10 posts tagged “blacksburg”

i desperately need a gps. i apparently cant go anywhere without getting completely lost. i forgot to make a post about new jersey and the swim clinic, but the only important story about that trip was getting lost on the drive up.

so im driving my car with two passengers, the head coach and a kid, riding with me. everything is fine leaving virginia, all the way up the eastern shore and into maryland. we have a slight misguidance in delaware taking a small detour on the business route, but nothing that takes us out of our way or throws us off track. we cross from delaware into jersey, and upon landing on the jersey side of the bridge, we get lost. like, off the fucking grid lost. it happens so fast we dont even know were lost until the streetlights just disappear. we were using google map directions, and it was at hitting the jersey turnpike that things just got all sorts of messed up. well we work back to the turnpike and find our way back up to where we really needed to exit (28 miles later). so we get off at a more appropriate exit and are working our way through the directions and towards cherry hill when all of a sudden the highway dead ends into the delaware river (i assume). well, we must have just missed our turn, so ok; we uturn and try a different direction, trying to find the right street. well, that is just the wrong fucking street. we go from a touristy/business harbor straight into the ghetto in 2 blocks. and not only do we hit the ghetto, but we get stuck there. in trying to turn around, we end up on a dead end street that empties into nowhere. i have to uturn in the dirt shoulder to head back. we cross where we originally exited the highway and try the same street, other direction. well, this is more promising, we recognize the street names from gmaps, but its still not making much sense AND were still in the middle of the fucking ghetto driving further into it. we finally hit some major roads take them the wrong direction and since its jersey, have to drive for a few miles before we can make a turn to go the other direction because jersey has no left turns. well, we finally make it to the hotel; and we NEVER leave it. not really. there was a wegmans a little further down the street. we had to hit that as many times as possible before leaving. when we did leave, we were doing just fine until right before the delaware memorial bridge where the signs get all weird and we did a full cloverleaf because jersey was trying to SUCK US BACK INTO HELL.

and thats the story of the swim clinic in new jersey. this weekend i went to blacksburg. you know, the place where i lived for 4 years, and a place where ive driven to/from at least 12 times just this semester. well i was taking 460, and i got lost. i missed the exit from 85south to 460, and didnt realize it until i was in mecklenburg. granted, it was more because i woke up at 6 than being actually lost, but it added an extra hour plus to my drive time. also, i had to rummage through my glove compartment to find a map and figure out where the fuck i was and how i was going to get to blacksburg. fyi, i could have taken 58 straight out of suffolk and not driven through the chain of dead towns that is the trail to petersburg. is it weird that virginia has so many ___burgs? anyways, i took 58 from mecklenburg to danville to martinsville where i caught 220n up to roanoke. bam. back on track. it was actually a pretty nice drive once i woke up and the weather brightened.

moral: buy me a gps. or at least an ipod so i have music while im lost in the middle of nowhere.

Quarry

its been some time since ive had continual posts, but you know... me and blogs. so this past weekend kris and i made a spur of the moment decision to head out to blacksburg and hang out before football season. so we headed up after work friday and made it just in time to catch a welcome back to school party with some old swimming friends of mine. one of which was just turning 21. it was actually a really good party, its too bad im too old and unfriendly to enjoy it. but in any case, the main reason for heading out there was to go to the quarry.

the quarry is a limestone hole in the ground where they mine all the hokiestone. its not far from campus, just up by ellett road. head up the mountain a little bit and walk parallel to some train tracks and then youre there. theres little paths to a 10-12 ft jumping point, a 60-80 ft jumping point, and at 80-100 ft run blind down a rock face and jump point. all the sizes are widely approximate since i doubt anyone has bothered to measure them. but we jumped off the two well established points, the 10 and 60. the higher one has about a 3 second freefall before you hit the water, so if someone wants to calculate the height for a 145 lbs falling body for me...

Quarry1

so you have to climb back up, theres no cut stairs or anything. you clamber over scummy rocks and then pull yourself up onto the rusty looking precipice before walking over jagged bits of hokiestone gravel that make up the paths. thats probably the worst. i didnt mind the jump like everyone else seemed to. out of most of the people that i was there to witness jump, i went rather quickly; walking to the edge, peering over, then gathering courage and leaping down to the clear, teal water. its strange how sharp everything looks under water. its only after about 12 feet or so that color hazes over whatever lies below. completely strange compared to the virginia beach oceanfront or chesapeake bay.

also while we were in blacksburg, i enjoyed dining at some of my favorite eateries: gillies, cabo fish taco, and souvlaki. i love the food there so much im often tempted to make trips back just to gorge myself till im deathly obese.

