Philosophical High

The 5 Don'ts of Vans Warped Tour

2007-06-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

It is summer again, which for a lot of us “emo” kids means it is once again time for VANS WARPED TOUR!!! I have attended Vans Warped Tour for the last three years, twice in and around New York City and once in New Jersey. Although each of my Warped Tour experiences were completely amazing, I strongly believe that most of the people attending the event do not have a sufficient knowledge of how to behave in a manner that will not result in serious injury. So, before heading off to the festival with your Coheed and Cambria shirt and Hot Topic jeans, you may want to take a quick look at a few of the things I highly recommend you NOT doing at Vans Warped Tour.

1. Don’t Crowd Surf on Pavement

Believe me, I learned this one from experience. I got inspired to crowd surf during Motion City Soundtrack in 2006, and got dropped on the pavement after being thrown about 7 feet in the air. I was lucky that I didn’t hurt myself that. However, many people did. So, although you may LOVE crowd surfing, I highly recommend not doing so on any sort of pavement/other hard surface. The result could be immensely painful.

2. Don’t Think You Are Invincible in the Pit

Number two means a couple of things. Firstly, know how big you are. If you’re amazingly skinny like me you really don’t want to start throwing down to Atreyu when you’re surrounded by people that look like they could be an NFL blocker... Also, even if you’re big and strong don’t think that you can pick fights with anyone. A couple of years ago, I saw a huge guy get his ass kicked at Randall’s Island after hitting a fairly small looking kid. However, the kid had an awful lot of friends… Anyway! All I’m trying to say is that it pays off to be a little bit smart when you’re in a mosh pit in a crowd of 10,000.

3. Don’t Carry Sharp and/or Expensive Items in Your Pockets

This one doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. Basically, pretend that you are going to participate in a wrestling match. Would you want to have a plastic fork in your pocket while wrestling? I know that keys are unavoidable, but beyond that I would really try not to have anything sharp in your pocket. Also, even if you don’t mosh there is a chance that you can get pushed over. Thus, I would also recommend not putting anything in your pocket that is particularly fragile and/or valuable.

4. Don’t Disrespect the Weather

The three times I’ve gone to Warped Tour it has been VERY hot out. For God’s sake, put some sunscreen on : ) If you don’t, you will have an extremely unpleasant couple of weeks as I did after my first Warped Tour experience… Also, bring plenty of money to buy water. The last thing you want is to pass out in the middle of an insane crowd listening to New Found Glory because of dehydration.

5. Don’t Forget to Check Out Bands That You Don’t Know : )

Since this article has been quite serious, I thought I’d end with a fun don’t : ) Vans Warped Tour is SUCH an amazing opportunity for you to check out bands that you’ve never heard of as well as see bands that you wouldn’t normally pay to see alone. So, instead of sitting around waiting for the next band that you “love” to get started, go check out some of the other groups. Who knows, you may find your new favorite band this summer : )

Getting Along With the Folks

2007-06-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

Do you have authority issues with your parents? Are you sitting in your room right now thinking something along the lines of, “If my parents give me one more order I am going to move out and never come back?” Summer is a time that many young adults associate with having to move back in with the folks for a few months. Often this abrupt transition between college life and home life can cause a great deal of tension between parents and their children. After living away from home for half a year the child has probably forgotten what it is like to have to obey parental authority for an extended period of time, and the parents may not realize that their child is now a young adult and deserves to be treated accordingly. Being that I am an only child, which in turn has resulted in receiving constant attention from my parents throughout my childhood and young adulthood, I have devised a number of strategies that I believe have helped me in getting along with my parents. If you use any or all of the three tips below, I’m sure that you will at the very least be able to stay sane this summer.

1. Make an Effort to Humor Them

I realize that number one is a little difficult to swallow, but I firmly believe that in order to get anywhere towards coming to a mutual understanding with your parents you first have to respect their orders with a smile on your face, even if it “kills” you. For example, if your mom asks you to clean your room, don’t argue. Instead, put your pride on hold for half an hour and get the job done. The benefit of humoring your parents far exceeds the pain associated with the menial task you have to do in order to make your parents happy. After all, if you listen to your parents they will probably be a lot more open to discussing the idea that as an adult you wish to have more freedom at home than you did as a child.

