Saturday, August 31, 2002

The truth hurts. I was just reading porcha's blog and she was talking about her life at college and I realized how different mine is from most colleges. In high school most people get up around 6am or a little earlier, but once you get into college 7am becomes the middle of the night for a lot of people. To me that's sleeping in. My life is still structured a lot like high school, only more strict. So much for going away to college and going wild and partying. We have milk drink contests for fun. That's not normal I tell you. Okay, I'm moaning and complaing and feeling sorry for myself so I'll stop now.

People coming over soon. Fun. I have shorter hair now. Go UM football!!!!!
YAY!!! I'm home :) Life is good. I got on an earlier flight and I got in around 8pm. On the bus to the airport Chris Bess, the class president, was sitting next to me and we were both sleeping for most of the time, but every so often he would either fall over on me or would suddenly flail his arm out and hit me on accident. It was pretty funny. Once we both woke up we started talking and ended up hanging out together until we had gotten our tickets and had to go to our respective gates. I was glad that he was there because La Guardia was a new airport for me and he knew where he was going so I just stuck with him because we both were both flying American.

It was great to walk into my house, which looks really different on the outside, and see Berry and have her all excited to see me. I missed her so much. Just now she came over to me and so I got down and was petting her for awhile and didn't want to stop, except that I wanted to turn on some music. Dogs are the best. I'm going to have one sometime when I get my own place and more time. I'm definetly a dog person. That and a guinea pig person.

My Grandma organized a get together for the cousins on my Mom's side of the family tonight. I went over to her house around 9pm and hung out with my extended family. Most of them I haven't seen in almost a year or more so it was nice to catch up with them. Tomorrow I'll get to see even more family and friends when they come over for the BBQ.

It's great to be home. I'm hoping that I can spend some quality time with my sisters. We haven't really been able to talk a whole lot this summer, especially Betsy and I. I'm also really hoping that I can hang out with Matt a little. I really enjoy just hanging out and talking to him.

This is a weekend to forget about school and try and be a normal teenager once again, except that my Dad really wanted me to bring home one of my uniforms so I can wear it to Church on Sunday. I guess it won't be too bad since I'll only have to wear it for 2 hours.

I was going to talk about how in philosophy the guy sitting next to me and I reverted back to high school behavior to make the time go by and stay awake, but that would make me think about school and I'm trying to avoid it. Maybe later.

This weekend one of my goals is to see at least one movie because I won't get to see another one for a long, long time. Too bad I don't even know what movies are out in the theaters right now. Someone help me.

Friday, August 30, 2002

This weekend is 1000th night. That means that I only have 1000 days left until graduation. YIPPEE!!!!

Once again there's a blatant example of how different West Point is from a "normal" college. Instead of having beer drinking contests we have milk drinking contests. Tonight at dinner I stuck around and witnessed my first one. It was a cow and a plebe who sit at my table along with two other plebes, and then another plebe joined in a little later, trying to see who could drink the most cartons of milk without throwing up. I think Ladner, the plebe at my table, won by drinking 12 milks before he let it spray. The cow and one other plebe each got to 11 cartons before they bent over the water jug. That is one contest I'll definetly never be involved in. It was kinda funny because there was one plebe at my table who didn't get involved in the contest and he was sitting right in the middle of the guys camly eating his dinner. For dessert he had a few pieces of cake and then took a whole cake that was on the table and tried to eat all of it by holding the plate up to his face. Of course someone watching smashed the whole thing into his face as he ate and he ended up with his face covered in frosting. A firstie made him stop midway through the cake because it looked too unprofessional and there was an officer nearby.

Today I found out I made the Varsity Crew Team :) Tomorrow for practice we're going for a run at 5:30am because most of us are leaving on pass in the afternoon. 24 hours from now I'll be long gone from this place. I hope I can get on an earlier flight home because right now I'm not supposed to get in to Detroit until 10pm.

