Student Life Something Or Other

March 1, 2010:

I may have not mentioned this, but I've been thinking about the Peace Corps. As in joining it. I'm not a military minded guy, despite having an uncle and three cousins in the Air Force. And I would aim for the Air Force if the military was my only option. The lives of my family that did join have been improved by the Air Force, so it wouldn't be terrible.

And yet...

I would prefer the Peace Corps. I had another uncle join after years of restlessness in a good paying job. He went and dug ditches for water and sewage pipes in South America. Even after his two years were served, he never left. He seems happier in many ways. I don't expect the Peace Corps to suddenly make me happier, or magically solve any feelings of being stuck in inertia. I guess I just want more stories in my life. And perhaps traveling half the world away to do something for others would help make that happen.

Going to the CSULB campus did nothing to help me.

I woke up early to head over to the campus. I bought a one-day pass ($4! Argh.) and parked in the nosebleed section. I suppose the hardest part of my plan was the fact that I did not know where the heck any Peace Corps representatives would be on campus. So I headed to Information which led to Student Life Something Or Other. Mind you, I'm walking around campus feeling kind of dumb that I don't attend that school, but luckily with so many people, the only way someone could tell that I wasn't supposed to be there was if I jumped up and down screaming "I don't attend this school, I'm not supposed to be here!"

On second thought, maybe they would think I was doing an art piece.

I finally get to Student Life Something Or Other, and they quickly inform me that there is no Peace Corps representative on campus. In fact, the last time they ever had a Peace Corps presence of any kind was in October of 2009. Well heck. That was not part of my non-plan.

Walking away, I decide to call up Victor to see if he is on campus and available for lunch. Nearly half an hour goes by without any word. The clock is ticking before I have to head to work. I then call Amy to see if she is available for lunch. Nope, she doesn't get out of class till I have to be gone. Victor calls me back to see if I can meet up with him in his class. I say yes before I check the time and realize that I have 5 minutes before I have to leave for work. I make plans to meet up with him later, after I get off work.

Norwalk comes and goes.

Wait a sec. Now, I know it seems that I gloss over a potentially interesting job. I do in fact shoot random events, go through silly tapes, and am in the bottom of a basement made entirely out of concrete. But I will make sure to mention cool stuff at work when it happens. But if I don't, that means it wasn't of any real note. Just another day. And today was Monday, so it was the epitome of another day. Okay, just wanted to make that clear. I'm not long-winded at all.

I catch up with Victor on campus, and he is in need of Watercolor Paper. STAT. The campus art store is closed, so we head to Art Supply Warehouse... ALSO closed. Damn. For the hell of it, we head to Michael's, even if it has the stink of failure upon its walls. The stink was true, because no watercolor paper was to be had there. Vic was stressed, but accepted his fate. We decided to eat at Marie Callendar's to cheer up and catch up.

Topics of Conversation @ Marie Callendar's: Family, stray cats, types of soup, art supplies, etc.

We went back to CSULB and watched as a campus dance group rehearsed and played crappy hip-hop music. The campus is really quiet at 11:15 at night, and we going over the latest issue of The Union, the school paper that Vic is the Comics Editor on.

Topics of Conversation @ CSULB: Taking your prize, NPR, intellectual love, queens, awful things made to sound plausible, The Kids in the Hall riff, portfolios, lack of quotable quotes, etc.

My one-day pass was near expiration by the time I got to my car and headed home. Maybe there wasn't any Peace Corps on the campus, but at least there were friends.

-Nate