Beginning of midterms...

Just finished the in-class portion of my micro midterm which was better than I expected. I should have started studying for it much earlier than I did (earlier than a week before... yeah that's grad school for you) to make sure I had all the logical steps and concepts down, but... well it's not the last test I'll take in that class. So that means I'm going to start studying for the Macro and Stats midterms (both in two and three weeks respectively) now. That and I have to do the take-home midterm which is looking like a beast. On top of that, there is the usual load of Macro, Math, and Stats homework to do. Yeah. Going to be a fun weekend for me.
Sadly I won't be able to make it to Erin and Eric's wedding, which I am really upset about. But it's on Sunday, in the evening, and I have class on Monday, as well as the fact that Monday is the due date for the take home midterm. Add to that the stats and macro due next week, and the 5 hour drive (or 2 hour plane ride) to and from Tulsa on Sunday, and it's just too much. I can't do it. Yeah. Not too happy about that. But I'm sure it will be a lovely wedding, and I'll just have to visit Eric and Erin at their new house when they get back. Best of luck to them.

Well I missed my bike rides all last week, but I had a very good excuse. One of those excuses that you don't run into very often. Brown eyes, black hair, great smile. A very good excuse for staying up late and talking, as opposed to waking up at 6 AM to bike. I didn't come down to Dallas to find a girl, or a relationship. In fact up until about two or three weeks ago I was dead set on not taking any girl seriously for a good long time. Just look at my previous posts. The Turks were a joke. An amusement. As were many of the other girls I've written about and met. Interesting people, funny stories, but I just didn't want to be with them. But this girl is different. I came down here to get a PhD, and that was going to be my life. And it still is why I came down here, and it still is the main goal for being here, and I'm going to stay down here until I get it... but there's something special about what's happening here. And I don't know where it's going, and I don't know what will happen, but I have to pursue it. I guess all this rambling is just to say that I really like this girl, and to not pursue this would be crazy. ... although in the situation with this girl, it's probably just as crazy to pursue it, but a good kind of crazy. With her... I have no idea. She surprises me every time, and they're good surprises. I don't know. I'm just excited that she's around, and I look forward to spending time with her and developing this relationship. And she's gotten me to dance.. and I enjoy it... that in itself is just... well... weird. Except for the happy dance... I have always enjoyed the happy dance.

I also like the fact that she admitted defeat on Friday during the cook-off. HAHAHA! I win! With my spaghetti, chica. With... my... SPAGHETTI! Oh yes, I guess I should mention this girl is the very same mexicana who bought me lunch, challenged me to a cook-off, and is mentioned in several previous posts. I would write more about it... but again, I just can't quite find the right words to describe it all.

So in other news, I'm back on the bike this week, and I'm thinking I'm going to join one of my fellow Econ students to work out at 10:30ish on MWF (or MW, or MF, or WF, whatever). Which looking at the schedule might mean I'll push the bike ride up (would be nice to ride while the sun is out) so I don't have a 3 hour block where I sit around in my stinking sweat, only to walk to the rec center and sweat some more. I think if I get up at 8:30 that should be enough time to get ready, and get to Katy trail by 9 PM. If my rides stay around an hour and fifteen minutes, that should also be good time to get to the rec center. That is a long work out.. we'll see how that works. But I can't sit on those dang bike machines. The scenery never changes, the music is annoying, the air is stale, and... it's just not my bike. I'd prefer the Katy or White Rock cloaked in early morning darkness any day. Although the heart monitor is handy. Didn't get over 180 yesterday, which.. I guess is good. If I remember correctly, at KU when I rode the bike machine I usually hit between 180 or 185. And yesterday was at 115-120 RPM on the hill program. Hahaha! Hills! ... yeah I'm still a whimp. So yeah.. heart rate is down... I guess that's good? I don't know. I've just spent so much time judging when I'm overdoing it by whether or not I can complete a sentence without having to breathe heavily, that the whole heart rate thing... eh, I guess its more objective and better. But I like my little odometer, and I like my bike, and I like the trails. So nuts to the rec center, I'm going outside. Plus, seeing as my friend and I are only going to work out for an hour... and I like my 1 hour bike rides... yeah... if I do this I need to rework my schedule a bit. But getting up later to ride is more practical now, seeing as it's not 98 by the time the sun rises. In fact today was beautiful. Cloudy, windy, with a bit of a chill in the air. I don't know why everyone on campus had sweaters. This is shorts weather! :) Feels good. But we'll see how well this works. I might just go back to biking at 6 or 7 AM again.

