College Life

I went to bed at 930 last night, tonight i plan on sleeping at 830-9 WOW

Fuck Ups of the week

Ate half a cup cake for dessert, along with my regular apple- Wed night
Ate an ice cream cone, half filled with ice cream, and a banana - Thurs night
Plugged in 180 instead of 360 Thurs Afternoon
Clicked show answer thinking I could copy and paste it into the answer bar and get credit - Thurs. Afternoon
Didnt play halo Reach since sunday!
skipped out on a floor event to post this, BTW where is everyone with exciting news on college? your telling me nothing at all worth saying has happened to you these past couple weeks??

I gotta story: Since im ONLY on 14P, meaning i only get 2 meals a day for the week, I have to survive throughout the day by not eating a real lunch. how i do this? I steal apples. Tues I had 6 apples in my bag and by dinner they were gone! in class, to class, away from class, apples! im actually getting sick of apples, and surprisingly i feel like im eating healthier here. I have a GINORMOUS salad each night (check check, tonight i didnt cuz i was sick of all the fiber i was getting) and I eat fruit all day!
i feel bad for the staff at the dining halls, it clearly says no bags allowed inside the eating area, but since im such a stud muffin and im hella confident i walk in with my bag and they dont say anything. then i take at least 3 apples when it says im only allowed to have one, im such a jerk :(

Oh and imma bad ass marcher, we march for 2 hours in one of the main plazas and I was the only 4/C Marine Option (meaning i look like a bad ass in desert camies while the navy has their retarded blue ones). and i was leading everyone around and all these Asian tourists come over and take pictures of me! (well me leading us, us being freshman MIDN)
im playing halo, screw editing, my apologies

Heatwave???

Anyone else notice the sun is out of control? Someone should do something. I vote Ryan.

Where r Nick and Ryan

They're quiet ... too quiet. o_O (suspicious face)

First Friday of Classes

Woke up at 7 to PT, then I went to physics. That was almost interesting, turns out we are learning all the same stuff as last year, should have gotten that 5,5 on the 2 AP tests but this will make 1st quarter a breeze.
The physics discussion class was an hour later and for some hella ( :P ) dumb reason it's all the way in north campus in BROAD art center. strange.
after lunch i headed to Chem. I fell asleep. So basically I missed out on the talk about the lecture, dont even remember my teachers name or what the class web site is. Thank god I know 2 MIDN from ROTC who are taking the class.
after chem I PT-ed again for some ridiculous reason. I was planning on meeting up with two MIDN 2/C or 3/C and a 4/C but they were late so I ended up doing a 2 hour chest and back circuit with a SGT from the Marines. This was not the plan as i originally intended to lift for half an hour. Let me just say this SGT is a bad ass, he was a Scout Sniper and has done "a few" deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and he is hella strong ( :D )

Volunteer PT with a tad of Jackassery

supposed to show up at 0530 today. this PT was for people who were late to PT last friday and monday. Yesterday i suddenly decided I wanted to go so I volunteer to show up and get put on the list.
I set my alarm for 0500 yesterday, however i set the alarm to make no sound in order to not wake my roommates, apparently that wasnt a good idea because i wake up at 0620 to my phone beeping from a txt, the alarm is still silently yelling at me.
Thinking "OH FRACK!" I leap out of bed, throw on my PT gear and sprint to the ROTC building. Half way there I see my classmates in their PT gear walking back to the hill. "FRACK!" I stop, they tell me no worries the guys in charge knew i was volunteering and continued PT with out me and that I wasnt going to be in any trouble, then they told me just to walk back and forget about it.
"YEAH frackin' right!" I sprint off and talk to SSGT Fazica saying my alarm was set improperly and he makes another SSGT take care of me. I end up jumping up Jans steps twice, doing 30 pushups total and 25 pullups total. NOT BAD AT ALL! I was stoked but felt like a complete jackass. I didnt even get shouted at, just lectured a tad by SSGT Fazica and had to recite my lesson "learned" to the Sergeant Major of the Battalion. "If you volunteer for something you need to commit and actually do it"
I think they realized afterwords that had I not been committed or motivated to go to PT I wouldnt have shown up at all, and they warned me not to be scared to volunteering for things in the future. Im thinking "Shit Im going to volunteer for everything just to make up for this" hopefully things work out...

