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Ten Cool Things

TIME SPAN: Spring Break (March 11 - present)

Here's what the heck has been happening in my interestingly awesome life. I am so stoked to share all of this with you. These events are listed in chronological order.

• ONE: Traveled to Connecticut with the Sour Sitrus Society to cheer on our ladies at the Women's Big East Basketball Tournament. We also played at a local elementary school and the principal said we were the coolest thing ever. 

Brainwashing Connecticut kids to love Syracuse. 

• TWO: Aiyana and I took a bus trip to Maine to kick it with Jay and his parents. We went thrift shopping, hiking in Acadia National Park, and got spoiled hardcore. 

After 6 hours of hiking, we were very sore.

• THREE: CONNOR MILLER VISITED 'CUSE. Check out my podcast to hear about my bro's awesome visit. 

Having a funky time with these fine gentlemen.

• FOUR: Here's the non-fiction piece my group and I made for our Multimedia Storytelling class. The assignment was to report about a prominent person who had a story and to portray their journey with visually interesting B-roll (extra footage) to compliment the A-roll (primary interview footage). 

• FIVE: I loved this assignment so much, I made my own non-fiction piece to kick off the construction of my personal multimedia portfolio. 

• SIX: I put in 2 hours of art at a 6-hour drawing marathon with the company of very cool and creative peeps. 

I shall name this piece, "Jacket Lady." Charcoal.

• SEVEN: SETH MEYERS MADE ME CRY AND GET LAUGHING CRAMPS. The Saturday Night Live Weekend Report host, Seth Meyers, strutted his stuff on stage for a much-needed night of hilarity. He is an attractive man. 

The man of the night, Seth Meyers. Photo from University Union.

• EIGHT: HE'S BEAU SIA. The National Poetry Slam Champion Beau Sia performed some amazing, inspiring, and incredibly vulgar (but entertaining) poems at Poetry Night in the Herg Auditorium! 

• NINE: I went scuba diving and felt like a boss. Mega shout out to my friend Michael (I met him in my Resident Advisor training classes) who invited me to "Teach A Buddy How to Breathe Underwater" night at the Women's Building basement pool. Even it took me half an hour to put on a scuba mask, scuba diving was a thrilling experience. Apparently, you can take a 1-credit scuba class and get a diving license. SO COOL.

• TEN: I AM AN IDEA CONNECTOR. This morning, I got an e-mail welcoming me to be an IDEA Connector next year. This is my dream job. IDEA Connectors are hand-selected students that represent their home colleges and foster growth in the entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus. 

There's plenty more cool things to come. Off to Spanish class!

EXTRA JUICY BONUS MATERIAL:

My friend Ruben used my story idea in one of his animated cartoon. Click here to check it out!

Public Service Announcements

Here are the videos from my group project in Multimedia Storytelling! 

"Homework Deal" by Zoe Halpern

"F This Sheet" by Kim Azogui

"Copy Me" by Erin Miller 

The Passion Retreat

LOOK I NOW HAVE A PODCAST! THIS WEEK'S EPISODE COMPLIMENTS THIS POST! ------------------------------------------>

When I saw the Passion Retreat recruitment e-mail, all it said was "Find it. Do it. Live it. Greek Peak February 22-23, 2013." That was all.

So naturally I applied without further question.

This weekend,  25 students and 8 facilitators took a bus (our bus driver's name was Mr. Christmas) 40 miles south to Cortland, NY to the Greek Peak Ski Resort and Water Park. Syracuse University has mad style.

The goal of the retreat was to discuss our values and find how they apply to our academic goals. The long term goal was to find our passion, which through our lives we would discover and maintain.

The food was good, the people were better, and the entire program was probably one of the best experiences I've had here at SU.

Going into the retreat, I was having some trouble with being 100% cool with my advertising major. After a few exercises, I found that my two top values were purpose and passion. For me, these two passions can't exist without each other. The thing that hinders passion is purpose. Without purpose, you cannot have a passion. This was interesting.

