If you live in Dunn Hall like I do, you soon learn that the most popular thing to do is play video games (besides playing guitar of course).  I walk down the hall and at every other room I peak in, I see people gaming.  There’s one room that is unbelievable.  I’m pretty sure that within that one room they have 4 computers that are all networked together.  It’s a pretty sweet setup if you’re a true gamer.  I have seen all sorts of systems:  PS2, XBOX, XBOX 360, and PC’s made just for gaming.  Now it seems that everyone is waiting for the release of the Wii which I guess has some new crazy controller that you just move it around in the air and the game reacts to what you do.  Crazy! I know.  But, in the end I think that one system outweighs the rest…

Yep you guessed it… the Nintendo 64.  Yea yea yea you true gamers probabally have serious arguments against the 64 and why it’s not the best and that the graphics aren’t great, but I don’t care.  Let me tell you why its sooooo awesome.  To me all that matters is how fun the games are, sure I am a little old school, but the Nintendo 64 games are classic!  First off lets start with undoubtedly the best shooter game of its day… Goldeneye… if you are a guy and you are between 15 and 24 years old I know you have played Goldeneye.  Then there are all the awesome Mario games.  Mario Kart 64 rules.  You drive around in those little cars which it looks like the characters barely fit into.  Especially Bowser, I always thought he was going to fall out and crack his head.  My friends and I always play Super Mario Smash Brothers.  It is the perfect game to play when you have a bunch of friends over.  It’s so fun to just sit there and just rip on each other, taunting and bragging nonstop.  My mom used to yell at my friends and I because she could hear us yelling at the top of our lungs at 2 o’clock in the morning (now it’s the kids next door that yell at us).  And if you happen to be by yourself you can always dive into some Zelda 64.  There are so many great ones for the N64, I could go on forever. 

 

In the end, it doesn’t matter what game you’re playing.  I would have to argue that the N64 is the only system I will ever need the rest of my life, the games just don’t get old.  Can you say that about the PlayStation? I don’t think so.  So while the rest of you are waiting for the system that lets you use your brain to control the game, I will be upstairs in my room having a blast with my friends.  That’s what makes any game so great.  It’s not whether you win or lose (although the competition is why we play) it’s the great memories you have from playing the games.  Just for example I will never forget the time I almost missed the bus in 6^th grade because I was in the 18^th inning of a Ken Griffey Jr.’s Slugfest game against my friend.  And it was worth it, because I hit a game winning double up the middle with Barry Larkin.  Then, just the other day I was playing Smash Bros. with a friend from high school and he starts yelling “CHARMANDER�over and over in his high pitched grily voice.  It was hilarious.  Chramander is some stupid Pokemon thing so don’t worry if you don’t know what I am talking about (although many of you do and are just to ashamed to admit it).

BY THE WAY… Today happens to be the 10^th birthday of the N64.  That’s right, 10 years ago today the 64 was released.  What a great day it is today!!!  So please go around and celebrate to all of your friends.

Anyway I am sorry for this little speech on video games, but I think most of us enjoy a good video game from time to time.  I wish you all the best of luck with your gaming experiences.  Please do go outside every once and a while.  I hear its good for you to get sun and fresh air.

Furthermore, if you want to argue about the N64 I live in Dunn 410, but you probably know that from Facebook.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Zach

You know what’s really cool (besides ice cream and naps)?  Having something in school to get excited about.  This year is the very first time for the Anderson University Honors group, and it has been tons of fun so far.  The group consists of me and 17 other freshman who had to submit applications and do an interview to get in the Honors Program.  Yea…I know… its scary thinking that I made it in.  To start the year off we all came to AU before the rest of the freshman and spent three days together doing super fun activities.  We got to explore our personality traits and learn how we can best work with others.  The most fun activity we did was getting to decide what we would do in one night if we could do anything we wanted to.  There were two groups, and one group wanted to rent an island for the night and have a bit party while the other group wanted to use a time machine and travel everywhere in the world in one night.  The Honors program requires that we students take one special class together each semester.  This semester we are taking War and Peace in Western Civilization taught by Dr. Murphy and Dr. Radaker and we meet five days a week.  We delve into many topics relating to past and current wars.  It actually is very interesting.

Besides being extremely smart, I have found that all of these honors kids (adults…nope we’re still kids) are just flat out awesome people.   We have had so much fun hanging out and going and doing stuff together.  Last weekend we had dinner at Dr. Radaker’s house and then some of us went to Indy to a sports comedy club which turned out to be a blast.  Its kind of funny because I have heard other people talking about the Honors Program group as a “cult� because we do so much stuff together.  Don’t worry were not a cult, we just exclude everyone else from things we do together (just kidding).

