Top 10 posts of 2013

So, I've been out of commission (post-wise) for a little over a week now, but as we wrap up 2013, I'll do the same with my blog, and talk about my ten favorite posts from this year. Not necessarily those with the most pageviews, but the ones that I enjoyed writing the most. Or were most meaningful. There really isn't any criteria for this, and there isn't any order, but these are the ten posts out of all the posts of 2013 that I'm going with. In chronological order...

1. Valley of the shadow of death. It was cool to be able to talk about Lost in this sense...actually no, I don't talk about Lost at all here. Well, the 23rd Psalm is referenced in the show, has its own episode, blah blah blah. Point is, I still believe these words now, and one example of people not giving themselves credit is in sports. Every time someone who hits the game-winning shot, or a walkoff home run, thanks God for their success, I cry out for that player to take some of the credit. GOD DIDN'T HIT THAT HOME RUN! This is what this post gets at, and I like it.

2. Murder, we wrote. Yes, I would have loved it if the Patriots beat the Ravens in the AFC Championship game, and had gone on to win the Super Bowl, but this is still an important post to me because it reminds us of the feel-good stories that we should be thinking about.

3. 7 things I'm glad I did at Stonehill. Stonehill kicks ass, and one of the reasons it does is because people can do whatever they want, so they do, and then they get really passionate about what they do and want to tell the world. And what's even better about Stonehill is that everyone gets each other's passion. It may not be shared, but there's something that everyone feels strongly about, and it's because they got involved. Thus, this post.

4. 5 funny autocorrects. This is something that will never fail to make me laugh, and it's important that we laugh, and are able to laugh. Plus, it's always good that this kind of stuff usually involves crude, adult humor.

5. Death be not proud. It had been a while since I was able to spin off some contradictory writing, but I think I pulled it off in this post. Acknowledging the absence of realness makes our lives real - understanding that we will die makes life that much more important. I wish there was a really good House compilation video that has clips of House talking about this, because it's one of his main beliefs, and something that is talked about on the show fairly often.

6. 7 days, 7 thoughts. This is just an important post to me. It was one of those posts that was half to myself and half to everyone reading (possibly even you!), and with everything that had gone down this past April, to be able to put some of it in perspective was necessary and helpful for me.

7. 100 questions to ask people. With no posts from May, June, or July, this may have been somewhat of a lackluster summer...hunh...anyway, doing long surveys is always fun, because you get to learn something about yourself that you might have never thought about if you weren't doing a long survey.

8. "The Earth Is Not A Cold Place" running diary, revisited. I can't have a "Best Of" post without putting some EITS on the list. It was fun enough to do this the first time around, but to be able to have fresh ideas about my favorite album ever was cool to think about. There's something special, almost sacred, about sitting in a quiet place with what you consider to be the most important music you know and writing about it.

9. Boston Strongest, pt. 2. The second of my three "Hey, the Red Sox won the World Series" post saga talked about what this win meant of the city of Boston, and what Boston meant for these 2013 Red Sox. Again, this is something that I felt that I had to put on the list, so here it is.

10. Win or lose, together. It was good to actually understand why my favorite two sports teams are my favorite two sports teams. A semester of Sport Psychology did me some good, and got me asking some important questions, to myself and to sports in general, and it was fun to think about what makes me like certain teams over others. Plus, I got to reference my days as a varsity basketball player, all four points' worth.

I feel as though I could do this forever, that I could have a Top 50 of 2013 and get away with it, and just talk about every blog post that wasn't a throwaway blog post. That's a good thing, I think, that I know my posts well enough to be able to pull them up and talk about them in a little paragraph. So in looking back at the year that was 2013, we now look ahead to what 2014 will bring us, and for my blog, I'm not sure. It'll be interesting to see what happens after graduation, if that'll leave me with way more time to blog, or if I'll phase it out. I really hope it's not the latter, because I love blogging and having a place where I can talk about pretty much anything. So thanks for reading, and thanks for reading all year long!

Somewhere to go, pt. 2

Yeah, I did it again, one of those annoying two-part blog posts that leaves you wondering why I didn't just do it in one blog post. Unless you don't think that, in which case, yeah, I did it again, one of those awesome two-part blog posts that exists as two separate posts because the ideas are different enough to have their own space, yet connected to be considered one and the same. Or something like that.

Anyway, the beginning of part one. You can't get lost without having somewhere to go. This is a revelation that I came to, or came to me, a couple of months ago. It made a lot of sense to me, and seemed like a phrase that was already spoken and put on bumper stickers and the like. Nothing. Which is cool because it's totally my idea now. For the other three things, the Lost video, the quote from Jim Valvano, and lyrics from "Lost?" by Coldplay (I use "?" because that's the version I was listening to just now)...those are just the three things I thought of, independent of each other. I was reminded of Locke telling Sun how he stopped looking, I recalled Jimmy V talking about where he came from, and I've always liked the first two lines of "Lost?". But as far as what this is about...

Three years ago, I started this blog, which means that I've been blogging for three years. It's been fun, and something that I'm incredibly glad I did and kept up with. It's helped me to put some things in perspective, spread ideas that I have about things, and has been a neat filing cabinet for anything of relative importance that I've thought and sent out to the public sphere in the past three years.

So much of how we perceive our lives is up to our own, personal interpretation. For example, take this picture. If you're this person, what are you thinking? My sport psych professor showed us this picture, and my first reaction was something like let's go. Other people said that that was a long way to run, and one person said something to the effect of "good thing I just finished my run." Think about what each of those different thoughts means, and the kind of mindset you're taking on as a result. Think about the Red Sox, who lost 93 games in 2012, and yet, in July, far from a guaranteed 2013 postseason, the Red Sox clubhouse was gearing up for a parade. Every day was another day closer to the parade, because that's the mindset that team set out to have.

At some point in your life, you will feel lost. You have probably already felt lost at some point before now, and you probably will feel lost at some point after now. You might even feel lost reading these words, wondering how any of this might actually help you find your way. These words aren't helping you. You are helping you - your thoughts, your interpretation, your mindset. Sure, you might be lost. But you can't be lost without having somewhere to go.

Somewhere to go, pt. 1

You can't get lost without having somewhere to go.



"It’s so important to know where you are. I know where I am right now. How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal. You have to be willing to work for it."  -Jim Valvano

Just because I'm losing
Doesn't mean I'm lost
Doesn't mean I'll stop
Doesn't mean I'm across

Just because I'm hurting
Doesn't mean I'm hurt
Doesn't mean I didn't get what I deserved
No better and no worse

I just got lost
Every river that I tried to cross
Every door I ever tried was locked
Oh and I'm just waiting 'til the shine wears off

You might be a big fish in a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
'Cause along may come a bigger one

And you'll be lost
Every river that you tried to cross
Every gun you ever held went off
Oh and I'm just waiting 'til the firing's stopped
Oh and I'm just waiting 'til the shine wears off

Win or lose, together

A few weeks into the 2012 baseball season, I explored the idea of choosing your allegiance as far as sports teams go. It's important to note that this post was in the middle of a crisis that I was having about our beloved Red Sox and the mess that was the 69-93 campaign in 2012. A couple of months back, I blogged about the 2013 Red Sox and how this may have been the most fun team I've ever followed. So I ask myself (and you, dear reader) the question, why do we like certain sports teams?

