Have you been wondering how those of us Franciscan Students who decided to be frugal and stay back over fall break have been doing? Well here is our story!

For some reason, the mighty Sudexo who controls our eating habits on campus has decided to change the hours that we can eat. So continental breakfast doesn’t begin until 9 and brunch starts at 10 and lasts until 1:15. From there dinner doesn’t open until 4:45 so if you wake up at 11, like many FUS students have been doing, you have just over an hour to cram some brunch, which by the way hasn’t been all that great so far.

During the regular week, students have the option of meal exchanging at the Pub (custom wraps, sandwiches and more) or Jazzmans (coffee shop, paninis, salads, wraps). However since the students get a break, lets give a break to the staff too! I know they deserve it but a lot of the staff are students who live on campus who wouldn’t mind working one or two hours during the break. The Pub is closed until school resumes on Monday and Jazzmans has limited hours starting at 8 and closing at 1:30.

On top of the food situation, the JC closes at 8pm, so does the Port. Oh we find things to do, like play frisbee golf (perhaps even in the day time), make pointless WalMart runs and tacking on Wendys, JC Pennys and Macys. But the game of frolf only lasts so long, and a second round only works every so often. What’s left? Well The Office but that only shows on Thursdays. The Great Outdoors kills a few hours, then some Raymond. I heard about some Rocky watching last night too but as far as I can tell, Steubenville College life over this weekend sucks!

So here is to those of you who are at home right now. Here is to those of you who are still living at home. Here is to those of you who can go to the CL v UL Homecoming game (sorry Pat, I hope CL wins). But on a contradictory note, here is to those of us here who can go to be at midnight and wake up at 11.

God Bless!
Toph

While it may seem as an obvious thing to do, Trinity Hall, especially 2nd Floor, has been getting more and more spiritual lately. A spiritual that is real and alive. On of the Freshman here, Greg B from Oregon, went on a retreat with the TORs (the Franciscan Friars who live here at FUS) and came back alive and ready to “Set The World On Fire“. He is well on his way. Earlier on in the year, he had tried to lead a Praise and Worship in a classroom before classes started but that didn’t work out for some reason. Now he has started a group called Receive the Blessing which is morning prayer for Trinity guys in the Trinity Chapel. The idea is that you may say sure I’m blessed, but do you really feel it? Are you actively seeking that blessing and are you living it? In every aspect of your life? Not just when you step into that chapel.

It was an interesting thought when we first talked about it. So my challenge to you, readers (no matter what your denomination of Christianity is) is to pray actively every night and every morning. Even if it is just recited prayers (Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel and the Salve Regina/Hail Holy Queen are excellent starters) that is the first step.

Every residence hall here at FUS begins Quiet Hours on each floor with Night Prayer which is an Our Father, Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, and the simple chant Salve Regina (look it up online, Latin isn’t too hard to pronounce).

Just a thought/challenge if you aren’t actively there already.

God Bless!
Toph

BTW, you should listen to the song Let Me Love You by Josh Wilson (Trying to Fit the Ocean In a Cup). Great message.

PS Watch out St. Marys Youth Ministry. You’ve got something coming your way! Be in town on December 18th/19th or else!

God works in mysterious ways doesn’t he? I have somewhat of a New Jersey counterpart over here. He grew up in a VERY similar environment to mine. Home schooled all his life (until high school). Fairly stable faith life, went to church every Sunday. We are both wanting to be teachers. And he is actually the one who enticed me to consider Math on top of Comp Sci (he is AYA Math aka Secondary Education Math major).

