Übersheep

Isn’t this cool? Haha.

Sorry to keep all of you waiting… it’s 2:30am on a Saturday night and I’m bored out of my mind. I slept in this morning, so I’m not tired yet and my roommate is asleep making rather odd noises (eugh.)

I still don’t like him, Mom.

Anyway, class has begun to pick up to a relatively normal rate. I’ve got pretty much daily calculus homework along with week-long projects from Computer Science and papers to write for Perspectives in Culture. Notes and reading for Sociology.

It’s nice to hear what’s going on back home. I enjoy hearing the stories and all that, so feel free to bug me with those! My headaches have mostly stopped, which is good. Um… what else. I don’t know, life has begun to settle down into a pattern and the dorm feels a lot more like a home now. I enjoy being on my own because of the independance (but don’t worry, I miss home, too.)

Those that know me remember me loving freedom and all of that. Having a job, having a car, being an adult. It’s nice for that finally to be real.

The food is really nice here, actually. Daily meals of a bunch of different things and it’s mostly tastey. Rice is usually skippable, stir fry is amazing.

I miss driving. Which reminds me, Mom. Yeah, go ahead and use the Camry. It’s free to be lent to whomever needs it while I’m gone. Two rules: when I’m in Holland, I get it. And, when I left, it was full on gas. It should be when I get back. Especially because of all this hurricane business. Keri says gas got to $6.00 in Saginaw.

Want an awkward story? I was doing laundry last weekend. When I do laundry, I am in pajamas because I want to wash everything. Little do I know a girl from West Ottawa is there with a bunch of her friends. While moving my stuff from the washer to the dryer (did I spell that correctly?) I notice a lone article of clothing still in the dryer I’m loading into. I take it out, and after a second or two’s inspection notice it’s the girl next to me’s panties. (You ladyfolk’s underwear is too confusing nowadays.) Yeah, the girl from WO’s. She grabs them out of my hands and shoots me a horribly angry look. I stuff my clothes in the dryer and high-tail it out of there. Holy cow was it embarrassing, though.

Hope it gave you a laugh. Roommate just made another really annoying noise (like chewing gum with you mouth open or something.. for like a minute straight. >_<) I’m going to go and hope I’m tired enough to sleep. Good night, Holland and Saginaw.

I spent the majority of last night rolling around in an uncomfortable bed awake due to a headache.

This is the second time that’s happening. I don’t know why.

Anyway, it’s Keewenaw Day up here. So we have no classes after 12:00. Oh, what’s that, I don’t have any classes earlier than that? Oh, well no class for me! Hahaha. I’ll have to find something entertaining to do this weekend because homework oddly dropped off yesterday. We had a speaker from IBM talk to us in Exp. Comp. (our first session of it, too…), learned how to submit files to our Prof in Comp. Sci. and had a basic skills test in Calculus.

FYI Mom, I can probably get on Skype sometime this weekend. I’ll (try to, hopefully you pick up. :P) call you. Love you,

-Max

I just received the care package. Don’t I feel like an ass?

Thank you all for the snack reserve. I actually just ran out last night (I’m a pig.) The letter from SYSCO announced I was an honorable mention, and I received a check for $250. I’m not sure what I can spend that on, but I’m probably going to buy Office with it.

The bowls are cute, Maggie. Thanks. (They’re never getting used. :P)

And now that I think of it, I don’t remember emailing Grandma back about my address. I do remember doing that because I didn’t want to make people think I needed a care package that soon after getting here. I don’t want to be greedy. But here it is, just in case:

Max Mills

227 Douglass Houghton Hall

1700 Townsend Dr.

Houghton, MI 49931

Thanks so much, everyone. I love you all.

Okay, I hate to be rude, but we need to take care of a few little house-keeping rules.

I am at college. Therefore, I have the following things going on: class, a social life, upkeep of my dorm, class, sleeping, class. Oh, and homework. Therefore, I don’t have time to write on my blog every day, or call home daily. I’m sorry that you miss me. I miss everyone at home, too. Trust me, I do. But I’m trying to make both parties a little more independant of each other because I’m gone for months at a time… this isn’t Camp CAEN and I won’t be home in two weeks.

I will make an effort to post more often. But this is the first week of class and I need to focus on that. I need to make an effort to live on my own. College is only the beginning of real life. Please don’t email me worrying if I haven’t posted here in two days. Trust me, I see you and I’m not ignoring you. I’m just busy.

Now, in other news, it is the first week of classes and they are going like a college freshman would expect to see college classes. They’re busy, and plenty more demanding than high school ever was. I have a basic skills exam in Calc today at 6:00pm. Oh, and it’s worth 10% of my final grade. Isn’t that nice?

Food is nice, though it’s hard to fit in lunch in my schedule. I’m on my hour break between Sociology and Computer Science. I might need to go to the Campus Bookstore and buy Microsoft Office for Mac, because my profs are handing out word documents and I can’t read them. There goes $140. And $60 for the Sociology book because my schedule changed. Yay for $200 down already.

I really wish I had a car that I don’t have to worry about. Walmart is a 3-4 mile hike uphill, and then another one back downhill. That’s a little far to grab snacks (especially a 12-pack of soda…) so it’s kind of inconvenient.