Thursday, August 29, 2002

I have a math quiz tomorrow that I really need to study for, but I'm to tired for studying to do any good right now.
Today at crew practice I pulled my 2k piece so that I wouldn't have to pull it tomorrow. I ended up getting my best time ever with a 8:00.6 minutes. I'm only 0.6 seconds away from breaking the 8 minute mark. It's so close. My goal for the end of the fall season is to be down at least to a 7:50.0. Tomorrow I find out if I actually made the varsity team. Coach Hall is going to talk to each one of us one-on-one sometime during or after practice. It's gonna be a pretty nerve racking day. I really hope that I make it, but I'll be sad if I do and some of my friends don't. Today at practice Beth, Anthea, and Annah were talking about some email that some people trying out got. They wouldn't say anything more about it, but from what gathered it wasn't a good email.

Steinbock stopped by my room around 9 this evening and asked me, more like pleaded with me to go on a run with him. I really wanted to, but physics had priority. Earlier I had to cancel going swimming with Jess because of it. My work actually paid off today and I got all the problems on the homework right plus I think I understand it. That's a first.

Tomorrow I can say that I'll be home tomorrow:) My house is going to look so different and weird to me because of all the things that have happened to it since I've been gone. My Dad is having a BBQ on Saturday and invited my Uncle Gary and family over. He said that I could invite some of my friends if I wanted to so I did. I really hope that they can come. Steph already said that she could make it. I've hardly talked to her at all in the past 10 weeks :(

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Today at lunch the First Captain announced the death of a 2000 grad. He said he died in an Apache helicopter accident in Korea. I'm sure some of the firsties knew him when he was here because he was the company commander of H1 and the Brigade Information Security Officer. We had a moment of silence for him during the meal. During the Vietnam War there used to be a lot of announcements like that one because of all of the recent grads going off straight into the war. A 2nd LT lasted an average of 2 weeks in the jungle. What courage those young men must have had back then as cadets listening to those announcements knowing that in only a few months that could be their name being announced and yet they still choose to stay. The class of '01 and now the class of '02 are being shipped off to Afghanistan and every so often a report comes back of someone's heroic deed. It's an honor to say that I following in their footsteps and possibly even know some of them personally.

This afternoon the Supe gave my class his usual beginning of academic year briefing. It began with the whole "your class did great this summer, congratulations. Look at some of these exciting changes that we're making around campus, but they won't be finished untill after your class has graduated." It was the same thing last year. He did mention something new, however, and that was that they're thinking about drastically shortening intersession this year. In past years it's been the 2 weeks right after Christmas break, but this year they're thinkng about moving the majority of the classes that we recieve during that time and intergrating them into the normal academic year scheduale during Deans of Comm's hours. Someone asked him what the plans were for all the extra days if that did happend and he had two answers. The first was adding more days onto the academic year and that recieved a lot of boo'ing. The other answer got him a long standing ovation because he jokingly suggested a 3 week spring break. That would be awesome, but would never happen. Getting more vacation time here is like pulling a hippo's teeth. This year they actually cut down the number of passes and made it a lot harder to earn an extra pass. I only have 2 this semester and am using one of them this weekend.
"Sorry, the owner of this blog has banned your ip address from posting comments." How did I manage to ban myself? It's rather annoying. Please, someone tell me how to fix this so I can comment in my own comments section.

I've changed my mind about naming my computer Alfred Moxley Higginsworth III. It's more of a name for a teddy bear or something, but since Edgar already has a name I'll have to wait untill I get a new one, if I ever do. I've always loved stuffed animals, but was never very fond of actually sleeping with them untill high school. Now Edgar goes almost everywhere with me when I have to spend the night. Kinda odd don't you think?
I hate CCQ... I hate CCQ...I hate CCQ...do you? It's over for today!!!! YEAH!!!!!!

Only 2.5 days and counting:) Today I was talking to a cow in my company and it turns out that he's from South Lyon. He asked me if I went to Pioneer or Huron and if I my parents were in the parents club and all that stuff. There's another guy in my company who's also from MI. I love Michigan. It's a great place.

I totally failed my physics quiz today and got a 20/25 on my wellness quiz. I spend hours doing the homework to no avail. It's poopy I tell you.

