What the beeeep, I'm blogging!

Guh, where to begin? Well... I promised myself and a lot of other people (mainly NSLC) that I would start bloggin' once I got back from my awesome, awesome time studying journalism at UC Berkeley. Well, here it is, folks! Actually, to be specific, I made three personal promises: to blog, "Tweet" (aka use Twitter, for those of you who don't know), and to start running, just for fun. The title is a quote from Billy Madison, one of my favorite movies, but I thought it would be a pretty neat-o blog title. However, I AM new to blogging and the like, so everything on this page is subject to change at any given moment. That's right, I'll go doublethink on your boot-hay and you won't even know...

My main "angle" is going to be discussing reality television shows, and those of you who know me know that this is right up my alley. But like I said, ---doublethink--- (aka it's subject to change at any given point).

I'll start off by talking about NSLC. To put it simply, I did not assume that some silly pamphlet (well, it was more like a magazine) sent home in the mail after the PSAT would affect me as much as this program did.

Looking back, the first day is all a blur. I arrived in San Francisco right after the bus left to go to Berkeley, so I had to wait an extra hour. However, I had the upper hand in a weird way, because I was able to see people approach the group waiting at the airport and I could judge them. :D Just kidding... kind of. Also, bear in mind that this program was less than two weeks, so I don't really think my nervousness was as necessary as I thought it was.

The most distinct memory I have is of "Laurene Schmidte" (a Grosse Pointe resident... get it?) walking up to the group. Now, Lauren and I go "way back" - I Facebook chatted (definitely a verb, it's 2009) her at least a million times before NSLC even began, mainly to talk about how excited/nervous we were, and we liked to joke around that we knew each other's life stories before we even knew each other tangibly. So, and any Facebook stalker could attest to this feeling, it was interesting seeing Lauren in person and using my vocal cords to communicate with her as opposed to my lappy's keyboard. The whole airport group ventured to the buses waiting outside, and Lauren immediately pulled me aside to say, "You're sitting with me."

Like I said, the first day is now a blur, so before I knew it we were all sorted into our TA groups. My TA, "Nathan Bringham" as it wrongfully (it's Brigham, no "n") said on my binder, had been MIA the entire day. Where was he? I still don't even know. Perhaps he was running 10-12 miles, looking at lolcats/ http://www.thisiswhyyourefat.com (epic), or watching himself on YouTube. Now for those of you who went on NSLC, I'd like you to take out your binder and look at the page with all the TA/intern bios. Now look at Nate's picture. Funny, right? My whole TA group had this one picture to base our initial opinions of him off of, so (and this rarely happens) I had no idea what to think of him or any preconceived notions. However, once the "opening ceremony" (did I mention NSLC has a baffling knack for making everything seem like much bigger of a deal than it really was?) began, and the mock A-Rod press conference took place, I knew Nate was the perfect TA. I don't mean to knock other TAs or anything, because I can honestly say I didn't dislike one TA there, but when they asked "A-Rod" (Buddy) their questions, it wasn't very interesting. As I was slightly dozing off, I hear this: "Uh yeah, hi, Mr. Rodriguez - Nate Brigham, icanhascheezburger.com... [some question I forgot]" and in that moment, life made sense.

There were 86 (not quite sure) kids in the program, so for me to shout out every single one of 'em is pretty ridic, and it's not like you're all going to read this anyway. But I mentioned Lauren Schmitty, who is wonderful, and Nate, who is also great (did anyone reading this ever read Nate the Great as a youngun? Hollaback!), here are a few other noteworthy people:
---Sarah: I think Sarah may have been the first person I met who was in my TA group, and she proved to keep me sane throughout the program. She was always levelheaded and down to earth, and we chit chatted about everything.
---Cami: how do I even describe Cami? We transformed into Cholos (in the nicest way possible ;D ) shortly after meeting each other, and she's just mi azucar.
---Emsillay: we "vibed," and that's all I gotta say.
---Monica (TA intern): like Cami, I basically just spoke gritty Spanish around her and she didn't judge.

These are just a few, but I will make shoutouts TO... all of the Natedogs (Alan-Sarah-Tiffanie-Nick-Brandon-Rachel-MG-Tess-Brooke-Harrini-Amanda-Caroline-Lauren-Nicole-Rebecca-Nate DAWWWGS, that's right - I got it memorizzay), Bryson and Gus (Slott 207, word), all of the other TAs (A/A/B/B/C/D/J/K) and Molly from education! Curse you and your yellow lanyards/binders...
And shoutouts to all the rest of y'all!

I miss you all very much, but I know that I will see you soon!

Though there were times at the beginning where I thought to myself, what the beeeeep have I gotten myself into?, NSLC was one of the best experiences of my life.

More about me: I'm a disgruntled high schooler who dislikes about 98% of his school, but gets good edukayshun 'n stuff, so that keeps me happeh. I have a few very dear friends here at home, and they all keep me sane. I'm obsessed with the following shows: Big Brother, Survivor, Amazing Race, Real World, and Real World/Road Rules: Challenge. When not watching reality TV, I like to listen to bangin' music, expand my vocabulary, attempt to stay in good shape, friend (also a verb, thanks LARISSA) with people, and play Wii - particularly Mario Party 8 (Peach, Birdo, Boo, Luigi) and Super Smash Bros Brawl (Peach, Kirby, Meta Knight). I'm also tall and lanky.

Like the NSLC TAs did on the first day, I have two truths and a lie for you all to figure out: I know all the words to "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay; I've been to Tampa; and I'm secretly obsessed with This American Life podcasts. Think away and... comment with your guesses!