Above all, what I think the end of the line is for reasons we like sports teams is that it feels good. The journey that we take may be different, but the end destination is the same - we like a given sports team because it feels good to do so. Now, to keep breaking it down...why does it feel good? The next step for me would be winning - if you were taking a random sample of 500 NCAA men's basketball fans, I'm guessing that no more than one of those people is a fan of Grambling University, the team who went 0-28 in the 2012-13 season, losing all but one game by double-digits. Winning makes sense, but plenty of people hate teams who win (see: New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Duke Blue Devils). Regionally, I made the claim in my first link in this post that we grow up in the same city in which a lot of our favorites sports teams play. But I'm a huge fan of Duke basketball, so where did that come from? Some number of years ago (I think 2003) I saw Duke on TV and saw the Cameron Crazies going absolutely nuts and thought hey, that's pretty awesome. Turns out the team played (and still plays) really good basketball, had (and still has) one of the greatest coaches in history, and was straight-up fun to watch. I enjoyed watching Duke basketball because I felt that I was there. I loved the 2013 Red Sox because I felt that I was a part of the team, that this World Series win was as much mine as it was anyone else's in the city of Boston.

The difference between teams you like and teams you love is that you feel that you're a part of the team, that you have a vested interest in the outcome of every game. In the past two Patriots seasons, we've seen losses in the AFC Championship and in the Super Bowl. I got over those two losses in a combined five minutes. But when Duke gets knocked out of the NCAA Tournament, or the Red Sox miss out on the playoffs, it's a lot worse. That being said, it's also much better on the other side (three World Series championships, and an NCAA Championship in 2010 for Duke). So anecdotally, the reason I love the sports teams I do is because I feel like I'm part of the team, that we win and we lose together. (One really cool phenomena is when "we win," but "they lost." Tell people about the most recent game your favorite team played, and if they won, see how often you use "we." If they lost, see if you cut ties from the team.)

My high school basketball team always broke huddles in practice, timeouts, whatever, with "win or lose" from the coach and "together" by the team. I think that's a fitting theme to this post and title, because with your favorite teams, it's win or lose, together.

Final thoughts

(Editor's Note: This is in no way an ultimate blog post, nor the indication of a hiatus. Simply some thoughts on the day before the start of finals. I had to use the cool-sounding title, so apologies if you thought I was going anywhere.)

My favorite phenomenon regarding finals week is the reality that somehow, you have all the time in the world on your hands. During the last two weeks of class, I was freaking out about the two unit tests, cumulative final, group presentation, and paper that I would have to worry about in a seven-day span. It's an average amount of finals work for the semesters that I've had, but I think I was freaking out about it a little more than usual. But now that it's Reading Day, I could wake up whenever I wanted, and I had all day to do...well, nothing, really. Ran some errands in the morning, finished up the third season of House (I know, that has been horribly lacking, but there will be updates all throughout winter break, I hope), edited said paper, and I'm just kind of hanging around for the rest of the day. I hope this is what the working world is like, where you do what you need to and then you don't really have to do much. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

One album that I've been listening to all day is Old World Romance by the artist Sea Wolf. I can't really explain what kind of music it is, because I can't articulate it yet. A part of this album sounds like it belongs at the end of a House episode. The singer sounds like a watered-down version of Bob Dylan, which could be a stretch, but I thought it at one point. The sound of the songs is pretty much like this - I feel that I've heard these songs before, but I feel that I haven't heard them in this particular way. It's like a spinoff TV show that eventually takes on its own personality. That might make no sense, but there are some good songs nonetheless. "Priscilla" and "Saint Catherine Street" are my two favorites, so check those out if you have some time.

This is the first time that I've given conscious thought to the fact that there are a decent number of people who read my blog who have already graduated college (at least, I hope so). By which I mean the Stonehill Class of 2013, but even then, I know my parents read this, hell, 19 people from Ukraine have come across my blog in the past week. There isn't really much more I have to say than I'm now aware of this, but it's just something that's interesting, that I don't think I can write a blog post where any given person coming across it will find it useful or enjoyable. I wonder if I've done that before...I should go back and look. Or perhaps start writing to accomplish this. Interesting thoughts.

Well, I think that's it for now. Like I said, I have nothing to do, so maybe I'll stir for a while, maybe play some GTA IV, maybe nap. In case you already forgot, here's "Saint Catherine Street" by Sea Wolf.

Why are we here?

A little over a year and a half ago, I asked myself "Why are we here?" in a blog post about learning. That was a pretty general post that came from Relay for Life, but now I'm here to talk about school. (Editor's Note: I'm not sure what it is about this semester, but I'm afraid that I'm starting to not like school, and as a result, not like Stonehill. I really hope I'm wrong with the latter.) Why are we in school? Why are we in college, graduate school, whatever it is? To get a job? Because that's the logical next step? Because someone may be paying for us to be in school? Why can't we just be here to learn? One question I've been getting asked is what I want to do with my life as a Math/Psych double-major. I love the look on people's faces when I tell them I want to work in sports, because you wouldn't really figure that to be the number one choice for either of those fields of study. Grad school sounds much more viable. But you know what? I like psychology to the point where I want to take enough classes in it to say that I am an expert at it. I truly enjoy learning about psychology and the practical nature of the subject matter. And it's been in my psychology classes where I've learned that we need to ask ourselves more than just why we're here. We need to ask ourselves why we're here, and what we're really learning. One reason for attending college, that we talked about in the IDEAS seminar last spring, was that people develop themselves as individuals. And it's a question that I'm struggling with right now, because I'm wondering if we actually need college to do this. Why can't we develop ourselves on our own time, without dropping $200,000 over four years? In my Sport Psych class today, our last class of the semester, we talked about changes we would make, and most of the students (myself included) talked about how relating class material to our own lives, our own experiences as athletes made the class more enjoyable, and helped us to understand sport psychology better. Better than any textbook spitting out information could. Because I can go to Google for any old information, but I can't go to Google for how I'm thinking and feeling about something. And those thoughts and feelings are what drive us, as much value as people may place on information. I believe that there's so much more value in understanding ourselves, and I know that I always go back to this post, but that's because learning about ourselves is one of the best things we can do. So please, ask yourself not only why we're here, but what we're doing here and what we're going to get out of it. Because if you think that we're just here to learn information, there's more to it. And if you think that we're just here to learn about ourselves, there's more to it. It's the interaction of the two, how we understand the interaction of those two, and how we understand ourselves in terms of those two, that makes being here worth it.

If you have the time, check out this song. It's called "Communal Blood" by This Will Destroy You. It's really good for writing a single, long paragraph blog post about something you feel strongly about.