The brother and sister both seem to be doing well, which is good. Looking forward to fall break... even though I have a stats midterm the Thursday after Fall break... so I'll just be studying during Fall break.

"El hombreguapo" and one of our friends should be up here that Thursday, because they have their Fall break on Thursday/Friday of that week. That should be fun. Hope they don't mind the fact that I won't be there most of the day on Thursday :) Ah, hombreguapo's friend up here can take care of them for a bit.

I think that's about it for the week. Might add more later this weekend (like if I survive my long ride after slacking off for a week. Doing 100 km again... oh boy...)

My family rocks...

So in case you ever doubted how stinkin cool my family is: my brother, the psychology class TA, just got a facebook group created in his honor by his students at the university he's doing graduate studies at (and its a positive one. Not a "we hate -------", but a "We heart ------". Aw... somebody "hearts" my brother). He's that stinkin cool.

And I just had a great conversation with my sister which cleared up a lot of the confusion about a few things this week. Plus she's hilarious.

My mom called me yesterday from the Greek Festival, and left me a voice message where she held the phone up to the band playing Greek folk music. I think she was hitting some of that ouzo, but she denied it.

And my dad sent me a rather funny e-mail which will keep me laughing for a while.

Just figured I would share that. whew... too much going on these days. Back to studying.

You've got the teeth of the hydra upon you...

For those of you who haven't heard this Old 97's song, or haven't heard me quote it at some point this month (my other favorite quote is, "Talking to you girl, is like long division"), you really should check it out. My ex-roommate burned it for me on a mix CD he made for my birthday... jeez. Way back in 2002. And it's still that rockin of a CD. Kudos to you, roomie. But I would definitely say that this week, every time I've tried to fix something, or tried to sort something out (granted it might not need fixing), it seems like two other things have popped up to complicate everything. It's like facing the mythological creature the hydra. You cut off one head, and two more grow back to replace it. For more on the hydra and why it has anything to do with what's going on this week, check out the wikipedia definition for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28mythology%29

Busy busy week. My bike schedule got jacked up due to a combination of homework, exhaustion from the ride, and other more pleasant factors that just took the time away from me. I'm afraid things will have to change by next week though. I will once again rise and shine, at 6 AM on Monday morning (the rain should be through, and if not, I have a raincoat), and I will get my ride in. I'm starting to realize that I need it to calm me down, to focus my mind, to relieve stress, and give me an hour or two where I can go over a few things in my head.

My first midterm is coming up. From what I've heard, the midterms are the tests that determine how well you do. If you can pass your first midterms, you can pass the qualifying exams. If you don't, you'd really better hit that grindstone. I'm becoming frustrated with statistics though, because I feel like I should know the formulas, and know the problems (I did cover this entire book a year or two ago in Theory of Probability and Math Theory of Statistics), but I'm still hitting roadblocks, especially with integration and sums. The equations become too ugly, and too complicated, and math is not like that at all. It's clean, simple, and expressive. I would compare how I feel now to how I feel when I try to speak Spanish or play the bass now. There are things that I could do just a few months ago, that suddenly I'm struggling with. I can't remember certain Spanish words, or keep noun and verb agreements. I can't hold my bass bow with a relaxed hand anymore, or control the speed of my stroke on the string. I can't even play pizz (just fingers, no bow) without my fingers starting to blister! All these things I had no trouble with last January, and now I have to work to get them back. This is how it is with Math.

