Study Days Are Hard

I mean, I've already had my room inspection and watched one of Pete and I's three evolution movies for science at the library. We would have watched more if the great University of Notre Dame's library had more than three DVD players in it's audio-visual center, and more than two of those worked on all DVD's. But alas, here's some quick-hitters to get you prepped for the four-day weekend of study days ahead.

1) The OC has been consistently good for over a month now - borderline excellent, really - so if you can forgive the sins of the lesbian-kiss ratings stunt and the absolutely retarded mall episode - Evil Zach, Confused Kirsten and the impending Marissa/Ryan/Trey love triangle. I think there's only three episodes left of one of the most entertaining shows on television, so don't miss. The thing I'm most depressed about in this entire "going home" thing is the fact I won't get to watch the season finale in the comforts of Welsh Family's TV lounge.

2) If you're not watching the NBA playoffs, it's probably time to start. Phoenix and San Antonio are heading north to Memphis and Denver, and if memory serves me correctly from last year, Denver's crowd is going to be rabid and waiting for Timmy Duncan. The Bulls are rolling, but they'll have to do it without the home crowd, while the Indy/Boston series is getting interesting.

More importantly, however, is the T-Mac/Dirk duel going on down in the state of Texas. Houston took the first two in Dallas, to Mark Cuban's chagrin, and now they get to take the Yao n' McGrady Show back home to the Target Center. I'm waiting for a repeat of the December 2nd game earlier this season, when Dirk's 53 trumped T-Mac's 48 in Overtime. It's on at 8:30 tonight - 9:30 for those of you still on the East coast - so be sure and check that out after The OC.

3) My Finals schedule goes a little like this: Mythology Monday morning, which Pete and I figured we can get a 60% on and still get an "A" in the class. Tuesday I turn in my soon-to-be-revised seminar portfolio. Thursday morning is Theo, which I'm very worried about because I don't know how to study for it and I have an A in there right now and don't want to screw it up. Thursday late afternoon is my science test, which isn't cumulative and only covers the last third of the semester, but still is quite important because no one's grade in there is that good. Finally, Friday afternoon is my calc final, which is going to be the focus of my studying because I can remember nothing.

4) After dominating the first five games of Contract Rummy played here at ND post-Easter Break, I set a career mark for futility on Tuesday night, eclipsing the 400 mark in points (the lower the better. In comparison, I scored a record-low 45 in victory earlier this year on the Quad). I'm now winless in my last two, although I'm going to hope there's a rematch of sorts tonight. I'm setting the over-under of Rummy games played before we leave at seven, and that's being pretty generous to those who wish to take the over.

5) Speaking of cards games, I'm not getting into too much detail, since this deserves an entire post, but Brendan and I are leading Renee and National Champion Susan Pinnick 3-1 in our second First-To-Ten Euchre Series. Granted, things didn't go very well to start - or finish - the first series we played them, but we've really turned things around. We're not as intimidated by them and we don't fight as much amongst the team, so those are all positives.

6) My summer ballpark tour now may expand from simply Jacob's Field to a magical Wrigley-Miller Park-Metrodome trifecta I can only dream about. Hopefully there's enough time and tickets break the right way, because knocking off four more stadiums in one summer would be making great strides in my National Ballpark Tour.

7) XXX: State of the Union comes out tomorrow, and anyone that wants to see raw excitement needs to come with us and see Chad and Pete's absolute delight at the quasi-sequel. Since the commercial at the Super Bowl, they've been planning to see it, and now's the chance to see Ice Cube vs. Willem Defoe on the silverscreen, as opposed to going over that Chem review. Please make the correct decision.

8) Any ideas on how to best review our freshmen year? I'm taking any and all ideas, though I've got a couple stored incase you people can't come up with anything.

9) Mike Flanagan really enjoyed the Ode to him, as did the rest of the guys who've had the pleasure of dealing with him this semester, so I'm glad I didn't screw that up.

10) There will be a full summer movie guide coming out, but all you need to know for now is that the new Batman movie is going to be awesome. Just saying, but you can check out the trailer from this page.

11) Happy OC Thursday.