A new addition to the family

You know... Its Friday... and I've had mixed feelings about this week. I've had somewhat a lot to do for everything that I'm involved in, errands to run for myself, people to make happy, etc. Its not that this has been a bad week, just been a different one. The weather here in Muncie hasn't been the best, and its 2 weeks before finals week... So people are starting to stress out just a little bit about their classes and grades with everything. I have been trying to not get stressed over everything this week, and to just go with the flow, even if things conflict and there is a major problem. We can solve it in a few seconds, no worries. This week has flown by though, and I feel that it may be due to the fact that this is going to be a big weekend for me personally. I have a big greek/fraternity event to attend to this Saturday, and have bunch of little stuff to do so that I stay up in all of my classes.

Like I said, this weekend is a big weekend for me and Sigma Phi Epsilon. Joining a fraternity I had a small idea of what i'd be getting myself into. I knew there would be a lot of work, a lot of parties, and a ton of girls. Now to a freshman college guy, the two pros (parties and girls) absolutely outweigh the one con (work), no debate or comparison at all. Now although the parties and girls sound good, there's one thing that sets SigEp apart from the other fraternities. That thing is that little con that was outweighed by the pros earlier. The work.

For the most part, other fraternities on campus will rush a new pledge class, give them bids into the fraternity, and then after a week or two of a few odds and ends, the new pledges are allowed to wear their greek letters on shirts, shorts, sweatshirts. You name it and they can wear it if it has their greek letters on it. That isn't the case at all for SigEp. The theory that we live by is that we must gain respect of the older brothers and alumnus by learning the history of the fraternity we are about to become a part of history for, knowing the older brothers on a more personal level, and making sure that we joined the fraternity for the right reason. Unlike other fraternities, we are not allowed to wear our greek letters until we have completely finished our first stage of the brotherhood which is the "Sigma" stage. All new guys go through this, and do a couple traditions that have been passed on through generations that every Sigma class has had to go through.

One of those rituals that every Sigma gets to go through is called "Big Brother Night". Personally I have been looking forward to this night since I became an official pledge. This night is special because it is the night where we as new pledges get to choose who we'd like as our "older brother" to help us through the next few years in the fraternity. After the semester long process of Sigma we finally have our Big Bro night this Saturday. We don't find out who we get until that night though, so that is the catch. We have an idea of who we might get, because we had to submit a list of our top 5 older brothers that we wanted to have as an official Older Brother. My top choice goes by the name of Joseph Vonderheide. He is a junior this year and we have been hanging out a lot this semester and have talked about a lot of things that the other brothers and i have not, so hopefully he accepts my bid to have him as an Older Brother to be part of my family and to be there for me when I need someone to help guide me. (( I'll keep you updated once I know for sure who I got))

One reason I cant wait for this night, is because all brothers put all of their differences aside and come together to celebrate us getting through the Sigma Stage. Another big thing I'm excited for is adding a new "brother" to my family, and having someone here at school and in my fraternity that I can go to if I need someone to talk to, or just chill with. A big reason this is also a favorite night among the pledges is because once you get your big bro, your big bro gives you clothing with all 3 greek letters on them, and from that point on you are officially allowed to wear the greek letter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Its meaningful, not because you finally get to wear your fraternities letters, but because your new Big Bro gives them to you, which is why this night means a lot to me personally. Yea the parties are nice, and the ladies are fine as always, but its deeper than that for me. Going through all of this hard work and endless hours of random shenanigans that we have had to do, I truly do understand why SigEp makes you earn your letters. By doing all of this you gain so much more appreciation for the letters, and get a better understanding what it truly means to be a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Until later,

Peace. Love. and Brotherhood.

-Alex Jordan DeFreeuw

Back to the grind...

Thanksgiving break is over... :(

Such a sad day in the life of Alex Jordan DeFreeuw. My family and I got back from Pittsburgh around 1030pm on Saturday night and what do you know my two best friends Brent and Kalyn were at the house waiting to hang out! haha coincidence?! I THINK NOT!! So we hung out for an hour or two and just chilled till we were too tired to do anything. Then sunday morning I got up at 930 to drive down to Columbus, IN again to visit my friend Christian Miller. Got there around 1ish and hung out with him all day. Drove back to school and then reality hit, that I only have 2 weeks left before finals week.... OH. SHIT.

Now, I'll be honest, at the beginning of the semester my grades were not very good but I have gotten my grades up to an average that I'm not necessarily thrilled about, but based on my grades before, I'm happy with. Plus I will be taking easy classes next semester to help get my GPA up for a good overall. NO WORRIES MOM! I'LL BE FINE!! lol

The next two weeks are going to be hell weeks. I have a couple health assignments due Friday, there is a BSU vs. Butler men's basketball game tonight that I'm going to. Should be a good game!! I have an english project where we have to make a website dealing with an issue we see at BSU and my group is doing the dining services at BSU, specifically where our money goes if we do not use it on meals. Other than that I'm just trying to survive the last few weeks of my first semester as a college freshman. Its kinda weird to think that this first semester is almost done with and I'm almost half way through with my freshman year as a college student. Seems like just a few weeks ago we were moving in and doing "Welcome week" activities and whatnot. Doesn't seem real.

Gotta love being a college student!

Peace. Love. and Cardinal Basketball!

-Alex Guinevere DeFreeuw XXI

The 3 things

For an official and successful McGrath Family Thanksgiving you need 3 things. Those things are:

1.) Friday night lasagna

2.) B-Dubs with the older cousins on Friday

3.) and Football.

