The Catsup Post

Catsup, of course, being pronounced "catch-up".

Cruise Chronicles 4 marked the start of a vast downward spiral for my work ethic last March, a spiral that ended in a 1.7 semester GPA and some drastic changes to my studies.

Before you get out of shape - because, obviously, my school career is of utmost importance to you - I'm still here at Samford, and I hit Dean's List last semester.

However, 2011 was a heck of a year for so many reasons.  First and foremost, I will have been dating the girl of my dreams for eleven months come the sixth of this month.  Herein, you may be able to begin speculating what caused my half-semester-long absence from my schooling.

I was enraptured, entranced, absolutely crazy out of my mind trying to put words and meaning to the fact that I was, indeed, in love.  From about the first of March until the end of spring break, I could not put a million words, let alone two or three, to what I was feeling.  I think, deep down, I knew, but it took a lot of coercing - mostly from Amy - for me to come to terms with the fact that I had a huge, major crush on the girl that once sat in front of me in CP class.

Well, it was an interesting April.  We began trying to work out our relationship; on April 6 we became Facebook official.  Just like any young relationship, there was a lot of growing and adjusting early on.  My adjusting included putting school on the back burner.

Exams came and went, and we had to say good-bye for the summer.  Amy was off to Costa Rica for a seven-week research project, while I returned home and began to look for a job.

After three days of hard-core searching near the end of  May, I found myself that job.  I was offered a job at the Exxon Tigermarket convenience store practically the moment I walked in.  What followed was two and a half months of gas, hot dogs, and cigarettes (only consuming the first two, but selling all three) and a steady income.

In midst of all the work, I had little time for fun.  I think I was able to get to a couple of different pool parties in Hendersonville over the summer, and I did take an overnighter to Alabama to visit Amy and watch the premiere of the final Harry Potter movie.  Five hours of driving, three hours of sleep (maybe) and another long drive home ended in a seven-hour work shift in which I did my job probably only half as well as I should have.  I survived, though, and life went on.

Sometime during the summer, I made the decision that in order to get through my schoolwork and do so successfully, the Facebook had to go.  And go it did.  With the exception of Fall Break and Thanksgiving (and maybe once to check it hadn't completely been erased), I was completely Facebook-less last semester.  The results showed; as I mentioned, my 3.54 GPA last semester was good enough for Dean's List and raised my cumulative GPA to 3.0.

And thus the Semester of Hard Work and No Social Life began.  Okay, I over-dramatize, but it seems like I had no social life sometimes.  The countless study dates with Amy kept time rolling and before we knew it we had been dating for five, six, seven months.  I had a great class load.  Even the boring gen-ed classes were entertaining enough.  I wrote one, sometimes two stories a week for the Samford Crimson (see my constantly growing portfolio here).  My primary concerns were for myself and my girlfriend, and it hurts me to say I became distant from a lot of other people that were once important to me.  We'll get to that in a while, but let's get the six-week interim between semesters.

I was not able to retain my Tigermarket job for the winter break, so I generally sat around the house throughout January.  I did have an incredibly epic trip the week after Christmas.  I went with three other members and two adult leaders of my scout troop, as well as two scouts and an adult from South Dakota, to Florida Sea Base in the Keys.  For a week, we lived on island time, with our only clocks being the sun and tides.  It was a really relaxing and fun week, certainly a lifetime experience that I will never forget.

Shortly after this, the monstrosity known as Step Sing took over my life.  I arranged the music for Gamma Sigma Sigma and AAA's show "User Friendly", based on the premise of the movie Tron: Legacy.

It's a love-hate relationship, me and Step Sing.  At times I want nothing to do with it, at other times I am beyond thankful for the opportunity I had.  Near the end, most of the hate was directed at procedure and contest results with which I strongly disagreed.  All in all, the love aspect came out on top.

After Step Sing, the theme of my life quickly became Reconnect.  For the past three weeks, I've been trying to resurrect my social life.  The best part of it all is that I'm balancing work with that now.  I've still got a lot of night-before-they're-due assignments, but I crack down on studying when I need to and hang out when I don't.  I've been getting into routines, too.  I clean the room every Friday, go to class during the week and do a combination of working, hanging out, eating and sleeping the rest of the time.  It's worked so far this semester.

Tomorrow, I head for the mountains of North Carolina to support the Samford basketball teams as they seek to dominate the Southern Conference.  Not having much schoolwork, you might be able to expect a post or two with details.  If not, I'll be back blogging tomorrow, next week, next month or, you know, whenever.

Oh yeah, that's one more thing.  I'm restructuring CUBS.  And by restructuring, I mean taking away all structure and just doing what I do: write.  Whenever I have time and/or feel motivated, I'll write on this blog.  And it's probably a safe bet to say I won't write this much in a post very often.

Lastly, scientists reported today that the sky is green, roses are blue and violets are, in fact, polka-dot.

Just checking to see if you were still reading.

-Clayton

Back to school, and this time, I'm jumping right in.

Well, I'm a second-semester freshman now. I had my first day of classes (and it was a full day) today, so the semester's already off to a rolling start. In 26 hours back, I've already

• Watched football with some great friends.
• Eaten three cafeteria meals.
• Reconnected with many, many people.
• Unpacked, completely.
• Made a CD exchange.
• Participated in a Rave.
• Lent a book.
• Attended three classes.
• Consumed copious amounts of caffeinated beverages.
• Requested three transcripts
• Purchased two books
• Prioritized.

