Sunday, August 29, 2010

to woo the ladies

Hello, my name is Doug. That's God spelled backwards with a little bit of U in it.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

new on the floor

The first day of Taylor went wonderfully. Schedule of events went as thus:

Setting up the dorm room including moving all the furniture to a cozy atmosphere: 2 and a half hours, the fastest of anyone i've talked to on campus.

Lunch, which was fun to see all the people I met last year during CRAM (a summer program offered by Taylor for prospective high school students on campus).

Then I met some guys on my floor, they all seem pretty awesome. I can't wait to get close to them. There are 18 new freshman on this wing of the dorm. Apparently the most new freshman of any wing in this dorm hall. I'm bad with names, so i'm struggling a bit but i'll catch on.

Applied for a job at the front desk of my dorm. Basically you get paid to shuffle the mail, answer the phone, and study. I hope I get the job, and if not, I know the manager of the on campus coffee shop, and with my 2 years of experience around coffee, that will put me on the top of the food chain.

Dinner, which was uneventful. Then I chilled in the dorm for a bit, which was nice.

Then after going over the dorm rules (in a very creative and halarious skit presented by the RAs of the dorm) we did the infamous "Awk Walk". It stands for "Awkward Walk" which is set up the first night of every year for the freshman to get to know their "sister dorm".

So, the RAs come up with awkward questions you HAVE to ask the girls... yeah, one of them was "When you take a crap, do you watch the poop go down?" and according to the rules, you had to ask these questions while in awkward positons, like walking while holding their earlobe.

It actually wasn't very awkward. Afterwards we went to Steak n' Shake and hung out with the sister dorm. It was REALLY embarassing... so, you know what it's time for?

AWKWARD CORNER!
During the awkward walk, all the girls rotate through the guys after each question is answered (about 2 minutes was allowed for each question)... one girl when she came up to me was like "BEN!!" And I had NO idea who she was. It was kind of awkward. I looked at her, begging my braint o recognize her, but I honestly had no idea. "Do I know you?"

Apparently we were Facebook friends and had talked for like a month, and I didn't remember any of it. And she did. We talked at Steak n' Shake, and like every other question I asked her she was like: "We talked about this over Facebook!" Yeah, it was embarrassing. I remember the liscence plate number, make and model of a car that drove in front of me nearly two weeks ago, yet I cannot remember a month's worth of conversation with a girl...

After I got back to the dorm I went on Facebook, and once I found her profile I remembered talking to her. But, I still feel bad.


So, now is day two of college. I woke up at 9:45 and ran about 2 miles, took a shower... was shirtless in the dorm when my roommate's sister came in... that was slightly awkward. Thankfully I hand't taken the liberty to change completely or else that could have ended up much worse.

Then I've been chilling, reading my Bible, listening to Indie music. I'm kind of putting off going to lunch right now because I don't really want to go.

The parents and families are forced to leave campus at 1:00, so lunch encompasses parents hugging, crying, and trying to make funny jokes while they're still there. My parents left yesterday before lunch, which I'm glad, because that allowed me to meet new people. But, now I have no one to eat lunch with and have to watch everyone else eat with their new BFFs they made on campus or their families.

My roommate is hanging out with his family before they leave, or else i'd eat with him. Yeah, i'll suck it up and eat a gorgeous meal at the deli that makes Subway jealous.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Gas City

Yeah, you read that title correctly. Gas City is the "city" that is right next to the "town" of Upland Indiana, where my new College, Taylor University regretfully resides in the middle of absulutely nothing but critically acclaimed "God-Forsaken landmassed enhabited by none other than the residents of Taylor".

My mom and dad drove me down to Taylor, and we are currently lounging in a Holiday Inn in Gas City. (I apologize about the two awkward "Ins" that were right after each other). Move in day starts tomorrow at 9am. So, in the meantime, we decide to "expore the expanses" of the great mass that is Gas City.

If you cannot audibly hear the sarcasm dripping off each word, then you need to crank up your speakers. Gas City has: Mcdonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, Starbucks, like 10 gas stations, about 5 semi truck washing stations, a Walmart distribution center (no Walmart though), Big K, Dollar store, a few Chinese joints, and a couple steak houses and local restaurants that you can smell from the highway... and no, that was not a "Yum, where's that delicious home-cooking smell coming from?"
It's more like: "Dang, is there a slaughter house near here?"