So apparently SOME people, think I haven't posted in a while :). And I suspect that there are SOME people who might be wondering why I haven't posted certain things, certain adventures, or even certain conversations. There is a good reason for that. Writer's block. For the adventures that I have had since Friday with my amiga, I'm finding it hard to find the right words to describe them. I could write about how we walked to Burger King, and pestered the poor guy at the drive-through by walking up to the window and knocking (something which my Tulsa friends might find familiar, but it was apparently a first for her). I could say we had a strange breakfast at 1 AM (2 AM?) on the open patio of a closed cafe, and saw some weird guy trying to get through the fence of a construction area across the street. I could talk about getting lost on the SMU campus (how do you get lost on a campus this small?) with her suitemate (roommate?), trying to find a midnight study group. Or how everyone at the study group had different majors, different classes, and really just sat in a room and enjoyed the company while reading. And I could tell you that tonight we got to see "The Corpse Bride" for free at the student union (for those of you who know me... let's just keep my deep rooted fear of claymation a secret for now) and watched the "night traffic" of students on campus. And of course the poor janitor in the bathroom... I was very tired, and didn't realize it was a girl. That's still my story. So good to know I can still make a complete idiot of myself and laugh at it. Oh yes, and my amiga's entertainment at me pulling my hair out over math problems. This is an attempt to describe it all, but its inadequate in capturing the attitude, the air, the friendliness, and yes... most importantly... the insanity of the past week. This isn't a Turk stealing a soccer ball from Brazilians, or an incomprehensibly fast old man on a bike. This isn't three very bored Highland Park cops pulling over a cyclist. My apologies amiga. :) I don't have the time in just this week to weave all of this insanity into just one, compact, easy-to-read, blog post for all to enjoy. Although rest assured... you rank very highly on the list of "most fascinating" of these characters, and to be sure, the most fun. In order to properly describe this week I might even have to dabble in magical realism. Marquez would be proud.
I look forward to our cook-off. Spaghetti vs. fish... this should be very interesting. But as you told your mom on the phone (Recuerda chica, que yo puedo comprender espanol tambien!) "the worst that can happen is, [you'll] get sick." Oh yes... highly entertaining.

Hurricane Rita is on her way. Hope that everyone is out of south Texas and well. My car is full of gas, my fridge is full of food, and I have five Fat Tire's left to enjoy my "long ride"-less weekend with. I would rather be taking the long ride... but Fat Tire is compensation enough. That and Dead Like Me season 2 disc 2.

Listening to:
"Becoming More Like ------" Mix CD by the ex-roommate 2002

Reading: Siddartha, by Herman Hesse.

I suppose I should at some point make a glossary, or an explanation of all the "characters" I've met since December 2004. I don't think everyone understands my references to, "the Turk", "the other Turk", "the Colombian", "el hombre guapo", "Papa Yella", "the Brazilians", etc.

"hombreguapo" is 22 and my sister is coming home for Christmas!

A special "feliz cumpleanos" a mi amigo "el hombreguapo", in Kansas. If I was over there, I would so be your designated driver. And we would hit L-town like bandits, man! But seeing as I'm a good 500 miles away, I just sent you a funny little e-card. Ah, but wasn't it fun? Get yourself over to Piero's if you can, and have that crazy Colombian pull a party out of "nada" for you. You know he could (and would) do it, too. As it is though, enjoy your Bailey's and try to not get into too much trouble.

On a more personal note: MY SISTER'S COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!! This means that all my family is going to be together for the holiday! YES! I always knew it was great to have everyone around for holidays, but it never hit me that my brother and/or my sister might not be in Tulsa for both Christmas and Thanksgiving. In fact, they're pretty pressed to make one or the other. So now I'm thrilled that I get to see both of them again, and suprisingly at the same time. Heck of a deal. Will we fight? Probably. Will we annoy mom and dad? Most certainly. Will we have fun? Abso-bloody-lutely. I think its time for the happy dance.
... just stop reading right for a bit. I'm doing my happy dance.
...
...
Alright. So then the upcoming events are:
a) Erin and Eric's wedding in T-town (I am the family representative for those who can't be there.),
b) bike to Ardmore with the hippy (is this actually going to happen? If not, I go to Stillwater instead for what is promised to be a rocking birthday party),
c) receive two refugee Kansas students during Fall Break (and unload them on another unsuspecting student if I need to get lots of work done),
d) brother comes in for a day or two before we head back to T-town for Thanksgiving,
and...
e) finish finals and go home to see my entire family for Christmas.
And looking a bit into the future:
f) come back for a second semester, rock the qualifiers (like they've never been rocked before), get a summer job at a fed, start my research.

