved in a week and a half early for my job, and they all probably won't be here for another week (the weekend before classes). Instead, all of the freshmen have just started moving in for BGR and band. Being on campus with no class rocks, but now they're turning my quiet campus into a giant, largely-incompetent horde of annoying people taller than me (you hear this? I'm only a sophomore!).

Still, I haven't been completely alone yet. Coworkers seem pretty cool so far (more on that later), but my friends from last year haven't let me down in the awesome department. Despite my lack of automobile and my work schedule, I've already hung out with Josh, found out Ryan (RA) is over at MCut, had lunch at the Boiler Market with Jen and Aaron (the latter of which is here early for band), got a call from Jasmine, and watched a movie/goofed off with Benji of the Fools. I've even got a dinner invitation for Sunday night with Sarah. I met Andy, my RA, the other night as he was setting up the bulletin board. He's a senior ME transferring from physics, and promised to help me with my classes. I should perhaps also mention that my suitemates (Mark and Tim) are CompE and EE's. Score for living in the upperclassmen dorm surrounded by smart engineers. I must fix this problem with calculus. *twitch*

Oh, and I've already gotten mail and phonecalls. Awesome. Please keep them coming:

Ryan Garwood
Hillenbrand Hall
Mailbox #363
1301 Third Street
West Lafayette, IN
47906

and my dorm phone, if you really want to hear my voice, is 765.49.58083

Benji is the only other Fool (besides me) on campus willing & able to work the Boiler Gold Rush booth in the Armory for the Ship of Fools, where I first met the best improv troupe on campus last year as a wee freshman. So this Tuesday, we'll do our best to recruit some funny with flyers and a laid-back attitude. I cannot wait for actual practice to start next week. I fully intend to improv all year long, instead of being all shy, and I want to do at least one show per month, if at all possible. Benji tells me we've got pretty much all of our old venues asking for a return performance, and even though we're temporarily missing some Fools (Wes, Kyle, Matt), I think we'll still laugh a ton. I really want to get up on stage and pun like mad. If it's possible, I highly recommend coming to see the Ship of Fools. Our callout is September 9th, and as always, we meet on Friday nights at Beering 2280 7-9pm.


And then there's my job.

As I probably have mentioned before on here, I work in the main office and mailroom here at Hillenbrand as part of the Student Office Staff (SOS). What does that mean? Well, it means a lot of things. I don't wash my hands a dozen times an hour and worry about foodborne illnesses, or deal with requests for ice cream or complaints about beef stew, or worry about my customers being diabetic and forgetting it. Or really worry about them dying unexpectedly.

Instead, I have to work the cash register. I handle lots of other people's money, and it makes me nervous. I have to count a drawer every shift and worry about profit and matching some arbitrary total. I mean, you'd think that I'm an engineer, and something of a math person, I'd be all about this- the register is just a giant simple calculator with a lockbox...but I get all nervous when I have to ring people up, and I thought I had it all figured out, and then somebody paid with a check and I just stood there. I was like "uh, Brent (supervisor)? a little help here?". I feel so retarded, too...I've become that awkward teenager at Arby's that can't find the fucking button for the Big Montanna with curly fries. GOSH.

Money isn't the only thing I handle, and that's good, because I'm a freaking master at opening the safe. Everybody else has problems, but I actually paid attention to the training and I have to resist pretending to listen for the clicks with my head against the steel.

I also handle mail. I work in the mailroom and the many residents of Hillenbrand Hall get shitloads of junkmail, catalogues, and credit card statements. Very little *real* mail, or as the US Postal service calls it, "First Class" mail. At any rate, I freakin' rock their feeble mailroom world when I get in there. I put the radio on a rock station and whip out my mad mail skills. Nobody spots junk mail like I do. And it's funny, because I recognize so much of the mail here at a big aero school like Purdue. I see Jeppesen catalogues, AOPA flyers, Bendix/King ads, and FAA chart updates, and it makes me smile. In the mailroom, I feel like the Lord of Postage and Parcel. I get to sign for packages and it is I who delivers the mail. And the birthday greetings.

At one point, we learned how to change the register tape, and I got so good at it I tried to challenge people to time me to open it, disassemble, change the roll, and put it all back...and then beat the time. Like Marines cleaning their guns. I got a lot of strange looks, but that happens quite a bit.

However long I may take to figure out how to do it, I'm authorized to sell things, like ethernet cables, ResNet access, and parking permits (both yearly and temporary, up to 3 days). I'm fully qualified to give sweet tours of Hillenbrand, open your mailbox that isn't broken, and check your phone that actually might be. I have the power to check you into the hall and answer your questions. I'm the one to talk to if you'd like to check out ping-pong equipment, a board game, or even some A/V equipment.

I just hate that cash register.

Anyway, I'm used to pretty much grabbing a bite to eat after serving a meal but before starting dishes. It's a whole different ballgame here to stop. Clock out. Leave for lunch. Go someplace. Eat a different meal. Come back. Clock in. Resume corporate cog-itude. I just feel really stereotypically office-like here. Like I'm the lowest gear in the massive giant behemoth that is Purdue. So much paper, phone calls, faxes, and other bureaucratic bullshit passes through our office in one day...and I'm a vital part. I actually get to be a part of the machine and get a peek at the inner workings. So what if have to ask for a box of pens and dress "business casual". At the kitchen, we had a uniform, but you weren't a true worker unless your clothes were stained with food of some kind. Here, I worry about coordinating the color of my socks.

And scheduling is so strange. I used to tell Mike "no school days, I prefer evenings" and he'd make up the schedule, I'd work it. Today, we spent almost 2 hours volunteering for 1 hour blocks of time to run the office 8am to 11pm. What the hell? We chose by seniority and then by a high card. This place is strange.

I really was hesitant to leave the kitchen at MWCC because of the high pay and free food, but working here, turns out, has some pretty sweet perks too. First, I get a small discount on books and apparel at Follett's. Secondly, magazines to residents that aren't here anymore are up for grabs. I snagged a Scientific American for free, and even found two magazines, Aviation Week & Space Technology and Aerospace America, that I didn't even know existed. I get unrestricted access to the office, and my job is downstairs, 15 feet from the dining hall. I get to open a safe. Radio controls are pretty flexible. I work in a cushy air-conditioned office and have a wall separating me from irate customers.

Improv. Part time office/mailroom job. 17 credit hours of engineering classes. There's also some sort of problem with my student loan disbursement, but there's not much I can do about that until Monday.

It's going to be an interesting semester.