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26 September 2007

Ahoy & Avast

Whew! Our Rush week lead right into a hornet's nest of tests, quizzes, flaming hoops, etc.
The Usual.
Overall I think Rush week went well. Our theme was pirates so we had fish, ships, skeletons, pirate hats, oranges to prevent scurvy, and tons of other things very piratey and creative. I think our hall decorations were gorgeous and struck just the right cord; Just enough without being too much. We had lots of free food, a speaker, and door prizes so Yay!
This week is PDX's week... Their theme is the movie "The Godfather", which you know is a great movie but for a theme... well... Anyway! Bid day is next week which will lead us into the next phase - Pledge time! I'll be joining them again, this time as pledgemaster! (Any official title with "master" in it immediately makes me feel like it belongs on Highlander or something equally cheesy)
Today while talking with one of the P1s in the hall it made me feel good to hear her mention how she had noticed that the upperclassmen that had helped her so far in pharm school, with tutoring, daily support, and just plain being friendly, were all in my fraternity. She said that she had been there when the others were hanging their decorations and that she'd never met any of them before since none of them had gone out of their way to help or get to know the P1s until their rush week. (Which isn't entirely true, they've been around but still...) It really made me feel like, gosh, finally someone noticed that we put a lot of ourselves into the school and into getting to know our classmates, both upper and underclassmen. It takes time and commitment, neither of which are easy to promise or give away in such a rigorous degree program. (So what if I'm not my class's valedictorian - When I get out I'll still have the friends I made along my B/C-student path plus the experiences we shared, which are worth more to me than perfect scores. Ya can't call 'perfect scores' at 3 in the morning to pick you up from a bar now can ya??)
Anyone who'd like to make winter break plans with me had better speak up now... I'll be having my tonsils out over break (effectively ruining Christmas for my family!) and thus not traveling much. I'm a little scared but I more than understand that the benefits outweigh the risks in this case. But still. Scared. Happy thoughts in my general direction, please, if you get the chance?
Black eyes all healed up. Yay!
Yesterday I went with a group from campus to visit a local homeless shelter, City Rescue Mission. We're planning a health and safety fair there at the end of October and we toured yesterday to get a sense of what is needed and how we can help. It was truly amazing and not at all what I had expected. It's a huge, well-kept building and the resources they provide are astounding; Daily living classes that teach cooking, cleaning, and anything else you would need to know to take care of yourself. Gym with regular basketball games scheduled, computer facility, children's library with a ton of books, open choir, GED classes, scripture study, job search help, etc, etc. All that they do for the children. Just astounding. I'm really looking forward to this now...
Time for bed... Hope ya'll are having a beautiful week and many happy experiences!

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