OK, OK. I know, I know. It’s been a while. I haven’t made a post since spring break. And my excuses are as lame as they can be. During spring break, the IT department here at the college, well, died. There’s no more IT department. Now, the college hires a local business to sort of replace it. If you’ve seen my Twitter, you already know how I feel about it. It took them the better, less busy, part of spring break to “fix” the Internet. Once it was up and running, allowing me to make a post, I had already gotten busy with work and the remainder of the school year.
As soon as the school year ended, the Internet hasn’t been working. Said IT department has been working on it for over a month now. I do have access but it’s severely limited. They have an extensive filter on it and it’s ridiculous. After spring break, every website was blocked and you had to email them ones that were blocked that you think shouldn’t be. They would then check it out and, if they deemed it appropriate and safe, whitelisted it. This sucked because several common, everyday sites were blocked and I had to wait a few days for them to be approved to use them. With some of them, none of the images would load because they were stored on a separate server, forcing me to request those sites be whitelisted just so I could see pictures and videos on the original site.
Thankfully, they have done away with this system because I had to write a research paper during this and I couldn’t do any online research because they had 99.9% of the Internet blocked and dozens of students were stuck in the same boat. With the new issues, only staff, faculty, and student workers can have access to the network.
Oh, I should mention that I’m a student worker this summer. I was planning on working maintenance, which is outdoor and repair work, but I opted for housekeeping so that I could stay indoors. I’m so glad I did. It’s way cooler.
I’m still staying in Campbell, the nerd dorm. Even though I’m going to be staying in the same room as my sophomore year for my junior year, I had to move downstairs to the basement with the other male student workers, of which I am the only one.
I am by no means alone though.
Please don’t forget that I am an introvert, and thus enjoy time by myself, to an extent.
Working the housekeeping job, I interact with other human beings from 6am to 2:30pm, which is eight and a half hours every weekday. In addition, I opened my availability at Dillons to weekdays following housekeeping to closing, allowing me to work an additional four to five hours a day three days a week. That’s an additional 15-18 hours a week, not including church, let alone real social time. Oof.
So, do not worry. I am not alone. If anything, I’m socially exhausted.
Please don’t forget that I am an introvert, and thus enjoy time by myself.
I’m still making time for my pen pals as well as hanging out with the people in Sterling. My twin sister and one of our friends are also housekeeping with me, and are staying in one of the girls dorms. There are also other student workers who live off-campus.
I do find myself getting bored from time to time. With the Internet back up, I am able to continue my projects on Genius, which is primarily updating it with new music as well as maintaining music that is old. I am excited for both Skillet’s new album Victorious and NF’s album The Search.
I don’t think I’ll be able to go see NF this year. Last year, my cousin got my sister and I tickets to see him in Kansas City for his Perception Tour, and that was amazing. This year, she’s going to it as a date, and my other NF fan friends either can’t go or aren’t looking that far ahead right now. I doubt they’ll go either way. It is a little pricey and it’s almost four hours away on a Tuesday night. That’s an oof.
Skillet might be a better shot. They will be coming to the Kansas State Fair! Which is much closer! Last year, thanks to one of my friends, I was able to meet Joel and Luke Smallbone of for KING & COUNTRY! (Go homeschoolers!) Let’s see how this year goes!
If I really wanted to, I could go to the NF concert by myself. However, I absolutely hate going to public events by myself. I feel the most alone when I’m surrounded by people without someone with me. It’s why I don’t go to parties or church and sometimes even meals at The Caf by myself. I just feel super awkward. I mean, I am awkward, but these situations make me feel uncomfortabley awkward. Plus, in order to get a physical copy of The Search, you have to get at least two tickets. That’s the other deal-breaker. I’ll wait for a CD+merch bundle instead.
Typing of awkward, I was in a play. Well, sorta. I was in a one act in a showcase of both theatrical and musical performances. For those of you who don’t know and haven’t Googled it yet, a one act is a short theatrical production or scene compared to normal, feature-length theatrical productions. I was more of a co-star but I still had fun.
It was for the directing class the theatre department had this past semester. Each member of the class had to produce a one act for the showcase. During the auditioning process, they had each person who was auditioning act out certain parts of their productions based on characters that either best fit their personality or acting method. Apparently, despite my doubtful thinking, everyone else who auditioned said all the directors were fighting over me. I was right. Well, sorta. Most everyone wanted me but they all unanimously agreed that my audition for the Bellboy in The Still Alarm was spot-on. And so it began.
Yes, t’was a small role. Alas, a small role was what I was comfortable with. Had I received a role as someone I have a passion to portray onstage, I probably could have handled a larger role. However, the role of the Bellboy, though less than this, fit for several reasons. Firstly, he has a unique presence on stage partly because he isn’t on stage the entire time. When he is, he sparks quippy dialogue, which is generally better in doses rather than throughout the entirety of the one act. Secondly, preparation for the performances took place in the final weeks of class, which were full of final projects and work for me. I wouldn’t have had the time to practice and learn roles that were any larger than the one set before me.
