keep both eyes open

Omega formal's tonight. I'm looking forward to it, actually. I'm not going alone, which is really why, I think. Finals are going along pretty well, too. Man, I never knew how hard tests could be until I took them in college. I'll be glad to get the hell out of sociology classes. I still get confused by all the terms in there. Out of all the heat-of-the-moment decisions I've made, that's got to be the worst, picking anything soc-related for a major, hands down.

Santiago, can you help me pick out a tie for tonight? I really don't want to look like I'm going to church.

I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving with Tinka and that your family likes her. She's a nice girl, they should like her.

Next time you give me advice, I reckon I'm going to listen to it, for the record. I'll explain when I get home. I don't know when we'll get back. Since it's just reading days at the beginning of the week, I reckon we'll get in Wednesday or Thursday. I don't know. I'll let you know when I do.

Um. Anybody see a set of keys floating around randomly? Chevy key ring? There's some dorm keys and truck keys on there (not that the truck's here, I just still keep the keys with me) and barn keys. Because I might've dropped mine somewhere. Or left them in the cafeteria. Or maybe the gym. I don't know.

Santiago, please don't kill me.

Edit: They're found!

Sooooo, weekend. How was it? Spill. I'm nosy.

And if I said I was thinking about maybe what you said, about doing something with you and Tinka and me and John, what would you say? Maybe after the show? And I mean being upfront about what everybody is to one another and everything.

I voted for the first time in my life this year. It was nice. I mean, I know which way Kansas is going to go, but still. I felt good putting in my absentee ballot the other day. Important. Guess it's just part of growing up, but I really like it. I don't know which way things are going to go all over the country, but it's good to know I'm a part of that, even if I'm just a tiny part.

Maybe things will start to look up for people like John and me

Anybody else glued to the television? I feel like I'm watching something big happen.

Did someone have a good Halloween? Huh? Huh? C'mon, tell. Tinka seems pretty happy with whatever happened.

IM to John around 1 in the morning:

TractorR3d: Um. Okay. Google is scary, but wikipedia isn't as scary and I have no idea what I'm looking at...this isn't making any sense. Are you awake? Please be awake.

Okay, I might be a sheep, but I'm a really slow sheep. (Most sheep are pretty stupid, actually. And the smell awful when they get wet. And...nobody wants to know about this stuff, do they?)

( Anyway, survey thing. )

Man, I miss home. I spent most of last night on the phone with my Ma, explaining that I was happy here and I'm doing well and I'm just flat not changing schools because I have friends and I have fraternity stuff and I'm changing my major (man, I said that, and I don't know why I said it because I hadn't made up my mind until right then!) to Biology and I wasn't going to study biology in a state that won't even teach evolution in schools.

I think she's a might bit cross with me. But I'm still here. And that's what matters.

So I reckon I've got to go talk to somebody in the Biology department.

But I still miss home. It's so weird being here during harvest and not doing a damn thing. It'll be time to do the big butcher for the fall and I'm not there. I miss the cold early mornings and the smell of the earth and nothing more than the sounds of the cattle in their pens and the warmth of hot coffee in my hands. I don't know if Biology is the perfect fit for me. I hope it is. But if it's not, I reckon I can always go home, get me a little parcel of land somewhere and farm. Even if I can't do anything else right, I know I can fall back to that. I never wanted to go home to stay, that's why I came out here in the first place, but damn, I miss it now and it sounds so good to me. I reckon that's why they give you four years of college, so you don't panic and change your mind right before you graduate or something.

Well, my hands look better and it doesn't hurt to type any more, so I reckon my quality of life is just shooting on up. I'm lucky, I could be all busted up (like somebody I know--for once, I'm not the one looking like I went ten rounds in a fight and lost!--but seriously John, you doing alright?), but I'm doing okay. Can't even see my black eye anymore, not really.

Ma keeps calling to try to get me to come home. I can almost time it. Usually, she calls after supper back in Jamestown, which is about 5 here, and she's been doing it every day. I think if she didn't get me on the phone, she'd have a melt down, she's that worried. I don't know how to get her to understand that earthquakes here are like tornadoes. If she really puts her foot down, I know what's going to happen because Dad always listens to her, and I'll be going back home to school before you can whistle Dixie, that's what's going to happen.

I just wish she'd believe me that I'm doing okay and that there are folk here looking out for me, too. I love her to bits and pieces, but she's making me crazy. So's my homework, too. I don't get sociology. Not one lick. I read the stuff five billion times, but I can't ever spit it out. And I sound like a real idiot in class, too. Hayseed, actually. It sucks. I wish it was as easy as bio is.

Man, I need a smoke.

( Definitely, definitely private. )

My Ma sent cookies! Chocolate chip with pecans and everything. Santiago gets first dibs by the ancient laws of roommate-dom, but anybody else in McLeach want to swing by for some? I reckon she made enough for the 1st Airborne.

( Oh, and Thomas? You've been a slipshod sailor and a /poor/ excuse for a soldier. /Don't/ disappoint me again. )