Couldn't sleep last night and missed my bike ride this morning. I really need to stop skipping the "recovery rides" on Monday. The idea is to give my legs a break but keep them pedalling so the muscles develop and I can ride faster for longer. But instead I keep thinking, "Eh... I'll just take a day off during the easy ride." Not a good idea. Not being able to sleep sucks too. Sadly I kept some one else up as well, who should've been doing homework. I feel bad about that. But it was a funny conversation. :)
That reminds me... one last event. Cook-off on Friday. Oh yes. It's on.

I must've looked very suspicious on my bike...

I guess I'll start from the beginning of the weekend. We had to have an extra math class to make up for the time missed the first week of class, and catch up on such interesting topics as determinants of matrices, inverse matrices, finding the inverse, etc. This review went from about 10 to noon, and by the time we all got out, we were starving.
There might be a drop among us, which would take the number down to nine. That's a pity. I don't know for sure if the student has dropped or not, but they have not shown up to class in about a week and a half. That's usually a bad sign. It's a shame because I'm starting to get to know and like these people, and wish them the best. But by the numbers, out of the ten of us, only about four to six will pass the qualifying exams and continue on next year (if its a "good year"). I kind of deep down wish that everybody passes, and does well, but that is most likely not going to happen.

So after the review I'm heading out and notice a flier in the Umphrey Lee center for an undergraduate coed fraternity party. I recognize it from seeing it around campus before, and its apparently put on by a coed frat for Hispanic students. Sweet. I could be social, practice my Spanish, and get my white-boy groove (or lack thereof) on. Plus it says they're going to play reggaeton which just holds a special place in my heart and brings back fond memories (thanks to Tomas from Chile, back at good old KU.... "Let me introduce you to Chilean culture! This is reggaeton! Now dance!" ... ahhh Tomas... had a little too much that night?). So I head to Katy Trail, bike the miles that I didn't bike that morning (Dallas + 2 PM + biking = bad idea + dehydration), and after getting back decided, "What the heck? I'm going." But I needed back up. Called my friend at the law school, who couldn't, as she was headed out to the "Bar Review" at that time (oh, that's clever. No really. I thought it was a great name. If I was a law student, I would do it every Friday too just for the novelty of the name. hehehe... "Bar Review." ... then again, I enjoy bad puns way too much). Called one of my fellow econ grad students, who was actually up for it. Sweet. Somebody had my back, "In case the Cubans got rowdy." (the bar it was at was called "Little Havana." Hence the Cuban joke.)
So at about 10 PM I head out to pick him up (what can I say? I actually like being Designated Driver), and we head to the bar. Silly me. I should've known. Anything involving Spanish, Latin American music, or Latin Americans, will never start anywhere remotely on time. But I ran into a good friend (see the story on the nice young lady who swiped me in for lunch below), and the music was decent.
Good times were had by all. One of the bartenders kept offering everyone Jell-o shots (ugh), and around the end of the night she tried to push me into it. "Loosen up, come on, have some fun" (oh I love it when people tell me to loosen up. That just makes me relax, kick back... oh wait no... it doesn't). Finally getting sick of the girl I said, "Sorry, I'm designated driver tonight." The girl suddenly looked like I had the plague, "Oh, right on... bye." Yes... much love for the dd here. By 11:30ish, a lot more people had shown up. My econ friend and I headed out about 12:30. I had my long ride to do in the morning, and he seemed alright with leaving "early" (I feel bad though, because I think he did want to stay a bit longer).

I got up at 5:00ish, and made it to White Rock around 6:30. I then biked 62 very painful miles (or 100 very painful kilometers). My butt still hurts. My legs still hurt. It was lots of fun :) .
Was going to go to this free Salsa lesson put on by the school, but by 6:30 PM, I was still pretty much dead. Saturday was spent watching the Dead Like Me season 2 disc I got from Netflix, and eating my leftover pasta.

