Struggles

Back in high school, everyone talked about how much harder college was going to be and how everything was going to be a lot different. Of course I thought it would be different, but I had confidence in myself that I could handle everything and that nothing would go wrong. Turns out, I was wrong and everything went wrong. Where do I begin…

Well the first few weeks of college were pretty easy and I didn’t have any troubles or concerns. I was rushing at the frats which made everything seem even more awesome. But then, like a brick wall, I got swine flu. I was suddenly behind in all of my classes when I was doing so well and, even worse, pledging started the day I got back. I went from being a happy, free, healthy and care-free guy to overwhelmed, worried and sick slave. Not the best combination.

As if my life didn’t suck enough already, my computer decided it didn’t like me and hatched an evil plot to ruin my grades. So it broke down the same week I got back from swine flu. It took the people at ITS almost two weeks to get around to fixing my computer and giving it back to me. Lucky, I didn’t lose any of my files or anything. So I wasn’t too pissed… until it happened again. Stupid computer. Never before have I wanted to throw an electronic device off the top of a building so badly. But for real, that is ridiculous for it to happen twice in a three/four week span. In addition to that, I recently found out that none of my blogs have been posting and that I am extremely far behind on my blog.

So far I have gotten sick once and my computer broke twice. To even things up, I got mono. This put more of a burden on me as I was just catching up from everything I missed with swine flu. You would think that getting sick twice in a semester would hurt your grades a little. Well that is false… it hurt my grades A LOT. For the first time in my years going to school, I am projected to get a C in one of my classes, maybe even two.

I thought college was going to be awesome. Well, only some of it. Being independent and doing whatever you want and going to parties is awesome. Everything else, not so much.

Brotherhood

Pledging at Sigma Chi was one of the most time-consuming periods of my life that kept me busy constantly. Some say it is “the best time you never want to have again.” That is the truth, but man was it ever worth it.

The final week of pledging, I Period, couldn’t have ended quicker. There wasn’t anything too bad we had to do, and I am not allowed to go into detail about it, but essentially we had to move into the house for the week, wear a coat and tie at all times, and participate in various fraternity-related activities that helped us to better understand aspects of Sigma Chi that are extremely important. We got initiated on a Saturday morning and, believe me, it was a glorious feeling. As soon as we became brothers, the party started. We partied all day, took a small break to go to the football game, and then partied all night. Pretty much one of the best days I’ve had at college.

Being a brother is such a wonderful thing that pledging almost seems like it was too easy to get something as great as brotherhood. I can come to the house whenever I want, leave the house whenever I want, and, best of all, not take orders from anyone. I can just hang out and enjoy the company of the only brothers I know (I’m an only child). Everything I do just seems better. Going to eat with everyone seems like more fun (because we don’t have to get anyone anything). Going to the football games is a lot more fun (I get to actually watch the game instead of going to get Cokes and food). Everything is just better.

My advice for anyone who did not rush or even think about joining a fraternity (I can’t really speak for sororities): do it. It is all worth it in the end. Yes I will admit, pledging sucked. It really did. You don’t have to do anything ridiculous or embarrassing, it’s just tremendously time-consuming. But I can speak from experience – it was a time that was necessary for my initiation into the fraternity. I know it sounds like I am talking up this whole frat thing, but I’m serious. It is awesome. I am so close to all of the guys there and it is so great to know that I have 50 some guys who will always have my back and be there for me. Fraternities aren’t all about partying (though it is a fun part); the brotherhood that comes with it is much more valuable.

UNC Basketball

I’m continuing off my last blog post because, well, I love basketball plain and simple. If you are unfortunate enough to not know much about our UNC basketball team, then think of this as a quick guide that can make you sound somewhat informed if you want to impress your friends. Note: as stated in my previous post, I use the words ‘we’ and ‘our’ when referring to the UNC Men’s Basketball team simply because it is easier and requires less typing.

I’m going to start with our frontcourt (forwards and centers). Not only do we return seniors Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson and (English classmate) sophomore Ed Davis, but we’ve added: the skinny but dangerous John Henson, the can’t-really-tell-them-apart Wear twins David and Travis, and have 7-footer Tyler Zeller coming back from an injury last year. Now I might be biased, but I honestly believe we have the best frontcourt in the nation and I don’t think anyone can match up to us, not even Kansas.