Without those three things you can not pull off a successful Thanksgiving. Ask anyone in the McGrath family tree and they would agree.

- It is a tradition in our family to have a lasagna and spinach salad dinner the Friday after Thanksgiving after everyone has gone shopping, after the High school and older cousins have gotten back from the Buffalo Wild Wings and after everyone is done stuffing themselves already from earlier in the day. My grandma spends all day preparing the meal while everyone else sits back and enjoys the company of each other.

- The other new tradition that has been started is the "High School+ cousin's trip to B-Dubs", for all of you that do not know B-dubs is formally called Buffalo Wild Wings, aka BWW, aka BW3, whatever you want to call it. Every friday for the past 3 years there has been an Ohio University football game, and since 3 of the McGraths went to that school for college, we have gone to B-dubs to watch them play football, along with any other big games. this is just a way for the cousins to get out of the house, relax with one another, play "family-friendly" trivia, and tell jokes the whole time.

- What is Thanksgiving without football?! Whether it be playing or watching there is always football involved in this family gathering. We have one family that is from Detroit, Michigan area so they are Detroit Lions football fans. The Lions have signed a contract saying that they will always play a game on Thanksgiving, so the big family always tunes into that game to watch them play, and most likely lose. They have won a few, but for the most part they haven't really been too successful. Again, there is the Ohio University football game, and then the Dallas Cowboys games that we always tune into.

Thats just a little bit of how the McGrath Family Thanksgivings role in these parts of town.

This year in Pittsburgh has been a lot of fun celebrating with everyone, and really the 6.5-7 hour drive wasnt that bad, slept most of the way.

Next year is at our house which is that much better because that means that much less traveling we have to do. We just have to get everything prepared and ready. Should be fun!

Maybe my slacker sister will be able to make it next year unlike this time. She says she's been traveling too much, I say she's just lazy and doesnt love us! :(

we'll see... wont get my hopes up on that one considering i'm not her favorite brother anymore because I responded last to a text message she sent out to my brother and I. I see how she rolls...

Hope everyone had a good holiday break. I'm headed back to Funcie on Sunday night right after I visit my best friend in Columbus, Indiana. Yes Columbus, the same place I almost got lost coming back from, if you've been paying attention to my blogs! Should be fun!

Go Penguins

Go Bobcats

Go Colts

Peace. Love. and Turkey.

-Alexander Jordan DeFreeuw

The greatest

Everyone has their favorite holiday. Mine is absolutely without a doubt Thanksgiving. Yes St. Patricks day runs a close second because I am Irish myself and I used to thrive to be the little leprechaun at the Notre Dame games when I was little, but there is just something about Thanksgiving that just shouts LOVE ME ALEX!!! and so I listened to it and now it is my favorite holiday.

Why is this my favorite holiday you may ask?! Not necessarily because of the 7 hour car ride there, although there are never dull moments with those ((Especially if you get all 3 stooge kids in the car at the same time haha)). Its not because of the annual movie that we also go to during the break as a huge family. Its not because of the new Buffalo Wild Wings tradition ((all of the older kids go to BWW and chill, drink, and watch Ohio University football game)). Its not because of the lasagna dinner that we have every Friday. And its not about the family football game that we play in the backyard every year. The one thing that makes this the best holiday overall, is the quality time with family. Every year we get together with my moms side of the family, and she was the oldest of 8 children so this is a huge thing for our family. We are all spread out around the nation in different states. I love it.

This is how It is broken down:

(( FAMILY NAME (STATE): # OF PEOPLE IN THE FAMILY *Includes husbands and wives of the children that have recently been married))

DeFreeuw (IN): 5

Garrity (MI): 4

McGrath1 (PA): 2

McGrath2 (PA): 4

McGrath3 (PA): 5

McGrath4 (PA): 5

McGrath5 (MI): 5

Hayes (OH): 9

Mahlow (TX): 8

Landberg (MN): 3

Total: 50+ **varies each year depending on who shows up

There aren't enough words to describe how much I love this holiday because of those statistics right there lol

Every year we rotate between which house will be holding the family. Last year it was in Ohio, This year it is in Pittsburgh, next year it will most likely be in Michigan.

There are so many family traditions involved in the "McGrath Family Thanksgiving" which makes it that much more special and unique to me and the extended family.

We are leaving early Wednesday morning to drive all the way to Pitt. which should be an interesting situation. Me + Eric my brother + 7.5 hours of driving + A.D.D = deadly combination, really fun and entertaining, but deadly combo!

I will keep you updated once I get there and am settled in with the family.

This is gonna be an amazing Thanksgiving break!

You stay classy Muncie,

Alex " I'm going to gain so much weight this weekend " DeFreeuw

"I know you havent made your mind up yet, but I would never do you wrong. I've known it from the moment that we met, no doubt in my mind where you belong."

-Adele, Make you feel my love

New tactics

Imagine this scenario.... you have a test in a week. You could do 1 of 4 options:::

A.) Study every night for 30 minutes a night up till the day of the test

B.) Study just in class sessions taking notes hoping to understand the information

C.) Study the night before the test and pull an all nighter to study

D.) Just flat out not study at all and hope you can remember the lectures from before

Now as a college student what's the reasonable choice?! It cant be choice "A" because almost every students middle name should be "PROCRASTINATION", so that is out of the question. Choice "D" also might not be a good idea because there is always information on the test that you learned a month ago and probably forgot about right after you left the classroom that day, so that too is out of the question. Now you're left with choice B and C. Yea with "B" you're still taking notes, but if the test is not open notes, then what good are the notes but no studying going to do?! That leaves you with choice "C", and you know what C stands for?! CHAMPION!

