BEN

Hello, Friends.

My name is Ben Horjus and I am a graduate student in the English Department at Purdue University Northwest's Calumet Campus. I fondly remember the ease with which I used to refer to this academic institution as "Purdue University Calumet." But as the famous French Romantic Eugene Delacroix once said, "A taste for simplicity cannot endure for long."

This summer semester is my third semester here at PNW Calumet, and I have made it a point to beat my body into submission, competing for the Guinness World Record title of "Busiest Man." I am not sure how I stand in the ranks, but it feels like I'm winning. In just three semesters, I have completed 27 master's level credit hours, worked 50+ hours a week between 3-4 jobs, submitted to multiple conferences, judged contests, done volunteer work, loved a wife, had a child, and done all of the other boring things that home-owning adults do. So, if you find me passed out in a corner somewhere, I will let you decide whether you should wake me (so that I can get back to work) or let me lie (so that my body does not disintegrate from total exhaustion).

When I daydream of free time, I often imagine how splendid it would be to see more countries, climb more mountains, read more books, visit more breweries, play more boardgames, learn more musical instruments, watch some movies, and perhaps even immerse myself in a few virtual worlds. Oh, and sleep. I daydream about sleep all the time...

So, if you are feeling spunky, take a gander at the files in my subpages. (No, that is not a euphemism.) Go ramble through my mind. Come on, do it. I dare you...

- Ben Horjus