Werd.

Blah blah blah. That's how I've felt for the past week. Tuesday of last week started nicely with a cold sweat, followed by vomiting. That continued through Wednesday, then Thursday was just drowsiness and a visit to Health and Wellness. Friday through Sunday were fine, but Monday brought a cough and, strangely enough, eye pain. It still hurts for me to move my eyes. It feels as though I've pulled the muscles that control eye movement. Not a good thing. Unfortunately I missed two midterms, but luckily both professors are being understanding and have scheduled make-up exams for next week.

And you care this much----> .

:) But I forgive you.

In other news, I got a "totally sweet" call today from the Council on Foreign Relations. They told me to come up to Manhattan next week for a personal interview for a summer internship in their Publications dept.

Unfortunately, the internship doesn't pay. They just offer a "modest stipend" upon completion. That's a big problem, because living in New York for ten weeks cost me $2600 on rent alone last summer.

So I'm mulling over the cost-benefit analysis here. Does (work experience at CFR) + (value of having "CFR" on my resume) + (gratification of helping CFR) + (meeting important CFR people) outweigh (being broke)?

Undoubtedly, working for CFR would be awesome, since they publish Foreign Affairs and are the general pimps of the IR world. But we'll have to see.

I mailed in my Monterey Institute app earlier today. Working there would be beautiful. California for the summer...ah...

And of course, the AllNighters concert fast approaches. We're hosting the Villanova Haveners, an all-girls' group...plus Shodekeh, a professional beatboxer. Will be an awesome time.

Alright, I'm out. Peace in the Middle East.

-Scoots

Spring Break

...finally.

I'm relaxing at home for the week. I was considering going to London for the break, but it would've been too expensive (plus I'm going to England to visit David at the end of the school year). Neil and Nik are over there now, hopefully having a great time. As for me, I'm taking this time to catch up on all my class readings (particularly, Global Security and India/Pakistan Conflict). The week we return to class will hold two exams for me...and will also be Hell Week for AllNighters (rehearsal every day from 6-12 pm). In other words, if I don't enter next week at least a mile ahead of my studying, I'll be a dead man.

Speaking of the AllNighters, lately I've been pretty intensely involved with extracurrics:

Thankfully, Clark's been awesome about letting me start taking some of the business-management reins for the AllNighters. I've been scheduling many of this semester's gigs, keeping up the website, and making big plans for next year. This has made Scooter happy and busy.

At the same time, I've really stepped it up with the News-Letter. I've decided to run for Opinions Editor, having weighed the many pros (cash, money, hoes, deciding what opinions get read by 5,000-odd people at Hopkins) and the cons (having no life). Considering what a great experience David had at the Daily Princetonian, I think I'd really enjoy the job. I've been stopping in the Gatehouse (the awesome minature castle, built in the 1800s, that houses the newspaper offices) each Wednesday night when the paper is being put to press. Francesca, the current editor (who is, as Napoleon would say, "totally sweet!"), has been showing me the ropes. It all seems manageable.

New on the horizon: Blue Key. I've joined the tour society...training completed last week. Now I know a lot of useless information about JHU, if you ever need any. For instance, did you know that in 1928 and 1932 (when lacrosse was an Olympic sport), the US decided not to field a team from across the country...instead they just sent the JHU men's lacrosse team? As a result, the university now owns two gold medals. Also...Johns Hopkins was a Quaker. When the Society of Friends called on all Quakers to free their slaves, Johns was forced to give up his education and help out in the fields. He eventually found a new job in his uncle's general store. While he was there, he met and fell in love with his uncle's daughter, Elizabeth. Johns proposed, and Elizabeth accepted, but the Quaker faith prohibited cousins from marrying. The lovers swore to one another that they would never marry anyone if they could not marry each other...and they each obeyed that oath until their dying days! Having no heirs, Hopkins donated the vast majority of his wealth to founding the Hospital and University. His $7 million bequest was the largest in US history. Gooooo incest!

I also just applied to be an admissions representative...basically, an interviewer for admissions. We'll see how that goes. It'd be a lot of fun. Interviews for that position are coming up next week.

Finally, I'm applying for mad internships for the summer. Today I faxed in my papers for the Council on Foreign Relations (the big kahuna) as well as the Department of Defense (Industrial Policy). We'll see how it goes. My dream job is with the Monterey Institute in California...solid research position for non-proliferation studies, no busywork, and it's paid. And did I mention that it's in California? Word. That one's not due til March 31st so I'm gonna hone it like a mofo.

Alright, time for bed. I'm out this bizzle.

-Scoots