Thursday was pretty hectic. As it turns out, February only has 28 days in it unlike the typical 30 or 31. This means I had 3-4 less days before my March 2nd application deadlines to my summer research positions. However, I was able to get together my letters of rec and transcripts in time. Although, I had to have most of them mailed priority.

     Thursday afternoon at College Mentors we did a chemistry activity which was pretty cool. We did some stuff blowing up balloons, observing glow sticks, and making some goo and ice cream. I think I kids had a really good time and have to tip my hat to Professor Porter who always does a great job with the kids.

     Friday was a pretty low key day, I got over my sickness and finally felt normal again - just in time for the weekend =). I spent the night in the library then hung out with some of my Rhynie brothers at the house. I've been in the library for most of the day as I have 2 more papers to write, about 6 pages of chemistry to transcribe, and about 16 pages of biology notes to start studying. Point and case: I've get a hell of a week coming BUT I leave for Italy on Friday so really, how hard can this be?

Posted by Jake Ezell at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     It's been a long week - I'm optimistic, but its been a long week. Spent the last couple days fighting some sort of sickness and trying to study for organic. The test today didn't go so well but I was thinking that I guess thats part of life. Sometimes you spend a lot of time on something and it just doesn't quite go like you would have liked. I'll just have to get back at it next time.

     Rhyneship was a lot of fun tonight. It's been really affirming to me everytime we meet up as a class. I may have a million things to do and it may take everything in me to get to whatever we're doing, but I always have fun and it's been really good getting to know those guys.

     After tomorrow I'm just about home free, my parents are supposed to come up Friday for the play and I'm looking forward to that - I have heard some really good things about it. Then I've got a few papers to write. It was beautiful out today - can't wait for spring at Wabash and campus to come back to life. You know what it's like walking across that green mall with a cool breeze in front of the big arches of the chapel - can't get enough.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 01:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

    From Wednesday to Friday last week, nothing much happened.

    Friday night I spent in the library until around 10 then came back to the house and ran around with the guys for a while before calling it a night around 2. It was pretty neat though because for the majority of the night we sat around in our alumni room with a professor and just talked. We talked about religion and life and politics - typical Wabash stuff. It's always fun to come back from the library and see a professor sitting in one of our common rooms. Casual discussion with a professor on a weekend is always something to look forward to. He wasn't quite sure what to make of Samer and Starnes free-style rapping though.

    Saturday was one of the better Saturday's I have had in a long time. I woke up around 10 and showered for our double header coaching at the Boy's and Girl's Club. It was a completely lackadaisacal environment and we lost both games, but it was nonetheless fun to be coaching. After the game, I came back to the house and straightened the room up before a nap. Around 4:00 some girls showed up for our semi-formal and we got ready, got caddied over to the Iron Gate in town, had a steak dinner (which was excellent), then opened up the dance floor. I dominated the dance floor and had an absolute blast. Magic Carpet Ride was awesome - my date was fun and we left there around midnight with no real messes or destruction of the Iron Gate. We had a bit of an afterparty, I slept in today, and did some homework catching up after that.

     I really had a good time Saturday - one of the top 10 weekends here yet. Busy next two weeks.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 02:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     This should be a really solid week. I have a lot of weight off my shoulders and am in that sort of troph of the test wave. That means from here on out, it gets harder, but I'm sort of at a low point this week - so thats good. We do have a bio lab practical on Thursday that will be kind of hard, but not awful I don't think.

     The weekend was pretty fun. Valentines day is pretty low key around here as you can imagine. Most guys were out with there girlfriends, but few of us as there were, we still had fun Saturday night hanging out and all. I did make it over to the Beta and Phi Psi house for a bit Saturday night.

     It's been kind of fun planning our rush events this year. We're planning some cool things at the house for honor scholar weekend which should make it pretty fun. It always gets exciting around here about that time. It's definitely one of those "very Wabash" weekends.

     After I left the library last night, I drove out to the country, about 5 miles, with a few of the guys and just star gazed for a while. It was really pretty peaceful. It's nice to get away from our hectic lives every now and then.

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     We won our first game at the Boy's and Girl's Club and have a really good team. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and it should be a lot of fun because all the coaches in our league live in our house. I think it's neat that LCA is making a contribution like that - it's important to be involved in the community.

     Last night I was up until about 4 reading articles on bird lungs. =) The art of procrastination. It seems I'm still learning how to balance my new club and my academic schedule. Today was the first day I worked in the actual lab with Dr. Porter on porous silicon. It was a pretty neat experience. I was pretty curious as to how it was going to be in comparison to regular chemistry lab and honestly it had just a bit different of a feel like for the first time it was my project and not something I had to turn in as a grade. Dr. Porter is pretty laid back about it and it's nice to have a professor like that. Don't get me wrong, Dr. Porter takes his research very serious and was not about games today, but it was a more professional feel today - I'll try to elaborate more as the study continues. In case I've failed to mention it prior, I'm taking a half credit independent study with Dr. Porter working on porous silicon this semester. It's neat to be that involved with the professor.

