So I must say, I have been averse to the thought of blogging for a long time now, but my curiosity got the better of me. Also, when I started getting the urge to apply for an op-ed position on the Cornell Daily Sun, I figured that it might be worthwhile to try doing some writing online in my "free time".
At the moment, I'm getting a little stir crazy because I've been stuck in my room for two days with the flu ... not sure what kind, but I'm thinking it's the mild kind since I haven't been vomiting or anything nasty like that ... just a persistent high-ish (99.5-100.5 range) fever, body aches (probably from the fever), a nasty cough and runny nose, body chills, mild headaches ... your typical flu symptoms. But I've actually been feeling stronger since yesterday evening, with your occasional fever spike, but with the whole H1N1 pandemic, anyone with flu-like symptoms is still contagious for up to 24 hours after the symptoms subside without the help of any medication ... meaning that I'm still a walking flu incubator, even if I am actually better. Moral of the story, assess your symptoms rationally and call a health-care provider before rushing into a hospital-type setting, where if you're immune system is already moderately compromised, you could catch something worse. If you have the swine flu and your symptoms are bad enough (vomiting, fever above 101, and other severe symptoms) then going to the doctor may be wise, but don't expose yourself to something unnecesarily ... that my word of wisdom to myself (and I listened! I didn't go to Gannett, I called in an they diagnosed me over the phone while I read my temperature off my thermometer ...).
It's particularly obnoxious because the Glee Club Retreat (I'm a member and the Tour Manager of the Cornell University Glee Club) starts tonight on campus and continues tomorrow when we leave at 7am for Skaneateles, NY, which means I can't go unless I leave later and go meet up with them. On one hand to some this would seem like a blessing - avoid the rehearsal time and take part in the group bonding activities - but I love the music, even in that exhausting setting and I feel a sense of responsibility (it's weird) to set a good example for all our young members so that they are excited and energized for the retreat and all of it's activities and endless hours of practice. Also, as one of the 3-4 longest tenured people in the choir and the former Historian, it's kind of my job to make sure the traditions get passed on and these kids see that there is 142 years of history to our Club that goes into everything we do. Plus I need to show them all up in Mafia. What would Glee-treat be without Mafia until 4 or 5am (keep in mind we are up at 7:30am or 8am to warmup for our concert in the church that is hosting us and letting us sleep on the floor. Retreat, for the past three years, has really been one of two or three of the best opportunities to bond with guys who are my age, who share a love of music and discover that we have more in common (usually nerdy things) than we think. For instance, we had 2 games of Settlers of Katan being played simultaneously last year. Additionally, since most of my closest friends outside of CUGC are girls, it's a great excuse to make friends with some males ... I mean, I've got to do stereotypically guy things occasionally and I'm not surprisingly a lot less awkward around guys.
We also play a game called "Who's Here?" which may be the most memorable thing. It's really a game all about honesty and comfort and is focused around finding out more about people in a group setting. The premise is that someone will pose a question or statement to the group. All the people who believe that they fit in that group step forward Into the circle and then back into the larger circle. For instance, a basic question might be: Who here considers himself to be on the liberal end of the political spectrum? In that situation, I would step forward, as would others in that "category". Before the group returns to to circle, follow-up questions can be posed to the smaller group such as: Of those people, who considers himself on the extreme left of the spectrum? It's not a great example, but the point is that more questions can be asked on any topic. One of the only rules is not to mock the game or trivialize what other people are doing or saying. The other major rule is that: What's said on retreat stays at retreat, meaning that if someone has shared something extremely personal (or even moderately personal), that is not public information. In my experience, it is an extremely effective way for the group to gain that tight-knit feeling that the best groups of friends and musicians get. It's obviously not the only thing that happens for everyone to trust each other, but it's a critical first step. It catches the attention of the Freshmen to the fact that we support each other and aren't afraid to share personal details and while this may seem like a silly, self-aggrandizing construct to some, it really works. I know I consider the other Glee Clubbers to be like brothers. A lot of it helps us sing the music because I never feel self-conscious emoting when I sing in the group. And I can say pretty confidently that many others would confirm its effectiveness.
... Hmmm, this is oddly liberating for my inner monologue ... albeit kind of wordy and bah ...
Right now, I'm actually Facebook-messaging (there's no convenient way to abbreviate it that doesn't amuse me a little too much) with a friend I made at my cousin's wedding in Mumbai, back in January '08. He's trying to break out of a shell that is difficult to leave and get into the bar culture ... frankly, I'd like to try it too ... so we decided that next time I'm in India we would take 3-4 days to visit three of the most the happening cities in India and just enjoy the random uninhibited atmosphere. Personally, it's one of those things that needs to be tried to remind myself how much fun it could be and how it's not really worth the effort as a regular habit. Hitting the bars, dancing and flirting with scantily clad women seems fun on the surface, but considering I have so much of that right here in college and don't find it all that exciting anymore, I can't imagine it being much better in some club in India where at any moment someone could start speaking in a dialect I don't know and then I'm done. But still, there is the excitement of trying new things and my new-found 21-ness has been put on the back-burner in recent weeks to focus again on school and planning the increasingly complicated Glee Club Northeast Tour.
That's another long story, but considering I haven't provided any valuable insights on life or given away the story of my next film, I'll probably stop writing in a minute. The internet is a weird place to put these stories, but at the same time, forcing myself to write is not necessarily a bad thing.
As a reminder to write more, I'll try to force myself to address the topic of writing a murder mystery, the un-Dr. Horribleness of this (for instance, I lack a Ph.D. in Horribleness), and try to explain the draws of writing to a moderately public forum. I say moderately because I'm assuming 99.9% of the site-visits will be me logging in to write about more mundane happenings and because there are millions of other bloggers and more useful things to see. But that's fine with me ... while there is a tiny part of me exhilarated at the thought of someone actually reading a blog that I wrote, most of the rest of me prefers privacy ...
