Sweet Home South Jersey
By: Pete Phillips
August 1, 2003
7:18 PM

me, back in the King's College saddle

For the past week I've been home and I must say that it was quite the odd trip. I'm not really used to being home, but I'm not really used to school either. One might venture to say that I'm in "limbo." Regardless, I enjoyed my time at home for several reasons--not all are clear signs of enjoyment, but I did have fun nonetheless.

First thing's first--I got injured. I suffered extreme sun-burning on my knees. I don't know why my knees were the only part of my body to suffer from the prolonged exposure to sunlight, but they were. No other part of my leg fell victim. I braved on with little complaint, until I realized that the bottoms of shorts hit your knees repeatedly while you wear them. Pants also make for a painful journey because they rub against your knees all day. Before the day was done, that is before I realized how bad my sunburn was, I was met by another foe: a bee stung me in the ear!!! This occurrence reminded me of my article on Painful Conditioning (you should read that again). The bee left injured because I surely did some batting at him while he was at my ear. Sometimes I feel bad hurting bugs because they're just doing their best to survive, like you and me. The plight of the worker bee is especially disconcerting; born into a caste system that they cannot escape because it's biological and they can't do a damn thing about genetics because they're just bees--and that queen is just so uppity and we all know she's not going to birth another queen too soon because then they'll put her old ass out to pasture--but listen...

After my injuring outdoor day, I headed out to ValueCity to pick up several tee shirts and a pair of shorts. That wasn't soooo exciting, but the kicker to that trip was my acquisition of a new grooming item: a Sunbeam personal hair grooming set. This was a long time coming everybody. With hair-cutting prices going through the roof nationwide, I've found myself turning to myself for this need. Diane & Co. in Pomona, NJ, upped their prices $2 making a whopping $12 per haircut. Now for a female, or male with style, this would be great, but for me (someone who desires a #2 shave around the side and a little off the top) it's ludicrous. So what I did was pick up a set of clippers for my hair and decided that a #2 shave (1/4 inch) on the side wasn't enough, so I took it all around. I ended up with a mess on the bathroom floor, but I swept it up like a real barber. I was pleased enough, until I realized I missed a little patch in the back, but I didn't care enough to re-cut, so look for it. I also built up quite a beard this time around. Since I knew I wouldn't see anyone that I thought would care what I looked like (and I'm lazy), I let the face-hair grow out a bit. I ended up realizing that if I didn't shave I would look like Dave Attell, which is not the best choice for physical role model. I shaved. While shaving I backed off around my mouth and decided that maybe a goatee would suit me well. After backing off and looking, I realized that a goatee makes me look unnecessarily threatening. I off-ed it. 

Other things to come my way were a grilled cheese-maker. Like a waffle iron, this little number was brought up in a conversation about Karen's new frozen grilled cheese. I don't wanna talk about that too much because it infuriates some and makes others far too curious to focus on anything else ("if it wasn't for that horse, I wouldn't've spent that year in college"). This will be a fun treat at the ol' dorm room. Also making my room a sexy hotspot--new curtains! I decided that I couldn't take the Luksic Hall tissue curtains anymore. The current curtains are so thin that they're practically transparent and the sun shines through like... well, the sun, at about 6:00 AM everyday. I hated it for weekends. Another new treat is my pot. With it I shall cook Karen a nice mac n' cheese dinner as often as she likes. It has its very own strainer built into it too. I don't know how many things I'll be able to cook by the end of my stay here at school--just a boy and his pot learning more and more... 

New sheets, clean clothes, an egg crate for my bed inspired by the illustrious Molly, a new room coming just about anytime-- I'm on my way to newer limited horizons ladies and gentlemen. I can't say where this'll take me, but I'm pretty sure I'll still be in Luksic Hall, so don't aim your hopes too high for me. Take care and thanks for stopping by!