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Life goes on. I got a 100% on my first math quiz which I'm happy about. It's good to start the year out on the right foot. Tomorrow I have a physics and wellness quiz so I have to get someone to cover the Q for me while I take them.

Today at practice a few of us weren't in boats to go out on the water and so Coach Hall had Jess lead an excersize thing with these step machines and weights. He told us to do 2 sets of them, but instead we ended up doing 4. It was a good workout.

Jess went swimming tonight and asked if anyone wanted to come and I wanted to, but Annah told me that I shouldn't because that would be too much too fast. Today I've felt better than I've felt in about a week. I'm almost forgetting to take my medicine. In high school and before being sick was different because I could at least stay home from school and rest if I really needed to, but that's not possible here. I don't get to slow down and take at easy so it takes longer to recover. Little illnesses become big annoyances, but you still have to try and carry on as normal. I'm glad that I think I'm almost better.

My computer is now named Alfred Moxley Higginsworth III. I have no clue why I thought of that name last night and today I decided it should be the name of my computer. It's a very odd one. I like the ring that the III adds to it. It sounds like an old-money name. I would feel sorry for anyone was actually name that.

This evening Leah and I went to Grant for some Gatorade, but they didn't have any so we bought some coffee drink thingys. Mine was, um, interesting. It has helped me stay awake however and came in a cool glass jug-type bottle.

I organized a study group for physics with a few of the guys in my company who are in my class. We met in Jason's room at 9 and did our Web Assign homework and helped each other out. Unfortuantly none of us could figure out the correct answer to the first problem.

Tomorrow I face a day of CCQ. Oh joy.

Monday, August 26, 2002

Last night after the accountablity formation Steinbock, my PSG, stopped by my room to tell me that this week Bowlby is the minutes CIC. I was very lucky last year and never had that position. As his team leader I get in trouble if minutes are screwed up, so it's not like it's a whole lot better this year not having it but having my plebe have it. Minutes this morning went fairly well except one clock wasn't covered. Hopefully that'll be fixed at lunch. I'm more nervous about lunch minutes because everyone is coming back from class and last year it was really hard to round up the people who were supposed to call. We'll see how it goes.

Right as minutes started Eddie came rushing over to the CCQ desk because the 1st SGT had just told him that he was on the Q today and he was almost a 1/2 hour late. He's been on it a lot. I brought him back a plate of food from breakfast because I didn't know if he'd had time to tell anyone that he was on the Q and to bring him back food. As it turns out he'd told Allyson to bring him back something and she did. I felt rather stupid bringing him another plate, but at least he won't go hungry.
testing. 1..2...3...testing. Does it work? Please tell me it works. Mr Nice Man, can I have a cookie?

Okay, that last sentence was a bit random, but hey I'm tired. I'm allowed to be random. So poo on you. HAH!

ssssSSSleep. Must go to bed. Now! and so should you Alfred Moxley Higginsworth III.
And life keeps getting weirder. A man in a ski mask wearing gym-a just knocked on the door, ran into the room, and then proceeded to spray my roommate, Tara, with vanilla air freshener. Okay, so it was some guy named Tucker.I don't think I know him, but Tara does. Right before the incident someone out in the hall someone had sprayed her 4 times with cologn and she smelled like a 12 year-old guy going to his first dance. It was rather funny.

Yay! Matt's back. I told Ez many times today that I wasn't going to call him because he was probably really busy having just gotten back and starting school soon, but, well, I ended up calling him. It was really great to talk to him again.

This morning I was walking to Church and feeling sorry for myself because I was still somewhat sick and all that crap. Then, I looked up and realized what a beautiful morning it was and I realized that I was feeling sorry for myself and life was going pretty well. The clouds this morning were spectacular, especially when mixed with the view I had. I was on a hill overlooking the Hudson River surrounded by huge hills. The clouds were really low and on the right side of the river they completley covered the top of the hill, but on the left they seemed to be hiding behind it with wisps hanging over the top. The sky was the perfect blue color and the air held the begining of the fall crispness in it. I wish that I could describe the whole scene better because it was awesome. I love walking to Church because it's so beautiful here and it's a very peaceful and enjoyable walk.

