Hey all. This is my first blog in a a while. It may also be a very interesting blog, because you could consider it to be a very peak transition point for my life. My birthday is tomorrow, and....(Technically when I began writing this)

I'm verging on adulthood whether I want to believe or not. I have a job. Yes, it is an internship, but I have a badge, an apartment, a cubicle, a commute, a supervisor, a team, and soon enough a paid gym membership. Hell, I even have a work number, and I work in the Red Cross' National Headquarters! National! They have an International Response Operating Center, and I may get to hang out in it during this present hurricane season. (God forbid a really bad one hits, but it's somewhat inevitable)

Anyway, it's just very, very different. I am being give real responsibilities to an organization that helps people. Now, those of you who know me, I hope you know I love to help my friends whenever they need it, however, you probably also know that I'm not much for charity work besides delivering people the news.

Over the last couple days, I have been reading hundreds of pages on the humanitarian work done by the Red Cross, trying to wrap my head around it all. It was hard to fathom at first, but in the end, I think it's rather humbling if not simply maturing. No one thinks a horrible natural disaster could happen to them until it does. And when it does, do you know who helps out when the news cameras go away? For years after even? The American Red Cross does. (Along with all of the other 700 some odd chapters around the world)

Now, you could argue I'm being fed with all of their propaganda, but if you think a non-profit organization really has a huge self-interest in promoting themselves instead of helping people, you would be very wrong. They save lives every day! They supply the U.S. with 44% of their nation's donated blood! And they're the number one charity on Facebook. Most of their funding comes from Americans who care enough to donate funds and blood to The American Red Cross!

Anyway, working for an organization that solely exists to help people is just a very different experience for me, and I think it's a very valuable one to be a part of before I get enveloped in living for "me." It's something we should all think about. Honestly, who here still thinks about Tsunami Relief still going on over four years after the initial disaster? Probably not many of us, but people are still hard at work every day helping people get back on their feet after an uncontrollable event. It's the ultimate life-saving food for thought.

I think I'm exactly where I want to be at the age of 22. I'm done with undergraduate, and I'm in Washington D.C. I'm in the nation's capital. I'm in a major city. And it's not like New York City, which is massive, filled with millions upon millions of people. D.C. is a smaller, cleaner, much more fun version of that. I can still meet people from all around the world, I can ride the metro and not be grossed out by the filth in the tunnels, and I can't get as lost as I would in Manhattan. It's a small grid system with the nation's most well-known landmarks to guide you. I love it!

So I guess I could say...I'm content; I'm happy, and damn, I'm excited!
Happy 22nd to me, my first birthday away from home.

(This may seem like a call for attention, bragging, ego-boosting, etc. However, I would rather call it preemptive CELE%&$INGBRATION!)

Ich habe kein Hausaufgabe!

Okay, that's a lie. However, I have finished the most difficult paper I have written this year, my honors thesis. They call it an honors project, but they might as well put it up a few nose in the air levels to "thesis," considering I just wrote 22 pages (6,500 words) in three days. Yes, deadlines are my motivator, even past due deadlines. I took an incomplete on this project knowing that I had not skimmed the surface, making it impossible to finish this in April.

Then I got it done in a week’s time. Trust me, it is quality. If you've read anything written for The Mirror and thought, "Wow, that was a great article," please note that I probably wrote it on deadline, and maybe even six hours before we sent the PDFs to the printer. I'm great on deadline.

I say this to not to brag, but to make sure people don't get the wrong idea. I work my ass off on what I write, and this project in particular wasn't like any of the last-minute, final, bullshit papers many of us undergraduates pull out of our asses for grades. This was serious.

I did a study on Lakeland's mission and values statements. I constructed a 33-question survey and 10-question interview, which I distributed and conducted with Lakeland undergraduate students. The survey and interviews took me three weeks to finalize with my sociology professor's assistance. Then, I filled out the monstrosity of a form for the Institutional Review Board on campus. This process took another three weeks. Come March, my research was accepted by the IRB, and I was ready to begin. I distributed my survey and cover letter online, and I got the results back the next week.

I sent the second research request e-mail on March 31, and had 5-10 responses of volunteers interested in the interview. Compensation was an incentive (free small drink at our local cafe). This is where it became the shaky, apathetic part.

