Random College Advice

Well, the greatest event in many of your lives is soon to be upon many of you. That's right, it's your first year at college. As I write this, I can't help but grin ear-to-ear. Going to college ranks right up there as one of the single greatest events in my life. Of course, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun without having a lot of advice.

Following in the footsteps of Baz Lurhmann, I will dispense this advice... now.

Attitude
It doesn't matter if you were the King Shit in high school, or just a shit. No one cares who you were in high school. N-O O-N-E. Check your pretentious attitude at the door, because it's not worth anything here, except an opportunity to make your freshman year hell.

Stop caring what other people think
College isn't like high school. Everyone doesn't know everyone else's business, and further still, even if they know your business, they don't care. *MOST* people stop judging everyone else (yes, FINALLY) and just let everyone be. If you ever start an action and think, "Gee, what would everyone think?"... you have the wrong mentality. Zakk couldn't believe I would walk down the hall wearing a t-shirt and boxers to the bathroom. NO ONE CARES.

Meet people; don't be afraid
Don't be afraid to walk up to people in the first couple of weeks and say, "Hey, I'm Adam, what's your name?" There are two easy conversation starters for freshman -- ask them what they're studying, and ask them where they're living. Again, this isn't high school where the cliques from middle school followed. This is a fresh slate... a clean start. No one knows more than four or five people. That means a lot of new bonds have to form quickly, so be a go-getter -- I promise you that NO ONE will find it weird if you introduce yourself to them. It's the one time in your life when you can basically just walk up to people and strike up conversation. Exchange names, exchange where you live, exchange majors -- it's that easy.

Iron out details with your roommate early
Not everyone is going to get as lucky as I did with my roommate last year. Form a roommate agreement -- a written document that irons out details for nearly any situation -- sex with the girlfriend, drinking, bedtime, lights, locks, whatever. WRITE IT DOWN. Keep it safe. Also, when you're going to bed at night, there's no finer time to discuss things... so make sure you do exactly that. If you have things ironed out ahead of time, you won't have any problems.

Go to Class, Go to Class, Go to Class!
Go to class. Period. End of sentence. Need some motivation? Go look at your University Bill. See that nearly $3000 for tuition? Yeah, that's right. Go to class.

Read the book
In my opinion, the academic part of college isn't hard. It's the part where you have to learn to control yourself and discipline yourself. If you go to class regularly, if you read the book, and if you do your homework, you will succeed.

Make yourself known to your professors / TAs
It is very easy to give someone a low grade if you don't know them. It becomes much more difficult to grade someone low if you can place a face to the name. Make a point of going to a professor's office hours at least two times during a semester, even if you don't really have any questions. The few minutes you spend doing that will pay huge dividends on your grade.

Do not be afraid to email them either. Email questions often, even minor ones. Your professors will not only help you understand, but again, they see that you are putting in effort, and will tend to give you better grades as a result.

Everything in moderation
Drinking can be fun, to be sure, but don't make it the highlight of your college experience. Studying can be important, but it isn't the only thing there is to do either. If you drink too much, you will lose track of your academic priorities, and the thrill will be lost. On the other hand, if you spend too much time studying, you'll miss out on other fun opportunities.

Solution? Keep everything in moderation. College is all about experiences (yes, plural). So yes, you should experiment. Just keep it in line. Don't do anything too much, especially drinking.

Take it easy
No one likes an alcholic or a drunk. No one likes a study addict / nerd. No one likes someone who does nothing but play games. No one likes someone who is often in a sour mood. Just as you should keep everything in moderation, you should also take it easy.

Honestly, nothing is that big of a deal. NOTHING is worth freaking out over, so don't. Drama is a rare commodity compared to high school... everyone is just so relaxed -- roll with it.

Make your room visitor friendly
If you want visitors (and why wouldn't you?), you need to make your room visitor friendly. Many people are very cool people, but have a room that just doesn't lend itself to having visitors. This is a mistake you should avoid. Make sure there is plenty of seating facing the TV -- if people can't come in and have a seat (and your bed DOESN'T COUNT), then they won't come in at all. Make sure the seating is someone comfortable and has a nice view of the TV. Perks such as ReplayTV, TiVo, GameCube, Xbox, or PS2 will help make sure people swing by.

Keep it clean
How often have you had a microwave, refrigerator, computer desk, bed, and TV in the same room? Probably never. My brother has a tough time keeping his computer desk clean. He also has a tough time keeping his video games clean. He also has a tough time keeping his bedroom clean. I shudder at the thought of his dorm room.

If you have a messy room, people won't come see you. A certain amount of disarray is to be expected, but don't get carried away -- people really don't like messy rooms... they are just... uncomfortable.

Attempt to eat right
Dining Service food is gross. Period. A time has come in your life when you need to stop being picky and fucking eat what is provided for you. Never has good nutrition been more important than college. If you don't eat right, you will get tired, cranky, and lethargic. This is not good. You will have less sleep and more stress than you've had before... the only thing that will keep you from getting very ill is solid nutrition. Don't just eat pizza and drink pop. Just because you CAN doesn't mean you should. Try to drink some milk or juice with every meal. Eat a verity of foods. Eat some fruits and veggies. Make sure you get some grains too. Trust me, it's important. Don't be a picky bastard.

I'm sure I'll have more advice later, but this is a good start.

You Adventure #1: Baseball Ballyhoo

This is a flash game made by the brilliant Fragmaster (yep, the same guy who read the F-Zero rant). It was made in late 2002, when a strike threatened Major League Baseball. It is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen regarding baseball. You must play this.

You Adventure #1: Baseball Ballyhoo

Kill Bill rocks

I would just like to say that Kill Bill is one of the greatest films I have ever seen in my life. Everything from the music, to the performance, to Uma Thurman's hotness, to David Carradine's masterful performance as Bill just makes me love this movie so much. I am using the singular form of film, because it basically is one film, just released in two parts. Kill Bill Volume One is light on story, Kill Bill Volume Two has a little less action, but together, they make an amazing movie.

If you haven't seen both yet, the moment Volume Two is released on DVD, you owe it to yourself to see both.

I hate spam

For whatever reason, my Iowa State email address gets spawned like nothing else. It's horrible. I always knew I got a lot of spam, but I didn't have numbers to go with it.

Ever since I got my Gmail account, I started forwarding my Iowa State mail there... that way I only have one email account to worry about, and it has excellent spam filtering. In the month of July, I have received 52 (FIFTY-TWO) pieces of spam since July 1st. That's about 13 pieces of shit mail a day.

Yet another reason I love Gmail... great spam filtering.