So, Midterms are over (for the most part; I still have to take a test on Monday), and now Wabash is quiet… to be honest, I don’t think I got the best idea what Midterms are like.

I say this because I only had one class where I really had a final (Latin) and all the others I had dealt with in the previous weeks. So while that did leave me with some free time, I feel like I am not as prepared for what is ahead of me next semester… Well, maybe that’s exaggerating a bit (I do that from time to time).

Also, Midterms brings up another thing: there’s no one here.

Really, there isn’t. The entire campus is deserted save for a handful of students. I can’t really go home, Oregonian and all, but as a lot of the people here are from Indiana it makes sense that they’d get away for a few days. Yeah, I envy them a little; I’d like to go home, sleep in my own bed, see my parents, girlfriend and other friends, eat a decent piece of fish (and Ruben’s Pizza). But I would also like to spend more time than just one or two days; that’s good for a short break, maybe go out a few times with friends, but fly across the country? Kind of much, especially since Thanksgiving break is in a few weeks and I’ll be going home for a whole week, more or less.

I’ll have more to say on this when the week is over.

And now for some shameless self-promotion; these are some of my Space Marines that I use at Dork Club, Wabash’s Gaming club. You should go to Dork Club, because it is awesome

Don’t expect to hear from me until Wednesday at the latest. Why? Midterms.

Midterms run the rest of this week and next week until Thursday, I think (I should find a schedule or something). My schedule is probably not as extreme as I say it is, but still midterms are important. Remember my post about College being a chariot race? Imagine Midterms as the last corner on the first lap, only chariot races have about a dozen or so laps if not more. And as chariots are very unwieldy, midterms are an easy place for you to lose control and slam into a wall.

Yeah, the metaphor kind of got away from me there, but it still makes sense to some degree.

So, back to my original sentence; I intend to spend as much times as I can study or otherwise not goofing around. I’ve got a paper or two that I need to finish up, and some other things I need to finish up as well… yes, I am doing my blog post right now, but it’s my job; I’m supposed to inform you guys about what’s going on here at Wabash, and what’s going on is midterms.

Yay us. This week’s been too long.

Well, it’s certainly gotten a lot colder lately. Must be Fall…

I am making these assumptions because we don’t really have this kind of weather in Oregon.

Here, you can tell when it’s Fall; the weather gets colder, leaves start changing colors and all the cute fuzzy animals start disappearing… as do the bugs, so win there. You actually have a semi set time where people start to bundle up, clearly defined seasons that help you plan out your day and what you are doing.

In Oregon, you have rain.

Yeah, that’s pretty accurate

It rains a lot in Oregon. And I do mean a lot. That Thunderstorm we had a few days ago? Just get rid of the lightning and stretch it out a month or two, and you get a good idea about what it’s like in Oregon. Expecting a pleasant spring followed by a nice, warm summer? Nope, rain. Baseball game? Nope, rain. Want snow in winter? Nope, rain. Romantic date? Make sure it’s inside, because rain. Part of the reason I wanted to go to college outside of Oregon was because the year before we had so much rain that I got sick of it, and I lived there for 13 years!… Okay, I was probably over-reacting, but it was still a lot of rain.

Worse, it doesn’t even have the courtesy to be somewhat warm when it rains. Here you get a bit of humidity, but remember what I said about getting rain instead of snow? Even when we should get snow, we get rain. So not only are you soaked, you’re also frozen, probably sick, and you can barely move coherently because all you clothes are waterlogged… although that probably has to do with being soaked. Whatever.

Anyway, the weather here will take some time to get used to… Actually, I kind of miss the rain. Sorry, Indiana, but Oregon’s got something I’m a bit familiar with.

So, today I was waiting around for Film Class to start and I saw a few people touring Wabash. From the looks of them, and from their shiny red folders and name tags, they were most likely prospective students. I would have introduced myself, but since I was still waiting for class to start I didn’t really have that option (and now I am sad).

Getting new prospects is good; not only does it keep the college afloat, it brings new people in that we the students of Wabash get to interact with. Like any other large scale social and education setting, colleges tend to have small groups form among the students, and they are usually self contained 75% of the time (they will come together for certain projects). Having new people come to the college allows these groups to diversify, maybe even interact with other groups. And you get a chance to make new friends, because friends are important. Most of the people you go to college with are going to be your best friends for life (and I mean that in a serious way, not a cheesy ABC Family way [and I apologize if you watch ABC Family]).

Anyway, if those prospects do decide to come to Wabash (and I hope they do) it will brighten this place up even more… and now I’m sounding incredibly cheesy and clichéd… that’s kind of a problem…

Space.

 SPORTS! (AUUGH!!!) YOU’LL BE GOOD AT THEM!

This isn’t actually a blog about sports. I’m not much of a sports guy, and if I was all the sports I find interesting and cool have a bad case of not existing.

You wish your sports were this cool

… and you wish you were as cool as Charlton Heston

What I want to say is that college is kind of like a sport… except that sport is not football or swimming but is in fact Chariot Racing.

Bit of history: chariot racing was the sport in Ancient Rome. Yeah, Gladiator Games were all good and fun, but chariot racing was where it was at. People won or lost fortunes through chariot racing. Riots started because of chariot racing. Revolutions started because of chariot racing. Chariot racing was the football of the ancient world, with thousands of people filling up the circuits (the Circus Maximus being the most famous) to see their chariot teams compete.

What does this have to do will college? Well, chariot racing was very high stakes and very dangerous; you crash, and you have a real good chance at becoming roadkill. Likewise, college is very high stakes; you screw up once, like turn in a paper late or bomb a test, and you have a really hard time trying to catch up and not fail. I’m probably overemphasizing the stakes of college, but you can’t just wuss out and expect everything to work out in the end (this isn’t high school, after all). You need to stay focused and not get distracted by everything going on around you, or you’ll cut that corner and start making the walls go faster (40K joke; comment if you want that explained).

Remember what I said about focus last time? Yeah, keep doing that.

(Disclaimer: other than the picture of me, I do not own any images in this blog post; they belong to Studio Mir and MGM)