Too Nice to Study

Definately what I am feelin...


props go to Pat

Finals and Sleep

Yea, so I am at final time again. Work load is rediculous. In the course of 2 weeks I have
3 presentations
4 papers 10, 12, 20, 30
4 final exams

So what is my plan? Well, work hard, and no sleep. Or little sleep.

Am I sure it can work? Well check this out. If you dont sleep a regular amound of time, the body will learn to adjust to go into deep sleep quicker. Here are some stats straight from my iPhone:
Went to bed / woke up: 3:13 AM / 6:30 AMTotal time: 3h 16mAs you can see I go into rem deep sleep fairly quickly and once I am in it I get a lot of it versus bouncing up and down like other sleeping habits

This is when I got lucky earlier in the year:
Went to bed / woke up: 2:04 AM / 8:00 AM
Total time: 5h 55m
See the difference? I got into deep sleep hours faster and still got that rest that I needed. Amazing, isnt it?

I did some research on sleep and I found that scientists have seen some proof that 4 hours of sleep can be sufficient for some people. Many notable people through history have claimed to need less sleep - Michelangelo, Napoleon, Thomas Edison all claim to have only needed 4 hours of sleep a night. In modern days, Madonna, Jay Leno, Margaret Thatcher and many others say the same thing. It seems to be more prevalent in highly ambitious, driven individuals. Crazy.

Whats even crazier is this: I wake up at 6-6:30 every morning. I have been tired all year getting 6 hours of sleep. When I changed to 3 hours, I would wake up and I would have tons of energy. Now science has found that if you sleep too much, like sleeping in on a saturday, will create a tired and sleepy feel for the rest of the day. So lots of sleep will make you actually feel sleepier, versus sleeping a little less and you will feel a lot better! And that is what is haoppening to me...I feel so much metter sleeping 3-4 than 6-7. And whats better than having 20 hours to your day? Not much...unless you have to spend it all studying, which is exactly what I am doing...studying like teh dickens. So till next time, happy studying! Just dont become like this kid and sleep through your bus stop...

A little Law fun...

You know how crazy things have been? Crazy! Going and flowin and mowin like no ones business. My managers are having fun. We are working hard. Quizes, exams presentations, raining out ide, yea yea but its game time and I am lovin it. We had fall brek tuhs past weekend but fall break really means tons and tons of practices and studying to catch up and studying for exams that will be comming soon, like more sports law exam, which is actaully really interesting.

Who knew that sports gets a way with so many things. Let me introduce you to someone. This is Sherman: He made the smart descition to make the Sherman antitrust act







The man was smart enoug that he thought the market needed commpetition. Thus he did not one team owning the market, like Kobe Bryant in the NBA. He did not want a monopoly like Microsoft.



So he finally descided to do something about it and in 1890 passed the Sherman Anti Trust Act. His "act," his little dancing routine, said that a firm cannot collude to control the market nor take control by itself, thus a monopoly. Dang, dont we love that game?

BUT, sports is different. Sports can break all the rules. of course,c asue its sports, and its fun, right? So Sports CAN collude, CAN control, and CAN monopolize. All the teams work together to make a league and keep others in the same sport out of the market. They also allow owners to work together and talk about prices and how they will draft and all that crazy stuff that would be illegal in any other context! But they do it...and get away with it...and have actual labor law exsemptions from the US Supreme Court. So its pretty legit geting away with type of stuff. The only stuff that really has any weight in gold. The logic???...that its pro-competative. So if hitting my brother in the face is pro-competative because it it builds caracter and caracter means a better person thus more competition in this world...then do it! And that is the message of the day...as long as it is pro-competative, you can get away with everything. YeeHawww!

Final Times at Ann Arbor

Well that time of year is here, that it is ending soon. And for some reason everything starts to pile up on you, very very quickly. It started out with a ton of school work, studying and writing papers for all my classes, but I also was able to go to two orchestra concerts, a St. Mary Dance and had a mini dance party at Rina´s house with a couple of buddies. Like to dance salsa or swing? Well, we got you covered! Hahaha it was good to spend time with them before I left. But it was also physically exhausting as I started to get sick in the mix of all the packing and studying and hanging I had to do.
What a memorable time!

