2nd Conversation With Mohammed

Mohammed and I met at Fuzzy’s today, Sunday. It had been a while because of our conflicting schedules. He travels often and I’m pretty busy with school and other activities, but we make it work. I arrived at Fuzzy’s and got my food first because I knew that Fuzzy’s takes a long time to make their food. I thought I had the perfect plan. But it did not work out.

Mohammed had a hard time finding a parking spot, which I did not anticipate. So he was about 10 minutes late. He did not even want anything to eat. I even offered to buy something for him if money was an issue. But he told me that he had eaten at Fuzzy’s before and did not enjoy it. He told me that his favorite Mexican restaurant is the one that is next to BJs on Hulen. (Sounds like I have an idea for our next place to meet.

So I quickly ate my food because I did not want it sitting in front of him while we spoke.

I asked Mohammed what his favorite sport was and he told me, with no hesitation, soccer. He was very excited as he showed me pictures of the stadium on his phone. He told me that people go crazy during those games. He told the name of his favorite team but I cannot remember the name of it. I asked him if he ever watched any F.C. Dallas games, but he does not usually watch MLS (major league soccer).

Mohammed spent Saturday in Dallas. He explained that the Arab restaurants in Dallas are a lot better than the ones in Fort Worth. He also told me that he spent some time in Michigan over fall break. When I asked about his business up there, he told me that he was visiting the University of Michigan because he plans to transfer there next semester. I was kind of sad when I heard of this, even though I’ve only spoken to him twice in person. I asked him why, and he told me that his Saudi friends have told him their experiences were not very good at TCU. Mohammed told me that his experience at TCU has been difficult, and he feels that it will better and easier for him at Michigan. I’m glad that he will be finishing the semester but I am bummed that he did not enjoy it. Mohammed also explained that the Saudi population at Michigan was a larger percentage than at TCU. I told Mohammed that I am sad that he hasn’t had a great experience at TCU but happy that he is moving on to better things.

After this Mohammed and I caught the end of the Cowboys game. While we were watching the game he told me about his first experience at a TCU game. Since he did not know the rules, he told me that he simply would cheer when everyone would cheer and “boo” when others booed.

I am very glad that he was able to be there to watch the Cowboys win. I explained some of the general rules of the game. I explained why the Cowboys kept running the ball at the end of the game.

Hopefully Mohammed and I can meet each other this coming Friday or Sunday. Maybe I can convince him to remain a horned frog. 

BALL IS LIFE

So I’m in a fantasy basketball league. I was roped into it last year buy some of my coworkers. It is a pretty time consuming activity especially since it is one of the longer fantasy seasons. But I enjoy it. I think of it as something that keeps me plugged into the outside world. It gives me a reason to watch one of my favorite sports. I watch basketball all the time. I know a bit about the game, but fantasy is another beast. It takes into account a lot of things that most people do not get to think of. Like minutes played, missed shots, and missed free throws. All of these combined goes into a total amount of points that a player receives.  

I would be a liar if I said that I was very good at starting off. I made many mistakes. Like drafting players that seemed good in real life, but they were 3 star players in fantasy. I made trades that were not very conducive to the success of my team. At one point I was at the point as to which I did not care. Other people in the league new that as well.

Luckily my former boss took me under his wing and gave me pointers on how to make decent trades that would end up in my favor. BTW I say former boss because he resigned from his position. I don’t want readers thinking that I was fired or quit. But eventually I got the hang off fantasy. Sadly, I was a bit too late. I was already in second to last place in the league. There was a “loser’s tournament” that I did well in. I was making moves like a champ. I would send trades just to spark people’s interest and pull it before they got to accept or decline it. When they would send the same trade and I would deny. I’m such a tease J .

One time there was a slight schism in the league and the current league manager was essentially voted off the island. Since I was the new guy in the league and had no biases, I became the league manager. That is not necessarily a position I can put on a resume but that is still a lot of responsibility. But I feel that I handled it like a champ.

Then it came time for this season’s draft. I had a no B.S. mindset. This is not a game. BALL IS LIFE. My draft order did not allow me to have a great position but I still got a solid balanced team compared to some other players. Now people send me trades and I carefully think about them. I consider the quality and the name value of the players that I could potentially receive in a trade. I used to look at their points for previous games. Then I learned that players have ups and downs, even the all-stars.

All in all I learned a lot while going through the whole fantasy cycle. I think that this year will be a much better experience compared to last year. I’ve already started off better compared to this time last year. I may not be first, but I will definitely give them a run for their money.

Duck Duck Turtle

Hello everyone. It’s Terrul, sitting at the trinity again. I would be talking about my conversation partner right now, but I procrastinated. I tried to setup a time to meet with my partner today (Tuesday 10/7) or yesterday; however, my partner only likes to meet on Friday/Saturday. So let that be yet another lesson to those of you that enjoy procrastinating.

