Philip Towne '10

April 28, 2008

Swim Lessons

The past two weeks the team has been giving individualized swim lessons to various children in the community. It’s cool to see those who return every year gain more experience. Over the past two years we’ve done lessons four times so improvement is really noticeable. We mostly just have a good time and want to get kids comfortable in the water, especially the much younger ones. I was giving lessons to two four-year-olds. It was a blast since they were both pretty outgoing. My first half-hour lesson consisted mostly of Kali kicking all over the pool on her kickboard. She wasn’t shy about letting me know how much she disliked getting water in her eyes. My second half-hour lesson would always end with Dirk going off the three meter board. I doubt he’s much more than a couple feet tall, but he was all for it. I think diving for rings was his favorite thing to do though.

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April 27, 2008

Washington D.C.

Things have been pretty crazy these last couple weeks with all the events going on and classes winding down. Fortunately, I was able to make out to D.C. last weekend for a leadership conference in spite of this busy time. The weather couldn’t have been better either. There were actually people out on the Washington Monument lawn sunbathing. I think the last time I was in D.C. was when I was about five, so I never remembered much besides the Lincoln Monument, but there it was, just as I had left it fifteen years ago. Besides all these structures the city is actually beautiful, especially at this time of year. One of the pictures is the hotel I was staying. I’m sure you can figure out the other pictures. Enjoy.

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April 14, 2008

Second Annual Out of Shape Meet

The second annual Out of Shape Meet was a big success Saturday. Since last year, the “out of shape” team joins up at the end of each school year to compete in various races by teams of four. My team lost most of the races, but at least I wasn’t the only one dragging a plow through the water. We also had a diving session in which each team got one dive for each category of best dive, biggest splash, and best belly-flop. My superior can-opener skills won us the biggest splash. Even so, when Craig Vetor’s laid-out body left the 3-meter to spank the water below, we almost had to call the meet right there due to the utter sacrifice of Craig’s pale frontside.

We had planned on going to the disc-golf course but the cold weather led us to the bowling alley. It was a fun time and great to hang out with the team before the end of the year.

I am currently awaiting the link for the youtube video of Craig's plummet.

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Encouraged or Discouraged by Summer?

I can think of only a few Friday nights I've spent working on papers for class. This last Friday was one of them. I have a lot of respect for those who do get the work completed on Friday before the weekend, but I see now how much more addicting it would become the more you’d actually do it. Man, it really kicks your self esteem through the roof. Unfortunately, I still have a lot to deal with next week as everything winds down. This is mostly because I’m leaving on Thursday to go to a leadership conference in D.C. I’m very excited. I just wish some of this excitement was transferable to the school work. It gets even better when you think about the end of the semester. You’d think I might be motivated to finish out strong, but it just makes it harder to focus when the wide-open summer is waiting. Ironic, but we can’t forget while I’m talking like this it just happened to snow some today (it’s that bipolar kitten again).

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April 07, 2008

Oh the Bed Races

Last Thursday I went to watch the annual bed races out on the mall. They always draw a large crowd. To quickly explain, the pledges of each fraternity race in a team around the whole mall with a mattress. The mattress is typically carried by some sort of cart (shopping carts seemed to be the preferred method). However, each cart/mattress must also have a rider. Two teams race against each other at a time. That’s about it though…except for the ugliness of it all. That’s why there’s always a huge crowd running in circles around the mall to catch a glimpse of the action. You can see in one of the pictures here that the mattress is full of readied eggs to be used as ammunition against opponents. Don’t forget the Tabasco-sauce-filled water balloons. Some designs are safe, and some aren’t so safe. It’s all for the enjoyment though as we get to watch the teams duke it out on the pavement with their carts. I think there are about four to six on a team at a time and while some are helping push the cart, others just seem to “get in the way” of the opponents cart. I’d say it’s easy for most of these freshmen to have flaring tempers considering the conditions at times, but all the spectators do a good job at keeping the competitors in check. It is a fun tradition, but I hope you don’t get any ideas and try filling your water balloons with something other than water this summer.

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April 02, 2008

The Great Debaters

Last weekend I was with some good friends in Michigan at a theater we rented out where we got to watch, “The Great Debaters.” I think I would really recommend it to anyone. It’s a pretty serious movie but has good message and is something everyone should probably be reminded of. What’s interesting though is my C & T class is going through an African-American experience module right now. We’ve covered a lot of literature from people like Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. So in the movie when Denzel (who is the intellectual teacher of an all black boarding school) stands up on a desk and recites a poem in which he immediately demands for the author. No one else in the theater was in C & T, but I was able to beat the students in the movie by shouting, “Langston Hughes!” So I have to admit I had a bit of an ego, but I can never remember facts or names at the drop of a pin.

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March 28, 2008

Human Race Machine

I hope this doesn’t creep you out. They look odd and I wasn’t to impressed with these pictures. They were fun to play around with though. Luckily, I’m glad I look the way I do and not like these pictures. That has nothing to do with the different races – it’s just the fact that this thing really messed up my face...I don’t think I look Indian, Hispanic or anything, just odd. Anyways, to the pictures. The first picture, if can remember right, is supposed to be the Indian version of my face. The second is the Hispanic, I think. The third is the white version of myself…as if I’m not white enough. The fourth is my projected image at age 45. Not too bad ehh?