We were merely freshmen....

Currently listening to: Breathe Me (Mylo remix) by Sia
Currently stuck in my head: The Freshmen by The Verve Pipe

As freshman year draws to a close, this stupid song starts playing in my head. Reminds of 1999. ISM. Freshman year. Drunk as fuck on the weekends, Math class with Manika and Liana, all those times in the caf, playing guitar w/the ladies around me. The plaid shirts and skate shoes. The enormous crush I had on Jean. IASAS track at SAS. "What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise... For the life of me, I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins, we were merely freshmen....."

Tis' a lonely Sunday at Penn State. Slaving away at Pattee (the libes) for my religious studies test tomorrow. I've only had the worst week of my life since coming here, but hey, it can only get better right? I mean, bombing a test after studying a full week for it, then bombing a stat quiz the day after. At least I went out on Fri night w/the ladies. That was the only pleasant thing. Slaved thru Saturday in the snow at 8am. (FOR FUCK'S SAKES! IT'S THE 8th OF APRIL!! SNOW?!!? AM I IN PENN STATE OR IN ALASKA MAN??) Then had this Student Mentor workshop from 12-4. Twas' a long day. Then sleep......

And now it's Sunday. Back to slaving.

Oh, college rocks my fuckin socks off. Seriously.

ps. I received an email from LTC Ng Hee Teck... (it was "from: Eric Ng Hee Teck").. but I don't think anyone calls him Eric. Maybe his wife. It was regarding the First-Sunday-Of-The-Month-Run (they should acronymize it to FSOTM Run, i mean hey, it's SAF right?) and how two or more cohorts were getting together to run. It strikes me how dedicated he is, and how firm his belief in integrity was/still is. I respect that a lot, and I wanna just say I'm really appreciative of how Foxtrot tried to murder us when we were cadets, so that we'd be able to survive the rest of our lives.

This morning I thought about what LTA (now LTA NS) Syed said before we became 'Sirs' ourselves. "If I can think after 4 days of no sleep, no shower, no food, and I have men's lives depend on the decisions I make, then University will be a joke. Air conditioning, coffee anytime I want, a nice bed - comfort. I can do anything I want." Resiliency was a key quality my team decided a Mentor had to have. I guess it's just a good character trait to have in general. Never give up. Don't be a quitter. You don't fail, you learn.

I am forever in gratitude to these two men. Amen.