I'm really excited about that last one. I've got a list going of things I need to do today (Should be headed to dinner in about ten minutes, so I've gotta hurry up writing this blog entry), and a list of "To Do" things in my free time. I'm hoping I can keep this up past day one, but a start is better than I've done in past semesters, both of college and high school (Middle and elementary schools too, for that matter).

Today started with a 7:50-ish wake up call. After showering, I found myself eating breakfast in the caf for the first time since September, and made it with ample time to spare to my CA class. I think I'm going to find it much less challenging than my last attempt at CA 102. My teacher is one of those that will sap up every last second of class time, though. Being a 9:15er, that will be a little tough for me. But I'll deal with it. After about a 75-minute break, I found myself right back in the same classroom for CP. It'll take another class to get a good feel for the class, but I like the literature we're going to be reading. After lunch, I got a really great price on one of my CP books, and comparison shopped for several others. Then for the 3:00 class. Ugh. But it's JMC, and it's my best bet for something so late. I shudder to think about CA at 3. Or CA at anytime for that matter, but I digress.

Anyway, the primary reason I'm writing this blog this afternoon is that one of my primary assignments in my JMC class is: writing a blog! Right up my alley, right? Chances are it won't be located here, but I might just use this one as much or more frequently from now on. I'll keep all six of you that might ever read this (if you are one of the lucky few, do leave a comment and let me know what's up with you! Or, have an idea of what I should blog about? Tell me!) posted as to where you might find this new, professional-like blog once it is created.

Of course, I would be remiss not to mention the big sports news of the day (Other than Jay "Ouch, that really hurt" Cutler), and that is Carson Palmer wanting out of Cincinnati. Hey, the Titans are looking for a new QB. One stipulation, Carson, you gotta switch your number back to the 3 you wore at USC (Incidentally, that's where Coach Fisher played his college ball, if you'll remember). Ain't nobody gonna take Air McNair's number. That's sacred. Well, football sacred at least.

Lastly, on the terrorist attacks in Moscow today, be in prayer for the family of those affected, and the Russian government as they try to deal with an unspeakable tragedy.

Well, that's it. I'll keep you posted on the new blog, and, in case you were the wondering, I'm pulling for the Packers to win the Super Bowl, although I have a feeling I'll be disappointed. Sorely disappointed.

-c

"Can you teach me how to dance real slow?"

Football isn't really slow, now, is it?

NFL picks are coming up, with our first one being Saturday's prognostication for the August 8 hall of fame game.

I'll be posting weekly blogs up, as well as emails to those I know and ask for them. Keep tuned.

Preseason weeks, while I'm getting back in the flow (it's been a season or so since I've done picks), will be one division from each conference (most likely do North one week, South another, etc). I'll do every regular season game though, and all of the postseason.

Get ready for some FOOTBALL!!!!

YouTube

So, recently, I’ve been spending ungodly amounts of time (mostly after 10pm) on the famous video sharing website YouTube (you know, Broadcast yourself and all that crap).

Well, I’ve come across some very funny, musical, and otherwise just pretty darn good videos in my recent youtube binges.

Among them would include the absolutely fabulous Meekakitty, whose “I hate sporks!” video appears in the “Clayton striped polo urinal collection” page of http://clayton4ever.tk/. I’m officially a big fan of Tessa (heck, I “like” her on facebook, that’s gotta mean something) and watched all of the 142 videos she’s posted in her time on YouTube. She’s really random, quirky, and fun, something I feel I can relate to. So, check out her channel. She just did a phenomenal music vid for a rather catchy song, that I’ve probably watched five times since she posted it two days ago (yes, I have no life. Ha.)

The next youtube venture I took was exploring mashups of Katy Perry’s California Gurls (great song btw) and Ke$ha’s TiK ToK (another great song). If you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, they’re pretty much exactly the same song, with a couple of tune differences and different lyrics. Anywho, about the second or third vid I came across was a group of six girls doing an acapella mashup. If you know me, you know that I’m a sucker for three- and four- part harmonies (and pretty girls :P), so I was really impressed. Anyway, these are the Cimorelli sisters, and they’ve got a little album out on iTunes and such. Check ‘em out, they’re pretty cool.

Lastly, several several months ago I started watching A Very Potter Musical, and finished up the other night before watching Act One Part One of the Sequel. Last night, I watched the entire rest of AVPS, and I must say, it was quite enjoyable. WARNING: This play would totally be rated PG-13, possibly even R with its language. So you little five year olds trolling the internet, this one isn’t for you. (as an aside, when I was five, I had no peers trolling the internet, much less knowing what it was.)

Anyway, there’s my YouTube ventures recently. Blogs about Michael Crawford, Glee MashUps, and possibly more coming later tonight. Oh, and football. Ha.

I'm having babies!

That title caught your attention, didn't it? (teehee). The babies I'm referring to are in the nest on my windowsill. The nest and eggs had been sitting there for about two weeks; momma robin had been hanging around, so I knew the eggs would hatch. Today went up to put on some jeans so I could mow the yard, looked out the window, and there's a baby robin. Ran down and told dad, came back up after posting it on facebook (I named the bird Christopher), and when I got upstairs, a second egg was hatching! Decided to name that bird Larry, and last time I checked, he's still covered by eggshell, but out of the egg. Waiting for the third and final one to hatch. More will come on this blog, including pictures and stories of my growing babies.

-cth