I definitely had an interesting afternoon.
Countdown to PoA: Less than 28 hours!
English class today was like a flashback to Women's Studies 101 (except with a cooler prof, and guys whose opinions weren't constantly shot down just because they were guys). We had reading that brought up some of those topics (it was an article on Romance novel readers), and I swear I had awful flashbacks to Watson Auditorium. Thankfully we got through it with a minimum of bloodshed. Although, it is a class on Vampire fiction, so bloodshed would have been fairly apropos.
Anyway, I am now back from a lovely trip to the mall, in which I was incredibly polite to a guy working at the post office, and got treated equally nicely (see people, it pays to be good customers), and in which I trekked around the aisles of Best Buy only to realize that the CD I wanted doesn't come out until next week. Grr! But, I did pick up Trainspotting, and Monster, which should be good. So, I may skive off doing my French homework to watch Trainspotting, if I don't fall asleep first. I am glad that class was fairly lively, so I am pretty much awake now, as I have been having an awful time with sleeping this week. For example, I felt sick yesterday, so I missed class. I decided to take a nap at around 2:30, and I woke up at 10:00PMish. I couldn't go back to sleep, and I ended up staying up all night. Until now in fact. I hope I can stay awake until about 11:00 or so tonight, so that I will be fresh for PoA tomorrow. I can't wait.
***
So, the real reason I am posting (aside from the excitement over tomorrow and Trainspotting), is that today when I was at the mall, I remembered a story that I wanted to tell about the last night I went out with friends before the end of the year. It was May 8th, the day before our Commencement (we had already had individual college Convocations), and Priscilla (roommate), Krista, Tiff and I decided to go out to get something to drink and hang out for one last time. *sniff* Anyway, we decided to go to Kahunaville, since it was pretty late, and we didn't feel like going to Marshall St., or to the Armory area. Kahunaville was not bad, but it was weird to be in the mall when it's so deserted. Very Dawn of the Dead. So, we sit down in the bar area, at one of the tables by the water thingy that separates the inside of Kahunaville from the mall. So, we had a view of basically JoAnn Fabrics, the escalators, and some of the arcade games, namely Dance Dance Revolution (or Dance Dance Extreme, or something, but it was DDR-like, whatever the name).
We're sitting around talking, having a pretty good time, when all of a sudden, we notice this guy on the DDR, just across the way from us. Now, normally you wouldn't think anything about some kid playing DDR, but this guy was not merely playing DDR. I don't know what word you'd use to describe it. There were a couple of younger kids, and a couple of older guys standing around at various times watching him. He danced for what seemed like an eternity, in his wifebeater, jeans and boots. He was sweating too. Not just a little moist, but sweat like he'd been running a marathon. Occasionally, he would stop and let the kids or the guys play. He'd always kind of hang off to the side to give them pointers. And then they'd compete, and he'd totally school them. It was pretty amazing, but at the same time, really kind of pathetic.
We just sat there and stared at him, helpless with laughter. He'd occasionally glance our way, and we'd quickly look around at something else. He probably thought we were all checking him out, but we just couldn't stop watching. It's like a train wreck, where you want to look away, but you just can't. The thing about this that was so funny was not that he was an impressive DDR player, but the way he held himself while playing. He was sort of rigid, and his arm hung fairly limply at his side. I say "arm" not because he only had one, but because he was constantly hanging on to the bar behind the "dancefloor" (if you will) with one of them, usually his right. It was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I think you had to be there to truly appreciate it, though. A few days later, I was browsing LJ, and I saw an entry that a friend of mine who went to SU (graduated with me) had posted about going to Carousel and doing DDR. Here is a direct quote from her post (names changed because I feel like it):
"Went to the mall and finally played DDR with Heather, Sarah, AB, Matt, and Sean. I suck at it, but still loads of fun. Oh, and we found the Neo of DDR. I was in awe."
"The Neo of DDR." Our guy. So, apparently, he does this all the time. Oh. Em. Gee.
And now for the reason that I'm even mentioning this story. When I was at the mall today, I stopped off at the bathroom in the foodcourt, which has its entrance right next to the windows that look into the arcade portion of Hooters. I happen to glance in, and see the DDR machine right next to the glass. There's a person playing it. Wearing a wifebeater. Holding on with one hand. It was him. I just about pissed myself.
After I finished in the bathroom, I came out and passed the arcade again. He was still there, surrounded by a group of slackjawed 14 year old boys. They were in awe, like they were in the presence of greatness. Neo, indeed.
