Day Themes - Keeping Life Interesting

One of the things I love is tradition. Ok that's broad. I like traditionS, more specifically, traditions that are fun and carry on things of old. I think this is one reason I love camp. All the traditions and cheers and stuff is something I just eat up, and love doing. It's also a reason I am somewhat sad I didn't go to bigger school for my college education. Now, I love Wheaton, and I am so glad I came, but Wheaton is NOT "ra ra, traditon, ra ra." In fact, it approaches being the opposite. This was a struggle for me at times, because of my love for these type of things. I found outlets, however, and that helped.

One such outlet has been the development of what I call "theme days." This post is going to be a history of these theme days, from their inception to present day. Don't worry, it isn't a long history, so it shouldn't take long to read.

It all started in my sophmore year at Wheaton. I was headed to another glorious day of Wednesday fall workouts for track, which, at this point in time (things later changed...much harder), was Ultimate Frisbee Day. (Quick aside...for anyone reading this wondering why Ultimate is so popular at college, I don't quite get it either.) As I came around the west end of the stadium, bearing down for another day of fierce competition, I see Adam Smith (no, not the economist) coming towards me with Mike Trager. As I recall, Adam had a pink piece of construction tape wrapped around his head. Now, you have to understand, this wasn't THAT out of the ordinary for Adam, but still I wondered, "why?" (I've since learned that the better question is "why not?") Once I inquired, Trager jumped in and said, "On Wednesdays we wear pink." This was, of course, a reference to the movie Mean Girls, a movie starring Lindsay Lohan as the new girl in a public school that is pretty crazy, but also very true (from what I hear, I went to a private school...). Anyway, she joins this group of girls known as "the Plastics," who have some day themes of their own, which revolve around clothes. Karen, the (dumb) blonde of the group explains to our hero "On Wednesdays we wear pink!"

Being the enthusiastic sophomore that I was, I had a desire to stick to a theme on the team and in life. So, starting shortly after that, I began Pink Wednesdays. And, to this day, I wear pink every Wednesday. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Surely, there's no way you wear pink every Wednesday." Well you would be wrong. With very very few exceptions, I'm talking single digits, going on three years...every Wednesday. And don't call me Shirley.

So I had one day with a theme. I had other less consistent traditions sophmore year, some of them not worth explaining here. Fast forward to summer after my sophomore year, when I worked at Kanakuk Kamp in Missouri. Great place, great traditions, great fun. There I continued Pink Wednesdays with my pink bandana and the occasional pink shirt. While at K-Klassic, though, I picked up a day theme known as REAANTTOG. This stands for Random Encouraging And Affirming Note To The Opposite Gender, which took place on Thursday. What a great idea, I thought. Great way to encourage, one of my favorite things to do. So I started this day theme when I got back to school later that fall. Granted, I was less consistent with this one, didn't get as many days in as I would have liked. This is was partially due to strong criticism from some as to the gender-bias in the event. Psh, come up with your own idea!

Ok fast forward again to senior year. I really wanted to get more days in there! At the start of the year, Monday was Funday Monday, with 45 minutes of required fun. This typically involved a couple games of Mario Kart with the roommates or by myself. Tuesday, early in the year, became Polo Tuesday. My then roommate Mark Cragg and I were shopping at Target and we came across these great polos for $8. Can't pass that up right? But we couldn't decide on a color, so we chose our top two favorites and decided to share them. This worked out better for Mark than for me, because if you know Mark you know he's a big dude. The guy can pump the iron. So, me putting on a shirt that he wears takes me back to the 90's when it was cool to wear stuff 2x your size. Anyway, I'm really not bitter about it, because it gave me a theme for Tuesday! Friday because verse day, and I committed to working on scripture memory and having that day be recitation day. This also didn't work out as well, as I couldn't find a consistent partner for memorization. If anyone is interested, I'm still looking...

So, the week was complete...or was it? Our annual College Group Christmas party changed everything. We had a limerick contest, which inspired a new day theme for Monday, replacing Funday Monday. (Maybe replacing isn't the right word...kinda like Replacement Theology, but less important). I wrote a fair number of limericks in that time, some of them were pretty good and mostly about my friends. But, I became very inconsistent in this day. Also, once I started working at the Alumni Relations Office, Polo Tuesday had to be replaced (there I go again) with Orange and Blue Tuesday, a welcome change which matched the change in wardrobe required for my duties at Westgate.

We've now come to today, when a few new day themes are going to be announced. I know, you're just on the edge of your seat! What will stay? What will go? What will change? To quote Samuel L. Jackson from Jurassic Park, "Hold onto your butts."

Henceforth, Monday will be known as Metaphor Monday. This was an idea that came principally from my roommate David Jordan. We are constantly updating our stati on g-chat, trying to be witty and start a trend among our friends. One day last week, Slim decided to make a profound metaphor for what ever mundane task he was diligently completing at his job. This inspired him, and he asked if we could make this activity a day theme. We welcomed in Metaphor Monday yesterday, and were reminded of the close similarity of a metaphor and a simile by a certain Ms. Stam. But, it's METAPHOR Monday, so we'll have to watch ourselves.

Also henceforth, Friday will be known as Future Friday. On Future Friday's participants are encouraged to make a prediction of something that will happen in the future. It could be far, it could be short, but the point is to make it fun. For example, (I am going to jump the gun and reveal my prediction for this Friday) I could say that the Notre Dame football team, despite a downward spiral the past few years, will recover to win the national championship in 2012. As my brother might say, BOLD. But that's the point of Future Fridays. Assert something with confidence, and then see if it comes true. There is no betting on Future Friday predictions - this is purely for fun!

So there you have it. Day Themes are something that make my weeks much more fun, exciting, and spice things up a little bit. I'm also able to pass the tradition on to many others, including my coworkers (wherever I work...), which brings me joy because I love participating in things with people. So, participate...or don't. But I'd really love it if you did.

Happy Pink Wednesday,
Cole

Re-Entry into the Blogging Realm

I think re-entry is a good way to describe this moment, because I feel like a spaceship coming back to Earth from outer space. I'm apprehensive to come back, mainly because of the dismal failure my previous blog, and because I'm self-conscious and know that anyone can read this. But, I'll try and keep it orthodox, and trust that I will use this in a good way...but wow I feel the burn!

So why blog? Well, I think blogging is a good way to process things that are going on in your life. It's a way to express yourself about any number of topics you encounter, but here's the catch: this is a public way of doing it. Perhaps this is why I'm apprehensive: I honestly don't like just putting myself out there all the time, as nice as it is when that works out well for you. I can't say this is humility, because it's likely more like a kind of false humility that is really insecurity and a desire for people to think well of you.

That's the reason I want to blog. I'd like to work through some of that insecurity I see in myself. I'd like to write some movie reviews, express some thoughts on what I'm hearing in church on Sunday, journal about stuff I'm going through in life, comment on the political landscape from time to time, and also have some fun (this won't be one of those uber-serious blogs all the time, trust me). I want, and you can quote me on this, to interact with you, my readers about these things and to learn from you. I do this to become a person that values intellectual interaction, but also one that values truth and it's impact on our lives in this in-between time we share on Earth. So please, comment, rant, rail...but be nice. I'd appreciate it!

I hope you enjoy this blog. And if you have suggestions for things I should write on, I'm all ears!

Bye for now,
Cole