FYE - Mack Estes

Beginning of the End

have a feeling that this post will be a bit shorter than I would otherwise like. There's two reasons for that, both relating to my workload this week. In the past two days I've had to read two books and write 10 pages of papers; so sadly I have not done a whole lot of interesting things besides work since my last post. Also in the next two days I have another 12-14 pages to write. Therefore I don't really have as much time to devote to blogging as normal. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but in fairness I've known about almost all of the assignments for about the last month. So, I kind of had this coming..

In my last blog I mentioned the Kentucky Derby. It ended up being a fairly major event this weekend. A friend, Chelsea, is from the great state of Kentucky and invited a group to join her in watching the televised Derby. All of us got dressed up [There were sooooo many sundresses and floppy hats, for all of you not native to this tradition] and watched the race. Honestly, I've never been much for horse racing but it was really really fun. Mine That Bird had an epic come-from behind victory [50-1 odds]. And since no post would be complete with a few pictures to serve as examples, here you go...

The Girls Ready For Some Intense Derbying

And Me and Zach

May Day! Play Day!

This week has been quite a spectacular one. It's been full of roadtrips and various fun and games. There was even some homework wedged in there occasionally. One particularly enjoyable event was Wofford's May Day Play Day. This consisted of all kinds of wonderful [and free] fair foods, inflatable obstacle courses, and even a sumo ring. I made extensive use of all of these, especially the sumo. I would just like to take this moment to show my complete dominance at the art of Sumo as my alter-ego, "El Diablo."

The match begins: Katie, my opponent, obviously has no idea what is about to occur. [I'm in the blue, FYI]

I quickly gain the upper hand in body positioning.

And Success!

It was a pretty impressive match, if I may say so myself.

     Also occurring this week was the final weekend that the Fraternity row is open for the year. We had a send-off for the seniors, which was so much fun. I was a great time for reflection for what has happened during my year here at Wofford. Finally this weekend was the Kentucky Derby. We celebrated it in true for, which I will discuss more in my next blog. During this next week I have 23 pages of papers to write, so it's going to be quite an interesting one. Regardless, I am definitely planning on enjoying my last week before exams here at Wofford. I hope everyone has a pleasant several days, until I post again.

Vampires & Puppies [No Big Deal]

So the big news of the week... For starters, Vampire Weekend played here at Wofford, hosted by the ONE organization. I would provide details but Alex and Mesha have covered the event pretty comprehensively. I would recommend ducking over to their blogs quickly to get the details there. But I just want to convey the excitement that I had over this show and I feel a picture might be the best way to do this.

Just look at those smiles!

So, exam week is coming up soon. Often there is some stress associated with this. So how can the average college student deal with this. BY PETTING PUPPIES! There is a Petsco just a short drive from Wofford, which I have now become a regular. My wonderful friend Katie captured a few of my happiest moments in a long time and I would be more than happy to share a glimpse of the joy.

This is me with Desi and Murphy, two of the cutest little critters I've seen in such a long time. So if that doesn't warm your heart, I don't know what will.

Heroes In A Half Shell!

    Tonight marks the end of Spring Weekend 2009. It's really been an exceptional experience. There's been bands playing at the row, epic shaving cream fight, volleyball tournament, and so many adventures. It really ended up being one of the better weekends I've had this year. Probably the highlight for me was the volleyball tournament. I was recruited for one of the teams despite my complete lack of athleticism. While we did end up losing 3-11 in the first round we managed to win the costume portion of the contest and were awarded $80 along with the pride of a job well done. And now I want to share with you the costumes that won it all.

Me as Michelangelo, Emily as Donatello, Maggie as Leonardo, and John White as Rafael.

It was all quite wonderful and I am definitely going to miss it.

I would also like to welcome all of the Night and Day students. While I realize most of you will not check this until you are already gone, I appreciated seeing much of the upcoming class of 2013. I hope you all had a wonderful time here.