     This afternoon we had college mentors for kids and did a sort of Valentine's day activity. The kids really enjoyed making Valentine's for their parents and we did make some sugar cookies. I always love the concept of making cookies to 2nd graders. You sort of pile as much icing as you can, add some more icing, maybe just a bit more, then coat every square inch with sprinkles. It was pretty ridiculous - sorry parents! =)

     Tuesday lunch was very interesting. The meeting with Dean Raters was not quite what I was expecting. Surprisingly, a lot of the discussion was about the leadership of the adminitstration and the events of the past fall. Now I fall directly in alignment with Jim Amidon's chapel talk and the fact that it is time for us to go back to being Wabash gentleman like we know how to be - we all came here because of it. However, talks with Dean Raters were informative and I wish more people could have been there. It seems like he was placed as an enemy so much last semester when he really felt for all of us and wanted nothing more than to be with his fellow Wabash men in good standing. I cannot think of a more perfect testament of leadership than sacrificing oneself for the sake of an institution. More and more, I find importance in leadership - it wasn't such a bad tutorial to take.

     Valentine's Day this weekend and I'm going to be hanging out here for it. I think most guys are headed places with their girlfriends or to meet girls this weekend - I'm looking forward to hanging out here maybe getting some reading done then hanging out with the guys in the evenings.

     Rhyneship was a blast this week.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

    I forgot to mention in the last entry we are coaching the Green team at the Boy's and Girl's Club again this year. We have our first game tonight and feel we're a definite force. We are bringing the heat tonight. I'll try to snag a picture of the team for the blog.

    While this week is about half as busy as the last, it's still busy. However, today was awesome. It's beautiful out and its nice to have the opportunity to walk to class and sort of experience it rather than being stuck inside all day like high school. I went on a run through town today (maybe 20min.) - made it down to the Lew Wallace historical site by the Presidents house and back. I love this time of year.

    Tomorrow we are having a sort of follow up luncheon with Dean Raters and the rest of my tutorial class from last year. I look forward to it and am getting a free Blimpie sandwich out of the deal. Optimistic!

    That picture looked a lot cooler last night. It was the flag pole with the lights shining up on it. I liked it...

Posted by Jake Ezell at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

      I finally made it through the week but still have 2 papers to write and an annotated bibliography to finish by Monday - still feel 100x less stressed. The biology test went - less than expected. It's always kind of a surprise on those tests, you never really know whats coming and it makes it pretty hard. It seems the goal is to make us think on our feet but we have 50 minutes to do it so if the I don't know the notes like the back of my hand, it's a bit rough. Last night I ended up going with Wade's girlfriend to DePauw to watch the track meet for a bit. Alex Moseman is a stud in the hammer throw. I guess I miss track but have still feel like I made the right choice a year ago.

     Home Association meets today and I am heading home after this. It's a beautiful day and I cannot wait to be back home.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     Organic test was Monday - it went well however, I have not been hit with a sense of elation due to an impending biology test Friday. I have literally been spending about every minute of the day either going to class, in Rhyneship, or studying. I guess I really don't have much more to say other than that. We danced tonight at half time of the basketball game and hear our last dance was better - we will step it up for the 18th for sure. It's been a cold week on campus.

     Hoping to make it home this weekend to sort of get away and have a chance to catch up. I may make it home Saturday because we have home assocation at the house Saturday morning. I guess I'm just going to play it by ear work some and hopefully sleep a lot this weekend.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

    Not only was this weekend very busy, but it was just a lot of fun. Friday I went ahead and caught up on my lack of sleep from the week then headed to the library after dinner at about 7 - needless to say it was dead; however, I managed to get a decent chunk of work done before going back the house and hanging out with the guys for a while. It's always pretty low key at the house the night before a party.

    Saturday I woke up and went over to Beta to practice our half-time dance with the other Rhynies before we started grilling out for the basketball game about 1:00. The game started at 3 and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The half time dance was pretty solid - I think we beat the IU dance team. Samer and I won the wheel barrel race, full court. Then I literally went back to the house, showered, and left for the library until about 10.

     Saturday nights party was a pretty good time. We had just about the right amount of people there. Prospects: we probably had a 2:1 guy to girl ratio - which isn't too bad at all. I think I made it to bed around 3 then have been in the library from about 12:30 to now minus a quick dinner break at 6. Needless to say, my brain is really racked right now.

     I was accepted to study abroad next semester so that was really some good news - something big to look forward to.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)