Being a college freshman for approximately 3 months now, I have learned something about myself. Yes I procrastinate, who doesn't...honestly...?, but I've learned that I am a cram studier, and that I do better under pressure. Lately with my tests I have been staying up the night before the test and studying and doing little study tricks that will help me remember the information, and I have surprisingly done better on my test, speech, and paper grades than earlier in the semester. Now I know its not the most reasonable, smart, or healthy choice for me, but if it works then why stop?! Just saying... Although this method works I do not know how many more all-nighters I can pull. Yes I am a teenager, and yes I have bundles of energy, but I sure do love sleeping in my cold dorm room on my comfortable bed nice and warm under my power rangers comforter.

If you were put in that scenario and had to choose one of the 4 choices which one would you honestly choose?! Would you be the "perfect" student and study a little bit each night? Would you take notes and hope that you'll remember the information? Stay up all night? Or completely forget about the test and just wing it when the test arrives?!

Just some food for thought.

Happy Friday! ---- 4.5 more days until Thanksgiving break! ((including today))

With my most sincere regards,

Alex " LASTS ALL NIGHT " DeFreeuw

One of those instances...

This week, by far, has been one of the best weeks during my college career at Ball State. Why may you ask? Let me tell you!

1.) Little to no homework all week

2.) I got an A- on my comm speech

3.) Got to play indoor soccer and volleyball almost every night

4.) After killing my comm speech my mother came and surprised me and took me out to lunch at Red Lobster. I was feeling dangerous so I decided to try the Lobster and Shrimp pasta alfredo. Not necessarily the best choice, but it was still decent.

5.) I get to go down to DePauw University this weekend to visit my good friends from school.

6.) It's Monon weekend at DePauw. DPU vs. Wabash football game!!

7.) Tonight (Friday) is the Asher Roth and Fabolous concert!!

8.) No tests or anything this week.

9.) I'm just in a damn good mood!

The only thing I wish I could change about this week is my batteries.... Or shall i say battery...

My car battery was blessed with the hands of the almighty battery god this week. When I went to go use the car on Monday - I was running late to do a sorority serenade for the fraternity and so i was running out to my car to get the rose that was needed to do a serenade. I get to my car, and the power locks dont work, didn't think anything of it because it wasnt really working over the weekend. So i unlock my door and put the key in. Turn it... and no response... I have to be somewhere in 15 minutes, and now i dont have a car to do my errand.... AWESOME!!

::::FAST FORWARD TO TODAY::::

Its 10am and my friend Austin drove his truck to my cars location, and we jumped my car so it started, and it was running good. after a few minutes of just letting it run, we took the cables off and my car was running. I was thinking, "Ok the real test will be if I can turn my car off and it will turn back on by itself..." So I try my theory and it fails... miserably... haha

Needless to say I have to go to Sears to get my battery replaced so I can depart BSU at the same time I was originally planning, so we shall see. $100+ for a new battery and replacement fee...? FML

All in all this has been an amazing week and I love everyone for making it a great week!

GO TIGERS! BEAT WABASH!!!

LOVED. HATED. NEVER IGNORED. SIGMA PHI EPSILON!

Love, Peace, and Blessings,

Alexander Jordan Thomas DeFreeuw VI

Birthday wishes

There is always one day of the year that everyone loves. No matter your race, ethnic background, how you were brought up, your religion, it doesn't matter. This day could even beat out Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even St. Patrick's day as the best day of the year. No it's not Valentines day, or even Easter. Although those are good holidays, have you ever seen a life size easter bunny? Those are scary as hell! There is no way I can like a holiday if I am terrified by the animal that represents that day. NO WAY!

The best day of the entire 365

day year is the day that you were brought to this planet. Your birthday. The world was blessed on May 22, 1990 at 9:30am when Alex Jordan DeFreeuw was born. I was a chubby little baby, not gonna lie, but man oh man was I just precious! haha

The main reason I am writing about birthdays though is that there is a little controversy dealing with this subject. Now when you think of birthdays you think for example, I was born on May 22 at 930AM, and when that clock turns 12am on May 22 I officially turn a year older... but is that completely true? If you think about it, I cant really start celebrating my birthday at 12am because yea, I was born on May 22, but I wasn't technically born until 930am, so I'm celebrating my birthday for a complete 9.5 hours that I wasn't technically alive for when I was in my mother stomach... shouldn't it be your birthday starts when you were officially born and goes for 24 hours after. So technically my birthday would be from 930am on May 22nd to 930am on May 23rd? My friend and I were having a conversation about this earlier today when I was walking to class because it is her birthday today and I brought up the point that technically its not her birthday until after she was officially born...She believes that your birthday starts at 12am the day you were born, but she technically wasn't born until 12:17pm, so like I said she'd be celebrating her birthday for a complete 12.5 hours that she wasn't technically born during... So whats the answer to the controversy? Is it a full 24 hour celebration during the day you were born even if you weren't born at 1130pm on that day?? Or is it for a full 24 hour period after you were officially born?

Just some food for thought!

Peace and Blessings,

Alex Jordan DeFreeuw

Happy Birthday to Miss Saree Autumn Titus.

-You're an amazing person and I'm glad we get to hang out and spend time together. Never a dull moment with you, and I hope your birthday is an amazing one, even though you still aren't older than me... :( haha

YMMS

This was me when i was 4 years old. Cheesin as always!

