It seems to me that January came racing in quickly and was gone just about as fast. I set up this blog back on the 14th of January but since January has come and gone, I felt it appropriate to do a brief entry, even if a bit self-focused.
January 1st came and brought with it the beginning of a new decade (I know some people argue that the decade won’t start until 2011, but I fail to find these arguments at all convincing). By the 4th of January I was back in school for my second term, which naturally serves as something of a time drain.
January 12th brought the 7.0 earthquake that shook Haiti. This earthquake, which has pulled so strongly on the heartstrings of so many, rang really close to home for me, for reasons I can’t even fully understand myself.
On the 20th of January I was initiated as an Entered Apprentice at Washington Masonic Lodge #46 in Portland, OR. The ritual that goes along with the EA degree is to date the most beautiful thing I have yet to experience.
The 30th brought the Polar Plunge Portland, where I joined roughly 800 other people in jumping into the freezing cold Columbia river to raise funds for Special Olympics Oregon. I was able to personally raise $175, my team, the Freezing Dolphins brought in an amazing $1,565 and the event overall raise upwards of $130,000.
The rest of the month can mostly be summed up by saying it was spent doing homework, sitting in classrooms and sleeping. Ahh, the life of a college student.