2. Try to See Things From Their Point of View

Again, I realize that seeing things from a person’s point of view that is 17-40 years older than you may be a little bit difficult. However, making an effort to see things from your parents’ points of view is an essential step towards strengthening your relationship with the folks. If you are able to understand where your parents are coming from you may find their orders easier to accept, and your conversations with them easier to handle. Secondly, by understanding your parents’ points of view you may be able to calmly discuss with them why you argee/disagree with the way they treat you and be able to support your argument using ideas that they are able to understand.

3. Do Not Avoid Them

Although I have no empirical evidence to support this claim, I strongly believe that one of the reasons why young adults in general have strained relations with their parents is because young adults refuse to talk openly and calmly with their parents. If you are a college student that has returned home for the summer, or if you’re a high school student who is tired of being told what to do, do not avoid your parents. Instead, try to be their friend. Have a few meals together each week. Go get ice-cream or see a movie with them once in a while. Even if you really can’t stand being with your parents, by becoming their friend you may find that you are able to communicate with them in a calm and easy-going fashion whenever a disagreement arises.

3 Ways to Stay Happy During Your Mundane Summer Job

2007-06-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

3 Ways to Stay Happy During Your Mundane Summer Job

Do you find yourself facing three months of working at Subway? Are you mowing ten lawns a day in order to pay for your car insurance? Do you think that if you have to go to your extremely boring and repetitive summer job one more time you are going to jump off a bridge? (figuratively speaking : ) If you are answering yes to any of these questions I’ve got bad news for you; unless you change the way you go about dealing with your mundane summer job, you are going to have an absolutely miserable summer. However, I also have good news for you! Even though my two main summer jobs consist of bussing tables and doing solo landscaping work for my neighbor, I’m quite a happy camper! This means that you can be a happy camper as well : ) Below are a few suggestions as to how you may go about making fun of a job that most people would consider to be worse than death.

BE HAPPY (and take pride in what you do)

If you’ve read the title of number one you may think something along the lines of, “Yea, easier said than done, this guy doesn’t know what it feels like to wash dishes for eight hours...” (For your information, I do : ) However, I truly believe that a big reason why so many college students do not enjoy their summer jobs is because they don’t give themselves a change to enjoy them. Instead, most college students find a menial job at the end of second semester, and convince themselves long before starting the job that they will have absolutely no fun while at work. So, instead of going to work tomorrow with a negative attitude, I highly suggest making a genuine effort to take pride in the task you are performing. Also, while taking pride in what you do, try to enjoy being at work! Make friends with your coworkers. If you’re working alone, bring your ipod : ) This first step alone will take you a long way towards having a much better day at work.

STAY HEALTHY! (get some sleep : )

Incase you’re wondering, I am not a health freak by any means. However, in order to even give yourself a chance to enjoy a job, you have to be well rested enough to not resent having to work an eight hour day. If you work during the week, you should probably save the partying for the weekend. If you work on weekend mornings, try as best you can to get a bit of sleep the majority of the time. Trust me, as much fun as a Friday night festivity can be, the happiness gained does not equal the physical and emotional pain you will suffer while working Saturday morning.

Have something to look forward to

I must admit, even if you do follow the two suggestions above you still may find that you have moments when you wish you were anywhere but your job. The best remedy for such moments is to have something to look forward to. So, if you’re working a 40 hour week, make sure that you ALWAYS have something fun and exciting planned for the weekend. That way you’ll be able to put a smile on your face even after your seventh hour of stocking shelves at your local supermarket : )