Anyways, I got a text from Lisa to day asking if I could call since she, Antoinette and Nicole were meeting together and wanted to ask a few questions. So I called on my way to class and they were all excited about the retreat and asked what I thought about moving it to Fri-Sat instead of Sat-Sun. It would give us more time and allow us to finish with a Mass and grab them RIGHT after school got out (normally 3:30ish, retreat would start at probably 4:30). So after my class, Tom C (my counterpart in New Jersey), and I sat down outside the Fieldhouse and hashed out the schedule to fit it to the barely changed new time slots. He had also been involved in doing retreats back home. Actually he had helped with “Peer Counseling” with ministered to peers in his public schools. It was a secular ‘retreat’ but he had the basically same experience. We went over almost every aspect and think that the schedule could use some review, SO team members who are reading this, please check over the Version B of the schedule and review the changes. Many of the sessions have different amounts of times alloted and it is nowhere near complete. Especially since many of the sessions are still sketch quality, if that. I will be having a few choice, well informed friends here look over the pre-written sessions to see if they are “legit” and are safe to use in a Catholic setting (we have a lot of discussions over here, Go B1, or BOO if you are one of those peeps).

That is all,
Toph

Why do I keep delaying my posting? It’s because college life = busy life. Thankfully it has only been a week. And in that week, let me tell you that the low temperatures have dropped to the point of beanie hats and serious coat-age. Thankfully Trinity Hall, while lacking in certain there amenities, it does have operational heaters. So much so that we had the room up at 80. When I walked out to take a shower it was quite a shocker to be so cold, and the same when I came back in.

I was able to go and help with a day of reflection retreat at Catholic Central High School. It was an interesting retreat. It was cool to check it out but it seemed like the kids did not want to be there. They were only Freshman but at least my group seemed not to have any sort of conviction. I chose not to return for the Sophomore retreat. I just didn’t feel as prepared as I should. Having done some retreats before I just felt that the retreat had more knowledge and background on the materials.

Anyways, on Friday, let me just say it was a test of stamina for sure. Thursday night I couldn’t get to sleep to I was on my way into the Trinity chapel when I stopped by Harry and John’s room to find Harry, John, and Greg talking it up! So I stayed and we didn’t leave until probably 1:30 when I decided to try sleeping again, but before I did, I stopped by the TV Lounge and picked up a Rosary that had been hanging on a data box. I sort of got attached to it and it seemed that I couldn’t let it go all the next few days. I used it at Red Light that night but last night I finally turned it in to one of the RAs in hopes that if no one claims it I can have it. It is a very nice Benedictine Rosary. Don’t judge me. Oh right, stamina test. Well normally 1:30 wouldn’t have been all that bad but I was planning on waking up for 5:15 adoration with the household Greg intented, the Fishers of Men. After Holy Hour in the Port came 6:30 Mass. Following that would have been breakfast but Tom C and I had forgotten about some homework that was due at 8 so we ate pop tarts instead and finished up some matrix manipulation. Three hours and three classes later came the 11 break hour which turned into me eating lunch until 2:30 just in time for me to change my books out and head to my 3 o’clock class. Thankfully after that Tom, Greg and I (having already gone to Mass) had the rest of the day off! Sweet!

Red Light ministries was an adventure. I knew I should have worn another layer. It is always interesting to experience the unique challenges of the night. This past Friday brought a wave of tremendously loud traffic early on and the occasional honker throughout the night. We didn’t get too many comments from people.

Last night was the 2nd largely attended night prayer for the Body of One. It turned into a deep discussion afterward that lasted until midnight (prayer started at 10:15-ish). Gotta love FUS life! Anyways, in a few moments I will be leaving for the newly started ritual of morning prayer with most of those same guys.

Peace out,
Toph

Yes it is true. I forgot what I did this week again. No just kidding I remember. MIDTERMS!!! Oh what fun it is to take every test they can find!

My mid-terms weren’t all that bad. I actually felt decent about them all, and I even finished my History paper on time. Okay so the printer was spitting it out at 3:42 for my 3:45 class two buildings down but I made it before the professor did. I thought I was doing great, until I realized I hadn’t stapled my paper. Opps! Time for creativity. Where did Chris’s staple come from? That’s right, the class syllabus.

