It's hard to believe there are only two weeks until summer break starts for the last time for me. Thankfully a couple of job opportunities have come up, so I'm not option-less for the summer anymore. I'm really excited for summer. I'm really starting to get home sick. Usually I get to go home at least once a month, but this semester has been so busy that I was lucky to get to go home once. The only downside to this semester ending is that a large majority of my friends here are graduating. Next semester is going to be a great opportunity for me to meet new people I guess. Really happy with the friends I made while I've been here so far. Thank you everybody.

I almost forgot to post in here.

This week ACBU brought in the Band Perry to Bradley University. I'm not a big fan of country, but they did put on a good show. Being apart of ACBU allowed me to meet them and talk with them for a bit. They were really nice people. I was very impressed. Despite a few personnel issues, the concert went on smoothly and was overall a success.

Today, however, was a pretty bad day. I woke up an hour late because my alarm is on my phone, and my phone decided to stop working at some point overnight. So I ended up missing my first class on accident. Luckily I woke up in time for my presentation at 9 a.m. Following the presentation, I had an interview. It was okay I guess. Just felt a little off the entire time I was there. Came back to my apartment for about two minutes before I get called into work. Ended up working most of my night instead of getting much needed rest. Worst part of the night was when I came back to my apartment tonight, I learned that my apartment has flooded. 3rd time this school year. Not very happy with the apartment complex I'm in right now. Currently, I'm sitting on my bed along with everything that was on my floor to keep it out of the water. Hopefully this problem gets fixed AGAIN in the morning so it can be one less thing to worry about.

The little things

So last week was really hard on me. I ended up having to go home for the week, and I don't really want to go into detail about what all happened on here. But what surprised me is what I came back to when I got in back in Peoria. One of the organizations I'm in made me a handwritten card with personal notes saying they are they for me. By far the nicest thing anyone has done for me since I started coming to Bradley. It's the little things like that that truly make the most impact.

That's all I really wanted to share this week. Because it made my week.

Summer is coming up quick...

It's getting close to being summer break! The weather might not show it, but it's coming! So far I have some fun stuff planned, so I have stuff to look forward to! I have bought my Daniel Tosh stand-up tickets, my Bon Jovi tickets, as well as some Brewers vs. Dodgers tickets up in Milwaukee. Now all I need is a job to come up where I can afford to keep doing all of these things. With all the stress that comes from school, I'm really looking forward to an extended break from school where I can sleep in at least once a week! Summer weather, come soon!

I found myself starting to worry about life after college. It's starting to become a scary thought. My biggest worry is not being able to find work. Now I know what all my friends have been going through. One more semester for me, then time to start a career. I find myself not knowing what specific job to look for, or what company I would want to work for. Is that normal to not really have much of a preference? It seems like most people have a company in mind where they are striving for. It makes me feel a few steps behind. Hopefully over the next few months I can figure most of this stuff out. We will see.

When is this cold weather going to disappear and let spring start? I feel like the weather keeps on teasing us with these periodic 40-50 degree weather for a couple days, then snow. Traveling back to school Sunday was just awful due to the snow storm that hit. As I was carefully driving 30 miles per hour on a 65 miles per hour highways, I managed to count 26 cars that spun off on the road. 26!!! That is a crazy number for a 2 and a half hour drive. Illinois St. was closed the following day along with the University of Illinois, but good old Bradley was still open for learning. As I left my apartment that Monday morning, the sidewalks were covered still with ice making my walk to campus that much more difficult. It didn't help also that the roads were still covered with ice and snow. I went sliding when walking on the sidewalk about 6 times, balancing myself out to avoid falling. Sometimes, I really get frustrated with this school when it comes to student safety coming and going to class. Anyways, there's my rant on that.

With only about six weeks left before summer break, I still find myself without an internship and desperately sending out resumes daily to new open positions. I'm not sure why I never hear back from the majority of places I apply to, but this is becoming very stressful. Thankfully I still have one more semester to go before having to go and find real work, but finding that internship this summer could be key in helping me secure that job once I graduate. If I just had graphic design knowledge, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be in this situation. I guess that gives me something to do this summer if none of these internship are available.

It's half way through my spring break, and I really haven't done anything noteworthy. Today I worked the men's basketball game in the first round of the CBI tournament. Bradley somehow pulled away at the end to steal a win. I wasn't too thrilled to be there since I had to drive for 5 hours round trip. But, now I'm home and can sleep away the rest of my spring break and maybe catch a game or two of march madness before I have to head back to school. Nothing else really to note. Just wishing spring break was a bit longer... oh well.

-Kenny

Friday starts my final spring break ever! And just like every other spring break so far, I'm going no where fun! In fact, I have to come back to school midway through to work. Kind of a downer. But just to be able to sleep in is going to be glorious. No roommates around to wake me up at the wee hours of the morning. Oh, now I'm getting excited.

Anyways, I have one more midterm, then on Friday I get to see Duke-bound Jabari Parker play which is probably going to be the highlight of my spring break. Especially since I have a VIP pass to get anywhere I want in the Civic Center. Thank you connections. That is all my mind is focused on right now. I will be sure to make another post mid-spring break to express how happy I am because of sleep. Until then.

-Kenny

Big things have small beginnings

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to go home first the first time this semester. It was a much needed break from Peoria. I was lucky enough to be home when one of my best friends was home for spring break who I haven't seen since New Years. When we got together, we decided to attempt to create a viral video. We did a cover of Flight of the Conchord's "Albi" with a lot of random clips and commentary. It fared well with our family and friends, but hasn't taken off yet on YouTube (there's still a chance though). We are hoping our next video will take off once we get our "A-Team" back together.

