Someday I'll Do That

TH and I were talking on the ferryboat ride over to Ellis Island. I enjoy our conversations because at some point everything gets very deep and meaningful which is needed from time to time. It started with me bringing up how I had never been on a ferry before, or a boat on a river or ocean for that matter. I mean, not that I remember. I'm sure at some point my parents took me on a boat at some point but no experiences to my recollection. Anyways, we saw a cruiseship- looking boat roll by and TH brought up how he has never been on a cruise and its something hes always wanted to do. You know, all-inclusive, the works. I agreed and we got to talking about things we've always wanted to do or places we have always wanted to go. He finally got to the root of the matter and said "You know, I think we always say 'someday I'll do that or go there' and we keep saying that over and over again until there's no more time to live out dreams." If you ever think about it, how many times have you said I've always wanted to do that, and you eventually just put it out of mind because you don't have the time?

“Family means too much, Friends are too valuable, And life is too short, To put-off sharing with people, How much they really mean to you, And pursuing whatever it is that makes you happy.”

Cheers,

Bhoov

New York at Night

I never really noticed how massive the empire state building really is. It actually looks out of place to me as it clearly dwarfs all other surrounding buildings in Manhattan. During the day it really isn't that obvious, but at night...at night the tower of lights seem to stretch endlessly into the black sky like an extension of a star. Captivating really. One of my favorite sights. New York at night.

The lights faded into the night sky as our charter bus skated down parkways towards Queens. Two guys in the seat behind me constantly jabbered about anything from lifting weights to cars to the fat kid they don't like. Very intriguing. It was one of those moments where I kept closing and opening my eyes when in my mind I knew that I was tired but there was no way I could sleep. After all, I was on a bus with 30 loud mouth freshman. "What a day," I thought as I stared out the window. 6 hours ago my day started on this bus, and now, at 11:30, my night was ending on this bus.

6 hours ago I had a lot more energy as we were headed towards Ellis Island. I boarded the bus with my Nike backpack. I grabbed a seat next to a girl who looked to be in no mood for conversation, just my type of bus buddy. I sank back into the chair and waited for the bus driver to get us on the road. Getting that bus around Manhattan was like trying to get a cat to take hypothyroid pills. Not an easy task. The girls in front of me just had so much on their minds. The one girl had one of those voices. Pretty face, but after about an hour of sitting in traffic and listening to her I wanted to pick her up and stuff her in the overhead luggage compartment. During the trip I noticed that my arm rest had moved. "Thats weird I thought," as I looked back and noticed that I had been using the knee of the kid behind me as an arm rest for God knows how long. I looked back and gave him one of those faces as to say, "Sorry about that mate." He didn't seem to mind.

We arrived at the ferry..station? or port? not really sure. I want to find the person who set this whole trip up. I want to find him or her, go up to them, and say "You're and idiot," and walk away. I'm not sure when sending 600 freshman in 65 different groups would be a good idea. If the intention was for us to feel like real immigrants than I think they got pretty close to reaching their goal. We were packed into this ferry boat (which is the first ferry I've ever been on) and of course all the freshman are going insane. I met up with my old roommate TH and we found a good spot by the railing. Got a good view of Lady Liberty waving a torch at us and the inner harbor is really a site to behold. How they built a city that close to the water is a wonder to me. But anyways, we got to E island. To make a long story short, the trip was mostly us waiting around and trying to gather groups so no one got left behind. The museum was, of course, packed due to the 600 students wondering around. We got fed cold chicken and a drink, classy I know. We loaded up the ferry, got back on the bus, headed back to queens. I didn't get any good pictures on my phone the whole time because they keep the museum lights on dim so you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. The trip itself was an experience, but it wasn't very productive.

Til next time,

Bhoov

Manic Monday

A heads up to everyone. I've decided to use initials in my blogs to prevent people from being offended in any way. Enjoy.

An early rise for the start of the week. I wasn't exactly skipping off to Microbio lab at 8:30 this morning but I made due. On the brightside of things, the lab took all of a about a half hour. It was basically, smear some crap on the inside of a few petri dishes and get the hell out of there. "A good start to the day," I thought as I strolled on over to the Montgoris dining hall.