10 reasons why I shouldn't win Mr. Stonehill

Here's the deal - this Saturday, December 7, at 7:30pm, I'll be making a complete fool of myself. This, in and of itself, shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, because I regularly make a complete fool of myself. But what's special about Saturday is that I'll be doing this in front of two thousand people, which will be fun and interesting, to say the least. For both me and you, should you decide to go. Which you totally should, and which is also why I'm blogging about this. Because as much as I could sit here and tell you all the fun stuff I have planned, there are ten other reasons why Mr. Stonehill 2013 is going to be a night to remember. So, here we go - 10 reasons why I shouldn't win Mr. Stonehill, going in alphabetical order for the rest of my fellow contestants.

Bryan Bosworth - Hands down my favorite swimsuit wear. No secrets will be revealed here (or anywhere in this post), but as a person of simple and well-done humor, Bryan is all over it. He's also put a ton of work into his talent and it will show on Saturday.

Winslow Cilfone - In one of our last practices this past Sunday, we pretty much agreed that Winslow had already won the People's Choice Award. In addition to capturing the hearts of every human within a five mile radius of Easton, I'm convinced that he has various wildlife following him around, too.

Tim Culverhouse - Dude got his own Stonehill marketing video...I could probably stop there, but Tim is someone who will be an all-around force come competition time. He's a prominent face in the radio station and The Summit, so his publicity can only be a good thing.

Xavier "X" Dixon - I actually almost walked out when he performed his talent for us last night at rehearsal...he's taken this competition to a new level and will have to be met by the rest of us in terms of focus and overall showmanship. Plus there's an unpredictability that comes with X that will be fun to see live.

James Dunn - Roommate love aside, I think he's been the most into our practices and rehearsals. I wouldn't be surprised if he has cameras set up so he can review film and improve his technique heading into the competition. The past three winners of Mr. Stonehill were all heavily involved in either SGA, Peer Mentor, or Student Ambassador, and James hits the trifecta.

Brian "Freshman" Gavin - Huge props to Freshman, because there was no way I would have done this in my first year at Stonehill (evidenced by my not doing this in my first year at Stonehill). He's made a name for himself among ten other guys who are older than him, and he'll look to cement his legacy in Mr. Stonehill history with a solid performance on Saturday.

Ryan McCormick - It's going to be 7:15pm on Saturday night, and Ryan will still be the only person who has any idea what his performance is going to look like. From what we've seen, I know that he's going to bring it, and his energy level will be tough to match throughout the night. We could have five consecutive nights of Mr. Stonehill and Ryan would bring 100% to each of those nights. I can only imagine what 500% will look like on Saturday.

Brendan Murray - Kid has had an absolute blast being a part of this competition. No one has seen him show the slightest bit of worry regarding his talent, other performances, or really anything to do with Mr. Stonehill. I'm not sure if it's ice in his veins, or that he's just superb at blocking out outside noise, but Brendan will certainly be focusing on the victory on Saturday, and it will be a delight to watch.

Burke Oppenheim - Many people will see his contribution to Mr. Stonehill as putting together all of this incredible advertising. All these pictures, all the infographics and designs...all him. The thing is, he's still preparing to win this competition. He's got a few tricks up his sleeve that will be absolutely spectacular, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was already crafting a Burke victory poster.

Matt Smith - Put his talent up against any that you can think of, and he'd probably win. As the only returning Mr. Stonehill contestant, he knows the ins and outs of the competition, and despite being a junior, has a leg up on the competition with his experience. Look to see someone who is focused and will draw on his veteran experience to pull off a very possible upset.

Bonus - Matt Tardiff (written by James Dunn) - Out of everyone in this competition, Matt is probably the most willing to make a complete fool of himself. Lucky for him, that's the name of the game at Mr. Stonehill. Look for Matt to be in his natural habitat on Saturday - recklessly silly, with just the right amount of true talent to bring home the win.

So, there you have it. My competition (and me), but in a different sense, the people who I'm working with to make Mr. Stonehill one of the best nights ever. After a couple of months of practicing, with the competition less than a week away, I can truly say that it's been nothing but fun to be a part of this, and I've seen the same in the ten people I just talked about. So get over to Mr. Stonehill on Saturday at 7:30. Bring your friends, bring your neighbors, bring people you pass in your residence halls. Because there are eleven very good reasons you should go.

Don't miss out on the event of the year!

The dog days are (almost) over

Alright, revelation time, everyone. Once we get back from Thanksgiving break, it's go-time, the home stretch of the semester. Fewer than twenty days separate us from winter break, depending on when your finals end. And the time before Thanksgiving break, at least for me, has always been the dog days of the semester. The period of time lasting a couple weeks where you're just done with the semester. Projects, tests, papers, homework assignments...just not about that life. But Thanksgiving break comes and goes, you spend time with whoever you spend time with, you come back, and BAM it's December and nearing the end of the semester. For me, it's three unit tests (two of which are during finals), a cumulative final, a paper, and two projects until I am done with the Fall 2013 semester.

But I started thinking about it...for us seniors, this period of time is also the dog days of our time at Stonehill. I can't speak for everyone by saying that this is my 7th semester on campus (talking to you, abroad folk), but everyone has spent 3+ years calling themselves a student at Stonehill College. There is exactly 1/6 of the semester left - 19 of 114 days in the semester. Regarding total time spent at Stonehill, it's a little closer to 14.6%. Which means that for the only time in our Stonehill careers, we will face the dog days of the semester and of our careers. My point is, where we're at in the semester is proportionally the same as where we're at in our time at Stonehill.

And I've definitely felt this toll in the twofold nature that it has at this point in time; we have to think about the usual slew of homework/papers/tests/etc., but it's also post-grad plans, living arrangements, job possibilities, and everything else that comes with graduation. So it's tough, it's definitely tough. But if there's one thing that we (as seniors) have learned in our time at Stonehill, it's that you make it out alive. We're here in the fall of senior year because we've made it through six semesters so far. So during these last 2-3 weeks, if you feel the affects of the dog days, believe that you'll make it out soon. Because fewer than twenty days separate us from winter break, but also from the best semester that we'll have at Stonehill.

The inconsistency of the NFL

The highlight of Thanksgiving night was the rivalry matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The last few minutes of the game were incredibly packed with excitement and action, but also included a scary moment, when Pittsburgh running back Le'veon Bells suffered a vicious hit to the head by a Raven defender. By NFL rule, the play is called dead the instant the ball carrier's helmet is knocked off, which happened just shy of the goal line. This was a second-down running play in which Pittsburgh needed a touchdown and 2-point conversion to tie the game, and the ball was spotted inside the one-yard line for third down. You can watch a video of the hit at this link, scrolling down to the first of two videos. I don't have a problem with the rule of the play being blown dead with the coming off of a helmet. My problem is the fact that this was a direct helmet-to-helmet hit and absolutely nothing was made of it. In the lone night game on Thanksgiving, in the closing stages of the game, when the announcer calls it a helmet-to-helmet hit, there has to be a penalty called. Especially if it knocks a helmet off and renders the running back borderline unconscious. I'm not going to bash the NFL, but it would be pretty easy to do so. I just wanted to share my thoughts on a non-call that completely contradicts the NFL rulebook. But hey, would it be the NFL if this kind of thing went the way it was supposed to?