The Gospel lesson, childrens sermon, and sermon were all about having a firm foundation. It reminded me of my favorite hymn, actually it's probably the only hymn that I really like, has a line that is "On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand." When I was little would ask my mom to sing the Sinking Sand song and liked it because sinking sand was fasinating yet scary to me. Now that I'm a little older I realize what the hymn is actually saying and like it even more. All throughout the service I searched throught the LBW to try and find it, but I didn't because I couldn't remember the title. When I was home over summer we sung it in Church the first Sunday that I was there. My whole family knows I like it and so everytime they see it and we start singing it they all look over at me, smile, and nudge me with their elbows.

Sunday, August 25, 2002

"A minor conjunctivitis frequently accompanies a viral cold, triggering the well-known symptoms and lasting only a few days."
-Take Care of Yourself by Donal M. Vickery and James F. Fries

I hope that's what this is and it'll be gone by tomorrow.
Right now I am seriously pissed because I don't want to have to go to sick call again tomorrow morning, possibly have to have another profile, and possibly be late for 1st hour again. What makes me even more angry is that there isn't a single thing that I can do about the way my eye is looking/acting. It still looks similar to pink-eye. I'm not supposed to get sick twice in a row, especially here. Last year I didn't go to sick call at all. This isn't supposed to be happening!
I'm really on a roll here. This morning I woke up and my left eye was all goopy and red. It's stayed red throughout the day and when I go to sleep it goops up again. Why can't I just stay healthy? I really hope it's not pink eye or anything. On the bright side, my strep throat seems to be getting a lot better.

This afternoon a few of my friends and I went over to the Hanlon's on OPPs, meaning that we could go in civiies:) We sat around watching tv and then started watching Harry Potter. I was really tired and fell asleep about 15 min into it. 2 hours later I woke up when Tia came and sat on me. Leah was asleep on the flloor and most of the other people had already left, but Tia and Annah had come over. Around 4:30 we stared watching the movie Dragonfly while Tia and Amy made dinner and brownies. Annah, Leah, and I were all on the couch and during any semi-scary part we would all huddle together and Annah would grab our hands and sqeeze them as hard as she could. Tia would come in and laugh at us.

I missed most of the ring weekend banquet watching because I was at the Hanlon's house, but Mrs. Hanlon drove Leah, Jodi and I back around 9pm and there were some people still dressed up and leaving with their dates. We saw a firstie girl in her india whites with a civilian guy in a suit and all thought that was the coolest thing. I love seeing cadet girls with civilian guys because it gets old only seeing civilian girls all dressed up hanging on the arms of all the guys here. Tonight made me look forward to YYW and seeing everybody look real nice.

Saturday, August 24, 2002

I just found an Always pad on my bed with a note underneath it saying "From the CCQ w/ love." My roommate has one on her bed too. I wonder who's on the Q right now. Probably Eddie. He picked up both a male and a female campus trial pack up from outside the bookstore in Thayer today to get all of the medication from them. The female ones had those in it and I guess he thought it'd be funny to go around and stick them on our beds. Actually, it is rather funny. That just goes to show how deprived of entertainment and fun we are here.
I really should be in bed right now. Both Beth, Annah, and my Mom and Dad have told me that I need to go to bed. I talked to my parents on the phone tonight and mentioned that I'd rowed today. My Dad procceded to tell me rather sternly that I should not have done that and this weekend I need to stay in bed, rest as much as possible, and avoid all physical activity untill I'm completley better. It didn't help that while I was on the phone with them I was coughing up a storm. I agree with him, but that doesn't mean that I'll actually follow the advice completly. I don't think it's possible for me to just lie in bed and do nothing. I'd feel so lazy and like I hadn't accomplished anything. My throat hurts a little more today and right now it feels like I have a cold, but I still want to be active and going to bed isn't that appealing. Well, it is, but it isn't. I'm sure that practice today didn't help my condition at all because I was completly worn out after it even though it wasn't hard at all. There's a battle going on between what I know I should do and what I want to do. I can be rather stubborn if I want to.
I really like the blend Mettalica and the San Fransico Symphony Orchestra. Together they produce and awesome combination of music that fires me up. Last year Erich introduced me to Mettalica with Whiskey in a Bottle. That was my favorite song by them, but I think that was just because it was the one Erich sent me. On Blubbster I was searching for more music by them and eventually came across Hero of the Day done by Mettalica with the San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra and really liked it. Today I found a few more songs done by them. It's awesome.