In parting, I suggest that you all go out and do something. Find weird events and go to them. Stop waiting for something to happen. Stop feeling sorry about yourself for being lazy. Change your life by getting up and getting out. My dad always says that the hardest thing is getting out the door. But once you're out, things start to unravel and reveal themselves.

Many thanks to the Syracuse University Office of Residence Life, the Passion Retreat facilitators, the panelists, and all my amazing new friends.

To Kick Off February, A List Of Good Things

Here's a list of good things that have happened at SU since the beginning of the Spring Semester:

1. Experienced -2 and 55 degree weather in the span of a week. 
2. Tried out for First Year Players' "The Wedding Singer". 
3. Got a callback for Grandma Rosie. 
4. Didn't get the part, but was totally okay with that. 
5. Got the Breezeway Cafe running up to speed. 
6. Watched "Silver Linings Playbook." 
7. Got a potted plant that didn't grow for 2 weeks, but has grown 5 inches this week. 
8. My public service announcement idea about academic integrity got picked for my group project. 
9. Ran 12 miles over the course of 3 weeks. 
10. Got a paycheck! 
11. Met a lot of new people, but learned a lot more about the ones I already knew.
12. Started resident advisor training classes. Super excited.
13. Threw a surprise birthday get together for DP4's favorite hipster. Everyone dressed up like a hipster (beanie, thick-rimmed glasses, plaid button-up flannel, cuffed jeans, boat shoes). 

Things are going pretty great right now. I have a pep band gig in about half an hour and a bunch of homework to do. There's about 6 inches of snow outside and the sun's out. 

Guess what? Chicken butt! 

Happy Saturday and Happy February to you. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration

As I was prepping for going out for the evening, I had the worst nosebleed ever.

After sufficient blood loss, Jay, Aiyana, Daisy and I were off to the Carrier Dome to the largest  Martin Luther King Jr.  college celebration in the United States. That's right. Syracuse University always puts on a smacking show. I guess we like to rank high for everything. 

The event was semi-formal, so everyone was quite fancy that evening. There were 44 available tickets for DellPlain residents, so naturally I jumped to the opportunity. Huge shout out to my awesome Resident Director for letting us all know about this event! 

There were about 100 tables at the event, and around 800 people total. 

A fancy night in the Dome. 

Soul food with soulful people. 

Syracuse University sure knows how to put on a show. All performers were extremely talented and well-timed. My favorite performance was by the OneWorld dancers. They did some African dance similar to the moves I learned at Brown University in the summer of 2011.

ADANFO African Drummers.

OneWorld Dancers breaking it down. 

BCCE and SU's MLK Community Choir 

The most exciting part of the event was the keynote speaker, Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman for the National Board of Directors for the National Association of Colored People (NAACP). Her speech was a combination of history, inspiration, and a whole lotta preaching. I had mad goosebumps the entire time. She left the stage with a Carrier Dome standing ovation.

"Leadership is not a title, it is an action." 

Here's some sage advice for incoming and current college students: Go to events. Make friends. Be safe. You will not be disappointed.

100 Miles

I have established a personal goal: I will run 100 miles this year. 

This may sound like a slightly insane goal, but it is actually quite attainable. Here's the backstory:

My dad is turning 50 years old this year (don't worry, he's pretty secure about his age... I think) and he has been an avid running since forever.

This year, he wants to run 100 miles before he turns 50. So I decided to do it too.

Time to get in shape. Photo by the wonderful Emily Hannah Bailey. 

The only difference is that my dad wants to go that distance in one day, and I am spreading myself over many days because

1. I'm not a seasoned runner like my pops.
2. I am a college student with a booty ton of homework (not complaining). 

What's your personal goal this year?

I'm done with my first week of my second semester of college. My classes are awesome. I intend to go into depth about them once they start to get really saucy.

Until then, I'll enjoy the snow, stay warm, and keep y'all updated.

5/100 <--- My miles so far. I will try to put an app on my blog to log my progress.