In the backcourt (guards), we might have some struggles because of our youth. We have sophomore Larry Drew II returning to start at point, Will Graves return from a suspension last year to play the two, walk on Justin Watts who provides solid minutes off the bench when needed, and then we have brought in Dexter Strickland and Leslie McDonald, both of whom have loads of potential. Graves is the oldest guard being a redshirted junior so it will be interesting to see if our young guys can play ahead of their years.

So it is clear that we have a ton of depth, even if much of that is inexperienced talent. The biggest thing that I think will lead to us winning the national championship is our size. We have six guys who are 6’9” or taller. Some NBA teams don’t even have that so it is a huge advantage in college. If Coach Williams wanted to go with a big lineup, he has the option of putting 6’10” John Henson at the small forward position with 6’9” Thompson and 6’10” Davis in the low post. Henson, who just recently in high school sprouted 6 inches in 18 months, has guard-like skills in a big man’s body. Oh and his wingspan measures at 7’4”. This makes him a matchup problem for anyone, especially smaller forwards.

Trust me, Carolina basketball I going to be sick.

Finally

I love sports and football is one of my favorite sports. It is so much fun to watch and every play is exciting. I had an awesome time cheering for Carolina football, even if they weren’t as good as everyone thought they might be this year. Hell, TJ Yates is one of the brothers in my frat, so I have mad loyalty to the team. But it’s finally the best time of the year because the real season is starting: Basketball Season.

Basketball is and always has been my favorite sport. I’ve played it for as long as I can remember and was even a part of the North Carolina High School Men’s Basketball State Championship Team last year. The championship game was held in none other than the Dean Dome. Biggest thrill of my life. Playing on the court that has so much history and that so many great players have played on. Pretty f-ing unbelievable.
So, clearly, I love basketball and was pumped when UNC won the national championship last year, not long after I got to win states. But I’m going to tell you why our team is going to win it all again this year:

Yes, we (I use the word ‘we’ because it is easier that saying the UNC Men’s Basketball team, I myself am not on the team, obviously) did lose four of our five starters and leading scorers. Yes, all of them are extremely hard to replace. And yes, we aren’t ranked number one this year like we were last year. But none of that matters. All that matters is that we have a hell of a lot of talent and, once all the pieces come together, which they will, UNC is national championship bound.

Many “experts” are saying that our team is too young to be considered in the running for the national championship because the lack of experience will lead to critical mistakes at critical times. But I think we will overcome this and, despite maybe having a few roadblocks during the season, will be a mature, dangerous team come March.

Pledging

When I came to Carolina, I wasn’t planning on becoming a part of the Greek system. I was just going to go to my classes, meet some new people, chill with friends a lot, and just be a normal college kid. But that all changed when I decided to pledge a fraternity. I’m not saying that I can’t do any of the things I just listed but pledging definitely takes a toll on you and is very time-consuming.

When fall rush started, I figured I would just visit some of my friends at some of the frats to just hang out and party for free. But one of my friends who I played basketball with in high school convinced me that pledging was the way to go. I really liked his frat so I decided to make the commitment to pledging. I didn’t know what I was getting into.

Quick note: many of the things that take place during our pledging period are extremely confidential and are secret to the Sigma Chi Fraternity. I am not allowed to discuss some of these events or occurrences but I can talk about some of the more broad things.

During pledging, we are encouraged (so you pretty much have to) to be at the house when you don’t have class or another school function. This gives you a chance to get to know all of the brothers better because each one of them must approve of you becoming a brother before you can be initiated. This takes up a lot of time and really makes trying to do anything else very hard. If a brother asks you to do something like get them a drink or give them a ride, it is pretty much required that you do it. All in all, nothing was really that bad, it just takes up a lot of time. Until…

We took our pledge retreat trip to the University of Alabama. This sounded like a lot of fun until we realized that it was it a ten-hour drive to get there and that Alabama is essentially the frat capital of the south. Not so good when you are a pledge. We stayed there for two nights; one of them was kind of fun, the other not so much. Obviously, I was happy when we left that place.

So up to this point pledging hasn’t been that bad and I would recommend pledging a fraternity or sorority because the Greek system really is great. Then again, I haven’t been through I Period yet (also called “Hell Week” by some fraternities, not ours). It won’t be that bad. I hope.

