And it's not a cry that you hear at night...

Yeah, so beyond being lax about this thing, I've been downright ignorant about it. It's just fallen completely off my radar screen. But then again, many, many things got added to my radar screen recently, so one little guilty blip is nothing:

• Keeping up with my grades. I have a good GPA right now, and I want to keep it that way. But my J2 (Journalism 2 for the uninitiated) class is harder than anticipated, my Bible class, though without any appreciable homework, is very difficult when it comes to tests, and my Russian class comprises two people. If there's a quiz we don't want to take, we can usually swing a one-day extension out of the professor, but I think that's cause he likes me. I'm good at language stuff, when we get into a pattern. Retaining it has been an issue.
• My computer. I reformatted the other day. Well, re-installed Windows, anyway. Didn't really have a choice, my computer just turned off of its own accord twice during the Patriots' game, and I was fed up with it's general slowness. So, reformatting took place, keeping me up until 4 AM on a day on which I had a job interview.
• Speaking of which, co-op is rapidly approaching. I've had three interviews, with probably about another half-dozen companies possessing my resume right now. I've talked to the Boston Globe (not a good interview; IM me if you want to know why), the Patriot Ledger (which I liked, but it's 19 candidates for 1 or 2 jobs, so my chances aren't great), and CHEN PR (which I also liked, but don't have a good feel for exactly what I'd be doing.) Honestly, I don't have a top choice anymore. A week ago, I'd have said the PR job at Wentworth Institute of Technology, right across the street. I'd be one person reporting to one other person, and the two of us would comprise the entire PR department. But I can do similar, if not the same work at a real PR firm like CHEN or Forrester, and that might look better on a post-graduation resume. Then again, that's not journalism writing; it's public relations. I have PR in my blood, and it's something I'm very confident I could do, having played the other side of the coin, but I don't have experience in it, and it might be less helpful, when eventually applying to a newspaper, in getting a reporting job. I don't know - I guess anything is good, but I don't have a favorite anymore. Just not the Globe.
• And while I'm on the topic of jobs, I picked one up a week and a half ago, refereeing intramural soccer games at the old gym. It's simple work; the bastardized form of soccer (it's really just basketball with feet) is fast-paced, but three referees cover it very well. My problem is that after 8 years of outdoor refereeing, it's surprisingly hard to adapt to blowing the whistle every time the ball contacts the boundary net, and to enforce a 3-seconds-in-the-key type rule. I do my best, but it's not soccer. Which reminds me,
• The Revs are in MLS Cup. If you're a MLS or Revolution fan, you know how big a deal this is to me. As I told a friend that I brought along to the Eastern Conference Championship last weekend, "If you think I'm a hardcore Red Sox fan, wait until you see me at a Revolution game." And it's true, as I've lost my voice on consecutive weekends. And it's kinda fallen to me to plan and organize the on-campus MLS Cup viewing. It's in Dallas this year, so I can't go myself, and the next-best thing is to watch it with like-minded friends. This is my goal. I wanted the people at Curry Student Center to set up the big projection screen for the game like they did during the MLB playoffs, but the request I put in Monday has still not been processed, it seems. And I kinda need to know pretty damn soon so I can send out messages to on- and off-campus friends who may be interested in watching with me. (Curry is open to the public, provided they behave.) If this doesn't go through, I need to try and organize a trip to the MidWest Grill in Cambridge, where the Midnight Riders will be watching the game. A nice group of 10 people or so would be a fantastic NEU contingent to bring along, and I would be damn proud to parade this group through the seating section of the restaurant to the back where the crazies sit, scream, and shout at the television. I created this group, and I am responsible for it, including its success and proliferation. Which is why Curry would be best: passers-by could stop and watch for a while, ask questions, and celebrate with us when we win.
• You knew it, my entry here was eventually going to get to church stuff. Always does. Well, I've been to church twice since coming to school. That's it. And only once where the Northeastern crowd goes. Basically my problem with St. Cecilia's is the same as it is with St. George - I have a visceral reaction when I approach and enter those buildings. There is a physical sensation of betrayal and hatred that wells up in the pit of my stomach when I go near them. So I don't. I went to the Basilica in Roxbury once, before my stint with the Drama Department began, but since then, my one trip to St. Cecilia has been my entire church-going experience. And it occurs to me: this is how people leave the Faith. They get to college, where they're not dragged by the ear, and they just stop going. And surprisingly, it's almost as if I don't care. I want to continue to be a faithful Catholic, but not at the expense of my own sanity and not if it means I support a lying, betraying Archdiocese. I will never be a parishioner at another church in this Archdiocese, as long as I live. I may attend church, but I will never belong anywhere.
• And then there's the tagging fiasco. One of my roommates, who shall remain nameless, has been tagging his food articles since shortly after we moved in. Which isn't a big deal, when it's something like a Snapple or a can of Coke: a one-shot item is completely fair. But when the salad dressing and barbeque sauce are off-limits, that's a bit much. And when those items are never consumed, but merely take up space in the fridge, that's downright annoying. In addition to the tagging that this person has done, he's also left little notes in places across the apartment. The note that started this all was a note saying that he had friends coming in, and that we all needed to clean the apartment. He even "took the liberty of assigning jobs." Mine was to clean the bathroom. Thanks, dude. But I did it, after much deliberation and a mocking note of my own put up next to his, which I signed, "Sir Snarky." People generally learn not to screw with me. I screw back. He proceeded, a couple days later, to leave a note by the sink telling me that "It would be great if you cleaned the bathroom before my friends got here." Well, seeing as I had already cleaned it, I wasn't going to stand for that. I put an addendum on it, saying that I'd done it. I stopped short of saying, "I'm sorry if it doesn't meet your cleanliness standards," but only just. I signed that one "Not Lumberg." (Office Space reference) And, well, this person also doesn't really contribute to the daily chores and tasks that need to get done. Like trash-emptying or dish-washing. So I left a note of my own in the fridge the other day. "Start washing the dishes, or I start tagging the milk." I honestly don't care all that much about the milk in particular, it's just a symbol of foods that should be communal. Milk, bread, toppings, condiments, juices, maybe. Those should all be up for grabs. Whoever finishes a container buys the next one. Not so hard. But this person has, predictably, not done the dishes. He doesn't even use them most of the time - food that is "his" has been vanishing up into his girlfriend's apartment. But it's the principle - we all pitch in. I've washed dishes from which I haven't eaten, so should he. And if he doesn't by this weekend, I'm going to tag the milk and consider tagging the dishes themselves. And I may tag them with the three initials of the other people in the apartment who DO give a damn.
  

And this is what I'm doing instead of completing this edit of my story for J2 or studying for the Russian quiz I got postponed until tomorrow. Fantastic, Adam, way to go.

There you go, a nice long entry for anybody who may have given a flying fuck at a rolling donut about this page back when I still updated regularly. Enjoy.