And I have cut him down in his prime.

I cut my beard off yesterday.

It was a terrible mistake.

I now remember all the reasons I had originally grown a beard. I was tired of being picked on. I was tired of looking like a 7 year old. I hated my chin. The list goes on. But it had to happen at some point, and the more I put it off the harder it would be. I made it two days shy of two years before lopping it off. I regret it, but my hope is that I will be able to grow an even more magnificent beard, especially with No-Shave-November comign up.

My chin is unbelievably sensitive right now. It spent two years being covered in hair and not being touched. all of a sudden its being bombarded with all different kinds of textures and temperatures. It's an odd sensation.

The good thing is that I learned I can grow quite an acceptable beard.

At it's longest it was a bit over a foot long, which is quite longer than most men my age could or would grow a beard. I am excited about my next beard and am hoping I will be able to keep it for several years, and begin competing.

Any way, to a dear friend, I miss you.

The Joy of Free

Free food.

It's pretty much the best thing in the world. If I never had to pay for food, I would be unemployed for my entire life. Food is one of the few things that are hard to find for free, when considering basic survival stuff.

They are having some kind of activity fair in the commons at my school today. They had free food. I ate a piece of chicken and some beans. It was cold, but again, free, so it was totaly worth eating it. I wasn't even hungry, but I'm pretty damn stingy so anything that I can get for free seems like a deal I can't pass up. I don't know what they were trying to promote, all I know is that they were playing Dave Mathews Band over the loud speakers and thats enought to have me convinced.

It's beginning to get quite cold in Missouri, and as I sat there eating my free food I counted the number of Carhart Jackets in that small lunch room. There were about 50 people in there. I counted 17 Carhart jackets. If you grew up in a rural area you understand how funny, and how common this is.

I can't wear Carhart jackets. I don't understand why someone would intentionally make themselves uncomfortable.

Well thats it for today. My thoughts are not really amounting to much. But I guess thats a sign of a stable environment.

I'm a big kid now.

Currently listening to: an interview with Charlie Boswell on the autism effect of technology in artistry.

Well I'm finally moved in.

It took a while. And there was some frustration.

But it happened.

I spent my first night there last night and didn't really see any difference from what I normally feel. It didn't seem like I was spending the night at a friends house. It didn't seem like a big deal. It just kind of seemed like I was home.

I had expected at least a sense of accomplishment, however I just felt like it was the logical next step, not neccessarily forward, just in some direction.

I'm excited, I'm fairly certain I can live away from my family responsibly and I think my parents will be surprised about how little trouble I get into.

I'll put some pictures of the finished house up in the next day or two, and maybe a video tour.

good shit.

Paddypompus

The title of this post reflects my current mood right now. That would be a sort of "eegghhhnnn......" I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'm preaty sure I could throw some apathy into the description. I'm sitting in one of the computer labs here waiting for my class to start in an hour. I wore my beard in hair ties today so I'm getting even more stares than normal. I kind of like the fact that people are so taken aback by a tuft of hair coming out of my face. I'm in the process of preparing to cut it off in the near future, and am dreading the moment when I actually do it. I went to a high school band competition last Saturday and was reminded why I loved having it. I can't count the amount of "woahs" and "holy shits" I got while walking past people. I guess I haven't been in a highly populated area in a while. Maybe I am just not used to the fearlessness High school kids have when they talk about people 4 feet away. Oh well. I will just have to wait another year to get the same reaction with my next beard.

I'm considering a full beard, at least that's what I'm planning on trying. I may decide to go without the moustache, which will really get me a lot of shit about being amish.

The kid in the row in front of me is playing with his magic cards. He does that in my Networking class too. He must be really good. I wonder if that's ever going to help him in life.

Chili supper tonight, I'm excited. It's the first time I get to go because I'm not performing with the band and I'm not worried about losing my supper while marching. I miss marching band a lot more than I figured i would. Even the cold, 6:30 am practices on that muddy field. Oh well. At least I'm getting a decent amount of sleep now.