The Saint Mary Dance with Mark and Ashley

Me Mark and Brad goffing off
at Rina´s garage

I also had my chatecism kids´First Communion. I had worked with these kids all year,w orking for their first reconsiliation the first semester and their first communion for this semester. I had 5-6 graders and after they figured out I am a cool guy, we started to get really into it. They ended up understanding everthing within context of the scripture and tradition and they began to asnwer so many good quality questions that I am not even accostomed to hear from adults. It was great. And then we had rehersal Friday afternoon and the big mass Saturday. I was so proud of my kids: they were ready to recieve Christ for the first time because of all the work I put into them; they were a product of my hard work and focus. It was awesome that I had a direct effect on their lives and they will always carry that. Wonderful. I wish I had as cool a chatechism teacher as they had.

My Catechism Kids

I have to tell you of my intence philosophy paper. It was over Averroes and his question of wether or not God, an unchanging and eternal being can know the changing and temporal world. The argument goes that if God never changes, how can he know things that do change, like the wether, our beleifs and events. How can his knowledge be one even though knowledge must change according to the change of the world? Anyhow, that was my topic at hand and I had to adress a few issues and at the end I made an awesome 2200 word paper. IT was sweet. Took a lot of work and ended up working up till I had to turn it in. Success is beautiful.

This past week I was loaded as well. Friday was hectic. It was the UCO Final. John asked me to make the slide show. So I started to work on it first thing after my Stats final. It took me all week to study for the sucker and I think I did aweful. But you can only do so much. So I worked a lot on this slide show, from that night till 3am then started first thing the following day and went all the way to 5:20. And I was like awwww, dang it! It was the first time all year that we had 80 degree wether and I was shut up all day in my room working on the slideshow. But it was done and even though the event started at 6, I wanted to play ball! So I did! I went out and owned on the blacktop and then get in like at 6:20 and showered and changed and grabbed my magic props and then left to the place. And it was a beautiful day, just wonderful. And the slideshow went wonderful as well. Check it out and tell me what you think.

After being there for a while I took off cause I had a magic show...yes! I had a magic show! First one in a while! Like a year and a hlaf! For those of you who dont know I did magic professionally for 3 years from 10th-12th grade in high school through the summer until I began college, and once I got here I was so involved with classes and the christian community and basketall that there was just no time. But since things were loosining up here at the end I figured out I could take a show and thats just what I did. I grabbed my bag and left the finaly a bit early and got my game face on and went over to the place. And it was AWESOME! I got there and they delayed it for a while so I got to meat all the people there and get comfortable before I started. And then I went all out, which was only appropriate because the host also went all out. They decorated the whole appartment with magic themed stuff and even had magic potion and magic streamers and a magic flag and had a fog machine that went off for my entrance and after each trick. And they went nuts! They loved it! YOu have no idea! There was so much anticipation going into the show, especially scine most people didnt beleive there was an actual magician that was going to perform. But once I got started, epople were ready and went bonkers! Complete bonkers! Lets just say that I amde a lot of friends that night and had another fan club started here in Ann Arbor. It was great. Absolutely great.

DP the Great!!!

As that face attests, I dazzled everyone

What can I say?
I get a fan club everywhere I go

Saturday, the 24th we had a surprise birthday aprty for Rina who is truning 19. We got one of friends Chris Flanagan who has a bike to pick her up for a short ride and then instead bring her to the huron river where the gang was there awaiting. Then we got conoes and took off. It was so much fun! Then of course it started to rain and hail and thunderstorm, and of course the girls got scrared so we had to go to the side of the river and that ment of course that I had to drag the boat back mostly by myself. Hahaha it was such an adventure and I had so much fun. After that we went to Mark´s house to celebrate and that was good times.

