Integrity

I was waiting with my Dad inside Tire Barn as he was getting the tires on his 05 Jetta rotated. Typically a 40 minute wait. There's not enough time to leave the store and yet too much time to avoid an awkward situation. We wasted time looking at wheels and tires and debating how much of an improvement new wheels would be for my car. At $149 per wheel, I could care less about an upgrade, but my dad is more finesse minded. As a child of the 60's he was deeply amused that Hot Wheels had their own brand of wheels with their logo imprinted in the center. "Yeah Dad, that's really neat".

So that took up half an hour. Damn, ten minutes left. Ten minutes of nothingness. We found stools inside the waiting room that faced the window into the garage. I watched as the workers took dad's tires off and toyed with their socket wrenches. I was suddenly aware of the differing levels of productivity the tire rotators were on from me. Here I am, about the same age as the men in the garage, with enough time to spare to wait with my Dad while they're in the midst of a 9 hour shift. I'm a college student for crying out loud, my days consist of ultimate frisbee and screwing around on the Internet. Life is easy, but certainly not good.

You see, being unproductive is very depressing. Humans need to be out hunting things, battling or developing the newest Ipod in order to truly experience life. If all you are doing is reading books about pre-medieval times and the way the American government machine works, what good is it if your not actually doing something. Even rotating tires would be a step up for me. I was reminded of a friend back in high school who backed a wide bed truck into the side of the garage while working at Tire Barn. I think he got canned after that incident.

During that grueling ten minutes, Dad pointed to what appeared to be the company's mission statement. In large bold at top center was the word integrity. It went on to say that integrity is the most important virtue and all this other stuff like you can't have any of the other virtues if you don't ground yourself with integrity first. It got me thinking. I've got integrity. I know I do, I contain the basic element of virtues. So, now its all about obtaining the other virtues. I can be productive, I don't always have to wake up at noon and slob around all day; because I have integrity.

Stink Tree

On campus there sits a tree. Sprouting off that tree are thousands of bulbous pink seeds. When these seeds hit the ground they splatter and leave the area with a foul smell. This leads to many students denouncing the odd stink tree, sometimes called the "poop" tree.

I wouldn't go so far to say that the seeds smell like poop, but it is not pleasant. Being the unaware goob that I am, I did not realize that seeds were the cause of the offensive smell until this semester. Coming back to the dorm room from the student center I would notice a faint throw-up smell. At first I thought it was my breath or my BO, but then I realized the smell was coming from my feet, I was much relieved. I had been crushing the stink bombs with my shoes. I have since stopped this practice and avoid stepping on the stink berries, thus the smell no longer follows me.

Unlike others on campus, I do not go too far out of my way to avoid the tree. I still take the side walk that brushes past the tree because it is the shortest distance to the student center. Plus smell is connected to memory. The stink tree will help me remember my time here and set it a part. However, I better take in the smell while I can. The tree is almost bare as Winter quickly approaches, and the smell will not reappear until next fall.

First Time Voting

I voted for the very first time yesterday. I hesitated too long to do an absentee so I drove the 40 minute trip back home. My voting location was an elementary school just down the road, pretty convenient really despite having to drive all the way from campus.

Before I stepped foot in the school's gymnasium Kathy, a retired school teacher and friend of my family, encouraged me to vote for Diane Nevit for treasurer. According to my Dad, who voted that morining, she had been out there since 6 in the morning and I didn't vote till 6 in the afternoon. That's some hard-core campaigning. I took the opportunity to chat with her and express my excitement of voting for the first time. She had to stay out in the parking lot due to campaigning laws, and would interrupt our conversation by yelling at incoming voters. She was a frightening force.

A man named J.K. ushered me in and checked my photo id, a new requirement in Indiana. He stated his joy in my decision to vote, when I told him that I was a student he went into a long narrative about how his company had paid for him to spend a year at IUPUI. I played musical chairs up and down until I came to the last seat and it was my turn to vote. I stepped up and made it happen. I disappointed to see that a lot of the candidates did not have opponents and the judges simply asked whether or not they should be reinstated. I voted a split ticket for the most part, leaning democrat as I voted for Katherine Carr for Congress and Kennedy for State prosecutor. I was happy to see that I personally knew two of the candidates on the ballot, Nevit who I mentioned before, and Kathy's husband J.R., who was running unopposed. On the way out I spotted an acquaintance from church, Adam, and made light conversation. I'm really impressed with my sudden ability to make these kinds of social interactions like I did with Kathy and Adam, I think that's a sign that I'm growing up.

Pulling into my drive-way I noticed both my Grandmas. There's nothing better than being around your two grandmas let me tell you. After two noteworthy hugs, the grandmas and my mom and my sister went out to eat at Penn Station. Taking advantage of eating off-campus food, I ate a lot. Laura, my sister, and I kidded around and it felt great to be able to converse with her as a friend and not an annoying sibling. She told me about her friends and whats new in her Academy of Finance. After talking to her I realized that I had lost some of my sparkle since graduating from high school. I used to be full of hope and ambition, but now its seems as if reality has caught up to me. I already feel like an old man.