Music has played a pivot role in my life growing up. My first drum teacher played with the Smashing Pumpkins, and got me the "in" in my music career. Since then I've play on a lot of band's records and a few tour shows. I've never really had my "own thing". Over winter break, I formed together with some friends from high school in order to try to get back on the local music scene, and this last weekend we moved one step closer to doing so.

One things I am excited for coming up would be my band's first full band shows this summer. While I was home we finally finalized our band name, Peaceful Disturbance, and found a full time bass player. I'm really hoping that this group will be able to sustain some success. Previously I was involved with groups whose personalities did not mesh. This group I'm with now is one of the more talented groups I've played with and have played together for years, so I'm really excited to see what happens next. We are finalizing an acoustic show for April here at college, so that, I hope is the start of something great.

-Kenny

Let's do something a little off topic than usual.

After seeing so many people turn into vegetarians this week, it made me remember how much I love steak. When I am home, that is the first thing on my list to eat. Whether I go out to one of my favorite restaurants such as Texas Roadhouse or Texas de Brazil (all you can eat steak!!!), or just pull out the grill and cook some up with some friends. For me, steak=happiness. I would never survive as a vegetarian. I was born and raised on meat and potatoes. The majority of my happiest memories involved a nice big plate of steak in front of me. Thankfully I get to go home this weekend for the first time this semester, and the first thing on my agenda is, that's right you guessed it, go get some steak! I know it's not the best thing to eat for your body, but for me, it's the best thing to eat for my mind. 

Just thought I'd share this little tidbit of my love.

-Kenny

So much to do and so little time. That about sums up the start to my senior year so far. With experience almost becoming more important than GPA to employers, trying to managing working and school has just become so difficult. It probably doesn't help I'm working two jobs either. Right now I'm in my business management class where the majority of the class decided to skip, so he is just lecturing word for word off the powerpoints. Makes the class go so much slower. 

My marketing senior project is a pain in the butt. It requires so much time that I don't have right now. I really hope that after our marketing plan is done there will be a little bit of a break so I can actually attempt to get more than 4 hours of sleep a night. 

Cool thing of the week: For my music business class, I was able to meet the lead trumpet player for Ray Charles. 

Besides that, nothing new really happening right now. Just excited to go home soon so I can just relax for a day. Until next time.

Time Management Test

I've been crazy busy the past few days. So busy that I forgot I have two exams coming up this week. Thanks to working, classes, homework, and applying for summer internships, I feel very stressed. I really don't think life after college is be this stressful. Especially if I work somewhere that gives me the ability to be creative and use my talents. 

Besides that stuff, nothing really new has happened. I really want to go home to get away from here for a couple days, but I have no time to. Hopefully in a couple weeks things will change. Until I find enough time to post something again.

Built a routine

So after a few weeks for sleeping during the days and staying up all night, I finally managed to fix my sleep schedule this past weekend. So far, it has helped me stay more awake and focused in classes. The highlight of this past week has been the promotion at work. I'm finally going to start getting paid for my internship!!! Besides that, nothing really exciting going on. Just working and classes all day and meetings and group work all night. This weekend should provide for some stories, so more then. But right now, it's 12:02 and I need to go to bed.

First weekend of the semester

The first semester of my senior year has finally begun. My college experience is finally coming to an end. So with that in mind, I have made it my goal to get involved here and leave my mark on Bradley University before I depart for good.

I recently joined the Activities Council here at Bradley as a marketing coordinator. I will be in charge of helping design poster, and use their social media sites to help promote events as well as come up with new and innovative ideas to market to university's population. On top of that, I am interning with Bradley's athletic department as a marketing intern. There I focus on creating a fun atmosphere for Bradley sporting events as well as provide assistance in office tasks. So I do not have a lot of free time to myself after acquiring these positions.

My first weekend of the semester was a very busy one. My Friday morning started off with an 8 a.m. music business class, followed by a 9 a.m. biology class. Following class, I had a meeting with my boss with the athletic department. Recently, my big boss has left Bradley to pursue a job with the NCAA, so I was then asked to carry more responsibility in my department, aka work more hours. Following that, I was able to get away from my busy work to enjoy lunch with an old friend. After that I was able to go back to my apartment and just crash for 5 hours until Late Nite BU. At Late Nite they had an activities fair which I worked at the ACBU table for the first half (8:45-11:00 p.m.), then worked at ACBU's green screen pictures the rest of the night (11:00-3:00 a.m.). My Saturday was filled with meeting and homework.

Sunday was a busy day for me. I woke up at 8 a.m. and went over to the Civic center to work the Winter Jam event which was a big Christian super-concert. I went into the day really hoping to work the band RED's merchandise table, but I was actually placed at the dual tables of Jason Castro and a new band called OBB (Oswald Brothers Band). Their tour manager went on to explain what I needed to do and prices for the merch, and was very pleased to hear I've worked this event in the past at the headliner's table, so I had prior experience. In the hours leading up to the event, I started a conversation with the tour manager asking how he got into doing what he does. He went on inform me he was in a band that recently broke up and he had a connection with the record label and got this position. I asked him what did he play. He responded, "I played drums in a band called Wavorly". My jaw dropped once he said that. Not only have I heard of the band, but they were one of my favorite groups about 2 years ago (which was prior to when he joined). Have I have gotten my way, I wouldn't have been at this table and had this experience. Funny how things worked out. We exchanged contact information and now I have another connection in Nashville if I ever decide to look into working in the music industry. Throughout the night, Jason Castro came up to say hello to us, so I was able to meet him, and after the show the band OBB came up to sign autographs for their fans, and afterwards hung out with us working into the wee hours of the morning. So overall, that day was just one word, awesome.