And this is the reason I do not like Easter... This kid basically summarizes what goes on my head when i think of Easter..

"Oh the places you'll go"

This week has been an interesting one... Since I was sick half of last week and missed my classes on my Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday classes due to being sick I had some catching up to do. Now you would think that in college missing 3 full days of school would mean that I would have an unbearable amount to catch up on. Thankfully, that wasn't the case here. In the college you have a lot of papers. Those papers take time. In turn, you get class time to work on them. Luckily for me, in two of my classes we were working on writing a paper, and our speeches. For my english class we had to write a paper about a magazine ad of our choice and how it relates to americas society. Then we had to describe the ad as if we were telling someone who could not see it and tell them the characteristics of the people, product, surroundings, whatever it may be. Then in the end we had to explain whether we were convinced enough by the ad to want to go out and buy the product.

My ad was for Downy fabric softener and in short there is a couple in their kitchen having a romantic dinner in their house, and the ad is saying how the smell of the softener can bring out your alluring side, and make people want to embrace you. Personally, i was not convinced by the ad to want to go out and buy it. I would much rather stick with the detergent and softener that I've been using since I can remember. I like how I smell :) haha

For my comm210 class I have to do an informative speech, and I decided to do my speech on the University of Notre Dame. I feel that I know enough about the University and that if I can find ways to spice the speech up, people might actually like hearing about it. Even some Michigan and Ohio State fans as well!

As I said earlier, while I was absent I only missed days where the class spent time working on their individual papers and speeches, which I was able to do once I got back to campus.

All in all, the past week back at school hasn't been too bad of a week. Yea I've had my rough patches and had to make up 2 tests, but its college... I wont really complain about it because I know that I could have it completely worse than I have it.

I haven't figured out a downfall of the week yet though, which is a good thing!

"If you believe in yourself and believe you can do something, then you can do anything if you put your mind to it."

Back home again, in Muncieana!

Wow. I didn't think I would ever be saying this... but it feels great to be back at school. Last week I couldn't wait to get home, be with my family, and just spend times with the ones I love. But thats all that there is at home... is my Mom, Dad, dogs, and Best friend brent..... Outside of that little circle my home life away from school is pretty non-existent... I have a few friends here and there that I love to go see, but other than that I'm home bored with nothing to do...

Thats why when I was sick last week and couldn't go anywhere outside of my room for 3 days, I just wanted to be back here at school with my friends and "family" where I'm with the ones that I've grown close to within the last 2 months. Some of my friends here at school would do anything for me, and wouldn't think twice about it, as would I do the same for them. I dont know what it is but when I'm here at school I feel like myself and feel like I'm not being judged for what i do or say, where when I go home and hang out with my old friends from high school I feel like I need to be the same old Alex DeFreeuw that everyone fell in love with at Homestead, which was the old me. Even since the beginning of school I've already learned a lot about myself as a person and have, in my mind, changed for the better. I've realized a lot and learned from my mistakes that I made this summer and have grown because of them. I am perfectly fine with the fun, loving, cooky Alex that I am here at school and do not change for anyone! I love the family I have created here at school and wouldn't trade them for anything.

DOTW: Missing school

Being sick I had to be out of school for a week. Although that sounds like a fun and amazing thing, for the doctors to say you cant go to school for a week, its not all fun and games. I had to miss Monday and Tuesday which was all 5 of my classes... Thats 5 classes of notes that i missed that I should have had, considering I was feeling better and well enough to go to school on monday but felt that it would not be in my fellow students best interests to come to school while i'm still recovering from the sickness. BUT, so far this hasnt been as stressful as I thought it would be, and I hope it stays this way. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Halloween in 2.5 days!!!

" Maybe surrounded by, a million people I, still feel all alone, just wanna go home. I miss you you know." -Michael Buble

Same 'Ole Same 'Ole

As you read before, my week hasn't gone the best... Basically everything that could have gone wrong went wrong, I was stressed out about my tests, and I got sick. OH! But it doesn't end there....

Wednesday afternoon rolls around and its about 1 o'clock in my english class, and for some reason i can not stop shivering.. no matter how hard i tried to stop I just couldn't, so the class gets over at 150, and my next class is at 2. So i walk to my next class and I had a few friends from the class ask if I'm feelin alright and i told them I wasn't the best and they told me to go to the health center so i did. When I arrived there was a sign on the desk that said "3 hour lobby wait". I'm thinking to myself, "You have got to be kidding me...." but decide I have nothing else that can help me at this point so I decide to wait, and since I had a cough I had to wear one of those white masks over my nose and mouth... kill me now... So I'm sitting there for about 30 minutes and tell my mom what's going on so she knows that I'm not feeling well. With fall break coming up, she asked if I wanted her to ome pick me up from school, and bring me back home where she could take me to a hospital so they could check me out. I told her I would think about it, so she called back later, and says that my dad wants her to come get me because I shouldn't be in class anyways, so I should just come home and rest up. So after 45 minutes of sitting in the health center I headed towards my dorm room to pack my clothes for the weekend.

She arrives, picks me up, and takes me to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne where they took my temperature, and recorded my symptoms. I ended up having a 103 temp, and they told me I had a positive case of Influenza, a strand of H1N1..... AWESOME! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED THAT!!.... :( oh but thats not all, I'm supposed to stay out of school for a week....

...talk about stress....