Experiences

Life at Carolina is pretty awesome, minus the actual school part. There have been so many cool things that I have done that I would have never been able to experience back home. Note: the following experiences are in no particular order.

DD: For pledging we had to have “Designated Drivers” to drive around all of the brothers who might not be able or capable to drive themselves on a particular night. Why would this be a memorable experience? Well, I was assigned DD five times, from 10 to 3 each time. Let me be the first to tell you, guys who have been drinking for some time prior to you picking them up is one of the funniest things to witness. Some of the things said as I drove them to their next destination were some of the most hilarious, though sometimes incoherent, things I have ever heard. I even got to drive TJ Yates and some football players around some. Pretty cool.

Laser Light Show: One night when there really wasn’t much going on anywhere, a few of my friends from high school and I decided to go to the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon Laser Light Show. I had heard good things about it so I was pumped. Obviously, we all had to get in the right “state of mind” for seeing said show, so after those events took place we went. Holy crap. It was the craziest, most intense show I’ve ever seen. It was so freaking cool – I would recommend it for anyone to go see. Naturally, it is better if you go after getting in the right “state of mind” but I’m sure it’d be awesome either way. Go check that out.

P2P Rides/Walks Home: There have been many late nights in my days here at Carolina. Many times I have taken the P2P but sometimes a meander through the campus of Carolina sounds like a lot of fun for some reason. On the P2P, I have witnessed a girl throw up all over herself and the seat next to her, without seeming phased in the least bit. I seen people “taking a quick nap” during the ride. I have seen a bus driver cuss someone out because they were being too obnoxious. On my walks home, I have probably taken several different routes back to my dorm. I have seen one of my friends who had to go “number 2” so bad that he had to grab some newspaper and take a squat right where he was. I have seen other people meandering through the campus who seem as if they are having trouble walking for some reason.

To wrap it all up, I have experienced some of the coolest things here at Carolina, even if they don’t seem that cool at a glance. But hey, I’m easily amused.

Lil Wayne

I’m a big fan of music. All music. You play something, I’ll probably like it or at least tolerate it. I’ll put my hands up cause they’re playing my song with Miley or try to run this town with Jay-Z or even put my toes in the water, ass in the sand with the Zac Brown Band. But there is one artist who I respect more than everyone else in current music: Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. aka Lil Wayne.

This may sound surprising at first because from afar he seems like a tatted-up foul-mouthed thug rapper who smokes weed and is addicted to prescription cough syrup. Some of this may be true, but that is just the cover of the book, not many people take the time to look inside the book.

A New Orleans native, Lil Wayne had a troubled childhood growing up which included accidentally shooting himself when he was 12 and dropping out of school at the age of 14. He released his debut album at the age of 17 but didn’t receive much recognition until his release of Tha Carter when he was 21 (2004). He then became arguably the most popular and successful rapper with the release of Tha Carter III last year.

How did he become so popular? Starting in 2006, Wayne began releasing mixtapes that anyone could download for free online. He wanted to do this so that everyone could enjoy his music, not just those who wanted to buy the album. I think this is very respectable and one of the best things an artist can do because it gives them exposure and shows everyone that he isn’t a selfish guy who only cares about money. In addition to this, Wayne collaborated with numerous artists and was featured on many albums that also landed him a lot of support and popularity. With this new power Wayne suddenly had, he spoke out about Hurricane Katrina and the devastation that New Orleans faced. He even went to New Orleans himself to help out those in need and used his own money directly to help his hometown recover. Again, I greatly respect Wayne for this because he is showing that he legitimately cares about people in need and makes sure that he uses his surplus of money for a good cause.

At a glance, Lil Wayne may not seem like the best person. But if you look closer at him as a person and take the time to listen to his lyrics, then you will see that he actually has respectable qualities and that he may just be the best lyricist to ever write a song. It has been said that rap is a form of poetry, which means that Lil Wayne is a literary genius.

Swine Flu

So, freshman year was going very well and everything was all good. Then it was all taken from me in the blink of an eye. By a swine.