IMG_8041

i spent 4 days in blacksburg from thursday till sunday. it was well worth it. id been feeling guilty about being so out of touch with my friends there, as well as being so far from the epicenter of everything i can lump into the category of "home." i still feel like im largely avoiding grief, but after walking around campus and taking in the lingering atmosphere, my conscience is greatly satiated.
its hard to work it all in, i have so many fond memories of blacksburg that i cannot comprehend anything of such a magnitude actually taking place there. the most horrific event during my stay was when a kid died at a rock show at a local "venue." the solar haus held small shows in a large room on its second floor. may i mention that it was actually a house. that people lived in. there was moshing going on and some people were pushed against a window which buckled and they spilled out. to move from such a nonthreatening tragedy to a large scale national event completely bewilders my understanding of the place.

graduation was nice. friday commencement was less boisterous than usual, but still an enjoyable and prestigious moment in the lives of those concerned. they presented class rings and degrees to the victim's families. they even printed out a thin, full size, full color booklet for atendees, giving each victim a half page. interspersed among the biographies are pictures of the memorial services from around tech. the commencement speeches were all about strength and hope, about pride and love, about duty and unity. general abizaid spoke very well, although it could have used some enthusiasm. tech president stegar had a more emotional and touching speech.

of course, i made great and fruitful attempts to see all the people i know and love within my short vacation. i think i spent just as much time downtown as i did doing everything else. i helped celebrate kristen's 21st (twice), plus some "one more year" festivity for rose and jeff, not to mention countless graduations. i stayed with my old roomates in the old apartment, but i think i saw less of them than i did most of my other friends. while all of the time i spent back at the apartment was well utilized by video games, john and jason were busy with work and graduation junk. so i think it all worked out well. friday and saturday everyone seemed to be packing or entertaining family, so basically it just left jeff and i to hang out and take on highly intelligent, lengthy discussions of political, social, and ethical dilemmas. also, guitar hero. i played lots and lots of guitar hero this weekend.
watching other people graduate was much more fun than doing it myself. this may be due to the fact that i didnt have to deal with parents and the impending doom of the real world, but id like to think its actually because im growing up.

welcome back to the party lj kids. vox has been kind enough to create cross posting possibilities.

i signed up for next semester classes. ill be taking 14 credits, only 4 classes. typography, computer graphics1, drawing2, and photography1. its going to be a tough semester i think. after this, ive got some more computer heavy classes to take, and then just a bunch of elective fulfillments. theyre making me take world history1 and 2 and a PE. im not so pleased about this since i have to pay per credit.
but hopefully after all of that, i may be able to create cool things like these
rabbit  or  kiwi

ill be in blacksburg from thursday till sunday. i should have plenty of time to waste thursday and friday while you all have classes (ha.) so if you dont have classes, or have a large break or something, let me know and we'll hang out. i also do not have plans for the weekend, so if you have suggestions on things i could be doing, you should drop a note.

i saw the prestige last night, it was spectacular. i loved it. well, i liked it. it was really reeaaaaally dark, but good. a little confusing at a few points (scene changes), but it all made sense by the end. i liked the character types, the acting was pretty good, and i thought the whole image of 19th century magic and such was pretty well drawn. and it includes mention of tesla, which boosts my thoughts about the movie as a whole through mere association.
also last night, i attended a marching band competition for high school. i was out there with kris and todd, in support of todds little brother and salem high. they put on a good show. i would have more to say about the event had i not been so cold and focused on staying alive. we had played football for the first time since... probably last thanksgiving; and it had been a nice 65 or so degrees which was plenty warm for us since we were running around. after rushing home to shower and make it back to todds in time to leave for the band competition, i was unaware that the night would drop the temperature to somewhere in the lower 40s. i was still wearing shorts and sandals, but had the foresight to at least bring a hoodie (and of course my awesome glow-in-the-dark skeleton gloves). i knew it was going to be cold, i just didnt know it was THAT cold. or that we'd end up staying for 3 hours. i suddenly realized what my parents had to sit through, and what it meant to be a sideline supporter for your children. and i made a mental note to remind my children that i will love them under every circumstance, but that they may not see me in the audience.

