My goals at the moment including maximizing work efficiency, which I'll judge by how much sleep I can get per week after finishing all tasks. Apart from 18 credit-hours in my 1st semester and an average of 20 in the future, there are a ridiculous amount of random annoying tasks, especially as plebes, including taking out trash, sweeping halls, and delivering laundry to all cadets in your company. These duties also include maintaining a room standard, which is stupidly detailed and fairly difficult to maintain while you're living in the room. Inspection can occur during weekday business hours at the risk of punishment-- the punishment here is called Hours.

On that topic, hours means taking your parade rifle (an old wooden m14 we all keep in our room and use for drill/parades) and walking back and forth central area for x Hours. It blows. Also, you get your rank stripped away if the violation is bad enough, which adds a layer of ridicule when you're not actively completing your hours. As people get lazy and especially cynical, the risk of getting hours aggregates and the shit you eat is likely due to you by the time you receive it.

I haven't answered your question yet, I'm just ranting. But to try to answer your question, we learn everything any other college does, along with a hefty emphasis on maintaining a physical standard and a standard of discipline, aka "military bearing." It's a lot better than it sounds, because everyone going through it with a mind-blowing sense of humor makes playing the game not only tolerable, but a lot of fun.

I'd say the one thing I've learned so far is how far teamwork can go. Every second me or my buddies is out of the room or at a desk working, everyone else is behind them making sure they're covered and accounted for. I've been back on campus a few days and I've already had my ass saved by my roommates, and vice versa for sure.

My short-term goals include deciding between Persian and Arabic and getting squared away to take on the semester on Monday. My long-term goals include reaching the standard maximum on the APFT (Army physical fitness test) which consists of 71 push-ups and 78 sit-ups in 2 minutes each, followed by a 2-mile run under 13 minutes, and getting my GPA high enough to finagle my way into Princeton by the end of my sophomore year, just in case I decide not to commit to the Army.

The GPA is not just academic, it consists of 3 pillars: Athletic, Academic, and Military/Leadership. The 3rd is usually graded over the summer during military training and leadership details, the other 2 are accounted for during the school year. Your GPA dictates your class rank, which is critical at West Point. A high class rank means more opportunities, including travel and exchange programs (all-paid), but more importantly, being assigned the army branch of your choice, followed by the post of your choice.

So, let's say I'm 300th in my class. I'll most likely be assigned Infantry if I choose that branch because they always need more infantry officers. However, I may not be assigned a post with the 25th infantry div in Hawaii, even though it was my 1st choice, cause that clearly awesome gig is already taken up by the top 50 infantry branching cadets before me.

Otherwise, it's just college!

edit: also especially as a plebe my day could start anywhere from 0500 like it was during basic training, to 0600. Classes don't start till 0730 the earliest though, to give you a scope of how much shit goes on that isn't directly a class here.

edit2: Also it's like by far the most beautiful campus I've seen except for Amherst college but that's only because they have a cliff overlooking a crazy cool mountain. I'm right on the Hudson river in the Hudson river valley though so it's a close call. This place looks like fucking Hogwarts, straight-up. On morning runs, I'm usually greeted by a sunrise, a bright pink sky, and literal castle walls on my right with the Hudson river on my left.

Oh yeah, ooh, make me feel lonely harder

If I had a badge for every time I said this and didn't come back, I'd be kb

You're right. I felt pretty bad about it. The reason I followed through was because these records clearly hadn't been touched or moved for long enough that there was dust and dusty-webby-stringy stuff coating the stacks. I had to cover my face from the dust that kicked up from flipping through the collection. There wasn't even a record player in his home.

But you're right. I'll think about sending them back.

I know reddit apparently stole the badge feature from Hubski way back. I say we steal reddit's feature for the badge feature, and allow/ask/mandate people to donate $[however much you wanna make the badge cost] for this great content you're about to badge!

When a new user earns their badge, they can gift it as they do and also "give back" to Hubski for the badge they earned. It's a vicious cycle of fat stacks powered by love.

It's all very much akin to what may be the worst teen drama film of all time. Writing it out, I'm half-laughing in ultimate cringe, and half-questioning why I go to school every day.

We'll call him Matt. Matt has fucked all the girls, gotten great grades, and lined himself up since freshman year as the guy who's headed to West Point. Is that last bit familiar? Almost comically, it's as if Matt and I are identical in our desires and objectives. Many people who don't really know either of us have told both of us that we're "like the same people." At the same time though, we're complete opposites. Clarifying disclaimer, I haven't fucked all the girls and my grades are okay.

Matt's family is very affluent, which may contribute to him being a stunning sociopath. He dated a girl, we'll call her Amy, for about a year. Amy isn't terribly bright, an arch-dutchess of over-entitled suburban teen drama, and also a very broken person– with all the personal issues she may have, it turns out that Matt has played a direct role in them. Matt cheated on her constantly, and apparently hit her a few times as well– she wasn't the first girlfriend to claim this. She was treated badly, and was never really given the resources growing up to know how to deal with it.