Yes, I had the dreaded swine flu. I’ve never had a history of getting sick often or anything like that, so I thought it would be almost impossible for me to get it. My immune system was too high and I was too healthy. Foolish me. Like a slap in the face I got the swine flu and was headed back home to Winston-Salem, entirely too far away from the place I really wanted to be. The weird thing about it though, it wasn’t that bad. I had heard so many horrible things about the swine flu so when I was diagnosed as having it, I feared the worst. I didn’t feel bad at the time but I knew the pain would come and it would wreck havoc with reckless abandon. To my surprise, and relief, that never came. Don’t get me wrong, I still felt pretty bad (fever over 103, sore throat, coughing, etc.) but it was nowhere near as bad as advertised.

It gave me a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep which I had been lacking because of too many partying opportunities. It gave me a chance to play some Madden. It gave me a chance to actually sit down, or lie down rather, and watch some TV. It gave me a chance to be home and get over that tiny ounce of me that, though I’ll never admit it, actually missed being home. It gave me a chance to just take some time away from everything and just chill. But most of all, it gave me a chance to really miss UNC.

Once I came back, my longing to be back turned into longing to be away again. I was bombarded with an insane amount of work that I had to make up, much of which I am still trying to catch up on to this day. I had never been so overwhelmed with so much work in my life. I had to drop my calculus two class because I had missed way too much to even try to learn all the equations and stuff I missed.

My recommendation: although missing class and not having to do anything at all sounds great (and believe me it was), it isn’t worth the stress and hassle of making everything up. Stay away from the swine.

Food

I’m going to be very straightforward. I love food and can seriously down some grub. I can’t really think of any food that I absolutely hate, so I will pretty much eat anything. With this in mind, I am going to talk about a few places on Franklin Street that are awesome, but I’ll try to be unbiased about it. Maybe.

Qdoba: One of the best places to grab a late night snack that will fill you up just right. I believe they are open until 2 or 3 each night (don’t hold me to that) so if you want it, you can get. Their burritos are outstanding because they are huge, stuffed with stuff, and combine many different flavors that create a smorgasbord of deliciousness inside your mouth. Some people may not be a fan, but I adore them. One downside though: they are kind of expensive compared to the other food I am going to mention, so I would suggest just getting water with it to save some dough.

Artichoke and Basil Pizza: The reason for putting this on here, I’ll admit, is a bit biased. I am currently a pledge at Sigma Chi and they have a brother who works there. So, there have been many times where I have been asked to go pick up a few slices to bring back to the house. Often, they will offer to buy me a slice for the trouble of walking all the way over there and I am not one to turn down some free food. So I have had my share of slices (which are huge by the way) and the pizza is delectable.

Ben and Jerry’s: In my opinion, there is no better late night snack after a long night of “doing English homework” than ice cream. They have this insane deal where you can get a pint of ice cream for only $4.50! Yes, I said a pint. But it gets better. You can get anywhere from one to about five different flavors in your pint! Five flavors in a pint for $4.50!!!! I have found this to be the best bang for your buck on Franklin Street and, if you go in there enough, they will give you a little card to get 10% off each time you go in there! Amazing! As you might have noticed, I greatly enjoy Ben and Jerry’s and I apologize for the unnecessary amount of exclamation points!

Needless to say, there are many other awesome places on Franklin Street to chow down at, but the aforementioned ones are some of my favorites. I hope you will take note of my advice and I hope you don’t think I’m a fatty now. I just like food. A lot.

Laziness

Before I came to UNC, I considered myself to be a very lazy person. I was sure that when I came here I would be motivated and excited about the new atmosphere and would ditch my lazy habits. Needless to say, that was not the case at all.

My way of gauging if there is a problem with me is by my appetite. I love food and rarely turn down the chance to eat. But after a few weeks of college, I began to neglect my hunger because it required walking all the way to the frat house (I had cancelled my meal plan because I get all my meals at the frat). Now I’m no geographer, but I would say that there is a little over a mile between my dorm and the frat house. Some days, that is entirely too far to walk. So instead, I eat some oreos or wait for the next meal.

On a similar note, I have found it very hard to get out of bed in the morning. Most students struggle with this problem I’m sure, but for some reason I am not strong enough to tell myself that I do not need more sleep. When my alarm goes off, getting out of bed seems like absolutely the worst idea at the time. This is especially apparent on the mornings that follow nights of intense “English studying” that sometimes last into the wee hours of the night. As a result, I missed some classes (never English though) and kept feeling bad about my lazy habit.

