Hail, Hail to Old Purdue

A lot of people seem intent on questioning my motives in life. The most likely reason for this (that I can think of) is the relative eccentricity with which I've lived my life. I can see where it would be difficult to apply standard logic to some of my decisions, but guess what... I don't have standard logic. I have Adam logic, and that's worked pretty well for me, so I'm going to stick with it.

On that note, I am moving to Evansville, Indiana this weekend, as I said in my last post. I have my last final at Marshall on Friday morning, then I'm headed to Wheeling for my favorite cousin's wedding reception (she got married in Colorado earlier this summer, but I couldn't make it out there because of school). Then Saturday or Sunday I'm back in Huntington to finish loading up my car, and I'm heading down I-64 until I get to my new apartment. Why, you ask? (You ALWAYS ask why, so learn to love it.) I'll tell you why.

I. I never had any intention of graduating from Marshall University.

A. I went to school for two years at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. For more than half of that time, I was drunk and stoned out of my mind. It was not cost effective for me to stay at Purdue when I didn't even know if I could tie my own shoes.

B. Marshall does not even have the academic program I'm interested in (Computer Science), although they're phasing in a B.S. over the next 3 years. The thing is, that's going to take too long, and I still can't get a Ph.D. Not gonna do it.... wouldn't be prudent...



C. As anyone who's traversed those fine corridors will surely tell you, Old Main is about as user friendly as a large room full of pit vipers with razor blades for door handles. Our professors are severely underpaid here in West Virginia; the bargain status of Marshall provides for a sorely pathetic academic environment with regards to the degree of student interest in academic research. Marshall just isn't cutting it for me, and I'm sorry if that offends you. Wait. No I'm not.



II. I am in love with the academic quality of another school.

This one is easy. Purdue has the world's first Computer Science program. It has the best technology research park in the United States. The only thing it doesn't have is a good location, but short of picking it up and moving it to Southern Cali, there's nothing I can do about that. I'm a Boilermaker at heart. Here's an example of why.

Stunning. The thing is, I can't afford to go to school here for $25,000 a year. So what am I going to do? I'm going to live in Indiana for a year to qualify for in-state tuition and pay $5,000 a year, which I can afford. Good thinking, huh?

III. None of this has anything to do with running away from anything.

I don't have anything from which to run. I've made some incredible friends in Huntington, certainly better than most you'll find in the mid-west, the apparent birthplace of the cold shoulder. (Where I come from, we have this thing called ' southern hospitality'. That's a rap song in Indiana, and they'll glare at you whether you play it or not.) As for running away from Lorin, if I wanted to take the easy way out, I'd stay here. It's much more of a challenge to dive into the unknown to give myself a better opportunity.... I owe it to myself to leave, and it's been the most difficult decision I've ever made to do it anyway. I'd appreciate it if the vast majority of you would either shut the hell up and let me do my own thing or try to think things through before deciding that I'm running scared for leaving the place that ALL of you wish you could leave too. (Don't deny it, you know it's true.) This is the best decision I've made in my life. Let's do it.

Oh, and the midnight sky is nowhere to be seen.......