The past however long its been

So I pretty much lost all sense of time so I will begin here:
This girl who is a complete geek randomly decides she is going to a frat party with her floor mates. We have known each other since middle school so I was slightly confused. Since she has zero experience at frats she decides I would be a good buddy to have and chill with as everyone else gets their socializing on. We go at around 9 and at about 11 we are both sick of it and walk back to the dorms. I believe that night I stayed up until 12ish walking around the Wooden Center showing people what it was all about.
The next morning was Volunteer Day. They pile all the freshmen onto buses and drive them all across LA to do community service. Having spent a late night up, I was well rested and enthusiastic to wake up at 7 o'clock and start the day! We get to the bus stop at 8. Get picked up at 11 and get to this small elementary school at 12. What a waste of time...My "service" consisted of pulling weeds that will grow back in a week, and raking dead leaves that will be replaced as winter draws nearer. I was AMPED! Pretty much reinforced my understanding of how awesome and useful community service is and vindicated my complete obsession with it during high school. That night I hung out in westwood with some ROTC buddies. I went to Tommy's burgers and ate and then we went to Ditty Reese's and had cookies. After that some of us saw "The Town" which was gory and awesome and full of head shots. After the movie I hung out in the dorm with some peeps from other floors until 3 and woke up at 7 to PT. In fact that would be today's story...
So today after PT I was dead tired and went to my room to dress into swim shorts for the Mandatory Fun Day and the beach with the whole ROTC unit. We had a BBQ and I played frisbee, football and swam for 2 min until I realized it was really, really, really (that's 3 really's) cold. We had cheeseburgers and hot dogs and got to see all the senior personnel be really nice to everyone for a change! Oh and the LA sun seems to be a bit more intense than SD cuz I am a bit burned. No pain, yet but definitely red all along my chest and back. Another great thing that happened at the beach was that the sergeants decided all people late last friday and this monday for PT would do more PT tomorrow (Thursday the 23). I suddenly decided since my entire work out group had to go I would volunteer myself to go! Great show of leadership and initiative right! Well turns out we are meeting at 0530 for something "new and interesting." Kinda regretting it now since I've only gotten 9 hours of sleep, and worked out 3-5 times, these past 2 days. But what the hell?!?!?! Imma teenager and I can pull this stuff off and be fine! I've almost got myself convinced I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning...


Oh man, it is late, lack of sleep and I keep forgetting what day I did things. Today I also went to an Ultimate Frisbee Club meeting. Practice is Monday 5-7 and Friday 3-5, 3 tournaments this quarter, one in LA, one in Irvine and one in SD. Be there! if i actually keep up with it...
Walked around campus today trying to find classes, actually my friend tagged along and we ended up just finding her classes. no time to scope out mine, I had the ultimate frisbee meeting!
Yesterday after volunteer day I walked into Ralphs and bought 24 burger buns for the bbq that happened today. I looked awesome walking around with a bag full of buns.

I think that is it.

GIMME SOME O' DAT PT! (physical training, not...well, never mind)

had pt at 630 this morning. It was easy so me and a guy named AMIS were running around making sure people didnt fall out of the run. that was entertaining pushing people to catch the column. After that Amis and I lectured the freshman how to run properly, and I went into how to eat healthy and properly to gain strength and get the most out of working out. Then Amis and I went with a Navy Option called CONTE to do squats. That was fun, but Amis is a cross country guy, so he's a lot faster and he can lift his weight a lot better than I can, but when we hit the gym I'm the guy in charge.

So far the leaders are Amis, Conte, Consteadt and me. I'm buddying up with all of them so we can whip our unit into shape because so far all the staff is not impressed with the unit as a whole. A lot of work to do but that just makes ROTC that much more interesting...

Yesterday the MO's went for a run. We ran into one of the sergeants there and he was impressed because he instructed us to do PT Mon. Wed. and Fri. So bonus points for us. Then Amis and I went down to the gym at around 1430 to lift, saw a few of our squad leaders there, so far Amis and I are getting a good reputation for working hard.

