Keeping Busy

You know, I kind of like Fargo. I mean, I'm warming up to it, I'm confident there will be ups and downs, but there's some cool stuff happening here. On Wednesday I met with Jessica to discuss my insurance research, but the conversation moved to strategies for coping with the fact that I'm going to be living in Fargo next year and all my friends (except Jared) will be gone. She recommended I either get involved with some groups or organizations, or completely ignore other people and work all the time. I'm hoping to shoot for a happy medium. I did mention roller derby to her, and she got really excited and told me she could see me doing that, which is one of the greatest compliments I've ever received. Now, I have these grand plans to get involved with roller derby, but there are a few reasons that may not be a good idea: 1. I'm definitely below the 50th percentile in terms of athleticism; 2. I don't understand the rules of roller derby; 3. I don't know what I would want my roller derby name to be; 4. I don't really have health insurance. Up until last night, I hadn't seen any roller derby in Fargo, but after meeting Sam and Laura for dinner at Rhombus Guys, we saw our first bout. Boy, it was great. It was sort of like going to a St. Paul Saints game, like, there was a guy dressed up as a donut, the announcers made jokes of highly variable quality, and also there were some sports. Fargo was playing Minneapolis, and we won the first bout but lost the second. It was a lot of fun, and it sure does seem like a cool bunch of ladies. If I want to get involved though I'll probably need to get some tattoos. Lots to think about.

Roller derby is part of my plan to do one to two things in Fargo every week that are not school-related. Last weekend I saw part of the Olympic curling trials with Sam, John and Lauren. Next week I'm pushing to go on a brewery tour at the Fargo Brewing Company, but everyone's going to need to get their thesis stuff done (you guys better get it together, I'm counting on you). There's also a concert I'll probably go to on Thursday night at the Aquarium, where I saw Okkervil River. I also have, you know, work to do, but I think having activities to look forward to will make it easier to stay on top of my studies. I think it's safe to expect something more somber from me soon, but for now I'm feeling pretty good about Fargo.