Getting Along With the Roommate

2007-06-13T21:17:00.001-07:00

One of the first thoughts that came to mind after receiving my Brandeis acceptance letter was "I hope that I am able to get along with my roommate..." We've all heard the horror stories: the roommate who doesn't go to bed until four am, the roommate who has an anger management problem, the roommate who steals your girlfriend, etc etc... Luckily, my roommate ended up being my best friend. However, if there is one thing I learned freshman year it is how to live with another person. Listed below are five tips based on first hand experience on how to strengthen and maintain a relationship your roommate.1. RellllllllllllllllllaxI think the biggest mistake I made was trying too hard. I'm one of those people who really wants to be friends with everyone, so when I met my roommate I was probably a bit overbearing. When you meet your roommate don't worry! He/She is probably just as nervous as you are. Plus, if you relax, you're much more likely to be better company : )2. Don't think that you're too good to talk to your roommateAs in any institution, there are many different cliques in college. However, even if you think that you're the greatest thing to happen to planet Earth, or that you're far too important to be sharing a room with someone, do not think that you are too good to be friends with your roommate. The result could be very unfavorable. After all, when most people go to college they go to a place where they know very few people. If you are able to make a good friend with your roommate, you will be able to have someone to count on that you will be seeing the majority of the time at your stay at university. If you don't talk to your roommate, you may find yourself in a situation when you locked yourself out of your room and desperately need to get a book from your room quickly. However, you don't have your roommates phone number and have to waste two hours of your life waiting for the campus police to come and open your door...3. Be open to new ideasThis kind of goes along with number two. Too many times I have seen roommates never hang out because they claim to not have anything in common. In cases such as these both parties are at fault. College its a time to TRY NEW THINGS. In fact, many people say that college is the last time in your life to try new things. If you're roommate wants to go sky diving and you've never gone sky diving then go sky diving! (Alright, maybe this is a bit extreme, but you get the point : ) Also, try to talk convince your roommate as to why your hobbies are so much fun. This year my roommate kept telling me how amazing ultimate frisbee is, and because of him I ended up joining the team and having a great time!4. Have funNumber of for may be implied in number three, but I believe that reminding someone of the obvious is often very helpful. Not only should you try new things in college, but you should be open to the idea that you may have a good deal of fun participating in new activities. Don't ever think to yourself "I'm only doing this to try and build a friendship with my roommate." Instead, be positive!!!!!!!! Before trying any new activity in college, regardless of whether or not your with your roommate, think to yourself "No matter what I'm about to do I'm going to have fun doing it." Believe me, having a positive attitude can take you a very long way towards having an amazing freshman year.5. Nothing "disrespectful" (eg. hooking up with your roommates ex, stealing personal items, bringing people back at 4 am on a Monday, etc etc...)Remember, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with the person sleeping in the bed next to you. Thus, not only do you want to try and be nice by relating to your roommate, you should also be nice by not stepping on your roommates personal life. After all, do you really want to live with someone that hates you because you decided to have an intimate night with his/her significant other? Also, no matter how well you get along with your roommate, ask him before taking his possessions. This formality may seem insignificant, but you will find that all parties are happier if you ask before taking : )I hope that you've found this advice helpful. And hey! If your play your cards right, you just may end up living with someone who you really enjoy. Believe me, living with someone that you really enjoy can in itself make for an amazing year of school : )

Hooking Up

2007-06-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

I’m sure that just about everyone asks themselves before heading off to college something to the effect of, “I wonder what my “love” life is going to be like at school?” (Going to a school like Brandeis I was afraid that the answer to this question for me would be non existent : ) However, regardless of what kind of person you are, or what you may or may not expect of your love life, I believe that there are three very important DON’TS about hooking up in college that everyone should consider:

1. Don’t Hook Up With Someone On Your Floor (unless you’re in it for the long run : )

The title of this “don’t” is fairly self explanatory. Even though it may be extremely tempting to become intimate with the girl next door, there is quite a large downside in doing so. Unless you’re in it for the long run, hooking up with someone on your floor inevitably results in a great deal of bitterness between the two parties involved. For example, say you decide to have a one night stand with the girl/guy next door. Regardless of whether or not you want your physical relationship with this person to be more or less than a one night stand, you are going to see the person you hooked up with the next day, as well as every other day you two are living on the same floor. In other words, if things go bad, you still have to see that person every single day for a number of months… My advice: If you’re going to hook up with the girl next door either a. only do so if you know with some degree of certainty you are going to date the person or b. do so towards the end of the year : )

2. Don’t Hook Up With A Friend While Intoxicated

I know, you’re probably thinking right now that I’m a complete square and believe in not having any fun in college. However, you must trust me when I say that I am quite the opposite. If ‘hooking up’ with random people at a party is your thing then go for it! Besides the slight awkwardness of seeing the person around campus, there aren’t too many other downsides in performing such an action. That being said, I believe that there is a valid line of reasoning for why you should not hook up with your friend while under the influence of any kind(s) of drug(s): Although you may go out to parties a friend that you are sexually attracted to, if you become physical with your friend while intoxicated there is a good chance that the act of becoming physically intimate is not consensual. Thus, hooking up may lead to a rise in tension between the two parties, which may in turn result in severely damaging the friendship. Thus, if you’re going to hook up with your friend it may be best to do so while sober : )