I'm sad the school year is starting, I wont be able to work out when i feel like it and just hang out all day. The thought of thinking kills me.

AGAIN NEW URL

my god i got tired of typing people's initials. swanshake.blogspot.com

MY APOLOGIES! im still working out the kinks

Back from Oregon

Unfotunately the defense (which I was not a part of for this game) received a serious spanking (final score: 63-37 in favor of Lewis and Clark College XP). Luckily for me, all that crazy shit meant lots of special teams of which I am on three (kickoff, kickoff return, punt) so I got two tackles and a forced/recovered fumble. Overall the trip was really fun, despite the fact that I am now exhausted and sick (which explains why I am sitting alone in my dorm room on a Saturday night). Next week is bye week, and after today's display of the worst tackling I have ever seen in my life I can be sure to expect long practices and lots of tackling drills (there go my healthy back and shoulders, very sad)

(note to self, use fewer parentheses)

new url

changed it to aknrrw in order to recognize mr. amha and wob

Poetry

"To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."

Below

Q(^.^Q)

so you are actually going to have to click older posts to view my overview of O-week from the begging

yes it is long but i was either getting much needed sleep or preping my uniforms or doing things with the unit. there was NO FREE TIME for the past 5 days so sorry my email/text responses were either short or non-existent.

Complaints, Likes, Impressions and Rambles

Orientation:
So basically it was 5 days of fun! It all blurs together because I have an awful memory to begin with and when each day is 20 hours long and you do a godzillion things stories and timelines get FUBAR-ed.

The first day I got to detail stories out. The next day I was able to write a list of things worth nothing so:

I was top 2 for strongest as well as top 2 for fastest, the 1st strongest and 1st fastest definitely were not well rounded like I was. Which allowed me to make a good impression on the staff. The guy who is quick though is skinny, so he can do 16-10 pull-ups while I only hit 14 the first day. We did a three-mile run and it was a piece of cake, at the end we raced to see which squad would get first. I was in second (with the fastest and strongest guys which was nice), and I came in third behind the fastest guy and a SGT Steele who is 28 and is starting college and ROTC in the grey area between a second and third year. So it wasn’t too shabby. One of the staff actually started chasing me and warned me to not let him pass him, so I think I cut him off at a turn and pulled away the last 20 yards, almost catching the SGT Steele.
As a marine option I was put in charge of a naval guy who needed help (damn navy) I had to basically be responsible for him at all times and make sure he got his shit together (and he did) I like the whole trying being the best thing, it’s fun and you get more attention, which sometimes involves a lot of screaming but I had a good time being shouted at.
During the swim test the demonstrator demonstrated the side-stroke by putting his head underwater, and he specifically said to do that, then I do it and my observer tells me not to (god damned contradictions, happened all week, it was fun seeing the staff not be on the same page with each other, one time the whole freshman group was ordered to do one thing, then ordered not to do it, then the process repeated 2 more times, that was fun to deal with). The swimming test also had me fill trousers with air, which was fun because I’m sitting there treading water with my feet buttoning the pants up after I took them off in the water and I’m spinning in circles just cause I feel like it and I’m really relaxed not really giving a shit and the staff is kind of looking at me like WTF is this guy doing? And then a few seconds later I’m the first one done and out of the water.
During the swim test one instructor walks up to me and asks if I played football I say yes and he says I should join the “Blood Bowl,” an ROTC flag football game between UCLA and USC. I think I impressed everyone with my “massive” muscles; it was fun being asked to join the flag football team the unit puts together.
PEOPLES NAMES! I hate names, names are hard to remember, even harder when everyone else is fucking them up and everyone is shouting some weird grunt that only sounds like the name a little bit. Each time we had to walk past someone during O-week we had to greet him or her. Of course I couldn’t remember any of the staffs names “Good morning Mr/Ms….Shit…” That got a me a few ear fulls but it was all in good fun.
Wearing my uniform and walking around campus = AWESOME! I really enjoyed sitting at the airport with my hair cut all militarily and such but the looks given here with the uniform on are a billion times better! For example: walking into my dorm during a move-in day the older students are all greeting the freshman waving flags and shirts screaming and having a good time, I walk by and the stop and stare for a bit and are in awe. My roommate was chilling in our room today too and his two friends looked scared when I walked in. The girl asked what grade I was in and was surprised to find out I was in her grade.
THANKS DAD! For giving me a “marine only” belt, the first day I get questioned where I got my belt and I had to go on and explain everything because supposedly ONLY marines are supposed to have them. Just because of a belt I get put in the spotlight, and who’s the naval jackass that did that to me? FATHER!


