Lafayette, Louisiana, August 30, 2011, 10:40 a.m., D.S.T.~

Michael here (aka Stinko).  Hope this finds you well.  I am doing okay, but I am ready for a break from all this senseless studying!  We have finals next week; I am rather nervous.  Some of the classes I am taking this semester (quarter) are real doozies! 

When I am not studying (or going to classes or doing homework just about every night), I work a few days a week at the campus bookstore.  I work with my girlfriend, Ronee' Reaux.  On weekends, if I don't have any homework, I crash and sleep 'til noon unless Britnee and Ronee' have something planned.

I'm really not so sure whether I like college just yet.  Have been going for the past seven months or so, and it's a lot harder than high school.  High school was mainly all fun and games: here it's all business.  You don't have a lot of time to have any fun; too busy learning new things that are way over one's head (at least for me!), and doing homework and/or studying your socks off.  Then I have my job; I work from five in the afternoon until 10 at night on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

The job is great; it's college itself that is the sticker in my side. 

I'll be glad when college football starts.  Our team is the Louisiana University-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns; I pray they have a much better season than they've had for a long time.  Seems that every season they get creamed; most of the time they don't even make it to the playoffs.  My girlfriend loves them, but when the Ragin' Cajuns have a bad season, she calls them the "Ragin' Pussycats".

The Ragin' Cajuns are her mother's old alma mater: Louisiana went to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette when she was younger (only when her mom went, the school was formerly known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana, or USL for short).

My favorite college team:  the USC Trojans.  They are a real powerhouse of a team.  They have proved themselves to be a tough opponant time and time again; they are very good.  (I told Ronee' that and she practically disowned me.  She HATES the Trojans!!)

I just hope that the Ragin' Cajuns don't play the Trojans this season or there may be a real battle of wills between my girl and myself!  It may not be pretty!

I will be happy when we get two weeks off from school once we complete the finals next week.  It will be so great to sleep in and not really worry about much and get to do what we want without worrying about the professors breathing down your neck or doing scads of homework and not getting to bed before midnight some nights!

I'm really exhausted; I could use a break from homework/studying/school!

In addition to the break from school and the start of college football, I am looking forward to going to Tennessee with Ronee' in October.  I am going to be in her brother's upcoming wedding.  I am one of the groomsmen.  It is going to be a rather exciting time for the Sandusky Family, and Louie and Bill are going to gain another child (Rebekka)!  I love Rebekka; she is so sweet and she has been through so much, yet she refuses to let her condition (or her disabilities) stop her from doing what she wants to in life!

Rebekka is two years younger than Johnny or Ronee': she will be seventeen soon.  Johnny and Ronee' will be 19 in December:  Ronee' 's birthday is on Christmas Day (December 25); her brother's birthday is the day after Christmas, on December 26th ("Boxing Day").

My family is well, but I miss them.  It will be so good to see them when I go home to Tennessee in a few months!  I am ready for some cooler weather, not to mention, some fall colors; fall ought to be in full swing by the time Johnny's wedding rolls around!

Well, I gotta get to class.  I will write in here again soon; until later, this is Stinko saying so long!  Pray I pass my finals!  I would greatly appreciate any and all prayers that I can get!  Thanks in advance!  God bless!

~Stinko.  :)

~To be continued.~