I exaggerate, of course. But, I am from the suburbs. And by suburbs I mean that I am 15 minutes from one of the largest malls in America, 5 minutes from another mall, and 25 minutes away from downtown Minneapolis. But, now I am in Gas City, the residence that starts with: "Don't move here".

Yeah. I'm sure i'm going to adore Taylor. But, it's just starting to sink in that i'm moving to the center of cornfeilds and scary family owned businesses with 13 year old servers.


The drive over the Indiana went well. I slept 7 hours at the beginning, so it felt like a quick trip (haha, yes, that's also the name of a gas station. Unintentional pun, i'm so witty, aren't I?)

Story time. 3 years ago, little 15 year old version of me visited Forte Wayne to see the secondary campus of Taylor University. While there, I ate the most AMAZING burger i've ever set my lips upon. It was like making out with heaven. But it was edible and was covered in sweet BBQ sauce and was only 14.99 and came with fries. Compared to the place where we will go after dying...

If you don't already know me too well, I am a burger connisoure. I try all the burgers around and compare the greatness in attempts to find the best burger. Since that spring evening when I was 15, i've had some incredible burgers, but none compare to that amazing hunk of beef on the heaven-kissed bun with deep fried onions, fresh crunchy pickles, sweet BBQ sauce, fresh tomatoes, green lettuce, melted cheese, and gorgeous fries that would make France press charges.

So, on the way to Taylor today, my parents, being awesome like they are, decide to take me there to fulfill 3 years of tormented searching for an equally mouth-watering treat as that mystery burger was.

When we got to Forte Wayne, and we arrived in the same mall-area as we were 3 years ago, it dawned on us that we had NO idea what the name of the place was. After much searching, we settled on 3 possibilities, and I walked into them... none of them looked like it. It was then that we noticed the closed restaraunt between the 3 possible burger joints... my heart sank... no great burger for Ben after 3 years of waiting to taste the piece of heaven that has haunted my palate since I was but a wee chap.

We decided to eat at another place. Then my dad asked the waitress about the closed restaurant. She told us that it was a Mexican place, and before that it was another Mexican place... it was then that we realized that the burger joint was still in the mall, but we just didn't find it.

I decided to look no further to keep the intreague. The burger may await me. It may not. But, Ben will continue searching for his stomach-mate...

Monday, August 16, 2010

yeah, you know it

I am back with vengance. The last month my creativity has been in hibernation along with most other things, but recently it has been busting out, so I will try to be better about blogging.

I leave for Taylor in 10 days. Uber excited. If I knew how to put an accent over the "U" in "uber" I would, because then it would look really cool.

Checklist of things to do before I leave for college aside from saying obvious farewells and hanging out with friends are:

Finish the book i'm reading
Get onto a normal sleep schedule (be able to wake up at 7:00am every morning and feel fine the entire day)

And, I think that's it. Short list for short ambitions. Haha, kidding. I have most things figured out and in the mix right now.

And, a new segment to my blog with be Awkward Corner. In the Awkward Corner, I will share an awkward situation that happened to me since I last blogged. I encounter too many to remember, so I won't run out of awkwardness to share for the whole family.

Bring your kids.

And pets.

Awkward Corner:
I was working at Bonfire (the restauraunt as a host), and I was cleaning off a table. There is a huge mirror on one of the walls (it is pretty awesome), but while I was bussing it off, I looked up and made eye contact with one of the servers behind me. Yeah... eye contact through a mirror and they're behind me. I felt awkward talking to them the rest of the night.

Monday, August 9, 2010

marraige material

I made a list of everything I want in a wife. It's pretty detailed, so in a bullet point list, it is 3 pages long.

I compared myself to the character qualities in my list and realized that I don't match up to my own standards.

The biggest thing I need to work on is discipline. A blogger I used to follow a few years back said this, and this is now one of my favorite quotes/words of wisdom: "Try to do something everyday that you don't want to do."

If I actually went out of my way to do things that I didn't want to do, it would build my character and develop discipline. But, I haven't been doing that.

Going off to college, I've been thinking about relationships a lot considering that the majority of married couples in the US met in college. Sure, i'm really young, and i've never been in a serious relationship before... or any relationship for that matter. But, I want to prepare myself for being marraige material.

I don't want to be another one of those steryotypical testosterone filled, heavy headed, slow thinking, cliche phrase saying, repugnant guys. I want to be different. I want to be someone that is above the average, cliche, and normal. I want to be exceptional.

I, of course, have a ton of work in order to improve... but, i'd like to start now.