Yes! It's the weekend. I love weekends. What makes everything even better is that next week at this time I'll either already be home or I'll be on my way home. My plane leaves at 8pm, but I'm hoping that I can get on standby for and earlier flight.

Today at crew practice we went out on the water. Coach Hall had me as stroke of the Eagle even though I haven't done a lot of the practices this week cuz I've been sick. I was worried at first because this afternoon I was feeling a little worse and didnt' have much energy, but once we got out on the water and started rowing I got into the groove of things and it felt great. When I'm rowing, especially when I'm stroke, it's almost like I'm connected to the boat. I can see what my oar is doing even though I can't physically see it. I know how it reacts to the things I do with it and it becomes like a part of my body. My mind corrects me and tells me what I'm doing wrong and what I need to concentrate on and so I correct it. Being out on the water is great because all the other pressures and stress are forgotten about. I don't think about all of the homework that I need to do, or that I have all these other things that need to get done. The only things on my mind are how hard I'm pulling, my technique, and how beautiful everything is around me. Of course I only notice the beauty when I we stop to turn around because the rest of the time I'm staring straight ahead at the coxswain even though in my minds I I'm looking at my oar.

I think the fall is my favorite season, and not just because my birthday is in the fall. Football afternoons, cool, crisp evening walks with a close friend, the majestic trees as they change color, and the special smell in the air. When I was younger I loved football Saturdays, but not becuase I liked to watch the game. While my parents were inside watching the UM game I'd be outside raking leaves into a huge pile, sometimes as tall as me, under the swing set. I'd then climb from the tree house onto the top of the swing set and jump into the pile. I'd race around the yard playing with a football and all other manner of toys and sports equipment. Freshman year of high school I started going to Mission Christ and during the fellowship time Frank and I would go on long walks through the neighborhood talking about anything and everything. That was the highlight of my week freshman year. Last year in the fall was Plebe Parent Weekend and my parents, Heidi, and Matt came up for it. That was one of the best, if not the best, thing 1st semester. The only thing that would have made it even better would be if Betsy had come too, because then all of the people who I care about the most in my life would have been here.

My Mom sent me a package from home a few days ago because I wanted my teddy bear. I left him at home over summer because he'd get really dirty at Buckner. She dressed him in pants and a yellow t-shirt that she made that says "USMA Fired up C-4 Go Cowboys" on the front and has a picture of a cowboy hat. On the back it has "Class of 2005" written on it. I love it. She also sent me cookies, gummi bears, my water bottle, vitamin C drops, noise makers, and a letter with some farside cartoons. My parents are wonderful. Annah thinks so too.



Friday, August 23, 2002

Gotta love feeling like a plebe. This morning after Physics I went to get a new military ID because mine was falling apart and every time I had to show it to someone they threatened to take it away from me. The last time I was at the office that you get them was in Beast, but for some reason people expect me to remember where it is. They say " do you remember where you went in Beast. It's that place." Trying to remember where everything is was a top priority of mine at that time. Especially since I could only look straight forward and was scared to death of being hazed. Okay, so I had no clue where it was and I ended up wandering around the 4th floor of Washington Hall looking for any tiny thing that looked familiar. They were nice enough to put it right at the beginning of a hallway and so I eventually found it and got my new ID. It was then that I faced the big challenge -- getting out. Washington Hall connects to Mac Long, which is the building I live in and I didn't want to have to walk down 4 flights of stairs only to have to walk up 6 more. I figured that since I've managed to find the right exit before that I could do it again. Needless to say, I ended up walking down many a wrong hallway and having to backtrack. I ended up running into my spanish teacher, CPT Bracero, eventually and he was kind enough to lead me all the way to my exit. It was a very humbling experiance.

