Kilts or: You Can Take Our Dignity, But You Can Never Take Our Freedom

...and so begins the long, arduous process of catching you up after a month of me neglecting this Blog. Put on your hard hats!

Let's start with today, shall we? I'll begin by saying I'm not a fan of cold weather. Period. I mean, from an ecological standpoint, I totally get winter. It's all about the continuation of the cyclic process of life. What goes up must come down, what is given is taken away, what is created is destroyed. Winter is, metaphorically, like when an inventor crumbles up a piece of paper and chucks it in the fire. It may not be, in itself, a creative action, but it will lead to something beautiful. that being said, philosophically I don't understand winter. I don't like how everything dies and loses its color for a good 3 or four months out of the year. And, simply put, I never dress appropriately for cold weather so I can't stand it. Why can't every day be, say, like this one? It is BEAUTIFUL in Charlottesville today. The sky is a bright blue, birds are singing, trees are blooming, and everything has that little tinge of gold that comes with the lengthening days and the warmer weather. I love spring, and especially summer, and that's all we have ahead for quite a while.

That actually reminds me of a little misadventure I had. Good thing, otherwise I might have totally forgotten this and it was really cool. So recently we celebrated the spring equinox. This dude hopped on my bus (I was working that day), and this dude was decked. Out. I'm talking full beard, full chest, sandals, and to complete the image, a kilt. Obviously I was intrigued, and acquired as to the origin of his kilt. I am fascinated with kilts and desperately want one (hint, hint, Amanda, if you ever read this). I know they're expensive and there's, sadly, not a drop of Scottish in my blood but I WANT that. Anyways, this guy, as it turns out, was a legit pagan. He was riding my bus to the Lawn, where he and some of his friends were going to have a legit pagan celebration of he equinox, complete with sacrifices to Freya, the Norse goddess of fertility, dancing, drinking, and general merriment and mirth-making. I thought that was just so cool. Because of the culture I'm in I don't get a chance to meet many polytheists. The concept in our culture seems to have some sort of stigma of being less-developed, when really I think it's fascinating. Polytheism argues that there are, quite literally, multiple but equally sufficient paths to god, which I can really get behind.

On that subject, I've done something new and exciting for this year's Lent. I have vowed to apply the 5 precepts of a Buddhist layman to my own life. They are as follows...

1) Do not kill (I've expanded this into no eating meat)
2) Do not steal
3) Do not be lustful
4) Do not consume intoxicants of any kind
5) Practice Right Speech; do not lie, swear, complain, or insult others. Always speak with a positive, constructive voice

I like this set because I feel like it marks the first Lent where I'm legitimately making a pretty much minute-by-minute effort to better myself. Ideally, I would live a life to where none of these things would ever even tempt me, let alone be justified, so it's really challenging to rethink my day to day activities. I've let myself down in all of these areas multiple times, but it's showing something important for me, i.e., how easily I allow such actions to seep into my conscious action. For me, that's what something like Lent is all about. I'm learning about myself as much as if not more than I am sacrificing to some higher being. I'm making, or at least trying to make, myself a better person, and I feel like that's what religion is, at the end of the day, all about.

This has been a very philosophical entry thus far, hasn't it? Well let me jump into some other recent major events of my life...

A couple weeks ago I was honored enough to receive the Hat. It's time-honored tradition in Alpha Phi Omega's Theta chapter for a Brother to pass the Hat, which is a simple UVA APO baseball cap, on to a Brother that they feel reflects the principles of the fraternity. I was blessed enough to receive the hat from Mark Manning at a time in the semester when I was really feeling down on myself. The feeling was magical. I know that sounds silly to anyone not involved with APO, but let me say it was one of the greatest moments of my college career by far. For one moment the whole chapter looked to me and supported me, and in turn it has challenged me to be the kind of person who I believe is worthy of such esteem. I've since passed the Hat onto T.R., someone who I've looked up to quite a bit for his tireless sacrifice to his friends. But really, it could have gone to anyone who I've met over the course of my time in APO. Again, I apologize for sounding hokey to anyone not involved, but these are some of, if not the, most inspiring young people I'll ever meet. I see great hope and potential for humanity in the people I've gotten to know, and I feel sincere love every time I connect with one or all of them. Thanks for being you Theta. You mean more to me than you may ever know.

This past weekend was also a weekend of immense personal accomplishments. Last week I signed on to be part of a team for Scav Hunt, a massive 300-something-item scavenger hunt that spans over the course of several days and entails feats nothing short of epic. The entire weekend as almost like something out of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. I participated in a funeral on the Lawn for one of the judges (ashes were spread and looks were thrown). Hilary and I invented a secret society and tagged the appropriate buildings. We hung up a hammock in the library. We participated in early-morning Olympics that left a parking lot covered in tortillas, busted watermelon, scraps of wood, butter milk, and a little blood and vomit. There was even one moment I recall when, stumbling through a stranger's back yard to the throng of a garden party, I tried to charmingly convince someone playing bagpipes in the dead of night to take a journey with us to Mad Bowl to help us recreate the mooning scene from Braveheart. Simply put, Scav Hunt was one of, if not the, most ridiculous thing I've done at UVA, and my only regret is not being able to give more time to it. I had to miss the road trip to Ocean City, Maryland!

But hey, in turn, I actually got the team some points by slaying the Vermonster at Springfest with Mark, Paige, Doug and Jenny. To those of you unaware of what the Vermonster is, imagine, if you will, twenty scoops of icecream, smothered in hot fudge, whipped cream, bananas, cookies, and brownies. Sounds awesome, right? Well, now you have to eat it as fast as possible. The Vermonster victory was nothing short of epic, and I provide a link to our team's youtube video, which is the only thing that can sufficiently do justice to the incredible accomplishment that we carried out. To clarify, yes, Mark took a piece out of his mouth and placed it in mine so that the final chewing process would move faster. You do crazy thigns for the sake of victory. That's all I'll say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYVRAy-QksY

...and, of course, I've yet to post anything from the amazing trip to the Galapagos. Never fear! Now that I've knocked out all my recent highlights of life in Charlottesville, the next several posts will be dedicated to the best spring break ever. Get excited! See you again soon! Promise!