Being thankful

It's important on this Thanksgiving night, as it should always be important, to think about others and what they have to be thankful for. It's pretty common for people to be thankful for their friends and family, but there are some people who don't even have that to be thankful for. It might be a place to sleep, or a warm meal, or a smile from a passing stranger. The fact that I'm typing this and that you're now reading this means that you and I are better off tonight than a lot of people, and it's important to be aware of that and to keep that in mind.

That being said, it's still important to be thankful ourselves after Thanksgiving. The holiday dictates us to be thankful today, and maybe for the couple of days before and after Thanksgiving, but similar to New Year's resolutions, it's important to be thankful every day. Keep these in mind as you spend your Thanksgiving weekend with family, and always find a place to be thankful and appreciative.

The pedagogical is personal

Yes, I'm aware that I have sucked as a blogger this month. I think I know why - I just haven't been excited enough by something to blog about it, except for the Red Sox, but that's all said and done now. So what does that leave? Nothing much, if you've been following along this month. But I'm back in the swing of things after having read a piece on pedagogy, and the discussions that professors and students should be having. It was written wonderfully by a person who saw all of the excitement in classrooms as she was a young student, and then saw it all fade in her undergraduate studies. She believes that this is because the emphasis was on this educational bank, a notion that information is only good if we can spit it out at a later place and time. She also considers this educational bank to be useless, which is something that I agree with. I've been under the belief for a while now that one of the coolest things we can do is to learn about ourselves, and I believe that it's important for us to bring our entire self into classrooms. We can't enter a class or a conversation only expecting to learn information to store for later use. When we really set out to engage with the material (as students) and to make this information personally relevant, the learning becomes much more effective and useful. Bring yourself fully into a classroom and you will leave with a better sense of yourself, a higher self-actualization. Go into it only expecting knowledge and information, and you're selling yourself short.

So that's the idea. I feel as though I should have written more about this, but maybe I'm getting good at saying things concisely. That'd be nice.

Here's the song I was listening to as I read this great piece. It's a good song, and I hope you think so too.

Things my suitemates would read if I blogged about it

• Travel
• Best movies of all time
• Top 5 favorite dictators
• Nothing
• Great men with great beards
• Best carnival freaks
• Best Tom Brady outfits
• Conspiracy theories
• Myron's 90's classics playlist
• Who takes the longest showers
• Best SportsCenter commercials
• "Where Are They Now?" Stonehill edition
• Stonehill barstool
• The Summit best Police Logs
• 315 Knee Hockey Power Rankings

Special thanks to Myron Inglis and Ryan Forte for this spur-of-the-moment blog post. Sorry to everyone reading that this is what I'm producing these days, but I promise something interesting will happen real soon.

10 lists about music

I've had a few ideas run through my head as far as blogging about music, and as always, I can't seem to push past a playlist more than three or four songs deep. So, what I'm going to try instead is offer up some lists that you can make yourself in regards to your own music! Wahoo alright here we go:

1. 10 songs that I don't give enough credit
2. 10 songs that aren't the respective band's most well-known song
3. 10 songs that would belong on House (or any TV show you wish)
4. 10 songs that more people need to know about
5. 10 songs that are good to listen to at night
6. 10 new songs that I've heard in the past week
7. 10 songs to start the best Pandora/Spotify radio stations to
8. 10 songs with one really good lyric
9. 10 songs that I could listen to on repeat for three hours
10. 10 songs to wake up to

And here's one song that would fit on more than half of these lists...

10 minutes

I haven't blogged in a long time, and it's because I haven't really had the time to. And when I say that I haven't had the time to, I'm completely lying. I definitely have the time to, I've just prioritized other things ahead of blogging. So here is this blog post, where I'm just going to be typing for ten minutes. About anything and everything. For starters, it's to prove to myself (and to you) that I actually do have ten minutes every day to blog if I wanted to. This is something I've been doing each day with simply laying in bed for ten minutes. Just to remind myself that I have this time to do nothing, even when it feels like I have no time. Give it a shot if it sounds like something you're interested in.

A big reason why I've hopped on this "10 minutes" bandwagon is because I'm really getting tired of school. I'm not sure if it's just this semester, or that I'm burning out, or whatever it is, but I'm just finding it hard to be excited about schoolwork right now. I want to start focusing on things that I truly enjoy, which I can still do in an academic field. Next semester, my two math courses will be a sabermetrics directed study, and a thesis project looking a new way to model GPA, depending on the difficulty of class, times the class is offered, etc. This is something that I'm almost positive I've blogged about before, but I won't go searching for it now.

For those who don't know, "Intro" by The XX is a really good song. What's even better is this ten-hour loop of it, flawlessly executed. It's definitely one of those songs that you can listen to for a long time, so I'm glad that someone actually made it possible.

This has been a very busy weekend for Stonehill sports. I feel as though I should give a ton of credit to the deserving teams. Field hockey made it to the NE-10 Tournament Championship and will host an NCAA game this weekend; football clinched a share of the Regular Season NE-10 Championship and will play for the conference crown this Saturday at American International College. There's word of fan buses and this is something that everyone should be a part of. Men's basketball kicked off the 2013-14 season with a pair of wins this weekend. I was at the first game, and yelled a lot because it's fun. The other team probably didn't like it, mainly because I was yelling at them, but it seemed to work, because they weren't very good. The women's basketball team is in the top 10 of the country and will face #1 Bentley in eleven days. That's not a lot of days which means the Bentley game is coming up really soon and that's exciting. Both men's and women's cross-country won the East Regional, which is starting to become a routine, from what I'm hearing. Volleyball is in a prime playoff position, and both soccer teams had a strong finish to their regular seasons. Hockey has picked up, too. It's a fun time of year where a lot of teams are in action - some starting, some finishing their seasons.

Ten minutes is a lot longer than you think, or at least these ten minutes are a lot longer than I thought they would be. Which is interesting because it is the exact same amount of time as any ten-minute span of time. There's the alarm indicating the end of said ten minutes, so I'll wrap this up now by nicely putting that when you think about it, you'll always have ten minutes to do something, even if it's nothing.

Boston Strongest, pt. 3

Well, this is it. A fitting end to one of the most memorable baseball seasons that we've had. There is no better day than Parade Day. As recent as the day after the World Series win, sports radio talk shows were talking about 2014; who would be resigned, who would be let go...but today, it was all jubilation. Starting with Fenway Park, moving to the Marathon finish line, and ending in the water, it was the happily-ever-after for the 2013 season. Now that all's said and done, it's time to let the World Series hangover take its toll for a while, and then look to next year, where the Red Sox begin their title defense. Home Opening Day is only five months and two days away, but until then, Red Sox Nation will continue to remember the amazing 2013 season. Thanks, Red Sox.