The medication they have me on is working really well, as long as I don't go too long without it. I'm taking 1 pennacillin 3 X day, 2-3 tylenol every 4-6 hours, 1-2 sudafed every 6 hours, and then these awesome throat lasengeze that numb my tounge and throat a little. Even with all of that I my throat is still a little soar and I'm still congested, but it's a ton better than I felt Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Coach won't let me row untill next week. I hope this doesn't affect my chance of making the team.

This weekend is Ring Weekend for the Firsties. This afternoon they get their rings and then tomorrow there's the banquet and the dance. My room has a view of North Area and so I'll get to see all of them with their fancy cars and beuatifully/handsomely dressed dates.

Thursday, August 22, 2002

And my life just keeps on getting better. I have strep throat. There is the possibility, however, that if it doesn't get better by Monday that it's Mono. For once I'm praying for strep.

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

I actually finished all of my homework and it only took me 7 focused hours today. Augh! Okay, so I did it more indepth than usual, but I had to say screw it to the vocab words for physics because I didn't want to spend another 45 min on those.

My classes: physics, calc II, economics, spanish, philosophy, and wellness.

Funny thing of the day: I was in the bathroom in Thayer right before 4th hour and was about to leave when the door opened. I'm pretty sure I saw Erich's head pop inside and then heard him in a very embarrassed voice say "oops! wrong bathroom." It was pretty funny, especially since when I went in there I double checked the name on the door to make sure that wouldn't happen to me.

Home in less then 2 weeks! YAY!!! Too bad Betsy and Heidi won't be home :( That made me really sad when I found out. I miss them.

Tryouts for varsity Crew are going on right now. There are only 20 slots and Coach Hall isn't cutting any of the Firsties. I'm pretty nervous. So is the rest of the team. There are probably 25-29 people trying out. Tomorrow I have to row a 2k and then on Thursday I have to row a 6k. Those scare me because last year I didn't have a lot of power and never broke 8 min on the erg.

Crap! I have to make Bowlby send up another RnT for the Protestant Plebe Retreat because this year they don't want team leaders on the sheet, but they didn't tell us that. It's gonna be the third one I've made him do. I also have to find time to go down and get him money for the laundry he sent out during beast and that the cleaning service lost. I also need to come up with an FCDT plan for the next few weeks for us.

Time to sleep :) Good night, Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

Sometimes I wonder how good of friends my friends think we are. There are a few friends that I am really close to, but I wonder how close they think we are in their opinion. I can tell almost anything to them, but do they feel like they can tell anything to me? I hold them in really high esteem and love hanging out with them. Do they feel the same way? Am I one of their best friends? So many questions.

Monday, August 19, 2002

lalalaallalalalallalalalallalalalallalalallalalalalalallalalalalalallalalalallalalalalalalalla KA BOOM!!!!!
And it's all over now. Back to work.
OAR is a really cool band!
The whole yearling class has no access to email right now. Everyone else's is fine, but ours does not work. It really sucks because classes start tomorrow and the majority of us can not get to the emails from our professors telling us the assignments and giving us the bio sheets to fill out. Tomorrow will be interesting.

I was talking to Dan online today and he said that Matt got back today. I have no clue if that's true, but I hope it is. I miss him. Hopefully he had a great time this summer.

Today at dinner I ran into Erich and so I sat with him and a few of his friends. He said he'd be at Church, but he wasn't. It was the first time that I didn't totally miss him and wish he was there. Tonight I IM'd him a few times to find out some info about classes, but didn't talk anymore after that. I sat with Brian Olsen in Church and we had a good time. He read the first lesson and I read the second. He's and interesting guy.

It's still really hot here and the 6th floor is even hotter. I can't wait for it to cool off.

Life is stressful. I'm afriad that soon I just blow up at a plebe from some stupid reason. That's one of the things that I really want to avoid -- sudden mood swings. I hate leaders like that.