Upcoming events: The Wofford, student-let ONE campaign managed to be voted the best out of any of the colleges in the country. This is especially impressive with the small campus size and resources they had. They worked so hard and we are all extremely proud of them. As a result, as a reward from ONE, this friday we are hosting Vampire Weekend and Army of Me here on campus. It's going to be extraordinary. I really enjoy both bands and am quite stoked. Have a wonderful week!

This is Fact not Fiction

So, my big news of the past week is... Death Cab for Cutie! I went up to see them in North Carolina and it was incredible. I did not have my camera with me but luckily Caitlyn...

...was more prepared.

Me and Kaitlyn headed up to the show

Foosball Break

Met some wonderful friends up there

The first band that played was Ra Ra Riot. I had never listened to them before and was very pleasantly surprised. They had a very unique sound and put on a great live show

Next up was Cold War Kids which is definitely up there in my favorite bands. They put a lot of energy into their performance and it was so much fun.

And last was Death Cab for Cutie. They played an incredible set. They played a lot of their older songs which I really appreciated. It was a spectacular experience and they had one of the best encore's I've ever seen.

Spring Break

I apologize for my absence over the last two weeks. I have just returned from my spring break and regrettably have not been near a computer for quite a while. I spent the first section of my time off at Edisto Beach with some of my bros and some close friends. It was really a spectacular time. I was able to spend time with people I am not normally able to because of busy schedules. Spent a lot of time at the beach and with the friends. Made some incredible memories. After this I was able to swing back by my home in Columbia and visit with some people I have not seen in months. On saturday, my final day home, my favorite local music venue, the Watershed, had it's fare-well show. Two incredible bands, Austin Crane and The Dirt and the Flood, were going to play. A lot of people came back from out of town to see it so it was a wonderful time to reconnect with old friends. Minutes before the show started power went out for the entire city block. They decided to continue with the show playing out in the loading dock using cars to light the makeshift stage. It was really just such a great time and I was blown away by it. Luckily a friend of mine was there and ready with a camera.

The Dirt and the Flood^

Austin Crane^

We managed to fit almost 200 people in the small loading area. Such an amazing experience.

So I may return to elaborate a bit on the events of my Spring Break as it is getting a little late for me with class at 8:30. But if not I have an upcoming subject, which I am incredibly excited about. On this Thursday, I will be driving up to North Carolina to see Death Cab for Cutie, The Cold War Kids, and Ra Ra Riot. This is going to be by far the largest show I will have ever seen and am ecstatic. I am sure to have pictures and will be back shortly.

Greek Games

     At Wofford college, Greek Week has just come to a close. It's been quite a busy week for all of us. It's been so much fun though. Sigma Nu was a solid presence. We won both the grill-off [again] and won the penny wars. Sadly we lost out at the Greek Games. I took a couple pictures of the events and would like to share them.

 

Sigma Nu Camp

Former blogger Brendon returns for a second Greek Games
  Keg Tossing
Tug-of-War

And there they went

All in all, it was a really good experience. This should be a pretty good week. This is the final week before spring break. I am extremely excited about it. I'll be keeping my camera with me this week and hopefully will find something interesting for ya'll. Until then, have a wonderful week

NU NORTH '09

As advertised in my last blog, I will be covering Nu North. My fellow Sigma Nu's hosted a party this friday. I described the basic gist of it wednesday, but it includes packing peanuts, neon paint, a DJ, a band, painter's tarp, and so much more. I figure the best way to truly convey the essence of Nu North would be through some pictures I managed to snag over the course of the night.

Me and my bro, Zach, chillaxin' in the peanut pit.

We were joined by a few more people

Diving in

With Zach and Emily. And yes, he is in a giraffe suit

Me and Maggie!

Working hard for the blog

So yeah, that is a small taste of the events of friday night. Packing peanuts were scattered around the Wofford campus, in all of the dorms, bathrooms, and most people's rooms. Laundry rooms were quite full the next day. Probably the best moment was walking by prospective tours in the morning covered in neon paint. All in all, quite an enjoyable night. 

