reporting for duty

What IS that Scott guy up to?!
Well I just got back from thanksgiving a few days ago. We (my family + Mandy) went to Texas to hang out with my maternal type family. We had a good time. The retirement village place my grandparents are at had really nice places for guests to stay- it was actually very nice. Think I might have to live there some day…. But our trip was good, my dad and Todd and I ran a bunch… we actually went out one morning for a brisk 30 minute run and then we got lost and tried to make a loop and by the time it was over we had run for 1:05… so I was really tired. I mean, I’ve done 2 half-marathons and those were right under 2 hours each, but you know its coming so you get ready for it. So we got back and then the blogging community got a messed up with some comments about Sam, but I think that’s all taken care of…. Right? I really care a lot about Sam and its been my distinct pleasure to see her grow in her Christian walk over at UT. Her diligence and open mindedness in that respect always impressed me. As we have all hopefully learned by this point in our lives- Living with people can be really tough. People who are really great a being friends can be really bad at being roommates. Its just a different type of dynamic all together. I, for one, am glad that Josh and I were able to make it through 3 years of being roommates and me still be able to call him one of my closest and best friends. I know that many people were not as lucky. I know I’m not in Knoxville, but I don’t have to be to know some things. Just because people can’t get along as roommates it doesn’t mean that they are incompatible as friends. Just because people can’t make it living together doesn’t mean there is anything deeply wrong with either party. Someone said just yesterday “Agree to disagree”, and I think that conversational philosophy can sometimes transcend to other areas of conflict and cohabitation might be one of them.

Speaking of that stuff… I am probably going to be moving into my fraternity house. There will be three of us- myself, the fraternity president, and a 4th year fraternity representative. Someone just moved out and there is a large room complete with a full (not just twin!!) mattress and bed springs, a nice desk, a TV and entertainment-type thing, my own large bathroom, and other nice things. It is a 4 story house with 2 living rooms, a kitchen, a large open foyer with a foosball (sp?) table, washer and dryer, a big old TV with an Xbox complete with 4 controllers and halo 2, a big old study room with chalk boards and tables, and 3 large bedrooms- and I will be in one of them. All of this for 267 dollars a month plus a very large utility bill split 4 ways (25% is to the fraternity)… unfortunately that bill can be like 500 bucks and that puts my average monthly payment at around 400 bucks… not too shabby. But we shall see about that tomorrow. I’m excited. School is going fine… making tons of friends and new ones all the time. The last retreat really helped me get to know a bunch of people and for a bunch of people to get to know me. I was in the spotlight a little as I fixed the DVD player for a big group of girls who wanted to watch “bridget jones’ diary” (I wasn’t trying to impress them- there was just nobody that could fix it- including 5 guys- and they were sad that they couldn’t watch their movie) and I built a large bon-fire for all 50 of us that were there at the house. Ryan and I went on a long hike on what we think was private property and that was fun. I have a good picture of him with this fish pillow we found at the house- it actually looks very realistic in the picture- I’ll show you here at the end.
I don’t really know too much else. I am really excited about coming home over this break. It will be great to see all my friends that I haven't seen in awhile and to get to spend some time with Mandy that won’t feel like we have to really rush to get all our activities in like normal weekends in MJ, and although I hate that I have to leave Mandy in MJ alone for 6 days- I am really pumped about my cruise. The one last year was a total blast and it was only 3 days. I’ve never been to Mexico and some of the other places we will be going and it should be awesome…. And Mandy- you don’t have to worry about me picking up any girls because I think I’m looking rather chubby since I’ve been here in pharmacy school… and even if I was really buff I’d tell the girls to go take a hike because I had a hot red-head waiting for me back in Tennessee! Hehe… ok that’s too much cutesy talk for one blog…
I’m really just ready to be a pharmacist… not really for the money, although it will be nice to not have to really over-analyze EVERY purchase if you know what I mean… really just want to get out and MATTER you know? Its not that I feel insignificant right now per se’… but I just feel like I can make a bigger difference out there being a pharmacist… I just wish I could close my eyes and wake up 3 years later knowing everything about all the drugs and disease states and what-not. Oh well… I’m gonna go see what Ryan is up to… later!