Crew tryouts start tomorrow:) I'm a little scared. What if I don't make varsity? Wait, I shouldn't worry because worrying is pointless. I'll just go and do my best. Any time I start to worry I think of Matt telling me I worry to much and to stop worrying do I do stop. See, I'm working on it.

I visited Jaz today and ended up in A2. I kinda miss the company, but that's probably because I'm still getting acclimated to this one. We'll see how it is at the end of this year.

Time for sleep. YAY!!!!!!

Saturday, August 17, 2002

This week has kept me so busy that I haven't had time to think about guys at all. Amazing isn't it? It's probably a really good thing because I was going crazy over them during Buckner. I think I missunderstand or just plain miss a lot of the signals that they send, if they actually do send any. I am extremly niave.

I am so tired. There is a SAMI tomorrow after the acceptance day parade. It was supossed to be before the parade, but since there was a huge thunderstorm so drill was canceled. Now we have to get up for a 0545 formation tomorrow morning for drill. Last night we had to get up at 0300 for a piss test and then get up again at 0450 for the Brigade run. Yea for 4 hours of sleep. Bleagh. The only thing I'm looking forward to is going to Coach Hanlon's tomorrow to hang out, eat food, watch movies, and relax with my friends. It's gonna be great.

Friday, August 16, 2002

RIght now I'm smelly, sweaty, sticky, and all manor of other unpleasent things. Being in 4th reg for parades sucks! I sure hope that crew autho's are a go again.

The new commedant is really big on PT. He loves it so much that he's us do a Brigade run tomorrow. All 4000 cadets are going to get up and go for a run down to Thayer Gate at 5:30am tomorrow morning. In addition to that my company is having a piss test probably right before that. Please, shoot me now. By the time my company starts running the first company will probably already be almost back. Augh! I need sleep, my plebe needs sleep, the corps needs sleep. A run like that in a week like this is not condusive to the motivation or phyisical prowness of the cadets here.

Well, I'm off to go see if my plebe needs help setting up his computer.

Thursday, August 15, 2002

Just shoot me now. Please. Some how I managed to catch a cold. My room is like a sauna because I live on the sixth floor and it's 100 degree's outside during the day. Yesterday my NC and I managed to get to the c-store and wait in line for over an hour just to pay. Then we went to pick up his M14, but didn't have his card so we had to come back in the afternoon. After lunch we went down to book issue, but the line was really long, it was going to close in 2 hours, and we had a bunch of other stuff to do so we left. We went to the health clinic to pick up his computer, then to Thayer so I could show him some of his classrooms and also pick up his printer. On our way back to the barracks we stopped and got his M14. There was about a 1/2 hour of no running around and then the ccq came by and said that we all had to go down for static drill. That lasted for 45 min. When we got back I started to search for some laundry he had sent out during beast and never gotten back. That meant going down to the basement of Mac, back up to the 6th floor, back down again, and then over to CGR. I didn't find it. It was dinner time after that and after dinner there was a regimental briefing in Robinson. I let him sit with his friends but that meant that he had to walk back on his own. While I was walking back I was really nervous about that because I was afriad he'd get lost or get stopped and hazed by somebody. Everything turned out fine. There were duties after the briefing, but I mostly stayed in my room because most of the cows and firsties were gone and I didn't feel like being a haze. It was great when I finally got to take a shower around 10pm because I was so sweaty and smelly. It is so hot here that everyone breaks out in a sweat even when they're sitting doing nothing at all. Now I'm onto another day of running around. My main focus is getting his books and computer. I hope that happens.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Jason took all of the New Cadets that needed to go to sick call there this morning at 6:00am. Bowlby had to go because he has a rather large and painful blister on his foot. Right now it's 8:20 and their still not back. It makes me wonder how the New Cadets were treated during beast this year. I hope that he's okay, but I expect that he'll be on at least soft shoe profile for the next little while. Today we have a busy day of getting his books, drawing his M14, and going to the C-store. On a normal day those things would all together take only 1-2 hours, but since all of the New Cadets have to do them today the lines are horrendous. It doesn't help that I have no clue when he'll be back from sick call and I can't really start on any of the things without him. I'm also worrried that he won't get breakfast. They usually have some sort of breakfast for normal sick call, but since he went to the one at Arvin Gym for blisters I don't know if he'll get it. I brought back a few pieces of fruit from breakfast and so if all else fails he can have those and a few of my cliff bars.

