I started out the month with a real nasty cold, which turned into bronchitis. Not fun at all. Other than that Santa Barbara is settling into it's fall weather of 60 degrees or so. Fall Quarter is more than half over and finals seem just around the quarter. YIKES.
Work is in full swing and I'm reffing more than 10 games a week and getting paid fairly well. I'm always making new friends through work so I never complain when I get more hours than I expected.
I have officially lost 3/4 of the weight that I put on in my freshman year which is pretty exciting. I am missing not having practice like last year though and have been finding it rather difficult to find time to hit up the gym. But on a lighter note old clothes are starting to fit again which always keeps me from having to spend money on clothes for the "winter". :)
Halloween in Isla Vista this year was INSANE. Over 40,000 out of town idiots flooded out little square mile of college utopia to get drunk and get arrested. The county spent $1 million this year on protecting and controlling our community. The police presence was more comforting than anything this year when I had to walk two blocks sober while everyone around me was a drunken mess. My costumes were anything but original but I had to go cheap. Hot Lips from M*A*S*H* (or something along those lines) and a referee.
My flatmate (that sounds so much more hip than apartment mate) Liz, in the picture with me, invited me out with her friends and we had a blast. I am always happy when I get to meet new and fun people. She is 22 and definitely has a great group of friends up here in Santa Barbara.Some of the costume that people come up with are just great. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of them. Our neighbors were the Jamaican Bob Sled team from Cool Runnings complete with a working bob sled which they somehow maneuvered down Del Playa (the "party street" adjacent to the ocean). My friend from high school, Allie, and her teammates all dressed up as the Power Rangers which I thought was pretty clever.
The process of making my M*A*S*H costume got me completely obsessed with a new hobby of stencil making. With the help of adobe photoshop I have been taking pictures and turning them into stencils for the last couple of weeks. I have only physically cut out about three but I am looking into investing in a few more colors of spray paint and maybe some more materials to make some neat shirts for the holidays... or just for fun.
Election time around campus was pretty hectic. You couldn't walk anywhere without getting some sort of voting material forced on you. It was really annoying. I was very relieved once I turned in my vote and got it over with on the fourth. We shall see how everything plays out from here I suppose.