Around ten that night I get a call from my law school friend, who says that she and a few of her friends are meeting for a midnight movie at Inwood (The Princess Bride). My legs don't really hurt anymore, I'd finished a good portion of the Micro homework due Monday, and I figured "Yeah sure. I'm up for a movie and meeting people." Good times, good folks. I think we were all a little tired, and it didn't help that it was still 95 humid at midnight.
The movie was uneventful. It was coming back from the movie.
See I decided to bike the two miles from my place to the Inwood theater. No big deal. I had flashy lights to put on my bike, I'm pretty safe at night, and I figured not many people would be on the road (especially not on Lover's Lane). So I biked there. My legs started hurting again, but it wasn't too bad.
As I was biking back, an SUV started following me about a half mile past the exit for the North Dallas Tollway. So I thought, "Great... stupid punk high schoolers are about to drive by screaming something obscene at me and/or throw something." So I move my bike as far to the right as I can and I get ready to jump the curb to the sidewalk. This guy is still following me. He follows me a good two minutes, before I say out loud, "Are you going to pass me or what?" (the language here is cleaned up).
And then the lights flash... it's a cop... how the heck am I getting pulled over ON MY BIKE?!?!?!? So I pull into the parking lot off the street by a park, turn off my flashy lights, roll my pants legs back down (not good to get oil stains on good jeans), and get off the bike waiting to hear what this guys excuse is for pulling me over (other than the above comment).
I then notice there are three of them. All SUV's. I then start thinking, "Oh crap... this isn't about me not wearing helmet, or running that red light" (it was technically yellow, and I figured I could still make it. Plus no one was there).
So one of the officer's asks for my ID, and goes to his car to check it (and is a bit of a jerk about it too). Another one is fairly nice and I'm trying to be as forthcoming with all my answers. The bald one just stares at me.
"My name is ...." "I'm heading home after a midnight movie with some friends at Inwood." "I'm biking alone." "There was another guy who was biking back from Inwood, but I don't know him, and he turned off into the neighborhoods earlier." "I've been on Lover's Lane since Inwood." "I live on campus." "I'm originally from Tulsa." "I haven't seen anybody else on bikes." "Tall guy, short bike. No not wearing a white shirt." "I'm a graduate student."
So after a while the endless line of questions stops, and the other cop is still checking my ID (I assume looking at my... what... one speeding ticket on record?). "So do you guys all drive suv's or do you have cruisers too?" I've been wondering that for a while, so why not ask now.
but yeah. Every HP police officer drives an suv. I need to watch out for that, and not assume they're teenagers when I see the car.
"So, what exactly is this about? Why three cars for a cyclist?"
"Well we were on Lover's when we saw this guy on a bike. He took a look at us and bolted down an alley, which seemed suspicious, so we followed him. The next thing I knew there were five guys on bikes all going different directions, so I called for back up, and we've been trying to find this guy. Big guy, tattoos, in a white shirt on a little bike."
Good luck in rooting out those dangerous BMX gangs of Highland Park. Does my bike even LOOK like a BMX bike? I'm not standing up, protruding my butt, pretending I'm "EXTREME!!!" by jumping the curbs am I? Heck no. This is a mountain bike! I sit when I pedal, I jump the curbs whenever I can, and I make no big deal out of it! Do I look like I have a tattoo??? For that matter, I was wearing a blue shirt, and the first thing I did when I heard the stupid siren, WAS PULL OVER!!!!! ...
But I guess they're just doing their job, and I fit a description.
So I get my license back after the other guy checks it (still is a bit of a jerk), and head out on my way. About half a mile down, I look over to see if they're still behind me... and run the red light at Lover's and Hillcrest. It was 2 AM. Nobody was there!

So I slept in today. Not going to go church hunting today. I'm just going to need more time for this. I don't think I'll settle in on any place in particular until January. Was thinking about HP Methodist pretty seriously for a while, but now I want to make sure by checking out other churches.