Boston Strongest, pt. 2

Of all the teams to pull through for the city of Boston, it was the Red Sox. People will talk about the seeming turnaround from Boston as a baseball city to Boston as a hockey city, and rightfully so. In two years, the Bruins had won a Stanley Cup and two division titles. In the same two years, the Red Sox suffered one of the worst September collapses ever, and had a misery-filled 2012 season, culminated by the firing of a manager who epitomized zero of the ideals that belonged to the Red Sox and the culture of baseball in Boston. But 2013 completely reversed that, and cemented the Red Sox as Boston's team. For this year, for next year, for however long it is, Boston belongs to the Red Sox. And it's because this team cares, and this team gets it. Jonny Gomes, the poster child for the appeal of these 2013 Red Sox, came out after the World Series and said that "We didn't put Boston on our back...Boston put us on its back. I don't think a won-loss record sums up how much we care."

And this team cared because they knew what it meant for the city of Boston. The Red Sox are most closely associated with Marathon Monday, having played an 11:00am game on each Patriots' Day since 1968. Boston was desperately grabbing at something to hold on to, and every step along the way, the Red Sox were there. Daniel Nava's three-run homer to seal a come-from-behind victory in the first home game since the Marathon bombings. A historic number of walkoff victories. An emergence of a group of baseball players that let the city know that everything would be okay. Bill Simmons wonderfully writes about this in a recent article for Grantland. The key takeaway from that article, and something I've believed all season long, is this:

"You always hear that tragedies put sports in perspective, that they prove we shouldn't care this much about the successes and failures of a bunch of wealthy strangers. I'm going the other way - sometimes, sports put everything else in perspective. Our favorite teams bring people together...some of the happiest moments of my life involve something that happened with one of my teams. Some of the best relationships I ever had were with Boston athlete I never even met. That's a bad thing?"

Nothing more true could have been written. In a time where the city needed the Red Sox, the Red Sox were there. For some time, it was Boston Strong. Then the beards came along, and everything started happening at once. Throughout the playoffs, the Red Sox needed Boston, and Boston was there. A home record of 6-2 in the postseason for the Red Sox. Everything came together one final time for a glorious October night, where the last game of the baseball season was to be played at Fenway Park, and the last team to have won a game in the 2013 season was to be the Boston Red Sox. This season became a marriage of city and team, a marriage that had faced serious problems in the past few years. But when the firework smoke-ridden dust had settled, after everything was said and done, the Red Sox would stand tall, not just as a baseball team, but in their rightful place at the heart of Boston.

Boston Strongest, pt. 1

Ho-ly shit.

It's still not real.

I don't even know what I want to say, I just know that I have to say something about the most amazing postseason run ever.

First home team to win the World Series at Fenway in 95 years. Second team ever to win the World Series after finishing in last place the year before. Your World Series MVP? A guy who, in Game Five, went 3-for-4 and raised his World Series batting average by SIX points. Your Game Six winning pitcher? A guy who was hated in this city for three years, earning his ultimate redemption with a tip of the cap. The man who threw the final pitch? A 38-year-old who wasn't even the second guy you could see closing for this team. This all goes without mentioning Jon Lester's two near-identical performances of mastery, Shane Victorino's coming-out party in Game Six after sitting twice in St. Louis, Stephen Drew finally getting a hit (and then another), Mike Napoli showing us why he was signed, Jonny Gomes showing us why he was signed, EVERYONE on this team showing us why they were on the 2013 Boston Red Sox. And now, and forever more, there will be three more words added to that tagline - the 2013 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. Read that one more time. WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS.

It doesn't feel like nine days since I predicted the exact outcome of this World Series. This World Series felt like one giant, long movie, where we went to bed and woke up thinking about the Red Sox, about the next game. It still doesn't seem real that it's over. I'm half expecting the Red Sox to find some other team to go play, but it's over. It was August 1st that I decided this team was winning the World Series. I didn't say that verbatim, but I said that "there [was] something about this Red Sox team..." This was the night that the Red Sox overcame a five-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Mariners. This was one of those games that defines seasons for teams, and there was no better example of the resiliency of this ball club than that game.

But this World Series was about the fact that no one could stop the Boston Red Sox. A 12-8, come-from-behind victory on September 6 against the Yankees was an example of that. Jon Lester beating Max Scherzer the day before a 20-run onslaught was an example of that. No matter what any team threw at the Red Sox, they were not going to be stopped.

Neither will me blogging about this. Anyone who has seen my Twitter, Facebook, or blog lately has noticed that it's been all Red Sox. There's a reason for that. This has been one of the most magical postseason runs for any team, and for the Red Sox to win the World Series at Fenway, after everything that this city has gone through this year, there's absolutely no better way to do it than that.

Cue the duckboats.

Breaking down the 2013 World Series

If you remember my postseason predictions well, you'll recall that I didn't really offer an explanation as to why the Red Sox would be crowned the 2013 World Series Champions. In fact, all I really wrote was "it's happening." While I certainly believe that to be true, here's the breakdown of the 109th Fall Classic, a rematch of the 1946, 1967, and 2004 World Series between the Red Sox and Cardinals.

Lineup
I meant to begin with the starting rotations, but the lineup affects too much in this. The Cardinals' righty-heavy rotation would lead one to believe that Daniel Nava sees a few starts for Boston, but one of the most important statistics of the postseason is that the Red Sox are 6-0 when Jonny Gomes starts in left field. Gomes hit .188 and struck out in 44% of his at-bats against Detroit, but simply put, the dude wins baseball games. I expect Red Sox manager John Farrell to stick with Gomes and rookie Xander Bogaerts, who demonstrated incredible plate discipline in his ALCS at-bats. St. Louis will be able to let RBI-machine Allen Craig DH, while the Red Sox have to lose Mike Napoli for at least a couple of games in St. Louis. (Farrell has already said that David Ortiz will play in the National League park.) The Red Sox lineup has been able to come through when they needed it most (think grand slams), but up-and-down, the Cardinals have fewer question marks.
Advantage: Cardinals

Starting Rotation
Both teams won their respective League Championship Series in six games, which means that for the most part, they have complete freedom with their pitching rotations. For the Red Sox, it will likely be Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, and Jake Peavy. The Cardinals will probably roll with Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Joe Kelly, and Lance Lynn. Both teams were also tested in their respective LCS by facing good pitching; the Cardinals went 3-1 in games started by Clayton Kershaw or Zack Greinke, while Boston was a perfect 3-0 in games started by Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander. Of the combined six wins by the two teams, four of them were decided by one run. The pitchers for each of these pennant winners went toe-to-toe with some of the game's greats, and will do so for one final series. Clay Buchholz and Jake Peavy have been less-than-stellar this postseason, and the Cardinals take the advantage here, too.
Advantage: Cardinals

Bullpen
This one may be closer than one would think, but it still goes to Boston. Between Craig Breslow, Junichi Tazawa, and Koji Uehara, the Red Sox bullpen has been absolutely untouchable this postseason. One has to wonder if the wheels are close to falling off, but if the Red Sox relievers can hold on tight for one more series, they will be an important factor at the conclusion of games. The young Cardinals bullpen, comprised of Trevor Rosenthal, Seth Maness, and Carlos Martinez, has featured a bend-don't-break attitude throughout the postseason. They have done what they needed to, but Boston's bullpen is still the better of the two.
Advantage: Red Sox

