Uphill and into the Wind

A few days ago, some friends of mine and I went to a little place called the Paper Moon Diner.  It’s this really great little diner in north Baltimore (I think it’s on 27th street if that means anything to you).

Anyway, I guess it was about midnight when we got there.  I wanted a coke and a cup of coffee and he suggested mixing them together. Crazy, right?  So he brought me a cup of coffee mixed with coca-cola and I have to say it was might good.  After I told him how good I thought it was, he suggested I add some soy creamer to it which seemed seemed even more bizarre but he said he drinks that concoction when he gets to work every night so he can make it through his shift.

Anyway, it’s delicious, I love it, and you should try it.

I have to cut this entry a bit short because I just broke the “L” key on my laptop!  So I’m going to try and fix this now.

If you’ve ever been to the UMBC campus, you’re well aware that there’s some absolutely gorgeous landscaping. You also know that in the Fall, there’s some utterly egregious weather! Incoming freshmen be warned: on our campus, you’re always walking uphill, into the wind, and being gently sprinkled with ice cold rain this time of year.

I don’t know how it’s possible, but I always feel like I’m walking up a hill around here and the buildings create this insane wind tunnel everywhere you go. It may be because the campus is built on an incline about a mile long, but two and a half years later, I’m still feeling out of shape walking around this place.

Please…please bring comfortable shoes, a warm but easy to carry jacket, and a poncho.

Tonight I had to take some time and be thankful for all the wonderful people I have in my life. I have an irreplaceable group of friends, wonderfully supportive parents, two loving sisters, and a plethora of other really special people around me all the time, and a few of them have recently experienced some great losses which made me think about how we get so wrapped up in the rat race of paying bills, doing business, studying for exams, being angry, complaining, and working in general that we miss some very precious moments that can never be recaptured.

Not to be too cheesy or cliche, but life is precious and our situations and circumstances are fragile at best. Our lives are lived on the margin: every decision we make bears enormous consequence and of course it’s not healthy to put every decision under such intense scrutiny, but every once in a while it’s good to let go of some of the professional and academic obligations that we cling to so closely and go to dinner with your parents or your girlfriend or boyfriend or just chill with some cool people.

I’m guilty of everything I’m saying here, so I’m going to make an effort not to deny the people who love me of my presence emotionally or physically and try not to deprive myself of theirs.

I hope you guys will do the same.

If you’re in high school, you know homecoming’s a pretty big deal. SGA members are even more familiar with the amount of work that goes into pep rallies and all that other good stuff. Football players know pretty well that it’s a big deal as well. College is a little different in the scope and focus of homecoming. The biggest differences I notice are that it’s monumentally more expensive and extensive.

UMBC always books a high profile comedian to do our homecoming. My freshman year Lewis Black did a set, a few years before that Dave Chappelle did a set, and this year we had Jim Gaffigan.

Funny stuff, but I really feel like he was censoring himself and trying too hard to make us feel like he’s “hip to the college life.” Anyone else get that vibe?

If you’re not in the mood for grease and crowds when eating in the Commons, you have options.  “Nonsense.  That’s just not feasible, OJ” you say.  Feasible it is, my dear friends.  We call it the Skylight Lounge and it exists in nature on the third floor of the Commons.  A few benefits of dining in the Sky:

-  Fresh healthy food served buffet style

-   Spectacular views

-  Stellar service and

-  Quiet conversational atmosphere

The air’s thinner up here so it’s certainly not for the faint at heart, but if you have a couple extra bucks to spare, and you walk through the Sportszone and are simply not in the mood for a cheese steak sub, head up to the Sky.  As I type this post, I’m enjoying chicken stuffed with ricotta, a fresh club sandwich, and steamed veggies.

Sitting through a three hour biology lab is so much easier after eating here.

I just thought about something after I published that last post.  I’ve been staying at the house this week instead of down at UMBC.  Why?  No clue.  But anyway,  when I’m at home I get up, turn on WJZ news and watch Marty Bass and Don Scott talk about what’s going on in the world for an hour or so while I”m getting ready before I roll down 95.  Comments like this are what make getting up at 6:30AM worth it:

“We’re taking you live to 695 westbound where a Fedex truck has caught fire.”

Fortunately, no one was hurt but if you’d seen it, you’d probably wonder (like I did) how a Fedex truck could end up COMPLETELY engulfed in flames.  First you think “Oh, Okay it was just an engine fire or something” but if you’d seen the images it was an inferno, man!  Pretty bananas.

I’m thinking the people who were sending packages deserve a refund, how about you?

It’s amazing how much further an already abbreviated name gets even shorter. Case in point: a lot of people call me OJ, but for some that’s just not short enough. Some people call me Odge, Oggies (OH Jeez), O or just J, Ooooooooooooooooh Jay and on and on and on. I don’t really mind it, but I’m afraid that ten years from now people are just going to point at me or yell “hey you!” Well maybe that’s not true. Every time I meet someone new, they have a pretty good time running through the list of OJ cliches so I guess we’ll see, but for now I’m turning into a pretty good actor with 20 years and counting of experience LOOKING entertained by OJ Simpson and orange juice jokes.

So that’s my name, my game is music. I’m a junior at the U of M comma B space C (a.k.a University of Maryland, Baltimore County b.k.a UMBC) majoring in vocal performance on a full ride compliments of the Linehan Artist Scholarship.  I’m from Towson and I’m the director of music at church in the same area, I work as a web developer for a small hosting company, I sleep occasionally, I love gadgets, and I’m completely obsessed with cars–SUVs in particular.

As far as the future goes, the plan is to get the master’s then the doctorate in voice, go out and sing for a while, and teach applied voice at the undergrad level.

I’m hoping you’ll find my life as entertaining as everyone around me does!

How’s it goin, world?