Some one sent me a message that I should be careful not to idealize certain things, after they had read this blog. The particular thing she talked about was the campus ministry group I go to, which I immediately replied, "After my experience with campus ministries, the last thing I do is idealize them." As a group, I don't idealize it. It's probably about as messed up as CC was back at KU. I just like the couple of people that I have met there who seem like decent human beings. Ah, but there is an issue in that. Do I idealize people? I think its pretty clear from the last post that I do (i.e. a soccer ball stealing Turk who I knew only for a few months). And I think I idealize this city and the opportunities it has. Touche, chica. You were right. And thank you for the reality check. There are so many things spinning around these days in my life, and I'm trying to be positive and optimistic about so many of them, that I might miss the signs of a possible problem. But I'll cross that hurdle when I get there. Until then I'll continue to enjoy meeting good people, studying and biking my butt off (which at this point I'm beginning to think will happen.... owie!!), and looking at the brighter side of things.

And in other news:
CONGRATULATIONS ANTHONY AND ASTRID!!! UN/(A) MAS HIJO/A!!!!! What was that phrase you once shared with me, Anthony? "Uno es ninguno." Ethan's getting a little sibling! Woo-hoo! And thanks for the phone call yesterday. It made my day. "Guess what?" "What?" "Guess, man." "You're baking a potato?" "Uh... well we are making sweet potatoes, but that's not the news." "Your wife's got one in the oven?" "... okay that's a good metaphor guess, but try the reality part of it." ... what can I say? I was never good at "guess what"?

I take no responsibility for what I write tonight.

I have done hours of micro and macro homework, I have yelled at Statistics problems that I did a year ago and should already know and I am going partially mad. The only thing keeping me from running screaming into the Dallas night and becoming some strange homeless guy who accosts people for quarters yelling "ANSWER YOUR TELEPHONE!" is the bike. For an hour each day, the only thing my mind is focused on is "Just a few more miles, just a few more miles."

Facebook is a horrible thing. I found her while browsing facebook tonight. I must admit, I miss her. Her friendliness, her smile, her absolute insanity. I miss how the little conversations I had with her made me smile. Yes I admit it...
I miss that crazy Turk.
For those of you who know me... who'd you think I was going to say? My ex???????
No no no. Not at all. I miss la Turca. I hardly knew her, but she was so nice, and PRETTY! There was this strange warmth to her, even though she was almost completely self absorbed, and she stole soccer balls from poor Brazilians. She was nuts, but there was something... attractive about that. She was Dulcinea, to a T. Granted that... may not be the biggest compliment in the world, but there is something literary and noble to it.
I don't think its even necessarily her, but rather just the missed chances at KU. I miss everything that I could have done. Everything that I could have been. I miss Costa Rica. I miss Departmental Honors. I miss the Turk. I miss going out with my good friend "el hombre guapo." Mostly, I miss my brother, I miss my sister, and I miss the time I could have spent with them while I was at KU. It is true. You never do realize how much you have until its gone.

I've started reading Don Quijote again. This must not be good. I do strange things under the influence of Cervantes. I begin thinking noble thoughts. I begin seeing the funny aspects of life. The complete lunacies that permeate my entire life. Maybe doing too much statistics does it to me, or maybe deep down I just want to be an errant knight in a world that has no nobility. That and I keep listening to "Elias" and "the General" by Dispatch. I'm starting to feel strangely. I'm starting to feel like I might actually be able to change the world. Not the whole world, but everything around me. That for once, since my freshmen year in college, I am again powerful. That no matter what obstacles are put in my life, I can overcome them through diligence, faith, and perseverance. That life is not fair, but that I can live through it. My fondest memory is when I was in fifth grade, and I signed up for a kickboxing tournament. Because I was so small the only other contender I could face was a black belt, who had been doing ring fights for years (despite being as small and as young as I was). I must have taken five kicks straight to the gut and fallen three times, but each time I got back up. Each time I took the hit, I got back up and kept trying, despite being outmatched. I lost. But not by a knock out. My only regret is that I never got back in the ring. Not that I would have been any good, but I felt proud that I survived. That I staid conscious, and that I kept trying. Most of my life has been pretty much that situation, over and over. I get hit, and I get back up. There's no thought to it. There's no "I have to keep going." I just get back up. There's no other option considered.