Defense
We've seen the importance of defense throughout the playoffs - Wil Myers' misplayed fly ball in Game One of the ALDS; Jose Iglesias' error in Game Six of the ALCS that set up Shane Victorino's grand slam. The addition of Xander Bogaerts at third base means that most, if not all, ground balls to the left side of the infield will be played cleanly. Sure, Stephen Drew may not hit very well, but his defense is too valuable to not have him in the lineup. The Cardinals have the best defensive catcher in baseball in Yadier Molina, but the Red Sox will still aim to run and steal throughout the series. The advantage here goes to Boston only because of home field advantage and the intricacies of playing at Fenway Park. The Red Sox have played 86 games there in 2013, while the Cardinals' projected defense has played a combined 33 games in their careers at Fenway. Twenty-five of which being part of Carlos Beltran's seven years in the American League from 1998-2004.
Advantage: Red Sox

As you can see, this World Series breaks down relatively easily. Think back to the 2004 World Series. Was there any doubt the Red Sox were going to win after completing the comeback against the Yankees. How about 2007, when Boston overcame a 3-1 series deficit against Cleveland? Just last year, the San Fransisco Giants won three consecutive NLCS games to beat these same Cardinals in seven games, and then swept the Tigers in the World Series. Neither of these 2013 World Series teams is coming in on fire, but they've been playing sound baseball and have found ways to win games. So how do I end up with the Red Sox? They're the ones that have been finding ways all season, in the most unpredictable of ways. Boston has what it takes to win a final, grueling series. So do the Cardinals, but when all's said and done, the first song of the offseason will be "Dirty Water."
Prediction: Red Sox in 6

Letter from the editor

Hi friends,

Sorry that I've been relatively lackluster with the blog this month. One of my biggest fears with this blog is that it will slowly fade out of my life and I'll post once, maybe twice a month. I'm doing everything I can to push past that and blog at least several times a month, but it's not as easy as I'd like it to be. This is by no means a hiatus post, but merely something to pass the time. We've got a World Series in Boston, and there will be a blog post about that. Season Three of House is almost done being watched, so there will be a mega update to the House Best Episodes page. There are just some things that are getting in the way of me blogging as much as I want, so I have to take care of them first. In the meantime, enjoy this absolutely perfect album by Moonlit Sailor.

Until next time,
Matt

6 months, 6 thoughts

1. It feels like it was six weeks ago, let alone six months. Then again, it also feels like it's been way more than six months. That's what 's weird with these things, that they feel so recent and yet so far away in the past at the same time. Going home to Watertown has barely felt the same - driving past Vic and seeing styrofoam cups spelling out "Watertown Strong" in the fence is something I always make sure I do before I leave. And I don't know how long that will go on for. The cups may have left, the shirts may have left the windows of stores, but that feeling, that's gotta be around for a little while longer.

2. A decent amount of time after 9/11, when I could fully grasp everything that went on, I became slightly fascinated with all of the different stories of people in the World Trade Center, those who made it, those who didn't, and everyone else involved in their own way on that Tuesday morning. The same thing happened with this, where I have a little bit of a pull towards browsing around Wikipedia and finding out little details about what happened that day. But it's always felt forbidden, as though I have to make sure no one's watching before I click around.

3. From this point on, every day is one that's on the "next year" half of 2013/2014 Marathon Mondays. (Editor's Note: Marathon Monday of 2014 is actually April 21, so there still a few days before being halfway there.) Point is, I think that everything after the first couple of weeks since the attack has been part of the healing process. People are meeting their saviors, their fellow runners or volunteers, and whatever sense of normalcy that can be returned is slowly being built back. It sucks that "normal" might not ever be the same for a lot of people, but everyone has persisted so far.

4. If you talk to anyone who was there on April 15, there's no doubt in anyone's mind that they're going to be there next year. Everyone who made it at least halfway through the marathon has automatically qualified for the 2014 race, but there will be even more people than were there this year. And I think that speaks to the pride people want to share with everyone involved in this. With everything that's happened in the past six months, everyone has to have had some source of happiness, reconcile, pride, whatever you wanna call it. And I think that there's no better way to display it than by being at the finish line in 2014.

5. As much hate as there is in the world, that we could see in just ten seconds, there's even more love. I went through both sides of this within three days, and one side has certainly won out six months later. There's nothing I can say next without tying into my next point, so...

6. One of the biggest ways that I've seen the good side of things has been through sports, especially the Red Sox and Bruins. Bringing out the first responders, the survivors, everybody involved with this has brought everyone together and made everyone closer. There's a special place in the hearts of many people for sports, but that's even bigger with all of this, and everything that's been done. We rode the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in June, and we're riding the Red Sox through the playoffs in October. As much as things have changed, there are things that we know will always be around.

4 reasons why the Red Sox won the ALDS

The Red Sox clinched a trip to the ALCS last night, beating the Rays 3-1 in Game Four, and 3-1 in the series. They will face the winner of Detroit and Oakland, who play in Game Five tomorrow night. We'll deal with the ALCS when we get there (Games One and Two are Saturday and Sunday, respectively, at Fenway), but for now, here are four reasons why the Red Sox are in their first ALCS since 2008:

1. Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino have led off for the Red Sox for most of the 2013 season, and they lead off this list, as well. The pair was simply superb during this series, going a combined 15-of-32 (.469) with 9 runs and 5 stolen bases. They were the catalysts of many a Red Sox rally, and this was no more evident than near the end of Game Four. Ellsbury went from first to third after stealing and advancing on a wild pitch, and in the same at bat, Victorino plated Ellsbury on an infield single, using his speed to beat out a throw from Yunel Escobar.

2. In the rare instances that the Red Sox weren't getting production from these two, they were able to find it from any given player in the lineup. In the first game of the series, a 12-2 Boston victory, every batter in the lineup had a hit and scored a run, only the third time in history that the feat had been accomplished. Players had their clutch moments; the loudest was David Ortiz smacking two homers off David Price, the most recent being Xander Bogaerts' 7th-inning walk to set up the reversal of one-run leads.

3. The pitching staff as a cohesive unit was reliable for maybe the first time since 2007. Lester took the ball in Game One and delivered a stellar outing. John Lackey, while his start was mediocre at best, held the lead for the Red Sox against the Rays' best starter, David Price. Buchholz labored in his six innings, but his only mistake was the game-tying home run to Evan Longoria. And last night, Jake Peavy held the Rays to one run in 5.2 innings to set up the Breslow/Tazawa/Uehara bullpen pecking order.

4. The Red Sox caught breaks. The Wil Myers missed fly ball in Game One was a big one, but between all of the borderline calls, wild pitches, and key plays, the Red Sox were far ahead of Tampa Bay in all facets of intangibles. The baseball gods were good to the Red Sox in this series, which could come as a surprise given the fact that TBS could do nothing but talk about the Rays' elimination game success in the past week. However, the Red Sox were too much for Tampa to handle, and Boston will head back to the ALCS.

