The One With All the Happiness

Today has been a good day.

This week has been a good week.

This month has been a good month.

This semester has been a good semester.

And it’s all only going to keep getting better. I came into senior year wanting to embrace all the opportunities I hadn’t taken advantage of my first three years at W&M – go to a variety of sporting events, hit up every Half-Price-Burgers night at the Leafe, enjoy good times with good friends, and not miss a single event I wanted to go to. Yep. Sports, food, friends, and fun – that’s what I was expecting.

Clearly, I forgot to factor in the 13 classes a week, plus group projects, plus homework, plus midterms studying, plus sleep.

But I’ve had a whole new experience, embracing the little things about W&M that make it, quite literally, the best place in the world. In the opposite of chronological order:

• Just went to the ID office. Now, it is worth mentioning, I’ve had my fair share of experiences with the ID Office over the past year or so, and very few of them have been positive. My ID card has been rather faulty as of late because the funny thing about using something constantly every single day for three years is that it takes its toll on something. The ID Office has rules about only replacing IDs that don’t work due to “wear and tear” and have a magnetic strip that isn’t in tact anymore. One could argue that this applied to my ID card, and one (me) did argue that, to no avail on numerous occasions. It soon became a point of principle (and absurd stubbornness) that I wouldn’t pay $20 for a card I believed should be replaced for free. Let’s fast forward to about an hour ago, and I went back to the ID Office. I had a whole speech geared up for why I deserved a new one, and the wonderfully, amazingly, fantastically, super-duper-cool-ly, awesome student employees there were SO SO SO NICE. Literally, the best – they nodded, they agreed, and they replaced! Ways to make Karthik’s day in 13 minutes or less. The people that work at this school, from the students to staff to administration, really do just want to do as much as they can to make your life easier, and there are few words to express the gratitude that induces.
• Speaking of awesome staff at the College, I needed an official transcript for that whole idea of the “real world.” I needed it last Friday, and our beautiful website clearly states it can take a 3-5 day waiting period for that to happen. I went in on Wednesday (which is not 3-5 business days before Friday), and they made it happen! They nodded, they listened, and they printed! They also engaged me in great conversation about Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots. Ballin’
• This list is no longer going to be in reverse chronological order.
• Yesterday, we had an Admission Interns reunion. The school year has been busy for everyone, and it’s rare all 12 of us get to be reunited at any point. In fact, it hasn’t officially happened yet (that’s what Homecoming weekend is for), though we’ve come close twice, including yesterday. The first time was a couple weeks ago. One of the interns (Jamar) is a fantastic human being, with a hilarious sense of humor and an even more impressive amount of talent. He was acting in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, a play by August Wilson. Opening night was Thursday, and Sam was able to organize the troops into surprising Jamar at the play. We had the entire second row of the hall and even brought flowers. Needless to say, Jamar killed it, and it was an awesome night because 11 of us were able to reunite, plus it ended with Karthik getting Taco Bell. Then yesterday, most of us were able to get together at 5:30 and just hang out, catch up, and reminisce, which was awesome. Plus, it ended with Karthik getting Taco Bell.
• I’ve had the pleasure of working with Swem Development over the past few weeks, and I feel like I’m on this kick of talking about how amazing staff is at W&M. It’s the coolest thing to work with people who love what they do (and are good at what they do), and it’s also cool to get free pizza.
• I love intramural sports. They are probably some of the best experiences I’ve had at the College. Midterms week hit me hard this year, and I was very off the ball in terms of signing up for sports. Last year, I played IM Flag Football with my Res Life staff and Hall Council, and it still is one of my fondest memories. This year, we planned to reignite that awesomeness, but the funny thing about reigniting awesomeness is you have to sign up. Missed the sign ups by almost a week before realizing the fatal error, and I frantically e-mailed the IM Sports Director. Within hours, I had a response telling me to come to the office, and we’d be able to work something out. Boom boom boom – expect a post about winning an IM championship t-shirt with my flag football team in about seven weeks. There is also an IM cornhole tournament over Homecoming weekend, and I have never been more excited. A friend and I are already cornhole champions based off a sorority philanthropic event, but now we get to legitimize our awesomeness with free IM championship shirts.

I said I got to “[embrace] the little things about W&M that make it, quite literally, the best place in the world.” It’s all about the people. It’s always all about the people. The people at this school make it what it is, and I gain a new appreciation for it every single day. So, in conclusion, in a roundabout way, I guess I have been able to get my fixes of sports, food, friends, and fun.

Also, my homework assignment this weekend was to watch Aaron Rodgers throw six touchdown passes and beat one of the last remaining undefeated teams in the NFL. W&M is the best.