3. Don’t Hook Up With The Person That Your Good Friend Is In Love With

You may think that I don’t even need to mention this. However, you’d be amazed (most likely) at the number of people (mostly girls) I’ve seen or heard about hooking up with a person that they knew their best friend liked. Believe me, it’s not worth it. As you can probably imagine, performing such an action will most likely result in a collapse of the friendship you had with the person who liked the person that you hooked up with... So, unless your friend really isn’t your “friend,” I would not advise performing the title of number three : )

Well, that’s about it for now! I hope this article has been somewhat helpful. Just remember, these are merely suggestions, and I may be wrong about all of them. If you think that I’m wrong you know that I’d love to hear from you : )

Varsit y Sports

2007-06-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt like sports at your university were taken a little bit too seriously? This was one of my first thoughts after I finished my second three hour tennis practice on the D3 Brandeis Tennis Team. Being a part of this team was one of my most short lived college experiences… However, despite my complete disgust with the way this particular varsity team was coached, I did manage to learn an important lesson from my brief experience with Brandeis Tennis.

As you may guess from the previous paragraph, I really did not like the tennis coach. Although he was very nice off the court, he did not have a sufficient knowledge of how to prevent common tennis injuries or how to build team unity. He was twenty five; merely a child. You could see his immaturity when he would say things like “WHAT THE f#@K ARE YOU DOING?!?!” almost every time a player missed an easy shot. In addition to his slight anger problem, the coach was not sensitive to the team’s needs and desires. Since it was a D3 team (which means no one was getting any scholarship money for playing tennis) no one wanted to be out there practicing 2-3 hours a day 6 days a week practicing, let alone at 6 am… The result of my coaches mistakes were predictable; a very disgruntled team that was not enjoying the sport.

However, our captain was a pretty nice guy, and attempted to make one effort to build team bonding. On a Thursday evening in early October I received an email providing details for a men’s and women’s tennis team beer pong tournament. Little did I know that this little team get-together would turn out to be quite the interesting Friday night…

I arrived at a slightly broken down looking house with two other freshman promptly at 9:30 pm; the time that was mentioned in the email. We were greeted in a friendly yet soft spoken manner by the captain, who hurried us into the living room. Upon sitting down on a very unpleasantly colored green couch I immediately noticed two very strange aspects of our tennis team: Firstly, our assistant captain was there, drinking with us… (I don’t think I need to explain any further as to why a freshman may find this strange) Secondly, I finally realized that the reasons none of the 6 seniors on the squad of 11 that made up Brandeis tennis were such good friends; they were all in the same frat…

After sitting awkwardly around the large screen TV for a few minutes, the captain decided to tap the keg and begin playing beer pong. At this point all eight or so of us moved into the small kitchen and began throwing white balls at red cups (a very usual college pastime). No one was speaking much. The frat brothers were making small talk with each other, while the freshmen were trying extremely hard to fit in. I did the socially awkward thing and stood in the corner, pretending to take some interest in what was going on around me. I was not very happy, standing around with a team that I spent roughly half my free time with, yet unable to make conversation with any of them… It was at that moment I decided that Brandeis Tennis was not for me.

Anyway! As far as a moral of the story goes it has to be this: If you are not having fun on a D3, or even D1 sports team for that matter, DON’T KEEP DOING IT! You only get to go to college once, and I think that you owe it to yourself to try and maximize the amount of fun you can have during this four year period of life.

Stereotypical Frat Kid + NFL Blitz = An Interesting Adventure

2007-06-06T11:35:00.001-07:00

Let me preface this article by saying that I have nothing against college students that join a frat. It just so happens that some of the funniest things that happened to me during my first year at school involved an interaction with a person who one may consider to be a “stereotypical frat kid.”