Friday brought WALL*E during open hours with Christina and Michelle then off to the clean and bright bowling alley of Steubenville Ohio, where you can’t use your credit card to pay for the bowling, but you can step just inside the bar to use the ATM. As I posted on Facebook, I remembered why I don’t bowl very much. I had three goals for the night. Play one frame with no zeros, get a spare, and maybe get a strike. I got all three I’m proud to say but I still didn’t break a three digit score. Oh well, we can’t all be good at sports.

What is the best thing about college? Besides the friends? That’s right, waking up at 7:30 am then realizing it’s a Saturday and falling asleep until 11 and going to brunch with your friends! I got to play some racquetball after that with the “skilled” VonGorgeous and Harry. First we tried a game with all three then we switched a few pairs. Thanks to Tom I’m learning and I can, on occasion, get a few nasty plays in but overall I’m a very basic player and most of the time, if my score raises above 0, it’s because of opponent error. I did score 5 in the singles game with him today but at least three of them were his doing not mine.

After returning, I was greeted by brownies and Apples to Apples. I didn’t play but the brownies with butterscotch and semisweet morsels on top were excellent. They couldn’t find the chocolate before so the brownies were made from the rest of my Reese’s PB Cups (they had been sitting around for a while) which made for great brownies. After that, we piled into the car and headed out to what we thought would be a hiking place in Pennsylvania but when that was closed we just kept driving and after I said to bear right at the fork in the road (no there wasn’t a fork, Christina and I checked) we eventually ended up at a McDonalds just outside of Pittsburgh. Yes after that we continued on into the city, we checked out the site of an old military fort and fountain then headed up the Monongahela Incline which was built in 1870. We looked down the street and saw a fancy looking church so we headed over and checked it out. St. Mary of the Mount church was built back in 1897. The 24 hour chapel was under construction but we could look inside the doors and see the Gothic style architecture of the church. The bricks in the center of the courtyard out front were so old, the names deep engraved in them were barely readable anymore. We headed and got back into Steubenville at around 11:45 (after leaving probably around 7pm) but not before going through a crazy amount of detours and encountering drivers who don’t know the difference between yielding and stopping and going.

Hopefully this blog post finds you all in good health and not insanely upset that I keep forgetting to post more often!

Well traveled,
Toph

Hey peeps!

Just a short blog today.

Here is what I have decided:
I am going to try and post much more often.
I am going to try and not forget everything that happens in the week, especially since it is pretty entertaining.
Some of these posts may be pointless (like this one is) and you may be bored but…well it’s my blog.
I’m going to change the blog theme sometime this weekend (after October 2, or before if I get bored again).

So for today’s post I thought that I would show you the countless books I have on my reading list.

On the far left you will see two books that shan’t be there for long. They are two wonderful books about Baron von Steuben, the forgotten asset in the Revolutionary War. Have you ever heard of him?

Following those is my old Magnificat. Oh the temptation to go buy the October edition but I know I will only use it for the first few days. Hmm.

Next is Lord of the Rings Return of the King. Yes it is now loaded onto my computer. It’ll be back home in December.

Lamb by Christopher Moore is on my I’ve Started Reading But Havn’t Finished List (ISRBHF). So far it is pretty funny but I’m just having a hard time getting into any book. Connor gave me that book.

Next is 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Again on the ISRBHF list. From the parents.

Mad About Physics from my aunt. More of a reference I think, especially since I’m not taking any sort of physics classes.

Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. Just plain funny for when the time calls for that sort of thing.

The Purpose Driven Life. Come to think of it that may be the record holder for the ISRBHF list…before there was a list.

In Search of Time. Actually an interesting book about the concept of time from my aunt. It sort of takes all of those complicated concepts and makes them understandable. ISRBHF list.

The Sorceress: THe Secrets of the Imortal Nicholas Flamel. Alright not an intellectual read but certainly relieves the post-Harry Potter dilemma. I think this is the last book in the trilogy but I’ve been waiting a while for it. Just ordered it and got it! I don’t consider it on the ISRBHF list since I have been reading it.