If I knew how to actually blog, I would have some type of cool screen name. With that screen name I would say “[cool screen name] here” when I started typing. I would use “T_RAT95”, but I use that screen name for at least 4 different sites. I want something that appeals to my talents like “lyrically gifted” or “dream weaver.” But I’ll stick with T_RAT95 as a default for most things. I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older that I use “terrul.ratcliff” or “TerrulR” for most things. I wonder if Dr. Williams would let that sentence qualify this as a learning experience and a river reflection (jk).

But anyways, back to the river shall we? What prompted me to get back on topic is that as I was typing out the paragraph above then I heard something dive into the water and as I looked up I only saw ripples. I thought I was going to be 2 for 2 on seeing nutria at the Trinity [sad day]. 

What I see right now is pretty similar to my second visit to the trinity. What is different this time is that I see a family with dogs and a yellow billed bird (possible a duck but probably not) when I tried to get closer to the duck it flew away. I was not even that close to it. But he/she just flew away as soon as I walked in its direction.

The family and the dogs are having a grand time. The family consists of a guy and a girl, probably a couple, and they have three dogs with them. The dogs seem to enjoy jumping into the river because their masters continue to throw sticks into the river and the dogs do not hesitate to go get them. Now, the water where they are at is pretty shallow; but I can’t help but thinking would my dog, Rocky, do that? Rocky loves to fetch. Sometimes when Rocky is over zealous he will play his version of fetch when he wants me to chase him while he has the stick. Sometimes I do, it’s good exercise. I think I will take rocky out here one day during a break and just let him explore.

Right now I see many small ripples forming. I try to rationalize how this is occurring. But the best  can come up with is that the ripples that I currently see are created because substituents of other ripples are colliding. But what causes that first ripple. If I knew about the presence of fish there  in the trinity I would say that it is because fish are coming up and trying to catch bugs. Or maybe the ripples that I currently see are all a result of two ripples that collided long ago and it has just been a cascade of effects that cause the new ripples to appear and multiply.

Now I see concentrated bubbles.  I cannot figure out why they are there. But they are consistently appearing. I’ve stared at the area and every now and then, the bubbles will subside and then they will comeback in full force.

The last thing I will talk about is the insects I see and the smell. As for the insects, I see a large number of dragon flys. Did you all know that dragon flys are some of the few, if not the only insects that can individually move their wings. It has to do with their anatomy and the location of their muscles that control the wings.

Now about that smell. It smells straight up like a skunk out here. I’m not sure what happen but someone scared a skunk and it made them pay. Now I am slightly paying for it as well.

Last thing I want to point out. I SAW A TURTLE!!! Maybe that’s where the bubles were coming from, a turtle that had dived. The pictures I got are not high quality but I will post them as well as pictures that I snapped of the bird that I think is a duck. 

Trinity @ 6:00 PM

Possible Duck (Probably not though)

Turtle

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay (Not Really)

Today, I am recovering from one of the best football experiences of my life. As a part of my recovery I decide to do my river reflection (YAAAAAY). I’m sitting at a small complex right along the trinity, right next to “Woodshed.” There are people outside on the patio eating but low music is playing. I only hear light conversation, snare/bass, and insects.

One group of kids ran by and they were trying to see who can run faster. There were two boys and one girl. They all acted the same, but the girl was the tallest. I still think that they are all the same age because at certain points during child hood girls are taller. This is just a fact of life. Seeing this got me thinking about what girls think when they happen to be taller than boys during child hood. Do girls see the boys as inferior for being shorter? Do they boys see the girls as superior? What happens when a boy hits his growth spurt and he comes back from summer vacation towering over a girl that was previously taller in May?

This train of thought got me thinking about what does a grown woman (atleast 18) think of a shorter man? From my experience with female friends a taller female will usually not give a shorter male the time of day. Let alone let him “spit game” at the girl. So women, what do you think of a shorter man, and how short is too short?  I would be fine with an 0.5 to 1 inch margin if the girl was taller than me, but would she give me a chance?

Anyways, now a bunch of people are riding by on their bicycles. This makes me think about my bike, propped up on the bench behind me.

I recently got this bike. I seriously contemplated buying one over the summer, but I could not make up my mind as to whether I should actually go and buy one. Then I attended Lit and Civ II for the first time and I saw “ride bikes along the Trinity River” on the syllabus and that was the last domino to fall. A few weeks into the semester I went to “performance bikes” off of Hulen and purchased a Diamond Back bike. I’ve enjoyed it so far. It save’s a lot of time as well. There is only one bad thing with having a bike and going to TCU. For my morning classes, I cannot ride it. There is just too many people and too little space. If I do ride it in the morning there is a lot of stop and go as well as swerving. This campus does not seem like it was designed to have many bikes riding around it. So I just enjoy the benefits of my bike in the PM.

As I thought about this I see something moving in the water. It was a Nutria. I recognized it because Mary Lauren and I saw one during our canoe field trip. It slowly paddled by and my iphone 4s died as soon as I tried to take a picture. (NOOOOOOOOO) But luckily I felt like my iphone would die and brought my usb cord and laptop. So I give it enough charge to power on. Then I go searching. I find it along the bank and I snap the lowest quality picture known to man. I’ll attach it to this entry. Hopefully when you see it, you believe me.

