Scrumtrulescent
I should be ashamed of myself, shouldn't I? As I crept closer to day 50 without a blog post, I'm sure I should come crawling back to my adoring public, apology in hand. So, to the four of you, I'm sorry. Now, I'm done feeling bad about that.
It's a really good thing I never intended for this thing to be a running diary of the life and times of Jonathan Smith. As I think back to all that's happened over the last 50 days, I'm amazed at that it's all happened since April 1. And I would hate to feel obligated to give a blow-by-blow of the last 50 days. I mean, there was that whole Melody Townsell saga in which several popular political blogs ended up posting links to my Optimist story. My first year as Optimist editor came to a close. There was even an ongoing obsession with the Romanian rock song "Dragostea Din Tei," by O-Zone (insert four-minute break here to pull out my iPod and listen to the song ... OK, so I listened to the song twice, so that was really like eight minutes). Then I spent exactly 10 days living in the same state as my girlfriend before packing it up and heading north to the oasis that is Lincoln, Neb.
Flying into the state on Sunday, I thought my worst nightmares about Nebraska were going to be realized. Even from the air, it's a boring looking state. The roads are all constructed in a perfectly perpendicular grid. And I knew Nebraska was predominately farmland, but it looked more like scorched earth from the air. Apparently, the corn fields are pretty barren this time of year, so flying overhead, it simply looks brown and burnt.
Lincoln, itself, isn't too bad though--at least, not for someone who doesn't need a lot of entertainment venues and whatnot. There's a cheap $2 theatre near campus as well as a nicer one, and an Arby's has been built a mere one block from the dorm. I do consider myself an expert on Lincoln now--at least the part surrounding campus. I kind of accidentally went walking Monday night for about three hours. When I got back, I figured up how far I walked. It came out to something like eight miles. There can't be that much more to the city around campus.
Having spent the last three summers on three different college campuses (ACU, Georgetown and now the University of Nebraska-Lincoln), I've decided to begin a list. It will be a list of things I never want to hear ACU students complaining about again until they have experienced something different. Campus parking has probably been one of the oldest mainstays on the list, but even since being here I've discovered that some campuses charge $200 per semester for a parking permit, and they still oversell the permits so students aren't even guaranteed a spot. But perhaps the most grievous addition to the list this summer has been dorm room accommodations. Say what you want about residence hall policies and rules at ACU, but please do not let me hear you complaining about the halls themselves until you've spent significant time at dorms at other universities. I'll just let this pictures do the talking:
Now, if I were to see that, I wouldn't be too grossly appalled; afterall, the refrigerator/freezer thing is pretty cool. But if I were to see this picture, the first thing I might ask is what the rest of the room looks like from behind where I took the picture. But considering I had to stand at the back of the closet to even get this much in the viewfinder, I don't think me turning around to take a picture of a closet will would be too revealing. That's right. My back is against the farthest back wall. I did not use any amount of zoom to frame this picture. This is the entire room. Not too bad for two guys living out of one suitcase each for two weeks. But imagine spending a whole semester in this place. And these are considered the upperclassmen dorms. Nothing says good morning to your nice warm feet after just waking up in the morning than that nice cold, drab tile. I won't even get into the funk left by what I can only hope was the past inhabitants of the room. This picture doesn't show the can of air freshener we bought to combat it. So ACU underclassmen, be warned. I've lived in Mabee. I've lived in McKinzie. I've lived in Smith. All luxurious accommodations compared to this cell.
It's a really good thing I never intended for this thing to be a running diary of the life and times of Jonathan Smith. As I think back to all that's happened over the last 50 days, I'm amazed at that it's all happened since April 1. And I would hate to feel obligated to give a blow-by-blow of the last 50 days. I mean, there was that whole Melody Townsell saga in which several popular political blogs ended up posting links to my Optimist story. My first year as Optimist editor came to a close. There was even an ongoing obsession with the Romanian rock song "Dragostea Din Tei," by O-Zone (insert four-minute break here to pull out my iPod and listen to the song ... OK, so I listened to the song twice, so that was really like eight minutes). Then I spent exactly 10 days living in the same state as my girlfriend before packing it up and heading north to the oasis that is Lincoln, Neb.
Flying into the state on Sunday, I thought my worst nightmares about Nebraska were going to be realized. Even from the air, it's a boring looking state. The roads are all constructed in a perfectly perpendicular grid. And I knew Nebraska was predominately farmland, but it looked more like scorched earth from the air. Apparently, the corn fields are pretty barren this time of year, so flying overhead, it simply looks brown and burnt.
Lincoln, itself, isn't too bad though--at least, not for someone who doesn't need a lot of entertainment venues and whatnot. There's a cheap $2 theatre near campus as well as a nicer one, and an Arby's has been built a mere one block from the dorm. I do consider myself an expert on Lincoln now--at least the part surrounding campus. I kind of accidentally went walking Monday night for about three hours. When I got back, I figured up how far I walked. It came out to something like eight miles. There can't be that much more to the city around campus.
Having spent the last three summers on three different college campuses (ACU, Georgetown and now the University of Nebraska-Lincoln), I've decided to begin a list. It will be a list of things I never want to hear ACU students complaining about again until they have experienced something different. Campus parking has probably been one of the oldest mainstays on the list, but even since being here I've discovered that some campuses charge $200 per semester for a parking permit, and they still oversell the permits so students aren't even guaranteed a spot. But perhaps the most grievous addition to the list this summer has been dorm room accommodations. Say what you want about residence hall policies and rules at ACU, but please do not let me hear you complaining about the halls themselves until you've spent significant time at dorms at other universities. I'll just let this pictures do the talking:
Now, if I were to see that, I wouldn't be too grossly appalled; afterall, the refrigerator/freezer thing is pretty cool. But if I were to see this picture, the first thing I might ask is what the rest of the room looks like from behind where I took the picture. But considering I had to stand at the back of the closet to even get this much in the viewfinder, I don't think me turning around to take a picture of a closet will would be too revealing. That's right. My back is against the farthest back wall. I did not use any amount of zoom to frame this picture. This is the entire room. Not too bad for two guys living out of one suitcase each for two weeks. But imagine spending a whole semester in this place. And these are considered the upperclassmen dorms. Nothing says good morning to your nice warm feet after just waking up in the morning than that nice cold, drab tile. I won't even get into the funk left by what I can only hope was the past inhabitants of the room. This picture doesn't show the can of air freshener we bought to combat it. So ACU underclassmen, be warned. I've lived in Mabee. I've lived in McKinzie. I've lived in Smith. All luxurious accommodations compared to this cell.
posted by Jonathan at
10:14 PM
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