The Bible! This is always a ISRBHF book. Eventually I’m hoping I can finish it but for now, I’m just working on Mark.

Can You Drink the Cup? Fr. Tom gave me this when I showed interest in being an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist but it got on the ISRBHF list very fast. Hmm.

Student Financial Handbook. A reference book that I have read all the way through. It’s funny how that works.

The Alchemist. I haven’t even started this one yet Melissa. Sorry.

Catechism of the Catholic Church. Does it need an explanation?

Praying to our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks Goetz Family!

i before e (except after c). Memory tricks about everything!

An Acceptable Time. Part of the Time Quintet series. Actually it made the Quartet a Quintet. Maybe that’s why I haven’t finished it yet. Yes it is on the ISRBHF list.

America’s God and Country. A gift from a former teacher. Quotes about almost everything!

Volume Seven from “Anne”. I already posted about this one.

Oh yeah that little blue box on the far right is my Wizard deck of cards. I hope to play at least one game here! Why doesn’t anyone want to learn a new card game? It isn’t too complicated.

Well that has been enough posting for me today. I think I may reach a post with exactly 630 words!

Post for you later.
Toph

Alright they wern’t really shenanigans but aparently, after Rob and I had just gotten to sleep (probably around 11:30-ish) when Santi came in and turned on the light. As Rob puts it, he had just gotten to sleep and suddenly his eyes were burning. I guess there had been some hullabaloo about video responses on Facebook to the Love Story video. He was running around 2nd floor trying to get everybody to show them. Well being the smart people we were, we had gone to sleep at a reasonable hour (that night) and had forgotten to lock the door to ward off late night visitors. Normally they only come in and ask if we are asleep but Santi felt the need to make sure that we weren’t. Well Santi asked me about it last night and I couldn’t remember a thing. All I remember is possibly Rob yelling out in my subconscious and then I do remember him saying that If I went to the bathroom to take my key because he was locking the door. Oh the joys of just having taken cold medicine.

Have I mentioned that I love college? I went to bed last night at 10:30 and didn’t fully wake up/get out of bed until 11 this morning. Thank God for Tuesdays and Thursdays!

By the way I’m thinking that as soon as I get back to a reasonable level of health I might try a video blog entry. What do you think?

Over and out! It’s lunch time!
Toph

Apparently I have taken into waiting a long time to post on the blog and I’m sure that I miss a lot of stuff. I guess I just lose track of time. You might think that it takes as long as it does to read a post to write it. Not true. Writing takes more thought, more ingenuity, and effort. I don’t know that any ingenuity is going into these posts (that is for you to decide) but I do that that a lot of thought and effort is going in and that takes time, something that the average college student doesn’t have an excess of all the time.

Anyways, I sat down just now and tried to make a list of everything that has happened and basically everything I wrote down happened in the past few days, a.k.a. this weekend.

For those of you who have me added as a friend on Facebook, you likely saw the video posted of some of my friends and I singing. Well I’m not in this next one (I was completely out of it with a cold on the couch in the room across the hall) but they posted a new one. Well for anyone who is interested, here is the YouTube Playlist of all the videos. Hope you enjoy!

For my non-Facebook friends, I somehow caught the cold bug again. It is on it’s way out but it caught me off guard and landed fast. Thank God for Dimetapp, Emergency, and Kleenex.

One of the guys had his birthday last Wednesday. We were going to order Pizza and do some late night frolf but decided against it since we all were pretty busy. So we postponed it to Saturday on the defined “Bros Night”. Pizza + Apple to Apple + greatest guys in the world = great Saturday night, even when you are sick. I can now say that I have played apples to apples and see why it is so fun. Friends back home, don’t make plans for New Years Eve…maybe I can convince my parents to have you some of you over. (Was that subtle enough?)

