I am the almighty judger of all bad things..... NOT

Man, never before have I heard such negativity and cynicism in a short two hours since I have been awake. I was put through the Catholic church system for about 15 years, so I have been there my friend. My gripe is that nothing is consistent. What is said to be "law" is never followed. "God loves us all". Well , that's always nice to know. So why did a Priest say I couldn't go up on the altar with the rest of the church band? Because I'm in jeans? Oh, I forgot, God is privy to perm pressed slacks. My bad. Maybe I couldn't afford such nicely pressed pants. Does God hate me for that? Does he not want me to celebrate him publicly because of my choice in cotton-threaded britches? Does any of this make sense? No.

And what about those child raping priests? Well no one is proud of that including God. I mean come on, where your down and you need help Church you only make it worse by pushing away helping hands to do it your way and end up struggling to get up.

My point is that God needs to shop at Old Navy more... I'm just kidding. But on a serious note,

be honest to yourself. Be true to your word. Be true to your family, your friends, and your self. Promote other's happiness through your deeds. In the end, trying to be a better person won't hurt people. So outside of hocus-pocus, shazaam religion, just try to be good man. It's a simple solution in a confusing world. And for crying out loud, stop pointing the finger at everyone who is different than you. They aren't you so they will not hold the same ideals as you. We're not Hitler here folks...

End Rant.

Read Me

So I'm sitting here doing homework and I'm thinking I've been so busy lately that I haven't even really connected with the boys online that much. I feel guilty.... Sorry boys. Well, I have been thinking about you guys, I just haven't put it into electronic text form. ;) Here are some of my thoughts for all of you in one collaborative note style.

Tom: Been listening to Pandora radio online today and Creed keeps popping up and it reminds me of you. Thinking we should get on covering one of their songs too. ;) Oh and I ran today too. I always think about how crazy big of a stride you having running and how I could never run like that.

Danny Boy: Been doing more and more scientific writings and readings. Oh boy. Annnd I got a glimpse of your sweet R2D2 while you were here but I'd to look at it again. can you send me a link? Also, I have the check for $150 from the school. I'm gonna bring it down with me on TG and put it in my bank. That way we can withdraw it over Xmas break and get your a new set of skins. So start shopping around and get an idea of what you might want. :)

Brent!: I saw the 80's cover band the other night and the guitarist was totally rocking the same Line 6 amp as you. And the bassists looked like a young Rodney Dangerfield. Been watching The Office DVD lately. Hope the mini is working out for you. Let me know if you need anything or any help setting any of it up. When's your internship start up. This week I think or sometime soon? Best of luck on that man and keep your eyes peeled on the subway. ::Adam  Brown voice:: "If you know what I mean..."

Love.

Fris For All

This weekend UMM took our Frisbee team to the Unity Wormtoberfest 2008 Frisbee Tournament. We fought em' hard, we fought em' well. Out on the graves.... we gave them hell! And lost every game we played... Alas, it was a good time anyway.

 

When I first arrived (in the late car with 3 others) at midnight I saw a house with beer cans all over the yard and a giant mass of people standing around a fire holding each other up in a circle. They swayed from side to side drunkly singing "Snape.... Snape.... Severus Snape...... Dumbledore!" I immediately thought "Oh boy...". As we walked up to the house Sam Tbaum was introducing people to his cat statue, Amy. Don't ask. People immediately began saying things like "Man, whatever you're on you should be sharing it." Another "Oh boy..." 

Luckily, I found the rest of our team who had arrived around 7 to be asleep or snug away in the tents on the side of the house. Ahhh, my people.

I started setting up my tent which was kinda difficult in the dark but I had help and Brandon and I ended up staying in mine. Sleep wasn't achieved until 3 am when the giant swaying and singing mob died down.

The night was cold and it only got colder when the morning and along with the dew. We woke up and took down our tents. Sam Tbaum was upset because Amy, the cat statue, was missing. He lost it amid drinks last night. Brandon went off to take a pee in the woods and saw Amy face down in the mud. Rejoice for Sam for Amy had been rescued!

We headed down to the Field of Dreams (this really was the name of the place) and began practicing throws and doing runs. We played 5 games total for the tourney but unfortunately lost all of them. Our first three games went 1-11, our third 3-11, and our final 5-11. So there was much improvement. We played Unity a second time for fun and actually scored something like 6 points. Guess we only work well when not under pressure.

Craig (our captain) bought us all pizza on the way back for the 5 points we nabbed in the last game. The car ride home was quiet and sleepy. And so the journey ended. Enjoy some pictures...