Needless to say since approximately 830 Wednesday to this current point I haven't moved from my bed in my room other than to shower and change clothes... My parents wont let me leave my room at all... I've watched two movies, spent more hours on facebook than i ever thought I would in a two day span, and have drank more fluids in this time period than i ever thought I would...

DOTW: Still tests and being sick...

"Those that live hard, fall hard..." -AJDeFreeuw

Not a fan...

When I came to BSU, I couldn't wait for the breaks from school. Fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas, the list goes on and on. This week is Fall break, and all classes on Friday are cancelled, so we get a 3 day weekend. I'm thinking this week is going to be awesome. Only 4 days of school and then I get to go home and see my whole family together for an entire weekend. That was not the case...

This week has been nothing but stressful, and being sick. I love having 3 tests in 2 days, and having a test on Thursday right before I leave for break... Not a fan at all... This week has been go go go, and being sick hasn't helped either. I've had a health test, a Comm mid-term, a math quiz, and  have a Poly Sci test on Thursday. Awesome.... Cant wait to go home, and be with my family again after this week... Like I said I'm a huge family man and my sister is coming up with her boyfriend from Dallas, Texas, my brother is coming down from Chicago, and My grandparents are up here from Florida. I cant wait. It will be a good end to a crappy week!

DOTW:

- Tests and being sick. 

Not only is having that many tests in a short time stressful, but having classes on top of that doesn't help either because you have to find time to study  between classes and at night. Being sick, is a bonus of the week too! Your head is all over the place and having to study and remember material for 3/4 different subjects is always fun, because you only want to sleep, but you cant! Its awesome....

Hopefully this helps make your week better, helped me! Make sure you watch all 7 of the videos! Each one is a classic!

Family Man

If you dont know me by now, one thing that I have always been since I can remember, is a family man. I'm one of the biggest momma's boy, and I'm not afraid to admit it! If she needs anything I'm there for her, and I know that if I ever need her for anything she's always there in a heartbeat to help me. Even if it is bringing something down to Muncie, she's got my back.This weekend is the Notre Dame vs. USC football game at ND, which means I'm going home to head up to South Bend with my father to go to the game along with my grandma, grandpa, brother, and his girlfriend cassie. For once I'm actually excited to go home and see everyone. The other two times have been out of my control, and I have had to come home for reasons not really in my control. But for once, I'm actually ready to go home, see my puppies, my rents, and my best friend Brent who I haven't seen in a long time. I miss him a lot though.

Then next weekend is BSU's fa

ll break, so we get Friday off of school, and my sister is traveling into Indy from Arlington, Texas! So right after my Thursday class gets over at noon, I'm heading down there to pick her and her boyfriend Shawn up and taking them up to Fort Wayne. This is an epic weekend for the DeFreeuw family because we are all going to the Notre Dame vs. Boston College football game. This is also the first time in a couple years that all 5 of my family members and my DeFreeuw grandparents have been together in the same place. Like I said earlier, I'm a huge family man and love seeing my family together. That is also why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because my mom's 

side of the family gets together every year at a different place than the year before. She is the oldest of 8 kids, and there are around 45 people total, and the group continues to get bigger each year! I love it!

I'm gonna start doing a new section of my week called "Downfall of the week: (DOTW)" because I feel like so far every week there has been one major thing that has brought my week from a 10 down to a 7 or 8.

This weeks Downfall of the Week:

Tests/Midterms:

- This week went from the most stressful week I've had in a long time, to one of the more relaxed and fun weeks, all 

because of a thing called mid-terms. I was supposed to have a test on Friday for math, a health test on Monday, and a Comm mid-term on Sunday. Sounds fun right? NOT AT ALL. Luckily my math test got moved to Tuesday next week, and I have some friends to keep me sane, and to keep me in line to forget about stressing out. I went from staying in all night to study, and being in the library to going out with friends and not even worrying about the tests. Now that I know they are more spaced out like I wanted them to be I have no reason to worry about them. Stupid tests are gonna be the death of me... welcome to college I guess!

" You never know if something is worth fighting for or not, until you start fighting for it." -DeFreeuw

2 weeks and counting...

If you didn't know there is a sickness going around the world right now called Swine Flu. And yes, it has reached the campus of Ball State. Awesome right?! Well I haven't been feeling good for the past 2 weeks. Runny nose, sore throat, losing my voice, headaches. Dont worry though, I dont have swine, i just felt like telling you that its going around the US of A right now. I on the other hand just have a cold... One that one go away. I've had it since two weeks ago on wednesday, so over 2 weeks, and its still going strong... I do refuse to take medicine though, In a sense I like being sick, but then again it gets old after a while. I know, riddle me that one. Anyways, I've had this sore throat and coughing the whole time, my nose isn't that bad, just been trying to stay alive. Especially with the weather being crappy here it doesn't help.... Muncie is the new "Windy City", crazy winds like none other and overcast days like today and yesterday. NOT FUN.

I get to go home next weekend to see my family :) Should be a good Friday and Weekend. Then I get to go home the next weekend to see my grandma and grandpa from florida! My whole family, and them are going to the Notre Dame vs. Boston College game. Should be a good one! I love my family.

Downfall of this week.... Ebay...

I ordered cleats on Wednesday last week, and they got the size wrong, so I told them to send them anyways, see if they'd fit and if they didn't I would send them back. Well low and behold they supposedly sent them out this past Tuesday. It takes 2-3 business days. I'm thinking Thursday or Friday will be good days because I'll hopefully get my cleats that I've been waiting for for over a week. Nope. No sign of them yet.... And our campus doesnt do mailings on the weekend... Which is what I need cleats for.... Which is why I ordered them on a wednesday so that they would be there by the weekend. So much for planning ahead...

