My Father's Brother

I am not, in fact, referring to my Uncle Dave, although he does indeed fit that description. I am, through a different definition of brotherhood, referring to myself.

The Final Degree of Initiation for ΜΚΥ was Sunday morning, and I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I was a pledge. I say "was" because, as is implied by the "final" in "Final Degree of Initiation," I have "finally" been initiated, and am now a Brother! A Brother of the Fraternity that my father helped to found in 1978, which thus would make me, in a sort of esoteric sense, my father's brother. Or more specifically, my father's Brother.

And pretty much the whole of the Brotherhood went to the Waterfront afterwards to have a good lunch at Fuddrucker's. It was my first time there, and it was really good food. So that's awesome.

Sadly, my "Big Brother" Kevin was recovering from having recently been ill, so though he attended the ceremony, he opted not to join us for lunch. Oh, well. Hopefully he'll get better soon.

Panther football: What more can I say? After a long Friday, I slept through the first half of the Rutgers game Saturday, then I got up, did some things, ate, and proceeded to watch the last seven minutes. And what a seven minutes they were! Once again, a spectacular game-winning pass to the endzone is turned into what ultimately was a spectacular game-losing penalty for offensive pass interference. But if you look at some of the injured players and redshirts sitting out this season, things are looking up, I'd say. Just not this season. Oh, well.

Exams: All but one midterm is now in the books. Friday 09 November was my ChE exam. Since our professor has been out presenting at conferences and our TA has been lecturing in his absence, I got the score back but not the actual exam. I got a 97%, which is really good, and even though I can't be certain where my mistakes were, I'm pretty sure my hunches aren't far from the truth.

Friday 16 November was my Diff. Eq. exam. And unlike the last exam, this one literally was the practice test with different numbers. With the exception of one fraction that everyone seemed to have trouble expanding, the test was easy as pie. Now, the jury's out on exactly which kind of pie is easiest, as we're still waiting for figures from the latest experiment to be calculated. But it was definitely as easy as pumpkin pie, if not apple.

All I have left is an OChem exam on Wednesday 28 November, which, I vow, will go much better than the previous one. And I can say that with confidence because I actually do know most of the material now. That last one was just an unfortunate combination of everything bad all at once. I also have to give a presentation in ChE Lab on Thursday 06 December, but it's only five minutes, and my part isn't very technical in nature. Then I have one final each day from 11 through 13 December, then I'm off until 07 January 2008. Whoa, that'll feel nice.

Thanksgiving: I'm actually quite excited for the holiday this year. I think this will be one of my most thankful Thanksgivings in recent memory, simply because it will be a welcome break from what is often a monotony of work and labs and exams and rehearsals. Granted, my break is cut short because I have to be back for the Pitt football game on Saturday, but I'll be fine. I'll get to enjoy myself both in Girard and in Pittsburgh.

For those of you wondering, I'm leaving Oakland on Tuesday evening after choir rehearsal, spending Tuesday night at Jana and Richard's house, and leaving with them first thing Wednesday morning. It looks as though I'll be with my dad's side of the family on Friday, which is closer to Pittsburgh, as I'll have to return early Friday evening.

Christmas: There are only 37 days left. Are you ready?

Obviously, I'm not. But, um, I might actually have a bit of a list this year! I have taken note of a few things that I could actually use! So for those of you who ask me year after year, "What do you want for Christmas?" and are tired of the same old "I dunno" response, you may well be surprised when you ask me this time around.

Granted, my list is at three items right now, and I'm sure I have more relatives than that, so... good luck. I think I'll hold off on announcing my list until I can think of more items, or sometime around the end of classes (07 December).

Getting older: As if my own departure for college weren't enough, now we're starting to have to deal with Laurel's. It's exciting, but as if the paradigm shift from "I'm a kid, woohoo!" to "Ohmigosh, I'm growing up" wasn't enough stress on the system, I am now shifting further to "Ohmigosh, we're growing up!" Apparently, seeing people younger than you reaching milestones you've already reached makes you feel old; I don't know.

But sombre as the feeling can be from time to time, I do find it exhilarating. Being the oldest of the "actual" cousins of the Cousin Club, you'd think I'd have felt this more often by now whilst watching my cousins grow up, but there's just something about the leap to college that is much more significant. Hmm... how about the nascent stages of adulthood? Yeah, that's probably it...

Anyway, since you all liked responding to the last time I mentioned getting older, what do you "old people" think about this? When did you first come to the realization that reliving past memories vicariously through those younger than you gives you a weird feeling? Does me talking about my first coming to this realization make you feel old now?

...

I know that I've got more to write on life in general, as I've been pondering a great deal of things lately, but I'm getting a bit weary of writing this, as I'm sure you may well be of reading this. Besides, I have hardly any schoolwork to speak of this week (or rather this next day and a half), so I should be able to post again.

But all is well, life is good, and I'm thankful for that! I'm excited to see all of my relatives for the holiday. Bye.

Random tangent: It is a well-known fact that spinners spin, heaters heat, and other things of that nature. It so follows that panthers panth and otters ott. Discuss the implications these findings have on society as we know it today.