I met a girl on Sunday, I won't say where, and I won't say her name. But after a few minutes I had judged her pretty much, and figured "well she's cute, but not my type." There was something funny about this girl. Not in a "make-fun" sort of way, but in a good story sort of way. Almost like the Turk. So I e-mailed my brother, sister, and parents, and told them the story. My brother actually looked this girl up online, and found out a few things about her college career that surprised me (it was that funny of a story). Things I would never have expected. Athletic achievements, academic pursuits, whatever... all these things that never came up in our short conversation. And suddenly I was impressed with the girl. She was still funny, but impressive. I realized tonight that being down here I have met some of the most amazing people without realizing it. Everyone I've met has been... funny or impressive or interesting or amazing in their own way. Dallas is.... I don't know the word for it. There has just been this extreme outpouring of kindness that I never felt in Lawrence. Whether its through this campus ministry group I attend, or through the amazing kindness that family friends have shown me, or the random kindness from the people who live in my building (a mis amigos de Dodge City, Kansas que viven en Hillcrest... muchas gracias para la comida!).
It's like everyone is "la Turca" in their own way here. Everyone has that warm smile, and everyone has that little bit of insanity that makes them unique.
Classmates, random acquaintances... everyone.
Dallas is nothing like what I expected. It's... home. My apartment sucks, but the city is home. Already.

So I'm going to this thing that this week that the girl invited me to. Not that I plan on pursuing her, and not that I plan on pursuing anyone (not seriously anyway), but just because... well... I'm curious. I want to know what her community is, and what it has to offer. And more so I want to know what I can offer to the communities that I find in Dallas. What can I do to make a difference?

And if you don't already know... I have a research paper topic. It's not like my departmental honors papers, which were too general and too weak to argue. I know what I want to do with these papers (all three of them) and what problems I want to solve. And if I have to pass two qualifying exams, and 30 more credit hours of courses... I'll do it. I always get back up.

As I said before. I'm very tired, and I've been doing a lot of math (which is unhealthy for anyone). So my apologies for the crazy thoughts. I just felt like I should share them. There is too much about this college, about this city... maybe even about this entire state, to just keep to myself.

Some one actually reads this???

So recently, I got an IM from a friend of mine who lives in DC about one of my recent posts, and I realized... wow... people actually read this. This either says something about my writing ability, or the amount of free time my friend has. So to the cute red-head KU alumna who lives in DC, who actually reads this blog, thank you chica. Hope things are going well for you. If anyone else reads, please let me know and I'll say hello to you from the blog :)

It was a fairly uneventful week otherwise. I did homework. I didn't bike again until Friday, and I paid for it this Saturday. I miscalculated the kilometers again and went 83 km when I was supposed to go 88, so I was not happy about that. But it was still another long ride completed, so I'm proud of that. Plus my average speed has gone up. So if I keep training, I might actually be able to pull this thing off.

Still having to review the math to keep up with the pace of the classes, and hopefully I will be able to keep my nose to the grindstone. I am still very happy with where I am though. The more I delve into the material through classes and seminars, the more interested and inspired I become. I now think I have a good topic for my 3 research papers, as well as a couple sub topics to specialize in for two of those papers. On top of that the topic has to do with recent South American economic policies, so that will be fun to look into and research. But I must wait another year, and pass the qualifiers before I can do anything about that. So I need to be sure to get a good grounding in Macro, Micro, and Econometrics.

I am feeling a little more lonely recently than I have been. I suppose that is part of getting used to living alone, but it still kind of sucks. There are times when I really enjoy being alone, and times when I hate it. The bad thing is that I don't feel like I have many people that I can call if I really feel like being social.

I got a few calls from people back in KS recently, and I greatly appreciate it. Hope everyone is doing well. That's all for now.

