The Daily Minutiae

I've been looking for a way to revitalize my blog, and I think I may have just found it.

It was the Fourth of July. I had the day off from work, I remember. I never thought I would have preferred the halls of my old high school to the scorching summer heat, but it truly was a scorcher.

Not knowing what to do with myself, I rode my bike around aimlessly for much of the day, until I heard about the eating contest, I'd say around 1 p.m. The entry money was due at 2, so I rushed back, got the $5 to be in it, and rushed to the local hot dog shack to begin my path to greatness.

When time came compete, my parents came with me, still intrigued that I, then a 6-foot-2, 165-pound cross country runner, was competing in an eating contest. Not only that, but I sat during the car ride with my head held high.

We get there, I see a girl I went to school with but hadn't seen for a few years. We exchanged friendly words, but then I learned that she was in the contest too. I wasn't worried; I politely dismissed her a competitor, and she did the same to me. By the time they brought the dogs out I was hungry.

They blew the whistle and it was very quickly a two-man battle between me and an employee of the hot dog shop. We tied at 7 a piece. He puked. I won. $35 all for me.

Since then I didn't think much of my hot dog eating exploits (I had two hot dogs after that; I was restricted by the time limit). But now, as the weather has gotten truly summery and I'm waiting for next the dining hall opens, I can't help but wonder if I'm squandering a talent, for in the words of the famous Steve Prefontaine:

"To give any less than your best is to sacrifice a gift."

Anybody can be an expert on anything these days with a simple Google search. And that's exactly what I'm becoming. I'm learning the in's and out's of competitive eating. There are certain techniques eaters use to hold more volume, like water training where somebody drinks a gallon of water in 30 seconds. The blog I read about that one suggested not to do that though: It can tear stomach lining or induce water poisoning.

Spartan acts like that beckon young men. Go big or go home.

As the first month of college wraps up and the Big Bang of the rest of our lives starts to cool, there are a lot things I would've done these past couple weeks in hindsight.  One of which would be to keep running track of every time I was offered free food.

During the welcoming ceremony for the College of Communication free food had to have been mentioned a dozen times to the audience.  If the thought had occurred to me, I would have put on the J-School Renaissance Man mask and crashed all these first meetings.  More swipes on my meal card.

(Which brings me to another point.  It's a real shame that the Regular-10 meal plan is being discontinued at the end of the year.  It's a full five hundred dollars cheaper than my Super-14 and 10 swipes is really all I need.  They need a "Super-10" so cold cut lovers like me can go and get their weekly loaf of bread and lunchmeat and waste minimal time going to a dining hall.  I find myself swiping stuff on my Super-14 that I don't really need, just to have it.  We have four rolls of paper towels and we're almost through the first half of our first.)

Back to this pizza --since it's pizza that's offered most of the time.  Very few meetings I've gone to actually have this pizza they broadcast.  I'm in training sessions for The Post but I've seriously given some thought to Backdrop.  Aside from the fact that Backdrop is technically my field, I've heard they deliver (good pun, no?) on their promises of food.  That's pure rumor mill material, but I'd be willing to turn a blind eye to the lowly, pseudo-pledging status of freshmen --another thing I've heard via grapevine-- if Backdrop was willing to cover our core needs.  It wouldn't be so bad if these meetings weren't scheduled in marathons that spanned the dining hall hours.

What we need to do is unionize.  I know full well that activities, especially journalism ones, are hard-pressed for members, really... action needs to be taken.

The time is now.