HSO started at 7:30. I woke up at 8:45, even with my stereo blaring less than 12 inches from my face for a good hour. I got there and felt all disoriented, not knowing what was going on. On top of that, I left my facilitator folder at home, so I didn't know which kids I had and what time everything was taking place. I left for my history discussion, but got there twenty minutes late. I peeked in and only saw 10 people in the room. It was only first week, so I kicked myself and went back to the student center. Lunch was fun, with all the performances and things going on. I grabbed six slices of free Costco pizza (that's a whole half of a pizza!) and didn't waste a bite. We continued HSO, even though Solomon (my facilitator partner) and I were down to 2 kids. We ended with a tour of campus and then all the kids left. I started a ninja game in the student center, but Angie started tackling people and random people tried to make some dogpiles. PUSO had a big group picture, but while I was walking to it I tried to adjust my eyeglasses with the hand I was using to hold my uncapped water bottle. Not a good idea.

I fell asleep during cleanup and woke up to find my shoelaced tied to a water jug. I stayed behind while everyone left so I could watch some stuff while Brian moved BaniBJ ot the parking structure. I realized that my HSO Diamondbacks (our team mascot) poster was thrown away, so I dug it out of the trashcan. For some reason I get really sentimental about things I put work into, even if it's just a poster or something. Brian came back and somehow we got to talking with Mark about our parents and how restrictive they are. I felt less alone in my parent struggles... it seemed like I was the only one sometimes. They have wierd habits, like forcing us to go to sleep early even on the weekends and not letting us go out so that we can be home, even though they don't do anything with us at home. There's also our selectiveness in what we tell them, because they are so academically minded and don't know what it's like to be a college student now. Even doing things like homeless outreaches, they might make a big deal about how much time it takes away from studying or how dangerous it is. My parents tend to think that I'll be alright if I get through college without doing anything besides the coursework and research and volunteer work, but I don't think I'd be happy at all doing just that. My mind demands more than book knowledge and my heart can't function inside of a box. What use are you if everything you do is for yourself and your own future? Where does that put you when you're retired and have nobody to talk to outside or your family and you have no experiences to share that are different than what everyone else has been through? At a certain point you have to trust your own judgement, while your parents have to trust they raised you well enough to have good judgement. It's all part of growing up and learning to let go.

We left and Brian took the big bag of bagels to drop off at the mission. I went to the ARC later with my roommate. I was waiting for my roommate in the restroom and I saw a 40 year old white man walk past me and went about his business. Kindoba scurry... did I mention it was a butt naked 40 year old man? He wasn't even wearing slippers! I made it through all of high school and this far through college without having to see one naked man in the locker room. He had to walk right where my head was turned too... We had spirit rally practice until late. Angie commenced with the tackling and ninja stuff. She had pretty good form for the shoestring takcles. Ryan and Reg got into the action and pinned Angie. We all left for 25A Parkwatts to surprise Shelby on her birthday. Brian found her crying in the closet because she saw a sad movie. The cake was good, but I kept dropping frosting everywhere, even after I was done with it. I went home and crashed... exhausted...