 

It has been great meeting so many new people and making awesome new friends.  Knowing that I get to spend one hour each day in class with these people gives me a little more motivation to get up in the morning. 

 

Zach

Sundays are always such a great day. I don’t know how we do it, but I swear my friends and I cram about 36 hours in between sun up and sun down.

 I started off today with going to church with one of my roomies. Allie and I go to The Bridge Community Church, which meets at in Highland High School’s auditorium. I “church-shopped” for a long time when I was starting out here in Anderson. I tried so many churches (there are a ton to choose from!), and I loved that there seemed to be a fit for everybody. I felt at home at the Bridge, and so do a lot of other students. But, the great thing is that it’s not ONLY AU students there. There are families from the community as well, which creates a great blend.

Anyway, after church I grabbed lunch and got some homework done before meeting up with a friend who wanted to get together and chat (come on now… all you girls out there know that there is NOTHING better than a good Sunday afternoon chat!), and our coffee house was closed for the afternoon. So, we grabbed a table outside of the Haven (AU’s “fast food” place) and enjoyed some of this nice fall weather. And of course we chatted… about classes, rush week, boys, you know… all the normal stuff!

What came next was DEFINITELY the highlight of my day! I got to go to a birthday party for one of the coolest 5 year olds you could ever meet. Every residence (dorms and apartments) on campus has a Resident Director (we call them RDs). They are like the mom or dad of the building, and often times they are married and have kids. Last year I lived in South Campus Apartments, and my RD, Chad Hacker, lived right below me. He and his wife have two daughters (Emma is 5 and Tori is 1ish). Emma loved to come up to our apartment and “play” while we did our homework. This year we live in a different apartment building, and we miss having Chad and his family around. But, today was Emma’s birthday. So Sara (one of my roommates) and I went over to our old building and played Pretty Pretty Princess with Emma and a bunch of her “grown up” friends. I know it makes us sound like losers, but who cares? It was awesome.

My night wasn’t even close to being over. I headed over to the library to work on a group project, had an officer meeting for my social club, and had a bunch of people over to my apartment to watch the season premiere of Desperate Housewives (our soup opera of choice!). Now it’s midnight, and I just finished my homework. And I also just realized that I was so busy that I forgot to watch the Colts game…

I don’t know how I can even put into words what went on in my life during rush week. It was so busy, so fun, so hectic, etc. There were 47 ladies who rushed my club, Alacritas, and each of them is absolutely amazing. Good thing they were so great, because spending every waking moment together could have been awful.

 

During the week, all of us officers from my club and my brother club (the Avanti Boosters, whom I love DEARLY) sit outside in the Valley whenever we don’t have class. This is the time when our rushees have the opportunity to earn our signatures (one of the traditions of rush week). They come and ask us for our signature, and we assign them a task in order to earn it. On Thursday, which was also 80’s aerobics day for our club, one of their tasks was to pretend to be in a work out video while other students passed by. It was hysterical.

It really was a blast. I won’t say much more about it, because that could ruin the experience for anyone else wanting to rush. But I will say this: Having your birthday during rush week is DEFINITELY a perk. Mine was on Wednesday of rush, and all of the “rushees” from my brother club had to write me love letters, even if they had never met me! Imagine getting about 25 letters with lines such as “when you walk by, the squirrels of the valley smile” or “I know I’ve never met you, but will you please marry me?” It was SO much fun! Some of them even had to get down on one knee and present them to me.

My very very very favorite part of rush week is the Collossal Clash of the Booster Barbarians. On the Friday of rush, all of the Booster rushees dress up in cardboard armor that they make to represent the spiritual armor listed in Ephesians. Then, in the afternoon they have a big fake battle, using their cardboard “swords of truth.” It’s so funny, and the guys REALLY get into it. That’s all of them in the picture below, with me and the Booster King (aka Booster President Opie Smith) in the middle.

 Now that rush week is over, I’m trying to get caught up on all of the homework that I didn’t get done BEFORE all the activities started. It seems like a never-ending pile of things to get done. So… I should probably get on that.

 

Everyone on campus should be aware of the fact that drivers, not pedestrians, have the right-of-way.  So we students have to be careful crossing the street.  I have experimented a little with running out in front of cars, and so far all of them have stopped for me.  I am not trying to encourage people to walk out in front of cars (or huge trucks for that matter), but I am just saying that most drivers will give you the right of way if you walk out in front of them.  Furthermore its quite satisfying watching them drive away after they’re forced to stop so they don’t hit you.  They always have some sort of grumpy, ticked off look on their face… I just smile.

