April 2004 Archives

Hey everybody. It seems that this semester has been very cyclical in the amounts of work I have to do. The calendars on this blog here will demonstrate that pretty clearly. I had some really fun stuff happen to me this week, and some not so fun stuff, but all in all I'm glad to have it wrapped up. There's only a few more days between now and finals, and then I'll be making the transition into the summer. I finally found out from GE today what day I'll be starting and all that jazz. It's a good feeling to get that squared away. Another bonus is that my future boss detailed a few projects I'll be starting on as soon as I get there, and he also gave the okay on my two online classes that I'm taking. So, if I get bored this summer, it's my own dang fault. I don't see that happening, though, because I've got a lot of fun trips lined up.

One of those trips is happening tonight (Friday night). Fred, Gerritt, and I are traveling down to Davidson, NC to see Ben Folds play. Ben is one of those artists I've wanted to see live ever since I picked up Ben Folds Five's first album back in high school, and even though he's solo now, this is the first time he's been anywhere close enough for me to go. I'll give you some highlights from that show soon.

Another big story for the weekend is our Wesley Open volleyball tournament. I'm in a team with some folks, so I'll give you an update on our standings there. The winning team takes all the glory and some Outback gift certificates - I like our odds.

Finally, I'd like to point out another person I know that's made it into the Collegiate Times: our very own K.T.'s letter to the editor is now online, and she's made some very good points about the recent developments in the VMI dinner prayer case. Way to go, K.T., for speaking out for what you believe in! I think that even though there's something to be said for the separation of church and state, a tradition that doesn't actually require the students to do much more than stand isn't really hurting anyone. Plenty of people would argue with that, perhaps with some real causes for concern, but dangit, I just think some things don't need to be tampered with. K.T. joins Josh in the ranks of well-written opinionated friends of mine. Josh wrote about the Miami ticket situation in the fall.

Okay, kids, I hope that'll satisfy your hunger for more writings. I've got some cool stuff cooking up, and some photo galleries I'll be posting soon. Keep checking back, o faithful audience.

Earlier this week, I went downtown to put up fliers for the great big Wesley Open Volleyball Tournament we're having next Saturday. Walking just a few blocks in a span of an hour or so, downtown Blacksburg made me remember why this town can be so great.

First off, I'm not really all that good at putting up fliers. Every time I walked into a store or restaurant, I always felt guilty about asking for permission to put up our little one-sheeter if I hadn't already bought something at the place. When I started out at Souvlaki's and got dinner, it wasn't so bad, but after a few more stops, I realized I'd have to swallow my pride and ask first. As it stood, I managed to negotiate most of downtown with my only guilt trips coming in the form of the dinner, a CD, and a free sweet tea. And an ice cream cone, but I just wanted that, anyway. For the most part, all the employees I talked to were really cool about posting the flyer, so that abated my fears a lot, too.

Blacksburg is a friendly place. It can also seem really small, especially when you run into several people you recognize in such a short time. I saw Katie W., my Transportation Engineering professor with his daughter, and my Simulations professor from last year. I chatted with Katie for a bit since I hadn't seen her in a while, but talking to professors is still a little weird to me, unless I feel like I know them well outside the class. So, I just kinda walked past them, giving them a bit of a smile in case they recognized me at all.

Probably the greatest way to cap off my evening of being a poster boy (get it? ha!) was as I made my way back across the Media Building's parking lot toward Wesley. A middle-aged guy was showing off his motorcycle to a lady friend, a pretty normal situation to me. I didn't take much notice until the thing started shouting at him as I walked by, proclaiming in a perfectly human voice that "the time is 7:49 and the wind from this morning should be moving out tonight!" (or something to that effect). Talking motorcycles. Man, we really are in the 21st century. Crazy.

Well, kids, I've been plunged right back into the world of schoolwork and looming deadlines for papers and such, but this weekend was a nice vacation from all that. The 30th Anniversary Wesley Weekend went off without many hitches at all, and for my part, I was delighted to have nearly everyone I knew from college (and probably 99% of the people I've known from Wesley through the years) all in town at the same time. When we all performed at 11:00 at BUMC Sunday morning with the combined alumni choir, we were definitely a force to be reckoned with. The Wesley Band's typical postlude jam was also a highlight for me, because we always turn our amps up to 11 and jam till we got nothin' left. I even accidentally sliced my finger by playing too hard, so that tells you we were pretty serious. Either that, or I'm a pretty clumsy guy.

There were some bittersweet moments, like when I realized the senior class I would be graduating with this year will actually be coming back as alums instead of Singers next year. But as Gerritt put it, it's been a great four years. I'd say we had the most fun behind our guitars during this Singers season, and it's been reflected in the music. I also think that the Singers and LaVina had started to notice our antics, so maybe it will be good to go out with a bang before they're on to us. The fun was also reflected in Coffeehouse, where my, Gerritt's, and Tom's rendition of "Bulbous Bouffant" was very warmly received.

It was great seeing all my alumni friends, having Mom and Gina and Ben back in town, and generally having the crazy feeling of being in the middle of a huge family reunion, full of cousins, aunts, and uncles that I'd seen before but didn't quite know.

Some other highlights:
-Gerritt and I having jubilant feet during "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" at 11:00 AM.
-Finally figuring out "Oh Happy Day" halfway through the intro
-Seeing Amy Mac's monkey impression one more time
-Having very few technical difficulties during all the Coffeehouse multimedia
-Not having to do any more nametags!

