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Still testing out BlogJet to see if it will be viable for all my blogging needs. Hopefully, this post came out okay.

Anyway, I always hated early morning PT. I had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn so many times, and often even before dawn to get out to Lane Stadium to run stadium steps. Running flights of stadium steps SUCKS! Although at least I could see my toes. I never ate so much that I had problems fitting into my uniform, you see.

And in fact, I'm still in pretty good shape today. My weight hasn't gone up too much in the last 20 years, and except for a couple of bum knees, I'm pretty fit. Although those bum knees would certainly prevent me from running any flights of stadium steps today.

Can you hear me crying over that? No? Me neither.

I believe I actually sat down with a course schedule catalog and found all these courses listed in it. I couldn't believe there was a wine tasting class, but then Virginia Tech does offer majors in the Hospitality and Restaurant business. I never took any of these classes. My one easy A class turned out to be Japanese, which I only took because somehow, inspite of the Professional Military Requirements classes I had added on top of the requirements for my major, I hit my senior year with only 9 credit hours per semester of requirements to fill. Since I was a member of the Virginia Tech Animation Society (VTAS), I decided to take Japanese on the off chance I might someday be able to understand what the hell was going on in all those animated movies I was watching every Thursday night.

Ah, I miss those days when my biggest worry was whether or not I made it to my weekly movie night on time to get a good seat...

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I always hated having to go to drop-add to get my class schedule fixed. I have no idea what it's like today, but it absolutely boggled my mind the hoops I had to jump through to get the classes I wanted. By what process did the university decide that I needed Underwater Basket Weaving in lieu of Public Speaking or First Amendment Law and History (required courses for someone in my major!)? To make matters even worse, my sophomore year, the Army ROTC department introduce the Professional Military Education requirements, additional classes we needed to take in order to become commissioned officers. I cannot tell you how many cadets went from 4-year degrees to 5-year degrees when that came out.

It was always a mess. So many hours wasted tracking back and forth across the campus to find a professor who would let you into the class you needed even though it was full. To this day, I have nightmares about trying to get into a class I desperately need, only to discover the professor has left for his Hawaiian vacation, and will not be back before I graduate.

Hope all you current cadets have settled into the new semester without too many problems! Now quit reading webcomics and get back to studying!!

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During my senior year of college, I roomed with Val, who was (and still is) Jewish. Every year, at Hanukkah, she'd light her menorah, despite the rules against candles in the dorms. The only year this was a problem was the year she used sub-standard candles that went limp when they melted, then toppled off the menorah and into her wicker trash basket. Which was filled with paper.

Val was an interesting roommate. She kept a pet bull snake named "Houdini" in her dorm room, but thankfully not the year we roomed together. Houdini got out of his aquarium one day and slid under the dorm room door, out into the girls' part of the dorm. You can imagine the excitement this caused. However, Val was short and very cute, so I think when she went to see the Vice Commandant about Houdini's escapade, she just sort of smiled, laughed, and shrugged, and in return the Vice Commandant (Col. Vanderpyle, I believe), just sort of shook his head and started laughing too. This of course, led me to believe that Val was pure evil because she could get away with anything. In fact, to this day, if you asked me to describe Val, I was say she was cute, and short, and evil. Very evil.

And apparently still an officer in the Air Force! See what being a cadet can do for you?

Wherever you are, Shorty, I hope you and your family have a happy Hanukkah.

Normally, I post the cartoon and then I offer the commentary. Today I'm doing it the other way around, and I want to explain why. On Thursday, Officer Deriek W. Crouse was shot and killed at Virginia Tech. I was horrified to hear this news. His death, at the time of this writing, appears to have been completely senseless, and it's made even more tragic in light of the fact that Officer Crouse was married with five children. I'm having a hard time understanding how something like this could have happened at a campus I remember as being peaceful and laid back during my college days so many years ago.

The cartoon below was originally on December 8th, 1990. The very next day, I would go to a party and kiss my future husband for the first time. It was one of the best times of my life. It was about a week before the start of exams, and during that week, the VTCC instituted 23-hour quiet time. There was no talking in the hallways, no music, no horsing around, just 23 straight hours of studying. Until 6PM, that is.

From 6PM until 7PM, the hallways in Rasche and Brodie were a riot. We pulled out water guns and shaving cream pies, we blasted our stereos until the glass in the dorm windows started to shake. We threw water balloons and ate pizza, sometimes doing both activities at once. Then at 7PM we would return to our desks and get back to studying as hard as we could.

When I pulled this cartoon out of the pile last week, I clapped my hands with glee. I couldn't wait to post this. Now, it seems so sad to look at. My heart goes out to Officer Crouse's family. I cannot begin to say how heartsick I am over this man's death. My thoughts are with his family.

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Wow. This cartoon is just a few days over 22 years old. I can tell it was drawn during those mad last few weeks before exams because A) I actually wrote the date I drew this on the comic, and B) I didn't bother with tiny details like correctly spelling "Henry" or putting all four legs on the chair, which can only mean I was feeling very lazy or I was too swamped by end-of-term homework to care.

I'm dedicating this week's cartoon to Mich, who is currently finishing up her degree in Civil Engineering, though I doubt she feels very civil at this point. I remember those days, trying to crank out those last few stupid papers that really had nothing to do with what I planned to spend the rest of my life working on. I remember the caffeine-fueled all-nighters and the urge to destroy everything around my with a baseball bat. But mostly I remember the blissful moment when it was all over and I could just collapse in bed and go to sleep for a bit.

It will come, Mich. It will come. I promise. Until then, hang in there. You're almost done.

A quick note, I will be shilling for my Zazzle shop from now until Doomsday, or the end of the holidays, which ever happens last. So stop by the Cynical Woman Zazzle shop and buy Zombie Santa Christmas cards! Yay, Zombie Santa! Or buy something else that I made there and give it to somebody you love, or at least marginally like, as a gift! If you like robots or zombies, or octopi with gears for brains, then there's something there you want to buy. Support the Cynical Woman or she will give you her cooties of doooooooooooom!!!!!!

(And yes, I am seriously considering making a "Cooties of Doom!" t-shirt, but don't know when I'll have that done yet.)

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I post this as a warning to all you cadets getting ready to head home for Thanksgiving. Remember, you still have to fit into your uniform when you get back to school!

Enjoy your holiday break ;)