I was finishing my screenplay, a project I worked on for two semesters as is. It finally was coming to a close, and I had two issues of the newspaper left to produce. I was cramming for tests, managing my newspaper staff, and burned out. I didn't want anything to do with my honors project, and after two interviews with students, I pushed it away.

Data analysis was difficult. I had never used SPSS before in my life. Coding the damn data took just as long as it did to analyze it later. Then I had the honors banquet. I received an award for completing my honors project. Yes, I received an award for something I had not yet finished. Then finals came around the corner and my final issue of The Mirror. I was out of breath. The incomplete form was handed in, the newspaper was over, my finals projects were done, and most of my grades were in.

Graduation week was coming. Just days away, I just did an entire research proposal (research methods class), finished a screenplay, finished my last issue of The Mirror, took a German final. Honors? What? Fuck no. It was time to celebrate. The Mirror party had come and gone, but the seniors partying all around me had not. It was time to drink. It was time to live in the moment. It was time to be joyful! Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Party? Check, check, check! The apartment to my left. The apartment to my right. My own apartment? Yes, yes, and yes. Inebriated seniors all around.

The family came Saturday, and I took my Uncle John to the Lakeland dinner. Great food, great people, great fun. Sunday I walk, but I don't feel anything. I get my diploma case, shake the President's hand, smile for the photographer, and walk back to my seat. My friend Chris yells, "Smile, Erik!" I take off my apathetic expression and laugh. The expression resumes shortly thereafter.

Graduation has come and gone, the beautiful spring weather has just begun, and I'm not done? May term is here. I'm taking an Honors Aliens course. Class from 8:30-11:30am, volleyball with friends from 12-4pm, how can I do work? Senioritis, spring fever, and apathy. An award for something yet to be completed, and a diploma case with a list of three assignments. "Financial obligations, incomplete grades, and a May term class."

Come May 7th, I sit down with my honors committee members, and a deadline puts fire under my ass. "If you don't get this to me by Sunday at midnight, I don't think you'll be able to defend this until next fall." I sit my butt down in The Mirror office and vow to work all weekend. I did. (Okay, I went to Star Trek, stopped back home for meals, and played volleyball for an hour, but that was all.)

At 6:36pm I submitted a 22-page sociological study, a paper written in a field I knew nothing of until this semester. Now, that is what I consider badass. Speaking of which, I'm getting a 3.5 semester. Just watch me.

Deadlines are your friends.

I just read a ton of old blogs from my senior year of high school. I was a really happy kid four years ago. Really happy. I want to be him again.

I was at my buddy's place last weekend, and he has the most phenomenal HD television I have ever seen, watched, etc. However, I've never been so uncomfortable and discontent watching television and movies!!! OH MY LORD!

First off, yes, it's beautiful. I have never seen colors as vibrant as this on television. So what's the problem?

I'VE NEVER SEEN COLORS THIS BRIGHT AND SHARP IN REAL LIFE!

You can see all the makeup actors are wearing, make out every face of every extra across the street at the coffee shop. It's not like you're watching a movie. It's watching people make a movie. It's like watching people acting. Imagine suspending disbelief when you're on the set of Romeo Must Die behind the camera lens. That's what it's like, but only worse, because it's crisper than anything you could imagine.

Every subtle pan and camera shake is quadrupled in intensity. Watching The Bourne Ultimatum's handy-cam is even more nauseous in high definition than in theaters.

Who knew there was such thing as too much high definition? If you want to enjoy HD, stick with a 41- inch or less. Anything larger than that could ruin it for you.

The concert was amazing. Family Force Five was the most entertaining group there, even if I went to see 3OH!3.
They break-danced on the floor and even on the drum set! Red and white costumes like The White Stripes, crazy props and music devices. A mini-keyboard guitar with a voice synthesizer? Dancing like Michael Jackson?

It was rap and screamo mixed together on Acid, and I loved every minute of it. Sure, most of the other bands on the tour were teeny-bopper poppy, but man oh man was that awesome!

Hell of a performance. Even if you didn't like Family Force Five's music, you'd have been excited to see them!

After a very busy weekend, I am back to the grind. I have very few weeks left in my senior year here. Sure, I'll be here during May term, but the end is near!

I walk on May 3. It hasn't really hit me yet. The last issue of the newspaper is going to be killer. Easter Break is putting everything on hold with Monday being off like this.

I'll be working on my research proposal for my research methods class all night tonight. I have a few other zillion things to do as well, but this is one of my lifelines right now.

All for now. Later.