Tent Action

Field Action

Sick Jump Catch by Adam

Mass Runnings

Heartfelt Conflicts

Lineup 

Amy (with warpaint)

Sick Twin Jump shot

Me gunning for it

Sad excuse for what some may call defense...

I found it over there on de floor...

Well after over 14 hours of driving we made it from Machias to Uxbridge and back again. Myself, Duce, Cory, Sam, and Kuester crammed into the ole' green Subaru and made our way down to MA to help out with Public Lands Day at West Hill Dam. 

The night ride down was pretty talkative as we brewed ideas for the play we'd like to do next semester; tentatively titled "The Epic Play". This is supposed to be a collective summary of our college experiences will at the same time highlighting the strange things that have happens to ourselves and others in college. Some of my favorites include building hopping, finding a random person asleep in your bed, and stress relieving campfires.

We arrived at my humble abode around 11:30 and proceeded to eat pasta and then conk out. We arose at the early hour of 8, ate, and then walked on over to the park. The boys got to meet Mr. Lapolla and get a quick tour of the office. When we got over to the park there were over 80 volunteers. We split into different groups for about 6 or 7 projects going on in the park. My project was a shore land restoration project that I had been working on this summer. We finished her off by planting different herbaceous and woody species including red maple, alder, goldenrod, buttonbush, and joe-pye weed. 

Evidence:

I especially like the one of Kuester being over excited about uprooting the Red Maple and wheeling it in the wheelbarrow.

That night we had the TOC boys over for some burgers and dogs. Silence spread across the table as hungry stomachs were appeased. Then utter chaos broke free! I'm not sure what happened cause I was probably relieving myself but I found this photo...

We ended up heading to Millbury to see Burn After Reading which was actually pretty good despite the steep price of 10.50$ per ticket. Of course the night ended with jokes and stories per usual late into the night.

The car ride home was long  but essential. I leave you with one last picture for hilarity's sake...

Five Miles and Old Cooking Styles

This past weekend has been an interesting one. Eight of the frisbee team guys decided to go on a conditioning run Saturday morning at 9. I was one of the eight. They planned on running to Six Mile Lake, a 12 mile run all together and while I knew I could never run 12 miles at once, I figured I'd try for what I could. I ended up surprising myself by being able to run between 5 and 6 miles and not dying in the process. The run wasn't too bad as the air temperature was decent and my ipod encouraged my legs to keep pumping. I kept up with a steady pace and Duce and I ended up making it back first. Woo for self confidence.

Later that evening we began our outdoor cooking night that had been planned earlier in the week. While at our usual night fire we though it would be a good idea to cook food over some logs and hot coals. Do it up ole' rustic style. We hit up Hannaford for cans of beans of course, brats, steak, hotdogs, and garlic bread. Everything was delicious except for the garlic bread which burned on the bottom. I prepared some thinly sliced steaks marinated in teriyaki sauce for about 2 hours. Sometimes I surprise even myself. The stomachs were filled and extras were shared around the fire. Enjoy the pictures.

Duce with his uncooked steak:

Various Preps:

Various Eats:

Duce with his cooked steak:

The Fire:

Can o' Beans (cooked by putting the can in the fire):

Denouncing Hypnotism and Being a Pirate

So last friday we had a hypnotist come up to UMM again. I went along with some friends half heartily because last year I did the same thing and I actually "participated". My experience was horrendous in the sense that I never was hypnotized and so I had to act my way through the whole ridiculous routine. Longest. Hour. Of. My. Life.

This year I figured it was a different guy and I would not volunteer so I'd at least go and watch. I started to like the guy because he seemed to be more open with the blatant fallacy that was his entertainment "skill". Soon an eager group of Freshmen and Brandon had jumped up on the stage ready to make complete asses of themselves while showing off how bad they were at covering up the whole joke. I watched in pain. I mean, okay, there were some people, that were either really were hypnotized or just good at covering it up. I give them props. But then I take the props back because of the embarrassing acts that they volunteered to do on stage and then try to pretend that they had no control over it.

The real kickers are the people who fail at pretending that they are hypnotized and so it is blatantly obvious that they are just up there for the attention...

I know a lot of people know that this is all a fake. But no one will openly say it. It's like wrestling; almost taboo to denounce that is it real. Well I'm not hiding it anymore! I publicly denounce hypnotism! 

Yesterday a bunch of us went up to Eastport for the third annual Pirate Festival. We all dressed up in our best dirty, tattered clothes, bandanas, and various head pieces. The festival was a bit small and I have a feeling you need to attend both of it's days (Sat & Sun) to really enjoy it fully, but all in all it was a good time. We ate at the Happy Crab and everything was happy until we were walking away from the place and stomach became very unhappy. No details needed. We took a pit stop at a Mobile station for about 20 minutes... :P

Pictures to follow:

Group

Meg & I

A fight with BareChest and Mr. Smee

Attack on SnarlRaven!

