Get Acquainted Day. I have no clue what this is but I was asked to help with it. According to the Mount’s website, it is described as: “During one of the Mount's Get Acquainted Days (GAD) students get to explore the academic programs, learn about financial aid opportunities, and catch a glimpse of college life. Representatives from all academic majors and supports are also on hand to answer your questions. For more information about GAD, call 1-800-654-9314, ext. 4531 from outside the Cincinnati area, or 513-244-4531 within Cincinnati.”    

In light of this, I was asked to be on the Student Panel section of the day. I remember this section of this type of event because it was, I think, my freshman orientation in which they had this kind of thing. So I had a small idea what it was going to be. I’d experienced the prospective student side but I had not been on the side of the panel and I don’t think I was ready for it…   I walk into the room, sit down, and look up. Holy *explicative*. Yeah. That’s what I said- in my head at least. I hadn’t actually connected the fact that I was talking to a group of prospective students and the fact that I had to speak publicly. I don’t like public speaking- AT ALL! I was nervous. So I sat there staring at about 30 people- students and parents- waiting for them to ask questions. I was the only freshman on the panel and I thought they would ask me a lot of questions but not really.   

Some of the questions were: what is one of the best kept secrets at the Mount? I said that the teachers were actually extremely personable and really were willing to get to know you and remember who you are. But I walked out to my car, I realized something else you don’t find out until like the weekend school starts: parking. The parking sticker at school is free- or at least it’s already in your tuition fees so you don’t pay anything extra. And also, freshmen are allowed to have cars. I know UC charges at least $250 a parking sticker PER quarter totaling at least $750 a year to park on their campus- and that’s still a 15 minute walk to the buildings. But I also know UD doesn’t allow freshmen to have cars their first years unless they’re commuters so it really is an advantage for Mount students to have free parking and have cars their first year.   

Another question was what clubs we participate in and what we did our first semester to join in at the school. I said that since my first semester was only four months ago (*insert laughter*) that I hadn’t done much but I did hang out in the lobbies and the dorms and that really helps you make friends. I also did theater so I really was involved in the musical for about 6-8 weeks and that was involvement to the extreme.    

One of the other things I didn’t get to mention for that question, also, was blogging- at least for me. I mean, it’s not a club or anything, but it’s something I’m involved in (obviously if you’re reading this) and it was a great opportunity to mention to those prospective students and their parents about some insight they could gain from reading our blogs. The blogs are actually a great way to learn about the Mount through the eyes of a student from week to week. If I had known about the blogs earlier before I came here I could have been more prepared for college life and the ways of the Mount (I was just watching Star Wars IV so I’m a bit like Obi One Kinobi: “the ways of the force” except its “the Mount” not “the force”… Ya… another tangent sorry).   

But it was an interesting hour of my life but if you have more questions about anything here at the Mount, don’t hesitate to leave a comment on mine or anyone’s blogs and we’ll be more than happy to answer your questions. But I had fun and now it’s time to think about the week ahead… still have a lot of homework to do… Thank God for the weekends… J

So… the musical “Oklahoma” is over and now it’s time to move on with a regular life… YEAH RIGHT! LOL… Now that I’m done with my extracurricular activity for the year, I just now realized how much I have left to do. I calculated that I have 15 days left of school- just about three weeks. And I miraculously only have one day of exams- granted that’s two exams and one project to do in one day.   

The work I have to do? Too much… Um… I have an education lesson/project due next Friday; an education paper due on Monday; a 4-page history paper due next Friday; a math project due on my exam day that I have yet to update (it’s a continuous project over the course of the semester that needs to be turned in on the last day to be returned so we can use it for future teaching); a math lesson to teach not on Monday but the next Monday… and… um… something else that I’m sure I’m forgetting and will regret here as soon as I remember it… J  