Upcoming Event for Next Week: Greek Week

The following week is an on-going competition between the various fraternities and sororities. Sigma Nu is returning this year as reigning champions. We got a lot on the line this year.  There's going to be a lot of events occurring throughout the next several days. These will include an inter-fraternal cook off [which Sigma Nu also is known for domination, just fyi], Greek Games, and Penny Wars for charity. I am quite excited for these and will be keeping you up to date.

Snow Pt. II

     So, as I suggested in my last post, this has been quite a week for me, both in and out of classes. I've had several papers and tests so I have been working hard here in the library. Luckily, there's been some fun events. As I left to go get dinner Sunday, it had started to sleet. Within two hours this turned into snow accumulating on the ground. By the time it turned dark there was a good three inches of snow on the ground. This ended up being an amazing night including a 200+ person snowball fight at the fraternity row and kayaking down Old Main. I won't provide any more details, but Alex should be sharing some more later on in the week.

Probably the highlight for me over the last week is a concert I went to on Thursday. I got a ride with a fellow student up to Asheville, which is about an hour to the north. I saw Alela Diane and Blitzen Trapper, which is one of my favorite bands. It was an incredible show. Blitzen Trapper played their entire new album, a good number of older songs, and some incredible covers. It was one of the better shows that I have seen in a while.
Alela Diane

Blitzen Trapper

Upcoming Event For Next Week: Nu North
I don't know if I can accurately describe how excited I am about this. At Sigma Nu this Friday, we are having a DJ and a band perform and having a rave in our house. We're covering the walls with painter's tarp and providing Neon paint, which will be thrown everywhere. An entire room is going to be filled with packing peanuts. This is going to be an incredible night. I'm going to bring my camera, so be expecting some quality pictures.

Lazy Sunday

    I am currently in the process of spending an entire day studying. So far today I have eaten, showered and gone straight to the library where I've spend the last several hours reviewing notes and listening to music. All in all though it hasn't been too bad. I don't have a computer so I don't listen to new music as often as I would like to. Over the last month though, I've compiled a list of music I need to get and now I finally have the time to just sit down and listen to some of it. A few of the best albums so far have been Feel. Love. Thinking of. by Faunts, Airing of Grievances by Titus Andronicus, and Dark Was the Night, a compilation on behalf of AIDs awareness.
    The reason I'm setting this day aside to study is that tomorrow marks the end of the first third of this semester. And what better way to celebrate this occasion than with some midterm exams. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this semester. There are some pretty big events coming up. I'm quite excited to blog about them. Some of the headlines are Nu North, Spring Break, Greek Week, Death Cab for Cutie/Cold War Kids playing at Davidson. Also I'm heading up to Asheville this Thursday to see Blitzen Trapper, one of my favorite bands. It's going to be a really busy week with that and several papers due along with the tests. I'm pretty sure I'll be spending quite a bit of time here in the library working.
    The classes this semester have been really interesting. I've been taking Macroeconomics and Intro to Sociology, which appeal to me a lot since I'm planning on being an Economics/Sociology major. It's been great to start to learn about the subjects that I'm interested in. The professors are also extremely knowledgeable and have a passion for what they teach. It makes it so much easier to work for a professor who cares about the subject. Another class that I'm really enjoying is Physics. I've never really liked science classes very much in the past but the format of this particular one is very interesting. I'm taking it with Professor Zides and he connects the physics concepts with art. It's really different than classes I've taken in the past but it really helps to make it more accessible. I am also taking Western Civ which has also been much more interesting than I was previously expecting. We spent the first three weeks learning about various ideologies in 18th century Europe. Then in one class we saw how they all interacted in a particular period of time. Literature of War has been surprisingly enjoyable as well. I've really seen new methods of analysis and reading even in the first month. All in all, my classes have been rewarding, if time consuming. It's definitely been worth the effort, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they all go over the next months.