i went with some swimming kids to the Hunt Club Farm halloween scarything. i dont know the actual title, but the farm puts on three events, a haunted hayride, an undead walkthrough, and a cornfield walkthrough. it was ok.  it would have been better if there had been girls/screamers in the group. also, it would have helped if we were all younger (ie:13-15). but it wasnt bad. just... no longer scary. they relied on a lot of jump scares, which have basically no effect on me because i dont pay attention in addition to a history of slow reaction times. so in the dark, when i bumped into the actors all gored up, i kept saying "oh, im sorry" and then moved around them before realizing they were frightening looking. i know, its depressing that such mischevious fun is lost on me. also lost on me is how fun being lost in a completely dark shipping container can be. im not sure the entire purpose of it, other than perhaps adolescent opportunity for groping. in any case, the whole ordeal was not worth $15. i do not recommend it. i certainly dont see the point in buying the $20 wristband to do it as many times as you want. i suppose as a middle schooler, you might find this sort of thing as a perfect opportunity to do something with friends, without supervision; but other than that, id rather spend my money on food.

having an income is causing me to readily dispose of such an unusual bank account. at this rate, i will never move out of this house. ...and that also translates to: i will die alone.

two in one day! i guess im getting them out of the way so i dont feel guilty about not posting for the rest of the week.

prior to my departure for blacksburg, i made mix tapes! and boy were they enjoyable. ive learned my lesson about posting multiple media (see giant movie post), so if youre interested in what i put on the cds, browse through my audio stuff. all the recent additions plus some big singles from other artists already within my audio archive. i made 3 cds. its a long drive to tech. and what made it even longer was that i stuck around all day friday to work from 3-6 before leaving. dedication i tell you.

anyways, it was a good trip. attended a beach party (a basement covered in 3" of sand) and a communist party (wear red, drink vodka); saw the team get beat by georgia tech; and visited friends unseen this year. i had a lot of catching up to do, it makes me really regret not randomly im/facebook messaging people. so im starting that now. over the next couple of days im going to try and catch up with people ive let fall through the cracks.

so what are you lucky for? 2 posts, new music, and rekindling friendships. try it all in your own life!

i (kind of) miss band

1 comment

i went to my first football game as an alumnus and it wasnt nearly as exciting as i thought it would be. this is partly due to the fact that it was a shut out, partly due to the fact that my football fun friends were doing band and i couldnt join them. as much as i despise the fact that my fellow bandmates know very little about football but continue to cheer so empassioned that youd think they had birthed the players themselves, i enjoyed the inbetween talk. the talk that had nothing to do with football. the talk that kept me awake between all the time outs and commercial breaks.

however, i did have a ton of fun this weekend. mostly friday when i was interacting with people. no thanks to all my close friends who had to ditch me for other things like sleep. bah to them. when they couldnt continue on

today, i managed to get a bit of work done and went surfing for the first time in what feels like ages. but surfing is all i really accomplished. pictured is stuff i did for assignments last week.

ps. why cant i get vox to show all my previously uploaded pictures? and when they do show, i cant select them!

good news. ive got a good handle on my classes and workload.
good news. im making new friends
good news. i learned how to make (good) stuffed shells and meatballs and marinera sauce

bad news. my classes and workload are too much to allow me to do much of anything else
bad news. my new friends dont live close by, and dont seem to be nearly as interested in me
bad news. i had to blow the remnants of my last paycheck on a desk, gas, and more art supplies
bad news. im having trouble getting a job because of my crazy available hours and unwillingness to work on many weekends this football season
bad news. i am not foreseeing a wii within my grasp for at least 6 months after launch date (nov 11)

now say "fluffy bunnies"

2 comments

student? im still a student. and im still poor like a student.

no espn camera will ever see me up there

guess what iiiiiii got todaaaaaay... my season tickets! im supposed to be sitting with john and jason, hopefully the lottery block worked right. otherwise, ill be sitting in the nosebleed above the 50 all by myself. yeah, like, super nosebleed. check it out on the diagram to the right. section 29, JJJJ. thats four Js. thats 26x3+10 rows high. if you havent seen lane stadium, its like a deep bowl. im pretty sure im at the edge. but the good news is, ill be in good company, and if im not, maybe ill go visit my fellow clarinets in the marching band. good luck abigail!