Completely contrary to all that, I saw the funniest thing this morning.  I am getting ready to cross University Boulevard on my way to Decker and I see a man letting a few students cross the street.  It is common for this to happen every once in a while so I thought nothing of it.  First about 10 people crossed in front of him, and then 20, 30, and eventually I think the entire campus had a chance to cross the road.  Meanwhile, there are literally 30 cars backed up behind this guy, through the intersection at  Nursery Road and almost out to Scatterfield.  As we’re crossing, the drivers that are waiting for this man start honking their horns relentlessly.  I tried to wave this man on, telling him that he didn’t need to stop for us.  But he refused and waved me on in return.  So, sir if you’re out there reading this I want to thank you for your kindness, but as a driver you really do have the right-of-way.  I promise, you really do, and no one is going to be mad if you don’t let us cross the street to go to class, we’ll get there eventually, and if we don’t… oh well.  

So to conclude, if any of you are driving through campus, don’t stop for the students, unless of course they walk out in front of you… we don’t want anyone to get a big dent in their car.  

That’s all for today’s life lesson.

Zach

So I am completely loving being here at AU just because of everyone and everything.  Although, the other day I began to ponder something… I asked myself “what is the best thing about college?� and after some serious thought I came up with two things that I love about college.  First, plain and simple, I love being able to take naps.  I used to kind of look down upon nappers, thinking it was a sign of laziness, but how wrong could I have been!  Naps give us the freedom to stay up late into the early hours of the morning (maybe to study extra hard or maybe just because you can), get 4 hours of sleep, go to class and then come back and sleep the afternoon away.  That is assuming you even go to class (I’m kidding…but seriously people).  Whether its in your bed, on the futon, on the floor, or even in your 8 o’clock class, naps always create a euphoric feeling completely unrivaled by normal “night-time sleep.�

   There’s my roommate Ryan napping.And me napping on the floor.

There is one more thing I love about college so far, and that is the ICE CREAM dispenser in the Marketplace.  Never in my life have I had such a plentiful supply of ice cream right at my fingertips.  Not only can you chose from chocolate, vanilla, or twist (my favorite), but there’s always a table of “ice cream condiments� if we can call it that.  I mean honestly people, there’s crunched up Oreos, Snickers, Butterfinger, and sometimes Reese’s.  There’s nuts, chocolate topping, and caramel topping!  WOW!! I know…its amazing, so many choices.  And people, listen up, this is a little secret of mine:  there is usually strawberry topping and whipped cream back by waffles…MMBOY!!!  Choose what you want, that’s the fun of it, if your ice cream tastes great, pat yourself on the back; if its horrible, then its all your fault and you have no one else to blame. 

 

Well now you all know why college is so fun!  Actually there is so much more to AU, but that’s just some of the fun stuff I have learned to enjoy. 

I am really sorry if this post came off really goofy and pointless, but I am in a very energetic, slap-happy mood right now because I just woke up from a 3 and a half hour nap, and I am all sugared up on three bowls of ice cream.

 

Zach

 I FOR REAL can’t believe it’s already here… Rush is by far my favorite week of the year, and it starts TONIGHT! Rush is the time when you can join one of the seven social clubs on campus, as long as you are at least a sophomore. The clubs are a little like sororities and fraternities, but you don’t live in Greek houses and they are not national Greek organizations.

Two years ago, I rushed Alacritas. It was by far the most memorable week of my college career (at least so far!). We got to dress up goofy during the day according to certain themes (like 80’s aerobics day), and we had lots of group building activities in the evening. One of the best parts was Friday night when we had a camp out. One of the officers shared her testimony while we all sat around the camp fire, and I don’t think there was a single dry eye in the whole place. We finished the evening with a foot washing ceremony. But don’t worry… we didn’t sing kum-ba-ya or anything.

For the last two years, I have had a part in planning Alacritas rush. I served as the Alacritas chaplain for the 2005-06 school year, and this year I am serving as president.  Our amazing Vice President is in charge of the whole week, and we have had some crazy moments in the process of getting ready. I think we have experienced every different emotion possible… we’ve been excited, frustrated, nervous, etc. Anything BUT relaxed.

All we want is to provide a week where our “rushees” can learn more about themselves and their relationship with Christ. We want to create an atmosphere of love and acceptance so that these women can build lasting friendships and supports for the rest of college and life. It’s pretty intimidating for all of us leaders to realize that the responsibility for doing this rests on our shoulders, so we’ve talked to God about it A LOT. In fact, last night our entire club went on a prayer walk around campus. We stopped and prayed at all the locations where our activities will take place, and we finished by praying for the rush captains that will be leading our rushees throughout the week.

I’ve been so excited for this week for so long, and I really can’t believe it’s here!