These past two weeks have been test time. Aced the Bio quiz, Aced the computer science test (thank you extra credit coding, too bad I wrote the switch statement out, I could have beet Matt). Today Tom Costello and I (and Nick) had a Discrete Math test. Oh what fun. Today was the day he decided to be on the phone until 2:40 with the test at 3:00. Four of us were congregated outside his office waiting to ask those few but crucial questions that might determine the differences between great grades, good grades, and not so passing grades. Post test I think I did fine, in fact we found a few errors on the answer key he gave us after class. He said that if we found any errors we would get points for them. I found a four pointer and Tom found a 2 pointer but Nick found the four pointer and got to Dr. Burton first (no hard feelings). It’s okay, Dr. Burton gave Tom and I both 2 extra points, on a question we both got right anyways.

He is a strange one that Dr. Burton. A few weeks back we had wanted to go into his office hours and talk with him about some homework questions we had. So Tom emailed him in advance to make sure he had a heads up. He didn’t get the email until after we met with him but it wasn’t a problem. It wasn’t a problem, that is, until Dr. Burton read the email. Tom learned the hard way that Dr. Burton is a grammar fanatic. Even though he is a mathematician. He doesn’t care so much about punctuation but grammar he goes gaga over. He tore apart Tom’s two or three sentence email and wrote a good long multi-paragraph note back to Tom about it. He does seem to have a subtle sense of humor (no not like your’s dad) but that seemed a bit too serious. Now to put the icing on the cake, when we got some homework back from him a few days ago, Dr. Burton had written a small note on Tom’s paper tearing apart basic arithmetic. I didn’t even see what he was talking about but it was pretty crazy. Tom wasn’t too happy about that. Telling an AP Calc student who scored a 4 on the exam that he should know how to add 1 plus 1 is a bit low, don’t you think? Apparently that was one of his bad days.

Despite my feeling myself getting sick, I went to Redlight Ministries last Friday. I’m not sure if I have written about that yet but every Friday a group of guys meet behind the Kolby/Claire Dormitory and leave in cars to the great town of Wierton which is about 5 miles out from Steubenville. On one of the main drags, possibly Main Street, there are two strip clubs a few blocks apart. We go down there and pray two Rosaries and a Divine Mercy Chaplet across the street from each. Sometimes people come and talk to use, both peacefully or otherwise. It is a great experience because while you are praying you are also ministering to yourself, keeping yourself in check.

Back on Tom VonGeorge’s birthday, we were coming back from Damons and a group of girls that John Smith knows (oh wait that has to be half the campus right?) invited us all to go pray a rosary in the grotto. Afterwards, one of them read an entry from a book she had picked up from the bookstore. It was one volume from a complete set of “Directions for Our Times As given to ‘Anne,’ a lay apostle.” It was really interesting but I didn’t think anything of it after that.

The other day, for some reason I made my way into the bookstore and found myself wandering looking for something to help me plan the Christmas Retreat. Or so I thought. As I walked around I came to a shelf full of, yup you guessed it, the volumes from “Anne.” There were so many that I didn’t know which one to look at. There was one shelf full of skinny topic specific volumes and then another full of thicker Volumes. Eventually I picked up the 7th volume and flipped through the pages and stopped at page 55. Well while this might not mean anything to you but it did to me because when I opened to that page, I didn’t see the number 55. I saw the title St. Christopher. After reading just a few lines I stopped, turned tail and brought it up to the register. If anyone is interested, the volumes are published by Direction for Our Times.

By the way, I picked up my care package today, for those of you who were wondering. I have already dug into the ginger snaps. They are still good, no worries.

Well I just took my Dimetapp Nighttime so I had better post this before I don’t remember what I am typing and type random gibberish. Uh oh I think it is taking effect now!

ZZZzzzzzz…
Toph

Did I mention in my last post that I tripped up the stairs in the Caf yesterday? It was epic. That is all.

