We were born to do extraordinary things

I've struggled with depression for my entire life, more or less. I've gone through some incredibly dark times, and some beautiful times as well. Recently, due to an array of reasons, some that I can pinpoint and others that I can not, I've been struggling again. I say this not to ask for pity, but simply because it is the truth. That's always how I've felt about depression. It is a truth that I must deal with. I don’t know why I must, but I must.

When I think of depression it is not a scientific thing. Reason tells me that it is a chemical imbalance, it can be treated, et cetera, ad infinitum. The way I view it, however, is as darkness, and more than that, as darkness manifested in the shape of a beast. I struggle with this, sword held high, armor, war cries and so forth.

I have a tattoo on my right hand on the web of skin between thumb and forefinger. I got this for many reasons, but mostly because it reminds me of hope. My good friend Adam sent me a letter last summer with this drawn on the outside:

It reminds me of a sunrise. The cross is the sun with three rays coming from it and the word hope is the horizon. Additionally, a more detailed sunrise is drawn on the inside. A few months later I found a similar image on the back of the vinyl packaging of a record called f#a#[infinity] by the band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Adam and our friend Ben had turned me onto this band. Ben even has the title of that album tattooed on his right collarbone. I thought that it would make a very pretty and simple tattoo and a tribute to my friends in general. For Adam, because he drew the picture; for Ben, because he also has an image from the same record drawn permanently on his body; For Andy (and now Louis, too), because it's on my hand, clearly visible when I write. For all of my friends, because it gives me hope, as they do. I ended up using the image from the record as the image for my tattoo.

I thought long and hard before doing it. Indeed, the idea obsessed me for about two weeks prior to actually doing it. I decided that hope is something I will always need, that everyone needs, and since this simple cross with three dashes around it reminds me of that, I would do it. After getting it done someone pointed out to me that from another angle it looks like a sword. [Here's a picture of it taken moments after its completion. I can see all of the images I have described in the tattoo, especially in this picture.]

How fitting! Thought I, that this tribute to my friends, my brothers and sisters, my fellow knights, would look like a sword. I see us all as knights with minds, pens, ink and paper as weapons, each other as shields, our own passion as armor. We all have our dragons to fight. Mine, as I mentioned, is this beast, this darkness: my depression. However, that's not the only foe we fight. Every day, to me, is a battle or a quest. Why do anything if you do not do it boldly?

I've only recently begun to pinpoint the fact that this is how I view the world. It's coming to me slowly. Reading some of the anarchist literature I have has informed some of my ideas, but so has the reading I've been doing for my lit class, English Literature before 1650. I'm rather fond of this world view. Epic battles, dragons to slay, armor… It's all rather romantic and, as a poet, I like it a lot.

How to bring a college campus to a screetching halt

A funny thing happened today: it rained. Water. From the sky. No really!

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I have a running and jogging class so I woke up a few minutes beforehand to put on some gym shorts and shoes and I walked down to the athletic center on campus. It was sprinkling a little bit but we ran outside regardless. It was actually rather refreshing. Shortly after taking my shower the power went out for about thirty seconds. No big deal. I went about the rest of my day doing what I normally would do: class, homework, food, et cetera.

Mid-afternoon rolled around and it was still raining on and off, and generally just wet and depressing. Fine, I was in a pretty good mood today and it the weather hadn’t really effected me at all. I knew it was going to get worse, but I was rather looking forward to a big storm.

At 3.17 PM (according to the email timestamp), the Area Coordinator of my dorm (whom I spoke of in Bad for the eyes, but good for something) sent a message out saying that due to issues caused by the morning power outage, the campus power would need to be shut off for anywhere from twenty minutes, to two hours. She didn’t know when it would happen.

Fine. I can deal with that. I was doing laundry at the time and I decided not to put the rest of it in, just in case the power went out while my clothes were still in either the washing machine or the dryer. I saved all of my documents on my computer, shut it down and unplugged it just to be on the safe side. I wasn’t too worried, but I want this computer to last for as long as possible. I settled in to do some reading.

At about five o’clock this evening I went downstairs with my roommate, Rossko, to get my laundry out of the dryer and put his in. We were walking out of the laundry room when the lights went out and every electrical device powered down. I’ll admit, I rather enjoy that sound. Or rather, the lack of sound. And now I’m getting to the meat of this post (I know, I’m longwinded).

As I said, it was about five o’clock when the power went out, and just getting to be the dinner hour. The rain had started to come down much harder and I still had some reading to do. So I folded my laundry and read for awhile before Rossko and I decided to head over to our student commons to see if the Caf was open. We didn’t have much hope that it would be. We were right.

What we found was confusion and chaos. It was rather disgusting. There were hundreds, literally, hundreds of students milling about waiting for the power to come back on and allow any of the three food service places in our student commons to open back up. All I could do was laugh. People were on phones frantically calling people (and, in many cases, texting in between the calls - also, I hate that the word “text” is now a verb) to let them know not to come to the Caf, “for God’s sake, find food somewhere else!” We called to order a pizza because, well, we were hungry. There was a one to two hour wait. We decided to walk down to our friend’s car and head into town to get some food as we all had things to do and couldn’t sit around waiting to eat. That was an adventure in and of itself, but that's not the point.