And so, I am grateful for the experience. I do not plan to experience another. It was a lot of work and I do not think I have the passion for theatre that it requires. I do, nonetheless, have the appreciation to enjoy the viewing of said productions. Just not starring in them. Who knows? If there is ever a theatrical production of The Big Bang Theory, I’m sure I’d knock the audition out of the park for Dr. Sheldon Cooper. I’d shave my beard and grow as much of my hair back as I could for that role.
Oh yeah. I buzzed my head. I don’t think I shared that bit of information on this blog yet.
How am I supposed to know? I don’t read it. I just sit down, write it, and hope something good and interesting becomes of it.
Anyway, I had my mom buzz my hair off the day after Easter. You see, I’m 20 years old and my hair never fully grew in. It has already started receding. So, instead of being “that guy” who holds onto his hair for fair to long, I decided to let it go now. At this rate, I’ll have a major appearance change every spring semester of my college years. Last year, I grew a beard. This year, I buzzed my hair down. Next year, who knows? Both might be gone.
I think growing a beard one year and buzzing one’s head the next is a cut-and-paste job but done in the wrong order.
Let’s see. What else is new? Ah yes. A very close friend of mine gave me his first DSLR camera: a Canon T3i, along with a few lenses. If I haven’t already ranted on here about my class experiences this past semester, let’s just say that some of the things that certain professors did were uncalled for and I should have spoken up about them as they were happening. I considered transferring for these reasons as well as the benefits other schools would have. Alas, I did neither. Nonetheless, I will (plan to) speak out against (complain) this issues as come up again in the future (not certainly, but still quite possibly).
Anyway, one of the issues was driving me to purchase a camera I certainly do not have the money for. Plus, I want to get into photography more anyway. So, without knowing, my aforementioned friend found his old camera and decided to give it to me. This was truly a blessing, a Godsend. I’ve taken it out a few times to play around with it and the lenses and I really like it. I’m so grateful to him and to God for it.
What else? I’m not dating anyone. That should come to no surprise but I have thought more about it, more about my side of things. People are always surprised when they find out I’ve never been on a date. Then there are others who know me better that say I’m one of those people who will spend a lot of time and work finding someone, but, when I do, it will be just right. As I find out more about myself, the more I find out just how hard it will be. Sure, I get along and put up with most people fairly well but I’m such a weirdo that it’ll take much more effort for someone else to do the same for me, especially if they plan on being with me for extended periods of time.
Please don’t forget that I am an introvert, and thus enjoy time by myself.
However (Jeez, I’m wearing that word out today.), I am becoming more and more extroverted as my time here at Sterling continues. I’m kind of like an introvert/extrovert hybrid, but I will always be more introverted than extroverted if that makes sense.
But, even more than that, it can be as quick as a light switch. One second I’m enjoying a conversation and the next I could be impatiently waiting for it to end. This isn’t healthy for either me or the one conversing with me. In situations like these, I do find the energy to finish the conversation out but then retreat to an area where I can collect my thoughts and energy.
What? Social interaction takes a lot of energy.
But back to my point. It would take a lot more energy to deal with me with things like this. So, on one hand, yes, I would like to be in a relationship with someone. On the other, I don’t want to have someone have to put up with me and the things like this that are a pain in the butt unless they could handle it. God doesn’t give anybody anything that is more than they can handle with His strength. Lord knows it’ll take a big person with His full strength to put up with my poor excuse for a butt. (What? It’s small. “Legs that go into my back” is a better description for it. Trust me.)
My point is I’m weird and it’ll take a lot of time and work for someone to put up with me, let alone figure me out. I’m still working on that myself. Whoever ends up with me, I can guarantee you that I’ll be getting the better side of that relationship by a really long longshot.
OK. That was awkward. New topic.
Today is Father’s Day. I was thinking about it earlier before I fathered this post. Several of my friends don’t have their fathers. This always makes me sad. Not only do they not have someone to call or make or buy a card for, but they also don’t have that role in their life filled the way God intended it for it to be filled. Instead, several people share and take turns filling in parts of it, never fully filling it, leaving their children with broken experiences and role models of what should be.
I am grateful for my father. I no longer have both my grandfathers. Instead of calling three people today, I called one. Going forward, I want to be there for those who don’t have anyone to call. I don’t know exactly how but I want to help them. It probably sounds weird reading this, and every way I try further explaining myself only seems to make things more confusing, so I’ll stop here.
I think that’s all I have for now. I plan on posting regularly again. Let’s see how reliable my access to the Internet is. Also, if there’s anything you would like for me to write about, be sure to comment on a post either here or on Facebook. I know it sounds like a social plug, but it’s to help you out more than me. If you find my blog interesting enough to read, let me know what else I can write about to help make it more interesting. As weird as I am, I consider a lot of the weird things I do to be normal. So, I don’t know what is actually interesting to y’all. It’s just how it works.
And, with that, good night! Or day! Or morning or evening or afternoon.
Or whatever.
Bye.