Heya!

[AsylumSeeker]

Hey everybody, I'm Troy. I'm currently attending a community college and planning to transfer to a university either next summer or the '12 summer. My oh-so exciting life consists of watching sports and poking fun at overpaid athletes, reading until my eyes hurt, watching movies over and over, rarely playing video games (and when I do, it's for about two weeks straight, but when I don't play it's for six or seven months at a time) and fish oil. Yep, I said fish oil.

I 'quit' believing in any kind of god in June 2008. The idea of an almighty, ubiquitous dictator got me into thinking about how f'ed up it all is, the illogical fallacies began to become clear to me, and everything that I had previously ignored had a light shed upon it.

And if there were a god, wouldn't he had punished me for being an asshole after disposing the idea of his existence?

The summer of 2008 was the greatest summer of my life. I met the love of my life, and looking back on that summer from a wider view, it seems like every day was sunny, and no rain, and nobody in my life was experiencing any kind of depression.

So here I am! I'll try my best to be a decent contributor here! I hope I'll fit right in!

[Squid]

Welcome aboard.  What is your college major out of curiosity?

[The Black Jester]

Welcome!

[Tank]

Welcome to the Asylum!

Useful links for new members
Mission Statement Why this place is here.
Forum Rules More of a set of guidelines really, upset Whitney (She who must be obeyed) and you'll find the exit door very quickly!
How do I use the quote feature? If you are new to forums this is an important feature to understand. The maximum number of nested quotes is 3.
Help desk. Any problems this is where to ask them.
What's on your mind today? The general chit chat thread.
Somewhere to discuss the fear of dying. Many ex-theists have to come to terms with death, this is a place to discuss this issue.
How to tell your family you are an atheist. Some suggestions about how to deal with this thorny issue.
Parenting Beyond Belief. The forum for discussing how to raise your children 'Faith Free'.
.

[AsylumSeeker]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Welcome aboard.  What is your college major out of curiosity?

Journalism

[Tank]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Welcome aboard.  What is your college major out of curiosity?

Journalism

Journalists may only post with one hand tied behind their back so we mortals can keep up  

[Squid]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Welcome aboard.  What is your college major out of curiosity?

Journalism

Awesome.  The closest I ever got to journalism was writing for my university newspaper and a guest column in a local newspaper.

[AsylumSeeker]

Ah, I see. Well, I graduated last June, but during my senior year, I took journalism. Y'know, I thought it would look good and all for future references to note that I actually took a journalism course in high school. Well, the class ended up being a joke, and everyday I'd end up doing my homework for government or something. Still, every two weeks or so we'd have to write something and have it published in the little school paper.

I had to write a story on the basketball team losing in the playoffs. The team ended up getting their asses handed to them by this high school named Cave Springs, who eventually went on to win the state title. When I wrote the 'article', I wrote something along the lines of "As the Blues (a part of my high school's mascot) were down by 20 in the second half, Cave Springs' guard [insert name here] hit a 3-pointer, a coup de grace shot, putting the Blues out of their misery."

After the paper was passed around the school, the coach, who I've never liked (but also never had a confrontation until that point), asked to speak with me, and ensued to call me an asshole three or four times in a lengthy rant about how I disrespected the entire school by thrashing them in the paper.

Funny thing is that I didn't trash them at all in the paper. I just wrote the truth: they were obliterated by the eventual state champs!

Since I live in a small town, and not a lot of people like the coach that much, I'm known as "the guy who wrote that basketball paper a couple years back."

I've contributed like two puff pieces to the town press, but nothing big.

I'm actually planning to move to SC to attend the University of Winthrop. The reason being I don't have to live in a dorm; I''ll be living with my cousin, her husband, their son and their dog. Will be a very, very, very busy man then, though, trying to keep the 'ol grades up, holding down a job, and trying to study in a hectic household. But it's all good -- I'll end up living at the university library probably.

 

[Squid]

I can relate to your story a bit.  I wrote a piece about some cancer research that was being done at my old university and one professor was all pissed off because he wasn't mentioned - he wasn't involved in the research but he was the co-founder of the lab and wanted to be recognized.  He called the editor all butt-hurt and I had to write an apologetic correction in a subsequent issue.  Some people recognize me from my pop ups in the local newspaper where I wrote a article about the evolution/ID "controversy" (keep in mind that I live in small town south Texas) and my blog postings are often featured in the newspaper in their Spotlight Blogger section.  I've had a couple of different people ask me if I'm "that evolution guy" because of the article and one of my largest blogs one with the most criticism was the same one I posted here titled "Why We Shouldn't Teach Creationism".

Anyhow, in your case (since I went to a small, rural school where athletics is king) I can see how that description could have been negatively received.  It doesn't matter if the teams finish dead last, it's almost expected of everyone to still declare them "the best" or "number 1" or whatever silly phrase they concoct.  I suppose for some, high school sports is all they have.

[AsylumSeeker]

Yep, my high school was in love with sports (high school football in particular. They went to the state title game three years in a row a couple of years back.)

Hell, I love sports, and I'm a semi-athlete myself, but the coach told me, and I quote, "they are kids! You shouldn't give them that kind of treatment!"

Funny he should say that considering how they walked around the school like they were hotshots.

[pinkocommie]

Welcome to the forum!  =D

[AsylumSeeker]

Thanks!

[Cecilie]

Welcome Troy.

[Martin TK]

I had to write a story on the basketball team losing in the playoffs. The team ended up getting their asses handed to them by this high school named Cave Springs, who eventually went on to win the state title. When I wrote the 'article', I wrote something along the lines of "As the Blues (a part of my high school's mascot) were down by 20 in the second half, Cave Springs' guard [insert name here] hit a 3-pointer, a coup de grace shot, putting the Blues out of their misery."

After the paper was passed around the school, the coach, who I've never liked (but also never had a confrontation until that point), asked to speak with me, and ensued to call me an asshole three or four times in a lengthy rant about how I disrespected the entire school by thrashing them in the paper.

Funny thing is that I didn't trash them at all in the paper. I just wrote the truth: they were obliterated by the eventual state champs!

Since I live in a small town, and not a lot of people like the coach that much, I'm known as "the guy who wrote that basketball paper a couple years back."

I've contributed like two puff pieces to the town press, but nothing big.

I'm actually planning to move to SC to attend the University of Winthrop. The reason being I don't have to live in a dorm; I''ll be living with my cousin, her husband, their son and their dog. Will be a very, very, very busy man then, though, trying to keep the 'ol grades up, holding down a job, and trying to study in a hectic household. But it's all good -- I'll end up living at the university library probably.

 

Two things:  ONE, I was the Sports Editor of a very small town newspaper, as a favor to the owners no less, and I can really have sympathy with your coach's confrontation.  People are so passionate about sports that no matter what you write, it will piss someone off.  I was "attacked" so many times in the 15 years that I did it, but I stood my ground and soon it became apparent that if you had something to say to me about sports, you better be ready to take as well as you can give.  I actually began to look forward to these "talks."  TWO:  Winthrop is an AWESOME university.  I was at USC for 25 years both as a professor and as an administrator.  Winthrop is one of those "sleeper" universities that do a really good job of educating their students.  It's also close enough to Charlotte, NC so you can enjoy the cultural life there.  Good luck!

[_7654_]

Well, congratulations and have a happy and fruitful stay around the forum