 What else is new you ask? Well, I just finished registering for classes next semester so that’s exciting- actually the whole process was a bit stressful. I had the registration time of 6:30 AM but the system is about 8 minutes slow so I didn’t get on until about 6:38 AM (I love how precise I am in this haha).    I was able to register for four classes fairly quickly: EDU 172 Contemporary Perspectives with Drew Shannon (I have a class with him semester and I absolutely love his class! So I recommend taking one of his classes), EDU 205 Educational Assessment with Dr. Rick Sparks (teaching you how to make tests for your students- also ironically the HARDEST class you will ever take at the Mount for education because Dr. Sparks is a really hard teacher… oh joy right? No, he’s my advisor so I really like him), SED 305 American Sign Language with somebody? (there’s no teacher assigned yet but I am SOOOOO excited about that class! I love sign language and all I know so far is the alphabet), and PHI 200 Perspectives on Human Nature with Dr. Sontag (again I have no idea what this class is about).    

The class I had trouble with was SED 215 Human Exceptionalities with Dr. Santoro (don’t know who that is sorry and nor do I know what the class is other than I need 30 observation hours for it) but it’s all good now and then today I registered for PSY 310 Cognition and Memory with Dr. Jim Bodle (I had his psych class last semester and he’s an awesome teacher also so I would highly recommend taking a class with him too).   

So that’s that… I’m listening to “Free Bird” by Lynard Skynard right now… My thoughts are all over the place but now you know what it’s like to be inside my head sometimes… LOL J   I already told you “Oklahoma” is over but I put a picture of the cast and crew at the bottom so you can see who was all involved… O and my friend Alex is happy that she can talk to me again (*Alex* (8:35:21 PM): and u should write about how i get to see u again...lol) That’s the IM she sent me about the show and how much free time I now have in my life… Oh and a shout out to Maria- my future roommate next year… She’s gonna read this so “Hi!” to her as well…   

Um what else… O! I’m thinking of applying for a position on the Dateline staff for next year. Dateline is the school’s monthly newspaper run by Buffy Barkley and a team of students. It sounds interesting and I’ve never done journalism but sounds fun enough. J 

  I think that’s all that’s new right now… O wait! Get Acquainted Day is on Saturday, April 12^th, from some time to some time… No, it’s from 9:30 AM to about 3 PM or so… I’m participating on the Student Panel so I have no idea what I’ll be doing but it’s something about future students asking me what life at the Mount is like so that’ll be fun I hope… J   

Now I’m done… I think… so have a good day and a good weekend! See you on the other side! Shout out to the birthday boy too (Joe)!

This weekend I had the opportunity to see the College of Mount St. Joseph’s production of Oklahoma!.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with the play, Oklahoma!  is a musical written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, two big names in the musical world.  They have written many well known musicals such as Carousel, The King and I, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific.  I’m fairly familiar with most of these because my Grandmother used to watch the VHS version of these musicals constantly.  She would watch me before my afternoon kindergarten class and I always remember some musical playing on her big screen television. 

So, when I heard the Mount was presenting Oklahoma!, I figured it would be cool to go and see the play and relive the old days over at my Grandmother’s house when I was little. (I also seized the opportunity to trick my girlfriend into thinking I’m cultured and invited her to see the play with me.  We made a little date out of it.) 

The tickets were pretty cheap, it only cost ten bucks total for Jordan and I to get in.  When we found our seats and settled in, the play had just started.  I honestly was sort of skeptical of the performance at first.  I had never seen a play at the Mount and didn’t really know the quality of past productions.  And I have only seen the play performed by professional actors and actresses.  So I wasn’t sure if the Mount performers were up to the task of meeting my high expectations. 

But, I’m glad to say, I was dead wrong.  The performers were great.  I had known some of the performers from my classes and I was amazed at their ability to sing and perform!  The main characters, Laurey, Ado Annie, Curly, Aunt Eller, Will Parker, and Jud Fry were amazing at fulfilling their parts.  The rest of the cast was great too. The level of performance definitely exceeded my expectations.  I am still amazed at the performance and singing abilities of a few of the main characters.  They, in my mind, were easily comparable to the professionals I’m used to seeing playing the parts. 

