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