No Sleep 'Til Charlottesville

http://alabamairc.blogspot.com/2009/03/no-sleep-til-charlottesville.html

The Concert In Central Park

You might ask yourself, "Oh, Joseph, will your fascination with Simon and Defunktel ever cease, ever dwindle?"  The answer, dear friend, hopefully not too much to your dismay is, "No, it likely won't."

I am unsure of precisely why I have found it so difficult to blog since... wow.  I didn't realize until looking specifically now, but it's been a month and three weeks.  How time does fly.  I can't tell if that's a good thing or not...

I would say "Let's play catch-up," but that's bound to happen anyway.  Instead, let's look on the horizons forwards and backwards.

• This weekend:  work, en masse, on: a take-home examination in Theory of Probability; a MATLAB-based project for Applied Differential Equations; and a lab-report on storage elements and step functions for Electric Circuits.  Not, however, a late celebration of German Karneval at 220 Reed Street, as I might have hoped, since...
• Yesterday:  a visit to the Student Health Center to be diagnosed with a supposed case of acute bronchitis.  Azithromycin for a little while.  I'd rather not subject my attempts at recovering to another late night and indulgences of a Bavarian, alcoholic nature, so I will stay in and riddle my Friday night away more peacefully.  To be quite honest, I sort of needed an excuse not to go, because it would have only led to a late-starting Saturday, and I have a hard enough time getting up Saturday mornings as things stand.
• Next Thursday:  my last meeting before the break with Drs. Houser and Thoma and my parter-in-confusion Andrew concerning our ongoing attempts in Second Life.  This is also going to be known as the "get on the damn ball, you screw-up" meeting.  Needless to say, I will be spending a lot of time logged into our ever-changing ESPRMC sim during...
• Next next week:  the break.  Spring break.  A week of breath-catching, old-(and-new?)-friend-seeing, good food, sleeping, and who knows what else.  Time spent at home, which is never to be undervalued.  Time spent contemplating just what three years old means, and how indescribable that is.  In a good way.  Also, probably a little bit of time laying out what to do with the results of...
• Back to that same next Thursday:  officer elections for the Alabama International Relations Club (AIRC).  I am excited at the prospect of being granted the responsibility of a leadership position and getting to help take the club places.  Last night I stared down nominations for a club that, over the last year, I have grown to feel very vested in.  I don't know where I would "fit best."  I do know, however, that I can flourish whereever I am given the chance to do so, so here's hoping for the best outcome.  I am also hoping that I will be lucky enough to travel with give-or-take 11 other representatives of AIRC...
• The last weekend in March:  to the University of Virginia to VICS, the Virginia International Conflict Simulation.  A favorite of past attendees.  I am excited, even just by the prospect.  I would have the chance, potentially, to serve as a mock-member of the New York Times Editorial Board, the International Criminal Tribune for Rwanda, or Carter's Cabinet during the Iran Hostage Crisis, to name a few.  I guess that will potentially be the out-and-about highlight of the semester.  Granted, I don't need to be concerned with, or searching for opportunities to travel, since...
• This July:  I'll be going to Austria.  That's right, real Western European, German-speaking, just-north-of-Italy, smack in the middle of nearly-the-other-side-of-the-world Austria.  Klagenfurt, a small town capitol of Carinthia, to be specific.  I'll be spending four weeks at the Universität Klagenfurt enrolled in intensive German language and culture study, followed by a week in and around Vienna, making my way to Budapest, Bratislava, and other roughly neighboring cities.  I could write pages worth here on Klagenfurt alone, but suffice to say, I am excited.  Hopefully...

Hopefully, it will be... great success.

In other news:

Student Government Presidential hopeful Kendra Key was defeated by a narrow margin in the most voted-in election in University history.  Our new SGA President-elect is one Steven Oliver.

What does that mean, and why am I talking about it?  Find out next time on "Tales Of Interest."