In-Class: Recalling a Sense of Place - Switzerland

If I could chose one place that strikes my mind as visually vivid, with intriguing sounds, and natural aromas that filled the air, It would be Switzerland.

In the spring of 2006, I toured Europe with the Indiana Ambassadors of Music with about 100 other musicians, choir members, and chaperones. While in Europe, we toured 7 countries and had 3 musical performances. Everyone had their favorite place they enjoyed visiting, but my choice wasn’t the popular destinations, such as London or Paris. However, my favorite place was the quiet and majestic Switzerland.

I remember vividly riding down the road in our motor coach and playing games on my PSP, when we rolled up on the Swiss Alps. I couldn’t help but stop playing to take in the scenery outside my window. There were rolling hills, behind which were breathtaking peaks capped with a snowy white glaze. Their texture looked jagged and harsh, but their figure against the bright blue sky was a sight to behold nevertheless.

I also remember stepping out of the coach and breathing in some of the freshest air I think I have ever inhaled in my life up until now. The air was so fresh and pure, you could almost taste it. It was like walking into a paradise of sorts, one which I will never forget.

I also remember hearing the sounds of the locals, some with thick accents due to the French influence, and others sounded quite normal. I also remember the sounds of the man who blew on his Alphorn. It reminded me of the Riccola commercials.

Switzerland is by far my favorite place in the world I have discovered by far. I would love to get the chance to visit it at least once more in my life.

The Team Shower

You have all heard about it if you are in my class, but for those of you who aren’t, I hope you find this to be quite entertaining.

The team shower tradition started after our first victory of the season last semester. We all came back relatively sweaty and or disgusting, and thought a bit of refreshing was due. Therefore, we all decided to bring a CD down to the 2nd floor bathroom in Elliott Hall and all take a shower together, in different stalls of course. This tradition carried on to every game prior to that, and even carried on to the last game we played this past Sunday.

We have moved on from a CD player to an Ipod dock and a team play list that includes music such as Kiss by a Rose by Seal, and Du Hast by Rammstein and Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, among others. It is played at a relatively loud level, but nothing too loud as to keep from disturbing the fellow hall members.

Other random things that take place during the “Team Shower” period include random pranks, towel theft and impromptu karaoke. All in all it is good for us to begin to relax after a stressful game, and this fun and cleansing activity helps us to do just that.

Leaky roof leads to Relocation, which leads to Victory, which leads to a Playoff Berth.

Today brought a few disappointments, which fortunately led to excitement and celebration afterwards.

We were scheduled to play our last regular season game today at Ball Gymnasium at approximately 3 this past afternoon. Upon arriving at the game sight, the game prior to ours was delayed due to a puddle that apparently formed during game play. It was determined that the puddle had formed from an active roof leak in Ball Gym. After considering the options which included playing half court, until another leak was found on the opposite side of the basketball court, and rescheduling the games, which would have had negative consequences towards the “playoff scene, the officials and league organizers decided to relocate the remaining games for the day to Irving Gym number 2.

The game we were supposed to begin at 3 o’clock today just got underway at 3:40, but in the end Team OC pulled off a big win against division rival “Pritti Bois.” The last 5 minutes of the game was decided when Off Constantly went on a 10-0 run with 3 minutes to go. The final margin of victory was around 12 points, which also gave Elliott Hall’s only basketball team it’s first playoff berth in WBA basketball.

We play our first elimination game tomorrow at 4 o’clock in Ball Gym. (Hopefully they fixed the leaks…) If we win both playoff games tomorrow we will be in the championship game in Worthern Arena next weekend. The games will be the toughest that we have faced all season. Anyone is welcome to come support their favorite team, just come out to watch and waste away an afternoon free of charge. More updates and “Meet the Team” interviews will be coming soon.

Busy Weekend

This weekend is jam packed with WBA basketball. Today at 3 we are taking on the Pritti Bois in our last regular season game at Ball Gymnasium. This could also be our last game if we happen to lose. Winning today, is essential.

Our current record as of right now is 4-3. With a 5-3 record, playoffs are basically guaranteed, however, 4-4 is a completely different story. There is a possibility for a 3 way tie for 3rd place in our division, which is where the problem begins. Only the top 4 teams from the red and blue division move on to the playoffs, so somebody would have to end their season early. If we win, however, we could avoid this problem altogether and make life much more easy for everybody, so lets do work.

If indeed we do win this afternoon, playoffs begin early tomorrow. There will be a game on the hour, every hour. We will have to win 2 games tomorrow to make it to the championship game in Worthern Arena in a few weeks to come. This is the ultimate goal in our minds, well, at least mine.

My family and their stories...

My family enjoys to tell stories of recent and distant events, whether they were funny or scary my family enjoys telling them all.
Some stories are all about the family itself, including past holidays and what went right and of course what went wrong. They also enjoy talking about places they have gone, such as their trips to New York, or even just to Indiana state parks. They enjoy telling them all.
Even short trips to shopping malls are laden with humorous stories from who they saw to what they saw on sale. My family finds something in everything to tell a story about, its just the kind of people we are.