Anyway! In addition to some of the semi serious things I learned from my first year of college, there were some experiences that I’m sure I will never forget. One of these experiences has to do with my encounter with Billy, the stereotypical frat kid who lived next door. From the beginning I knew that Billy was a crazy kid. During orientation he would walk into my room and announce things such as “Duuuuuuuude I just carried 250 beers for two miles up a hill!” or “Yo bro my frat just put me on an all beer diet… I can only drink water and eat beer : ) However, one of the most memorable experiences I had with Billy revolved around NFL Blitz (a game that all of you college students should know and love : )

One Friday afternoon I was sitting in my room doing a bit of homework. All of a sudden, Billy storms into my room. He barely looks at me before articulating his current desire, “DUDE, BLITTTTZZZ, NOW!” As I set up the game, he began explaining to me how his frat brother was disappointed that he was not a better Blitz player, and how he had to play all last night in order to improve his game. “Bro, Blitz is a necessary life skill,” is a statement that he made and attempted to support multiple times during our brief friendship. Little did Billy know that way back in 8^th grade, I was quite the good video game player : )

I must admit, I have never ever seen someone so mad about losing at anything; let alone a video game. “This is such f*@king bullshit” he would scream over and over as he failed to beat me on this Friday afternoon. He proceeded to make serious excuses for his very poor play. “Yo I’m used to the ’99 version and we’re playing the ’97 game,” he repeated time and time again as I increased my lead by over 14 points. Of course, after losing the third game in a row, Billy proceeded to throw this controller and storm out of my room. Unfortunately, this was one of the last times I ever saw Billy. A couple of weeks later, he got kicked out of school for multiple drug offenses combined with a GPA below 2.0 : (

Anyway! You may ask yourself, what is the moral of this story? I don’t know about you, but for me the less serious moral of the story is to try and make friends with all types of people when you go to college. Doing so can make for some very amusing experiences : )

Dating on Your Floor (aka Floorcest : )

2007-06-06T08:28:00.001-07:00

Before you went to college, did anyone say to you something along the lines of “Whatever you do, don’t ever date someone who lives on your floor.” If I had a nickel for every time someone said that…(I guess that analogy doesn’t really work here, but you get the picture : ) Anyway! My roommate and I (who happen to share to the same name) decided to break the rules; we both starting dating girls on our floor. If you’re reading this now and are going or have gone to college, you’re probably thinking to yourself “big mistake.” However, even though things did work out for me in the end, I got to experience second hand why in most cases it is not advisable to date someone who is living next door…

18 is NOT the age to move in.

Although this may happen even if your significant other lives on your hall, when you date someone who lives on your hall you may find your significant other moving into your room days after the proposal. At first, this may seems like a very good idea. You’re “in love,” and you couldn’t imagine spending a second of your life away from this person. However, if your going to date someone on your hall, I highly recommend making sure that the person has no intention of ever moving into your already overcrowded room. If for no other reason, having your significant other move in may really strain your relations with your roommate. Also, it’s probably not that much fun fitting two people into a single bed every night…

SPACE

Although this is #2 on the list, it is arguably the number one reason why more often than not it is not advisable to date on your hall. Even if you don’t move in with the person, you are practically living with them being that you will be the last person your lover sees before you go to bed, and very often the first person when you wake up (besides your roommate that is : ) As a result of living in such close quarters, you will get to know your girlfriend/boyfriend better in a month than you would have after a year of high school. This can create a lot of stress in your relationship, which may lead to fights like, “WHY DO YOU DO DRUGS WITH YOUR FRIENDS AT 1:45 ON A MONDAY MORING?!” Although this is a very legitimate question, such a question would never come up if the person did not see you come and go every waking second of the day. The best advice I can give to those who still want to have a relationship with someone on their floor is to make sure they are willing to give you an adequate amount of personal space to “have fun” as a young adult : )

3. Just for Convenience?

Very often it is the easiness of dating someone on your hall that makes you think you are madly in love with the person that lives three doors down. After all, you see this person everyday, and get to spend plenty of time with the person as he/she lives approximately 6 seconds from your room. However, I am a big believer in the idea that one of the main reasons why “floorcest” does not work is because the two people dating do not actually like each other. It is the “ease” associated with being able to date someone who you can see at a moments notice that makes the relationship possible.