Overall Mood: Warn out, but good

Cant complain.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

Happening All at once...

So this whole week was Ball States Homecoming week entitled "Best Week Ever!".  After living through it, they need to call it "The most stressful week ever!". From all the residence hall activities and mandatory events dealing with that, and all of the mandatory frat activities planned, along with all of the classes I take throughout the week, this whole week has been extremely fun, but stressful.

Besides SigEp winning the first ever Co-Ed Flag Football Tournament this year, winning the Bed Races today, and being able to witness the infamous AirJam on Thursday, this week has only been alright. More stressful than fun. Dont get me wrong, I love being busy constantly and always having stuff to do, but with everything piling up and one thing to do after the other, after the other can get old real quick. Its Friday night, and the Homecoming parade is Saturday morning and my residence hall has a float to put together.... can you say ALL NIGHTER?! Can you say TENSION?! So many things goin through my head right now and my body is just tired and sore and all of the above. Its 430 in the morning and I'm running on approximately 5 hours of sleep from the night before. I'll be happy once this week is over so that I'll be able to just relax and actually get some sleep. There are a lot of festivities planned for the whole day saturday, and I'm real excited to take part in them. If I can go the whole day without falling asleep that is! Should be an interesting weekend!

Hopefully everyone had a good week, and has a good and safe weekend!

-Alex "Dear god I need some sleep" DeFreeuw

Homecoming

Friday night is Homesteads Homecoming. Man oh man was it a night. It was interesting to say the least. I got to see a lot of people that I havent seen since I left for school, and got to see some people that I didn't really want to see. Overall though it was a good time! Its weird to think that now that I'm home, and my brother is out of the nest, that when I'm home I'm the only one here, all my friends aren't on campus anymore, and I have to actually try hard to think of something to do. Instead of going out and doing stuff I sit in my room and blog, and text people about how pathetic my life is. haha. I love it though. Its nice to be home home and to just be in the place that I grew up in my own personal bedroom, and to smell the house when I walk in and the smell of my mothers fantastic cooking. I was actually looking forward to coming home and being back where I know where everything is and how everything is run. I'm still getting used to school and how everything runs. Frat life is taking over my life, but its a good thing. I wouldn't trade time with my brothers for anything....Except for Notre Dame. ND puts up a good fight! Being with them makes me feel like I fit in more with people and everyone is cool no matter what you choose to do or say they will always be your brother.

My favorite saying goes:

" Loved. Hated. Never Ignored. ΣΦΕ"

Epic week

As of September 17, 2009 I am an official pledge/brother of the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon. With that comes responsibilities. Gotta keep good grades, have to be at certain events, and have to attend the activities thrown by the frat. This week the SigEp house decided to throw the event called "SigEpic" which is for all of the sororities to compete in several activities throughout the week, and get points for how they finish in each event. On Monday they did the blow-up obstacle course which was about 40 feet long with different tunnels, hills, and pillars that they had to overcome. Tuesday which has been my favorite, was boxing. There was a blow-up boxing ring that 2 girls got into, and full out boxed. ((They had helmets and huge bop-it gloves they used, dont worry, everyone is fine)). This was the event of the week! Today we had the Slip and Slide where the girls could come and just have fun sliding down the tarp. Tomorrow is going to be the tug-of-war challenge. Should be good. On Friday, the house is throwing an foam party outside of their house for everyone to come and listen to music, have some fun. Although that sounds like fun, I will not be able to attend. I have to head back home for my high schools Homecoming game. Since i was crowned Homecoming King last year, I have to go back and pass on the crown to this years senior King. Should be a fun night. I get to see everyone again that I haven't seen in a long time, and my favorite part, I get to have a homecooked meal. Nothing can beat my mothers cooking. Except maybe some peanut butter chocolate bars, but thats beyond the point. I'm excited. My 2 best friends are going back with me so that will be fun too. Oh the joys of Homestead Homecoming!

No signal

So its Friday night, and I'm about to head down to Columbus North High School in Columbus, Indiana to see my best friend Christian play football, and I'm thinking "Do I have everything?! Am I forgetting anything?!" I made sure I have everything that I need for a successful trip down there, and I'm off. There's only one thing missing... my cell phone. It is still broken, and still not working. So I feel, that it would be dangerous to go on a 2 hour drive down there, and a 2 hour drive back up without a cell phone for communication, and without a passenger with a phone so if something does go wrong we at least have a way to get a hold of someone. Nope, I decide to go by myself. Alone. No connection to the outside world via technology. If something happens I'm stuck on the side of I-69 with no way of getting help without becoming a hitchhiker. Not a fan of that whole idea, but I decide to go on the trip anyways. So I get there in perfect time, the game had just started, the game is over, I hang out with Christian, and then we call it a night and I start heading home. Mind you this is my first time to Columbus so I still dont know my way around, I had no cell phone to call someone if I get lost, awesome. I am doing good so far, and then I get to what I believe to be the right exit, to get on I-465 towards Fort Wayne, but the only options are East and West. I have NO clue which way to go so I decide to go past the exit and go one more just to see if I was in fact supposed to take that exit. Sure enough I was. The West exit had "Cincinnati" underneath it, and the other just said East. So I thought to myself, I dont want to go to Cincinnati, so I'll go East and hope that it takes me the right way. I get on that exit and am going down the interstate, and things didn't look too familiar and I started to think that maybe I was going in the wrong direction. Like I said I had no form of communication, I was all by myself like a lost puppy in the woods. So I built up the courage to stop at a Steak and Shake and ask the cashier if they knew how to get back to " I-69 going towards the Fort Wayne area" as I called it, and the guy said if you take a right and go East you'll run right into it. What do you know, I was going in the right direction the whole time. Who woulda thunk! So I get back on the interstate and head back, towards my home in Muncie. Here I am now in my dorm room, and it has never felt so good to be in this room. I'm glad I got home safely, and for once did good with remembering directions!