First Week Back

So I have arrived back at UMM and it's been busy ever since I set foot. I got on campus and moved all my stuff in with the help of some friends. Soon I found out that I was one of the assistants of the new GIS lab and so I had to go sign a form to get keys. Unexpected but cool either way. After dinner a bunch of us drove out to 6 mile lake for a dip in some might cold water. Refreshing I guess one could say. :P

First day of classes went pretty smooth. I met Tora and Brandon in the GIS lab so we could talk about our jobs and my independent study. I'm definitely excited for that because I'm getting paid, no more front desk, and it's adding to my GIS experience which will be useful after I graduate. Then I went to Plant Eco with unsure feelings. Lewis was in a hearty mood and the class actually seemed like more fun than others had made it to be. I think it will be a good time. There are only 7 of us in the class.

Last night a wicked game of frisbee began which kicked all of our butts. We're feeling it today. Our team lost but not by much and we had a few great points scored. We actually have a budget for a team and shirts/discs. Hopefully everything will work out smoothly and end up being organized.

Today I had Rec Safety & First aid with Duce, Cory, Kathy, and Derik. Pretty dry first class but it will get better and it's useful stuff.  That was my only class for the day so I played some disc and some Portal on the PS3. Tomorrow I have GIS stuff at 9 and Sign Language at 4. 

Miss everyone back home. Still getting into the swing of things.

Keep This Thing Alive

Every summer, after all our endeavors I drive home a wallowing fool. But hey, that's because I love you guys. ;)

TOC finished the fight song along with the help of JC McNewsta! It rocks but I'm gonna try to keep it under wraps until the time is ripe. But it will blow your socks off. CLIPPAHS! ;)

We also ended up working on a song I had ideas for earlier this summer called "Man Behind the Curtain" It's a really eerie almost Radiohead sounding song above the forces around us and what we can't see or even claim to understand in our universe. We ended up adding another part to the end of it when we were looking for a bridge and I really like it. It's like life after death. With some " Running in circles!" and "What's hell on earth!" I think we'll end up alright. 

We also had a really good talk about life, this summer, past summers, girls, love, jobs, life after school. I wish Tommy Whipps had been around for that too. As you can tell my the post time this night went on pretty late. Keep This Thing Alive, a pending TOC song, came up and I began to think that might be a superb album title considering the beast that was born from the ashes of HS TOC. MMmm. Yes.

Great day all in all. Music, Frisbee, Food, Friends ( and when I say friends I really mean my family). Juiced! Love to you all my boys.

Mikey Mayham

Fight Me

So the fight song is looking just as good as I thought it would. Our abilities are pretty limitless considering the equipment we have as well as the musicians. I'm psyched. We're gonna finish that up sometime today as well as work on the last two or so songs for our album. Hopefully the album will be at least done in terms of recording, editing, and mixing by the winter. I expect it to and maybe even have it process with copies ready by then as well. Mmmmm.

Today involves more packing and organizing. A trip to Wal-mart to get some socks and school supplies before I leave. I need to get a haircut too. Not sure if that will happen today. Maybe I'll just wait till after classes start. Definitely getting excited for that. Classes, not the haircut. I'm taking a few non-science courses which I'm interested in seeing how they pan out. I picked Learning and Memory and American Sign Language for some elective fillers that might help me with primate stuff along the way. I also have a GIS independent study with Tora which I am psyched for. That and having a work study in the GIS lab. Plant Eco? Meh, not too excited yet. I've heard some daunting things about that class.

Well, off for errands etc.

As Mr. Lapolla prompted me earlier this summer: "Fight Me."

Don't ever respond positively to this, it never ends good. ;)

The Beginning

So I have been meaning to make a blog such as this for some time and I guess I finally found the focus. Hopefully I'll find enough focus to upload pictures as well. I'm sure that will help in terms of interest. :P

I guess I should explain my username.

Pan circumsonous.

It's a play in the scientific genus for chimpanzees, a current interest of mine, as well of music and being outspoken, some of my more dominant traits. :P

Pan refers to the chimps as in Pan troglodytes. Circum- refers to being all around and -sonous refers to sound or being heard. I thought it was catchy. ;)

The summer is about to come to an end and I spent my day today cleaning, organizing and packing so that when I head back to school on Tuesday, it will be a relatively painless process. Yay.

I think the boys of TOC and I are going to do some recording tonight and maybe some work on the UMM fight song I have been brewing. I hoping for epic proportions but you never know what will happen in the process.