If you had asked me six months ago how to properly prune a tomato plant, or the difference between green zebra and beefsteak tomatoes, I would have laughed. Since May, however, I've learned bushels about organic farming '- by reading seed catalogues, by nagging busy farmers at the market, but mostly by sticking my hands in the dirt, yanking out a stem and hoping I get a weed.

I've been trying my best over these past few months to avoid clich'eacute; through sentimentalism. I ventured toward emotional sincerity with my O'Reilly tirade, but it was still something surmised at arm's length.

Have you seen the BU athletic situation? We don't have a football team! Why can't we have one so this school can get some classic all-American Hooooo-Rah spirit?

I'm not exactly what some might refer to as 'a movie person.' It probably started when I was a kid, when my parents were fairly strict with what my sisters and I were allowed to watch, and therefore, it was a rare occasion until early-ish in my double-digit-age years (don't underplay the importance of that 10th birthday) that we watched a movie with cursing, gratuitous promiscuity, etc.

I don't know about you, but I've grown pretty tired of this whole 100-page print quota racket. Admittedly, I haven't used up my quota yet, but that's only because I'm scared Boston University will charge me for even thinking about coming close to using all of my pages.

I just spent roughly $2.50 on Silly Putty. Which is either a deal '- or a disgrace. I got a discount because the proprietor figured the dime I dropped below the counter was more hers than mine. I didn't need the putty, but it was a small price to pay for a reunion with an old childhood friend.

Upon crossing your hometown's threshold for the first time in awhile, it takes a seasoned set of eyes to successfully power through your homely seventh grade choral director's decade-later rendition of 'I Touch Myself' at its lone dive bar.

In my travels over fall break, I ate some turkey, saw some relatives and spent time in the good old South. Exploring the foothills of north Georgia reminded me of the reality that all small farms face: in order to stay in business, they need to sell what they grow.

Light, as it appears, is important. I should have learned this from 'The Swiss Family Robinson,' a far fetched tale of a Swiss family named '-'- surprise '-'- Robinson, shipwrecked on the only island other than Manhattan that boasts ostriches, penguins and peacocks in such a slim square footage.

When Mo'Nique threw caution to the wind and a hefty TV set down the middle of a stairwell at her daughter, I wondered, as I gently laughed at Precious' misfortune, if I would have been within the same right with a decent human being beside me instead of an empty seat. Status: Unlikely.

Ah, Thanksgiving, the holiday of food and cooking. But besides this Thursday, on which other day of the year do most people spend the whole day in the kitchen? The love of cooking is a dying passion, and the number of restaurants open on Thanksgiving proves it.

' ' ' Whenever my friends go clubbing, I'm left out because I'm not 21. Do you support the use of fake IDs? If so, do you know where can I get one?