My advice: Go with your gut instincts and let them lead you. Unless you are sick from something and your gut just wants to be left alone. Then ask for directions!

Out of my control...

As you guys know, there are some things that you are able to control, and some that you aren't.

For instance you are able to control when you do something and how you do it. One thing you cant control is technology.

For example: Monday night is coming to a close so I put my phone on the charger. I wake up the next morning, phone is still on the charger but its shut off. Im confused at this point how that happened, but dont think anything about it so I attempt to turn it back on. It wont go. I'm thinking what is up with this, I have 30 minutes till my first class and my phones tweaking out. I take out the battery, put it back in and start it up. It turns on fine, but only stays on for 3 seconds. At this point I'm heading to class trying to figure everything out and it just isnt working. I decide to take it to the Verizon store to get it checked out and hopefully fixed. They tell me that I can try a new battery for free, and they would send it straight to my dorm. I figure why not, and go ahead with it. The catch is that I would be without my phone from Tuesday morning to Thursday afternoon. I still agree and wait until Thursday. So this morning I go down to the front desk to check if I have a package waiting for me and I do! So I take it up to my room real fast and change out the batteries and it turns on!....but turns off after 3 seconds again....

Needless to say I've been without a phone for the past 2 days and I'm not a fan. This was possibly the worst time for my phone to flip out on me. I have been doing rushing all week with the frats, and their formal invite only dinner is tonight and they said that if we were invited they would call us. Now how do you expect them to call me if I dont have a phone....? I'm wondering the same exact thing... This is not good.

I am getting ready to go to verizon to see what is going to happen with my phone, if I'll need to get a refurbished one for cheap or what is going to happen.

Oh, and I managed to fail my first health test through this whole ordeal. AWESOME!

FML.

Technology and school right now are not my favorite people at this point to say the least!

Not so thirsty...

On Thursdays, most college kids if they're into the party scene go out at night and drink their school problems away, go out and play some beer pong, whatever it may be that incorporates drinking. I on the other hand was not one of those people. I was not "Thirsty on Thursday", instead I was in my dorm on Skype. If you dont know what it is its a newer version of Instant Messanger and It allows you to chat with people all over the world, and video chat with them (if you have a webcam). My Thursday night consisted of doing this with my friends from Iowa and my friend Liz from good 'ole Fort Wayne. Not only were we chatting through video, but we were also trading youtube videos back and forth, and I kid you not. I saw one video and could not stop laughing for 5 minutes straight. I was laughing so hard I was crying. And those types of things are what I live for while i'm at school. Sharing laughter with my friends, and just having a good time. Considering it was 2 in the morning by the time we finished, its nice to be in college and not have a bed time. To be able to do whatever we want and not have a curfew. I was in the study lounge for a good 2.5 hours chatting away with people. At one point there was a guy in there that was working on his computer and I busted out laughing. He looked at me really strange and I apologized for being loud, and so I showed him why i was laughing so hard and he too busted out laughing. Now you yourself may be wondering what this wonderful video is. Well here it is. Hope you enjoy! Have a good weekend.

Warning: There is a person wearing a clown mask, but it is not scary at all I promise! Enjoy!

My New Best Friends

Now, I've only been here at school for a total of 20 days, and I already have a few new best friends. They are always there for me no matter what kind of day I have. I can tell one of them my emotions and what i'm feeling and it will listen. It might tell the whole school my feelings, but it still listens. The other isn't too good at keeping secrets either, but I can still share funny times, serious times, or even a lesson I learned from school with them. Within the past 20 days of school I have been around them almost any chance I get, as sad as that is. 

My New friends go by the name of Mr. Face Book and Mr. You Tube.

Like I said, if I tell them something, they aren't very good at keeping things secret from others. I tell Facebook something and he goes and tells all of my friends nationally...I have to be careful what I tell him. Other than that we have a great relationship.

As a college kid, this first semester I have a lot of down time, and am always looking for things to do. There are only so many times that I can go to the Atrium to get lunch, or walk around campus counting how many people make eye contact with you while you're walking to class. So like many other college kids, I turn to Facebook and YouTube for my down time entertainment.

To some, being on Facebook is like smoking. Once you start using it and get a good feel for it, its hard to break away from it and to stop using it. Not going to mention any names, but there are those people who are on there 24/7 and as soon as you post a new status they are always the first to comment on it, or they are always the one changing their status. REALLY?! Your life is that boring that you feel a need to tell the world how boring your life is, or how much it sucks? Here's my advice to you, GET OFF FACEBOOK AND STOP CREEPING ON PEOPLE AND GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING. Plant a tree, play with your kids if you have some, do homework, exercise, knit if you have to (last resort actually), walk your dog, if you dont have a dog walk yourself. Its not that hard! Just find something that makes you happy so you dont turn into one of "those" people on facebook. Not the best reputation to have. 