Laundry is really easy. Cheap, too. It was never this cheap at UoM. Washing clothes is free, and drying them takes $0.50 at the most. I expected more. Oh, and Maggie, that dollar store detergent leaks. The cap is broken or something. It leaked all over the ground near the drier (dryer?), the table I was folding clothes on, and the hamper I put the bottle in for storage. That was a really fun mess to clean up…

Also, did you know this weekend it was hotter in Houghton, MI than it was in Las Angeles, CA and Las Vegas? That made me kind of angry… because we have zero AC and all the fan does is blow hot air in your face. At least my lectures are in an air-conditioned room. Makes you actually want to attend class.

I’m off to lunch, now. Best of luck to everyone down in Tulipville.

I spent the majority of last night downstairs in DHH’s community room playing card games and eating junk food. One of my friends, Emily, has a laptop that was portable enough to take anywhere.

I asked her what it was, and she responded the EeePC. It uses Linux (sorry!) but a specially programmed one that fits perfectly on the EeePC’s small hard drive, and is configured for internet usage, instant messaging, and word processing.

…Hey, wait. Who in my family does that sound like? Oh, right! Maggie, who’s using Dad’s computer. For the incredibly small price of $380ish, Dad can have his computer back, and Maggie gets something just cute as a button.

I’m thinking about investing in one myself to take to class save notes for my D&D campaign, etc., etc. Because believe it or not, my laptop is fairly well trapped on my desk by all the cables I need to have it connected to: Video (using my TV as a second monitor), Ethernet (no wireless in the dorms), Audio (speakers from the TV), Mouse, and Power. I need to find a portable way to do that… it’s very cramped.

Anyway, link if you are interested: CLICK!

So, I’ve figured out that food and drink are two of the most important things to have around Dorms. Since there wasn’t much else to do today, I went on a search of how to make food for myself when the cafeteria is closed.

I didn’t do too well…

First of all, ramen! How the heck are you supposed to cook ramen in a microwave? I filled up a bowl with water and plopped the brick of ramen noodle in the water, stuck it in the microwave and… “how long am I supposed to cook it for?” No one across the hall knew, so I set it on for two minutes.

Not even close. Another two minutes. And at least there’s steam rising off the water, so I consider it done. I pour the flavor package in and stir with a fork, let it cool for a minute or two, and take a bite. It’s underdone, which is to be expected, but completely unflavored. So I’ve learned a few things: use less water if I can, pour the flavor in first, and stir more often. OR go buy a pot and use the stove downstairs.

Nextly, I need to go buy some drinks. Since… I forgot to, at home. And I’m living off the vending machine downstairs for $1.25 a bottle.

Physicality and How I’m Bad at it

There’s a lot of stuff in Houghton. Did you know all of it is a mile away? And furthermore, did you know I’m incredibly out of shape?

It’s good, though. I’m doing a whole bunch of walking. And on top of that, my RA is an outdoors-y person and likes to play frisbee and hockey (broomball is the popular non-professional sport.) We spent an hour today playing Ultimate Frisbee (basically football+frisbee) and my feet are filthy and sore. I should not be so out of shape by the time we’re out of class in Thanksgiving or Christmas.

So today was move-in day at MTU. I’ve spent the last two days (ten hours total) moving up here and getting moved in. A lot of work. Lots of stuff has happened, too:

• Walked to Little Ceasers and back to get pizza. It’s on the opposite side of town… so probably 2.5 miles walking total.
• Realized that 12 and 14′ cables are not long enough. I’m connected to the internet through a nearly taught cord. Hope no one trips.
• Special “halogen” bulbs are not very secure. I was setting up my lamp, and it fell out, shattering on the carpet. Really lovely… I was the kid who had a vacuum in my room at 10:45pm, waking everyone up.
• Missed dinner in DHH (my dorm), then walked over to Wadsworth (another dorm) and just missed that, then walked over to McNair (a very far away dorm) and missed that, but would’ve made it if we went there first like we talked about.

I guess that’s all that really happened, though. I’m going to be sleeping in tomorrow, because I don’t have anything important going on until like 6:30. I love orientation week.

PS: Mike! Come over here. I’m at 227, just below you.

I guess that’s all the major

We went to Renfest yesterday. It was fun, and I got a costume! Keri and her friend Connie helped pick it out. I’m a poet. With a silly hat. With a silly feather.

Keri got a belt of really noisy coins. She corrects me here, “Coin Belt. They’re. Always noisy.”

Connie (and Keri, actually) got a tail. They’re lulzy, ’cause they are such good opportunities for innuendoish jokes.

Connie’s boyfriend got a kilt and a whole bunch of drinks throughout the day. Whee~ We haven’t seen the kilt yet, though I suspect Connie did. ;D That’s all for now. More when I get back tomorrow (hopefully lateish tomorrow.)

I’m at Keri’s house until the 18th. Which makes me happy because. I love her.

So I probably won’t be reachable until later. I suppose you can call me if it’s important.

THEN.

College packing. Day one: get stuff together from my list. Two: Buy stuff I don’t have. Three: Pack stuff I have that isn’t on the list. Four: Leave! Then I’m gone from Holland until Christmas.

…That is crazy. :/ Later.