Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Easter Weekend: The Last Hoorah: (Thursday): "She Did What?!?!?(part 1)"

          I awoke on Thursday and immediately had work to do. My visit to AA that weekend was mostly pleasure but I had to get the business out of the way. I had scheduled a 1:00 pm meeting with my academic adviser at Angell Hall and being that it was about 3 hours before then, I decided to venture around campus. I brushed my teeth and went upstairs. Everyone had a final at some point in the day, so the house was quiet save for ESPN coming from Joe's TV. Before heading outside, I borrowed some flip flops from Sweeny's room and donned my blue Chicago Cub's hat that Chin had gifted me during our secret Santa. For whatever reason he thought that I didn't like it and this was not the case. I seldom wore it because I wanted to get "1502" inscribed on the side, but that would mean heading to my "guy" in the hood who does that work. I hadn't been to his store in about a year and a half but I loved the hat. Thus I made it a point to pack the hat on this trip to AA. By the way AA is "Ann Arbor" it just gets tedious writing out the actual letters when "AA" suffices. I headed out of Hotel Arch and unlike when I had arrived the night before, the sun was shining and people were walking about. This was the AA that I remembered. I threw my headphones into my ear and thumbed through my Crackberry for Big Sean's "My Last." It seemed like the perfect soundtrack for this Easter rendezvous in AA. As recent graduates, you tend to know the people ahead of you, and few classes below you, thus we realized that any future visits to AA would be different because we were now "Alumni." Gone would be the days of simply crashing on someone's couch, so we had to get it in this weekend. I turned left from Hotel Arch and made my way towards Angell Hall. I observed the various students walking back and forth from studying or taking their finals and I couldn't help but wonder if they appreciated their unique position as Wolverines. Personally, as soon as I came to appreciate my time in AA it was over. Thus my walk that morning was filled with nostalgia at all the different locations I had once been. I made my way to Angell Hall and continued browsing around as I had some time to kill. Graduation was around the corner so an enormous white banner was hung in the hall with the title being, "Before I Die I Want To..." With markers the students were supposed to write out their aspirations so I was naturally drawn to read some of the notations as people interest me. I was a sociology major after all. 

          As I began to read some of the posts, I realized that A LOT of people do not know how to dream. I once had this conversation with Amanda that a dream should be something that's out of the ordinary. Maybe it's just me being an immigrant and having this concept of the "American Dream" but a dream should be as extravagant as possible, and a lot of what I was reading was stupid. "I want to cross the street." Really? That's what you're going with? You can do anything in this world before you die and "You want to cross the street"??? Obviously I'm exaggerating with that one but most of them were matter of fact statements that didn't seem to fit like the "I want to go to Subway" post. I was left asking, How is this noteworthy? Is going to Subway that arduous? Shit if you don't like meat, they have the veggie sub, right? The only movie that I ever walked out of and wanted to turn around and  immediately walk back into was "Inception." My takeaway from the film was that "the most contagious thing in this world is an idea," because as humans we have this unique ability to drastically change the world around us and on the same token destroy it. No other creature on earth can claim this hence why we are higher beings than animals (I'm about to go on a tangent but I have to say this). 

          At Angell Hall, we once had this debate in philosophy about animals. If we as humans didn't have the acumen to have technology, and we were out there foraging with the animals, do you think that wolves, and bears, and lions and tigers, and alligators, etc would have fireside chats to determine if they wanted to eat us? "I'm not going to hunt Michael today, it might hurt his feelings." No! This is why PETA and some of these vegetarians slay me. This is America and you have a right not to eat meat, but shut the fuck up with that "holier than thou attitude." So if I recall correctly, the philosophical argument was that "all animals are the same and we should regard all of them equally and avoid behavior that purposely harms them." Do you realize how many insects get "murdered" on your windshield by simply driving your car? Following that logic, we shouldn't drive, fly planes, or have any kind of transportation. Thus if you are not nimble enough to tip-toe everywhere, you should probably lay in bed all day because you don't want to hurt the animals. Insects are animals too. So I would ask, what separates an insect from a chinchilla from a dog? Oh I get it! It's only animals that you like, you know the "totally cute/cuddly ones!" You see the hypocrisy. I love animals and would never want them to be purposely hunted towards extinction, but if you farm alligators/chinchillas for example, with the sole purpose of making hats, and coats and shoes, there is nothing wrong with that! Michael Vick went to jail for two years for dog fighting! He was wrong as you shouldn't be cruel to animals so you fine him, or suspend him or whatever, but two years in jail was excessive. OJ KILLED a motherfucker, and got less time; allegedly. In 1977, Roman Polanski DRUGGED and RAPED a 13 year old girl, and to this day is hiding out from the US in Europe, while making Oscar award winning films that you go and see, and got less time; allegedly. Shit in the same NFL, people have been busted for slanging cocaine, shooting people, beating their wives, and killing people in DUI accidents and they all received less time than Mike Vick. Are you kidding me? Admittedly, Vick was an asshole so they wanted to make an example out of the rich, cocky, black athlete. However, two years in a jail system, that we all admit is overcrowded, was excessive. This is why they laugh at us in other countries because we have become so PC in America. So in ending my mini rant, do you know what they call dogs in other countries? DINNER! Think about it.