But as a student I turn to it to communicate with friends and family to catch up with everyone so I know how everyone is doing. I'm even friends with some teachers, old, and current, and man oh man is that a weird feeling. Knowing that whatever pictures or videos you get tagged in they can see. Try explaining those pictures from the party this past weekend to your teacher on monday. Yikes! Now I can honestly say that I have never had to worry about that but if I am ever caught in one of those awkward conversations I will just take it like a champ and hell, I may even invite them next time me and my friends go out!

On a scale from 1-10, 10 being the absolute bomb-diggity friend, facebook would prolly be a 6. Youtube on the other hand would have to be a 4. We aren't as close as facebook, but I still turn to it when I'm in the mood for a good laugh or want to listen to some free music. Granted I have to change the song every time a song finishes up, but it's a good place to go to and listen to whatever I'm in the mood for. When I'm on facebook I am also on YouTube surfing all sorts of movies. Now THAT is talent! Not only is it great for music, but all of those FML moments, and funny moments that you just HAVE to see. 

One of my new favorite videos is called "Top 60 Ghetto Black Names". I could watch this a thousand times and it would never get old. Here it is for you: 

I've learned over the past 20 days here at school that I need to get a break out of my shell and get involved in clubs and school organizations. My first few steps to achieving this goal: getting lunch, checking my facebook again, and then getting out and doing something.

GET'R DONE!

The Rotten Apple

There are always those families that have that "Family Luck". If there's something that can go wrong in a situation, it happens to them. If you are not in that group of families consider yourself lucky. The DeFreeuw's on the other hand, NOT SO LUCKY! The DeFreeuw luck never seems to surprise me either. If you are ever asked to go on a vacation with us, DONT DO IT! Knowing our luck we would go to a place like Florida who's been having a drought the whole summer, and the one week we go, it would rain every single day... I kid you not.
As you may know though, I'm a freshman at Ball State, if you dont know where that is look at my first blog, you'll get directions. Anyways, I am a freshman this year and if there is one thing that I think every freshman college student should have its a laptop computer. Whether you get a Dell, Windows, Compaq, HP, Mac, whatever it may be, I feel each student should have one. How else are we supposed to communicate with the outside world other than our cell phones? What else would we do during a boring class if we didn't have a laptop to check Facebook on?
So following my own advice, and going off what I know about computers, I decided to get the new Macbook Pro because I know that they are supposed to last a long time, little to no problems with them, if there is a problem Apple is more than happy to help you get it fixed.
Now imagine this, its exactly a week until I moved into the Stu West dorm on campus, and I still haven't ordered my computer. So my parents started flipping out on me telling me I needed to get my ass in shape and get a computer. So I go online to Apple.com and choose out the Macbook Pro 13" computer that I wanted. I ordered it that night, and headed off to Texas to visit my sister for a final end of the summer trip the next day. When I got back home on Monday night, my computer was waiting for me on the kitchen table. As soon as I got home I picked it up, opened the box and saw my new computer for the first time. Because I was still new to the whole computer setup aspect, I took it over to my buddy Brent's house so he could help me. Within the first hour of using the computer it froze. I didn't really think too much of it, I thought maybe since I just uploaded everything and all the new updates it was just tweeking out, whatever. So I get it home and am using it the next day still setting things up and trying to get used to the whole layout of the computer, and it starts freezing again unexpectedly. Now I'm not completely stupid when it comes to Macs, but I know when a computer isn't acting the way it should be, and this is one of those times. This is where the "DeFreeuw luck" comes into play. Out of all the Mac computers that run perfectly no matter what you do to them, I got the one computer that has something wrong with it, and that wont work properly...GO FIGURE! Out of all the Apple computers I got the "rotten" one that wont work.
I figure, I have two options: 1) I could send it back to Apple that Tuesday before school starts, have them look at it/fix it, and go to school the first few days without a computer at and hope that I wont need it for my classes. or 2) I could try out the computer for the first week or so and hope that it just fixes the problem itself, and if it doesn't then send it to Apple.
Being my stubborn self, I chose the second option. Not the brightest decision I've made. A week and a half after school started I took the computer to the Apple store down in Indy and they said they would send it back, have them "fix it" and then send it back to me.
I said: "Ok, about how long do you think it will take for them to do that and send it back?"
Their response: "It takes average 5 days to get it sent to them, fixed, and sent back."
I'm thinking awesome....FML!
Needless to say this whole week I've been deprived of my computer and have had to use the BSU computer labs to get my homework done and emails checked. If you are ever having problems with your computer, get them checked out immediately. Don't wait to see if the computer will fix itself. They may be smart, but they're not THAT smart!
Better sooner, then when it's too late.

Freshman Orientation

Hello all.
This is Alex DeFreeuw and I am currently a freshman student at the wonderful Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Most of you are probably wondering where in the world that is. In case you were wondering, from Indianapolis you take I-69 North up towards the Fort Wayne area, and when you reach exit 41-Muncie you will get off and take a right. You will follow that until you get to the football stadium, and then bam, you're on the campus!

Anyways, I decided to start a blog to talk and post the daily happenings that occur during my first semester as a freshman in college. I decided to choose this topic because it was a personal topic that many people can relate to. Whether you've already been through your freshman year, or you're in middle school and you already cant wait to be the "Big Man on Campus", this blog is here so you can see what all goes on in the daily life of me. I named this blog "Freshman Orientation" because it is the first blog that I've written. Much like freshman, before you can start school you have to go through an orientation, well this is my "orientation" into the blogging world.

So hopefully you guys enjoy! Feel free to comment anytime you want!