One standard that I want to hold myself to this year is to not ask more of my plebe than I ask of myself. If their shoes have to be shiny, mine must be shinier. If I want them to recite some piece of knowledge than I must know it perfectly myself. It's easy to say "hey, they're a plebe and I'm not. I don't have to do that." But a good leader doesn't do that. A good leader upholds the standard in their subordinates and themselves. It's hard to know how much I can ask of them, but I think it'll be a good handrail for me to say that if I expect them to do something I must also do it, or have the ability to do it. Hopefully my plebe won't be too ate up because I don't want to be a haze. I want to lead by example. Last year I think Schwetz was an awesome team leader them more I think about it. I've learned a lot from him of how to be a good team leader and am trying to do some of the things he did. For example, for now at least Bowlby has to report everytime I knock on the door because it's good practice and sets the tone for the relationship. After I come in the room, however, I allow him and his roommate to relax and continue on with what they were doing. In a few hours I wont' have him report to me anymore when I come in the room because it takes way to much time and I have to come to his room really often to tell him stuff.

Now I have to go tell my plebe a frago about min. gotta love it.
Today I got my plebe - New Cadet Bowlby. I feel as though I've given birth and am now raising a child. If he needs to go somewhere I have to go with him. While he's setting up his room I have to check up on him every 15 minutes. When he screws up I have to correct him. Thankfully, unless he really screws up I don't have to haze him. I'm responsible for his every action, or lack there of. It's so weird to walk into his room and have him and his roommate report and greet me at parade rest. It was really weird when we went to turn in his rifle for me to walk down the row of plebes who were all shouting "Beat Holy Cross Corporal" and then realize that they weren't greeting someone behind me, they were greeting me. I was about halfway through the line when I finaly realized that.

It's great being on the other side of things finaly, but it's a lot more work. Right now I have a hard time making myself want to correct a plebe who's greeted incorrectly or something. They all look so scared and timid. I was just like that last year. This year I have to exude self-confidence and take charge. It's hard.

It's now time to go check up on him again.

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

I have so much to say and no time to spend saying it. Right now I really should be in bed because I've been up since 4:30 this morning and have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow. It's gonna be a very busy week, but at least I'm not a new cadet. I'm really looking forward to the experiance of being a leader. My guess is that I'll mature a lot.
Why is this not publishing my stuff?
My room is a pit right now. My roommates and I are still in the process of unpacking and so everything, especially my stuff, is thrown all over the place. It has to look perfect by tomorrow morning. HAH! I also have to shine my boots really well and iron and starch my BDU's. It's gonna be a long night. At least I get my plebe tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to being a team leader. It's gonna be a ton of work, but the leadership experince is gonna be awesome. All summer my chain of command has told us to think of the first words we're gonna say to them. Mine are going to be "follow me." It has meaning on more than one level.

Oops. gotta go. formation time.

Monday, August 12, 2002

I'm back at school after 7 weeks of Camp Buckner. Later when I have more time I'll talk about all the cool stuff and some of the not so cool stuff that I did there. This morning we had to get up at 4:30am to finish up packing our stuff. Then we did a 7 mile run back to West Point starting at 7:03am. We got there at 8:15am and I proccedded to get all of my crap that I had loaded into my parents van. In the process I forgot to eat breakfast and didn't drink enough water and so by lunch I felt like crap. You try running 7 miles and then lugging up 4 bags huge bags, a full ruck sack, 2 heavy foot lockers, and a computer and printer to the sixth floor of a building. It sucks! Tomorrow I get my plebe so I have to be all moved in today. I'm about to start unpacking some more and go pick up my M14. I hate that weapon. It's a torture device used in parades. Oh well. That's life. Now I must get back to work. Blah.