Top 10 Glee songs

Despite the fact that I haven't watched consecutive episodes of Glee since the start of its second season (2011), there are still a decent number of songs that I've loved from the show. Using memory, and this nice database, here are my top ten songs from Glee.

Honorable mention: "Just The Way You Are" Yes, I'm doing this backwards, because I actually want to do this in order. Makes sense, right? Coming in just shy of the top ten is "Just The Way You Are." A theme that I found in these eleven songs is that there's a ton of emotion put into each performance, whether it be for heartwarming or heartbreaking reasons. (There may be one exception that isn't on the heart spectrum.) This is just a nice little tune that was put together well, so it gets some recognition here.

10. "Keep Holding On" This is just a good song, I really like how this sounds. It's fun to harmonize to and pretend that I'm still decent at singing, but that's really all I have to say about it.

9. "Roots Before Branches" Had I stuck with the show through the end of the third season, I would have probably ranked this higher. Having only seen it on YouTube and out of context of the entire season, this song just barely makes the cut. Really powerful song, and incredibly well done.

8. "Homeward Bound / Home" Another song that I discovered after I stopped watching Glee, but this is another song that was insanely well put together. Philip Phillip's "Home" is this upbeat, happy song, but Glee took it and completely changed that, and it sounds really good, almost like you're being teased for a faster version.

7. "Creep" This is the one song that doesn't fit into the really happy or really sad category, but it might turn out to be the most powerful on this list. The fact that Lea Michele can hit those insanely high notes without falsetto is just unreal. Seriously, that's what makes this song amazing. Just imagine how much more I love the next six songs then...unfortunately I can't find a performance video, but here's the breakup scene that leads to the song.

6. "The Only Exception" This is where it starts to get all sad and everything, with these next four songs. This is the kind of performance that made me quasi-fall in love with Rachel Berry during the first season of Glee (despite this performance coming in Season Two). The performance video also has a high amount of characters staring off into space, which is indicative of the emotional significance of this song.

5. "The Scientist" Again, I didn't see this live, but knowing that this was in the middle of all of the turmoil that every character was going through, you can tell how emotionally charged of a song this is, too. "The Scientist" is an amazing song on its own, and the cover that Glee did is amazing as well.

4. "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" Alright, I'm a total sucker for this one. It's one thousand percent the harmony at the end (3:48 in the link). This is also a great example of the video actually pushing forth a storyline, instead of just being an outlet for the storyline to break into song. That might make no sense to anyone other than me in this moment, but I'm sticking with it.

3. "No Air" This was, if I remember correctly, the first song that I loved on Glee. All the way back in Season One, this one just has some really cool harmonies for a song that I had never heard before. I remember listening to this on my iPod and being able to tease out different parts in the melodies. It's a really good song for a show that hadn't really developed an identity yet.

T-1. "Faithfully" I just couldn't keep this song off the top spot, I really couldn't. If I come up with these rankings ten times, this is probably on its own at the top probably six of those times. This just isn't one of them. This song came at the end of the first season, and was pretty much the song that set Finn and Rachel off to be what they ended up becoming. Or something like that. It's an awesome song to sing, fun to play on piano, and fun to watch. I'm telling you, six times out of ten, this is alone at the top of the list. Just not right now.

T-1. "Somebody To Love" Let it be known that this is not the Justin Bieber version. This is the Queen version, and might have been the second song I came to love on Glee. This breaks the trend in my rankings of horribly saddening songs, and ends on a positive note. It's a fun song that's really fun to sing, and is just such a classic that it was pretty much the number one contender from the moment I decided to blog about this. So, with that, "Somebody To Love" takes the top spot on my Glee best songs rankings...for now.

Predicting the 2013 MLB playoffs

Well, 2012 wasn't the year for the Red Sox, nor was it for my playoff predictions. After failing to successfully predict an LCS team, I set out this postseason to actually get one right. Hopefully many, because I'm convinced that 2013 is the year for something besides my playoff picks.

League Division Series

Red Sox vs. Indians

I don't care if you have the best record in baseball - when you're playing a team that has won 11 games in a row (assuming Cleveland beats the Rays in the wild-card game), you get scared. That being said, the only team who could stop the Red Sox this year was the Baltimore Orioles. Cleveland's pitching is no match for the best offense in baseball, and the Red Sox move on.

Athletics vs. Tigers

In a rematch of the 2012 ALDS, Oakland enters the 2013 playoffs as that team-no-one-realized-was-good. Seriously though, their oldest everyday player is Coco Crisp (33), and the only player older than him who has done anything is Bartolo Colon.  Detroit stumbles into the postseason but will prevail against the A's, relying on their strong pitching to get them to the ALCS.

Cardinals vs. Pirates

Pittsburgh makes it to the playoffs for the first time since I was ten months old, but only lasts a few games. I don't know what it is about the Cardinals, but they just win when it matters. I completely trust in everything that franchise does. One player gets hurt? Slide in his EXACT REPLACEMENT who actually performs better. (See: Pujols, Albert.) Saint Louis moves on to a third-straight NLCS on the heels of being that team-everyone-knows-is-good-and-hates-as-a-result.

Braves vs. Dodgers

This series would probably last 15 games if the MLB let it. The Braves and Dodgers (respectively) are third and fourth in the NL in OPS, first and second in ERA, second and fourth in WHIP and saves, and third and second in opponents' OPS. My gut says Los Angeles, and that's what I initially wrote down. In by far the hardest series to predict, I stand by my decision to put the Dodgers in the NCLS.

League Championship Series
Red Sox vs. Tigers
Boston lost the season series to Detroit 4-3, but took home a 2-1 advantage in the more recent series, including a 20-4 victory, and handing Max Scherzer his second loss of the season. Detroit, however, is still good. So good that they were the favorites to come out of the American League in the preseason. So good that their lineup depth and pitching rotation make them an easy pick to move on. But this Red Sox team has what it takes to win a brutally tough series, and that's what this will be. No win will come easily as there are spectacular pitching matchups up and down this series. Home field will help Boston, who is in the playoffs for the first time since being swept by the Angels in 2009. After a week-long battle, Boston handles the righty-heavy rotation of the Tigers, and returns to the World Series.

Cardinals vs. Dodgers
The Dodgers are a flashy team, and have certainly drawn their fair share of media hype this summer. It's been deserving, but the Cardinals have stayed in front of an extremely competitive NL Central for the majority of the second half of the season. These teams are similar in that they will get production from the players they can expect it from. Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw won't throw stinkers in this series. But the difference between these two teams is that one team can get production from a slew of players that one normally wouldn't ask for, and that team is the St. Louis Cardinals. When players such as Matt Adams and Joe Kelly perform as they have this season, you win games. The Cardinals win enough to move on to a rematch of the 2004 World Series.

World Series
Red Sox vs. Cardinals
It's happening.

