Making SCense of Things

As my first week at USC comes to a close, and the weekend is here to party, now seems as good a time as ever to start my college blog to let family, friends, sworn enemies, and however many illegitimate children I may have running around St. Louis (and even the world) know what I'm up to. I'm going to use this blog to sort of flesh out ideas and thoughts about college, update people on my life, entice you with a little humor and charm, and perhaps even entertain.

I am currently sitting in my dorm, on the bed, with the sun blinding me through the window. I would close the blinds, but my room doesn't seem to have the plastic stick to twist in order to do so. Housing says they will fix that, but for now I wake with the sunrise, only to force myself to go back to sleep. Other than that, my living situation is nothing straight of bomb. My suite area, which I share with five other dudes, is awesome - stove, couch, table - and our bathrooms are pretty nice. My room seems to be the only one so far covered in posters (Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Biggie Smalls, Its Always Sunny, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Clockwork Orange, and Star Wars). Hopefully some of the other guys will add a bit of color to.

Looking out my dorm I can hear the USC Band playing the addicting military march The Spirit of Troy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9JyV0dZaQ), and I can see the too-good-to-be-true film school, the nicest building on campus.

A note on the film school - yesterday I had my first meeting with all my fellow filmmakers, and they showed us a video of legendary filmmakers, one after the other, talking about their time at USC, why its film school is the best, and why they will always remain Trojans for life. Steven Speilberg, Ron Howard, George Lucas, so many great men of the movies telling us that this was the only place to be was super inspiring, albeit a little intimidating. However, the networking I have made in the short time I have been here is incredible, and really these relationships is what the film school is all about.

I'm going to depart now, but first I will leave you with a few lessons of what I have learned thus far, but not in an educational sense.

-having a sushi bar in the floor of your dorm is the best thing that can happen to you
-don't hesitate when you meet somebody who you get along with to get their digits, even if you only chat for ten minutes. Text them later, get a meal, or go to a party with them. Everybody wants to meet people, especially in college, so be open.
-frat parties are awesome. It goes unsaid, but I'm saying it. Free "beverages" are very awesome.
-don't be afraid to talk to upperclassmen, they appreciate you not acting like a freshmen, and they will invite you to shit thats actually going on around campus
-on that note, most school organized social events for freshmen suck... forget about dances, mixers, movie nights... get invited to parties, find a few friends and explore campus, find where the action is and be a part of it
-talk to people, especially cute girls - if you have an awkward silence with someone in passing, or make eye contact, or are stuck on an elevator, spark up a conversation



Classes start Monday, so I will probably update next Friday as well. As you can tell, I'm loving college.

Fight On!
Joe