Day 3-4 was spent on the road. First we stopped by Point Loma Naval base to check out a Nuclear Submarine. That was cool but a lot worse than the trip I did with Mr. Flieschman Senior year on a different (same model though) nuclear sub. We went to Pendleton as well the third day. We shot M9’s and I scored a 223 out of 240. 3rd best of the freshmen BUT! I didn’t know the “learning” phase was also the qualifying phase. So I’m sitting there practicing being quick, not giving too much of a damn and not worrying about patience or accuracy, thinking I will get more ammo and be able to shoot better, that didn’t work out so well, so the 223 was what I had to deal with.
The night of the 3rd day we spent folding bunks, basically 2 hours of SSGT shouting at us and being angry with us for not being quick enough. That was fun, until I had fire watch at 0200 to 0300. That was actually really fun, waking up in the middle of the night to watch the barracks with 2 other guards. We were supposed to all walk around the bunks counting people and making sure nothing stupid happened and also were supposed to clean the barracks and bathroom. Of course OC Tran (who was watching us) gets angry at the two other people for not knowing their shit so I had to count, clean (mop and sweep) all by my lonely-es :( That was fun because he talked to my squad leader and I got a good reputation.
The 4th day we did some leadership obstacles, when I led my team through one I got everyone “killed” because my plan sucked ass, well actually I didn’t have a plan and the people I assigned to do shit had no idea how to adjust to the situation. So the only opportunity I was officially in charge of someone in the field led to a 90% casualty rate. After that we hit the O-course and I was dead tired so I didn’t compete in the fastest person to do the O-course, next time I hope. After the O-course was infiltration training, which actually was training us how a fire team assaults something so no crawling around stabbing people… BUT that was almost good, the Marine Options were put in one group (4 of us) and the SGT there put the worst 2 people in charge during our 2 times thru the course. No one knew what to do but me and I was the only one sprinting my ass of with my rubber M16. So as a unit we would have died but I think I made a good impression


Swearing in ceremony (day 5): Wake up at 0430 and realize I fell asleep before I ironed my uniform, I have an hour to get packed and get my PT gear on and 2 sets of dress uniform ready depending on what we would wear that day for the ceremony. I get it done and the Marines start off with their PFT. We were supposed to do a 3 mile run but the track was closed so we ended up running a made up route. I think it was more than 3 miles but what do I know? I keep up with SSGT Steele and at the end I offer to race him, the last 100 yards. We are head to head until the last 5 yards where finally I decided I wasn’t going fast enough and beat him, pulling ahead by a body width (not length).
Before the ceremony we put on our white uniforms, I couldn’t find my nametag and I swore to god I put it in my sea bag before I fell asleep, but I tell my squad leader and then I run all the way back to my dorm only to not find it. So I run all the way back, realize I didn’t check my sea bag pocket and THERE IS! All that running after a PRT for nothing. I was issued Midshipman 1st class shoulder boards and that’s no good because I’m only 4th class, so after the ceremony at the picnic 8 staff members come up and question me and I have to explain that I already told my squad leader and I was going to exchange them ASAP. That was entertaining having all these seniors and juniors and sophomores telling me that they should now call me sir or that they are now the same rank as me.
At the picnic OC Tran tells me if there was a draft for the Orientation members I was top 5 in the pick at least and that if he went to our commission ceremony he would hide in the shadows, whisper me over and take a quick picture then get the hell out of dodge. Basically the staff feels like our group is mainly shit and there was only 3 really squared away people (myself included) that the OC could name off the top of his head. And apparently the marine options are the worst physically fit the unit has had in a long time. There are 4 of us, one guy runs a 4,43 mile and then there is me. Then there is the guy who does 0 pull ups for our PRT today and then the other guy drops out of a 1.5 mile jog the first day.

