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.