confusing posts, the common room, and the strangeness of wheaton

i realize that my last post is kind of hard to follow if the rules of chronology are to be applied at all. all apologies. one ridiculously long day makes for one incredibly confusing blog post. which leads me to a basic quandary: does one go back and correct old posts, making them readable for those who aren't following along, or are they like diary entries for a specific moment and to go back and fiddle with them is to fiddle with a testament to a moment? as the author, i will always know what i'm trying to say, so as the reader, i'm hoping you'll throw in your two cents on this.

sometimes the common room of epworth house is my favorite place to be. there's something about the mix of american and wesley students and the characters in those categories that make it a room of crazy ideas and laughter. i tell you this story in full confidence that no one will lose their respect for me, the asc program, or australians in the telling but rather that we all have a good laugh and it brings us closer together. that being said, the following just transpired in the common room:
a girl with a computer turns on "it's raining men," adjusts the computer to play to the rest of the room with a smile as big as the sunset. two or three of us start bopping (myself included) and the RA turns to me and says, "it's sunday night and we're listening to gay anthems!" i reply, "we should do this every sunday night!" he says to our friend, who is very conservative but has a great sense of humor, "milo! break out the buttless chaps!" milo just shudders and says, "naaaaaaw, man, naaaw!" it was a fantastic interchange and some of us are still humming the tune.
a note on australian stuff: "milo" is a kind of cocoa powder one mixes with hot or cold milk for an added chocolate milk flavor, not dissimilar from nesquick. [a note to future ascers: you will be introduced to milo and directed to put it in water. don't do it. it's meant for milk, unless you're in malaysia. i know some people who still put it in water and try to do tim tam slams out of it--no no no. it's milk, accept no substitutes.] it's got it's own flavor, for sure, but you use it pretty much the same way. the fellow i just mentioned as "milo" isn't really named milo--it just became his nickname because he likes the stuff so much. pronounce it "mallow" and you're halfway to australian.
one more note on things australian: i just had a proper piece of vegemite toast made for me! it's bread, butter, a very thin layer of vegemite, and a slice of a particular cheese. it was pretty good! if you're ever in australia, ask an aussie really nicely to make you a vegemite fan. they'll happily oblige.

classes at wheaton started this week. it's so odd to realize that they are just starting their experience where i am almost halfway through mine. as a smart friend told me while i was finding myself a bit in the dumps about it, "a day with rome is a day without paris," or something like that. i'm learning to be fully where i am and be happy about it. to all you wheaties: have a great time. explore, attend, learn, invest, skip, metra. go to the wade center, the billy graham museum, the balcony of edman chapel, king's arena, and most importantly, arena theater. appreciate the bottom of the beamer center, because it might not always be there, as we learned last year! miss you much.