The Survivors

Rina´s response to her guitar birthday cake

Sunday I went to Christ the King for the last time and then went to packing, or trying to pack. Always so much stuff going on its so hard to get down to it. And that followed on monday. I was working on packing. I fannialy got my boxes so I went to work. I had 3 medium to ship with books and shoes and some clothes and 2 large ones to pack with jackets and winter clothes and bedding. And my roomates that are in that same philosophy class were studying up a storm. But I went to a party instead. I went to this blueplex party in Ypsi. Its the women´s household there and they were having an end of the year party cause Eastern Michigan was done with the school. And that was cool. Got to hang out with some women that I have never met before and chill with the guys.

Blueplex party

Tuesday was weird. I woke up and I wasnt feeling good. Like at all. I got up early to start studying on my exam. I was up by 8 and went to study. And all of assuden I feel asleep at 11...and then woke up at 1! I was like, holy cow! ANd right then I get a text message from Will the Head Manager to come meet him at the office to get my Letter Jacket! So I run over and we got to Schembeckler Hall were football is and I got my jacket right away! And It looks tight! Just thing, I will always have this jacket. It is something that I can wear and have and is a simbole of Michigan and I am apart of that great legacy. I see old men come to Crisler all the theime wearing their old letter jackets. Some day I can too. THis is awesome, a distinction, a recognition that I can keep forever. Really really cool. Ad no, its not just like a high school letterman, this si a varsity Michigan Letter Jacket. Its ligit; the real deal.


Then I was on the move again. I shipped my 3 boxes with the help of Bethie. Then I had to go back and forth and get stuff done. And then I took a nap. Slept for liek another 2 hours. I really was feeling light headed and buzzy and my stomach was not good. But I kept on moving cause I had too. Then the dormtroopers went to go play lazertag cause there was a tuesday special. And of course I wanted to go and show my aweful colour blind skillz. But I was still feeling really bad. But you either live happy or die tryin, so that what I did. And it was fun and I didnt do as bad as I thought I would. THen some of my buddies came over to the Dude for the last time to hang with me. Of course there were the dudes but also Rina, Ashely and Bethie and her sister Sarah. It was like the last time we would see eachother to perhaps late August. So we made the best of it makeing fun of eachother in scategories. It was great haha and Brad is so FUNNY! Finally whern his girlfriend left that boy is amazing! He is so funny and so much fun to be with. Dang, Bethany should just stay up there and let Brad be Brad! Jealousy?...yeah, you could say that. But dang he was so much fun. It was a pretty emptional goodbye but its all good, Ill be back in 4 months!



Weds was another full day. I woke up feeling aweful. No work out. Study. Study...cant dang it! I had to pack them last boxes and clean. THen I had to go to the basketball office one last time to pick up some things. Then I had to get a blue book and then this and that. So I finally get to Angell Hall super worn out super tired and sucked out of energy and I had 30 minutes to get ready for my final, of which 10 were spent in the bathroom. Yeah, it sucked. But the final didnt turn out to bad, nt at all. They were either short essays or long essays which allowed me to explain myself. And what was better yet, even thoug I didnt get to go over the topics study wise, I was able to talk and explain most of them with MArk and Ashley the day before. So I had at least thought of responces and I just wrote them out! Wow, that was awesome! Thank God.

But the day was far from over. I got back and did my best to finish packing my boxes for storage. Everything that was not in those boxes had to go with me on the plane. I called Bethie and she came by to take me and the boxes to the Caldwells. That was funny too cause I played a little joke with Rina, saying I was not going to be at her house to drop off the boxes but really went to surprise her only to find that she wasnt there because I told her I wouldnt be there haha. BUt then we found eachother and us 3 went on a tour of Eastern Campus. It is a very clean and nice looking campus, well, except for the dorms. THey have a lot more dorms than I thought they would, being a communer school. I thought, who would ever want to say they live int he dorms at Easter? hahaha. They looked like prison cells! THey really did hahaha. But the rest of campus was very nice and clean. It reminded me a lot of Delmar College here in Corpus. It was nice and modern and clean, but you know what, it had no passion, it had no soul, it had no antiquity of style that really shone off to the rest of the campus. It was not beautiful or while or charming like the Ann Arbor Campus. It was not alive. But thats ok; not every campus has to be as cool as Yale or Notre Dame or Michigan. Haha

