beyond the green

Well, folks, it happened. The first snow of the year.

Last year at this time I was dealing with lots of excited out-of-state people who either

a. had never seen snow before

b. had seen snow, but didn’t get it on a regular basis.

This year, those people were not so excited about the first snow, knowing that it brings lots of cold, wet days. Last winter we had the first snow day in over 30 years. Since Bethel is a residential campus, the only thing that keeps classes from meeting is if the professor can’t get to campus. Since a lot of professors live within walking distance, this doesn’t happen often.

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The annual Halloween dance and costume contest was held this past weekend.  The dance was absolutely packed – it seemed like all of campus was there having a good time!  And the costume contest was full of creativity and flat-out brilliance.  From Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat to Beatles’ Songs to A Formal Apology to Tetris, everyone that I saw put lots of time and effort into their costumes.  My mod dressed as a flock of birds.  I was an owl, and my modmates each represented a canary, a swan, a blue-footed booby, a peacock, a parrot, a penguin, and a flamingo.  We spent nearly a week on our costumes, sewing tutus and jazzing them up with feathers, sequins, or glitter glue.  It was a great way to exercise our creativity and flair for arts and crafts as well as a mod bonding activity.

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I just checked the extended forecast. No temperatures above 70º for a while. Or at least until I check it again tomorrow morning and it’s completely changed. And again by the time I leave my 9 o’clock class and go to lunch. I’ll be ok though, my mom taught me to layer my clothing: thermal T, longsleeve T, zip-up hoodie, peacoat. Thanks mom.

If you couldn’t guess, I’m from the south.

I know what you’re thinking, “Only three blogs in and he’s already talking about the weather…” But give me a chance here. It’s called an introduction, and apparently it’s the appropriate way to lead into the main point of the text. Future Lit Studies majors take note.

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This might be a strange title for a post….I have a confession to make, I love old people. Now perhaps that’s not a politically correct way to say it, but I must confess, I love spending time with retirees. I was extremely close to my grandmother, Anna Margret, and since her death in 2006, I have greatly missed her love, support, guidance and wisdom. It’s amazing how much wisdom and how many stories folks pick up by the time they’re 70 or 80. In addition, retirees often have a different perspective on life and a keen sense of what really matters.

When in college you’re largely surrounded by other college students who may be at the most three or four years older than you. It’s easy to spend an entire week on campus attending class, but interacting largely just with other students. Over the last couple months I have realized that there are many opportunities to get to know some fantastic new folks who have stories and wisdom galore to share. And best of all, those same folks are just as interested in hearing my stories and getting to know me!

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So…of course college is fun. Lots of freedom, time with friends, good schedules, fun courses, etc. But one thing about college that you don’t always think about is the down time. Now with your down time you can choose to do one of two things be productive (aka doing homework) or being unproductive. Now more likely than not, if you really have to think about the choice, you will choose unproductive. With this time there are many things to get addicted too. My latest have been tetris battle, stumble upon and pintrest.

Now what is interesting is that all students sort of get hooked on the same thing all at the same time. My friend introduced me to stumble upon, soon all of our friends were stumbling, and then we saw lots of other people were too. Same with games like tetris or cityville. Last year with cityville we would have lunch conversations asking each other to please send us a permit or crops or etc. Now some of you might say wow. That’s pathetic. But really it is a really good way to releive stress. Which trust me, at times there will be lots of it. Now it sometimes will be a waste of time and really sometimes you catch yourself and are like I really should be doing homework. But in all honesty, using the word addiction or unproductive is very loose and not completely descriptive. I am sure every one can admit to needing to do something….well….um….brain numbing or thoughtless. Especially after hours and hours of classes or tests. You need that me time.

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