We started to play disc golf yesterday. Santi was just tagging along at first but then we got him to play with Greg’s extra disc. A lot is to be said for first time frolfers. One night we had a first timer who played a +12 (thats fairly good) and then there are players like Santi and me who arn’t interested in counting up the extra strokes for fear that someone might dial it on their cell phone. He kept getting frustrated, poor guy. I know how he feels, believe me. We officially named all our discs and mine is called FOR! because that is what you yell out when a disc may be near hitting someone. I have taken to yelling it almost every shot, whether there are people around or not.

Well Dave is off this weekend at a wedding so Tom C (maybe I should call him Curly) took his Port hour. It got to be 1 o’clock just barely into the game so Tom headed out to get ready (warm clothes, prayer books etc). Then the rest of us decided to stop playing and Greg and I went to join him. Not to self. If you plan on going to adoration at 1:30 in the morning, try and take a nap during the day and don’t be playing disc golf right before. I nodded off at least once during each decade of the Glorious Mysteries. I opened my bible to David and Goliath (I’ll figure out what it means later) but I definitely don’t remember reading anything about the story after it mentions that there is a younger son named David. Sorry Jesus, you really arn’t boring I was just really tired.

Prayerfully and thankfully now awake,
Toph

Hey readers! By the way have I ever mentioned that you all make it worth continuing to post? Besides the fact that if I don’t post for more than two days my family starts worrying that I’ve fallen off the face of the earth (or at least gotten lost in the town of Steubenville, an easy feat might I add).

No I’m still here. Actually I’m trying to figure out what to type in this post because it has been so long!

Ah right, there appeared all over campus flyers for a Cigar Forum. What is a cigar forum and why would I be interested might you ask? Well apparently college is all about learning how to smoke cigars (sponsored by the Student Association by the way). There have been complaints about disc golf from various staff and students throughout the years (no specific statistics though hmm) and many University administrators want Student Life to ban disc golf on campus altogether. If you have ever been to Franciscan then you know that doing that might cause the next civil war…inside a Catholic University. Disc golf is something unique to Franciscan. If there is a visiting student, or a new student, instinct is to take them out and play disc golf. It is a way to not only get to know the campus and fellow students, but to build relationships. Disc golf is a Franciscan University thing to do and banning that is possibly the most un-Franciscan University thing to do. The VP of Student Life didn’t want to ban it right away and worked with FUSA (Franciscan University Student Association) to organize a was that students could have a discussion with the VP. Of course how do you get people to show up? Give them a free cigar! Well most of us (in fact all but one) don’t smoke, even more some of us can’t really stand the smell of it. Oh well, the price to pay to show support for frolf! The forum was basically everybody saying a lot of the same things over and over. Suggestions for altering the course and setting a time range that the game can be played during. Apparently a suggestion came up to the VP from the University to build an actual disc golf course complete with nets. Unfortunately the University wouldn’t be able to install and operate the lighting which means that we would be playing during the day time only, when we don’t really have time. To boot, the field would be on the “outskirts” of the campus and a good walk from central campus, not something students have time for during the day. Personally I don’t understand why we can’t just try to alter the couse so that it doesn’t interfere with parking lots (or at least too many), flower beds, etc and set times that it could be played (i.e. 10:30 pm until dawn the next morning). Oh well, we will have to wait and see. For now my worries lie in striving for Tom’s score of 6! Not cool lol. I’ve got to take 14 less strokes from my last game to match that. I’d be good with a 12!

Today has been pretty slow. Santi, Rob and I just hung out in Trinity 221 for most of the day. Beach Boys, Jib Jab, and the Franciscan Awkward Song.

We rehearsed for the next Trinity 233 Concert so stay tuned for that!

I broke out my sax today…I hope the guys around didn’t mind. I thought it was pretty good but then I started trying to deal out the Monsters Inc theme song (I think my music is at CLHS still lol) so that might have been annoying. Oh well.

That’s all for now peeps!

Musically inclined,
Toph