I got back to the empty dorm at 9pm to meet with the guys. It was our very last time that the fellowship of the Pentadude would be united. It was the last time. We went to David´s house and built a bon fire and talked and smoked pipes and chilled for a long time. It was great, becasue a lot of these guys are seniors that are moving on. And for the rest of us, well most are in household int he summer there in Ann Arbor but I am back in Texas. So either way, i might not see them for 4-8 months. It was a very special moment...well, besides the fact that I became super sick. My stomach was killing me and I was so light headed and dizzy and baaa it was awesful. I stayed next to the fire to stay warm. But when I left it I was shivering like mad even though I didnt feel that cold. I dont know...all I know was that it was my last night there in Ann Arbor and it was suppose to be super cool but I was feeling awful but I tried to make the best of it.

Last time, baby!
The Pentadude will live forever in our hearts!

Of couse I got back at the Dude at 2:30am and slept in my bare matrice in my clothes and zipper hoody to stay warm. I got up at 6am to get my bags and meet my godmother, Miriam Torrez and drive to the Detroit Airport. And it all worked out. I had to make sure my luggage would change with me cause I was going American half the way and Contenental the rest. And of course I was stuck in the plane for an hour and a half on the runway with American (cause American sucks, every time) and then missed my other flight and got back to Texas 2 hours after the original plan, but the fact was that I was back, in Texas, that once used to be my home and now where I reside for 4 months of the year. It felt like I haddnt been gone. I felt like I jsut seen my parents and brothers, even though my brothers looked taller and my parent slooked older, haha, but you get the picture. It was good to be home, in hot, humid, and sun-killing flat Texas. Its good. Yee-hawww!!

Christmas Break

Well, it was really nice to fly home. But that was a story in and of itself. It was weds night. I studyied and studied and studied and I packed, then wrote and wrote and wrote. I had a philosopy assignment that was fiven on weds that was due thursday morning as my final. That was annoying as well.

For some reason my professor was really weird, He gave us back the previous midterm just that monday. So I went to office hours 2 times, monday and tuesday, and was there for a combined 2 hours before I would have to leave without getting any help because I had basketball practice. So finally I get in weds after waiting 40 mintues. And yes, I had an appointment every time, its jsut that he is so disorganized and takes forever to do anything. So I studied weds morning, went to office hours, stayed to about half of the practice, and on my way back got a call from my football buddy. He was working on his philosopy paper with the other football player and wanted to know if I wanted to join. I was so happy that they called me and kinda lucky cause I had completely forgotten about the assignment. So I went over and worked on it from 6pm to 2am. I did some packing in between.

I will tell you what...that walk, that short walk from south quad to angell hall took so long. I was like falling over I was so tired. I felt aweful, beyond aweful. It was the morning of the 18th, 2 in the morning, and I had been up to this since the first of December, and I felt aweful. Baaaa. Its true that if you are up 24 hours that you begin to act as if you are legaly intoxicated. Well, I had not done that, but the bind and grind of 18 days was way over due on me and I could hardly walk, less much stand strait without sleeping. But it felt good to drop that last paper in the drop box in angell hall.