Meet the Team: Inagural Intrerview

A new weekly blog I am going to start will be a special story on a specific player on Team OC. Each week, or even twice a week, I will pick a player and do a short interview on their backgrounds, hobbies, etc. This week I'll do something absolutely absurd, and interview myself.



Meet the Team: Brad T.J. Maushart (#33)
Age: 19
Height: 5'10"
High School: East Central H.S. - St. Leon, IN
Prior Basketball Experience: CYO Basketball for St.Martin-St.Paul in Yorkville, IN

Question number 1, "Give the readers a short description of your life from birth until now?"

Answer: "I was born in Indianapolis on August 24, 1989. I was adopted less than a month after birth and spent the last 19 years of my life in Guilford, IN. I graduated last year from East Central H.S. in St. Leon Indiana, home of the Trojans and 1500 students from 2 counties in south east Indiana. I began to love meteorology and everything with weather in the 2nd grade, and I continue to follow that dream currently here at Ball State, with my Major being Geog-Opt. 4 (Meteorology).

Question number 2, "What do you do for fun?"

Answer: "I love to meet new people. That's what is great about Ball State, there are some familiar faces you see, but there are always new people lurking right around the corner. I also enjoy going to sporting events and cheering on the fighting cardinals in whatever sport it may be. Parties, video games, and backyard volleyball are also on my list of fun activities."

Question number 3, "Why do you play basketball in the WBA for Off Constantly?"

Answer: "I love playing basketball and being part of a team, even though I'm not all that great. It gives me a healthy alternative to doing homework on a Sunday afternoon. Playing in the WBA has also allowed me to meet many new people here at Ball State and helped me keep my sexy figure."

That wraps up this basic interview, which was quite lame because it was myself, but nobody else was conveniently available. Thanks for reading.

In Class Interview with Julia St. John

First, A bit of Q's and A's:

What kind of things do you do outside of schoolwork?
She hangs with friends, goes to Muncie 12 movie theatres, not Muncie 7, attends parties off campus, she does not go home much, sleeps

Do you play any intramural sports?
No she does not.

What is your major?
TCOMM/NEWS, wants to be a news anchorwoman some day.

What entertains you?
face book for the majority, “purple place” game on her dell computer, competes with her sister for the high score.

Do you have a job?
Not currently, but looking for summer employment.

Favorite music?
She loves musicals, The Color Purple, Avenue Q, The Little Mermaid (different songs when compared to the Disney movie.)

Favorite movies?
Hook, Fight Club, Love Actually, Iron Man (which she believes is definitely better than Batman), loves Disney movies.

Favorite color?
Shiny Silver… not gray silver… as in the crayon. “It must be shiny!” “Crayola is rather misleading..”

Interviewer Review:

The interviewer, Julia, had many interesting questions that made me think and have to describe in depth. The most prominent question was describing my typical weekend. It felt like I went on forever, but I’m sure she was pleased by the answer. She keeps good eye contact during the interview, only looking away to take notes. Her spelling, as she said, was not great, but that problem can be easily fixed with spell-check.

In-Class Interview

Informant: Rebekah W.
Artifact: Rolling Stone Magazine


After closely inspecting the artifact, I can tell it is a Rolling Stone magazine with Bruce Springsteen on the cover. It is in very good shape. It is full of interesting stories and advertisements for multiple brands of food, cologne, etc. There is one coupon missing that was good for 25 free songs on Rolling Stone’s music website. It just your basic magazine. It costs $4.50 and was printed on February 5, 2009. It is issue number 1071 in the series. The title line of the magazine is “An Intimate Visit; Bruce’s Dream.” As for use in the subculture, if is most likely a piece used to strike up conversation, or to inform the reader about current events in the “Rock n’ Roll World.” It can be used to read while drinking coffee and to help make conversation between two strangers.


INTERVIEW:

How do you use this object? It is used as reading material. It is the only thing the informant uses as reading material for the most part. Also, she uses it to cut out pictures and hang them on her wall.

Did you buy it or receive it as a gift? She bought it.

Does this object have any history to it, or any interesting stories tied to it? Not personally.

Can your object be used by children 12 and under? Probably, if the kid was interested enough.

Is your artifact fun for the whole family? For some of the family.

Can your object be used in more than one activity? Probably.

How can your object help you survive on a desert island? It would help to spend time, it could also help start a fire, although she would spare Springsteen’s cover page.

Where can you buy or get an artifact exactly like yours? Subscribing online, or go to a bookstore or your local Wal-Mart super center. The current issues are also online to read if you’re a tight wad.

Can you wear your object? Negative.

Is it edible? Probably, but not recommended.


METAPHOR: This magazine has so many ads, this makes the magazine as crazy as a barrel full of monkeys.