I am not saying that you should never date someone on your hall. However, if you are considering such an action, I would advise going on quite a few dates with the person off campus as well as thinking about a few of the things I’ve mentioned before “tying the knot” so to speak… That being said, I’d really love to get some feedback on my thoughts. Do you think I’m right? Do you have any crazy relationship stories to support your argument for or against my position on floor dating? I’d love to hear from you : )

Dining Servies : )

2007-06-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

If anyone reading this blog is still in college and has not yet taken a job in Dining Services, it is something I highly recommend. The work if often grueling and the pay (at least at my school) is pretty bad. However, you will leave such a job having gained some very important college knowledge. Here are a few of the more interesting facts that I accumulated during my 2 months of cooking and serving pasta at Brandeis.

If you want good food, be nice to your server

I always found it very amusing when I saw someone come up to either myself or a coworker and pretend like he or she was the greatest thing to ever walk this earth. Whenever someone spoke to me in a condescending or unusually unfriendly tone (or to any of my coworkers), that person happened to get much less and severely undercooked pasta : )

Never work at the place that serves your favorite food

Before working the pasta station at Brandeis I always thought that pasta was the absolute greatest thing at our Dining Hall. However, after making a thousand of them for other people, I took to making pasta in a tea kettle in my room : )

If your dining services are run by Aramark, don’t get a meal plan…

For those of you who didn’t know, Aramark is the largest food distributing company in America. In my opinion, it also distributes some of the worst college food in America as well… Furthermore, in addition to serving you the absolute lowest quality food possible, you are paying a premium equal to one you would pay at a restaurant for better food. If I ever become a lawyer, I hope I can find a way to sue this company…

Union Workers from Foreign Countries are Still Abused

Working in the Brandeis Dining Hall were many French speaking Africans. In Massachusetts, there is a law that gives workers a 30 minute break for each 6 hours of work. In one of the Dining Hall offices, I saw forms that were being forced upon the African workers that would effectively waive this half hour break… That is when I decided to quit my job.

I would be very interested to know if any of you have some interesting Dining Hall experiences. I know this post has been a bit serious. However, this is something I’ve wanted to get out to the public for long time. In my next blog I promise I will write about something funny : )

AThought355

"Making Friends"

2007-06-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Did you ever wonder before going to college exactly how you were going to make new friends? Let’s face it, by the end of high school most of us had found a nice little social niche of sorts, and hadn’t had to really work at making friends for quite some time. During my summer before school I figured that most freshmen would socialize in their dorms, and make friends in classes. What I failed to ponder prior to my arrival at Brandeis was the one way of socializing that so many people participated in for the sole purpose of “making friends”: the frat party.

I will never forget my first experience attending one of these events. Since frats are not recognized at Brandeis, I walked with my roommate and a couple other people on our hall to a house located about a mile off campus. Upon our arrival to the front of this house we were quickly hurried down to their basement. Within the first ten “seconds” of this party, my glorified visions of frat houses (such as those in Animal House J ) were quickly put to rest. Little did I know that this very grungy looking basement (compete with your classic cement walls, a beer pong table, very loud music, and a group of about 40 girls and guys) was where many people would attempt to “new friends.” These are the two most popular (and very amusing ways) that I saw guys attempt to make friends during one of the first parties of the year:

Whatever you can do, I can do better

During this party there were many instances where I simply heard guys boasting about how many girls they’ve hooked up with, how much beer they can drink, and how many times they’ve gotten hammered or high in the last week. Then, another guy would start talking to him and try to 1 up them. They would then exchange phone numbers, and go off looking for girls and alcohol : )

“Dancing”

I use parenthesis because I’m still not sure you can call grinding, or ‘lap dancing’ dancing. At this party, I was pretty amazed to see just how many guys and girls use alcohol as an excuse for getting extremely intimate with strangers on the dance floor… Little did I know at the time that such actions are pretty much par for a college party… However, I did find it interesting that people would claim to be so hammered that they didn’t know what they’re doing, but were not too hammered to walk the mile back to campus, or to exchange phone number with the person they were dancing with : ) That’s college for ya!

My question for anyone who reads this is, do you really think you can consider the people you meet in this social situation your friend? Until next time!