The next morning was terrible...yet beautiful at the same time. I felt beyond aweful. I had worked so hard for so long and still everything was going down hill and I knew with all the work I had put into everything I still would not do that good in my grades. I haddnet slept any. I had eaten pretty badly. My workouts werent that good. I had over studdied. I had consumed way too many energy drinks. And my body was sore and I had a hurt kneee. Yes, life was miserable...but I had one hope. All soon would be over, in 4 hours in fact, and then I could go home. Home sweet home. So I took a cold shower to wake up. I had a good breakfast and 2 energy drinks. I had a juiced rock star and a can of bawls. And yes, I was standing while studying that morning, just like I had been for the past few days. You see, when you are exsausted and your body is yearning and pleading for rest, your body will do anything in its power to attain that rest. Anytthing. So by sitting down, you are just asking for it. Its almost like lying down, except not. So by standing up, it makes it that much harder for your body to fall asleep. And on top of that, once you start to dose off, you will litterally fall. You dont know how many times I have caught myself halfway on a fall, but you know what? I also cause myself falling asleep. ChaChing! So yeah, I crambed some more of that good ´ol macro economics and walked to Lorche hall to take my last final with a can of Bawls in hand as my only wepon. I went in there, had my game face on, made a couple of prayers and I takled that thing...and that thing was hard.

Now, I dont understand it. I knew that the professor told us that he was making the test hard on purpose. I knew he said he wanted us to miss the questions and that he wanted us to fail. But saying something and actually doing something are two quite different things. I mean, a black sheep can think its white all it wants, but it wont do it any good. Obama can say he will change the economy for the better and then raise taxes all he wants and it wont do any good. Shaq can say he can make all those free throws when it counts and still miss them in the game and it wont help his team any more. Saying and doing are often quite different. But not for this first year Russian Calculas boring pitstained maniac macro economic professor. No, what he says, he means. And that test was freakin hard! Goodness gratious! I wish he was lying on this one! And so yeah...it was hard. But do you know what? I was done. Yes, I was done.




I walked out a defeated yet living hero, and I had just 2 hours before my bus left. So I went to a local Michigan apperal store that was about to go out of business to buy some shirts as christmas presents. And they hardly had anything. Just XXL and XXXL. And a few childrens shirts...and shirts for dogs, but nothing good. It was just in this huge pile of blaaa and fatness. But I made due. I did run into John, a dude in UCO that I had apperantly had told I would eat lunch with him that afternoon but completely forgot till I ran into him and he reminded me. I love when that happeneds. So I found some stuff at another shop, we ate, I packed the last of what I had, and then went out to the buss stop for my bus to Detroit Airport. I got on and it was the begginging of thankfully a very eventless trip back to Texas. The only annoying thing was that it cost me $40 and 2 philosophy books to send my luggage back home. But it was all good. Oh, and I did sit with the entire Michigan State Mens Basketball team from Detroit to Houston (which they ended up upsetting #5 Texas the following day). I talked some trash, told Coach Izzo to be ready for us February 10th, and talked spanish for 20 minutes strait with a dude from Mexico and crused back to Texas. My headphones where really nice. I liked them a lot and they worked perfect on the airport.

I landed in corpus and my brother christopher, my dad, and Casey and Arce were there to greet the tired yet joyful traveler back home. And after all that studying and staying up late and everything, you figured I would be strait to sleep in my own bed, right? No, I went to Arces House with Casey and my awaited PS3 that my brothers didnt know about and stayed up till 4 in the morning. But that night was a night in itself. I couldnt get the PS3 to work. So I thought I broke that. Then we broke a glass cup. THen we broke the couch. THen we broke the Xbox 360. Then the TV. It was aweful. So yeah. what a first night.

I finally was able to get the PS3 working. It was tight. I just had to adust the settings of the video. The PS3 for some reason makes you adust all types of settings. It wont work automatically, you have to find them out manually. I ended up getting a component cable so that we could see high def on the big screen tv once we got the bulb fixed. It looked sweet. We watched the "forgetting Marshals" Movie on it and it was really really cool. But the audio for some reason was not playing how we wanted. THe component cable went to the tv and the tv to the speakers, and for some reason that was not working so we just had sound come off of the tv itself, sub-par. We ended up getting a high end optical cable 3 days before I flew back and never watched anything with it, even though we tested and it sounded perfect.




Christmas day was fun. Midnight mass was alright, as this was the first year I havent played saxophone at midnight mass since 8th grade. But Christmas day was splended. I got the coolest 4 gifts too. Check this out...