 

 

So, I had totally been ready for Novus Dux skate night all week, and it finally came. So when is the last time people our age have been skating? It reminded me of elementary school when everyone had skating parties for their birthdays. To get ready for skate night my roommate Ryan Fultz, my R.A. Dave Durica and I all went shopping for “skate gear� at Goodwill. Let me tell you, if you have never been to Goodwill costume shopping you really are missing out! You go through all this stuff and your basically looking for the most ridiculous stuff you can find. And you’re thinking to yourself… who would actually wear a short sleeve tan silk button up shirt, or pink pants, or the sunglasses that have been in the store since 1973? It’s really quite crazy. But anyway, the three of us spent about 45 minutes at Goodwill and finally found what we needed. Let me tell you, we looked GOOD.

We arrived at the skating rink at about 12:30 and we were all a little tired, but once we were inside we were ready to skate! So many people there looked completely ridiculous. I saw a few wig Afros, a Superman with a cape, Steve Urkel, and someone who I think was trying to be Roger Federer. I don’t know why any of those people would be roller-skating, but they were last night. I tell you what though, there were tons of people there; there were about 200 people out there skating when the place is probably made for about 50. It was pretty scary considering you knew that if you fell there would be multi-skater pile-up as everyone behind you would trip and fall on you. I was really nervous because I’m a naturally clumsy person, but surprisingly I didn’t fall once. My roommate Ryan wasn’t so fortunate. Some girl was skating next to him and she started to loose balance. She saw him and with no warning grabbed on to him and brought them both crashing to the floor. I thought it was hilarious, but I think he was in some pain (don’t worry ladies he’s OK). Overall it really was a super fun time! Any of you who didn’t go really did miss out on a lot of fun. I want to give a shout out to Novus Dux for putting on such an awesome event. Thanks.

Zach

So I’m kind of feeling like Maggie is, I also can’t believe this year is here!  The only difference is she’s at the top of the food chain/totem pole (which ever you like) and I’m now at the bottom.  The very bottom.  Yep, I’m a frosh.  Does anyone know what frosh really means? Or how it came about being used?  I don’t, all I know is that it means I know a lot less than everyone else on campus, thus they can pick on me and tell me to do stuff for them.  One of my biggest problems is getting lost.  Maybe its because I’m a frosh, or maybe its just because I’m directionally challenged, but I really struggle on knowing which way to go.  I swear every time I walk out of a classroom in Hartung or Decker I pause in the doorway, take a good look to the left, pause and think about it, then take a good look to the right.  I stand there and reflect on what I saw and try to decide which way I need to go to get to my next class.  Then, after about 3 or 4 hours of contemplation, I decide to go right.  I walk about 50 feet down the hall, realize I went the wrong way and pull a 180 and head back in the direction I came from.  Meanwhile, I am constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure no one saw me.  Its quite humiliating, and it wastes a lot of time.

            Don’t get me wrong though, being a frosh can have its advantages.  First, every time you do something, it’s the first time and that makes it exciting.  Second is what I call the “Frosh Rule.�  The “Frosh Rule� basically allows any of us frosh to screw up and blame it on being a freshman.  For example, lets say you’re throwing the baseball outside in front of the Wellness Center and you try to throw your Splitter and it slips and shatters a window in Rice Hall.  Tons of upperclassmen girls, the Rice Hall RD, the cops, maybe even P. Eddy come running at you yelling and carrying pitchforks.  All you have to do is say, “WAIT, I’m a frosh, I didn’t know what I was doing, really I’m a frosh, its not my fault.�  And they all stop yelling, and agree that you are a stupid frosh.  So you’ll probably still have to pay for the window, but at least you’ll feel better, right?  Okay, (or is it OK) so that’s all I can think of for positives of being a frosh, so if you can think of any more, please let me know.  Thanks for listening to me ramble on and on.  Now I have to go study. 

 

Zach

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!

 So, I JUST got back to my apartment after the annual square dance. It was definitely the best of the four I’ve been to! The evening started with going out to Texas Roadhouse with 14 of my favorite girls in the world. We pretty much took over the restaurant, and we looked great too (all of us in our country best… cowboy hats, boots, and plenty of belt buckles). After our fill of meat, potatoes, and sweet tea, we headed back to campus to enjoy our last square dance.

 

As always, there was a professional caller shouting out directions. We mosied around, met up with other friends, and met some of the new freshmen. There was tons of square dancing, and we also had plenty of line dancing (Cotton Eye Joe is DEFINITELY my favorite). It might sound stupid, but it really is one of the best nights of the year. There are so many people packed in the Smith/Martin Courtyard, and it’s great to see everyone after the long summer break. Plus, you get to see all your friends dressed up just as goofy as you are!

Wow, it is only 11 and I’m already exhausted. Dancing wears you out!