Holy moly, all the months and weeks and man-hours of preparation have finally led us all to this weekend: it's Wesley Weekend 2004! I feel like nametags are going to haunt me in my sleep, and I dropped a table on my foot earlier today, but I think I'm none the worse for wear. This week has been absolutely crazy, but I believe it will turn out to be worth it. I hope I actually get to visit with all the alumni I know, plus all my friends that I really haven't seen all week since I've been cooped up studying or otherwise, and Gina, since she's in town, too! Lots of people, lots of fun (hopefully), and lots of singing tomorrow night and Sunday. Come on down if you're near Blacksburg; it's gonna be cool.

I'll post again when the madness has subsided somewhat, maybe with a recap of the festivities. As for now, I'm going to catch some shuteye before starting the real marathon tomorrow (or later on today, as the case may be).

"LOVE WITHOUT CONDITION. LIVE WITHIN THE TRUTH." -Desk in McBryde 209

One of the first things I thought about when I first decided to get a digital camera was all the enormous possibilities and freedoms getting that camera would entail, as well as the different funny photo galleries I could come up with once I got it. Well, none of those have come together yet, but I still have some good ideas kicking around in my head every now and then. I've decided to start a collection based on one of those ideas. What's this collection based on, you ask? Desk graffiti.

We've all seen messages of varying lengths and wisdom scrawled across our school desks before. Sometimes they're accompanied by a masterful work of art spanning across the surface area of the whole desk, and you wonder how long it took the person to draw it. Other times, the ink has faded so much that other people have made creative "additions" to the original quote (i.e., replacing the "u" in shut with another vowel, or something similar).

My personal favorite pastime in boring classes is editing the vulgar graffiti and turning it into something harmless, or even positive. For instance, an angry young man might write "This class is GAY" on his desk before leaving, but I would simply later add an "n't" to that phrase to make it appear that the angry young man was just defending the class' honor. Stuff like that has gotten me through many a class period. Another fun strategy is to perpetuate a pen-pal like conversation with different desk artists. It might last for several weeks and might look something like this:

Graffiti-er #1: Unleash the beast!
Graffiti-er #2: You're an idiot.
Graffiti-er #3: But I don't want to.
Graffiti-er #4: VT sucks!
Graffiti-er #6: [insert highly detailed anime character here]

The commission to you, my loyal readers, is to pay attention the next time you sit at a desk and see if there are any pearls of wisdom waiting to be discovered there. Whether you choose to participate in the graffiti is your choice, but do write down the good ones (not every phone number or "Jamie Loves Cledus") and post them here as a comment. I'll do the same, mmkay?

I'm back here at home in West Virginia, relaxing, with some music quietly playing and all the worry and stress of the last two weeks fading away. As promised, I'm going to talk about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, before my memory of watching it fades like the characters' memories in the film.

Actually, I think I'll weave my discussion of it into a simultaneous exposition on how I generally react to movies. When I first watch a film that I end up really liking, I don't tend to overanalyze the technical aspects of it, or the plot (or lack thereof). If it's a comedy, I generally judge it on the quality of the humor. If it's a drama, I look back on the emotional impact it had on me. Some movies end making me want to immediately go out, find a bunch of guys, and rob a casino (re: Ocean's 11). Some fill me with awe, thanks to some crazy special effects or a brand new idea (re: the first time I saw Jurassic Park). Some are complete epics, based on some of my favorite novels (re: The Lord of the Rings), and I feel like I've just become part of something much bigger than myself. And those are all pretty cool reactions in my book.

Gina pointed out this National Geographic article to me the other day. It highlights the coming of another brood of cicadas this summer: Brood X. My first reaction was that it sounded like a new X-Men comic book was ready to hit the shelves, but I ended up learning a lot more about cicadas than I have in a while.

For instance, there isn't just one large group that matures every 17 years; there are actually many subgroups (the broods) that crop up year after year in various sizes, depending on when they first started their cycle, like a graduating class. Brood X is the largest of these. So, it could be a very loud month or so this summer. I remember the last two times the cicadas emerged while I was growing up in WV. The first time, I was probably 5, and I recall staying outside late at night in mid-June just to hear them sing. The last time, I was at a summer camp for a couple of weeks near Jackson's Mill, and the things were flying everywhere and getting into absolutely everything, buildings and beds included. Fun times! However, don't be alarmed, because they don't attack people.

According to Tech's own Cooperative Extension program and their nifty maps, it looks like Blacksburg and Montgomery County won't be receiving the brunt of the brood. That bodes well for my sleeping habits this June, but chances are I'll still see some (and by some, I mean thousands) as I take my various road trips.

Maybe I could just eat some for a free snack; apparently people do that.

Well, I've done my penance of four tests spanning three days over the second half of last week, and I think my brain and body have just about recovered from all of that. Despite Wesley's Clean-Up Day on Saturday, I basically did little over the weekend except watch a couple of movies. They were, however, two of the most thought-provoking films I've seen in a while, though for completely different reasons: The Passion of the Christ and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. They did share one thing in common in that the cinematography for each were outstanding.

I could probably fill pages and pages about either movie, but I'll tackle The Passion first and comment on Eternal Sunshine later this week.