The worst aspect of my laziness is its role in my not-getting-work-done disorder, also known as procrastination. I have always been a huge procrastinator but with all the things to do here at UNC, I have procrastinated on uncharted levels. Waiting until 12 to start some work is a great way to lose out on sleep, which then leads to the tempting thought of skipping my first class. It is a vicious cycle.

No matter what I do, my laziness will get the best of me. I have vowed to change this before to no avail. This time will be different though. I am going to go to all of my classes. I am going to feed myself and not let walking hinder my hunger. I am not going to procrastinate on every single assignment I do. I am going to rid myself of laziness! Unless it requires effort…

I like Taylor Swift and it's not just because she's hot

I’m pretty sure that almost everyone in the United States knows who Taylor Swift is. Even if you don’t like country or pop or however you want to classify her music, you probably have at least heard of her. And for every guy in America, I’m sure you’ve seen a picture of her or something because, let’s face the facts, she is stunning. I don’t want to ramble on about her looks because that’s not the point I’m trying to get across, so I’ll just end that thought with one word: wow.
Taylor Swift isn’t your average superstar singer, she is real. She is extremely humble and always shows her feelings, even if they make her seem vulnerable. She doesn’t care. She won’t hesitate to use the names of guys in her songs that have wronged her in the past because she wants them to know what they are missing out on. And rightfully so, I mean, they must feel like the biggest idiots for losing one of the most successful stars of our generation. Sorry dudes. And she even writes most of her own music. Once again, wow.
Now, this is the part of my writing where I would like to greatly stress that I am heterosexual because my next statement might seem questionable. That said, I went to a Taylor Swift concert. However, this was not my choice. I was “dragged” into going this summer by my girlfriend and a few other friends. I’ll be honest though, I was actually kind of excited to see her in concert just to see what kind of show she would put on. Well she didn’t disappoint. At one point, she even wore a UNC basketball jersey during one of her songs and let me tell you, I’ve never seen anyone rep the Carolina blue better than her. Then to top it all off, she ended the concert by singing under a cascading wall of water. Needless to say, wow.
To sum it all up, Taylor Swift is the total package. She isn’t stuck up, has a good personality, is a great combination of smart and funny, is tall like me, and, oh yeah, she isn’t bad to look at either. I don’t want to sound stalkerish or like I am madly obsessed with her, but I could definitely see myself being friends with her. There is one negative to her though: she dated a Jonas brother. Eww. But hey, everyone makes mistakes.

Freshman Fifteen

During my last two years in high school, I started to try to gain some weight so that I could be a bigger force on the basketball team. In previous years I had tried to accomplish the same task with no success, so I started eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. To my surprise, it worked really well, almost too well. I got to the point where I was no longer skinny and had a little bit of a roundness to my stomach. This didn’t worry me at all, but I felt that I should have some definition in my abs and vowed to lose a little bit of weight. I was never a big weight lifter or runner so I just tried to watch what I was eating and exercise regularly but nothing seemed to work. Now, I have found my way to lose weight: college.

My goal this year is to not gain the “freshman fifteen” (a phrase regarding the assumption that all new freshmen will gain fifteen pounds in their first year at college) but rather lose some weight. Through one week, things are looking good. A big contributing factor to this is my involvement with the greek system here at UNC. Having one really good friend at Sigma Chi, I have become very close to most of the guys there and participate in many of the activities they do, especially sports. There has been only one day since I’ve been here that I haven’t played some kind of sport. Just recently, I went out to a sand volleyball court with some guys and played for a couple hours. Mainly, though, I have been playing a lot of basketball and all of that running has done me a lot of good. By no means am I in any sort of good shape, but I feel really good about the direction I am heading and am confident that if I keep playing sports frequently, I will be able to make it down the court a few times before getting winded.

Another huge plus about being connected to a fraternity is the food. Sigma Chi has their own personal chef and his food is insanely good. Trust me, I know from experience. My schedule works out so that I can have lunch at Sigma Chi every day if I want to, and even dinner if I so desire. And the food is not just ridiculously good, but also very good for me. If I ate at one of the dining halls, I probably wouldn’t get very many vegetables or anything remotely good for me. Also, the frat house is located farther away from my dorm so it encourages me to walk more, which is going to help me on my quest to shed a few pounds. All things considered, I’m happy with my progress and know that I can overcome the “freshman fifteen.”