No, seriously, that's all I'm "officially" putting for my explanation of my World Series pick. While this has certainly been an MLB playoff predictions post, it has also served as a "The Red Sox are winning the World Series" post. It's the Jonny Gomes factor. He epitomizes everything that the 2004 team stood for. The beard, the punting the helmet, that time where he ate ice during a postgame interview...the guy is a winner. He makes winning happen on any team he is on. This team has what it takes to win the World Series, and will go through any team it faces to do so. Boston takes home the World Series in one of the most exciting playoffs in recent memory.

10 similarities between freshman and senior years

Sophomore year, I posted about the differences between freshman and sophomore years. I had full intent to blog about the differences between freshman and senior years, but after consideration, I think it'd be more fun to talk about some similarities. Here are ten of them:

1. I'm still taking classes that make me blog. You can go back to the spring of 2011 and see how much philosophy I blogged, and you can go back in the previous three weeks and see how much I've been blogging about my Gender & Sexuality Studies class. I think Philosophy will win out as my favorite class ever, but to know that I can still blog about classes is fun.

2. I'm still broadcasting basketball. I only started with a few games freshman year, but the fact that this is one of the only things I've done for all four years is pretty exciting. It's awesome to get involved in stuff as a first-year, and it's also awesome when those things are still part of your life senior year.

3. I have the same friends. I think. By "same friends" I mean the people I became really close with freshman year, and either live with them now, or are still very close to them, in different and unique ways. Sure, there was that weeding out process over the first two or three weeks, but I think that it's awesome that I've had a fairly reliable group of friends.

4. I still have the same [expletive] laptop. This would have been an okay thing if I was blogging anytime before the start of this year, but I think my laptop sensed that it was starting its fourth year, and promptly started being terrible at being a laptop. I'd love to say more about this, but I only have 8% left and my laptop is about to shut down on me. More to come later......

5. I still have a Razor scooter. I say "a" and not "my" because the red scooter I had for a few years finally broke, so I picked up a green one that my grandparents had lying around there house from when I was like seven. So I still have an awesome scooter to ride around, which is mega fun.

6. I'm still a Math major. This may come as a surprise to no one, but that fact that I'm in the small group of people who came in with a major and didn't change it also seems cool. Sure, I picked up Psychology along the way, but Math has been there since day one, and will be my primary degree.

7. I still blog. Sure, maybe not as often, and maybe about way different (and possibly deeper) stuff, but the fact that I kept this up and haven't gone for a hiatus is something that I'm proud of. I could come to learn that no one reads this and I would keep doing it.

8. The Party Animals poster tradition is still going strong. I don't really remember how this whole thing started freshman year - I mighta just got the idea and went with it, because I had the poster first. (Since it's an awesome poster, naturally.) Now it's taken on a personality of its own, and will definitely find some space on the walls of future places I occupy.

9. Other traditions have continued on, too. The first is Secret Santa that all of us do, which is a lot of fun, and there's an end-of-semester tradition that I'll leave implicit until I blog about it later this year. Because I know I'm going to, and I know that it will secretly have some of the strongest meaning for me to represent my four years at Stonehill.

10. This place is still awesome. I'm venturing a little away from this particular blog post, and instead towards the general idea of Stonehill and what it means to me, but I'm fine with that. One thing that I know hasn't changed is what I think of this place. There really is something special about being here, and it has presented itself in many shapes and forms over the last 3+ years. I can already tell that there will be hard blog posts to write, especially my fourth and final end-of-a-Stonehill-year blog post, days before graduation. But there's still some work to do before that.

There is no anything

Yes, yes, it's been too long since I've blogged. I'll get to the necessary stuff later this week, but it's time for an impromptu post. All I have is one quick line of thought, and that's that. (I hesitate to use "argument" because this is more a series of leading questions, a la Socrates, instead of an argument.)

So. Think about your [______]. I intentionally leave this blank to demonstrate the generality of this, but when I first began constructing this point (important word choice foreshadowing), I had religion in mind. Use gender, use morality, use whatever you want, as long as it has its own naming system. I started with religion because it has the most recognizable terms - Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. Now. Finish this sentence: "I am (a) [______]." I am Catholic, I am a Mormon, I am Hindu, I am atheist, whatever it is, you can fill it in. Think of someone else who is the same as you in this regard. If you're Catholic, think of another Catholic. Do you both share exactly the same set of [whatever you think comprises religion]? Do you both have the exact same religious beliefs about every single thing there is to have a religious belief about? My guess is not. There's nothing wrong with that; this is in fact my point, that no two religions are alike. By religions, I mean my religion and your religion, not Christianity and Buddhism. So then what does it mean for you to be [______]? For someone else? Probably different things. There are a large enough number of variables that "religion" differs from person to person. So much so that given one other variable, people, that "religion" doesn't even really exist as such. You can have beliefs about religion, you can practice religion, but you call yourself a [______] only because that's what everyone else would call it. By deconstructing (see: previous parenthetical foreshadowing) religion based on language, we can effectively erase it as such. Now, the sentence becomes "My religion is my religion." It's not called the same as anyone else's because it's not the same as anyone else's.

So, back to my general claim. We can deconstruct anything in this way. My gender, however masculine/feminine you want to claim it is, is different from yours. Different from my friends, from my parents, from my sister, and different from anyone else. Because we can construct an infinite amount of genders, we can essentially remove gender. Because we can construct an infinite amount of religions, we can essentially remove religion. (And now, for the real mind-blowing part.) Because we can construct an infinite amount of deconstruction, there is no deconstruction. BOOM!

If you have any thoughts about this, please leave comments below! It's not often I ask for comments, but this is a really fascinating line of thought to me, and I want to see what you all think. Thanks for reading!

Privilege is invisible to those who have it/The Cave

For starters, I love songs that have two parts to the name ("Beth/Rest" and "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" are the two I'm thinking of). So, I'll do (what I believe to be) my first blog post as such. "Privilege is invisible to those who have it." That's a quite from (none other than) one of my Gender Studies readings. And it's a really cool quote, and also incredibly true. As cool/true as the other phrase from Gender Studies that I've blogged about. Contextually, this was spoken by a white male, who has the most privilege out of all of the categories of race/gender. Out of context, this seems true everywhere. I wish I had more to say about this, and I might have had more, had I blogged about this last week when I first read it. Alas. It's a cool quote, so think about it and think about how it relates to your life.

Now, for The Cave. This is, on a very minute level, relevant to what I just talked about. Doesn't really have anything to do with privilege, though - more for the notion that what feels natural may just be invisible. When I'm referring to The Cave here, I mean Plato's. (Editor's Note: "The Cave," by Mumford & Sons, seems to be an allusion to Plato's Cave, which makes the song all that better. Check it out here.) You can read the allegory here, but in an attempt to briefly explain it, I will say that that which seems to be our reality may be the furthest thing from it. There's a quote out there that reads something like "We don't know who invented water, but we know it wasn't the fish." How can the fish invent water if that's what the fish has been living in? The fish can only know what water is when the fish realizes what water isn't. It's a really cool line of thought. I've extended this idea to myself in thinking about a scene from Anger Management, which I've posted below. To answer the question, "Who are you?," I would now answer, that which I am not.