1. The Dark Knight on Blue Ray
2. A Sweet Texas Style belt with a Big Belt Buckle
3. A Signed and framed Michael Jordan Jersey
4. A Rotten Black Banana Peel
...sweet isnt it? I forgot that I asked for a banana peel, but Christopher remembered and said it was a request he could not pass. Haha, they told me to open the box and feel it before looking at it, and I still did not remember about the banana, not even a few seconds afterward till it registered. Haha, it was sweet. Later we played some old school Texas backyard football in the warm weather and then later went to see the cousins out in far like hour Texas, haha. We hung out, played horseshoes, talked about how Texas footall is tied with Notre Dame and coming after Michigan, watched Christmas day NBA (Celtics-Lakers) and chilled with them eating loads of good Texas food. We love Texas here.





The next days were pretty chill. I finally finished my Max Schmeling/Joe Louis boing book...yes, it took me 4 months, ok? But I started my Jessie Owens and Adolf Hitler German Olymipcs books and finished in 1 week...thats right, 7 days. So there is hope for me.

New Years was a different animal. The 31st, Michigan was playing Wisconsin, so I invited some buds, including old school ACA buddie Mark Price, who plays ball for Wheaten University. Unfortunately, Michgian was doing pitiful and of course Arce and Casey were rooting for Wisconsin just to get me mad. The game was absolutely aweful, we had our first home loss, first loss to an unranked team, and our first conference loss all at the same time. But me and Casey and Arce hung out all night going places and having fun till 6:30 am. It was sweet, especially since I got up at 9:30 to go to church. It was a holy day of obligation for Mary, the mother of God. I said, Mary, I am glad you are really my mother; otherwize I would not have come.


The Second of January, a Friday, was my mom`s birthday. We went to B&Js. I hung out with Edy that day and I tried out one of his body building workouts and then we went to eat. We got a pizza full of meat. Well, I stay the night with ed, and we have a good time. I get up in the morning and he was pucking pepper like nuts since 8am. He got sick hard the next day too and accused my mom of trying to kill him (my mom has yet to make any statement upon the issue).





Then Sunday came. That evil Sunday. Not only do I have 2 days left, but trying to update my iPhone from firsmware 2.1 to 2.2, and rushing it in the process to go to church with my Dad, I completely bricked my phone. Bricked it hard core. Worse than last time. Much worse. This time, and I guess it is the new iTunes 8.0.8, it wont recognize the iphone unless it is activated, so there is no way to restore the phone. But when I go to restore mode and do it manually, I get error code 21. Stupid! I spent hours on it, 2 by my self in the after noon and like 4 with Edy that night. But it still didnt work. I worked and worked and no good. So now I am using a crappy phone that carlos butchered and have to go to Michigan like that. Haha, but thats how it happened. In an attempt to fix it with downgrading to a old iTunes, I killed my iTunes. Baaa...but that happens, right?

Another big news! I got a job! My summer job is lined up! How many other college sophmores already have a summer job? Anyhow, I worked with the Corpus Christi Hooks last year doing on field entertainment and promotions. You can see some past posts in may and june 08 posts about it. Well, the General Manager, Michael Wood wanted me to come back. I called him Monday, he told me come over, I got to see him and some new friends, met the new guy in charge of tickets and sales, and Michael Wood, was pretty much like, "Spenser, this is Daniel. He worked with us last summer and did an amazing job for us. You should hire him." Pretty much saying, dude, I am the GM; hire him. It was that easy. I got it. So I will be in Texas this summer once again, probobly for the last time, and I will be doing sales, predominately tickets, for the Corpus Christi Hooks. How bout that!

Besides that I played some basketball with some friends from high school and then flew up to Michigan on the 6th of January, a tuesday. I ran into some mexican soccer team that was going to LA to play a professional team and I talked to them a bit in spanish, but nothing much eventful. Got to Ann Arbor nice and ready (and rested from all that sleeping on the plane) and even went to UCO and had a blast in the after party. I am ready for this semester! Bring it on!