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.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
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.
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.
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