My theories for the most part were correct. Her subculture is the MT Cup in the university village. Her artifact is the Rolling Stone Magazine #1071. It could be used for multiple reasons including, but not limited to, reading, conversing, starting fires, etc. It has more ads than stories or so it seems.
The stories themselves are educational and entertaining, making it a good read. Although it may not be fun for the whole family, it can be read by more than one person, with more than one kind of personality. This object, sadly, is not very edible or wearable. I found this to be disappointing.
With the availability of this object nationwide, and even online for free, it makes this magazine very fantastic.



RESPONSE FROM REBEKAH:
I like this…good job at making it informing yet funny at the same time. I really don’t have much to say.

REFLECTION: Basically, I had thought that maybe she was going to be using this artifact for a journalism type subculture. I was wrong on that assumption. This did not however affect the interviewing process. My strengths lied in my humor put towards in the interview. My weaknesses were mostly in my preconceptions.

You just can't beat Off Constantly!

A lot of things happened today at Ball Gymnasium, mostly for the better. Off Constantly entered the game ranked 4th in the blue division of the West Side Basketball Association with a record of 3-3. This record kept us teetering on the edge of making or being excluded from the playoffs.

Today Off Constantly played the Wilson 8, or 5 of the 8 anyway, today at 3pm in Ball Gym. With a hard fought effort and a record breaking amount of fans packing the stands, Off Constantly outplayed and out hustled the higher ranked team to improve their chances of competing in the playoffs in the coming weeks.

The crowd, I believe, helped us play to our maximum potential. With 3 of our players families in attendance, including my own, we blew away our old record of 5 people. Our total number of fans today was 15. Yes, that may seem like a very small amount, but our average, or any team’s attendance average for that matter, is somewhere between 0 and 5. All in all, more support I believe equals better game play.

With a final score of 53-38 in the favor or Team OC, our record moved to 4-3 with only one more game left before all-star weekend and the playoffs, things are looking great. Keep reading for updates in the coming months.

T-Minus: 24 Hours

In less than 24 hours now we will be playing in our second to last regular season game in the West Side Basketball Association intramural league. Currently we are still in the running for playoff contention so winning this game for us would be huge.

Our record from the past 6 games is split even at 3-3. We should have won some of the games we lost, but due to the lack of team attendance, we did not fare so well. Usually, when we have our full roster show up to play, we have played very well. I hope tomorrow’s roster shows up in full so we can continue this trend.

Tomorrow is another day, another game, and another chance to prove we have what it takes to compete in this league. Our current attendance record for fans stands at a measly 5 people. If we break that current record and win the game, we will have many reasons to celebrate.

The Team Cookie

Whether Off Constantly wins, or loses, we always make the walk to the Noyer Food Center to pick out and decorate our “team cookie.”

No, this is not your standard cookie. However this is a whopping 12” chocolate chip cookie, with personally decorated icing on top. It’s nothing short of delicious and artistic to say the least.

It all started after our first game of the season last semester at Irving Gymnasium. We were all feeling a bit hungry and decided to stop by Noyer Cafeteria. After picking out my usual chicken poppers and fries, the dessert counter caught my eye. I couldn’t decide which of the delectable desserts I would indulge myself with. Then out of the corner of my eye, after eying the cheesecake, I saw a colossal cookie. Even though I couldn’t eat it all on my own, what better to celebrate our first win, and at that time perfect season, than a gigantic, icing doused, warm out of the oven, chocolate chip cookie. At this point the tradition of the Off Constantly team cookie was born.

The more than patient and interested lady at the counter asked what we would like to have the cookie say. We wanted to keep it simple with “Off Constantly” written around the top, and our current record, at that time 1-0, on the bottom. Then we asked her to just add random icing in all the open spots. She seemed confused at first because she was usually asked for happy birthday, happy anniversary, or other common occasions. She then did the unexpected by handing me a box of gloves and the icing decorators. I was more than willing to step it up for the team and make a delicious, edible art of sorts. Sure my first cookie was a big challenge, but after that they just got easier and more enjoyable to create and more importantly devour.

Besides the “Team Shower,” this is single handedly one of our biggest rituals we have as a subculture. It will live on until our season is over, and if there is a team next year, I hope we will let it live on, as long as somebody has a lot of dining plus, or some hard to come by college student cash.

Post Superbowl Shenanigans

Well, the Arizona Cardinals, like our basketball team lost on Sunday. The Cardinals lost this evening, and Off Constantly lost the weekend prior.
This post is basically just an update to the season and new findings in the team itself. We are still in playoff contention with our 4th place standing in our division. If we maintain that for the next two games, or even move up in the division standings we will secure a playoff spot this year.

With only two games remaining in our schedule, winning becomes essential. If the players on the roster show up to play in our last two games, we should have no problem with putting a “W” in the win column.

Updates will continue to come through the semester on the team, and more pictures will soon come available from the games themselves.
I’m up for any suggestions for what you would like to hear more about, and what you guys would like to see picture wise, other than the cheesy pictures of your’s truly.