Coming home for just that one day was refreshing. Its good knowing I've got my family behind me no matter what happens.

Aliens in the City

Indianapolis seems alien to me. I've lived in Indiana all my life and therefore have made frequent trips to the city, but still I feel that I might as well be a foreigner. Maneuvering the city in my little Mazda is one of the most stressful things I can think of. "What part of the city am I in?"; "Where can I park at"; "Is this a one-way?". Its bewildering to me, and I grew up just thirty minutes to the North.

Saturday; Carey, Cassie and I made the trip to Indy. I drove because Cassie's car if full of crap. Plus I didn't have a car on campus last year, so I guess I need to make up for all the rides I bummed. Getting there was easy, its maneuvering the criss crossing city streets that causes me anxiety. We were looking for the Murat theater to see if tickets were still on sale for the musical Rent. I hate Rent, but I needed to get off campus anyway possible. Lucky for me tickets were in the $40-$50 range, and we were but poor student folk. I parked my car in a residential area of the city, which I suppose is OK. After learning from the bitchy French box office lady that the show was out of our price range, we trudged along the Meridian St back to my car.

As soon as we left the Murat, a man (who I assume was homeless) approached us. I've dealt with my share of hobos in Indianapolis, and have been taught how to deal with them. Somehow the man sensed that we weren't from around the area, and made the most of the situation. He gave us a story about how he got a flat tire and needed a new tire hose. I'm pretty gullible, but even his unorthodox story didn't convince me. I'm not going to go into physical detail of the man, but It was clear that he didn't own a car.

Now it is my rule of thumb that when approached by the city's hobo folk I either; avoid eye contact, give them spare change or better yet useful items such as food or a spare sweat-shirt or blanket. No matter what I give, I hand it over and that's it, maybe a quick conversation but I don't proceed to the parking garage until the homeless man looses interest in me. Carey an Cassie, who did not have any change or singles, proceeded to allow the man to follow us around the city as we went to local businesses in pursuit of making change. It took us a couple of tries, and each time Carey came out of a store empty handed I gave him a disapproving look. You don't let a homeless man follow you around the city. After they paid the man, I went off on them for putting our lives in danger.

Carey agreed that it was probably a mistake, but Cassie went on to imply that I was a racists and unsympathetic to the less fortunate. "I'm not apologizing, that was the right thing to do". Maybe I overreacted, but instead of debating the situation, Cassie reacted by giving me the silent treatment. That infuriated me even more because this was telling me that Cassie thought she was some righteous queen. Sometimes the things Cassie does, uhhhhh.

My Crazed Ha mas Advocate Lecturer

For Tuesday's World History class, we had an author come in and give a lecture about the Israeli conflict. Her name was Susan Nathan, and when I heard that she was Jewish, I figured that she would advocate for the Israeli cause, being a Jewish state and all. But No!, she gave a speech that even the PLO and Ha mas would be proud of. In fact she stated that her and her colleagues greatly admired what Ha mas and Hezbollah were trying to do.

I was greatly confused, her grandparents had lived through the Holocaust, and here she is stating that Israel is an absolute evil (along with the US) and groups like Hezbollah are doing the right thing for their people in bombing Northern Israel. Did I mention she was British, and received amnesty from Israel for having Jewish heritage?

Its really hard to describe her platform, because she seemed so hypocritical. She didn't mention Palestine or Hitler, but some how Israel, her people, were an abomination to man-kind. They had brutally removed the Arabs from their homes and were running a brutal military campaign against Lebanon, whom they have been trading shells with since the summer.

My mind was blown that she was making these statements. I don't agree with Israel's actions against Lebanon, but on the other hand something had to be done. You can't lie back while your soldiers are being abducted and innocent civilians are being killed by war-heads. Like most Americans I support Israel, but furthermore would like to see peace in that region. Ariel Sharon, towards the end of his life, went over and beyond to offer the Palestinians more land, which drew criticism from his own people.

Despite her radical views, the way she presented her facts were cold and demeaning. Before she could start her speech she made sure we did not have our cellphones on or were chewing gum. What a Bitch! She humiliated us by telling us that we knew nothing about the outside world and it was our duty to get on the Internet and research what was happening in the Middle East. I raised my hand, stating that I knew about the war with Lebanon and knew about the creation of Israel (I answered that Israel was created diplomatically through the UN, she insisted it was created through violence and the dislocation of millions of Palestinians). But she dismissed my participation and labeled us all typical uninformed sheltered Americans.

I was dissatisfied with my performance in debating her claims. There's still a lot of research I need to do. Nathan was full of crap, but in a debate I would get demolished. Someones got to put her in her place before people start believing her.