My Life's Returning to Normal

Ah........

That's my huge sigh of relief now that Welcome Week is done. Is it sad that it's still so crazy that it's taken me until Thursday to actually finish filling you all in on the weekend? Perhaps. But, that's my normal life. I got a little spoiled getting to do so many posts this summer. But, I digress.

So, the rest of WWW went smashingly. Live Thursday went great. Shades of Brown (our step team) did a Michael Jackson tribute. The place was packed with over 200 students there. I love how supportive these youngsters are of each other. Friday night was the hypnotist. I've never seen them get so into it. We had over 300 students in the 900 Room (way over fire code...oops, oh well). I'm not sure I believe in the whole hypnosis thing, but the students LOVED it. Saturday was our big concert with Wale. We had to come inside, so we could only accommodate 669 students (fire code in the Duke Family Performance Hall). But, the students there had a blast! I only got called a b***h once by some drunk girl trying to scale a wall into the orchestra pit so she could dance. Needless to say we had a nice chat which concluded with her understanding that we cut off the pit number for their own safety and that even though Wale is her absolute fav, she could have gotten there earlier to get into the pit. Gotta love drunk freshmen. After the concert about 150 watched Star Trek (which I found surprisingly enjoyable...who would have thunk) on the big screen in the 900 Room. Thus ended Welcome Week for me. Other events happened over the weekend, but my lovely colleagues covered those, so it wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. Plus, I've gotten great feedback about the week from students and my colleagues. So, I'm calling it a huge success! Photos below.

Live Thursday

Hypnotist

Wale Concert

Sunday, we got up and went to Hendersonville to spent the day with Jeff's parents. Midas' Owen grandparents are going to watch him for a week so that we don't have to board him while we're in Philadelphia over Labor Day weekend, which is so sweet of them. I just hope he doesn't completely terrorize their cats. We ended up staying Sunday night and driving back early Monday morning for work. 

This week, normalcy has set in a bit at work. The Union Board had their first (and painfully long) meeting of the year on Monday night. Tuesday, I started my 1-on-1's with my student leaders I advise. I thoroughly enjoy them. It's just so much easier to help them with their programs if you know what's going on in their lives and how they deal with things. I have a couple of students who I think are going to be just terrific and very creative. Students definitely dream big around here, which is great for such a small school. 

Last night was the first Outpost Trivia Night of the year. At 11 pm every Wed night, students can come down to the Outpost, a small late-night dining facility, and play trivia for an hour, take a break from studying, and hang with friends. This initiative was started last year by one of my students and has continued to be really popular. They had 25 teams (the max # we allow each week) last night! So, our new Outpost chair is off to a great start. I usually go for the first couple of weeks to help out, so I was there last night. It was hilarious! 4 basketball players won last night. Their team name was The Swine Crew and wore doctors masks the whole time. It was entertaining. 

23 students do have the Swine Flu here right now. They're being quarantined in a couple of residence hall lounges and being brought meals throughout the day. The whole quarantine process is little creepy to me, but I guess it's necessary. I actually felt a little under the weather on Tuesday (achy and a bad headache), so I went home at 4:00 fearing the worst. But, I went to bed and woke up on Wednesday feeling just fine. So, I'm thinking I was just exhausted. 

In other news:

• I miss my dog! 
• I'm obsessed with the fall weather we're having this week! Jeff and I grilled and ate in the backyard last night. The bugs are still a little vicious right now, but that breeze is just fantastic!
• I'm off to Philadelphia Saturday morning with Jeff, my parental units, and Aunt Linda to see Harper! Yay! I'll post pictures of that sweet little one as soon as I can.
• I watched the TV show Glee last night and am slightly obsessed
• I was thoroughly disappointed in the So You Think You Can Dance "Best Dances" show last night. I'm sorry, but where was the Desmond Richardson pas de deux from Season 4 with Katee and Will? However, I had forgotten how good the Katee and Joshua's Mia Michaels piece from Season 4 was. I got chills. And, the cancer dance has yet to win me over. 
• My life is complete now that football starts back tonight. If Garcia can manage to not throw 8 interceptions this evening, I think my Gamecocks may have a shot of winning. But, we shall see. I know better than to get my hopes up. Plus, (against my intentions) I forgot to wear garnet today so I may have jinxed us.

Okay, no more typing for now. Off to sushi for lunch! Yum...