It is common knowledge around St. Johns campus to know the difference between the good omelette makers and the side shows who serve out flattened bowling balls day in and day out. As I approached the stand, I immediately saw I would be dealing with one of the worst ball flatteners in the building. I usually have an impenetrable plan for such occasions. I usually ask for what I want on it (ham, cheese, yada yada) nothing new there. Then I bring out my secret weapon, "Can I have those scrambled please?" Not even the worst chefs in the world can screw up scrambled eggs. I executed my plan perfectly. I asked for what I wanted, "Can I have those scrambled?" Without hesitating she said "Sure hun," which gave me the impression that she knew what I wanted. After having this little chat, I parted with my eggs for a brief moment while I went to grab some apple juice and a plate. When I returned, the bowling ball flattener apparently decided to foil my entire plan. She was in the process of making my eggs into an omelette. The very familiar chants of the Big Bad Balcony filled my head, "Its all over....!!!" "Those poor eggs," I thought. I stood there, watching them sizzle to the bottom of the pan, while the "chef" chatted with people in line. She finally decided to flip my omelette, revealing the black crusty surface on the other side. "Well, thats a half hour of my life I'll never get back," I thought. The best part about it is, when she flipped it over, the guy behind me quickly said, "Uh yeah, can I get mine lighter than that?" You can't make this up. The lady finally finished scorching the baby chicks, folded the omelette over, gave me a big smile, and said "There ya go". I gave her a big smile back, said thank you, found the nearest out of sight trash can, dumped my charcoal eggs, and headed towards the cereal bar.

After a very unsatisfying venture at Montgoris I headed back to the room, intending to take a nap before organic, but was sidetracked by the Xbox. I sat down and played some madden, Steelers vs. Titans for my Franchise opener. Everyone knows that you never save the game if you lose your opener. After constantly battling All-Madden Chris Johnson, I finally won today by going for two in the last couple seconds to win by one. Very exciting I know. I looked up at the time, and Organic lecture was waiting for me. I gathered up my things and headed out the door.

Whoever said "There's no such thing as a stupid question," was just dumb stupid as DM would say. After sitting through a handful of Organic lectures, I've figured out that stupid questions are not only real but they are also just as contagious as the yawns. There's no way my professor makes it through the semester with his wits intact or a steady pulse. Today we made it through 3 slides of the poor guy's presentation, in an hour and a half. The one girl in the front of the class just loves to let the professor get through an entire topic and then raise her hand and say, "You lost me after that first thing about the methyls." WHAT!! When she starts to ask just completely insane questions other people join in. Contagious. Friggin' contagious. During class I pulled out a piece of paper and started writing down everyone who asked a stupid question, so I could tell you guys about them of course. By the end of the class the paper was filled.

The professor then brought up the topic of future alternative fuels. Nuclear power came up and he said yeah sure, but you just have to worry about the nuclear waste it produces. Then he kind of cracked a few jokes and said we could just burry it somewhere or shoot the waste into outer space. This escalated into some kid saying that we should shoot the waste at the sun. Without missing a beat, the girl in the front row turned around in all seriousness and yells, "Thats only going to make it worse!" The teacher gave her this wise ass grin, and tried to hold back while saying, "Yes, that is a very good point. It will only make it worse." Wow, only about three months left, should be fun.

Bhoov

Football and St. Vinnies

Sundays usually go pretty fast when you step outside only three times during the day. Football was the main focal point of the day and the fast food joint on campus, better known as St. Vinnies, was the focal point of the night.

At some point the Steelers games really need to be televised here in New York. I know its a lot to ask, but following the game through play-by-plays on my very laggy blackberry just isn't doing it for me. On the bright side, at least its easy to follow play-by-plays when its "Batch incomplete pass to miller, 3 yd run by Mendenhall, Reed kicks a 33 yd field goal." 3 Words, High-Powered-Offense. I mean Charlie Batch was 5/11 for 25 yards, Reed was 4/4 in field goals, and the Steelers still have yet to score an offensive touchdown in regulation time. Anyways, other Steeler fans can join me in thanking the heavens above that Tennessee turned the ball over 7 times and the fact that former Penn Stater Kerry Collins decided to dump a short pass and let the clock run out instead of taking a shot into the incredibly bad Pittsburgh secondary. All in all, good win guys.

The Pats Jets game was a good one. I like how the Jets defense immensely improved while 4 year $32 mil Darrelle Revis was in the locker room. Who knows what happened there. I apologize to Mr. Tom Brady for seriously jinxing him. Just after singing his praises to Nate, who could not watch the game, he went on to throw 2 picks in his next 4 passes. Sorry Tom. At the moment big brother Payton Manning has Eli and the rest of the NY Giants bent over his knee spanking them. I thought that was supposed to be the parents job, not the big brothers. Sorry if that is too graphic for some of you.

Not to long ago, some people including myself got back from St. Vinnies. As I said previously St. Vinnies is a small fast food place on campus not too far from the dorms. I decided to try the new chicken fries. I'm not sure if there is a specific gene that is passed from parent to child, but a few flakes of pepper leaves me with my mouth on fire and me dabbing my forehead with a paper towel. I'm going to blame my mother for this one. Love you mom, not your fault. Anyways, the first few fries were very good. Fast forward ten minutes later and my face is sweating as I'm fighting through trying to finish these small sticks of dynamite. Thank God for very cold Nestea.

Alright then,

Bhoov