Don’t mistake the misspelling of “caroling” above, I did it just to just draw attention. Today the pledges and a few brothers of Phi Gamma Delta spent their afternoon going around Crawfordsville to nursing homes to carol Christmas carols. Very caroling. Lolz. Don’t take life serious readers, you’ll never get out alive. For those of you who don’t know where I ripped that quote off from go watch Can’t Hardly Wait (1999). It is a classic movie and highly recommended for seniors entering the rest of their lives.

This was the first time I had gone caroling, and it was a pretty fun experience to go an see some of the smiles we brought to the elderly. It is the Christmas season and it is time to be jolly! Hanukkah just recently ended but nevertheless Happy Hanukkah to my two Jewish pledge brothers and all those of Judaism! To my Catholic readers happy Advent season! To my readers who are not religious Happy Winter Solstice/Lots-Of-Gifts-On-The-25th!

And after a ride home with the family, a stop at Texas Roadhouse, and finally carrying all my washed clothing up three flights of stairs I am back at Wabash. Unlike the other two bloggers I didn’t have to practically cross a continent, so I’m probably less tired from the trip than they are. Of course, I think that pork sandwich is starting to give me the sleepy sleeps.

Break was nice and a well needed one, but now I’m back at Wabash! Time to see my friends again, study, and run with the team! With only three weeks left of class, including finals in that, Christmas Break will be here soon! So while I’m glad to be back, I’m equally glad for Christmas to be so close by. Advent starts today as the Church enters a new liturgical year as well this Sunday, and what is Christmas without an Advent wreath?! SO that means Advent wreaths, Christmas sweaters, and hot chocolate for the coming weeks without being judged (well maybe being judged a little). Looking forward very much so to this first Christmas at Wabash, and time spent with my fraternity and cross country team.

So as the Christmas season and new liturgical year begins Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and seasonal greetings!

WAF

Kick back, relax, eat junk, and run. That’s what Thanksgiving Break is all about. The last two days have consisted of Netflix, some video games with my brother, and my continued running. I meant to have this blog up the other day, but sleeping in till 3 tends to make you lose track of time.

It feels so good to be able to just be lazy, have no daily homework, some runs of solitude, and to watch Netflix for hours at a time. But the best part was being able to start my break off with flu and meningitis shots! Whoop Whoop! I’ve got to spend some snuggle time with my shitzu as well! Yes, my family only owns a small dog, and we have never had anything bigger than a sheltie. For anyone who would like to donate a collie, springer spaniel, or husky please contact me immediately. The next day I got a stylish new haircut. So I will now post a selfie to show the change in cuts. Bask in it readers, bask in it. Also, in the words of one of my teammates, “Double selfie” – Sean Lewis ’15.

Now tomorrow is the annual Cass County Turkey Trot and I need to get some sleep for it. Should be a lot of cold fun, followed by a lot of napping and eating later in the day!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Gobble, gobble!

I am not sure of how many schools still have class registration by waiting in line and turning in a paper, but Wabash most certainly does have its student register that way.

Because there is no online registration for classes here at Wabash, students must line up on one of several days that correspond to their name alphabetically, wait in line and turn in their sheet for the classes they wish to enroll into. Now to a number of people this is considered inconvenient, outdated, and a waste of time. Well it may be all of those things, but it sure is fun at the same time! I mean it is fun if you are into “traditions” like this and hate technology a lot. Online registration is a lot easier to do, but there is something just cool about camping out at Center Hall before it opens, waiting in line, and hoping your classes haven’t filled up yet. Especially if you planned on getting up at 5AM and overslept till 7:30AM. SO DON’T DO THAT! However if you take classes like Latin, Roman Art and Archeology, and U.S. History since 1877 you probably don’t have to worry about the general student body filling your classes.

That is one of the cool things about Wabash, if you go to IU, Purdue, or DePauw you can do a lot of things from behind a computer screen. That’s true for a number of things here as well, but when signing up for classes you need to meet with your advisor, figure out several classes and labs you wish to have, and take an active role in signing up for your next semester. Be involved with your class choices, look at schools where you are not just another figure, and try and standout when you go to college. No one is truly successful being just another John Doe.

Saturday was the Monon Bell football game for 99% of Wabash, but for those 1% of us that traveled the four hours to Grand Rapids, Michigan Friday night, Saturday was the NCAA DIII Great Lakes Cross Country Regional. The Redpack, as some readers may know by now, brought the Calvin Knights’ 17-year Regional streak to an end this weekend with a commanding lead of 60-79 points. Thus bringing down the longest lasting streak of ANY SPORT in NCAA history, and all on Calvin’s own home course. The last time Wabash won was in 1996 before the Knights took over for almost two complete decades.

While the weather seemed to be sunny and favorable down in Greencastle for the Monon Bell, conditions at Calvin were less than favorable with gloomy skies and colder weather. The Redpack was led by FIJI brother Dalton Boyer ’14 with a second place over all (25:14.7), 4 seconds back of the Regional Champ. Second for the team was Jared Burris ’15 in 25:33.1, Billy McManus ’15 was third in 25:36.5, Adam Togami ’16 was fourth in 25:37.5, and Nick Boyce ’15 was the last scorer for the team with a time of 25:42.5. First year runners here at Wabash who came in 6th and 7th respectively to round out the full team were Fabian House ’16 in 25:56.3 and Mason McKinney in 26:19.0. The gap time between Wabash’s #1 and #5 runners was a total of 28 seconds, and a great gap time to have in comparison to some other teams. Of the 7 Wabash Men that ran this weekend, 6 managed to crack the top 35 and claim All-Region Honors on top of their team victory.

Here is a good question to answer I’m sure some people reading this are asking: Why not go to Wabash’s biggest tradition and rivalry, the Monon Bell game? Simple answer, No one expected it to be a close game, as Wabash was predicted to win for the 5th straight year. Wabash’s cross country team was looking to have an eventful, history making race that would take good racing by the athletes to win. Before Regionals Wabash had managed to beat the Knights at the Notre Dame Invitational earlier in the season. Similarly the Knights had beat Wabash by 1 point at the Oshkosh meet that contained over 500 runners. So while Wabash football had 4 previous years of blowouts and another one expected, cross country had the ability to either make history for itself, or allow Calvin to continue to make its own history. Wabash made history Saturday. Wabash Football made history as well by having one of the few 5-year streaks in the Wabash-DePauw rivalry with a score of 35-21. Congrats.

WAF