Economics Department Happy Hour

What a good start to the Labor Day Weekend. After finishing up the "Baby Calculus" test (which was neither a "baby" nor "calculus". Try a "Monster Analysis" test.), I headed for Chic-Fil-A to get some cheap food. Not great... but it will fill me up. I ran into this guy I had met earlier who invited me to eat lunch with him and his friends at the Lee Center. Turned him down. 6.50 for a lunch at the Lee center, 2.00 for a chic-fil-a sandwich (and possibly a drink). So we went our separate ways when I ran into another person I had met, a very nice Spanish speaking girl. She introduced me to her Panamanian friend, and we got to talking. As I was starting to duck out of the conversation, she said, "Join us for lunch at the Lee Center." I told her I didn't have the cash, and that I was going to the Union for a cheap sandwich. She then offered to "swipe me in" on her guest pass. Now how can I turn down a free lunch with a pretty girl? The bad vibe from the Baby Calculus test was destroyed, and I got to eat a free lunch with this girl, and two of her friends. Nice. See... now if that guy had offered me a free lunch (and had been a pretty girl), I might've gone with him. But such is life.
So "muchas gracias a mi amiga para la comida." I appreciate it greatly.

After a nap at home and then an economics guest seminar (interesting paper presentation on media mergers, monopoly, and political bias) most of us first year econ students met outside at the lobby to get rides from the second and third years for the "Economics Department Happy Hour". A few professor's showed up as well to add to the merriment, and good times were had by all... mainly because the beer pitchers just did not stop. Tipsy economics students are hilarious. Especially when at the beginning they impose the "Cambridge Rules of Drinking", and declare that no one can talk about his or her area of study (or for everyone's case there: Economics). This lasted for about two rounds, and then Economics, school, and math came right back up.
I fortunately got sidetracked with a very kind Indian professor and three of the other students in an interesting conversation about the rules of Cricket. It sounds like an interesting game (though for the life of me I still can't figure it out).
I feel a bit more at ease now around the other students. At least I know them a little better now, and its easier to talk with them and study with them now.

So after that I dragged my sorry butt out of bed at 5 AM (no headache though) and drove back to T-Town to see my parents. And immediately my dad and I went to the bike shop to trade in his recumbent. So instead of one weird bike, which while being slightly better for his back was a hassle to control, we got two regular bikes... meaning I got a new bike :) !! It's sweet.
I'm keeping the old Diamondback (it's still a dang good machine after I replaced the brakes... I still like saying that... I replaced the brakes. Not a mechanic. Me. Of course, they'll probably fail and kill me at some point due to my shotty job, but hey... I DID IT!). It will still be very useful for running to and from campus. But for the Katy Trail and White Rock I'm taking my new bike. It's lighter, it can go faster, and it just feels nice. Oooooohhh yeah. I took that baby out for my long ride on Sunday at Riverside Park (didn't want to drive 5 hours, and then ride 48 miles on the same day), and it was good (despite the morning thunderstorm that drenched me).
So early Monday morning (5 AM again) I hooked both bikes up to my car, stuffed my bass into the front/back seat, along with a new vacuum cleaner, and I am set for the rest of the semester. My bass is here. My bikes are here. I have a vacuum that doesn't spit out dirt instead of sucking it in. Life is good.
Now all I need are for relations with either Mexico or Turkey will improve.

Micro homework is nearly done. Stats homework is done. Macro homework is once again stumping me, but at least I have another week before that is due.

So I'm a lazy bum...

I haven't been riding my bike in the past few days. Gas has just been too expensive to ride out to White Rock in the morning, and while the Katy Trail is nice, I'm just not used to it. Guess I'm going to have to get used to it fast, because its the only long(ish) trail within distance of biking. I think I'm going to save the trip to White Rock for Saturday's when I do the long rides. Along with that, the homework load, the recent tragedy in the news, and a few friends' crises from back in KS and OK have left me a bit drained.

I'm going back home to see my parents this weekend, so I'll do my long ride at Riverside Park instead. Don't know how that will go seeing as I haven't ridden much this week. Hopefully I will make it all the way, but I will try to keep the pace down so I don't overdo it.

I am starting to feel more camaraderie with my fellow Econ students down here, which is good. A couple especially seem to be very nice, very intelligent people and I enjoy talking to them. It's nice to also know a couple of people outside the department that I can hang out with. I ran into one particularly nice person I met last week, who swiped me in for lunch at the cafeteria using her card. Kudos to you, amiga, and thanks for the lunch.

Other than that I bring my bass back up here after this weekend! Yeah! My bass is back! That's about all for now, and I have to get up in 5 hours to drive back. Hasta luego.