That half an hour or so in the student commons reiterated to me just how naïve many of the people on my campus have been their entire lives. They had no idea how to react to the sudden lack of things that have always been there for them. Things like food and electricity that really aren’t accessible in other countries. I began walking up to people and telling them things like “This is what the apocalypse will be like,” and, “You know, in other countries this is reality.”

I know that I am just as guilty of taking for granted things like food, shelter, electricity, et cetera, but I’d like to think that I handled this situation with grace. I settled in to do things that required no electricity and was prepared to be outside in the, gasp, rain. Sure, I was a little inconvenienced, but the hundreds of students in our commons were completely lost. I’m still not sure whether this is funny or heartbreakingly depressing.

The truth is the truth

I'm a nerd and I spend time reading online comics. One of my favorites for a long time has been Married to the Sea. This post is called "Oops thats not funny", But in a sick and scary way, it is funny. Because it's sort of true. This shit is scathing.


marriedtothesea.com

Bad for the eyes, but good for something.

Last night I attended what is quite possibly the craziest party I have ever attended. The music was loud, the hips were a swingin' and people were inebriated. And the best part? It was sanctioned by the "authorities" of my dorm on a dry campus. It cause quite a stir.

About two weeks ago it was the twenty-first birthday of a friend of mine. Unfortunately for her, it was on a Monday night. Two of our friends decided to throw a belated birthday party for her in the form of a rockin' dance party. Those two fellows go by the names Scotty Neon and Joey Colors. Since beginning the planning of this party they have added Molly Bright to their ranks and "started" a party planning company called Bright/Neon/Colors. This was their first official party (their first unofficial was a total failure and was thrown for yours truly. See me for that story).

Scotty Neon and Joey Colors contacted the Area Coordinator of our building to make sure the party could actually happen. Her stipulations were that they had to reserve the TV room (where they were planning on throwing the party) and it had to be over by quiet hours (meaning midnight on Saturday night). Fine. Room reserved, they headed over to the print center on campus to buy neon colored paper to decorate with. Next stop was our campus venue where they acquired some speakers and other sound equipment.

Invitations went out two days after the idea of the party was born. Printed on some of the neon paper was this:

SPRiNG FLiNG!!!
Axxxxx'S BiRTHDAY PARTY!!!
THiS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
W/ FREE MUSiC & DANCING!!!
DANCiNG STARTS @ 10 iN Mxxxxx!!!!!!!
SHOW UP EARLY!!! (SURPRISE!!!)
qUiET HOURS START @12!!!
FiRST EVER Mxxxxx BOUNCE* PARTY!!!

*Bounce: 1.to move or walk in a lively, exuberant, or energetic manner
DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!! DiSCO!!!

Each was hand addressed to some ninety invitees. The rest of the paper was used to print the word "PARTY!!!" on as many sheets of neon paper as possible (these lined the floor from the front door of the building to the room the party was in) and a huge biblical quote about dancing. I believe that it said something like "David danced for the Lord..." This quote was posted on one wall of the room and two long black lights were hung on the other side. A spinning light ball and a bubble machine completed the decorations in the room.

Just outside the room (in a computer lab, as a matter of fact) was a table with treats and snacks as well as a piece of art made by Joey Colors for a class. It consisted of a Bratz doll covered in paint and looking disheveled while holding a twenty-first birthday balloon. Her name is Party Girl (seriously).

In addition to all of this, signs were posted throughout the building and on every door of a room that would be affected (those in the same hallway as the TV room, and those directly above it) stating the time, place and nature of the event, and inviting one and all to join us. These were posted the morning of the event giving residents plenty of time to find another place to be if they wished to avoid it.

Preparations thus executed, it was time to party. At promptly ten in the evening (after partaking in some illicit activities in the privacy of my room) I walked down to the TV room to find music blasting and people dancing. I did not stop dancing for more than five minutes during the two hours I was there. At one point I ran into someone I hadn't seen for a few months and he said that he came because he heard the music from his dorm building a five minute walk away). Mission accomplished.

Everyone who came had a blast and at three minutes to midnight the music was shut off and people disbursed. I stayed and helped clean up the immediate mess (trash on the floor, the signs on the wall, the cable lying about behind the DJ booth, et cetera). Then we went to bed.

To recap: birthday party for a friend, legit in the eyes of the "authority" figure, loud as hell music, more sweat than you can shake a stick at, squeezed into two hours. The issue? Three (three!) complaints were raised to the Area Coordinator. Her response? Email the entire building and the director of campus housing with this little gem:

Residents of Mxxxxx Hall,
I am so very sorry for the noise level last night. I could offer a number
of excuses but none of them make up for the fact that the dance was as
loud as it was. I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.
I PROMISE that this will NEVER happen again.

Can I get a hell yes? Now, my building is a "nerdy" and typically quiet dorm. It has the only two "quiet" floors on campus. Nothing ever happens here. Today, it was the talk of campus because a few people couldn't handle it. So, our solution is to move to another building for the next party. The quote on the wall for the next one? "I PROMISE that this will NEVER happen again... in Mxxxxx Hall."

Here's a picture of me taken just outside of the party room sometime during the night's revelries:

Woosh. Long post. Good story. Hope you enjoyed.