Amy told me yesterday that she had decided to run for president against Matt, just to get the satisfaction of beating him. This is immature and from most perspectives stupid, and I think she knew that. Nobody will vote for her, she isn't liked because of her promiscuity and being prone to acting-out (being drunk/high often) in class, etc. Also, she just straight-up admitted she has absolutely no interest in actually running the organization. She just wants to beat Matt. Ooookay.

Well, today, Amy told me that Matt had talked to her and asked her to "encourage" me to step down and run for VP. Amy decided to tell me this with, again, a comically dramatic text that read "meet me in the stairwell of the science wing" where nobody goes, where I got to keep from bursting out laughing in her face as she sat close to me, with a jacket zipped down over quite deliberately shirtless skin, and told me that she wants to double-cross Matt. Have me run VP, support her in her Pres campaign, and work together to defeat Matt. Hm. As scary as it is that a young girl actually did this, her and I have hooked up before so I guess it isn't really that big of a deal but still like talk-to-a-counselor level of crazy and I'm still pretty concerned about it? :S

So, you know, she told me exactly what Matt asked her to do and did exactly that, but pitched it as a double-cross against him. Idk. If you're saying "WTF, that makes no sense?!" yeah I'm with you. Even if she genuinely wanted to beat Matt, knowing she doesn't actually have a chance means she shouldn't be trying, let alone encouraging me to drop out of the race with boobs. I told her I'd think about it, and the next morning convinced her in a few texts that if we want to be partners then she should run for VP against the very easy opposition, and let me handle my campaign as president. She agreed, funnily enough, though I don't think it will be healthy for me to associate myself in any way with her for the race. We've been decent friends for a while actually, but if I could explain her personality and reputation, it's just no bueno. That's pretty much that. Weird, weird shit right?

Part Dos.

Within 2 hours, from Amy conceding her campaign to the end of the school day today, I get a text from Matt saying "I have a deal for you, let's talk in the caf." We meet up and walk down to the caf, the whole time he's saying "I've got a deal that you can't refuse." I was 'dying,' as Amy might say.

Anyway, we get there and he sits me down and explains the deal. He says,

"you know I'm a little rich Jewish boy pabs, and well, I've got all the connections for West Point: you know, I've got two generals lined up to get my recommendations in for WP, I've got a colonel lined up, I've got my dad's business partners with a direct line to Senator Cory Booker. I'm gonna get into West Point like that."

<Commence Pabs not being able to decide between rolling eyes and clenching fists. Pabs clenches eyes.>

"I've set up my image as the guy who's going to West Point since day one freshman year. It's a great image, it's brought me much success. Well, my dad isn't letting me apply to West Point, and so I want to make you the deal of dropping out of the race for president, taking the VP spot, and in exchange I won't compete against you as another student applying to WP from this school." There has never been two kids from the same school admitted to the Academy, is his reasoning. If he drops out from applying, not that I have any way to ensure this, then I would be much more likely to get in.

Well I threw some questions to him like "why does the Presidency matter to you then if not to help get into WP" and "wouldn't it be silly to drop your four-year dream for a single year doing intense amounts of completely arbitrary work" and so on. He wasn't really able to answer any of these questions. I told him I'll consider his offer and let him know tomorrow. I'm feeling a strong "No thanks" on that offer, but the fact of the matter is this: the galactic magnitude of bullshit I've had to experience in the course of these last two days has seriously made me reconsider some of the principles of human social behavior, which I thought could not be bent to allow such disastrous strangeness and stupidity. Oh well!

Toddlers are beautiful, man, and they make great meat products.

I– I AGREE

BUT SERIOUSLY, I ACTUALLY KNOW TIGRAN AND HE IS THE GREATEST GNOME TO EVER WADDLE THIS EARTH (5' tops)

With respect kb,

If you say a lot of things at people, a lot of people will say things at you.

The world of drama that you kite around is the result of the world of drama that you create. I honestly can't see how things get any deeper than that.

Cashew's wall of text about you, your wall of text about you, all those redditors' walls of text about you, they're all just about you and they're all because of you. They don't affect anyone else who doesn't get involved, and I can wipe you and your drama way with a click of a button.

I think we should all stop toiling over you, and you should stop toiling over your role and influence in every community you're a part of. I think people who get mad at you should keep it between you and them, and not involve anyone else in the things you're a part of.

What is this, Facebook? Jesus Christ. You're a cool guy, just chill out, and chill with rest of us.

Hey, sorry to hear about this man. Frustrating shit. Looks like you just gotta bear with it and get over this bump, but if you ever mention your new place when you move, you can bet you'll have to rent the place next door as well to store all the house-warming presents I'm gonna send your way. Take care man, and let Hubski know if we can help.

Certainly possible lets see who else checks in. if not I'm around most of the summer through july and i still owe Hubski, especially _refugee_, an insider's tour of NYC so we can do that too.