If the rest of the performances at Mount St. Joseph are as good as Oklahoma! was, I highly recommend going.  And you’ll most likely see me there because I’m definitely going to the next production!

>Eric M.

...National Soft Pretzel Month.  Time to celebrate soft pretzels! When was the last time you had one?   I can only hope that the dining hall has soft pretzels on the menu this month.  And there's more than one way to eat them.  You can add ham and cheese over one.  Peanut butter, sauerkraut, maple syrup, mustard.  (Of course not all of these at the same time).  That would be sick.  
and  guess what else...April is also

National Poetry Month! This is a topic near and dear to my heart.  I think poetry is somewhat unappreciated today, mostly because people get the impression that it is high-falutent language that has to rhymme, be vague, etc...  Since it's registration time at the Mount, why not sign up for a Creative Writing class to hone your skills?  Liz Mason is a great prof and you could learn a lot. Shout out.

Did you know that April is also:  National Humor Month, National Card and Letter Writing Month, National Back-pack Safety Month, 

and April is home to these:   National Stress Awareness Day,  National Eggs Benedict Day, National Pecan Day, National Cheeseball Day,  and basically something else for everyday of the month.  Who thinks these up?  And How do they become "National" days?

Of course the begining of my April has included the musical production "OKLAHOMA" here at the Mount.  There's two showings left, so be sure to catch it, its a very entertaining show.  I'm playing guitar and banjo (check out Andi's blog for a funny pic of me).   In fact there's three bloggers participating in the show.  Aren't we just the most talented people the Mount has to offer  .

Finally... 

Josiah Freeman and the Roadkill Chronicles

Episode II:  OOOOHHHH Possum

Today Josiah had a headache.  Lately it seemed life was just baring down on him pretty hard.  Each day seemed to blend into the next; a torrid twist of pot-holed pavement and critter carcasses.  He'd picked up a higher than normal amount of deer roadkill this month.  They were the messiest.  Guts blasted out of them by oncoming trucks.  Josiah figured there might a Coyote or two in the area around one of the local parks as it seemed they were getting to the dear carcasses before he did.  Ironically, they helped Josiah by eating up most of the mess.  In fact, when Josiah thought about it, his job was really not necessary.  Nature would take care of its mess in good time.  The buzzards, rodents, insects and the like all had a hand in disposing of roadkill.  But they didn't work for the County driving a Maintenance Vehicle wearing a bright orange reflector vest for a modest salary.  Seems like death is just too ugly of a thing to let go for too long out on the roads and highways.  Josiah was death's custodian.  Yet in a strict sense, everyone relies on the death of other living things.  Even vegetarians.  "Ouch", said Josiah.  This line of thinking was making his headache worse.

Josiah was working the late shift today, and it was a little after dusk.  He peered out at the road.  His eyes in the process of adjusting to the darkness.  He squinted, then stretched his eyes open attempting to bring things into focus, and just then the lights of his County Maintenance Vehicle shined on the ghostly reflective eyes of the meanest, angriest, ugliest looking possum ever.

Josiah slammed his brakes, swerved halfway off the road, and came to a stop.  He couldn't believe he didn't hit the evil looking thing.  Josiah chuckled at the irony.  Then he saw that the possum hadn't run off the road, but rather was running straight ahead down the road.  Josiah began to follow the possum slowly.  This was different he thought.  The possum just kept on keeping on down the road like he was going somewhere.  Like the road was meant for possums.  It was the darndest thing, and Josiah just kept watching and following.  Suddenly the possum darted off into a parking lot.  I better make sure nobody gets attacked, he looks pretty mean, Josiah thought.  He pulled over and hopped out of the County Maintenance Vehicle and ran after the odd varmit.  The possum scurried into the corner of a building.  Josiah knew that a trapped animal was awfully dangerous, but he wanted to make sure nobody else accidentally stumbled upon it.  The possum looked at Josiah with its dark blank eyes, then quickly skidded up and over the concrete wall. 