Overall: despite me complaining I loved every second of it, worked hard from 0500 to 1800 each night then had a meeting/”class” with the squad for an hour. Then cleaned up and used the info I just learned to square away my uniforms and study the knowledge packet and hydrate, then bed at 0100-0200. Despite the work and lack of sleep it was a great learning opportunity and the whole unit knows now what to do and fix in order to meet expectations. I loved being shouted at, I found it humorous because I knew as soon as O-week was over everyone would be nice to us, and after the ceremony EVERY instructor changed, they were kind and were actually interested in us and were willing to help us out nicely, it was incredible to see the transformation of the instructors and surprise on all the other freshman’s faces.

first day

\ Wake up at 500 get there at 550 people make us get in attention and start shouting at us, I know their game so I start cracking up so I have 3 senior enlisted folk shouting at me as Im cracking a smile, then my friend Robbie starts smiling and almost gets his ass chewed out.
Had my hair buzzed, they still made me get a hair cut and wasted 10 dollars, didn’t know how they could cut a no guard anyways so I just had the lady go really no guard xP there goes my lunch money
Ran 1.5 miles it was nothing, everyone was heaving and I was chanting away with the staff sarge and the older midshipmen
Screwed up names so often that’s all I got shouted at for, tho I can keep my composure pretty well so they cant yell at me too much cuz it gets boring, tho they do like to ask me questions cuz I know jack shit.
Some enlisted girl is shouting at me to put all my stuff back into my sea bag, we have 60 seconds and im so good I don’t get flustered, I actually start chuckling, she immediately gives up and starts shouting at the girl beside me. Keenan 1, ROTC 0
Was talking to a peer, we were instructed to quiz each other, he didn’t hear so I ask him, he flips out and stutters and is jittery thinking im an instructor or something, he even called me sir, I enjoyed that. But eventually I told him to relax and take a breath.
Did 14 pull ups for Mr. Bell, then another Mr. comes along 5 min later after Bell leaves and makes me do pull ups, got to 7 then I said, Mr. ______ , Mr. Bell already made me do these. He almost felt bad.
Actually lost count doing pull ups, they asked me what and I said I don’t know, they say oh okay so you did one or 2, then Bell says, I believe it was about 14, I expect you to get 15 at Pendleton, I was like shit cant I keep the 1 or 2?
Almost told an officer his cadence was off for marching, even the enlisted guy transferring in to ROTC as a junior was off because of the guys screw up. He blamed me tho, and told me to adjust.
1.5 mile run we got to chant about daddy giving PT time to mommy, actually got a cramp laughing to myself.


Overall a great mixture of tiredness, humor, nervousness and productiveness today. I think the staff likes me cuz I see thru their act and they like me keeping my composure and looking confident enough. I love watching the unit take things personally as they get shouted at by 3 people, thank god for football.
And one more thing that made me laugh, I can just imagine my little bald dad as a commander sitting at a desk being all chill, great contrast compared to these people.

Weston

wants to know what life is like at UCLA

Insensitive

I'm not fat.

Breaking News:

The weather gods have gone insane in Claremont. Temperature drops from 100 to 60 and water falls from the sky. Evacuation and widespread panic recommended.

Freedom?

First day off from football since I came up here. Hardly know what to do with myself. Oh yeah, homework.

Interesting events of Sunday Sept. 5

Beat my dad in chess on the first try, that was in the morning and I managed to refuse to replay him the rest of the day, he's begging for a rematch!

The family watched "The Big Lebowski"   needless to say they loved it. 

Watch out for those marmots.

YO IM FASTER THAN RYAN

RYAN YOUR A FATASS

Ryan and nick are slow, wont check their emails or do anything with this awesome blog

anyways,  played ultimate Frisbee again today, barefoot again, and stepped on a bee again, i wonder who's fault that is?   Practicing for sweet ultimate Frisbee games up at LA, hopefully there is a club league or something... more on that when i actually get to college....