          So in returning to my point about dreams, they should be as un-ordinary as possible. When you think about it, some of the greatest inventions in this world, the inventors didn't set out to be "great." They were simply curious. Once upon a time cavemen were walking around with square wheels. All it took was some drunk asshole from "Cave Ricks" to be like, "What if those wheels were round?" At first someone would have said, "Shut up Bob!" Until someone would actually think about it and say, "No! what if they were round?" The rest is history. Or when one guy is driving down the street and another guy is driving towards him in the opposite direction. BOOM! They suddenly crash and are hurled towards each other. "Hey, you got peanut butter in my chocolate," would come one guy. "You got chocolate in my peanut butter," would return the other, and before they died, the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup was invented. Bill Gates didn't invent the computer, his only desire was to make it simpler to use. Now he is the second richest man on earth. This would not have been possible without the thought of "what if" or "why not?" Thus when Sweeny says that he wants to one day be President, I'm pretty certain that it did not occur like this. One day he was masturbating  in his window at Hotel Arch and as he was nearing climax he shouted out through the window, "I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD!!!" Rather, it was an idea that took root into his head somewhere as a boy. Thus when he eventually made it to Michigan he majored in pre-law. Then he got accepted into law school and more than likely, he will try to work in a public office to set himself up to one day run for the Presidency. Thus if he ever achieves this dream, you will be able to back track and look at all the decisions that helped him reach that position. However none of it would have been possible without a dream that began as a tiny thought. I continued to read the banner and I did laugh at the "I want to have sex in the stacks" post. Who would do that? Admittedly I am very proud that I am the only member of 1502 to achieve this. Wheeler led the way, but the study carrels are NOT the same thing as the actual stacks. I eventually met with my adviser and we talked about life, my student loans, and grad school. I learned about "InCircle," which is social networking that is exclusive to Michigan alumni. People post job offers, and roommate searches, etc, and it is all free. I had wrongly assumed that all of those alumni services required money. I left his office feeling inspired as this was the type of guidance that I was missing at home. I hung out with my sister for a few hours and as I returned to Hotel Arch, E was dropping Stev off.
          
          As the house was still empty we decided to head straight to Charley's to begin our epic weekend. To be honest, the most fun that I have ever had at Charley's has been in the daytime. I remember after my last final as an undergrad, Stev met me at Charley's and we spent two hours getting shit faced but it was FUN! We arrived at Charley's and took our seat. The place was busy but we managed to find an empty table to the right of the entrance. We talked about everything that we were up to since we had last seen each other in January and our graduate school plans. Remember, I don't go out drinking at home so with the sun shining outside, it was good simply laughing and being around girls. We ordered our pitchers of beer and I felt so good that I decided to drink straight out of the pitcher. It was that kind of day, where no glasses were needed. Everyone around us commended me on the decision. The only buzz kill were this shift of servers. This was the most unattractive collection of women that I had ever seen wearing those red and black Charley's shirts. I'll use this analogy. Everyone knows that there's a difference between JV and varsity athletes...These were REPLACEMENT players! I half wanted to say, "Don't worry about it sweetheart. I'll go get my next drink, so that I can tip myself!" Stev and I drank and laughed for about two hours before we decided that it was time to officially start our pregame. When we decided to leave, I still had some beer in my second pitcher and so I decided to stand up and simply walk out with pitcher in hand, and a bottle of "Clancey's Gourmet Hot Sauce." Side note on Clancey's, I do not know what they put into those tiny bottles of hot sauce but it MUST be crack because I am hooked! Before returning to Hotel Arch, we decided to pick up some liquor/beer at Blue Front before Stev told me something that "grinds my gears" every time that I think about it...

Go Cubs? Or 1502...
That Crack!

2 comments:

  1. @animals, I believe that most people think certain animals may possess "higher" brain functions than others. These tend to be the animals that we put more stock into and DOES NOT include insects and rodents etc. Just a side note.

    As for Incircle, it really is great, better if you're in the midwest or perhaps a big east coast city like DC or New York but as it continues to grow it will be an invaluable resource for UM Alumni.

    Now two of my best times at Charlies have been with you during the day. The only thing that makes the 2nd one less is that we had that HOT bartender taking shots with us the first time, and the second time well...you already touched on that subject.

    One of my fav moments of the weekend was pulling up in E's car and seeing you walking towards Arch, absolutely perfect if you ask me and def set the tone for things to come.

    Something sad is about to come in your next post, but at least it in part helped us learn that small hurdles CAN NOT stop us from having a good time, and in that case even INSPIRE us to go out and do work.

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  2. Haha...yea I didn't set out to write about the animals I just vividly recall that debate and when I met this annoying ass Vegan once upon a time, but here I go...

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