Life Goes On

This last (half)week is in the running for worst of the year… already. There must be a song out there that illustrates how I feel right now. When I’m having a bad day, I always think of the book “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judith Viorst. Alexander has a series of awful things happen to him in one day. As I recall, he gets gum stuck in his hair, has to visit the dentist and had to face a number of other horrible things. In the end, he decides the best thing to do is move to Australia. I’m not sure when (or how) it gets happy, but for me, the moral is that as shitty as it gets, tomorrow is another day to make a change and to live differently.

My Example:

• Thursday: parted ways with latest girlfriend (broke up, her choice)
• Friday: worked 9 to midnight shift at quasi-fast food job
• Saturday: early morning, hung out at a party with my sister and three friends. was as fun as could possibly be considering circumstances until I chipped front tooth on 40oz while dancing. fun resumed shortly thereafter upon consumption of more of the contents of said 40oz. went home and slept. woke up still tounging chipped tooth. did dishes with overall pointless day that should have involved studying for genetics exam and nursing assistant quiz. accepted offer from fruit stand guy to start at fruit stand on Monday. studied at coffee shop for genetics exam.
• Sunday: went to work at quasi-fast food restaurant at midnight to work until 3am (bar time shift) which turned out to really be 4pm due to daylight savings time. got out at 4pm, went to sleep at 6am due to coffee consumed at 11pm. woke up at 12pm. got out of bed at 2pm. began studying for genetics exam around whenever. never really studied hard. went to bed by midnight.
• Monday: woke up at 6am. note this is same as bed time on Sunday. worked at fruit stand… a positive, enjoyable experience. went to genetics class. took genetics exam at 2pm because nursing assistant class interfered with evening exam time. maybe actually did ok on exam. had another quiz in nursing assistant class. did well. here I sit.

The week actually did improve a little, despite a lack of sleep. I don’t mean to oversimplify my breakup. It’s much more complicated than presented, but the story isn’t meant for public eyes.
Three items more interesting than my current personal dilemmas:

Gerald Cox of the Badger Herald wrote an interesting piece on Burak Obama, Sen. Joe Biden’s “controversial” comments on him and why people love him so much. I like Cox’s writing, as he’s often insightful and doesn’t jump to crass conclusions.

DePauw Cuts Ties With Controversial Sorority

Delta Zeta at Depauw just helped ruin the Greek image further. Thanks a lot, girls. I’d call you women if you acted like them. I wonder how such a governing body could cut so many people loose. Did they get a majority vote on all of those women? I admire the women who resigned after the fact, too. (Note: this has so much to do with a recent post of mine on college narcissism.)

From In Moderation: the very first (design of an) Apple Computer. It was called the Apple I and 200 were made in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak. Jobs needs no introduction, but in case you didn’t know, the less famous Wozniak helped found Apple, then moved on and Ronald Wayne was a “third founder” who is hardly know, though I heard him on NPR recently. Funny, I remember using Apple IIgs’s in school, but I never stopped to think that there might have been a I at one point.

So tired…

3:38am, and I’m finishing my radio project. Now it’s just a half hour of sitting around, waiting for our entire radio show to transfer to tape.

Mike’s funeral is today. All the Pikes are leaving at around 4:30 on a bus to go to West Bend, then we’re staying for the visitation and the full service. To give you an idea of the kind of guy we was, check out the obituary in the WI State Journal… or ask. It’s tradition in the fraternity to wear a black cloth over our badges, so we’ll be doing that as well.

One thought. Since his death was a suicide, one of my brothers left us with this quote by Leo Buscaglia:

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

To anyone reading this, remember that. So many of us have been affected by suicide. I’ve known four different people who attempted and only one failed, my aunt. Remember that you can make a difference in someone’s life, and I don’t just mean this as some cheesy saying. I mean it in that so often, we don’t see when the people around us are down. Be genuinely interested in people and care.