It’s pretty dark now and some musicians begin to start playing at woodshed. After they play a few songs the person playing the string bass looks at me and says “hey man this one’s for you.”

He begins to play “Sittin’ On the Dock of the bay” by Otis Redding. I really enjoyed listening to this song but now it is time for me to go because mosquitoes are attacking me and my computer.

Nutria?

River Photo                                        

 

Family Guy

What are some things that people value in this world? Money, fame, women?  Most people value the family. That’s a pretty good thing to value usually. A lot of people have good experiences with their family. I have as well. But sadly when people have asked me to write down my values in the past, I do not usually say family first or second. Sometimes I put it third.

I know family is important and all that good stuff but I was never the person that would say things like “where would I be without my family.” For most of my teenage years, I was more of a lone wolf than a family man. I still had really close friends.

But for some reason I would be just fine hanging out by myself. If I wanted to hang out with someone I would just call a friend, I would almost never be with my family unless I had to.

But that all started to change during the spring semester freshman year. I had gone from 13 hours in the fall to a whopping 16 hours in the spring. That additional class made a huge difference. I was always exhausted and always working on something. I’m not proud to say this but one Saturday, I woke up at 8:30 and went to Sid Rich for a 9:00 class. Some people I knew saw me and asked what I was doing I told them I went to the book store and forgot it opened late.  I was just in such a habit of waking up and going to work on something.

I had a good break the weekend before my birthday though. My family came from Dallas to Fort Worth and we ate out at Macaroni Grill. It was a nice thing to do. My twin sister had come down from New York and we had a grand time.

After my family and I had parted it was then when I started to get home sick. It was a weird feeling that I had never felt before. Luckily spring break was the following week and I could recuperate. Then after spring break, finals week was there before we knew it and I was back home. The home sickness was gone. Then today I started to get homesick again. It was because I called my grandma and told her happy birthday. She was extremely happy that I called and told her and opened with 3 words “happy birthday granny.”

I started to miss home. So maybe I’m growing up right now. But who would have thought that growing up could consist of missing your family MORE?

I will try to be more intentional with spending time with the family.

I’m not sure if I’m a full-fledged family guy right now, but I definitely have begun to miss my family more. I guess distance really does make the heart grow fonder. I definitely do appreciate them more than ever. 

In Charlie Sheen's voice... "Learning"

There are many issues that trouble people today. There is poverty, gender inequalities, racial inequalities, just to name a few. What I find interesting is the differing viewpoints on the different issues. Luckily in my social work class we get to hear anyone’s perspective.

At first, I used to brush off the tough issues with some type of light hearted joke that would just barely scrape the surface. But then I started to get into the topics we were discussing. But this is not because they were necessarily interesting.

With that being a core class, we get a very wide arrange of views. For the past 3 class periods we have pretty much just heard people explain why they believe abortion is wrong, why affirmative action is outdated, or why gay marriage should not be allowed. All of these issues can and have caused really heated debates. I personally lean on the “liberal” side for most issues, but there are some topics I am conservative about. I try to not choose a side on an issue before I hear the background of it.

My favorite part of social work is listening to this one super conservative young man speak. I most definitely do not agree with him on the majority of issues, but for some reason I enjoy listening. I also enjoy watching other people’s reaction when he speaks. I have a lot of respect for the guy( let’s call him Stern Man). The weird thing is that there are people in my Social Work class that are also in this class and I know they know exactly who I’m writing about. But anyways I enjoy talking about controversial topics in that class.

The reason I enjoy it is because I enjoy learning about other people’s reasoning behind why they choose a certain side on the issue. Their reasoning could be based on faith, morals, or even past experiences. Nevertheless most people will deliver it in a way that is very unique.

But back to Stern Man, during one in class activity, Stern Man was only on that leaned a certain on one issue.  The teacher asked why he felt that way and he said that he didn’t want to talk about it because he knows other people wouldn’t like what he says.

This saddened me a bit because I really wanted to hear what he had to say. Now I want to go and introduce myself and talk to Stern Man because I want to know how he thinks. Some of my neighbors in the class do not take me serious when I tell them that I want to talk to Stern Man because they know that I do not agree with him on many issues. However, I really wanna talk to this guy.

But enough about Stern Man. Now I know that I want to learn why other people feel a certain way about certain issues. But sometimes I feel that it is weird to walk up to someone, even someone I know, and say “hey, what do you think about abortion” and “oh, why?” Maybe since I’m an RA I can make that some type of even in which people just come and talk about their perspectives. When people explain their perspective, I believe that there is more reception with the listeners. By explain I don’t mean someone simply saying, “That’s the way it’s always been.”

Being in social work did definitely teach me something about myself. I enjoy listening to others. But don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not always actively listening. Sometimes my mind will wonder off, and the person speaking will sound like an adult in a “Peanuts Cartoon.” You know “wah wah…wah wah… wah wah wah wah.” Hopefully that makes sense my  readers.

So if you learn anything from this, I enjoy listening to others. But don’t always count on me to repeat exactly what you’ve said. You may end up disappointed.