"That was some strange OOOPossum," said Josiah.  Just then he heard singing coming from inside the building, "OOOOklahoma".   The sound was fantastic and drew him in.  He made his way into a theater and just stood watching.  He thought to himself Wow what a great bunch of actors, and what a talented orchestra, not to mention that guitar and banjo player! Incredible!

. 

“Oklahoma!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where the wind sweeps across the plains…” something something something… LOL I’ve been doing this show so many times I don’t know what the words are… That’s sad… Oh well… “The Farmer and the Cowman”- that song I can’t even hear the words from Stage Left. I think I’m tone deaf- or I least can’t hear low tones. Haha…   

This week has gone by so fast! I’ve doing the show every single night! And I still have tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday afternoon. But the week went by so fast in general. I went to all my classes this week- not including the ones today yet (unlike some people! Haha). I found out about all the projects and papers and assignments that are due in the next couple weeks.   

We only have four weeks left! Can you believe it!? Where the heck did the time go?! My friend Anne said she was going to get a job before school gets out but she just now realized that there are only four weeks left and she started freaking out! I started freaking out when I realized that I only have four weeks to put together a math project due on exam day (whatever day that is…).    

Next week I hope is a calmer week. I’m not even coming to school on Monday- that’s how tired I am right now. And it’s only Friday! Just imagine what it’ll be like on Monday (Sorry Mary- I only tell the truth J ). People- actors and crew alike- were dragging their feet last night so I’m sure we’ll all be happy that this show is almost over- but in the mean time we’ll try to have as much fun as we can! J   

Well, it’s 8:15 AM and I have to get ready for my 9 AM class… I’ve never written a blog this early in the day before and I’m not sure how to sign off… Oh well… Have a good day and I’ll see ya around the corner! 

I cannot tell you how tired I am or convince you of the exhaustion I feel... That is what this musical is doing to me. "Oklahoma!" is opening next weekend- Wednesday, April 2nd, at 7 PM for our area high school students (great opportunity to come see what the Mount is really like). Then there's the show on Thursday (Opening Night), April 3rd; Friday, April 4th; and Saturday, April 5th, all at 7:30 PM. There there's the matinee on Sunday, April 6th, at 2 PM. My parents are coming to see the show on Thursday night and my lovely grandparents are coming on Sunday! That'll be exciting!

But you ask why I'm tired? Well, being a commuter I have to travel to and from school right? The practices here are getting crazy and that's why I'm losing sleep. Practice this week was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, 6-9 PM. Then Friday night was 7-11 PM! Today is Saturday and our practice is 2-6 PM (so I'll be going to that here soon) and tomorrow, Sunday, 2-6 PM also. Then everyday this coming week, we have to be in the Theater 6-11 PM! That includes the show nights. I have decided that because I don't want to drive home every single night at 11:30 PM then turn around and wake up at 7 AM, I am just going to stay in Sam's room- Sam is helping with the show by being on my props crew (I'm props master) and Meagan Seta's stage crew. Our other friend Jimmie is also helping- he's on the stage crew also.

The show is coming together slowly but surely. We finally have all of our props and we've really begun to practice in costume and in make-up so the show is really starting to look like a show. Our only problem so far is the lack of a backdrop... We are supposedly renting it from someplace but it hasn't arrived yet. So for now, we have a metal bar hanging from the ceiling marking where the backdrop will be. And people cannot seem to stop running into it or banging their heads on the end- it's at perfect level for us normal heighted people to just smack into the end of it- fortunately it's covered in a plastic cap but still... It's painful- or so I'm told... :)

So for now, I am involved in the lovely show of "Oklahoma!" and Tom is doing a great job of being Curly and I've really gotten to know a few of the other people involved in the show- Chad Grooms (Jud), Meagan Seta (stage manager/house manager), Allie Kesse (stage crew/props crew), Ryan Greer (chorus), Laura Ausendenmoore (chorus), and a few others... It's really a lot of fun. And Mary Mazuk is a really talented director and a creative view of the show. It should be a lot of fun. . If you'd like to buy tickets, I've included the link to find out how or order them online. I hope to see you there! Until then, have a great weekend!!! :D