Like a memory long since past, here in an instant, gone in a flash

I saw this floating around various people's IM profiles, etc, and thought it was an interesting new tribute to usc. I can't make it to the game tomorrow because I'm going home to see Jessica who's visiting this weekend from NYU. I'll probably watch it on tv though and cheer from my couch. When did I become such a diehard football fan? I think you'll be hardpressed to find many students who don't love it here. I love college and I love my school!!

Our Father, who art in Coliseum,
Victory be thy name.
Thy title come, thy will be done,
in game as it was in practice.

Give us this day our daily reception,
and forgive us our penalties, as we forgive
those who jump offsides against us.

Lead us not into the neutral zone,
but deliver us from all interceptions.
For thine is the Cardinal, the Gold,
and the spirit of Troy
now and forever.

Amen.


It's parents weekend here at USC and Im always surprised at the number of parents walking around campus. My family doesn't really participate in that because they live so close anyway so it's kind of a perpetual parents weekend. Not that I see them every weekend, I probably only go home every 4 weeks now for a visit, but there's no need for them to come out and do school activities that are meant for parents who live 2000 miles away. Michael Moore was on campus last night and I decided to go check it out. There was a gigantic crowd that filled McCarthy Quad and spilled out into other sections of campus. It was surprisingly interesting to see him speak and all the other speakers come out. Some people hate him, I personally like him (he seems jolly and reminds me of the vision of santa clause i had when i was little), but I understand you can't take all the things he says as fact because he's trying to make a point and tends to exaggerate quite a bit. But he made me laugh and they had a soldier come out and talk and also a guy who had recently lost his brother in the war which i found interesting. There was a group of republican protestors there who stood in the back and chanted and it was the first time on the USC campus that I've felt some sort of political activism and conflict. We live on a pretty docile campus full of very very rich people so it was kinda nice to see so many people get riled up.


I don't know...some recent conversations with friends and their summer plans have made me a little sad. I know that people are eager to jump into their future lives and all that, but to me the college period is something quite different. Yes, it's a time to branch into the career you are heading towards and make connections so that when you graduate, you aren't left in the dirt, but that's not all it is. A lot of people I have talked to are already planning where they are moving for summer or how they are staying at their colleges and taking summer classes full time so that they can graduate early, etc. That's all fine and good, but I'm starting to get that sense that it's all going too fast. I guess the different factor between me and a lot of my friends is that after undergraduate school I'm jumping into the work world. Most all my friends are going to grad school so they have an extra 2-4 years after undergrad to be in this scolastic period of their lives. The decision wasn't based on not loving education, because I do and would stay in college forever if I had the opportunity, but the design world that I'm going into doesn't require it so I'd be going to grad school mainly to add more time that I wouldnt have to be in the work world and be tacking on an additional $40,000 dollars to my college payments. I still may decide to go to grad school, esp if I want to be a design professor at a good university, but Im undecided right now. But it just makes me sad because while I look at this transitional period as our last chances to be young college students (because the real world is only 2 1/2 years away for me), get breaks every once in a while, and enjoy our last remaining time when it's considered ok to visit parents and friends and hang on to our youth for a few fleeting summers and winter breaks, it seems that pretty much everyone else I know is in a huge hurry to speed it up, become "adult", push away any semblage of youth and jump headfirst into the next phase of what will be their careers for the next 40-50 years. It's not necessarily a bad thing to do that because I'm sure they are still appreciating the time at hand, but besides perhaps a local internship at a record company or design firm, I don't see myself leaping into the world right away because im not ready for this. I'm moving at a slower pace than most people, but I think I'm ok with that. Because in 20 years when I've been working for 15 years in design, Ive got my own family, and i'm living in some far off area of the world (England, please), I'll look back on this period and be happy that I used this last remaining time to soak up the goodness of friends and family that might not be there in the future.