***
Now, I'm off to either do work, watch a movie, or fall asleep.
English class today was like a flashback to Women's Studies 101 (except with a cooler prof, and guys whose opinions weren't constantly shot down just because they were guys). We had reading that brought up some of those topics (it was an article on Romance novel readers), and I swear I had awful flashbacks to Watson Auditorium. Thankfully we got through it with a minimum of bloodshed. Although, it is a class on Vampire fiction, so bloodshed would have been fairly apropos.
Anyway, I am now back from a lovely trip to the mall, in which I was incredibly polite to a guy working at the post office, and got treated equally nicely (see people, it pays to be good customers), and in which I trekked around the aisles of Best Buy only to realize that the CD I wanted doesn't come out until next week. Grr! But, I did pick up Trainspotting, and Monster, which should be good. So, I may skive off doing my French homework to watch Trainspotting, if I don't fall asleep first. I am glad that class was fairly lively, so I am pretty much awake now, as I have been having an awful time with sleeping this week. For example, I felt sick yesterday, so I missed class. I decided to take a nap at around 2:30, and I woke up at 10:00PMish. I couldn't go back to sleep, and I ended up staying up all night. Until now in fact. I hope I can stay awake until about 11:00 or so tonight, so that I will be fresh for PoA tomorrow. I can't wait.
***
So, the real reason I am posting (aside from the excitement over tomorrow and Trainspotting), is that today when I was at the mall, I remembered a story that I wanted to tell about the last night I went out with friends before the end of the year. It was May 8th, the day before our Commencement (we had already had individual college Convocations), and Priscilla (roommate), Krista, Tiff and I decided to go out to get something to drink and hang out for one last time. *sniff* Anyway, we decided to go to Kahunaville, since it was pretty late, and we didn't feel like going to Marshall St., or to the Armory area. Kahunaville was not bad, but it was weird to be in the mall when it's so deserted. Very Dawn of the Dead. So, we sit down in the bar area, at one of the tables by the water thingy that separates the inside of Kahunaville from the mall. So, we had a view of basically JoAnn Fabrics, the escalators, and some of the arcade games, namely Dance Dance Revolution (or Dance Dance Extreme, or something, but it was DDR-like, whatever the name).
We're sitting around talking, having a pretty good time, when all of a sudden, we notice this guy on the DDR, just across the way from us. Now, normally you wouldn't think anything about some kid playing DDR, but this guy was not merely playing DDR. I don't know what word you'd use to describe it. There were a couple of younger kids, and a couple of older guys standing around at various times watching him. He danced for what seemed like an eternity, in his wifebeater, jeans and boots. He was sweating too. Not just a little moist, but sweat like he'd been running a marathon. Occasionally, he would stop and let the kids or the guys play. He'd always kind of hang off to the side to give them pointers. And then they'd compete, and he'd totally school them. It was pretty amazing, but at the same time, really kind of pathetic.
We just sat there and stared at him, helpless with laughter. He'd occasionally glance our way, and we'd quickly look around at something else. He probably thought we were all checking him out, but we just couldn't stop watching. It's like a train wreck, where you want to look away, but you just can't. The thing about this that was so funny was not that he was an impressive DDR player, but the way he held himself while playing. He was sort of rigid, and his arm hung fairly limply at his side. I say "arm" not because he only had one, but because he was constantly hanging on to the bar behind the "dancefloor" (if you will) with one of them, usually his right. It was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I think you had to be there to truly appreciate it, though. A few days later, I was browsing LJ, and I saw an entry that a friend of mine who went to SU (graduated with me) had posted about going to Carousel and doing DDR. Here is a direct quote from her post (names changed because I feel like it):
"Went to the mall and finally played DDR with Heather, Sarah, AB, Matt, and Sean. I suck at it, but still loads of fun. Oh, and we found the Neo of DDR. I was in awe."
"The Neo of DDR." Our guy. So, apparently, he does this all the time. Oh. Em. Gee.
And now for the reason that I'm even mentioning this story. When I was at the mall today, I stopped off at the bathroom in the foodcourt, which has its entrance right next to the windows that look into the arcade portion of Hooters. I happen to glance in, and see the DDR machine right next to the glass. There's a person playing it. Wearing a wifebeater. Holding on with one hand. It was him. I just about pissed myself.
After I finished in the bathroom, I came out and passed the arcade again. He was still there, surrounded by a group of slackjawed 14 year old boys. They were in awe, like they were in the presence of greatness. Neo, indeed.
***
Now, I'm off to either do work, watch a movie, or fall asleep.