AThought355

The Facebook Breakup

2007-05-31T10:29:00.000-07:00

Have any of you ever woken up on a Saturday or Sunday morning to discover that one of your friends has tagged 18 photos of you from the night before that you don’t quite remember taking? Have you ever received 15 comments on your wall from people you don’t know that well due to a change in your relationship status? Do you ever find yourself saying at least a few times a day “I hate facebook,” when really you check your profile every hour? If there is one thing that I learned after the first day of college, it is that facebook is an unavoidable evil. It is a great tool to stay in contact with friends and send invitations, but you pay a great price for such a tool: your privacy. However! The good news is that some of my most amusing dramas from freshman year came about because of facebook. I will describe briefly for you one of the most fascinating of these dramas: The Facebook Breakup.

When I went to college many of my friends (including myself) were in long distance relationships. Of course, most of these relationships ended within the first few weeks of college. The most memorable of these breakups happened with a friend down the hall. This breakup was memorable due to the classic “facebook war” she had with her ex in Colarodo the week after they broke up. This “facebook war,” as many facebook wars, involved 3 main steps:

Changing Your “Relationship Status”

Of course, the first thing you do when you breakup with someone on the phone is not to cry or call your best friend. Instead, you absolutely must change your facebook status from “In a Relationship” to Single. You may think I’m joking, but this is exactly what my friend (as well as many of my other friends) did after a breakup.

Changing Pictures

Not only do you have to change your profile picture of your with your past “love,” you also have to make sure that you have untagged all of the romantic pictures you had together. As my friend told me, the purpose of such an action was to “Make the other person feel bad.”

Writing Comments About What a Horrible Person Your Ex Is

For many people it is not enough to just end a relationship with a breakup. Many times your bitterness causes you to have a thought that goes something like this, “I’m going to make sure that everyone who is my friend on facebook knows what a horrible person my ex is.” Of course, such an action serves two purposes; to indirectly tell your boyfriend how much you hate him while at the same time thinking that if your publish your thoughts on your ex he/she will never be able to find a significant other again : )

Now, I’m sure that there have to be many other stories out there of ridiculous college happenings that are only made possible through facebook, and I would love to hear about all of them : )

2007-05-30T15:45:00.001-07:00

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The First 48 Hours

2007-05-30T11:55:00.001-07:00

I believe that in many ways the first 48 hours of someone’s college experience are the most interesting. Thinking about it, you are thrown into an environment in which all of the things that you used to depend on (home town, friends, family, etc. etc.) are suddenly taken away from you. Personally I welcomed such an experience. As many people who grew up in a small town and got accepted to a university in Boston, I was ready to experience life outside of a town with a population of under 2,000…

If there is one thing I remember about the first 48 hours of school, it is walking back into my room the night after the second day of orientation to find my roommate (a skinny Jewish fellow with a very large fro and glasses) huddled around a bottle of Southern Comfort with 5 girls from his orientation group. I know, for college this sounds pretty average. However, this was the night when I learned my first college life lesson: many teenagers lie about the amount of alcohol they can drink. One of the girls in our room was boasting about the amount of alcohol she could drink. However, after having two shots of Southern Comfort, the girl face turned a bright red, and she claimed to be unable to stand up for approximately an hour. Of course, I saw this girl at many frat parties later in the year to discover that she had joined a sorority and boasted about the amount of alcohol she could consume…

Although this is a fairly important aspect of life to pick up on, I’m sure that there are many people out there who experienced much more profound realizations when arriving at college. Let the sharing begin.

Freshman Year Adventures

2007-05-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon my fellow Bloggers-

I realize that there are millions upon millions of college students sharing a vast number of stories regarding politics, relationships, and adjusting to life away from home. However, it seems as though noone is really writing about/sharing their freshman year college experiences. This is why I created "Philisophical High." Such a title can be interpreted in a variety of ways. One may think of this blog as a place to read about ways in which students grow academically during their freshman year, while others may consider this blog to be a place to read about and share their stories about "profound" thoughts that college students often have when taking mind altering drugs : ) The truth is, this blog is about both. I personally am going to share the many many various types of adventures I had freshman year at Brandeis University, and I hope to hear about the many differnt types of philisophical highs that other people have had during their first year at College. In my next entry, I will discuss my first, and very entertaining first 48 hours of College life. Until next time...

AThought355