(no subject)
I'm not dead. Really.
It has been a while since I've posted though. No single event has motivated me to post until tonight, although many events have occurred in the last few weeks which made me seriously consider posting. By which I mean, the whole Thanksgiving thing, and seniors from TJ visiting W&M. I will therefore be posting a rather lengthy post on all of these little events, and also what happened tonight. I don't really feel like making a lj-cut out of this, because I'm like that. In any case, I'm sure you will find my retelling tonight's events amusing. I mean amusing not in a "Haha, that's so witty Justin" way but rather a "Haha, you're kind of pathetic, Justin" way. Tonight has been one of those nights which I will look back on and laugh at. By which I mean, I'm already laughing.
Edit: On second thought, I it put into an LJ-cut, because I'm not an ass. Really. ([/edit])
But to digress, on the topic of senior visits, I met with Karen and Deborah two weeks ago (the Sunday before last, I think). Originally I would give them a tour of campus and just wander for like 2.5 hours, and then they would meet with William Ames and wander. That didn't really go down, though, as the lines of communication between them and Will had kind of broken down before any plans had been made. So I wandered with them for like five hours, although some of that time was spent eating lunch, and around an hour of that time was spent in the college book store. When we saw Will walking by, we stalked him to Swem library and said an embarassed hi, and then wandered off. A rather interesting and fun day, all in all.
Last Friday, I had a pleasant surprise as Misha, i.e. Robert from my Russian class, who is also now a TJ senior, called me unexpectedly. He tells me he's at W&M right at that moment, because of a Model U.N. meeting. This was, of course, a delightful surprise. I met with him, we wandered a bit, ate caramel dessert things, and I was rather cold because I decided to wear flip-flops, a T-shirt, and shorts. More fun.
I promised Deborah, Karen, and Robert that I would see them at TJ this Wednesday. Sadly, I'm an evil person and slept in on their half-day, so I goofed up and didn't go to TJ on Wednesday. I felt kind of bad about this, especially since I really wanted to talk to some of the teachers.
The rest of my vacation (except for tonight), has been more or less uneventful, despite the fact that relatives I don't normally see even for Thanksgiving are now visiting. Alas. I did see Harry Potter 4 today, though, so I have kept myself occupied somewhat.
As for tonight, I need to give some background. Once upon a time, Ms. Sandstrom told our Russian class somewhat jestingly that if we ever came to her house with ice cream, she'd let us into her home. Now, us being the mischevious devils that we are, conspired to have a bunch of us get together and go to her house with ice cream. This went down tonight.
Ok, so, I meet with Robert, Carey, Rachel, and Erin at TJ at 8 PM. We call Amit and get him to meet us at Ms. Sandstrom's house. Everythings great so far. Then, we head out for her house. Only Rachel has the instructions to get to Ms. Sandstrom's house, so we have Rachel and Erin in one car, leading, Robert and Carey following them, and then at the end, me following Carey's car.
Perhaps you can see where this is going?
Ok, I fall somewhat behind them. I keep track of them in front of me, though, and follow them through the mixing bowl in Springfield. At this point, they change lanes somewhat, but I spy what I think is Carey's car. I follow this car southwards, but then as I speed to catch up, I realize that I've been following the wrong car.
That's right folk, I got lost. I will describe this experience in brutal detail because it is kind of amusing how badly I get myself lost. And because I'm a narcist and think you all care about this. But whatever.
Panicked, I take the nearest exit, and pull over. I don't have anybody's cell phone number in my cell, unfortunately. I do remember that Robert called me recently, when he was at W&M, so I browse through my call history and try to find his cell phone number. I actually accidently called Erin S. in the process, but luckily, before I manage to find his number, Robert calls me, as he DOES have my cellphone number in his cellphone. I get instructions on how to get to Ms. Sandstrom's house from Rachel, then promptly merge back onto 95 heading south.
By promptly merging onto 95, I mean first I tried to take the street I was on, which I thought was Backlick, south to Old Keene Mill (from where I could get easily back on course), but then realized I wasn't on Backlick but some street named Alban and had to turn around. Then I merged promptly onto 95 after I had retraced my steps.
But whatever.
I was on 95, heading south. I needed to get onto 644 Franconia heading east. Unfortunately, I unknowingly had already passed the exit for Franconia (this is probably why I couldn't take Backlick or Alban or whatever, south to Old Keene Mill), so I was heading south when I should've been heading north. I go south for a few exits and begin to get rather worried. "Where is this Woodbridge place I seem to be approaching?" I think. "Could I have missed my exit?" I call my dad, and he confirms that I am, indeed, way too far to the south. I take the nearest exit so that I can turn around, and I see a sign telling me that I have entered Prince Williams County. "Fantastic," I think.
At this point, Erin calls me and inquires about my progress. I explain that I am in Prince Williams County, further off course than I was before. It was sad. Pathetic. Kind of amusing.
Ok, but by now, I'm turned around and back on progress. I take 95 north, and take the exit to Franconia eastbound. Horray. Robert calls me, and asks me how it's going. I look ahead, see a street with a name starting with F, and confidently tell Robert I'm just getting onto Franconia. "Well, that's progresss, at least," he responds. "No wait," I say, as the street's name becomes clear, "I'm turning onto some road named Frontier, and I don't know where I am." Pause. "So, how's it going for you guys over there? Oh wait, I'm in a metro station now." Interesting.
Now folks, the exit from 95 heading north onto Franconia heading east is easily the most confusing exit I have ever encountered, as it places you on local roads that take you to Franconia. I take these roads to this Frontier road, but at this point, I see no more signs directing me to 644 Franconia. I concede, I may have merely missed such a sign; in fact, it may even be highly likely that I had missed such a sign. If I had taken a left on Frontier road, it would've headed straight for Franconia. I took a right, and this lead to a metro station.
It turns out, I recognize the metro station. This is Franconia station; I meet my dad here when I take a train up from W&M. I was here Tuesday night. I don't have any idea what the roads surrounding the station are like, though. I call him, and he tell's me to take a road that goes under an overpass, and this will lead to Franconia. I see a overpass, but a rather small overpass I admit. The thing is, metro stations have many exits, and I'm rather confused. I see this wimpy little overpass and see no choice but to follow that road.
Well, obviously, this wasn't the right way to go. I end up on the Franconia-Springfield Parkway. Somehow. I realize this, turn around, and somehow end up back at the metro station. As you can see, I was so confused and disoriented at this point, the details became rather hazy. Well, I pull over, grab my map. I had kind of abandoned my map after I used it to navigate me south along Alban thinking it was Backlick. Well, at least now I knew where I was, so the map was somewhat more helpful. I saw that Frontier led straight to Franconia. I head up Frontier, and note that it passes under a much larger overpass. I sucessfully get on Franconia east, and then from there it's smooth driving to Ms. Sandstrom's house.
Of course, Ms. Sandstrom wasn't home.
Erin had related this info to me in one of the phone calls she gave me. They further explained this when I arrived. They had called Mr. Sandstrom (actually, first they called the Sandstroms' son by mistake because they had the wrong number, but then they called Mr. Sandstrom), and revealed their plan to him, and told him to keep it secret. He told them they wouldn't be back home for a while.
By now, Carey had to go home, so I meet Erin, Rachel, Robert, and Amit. They had decided to go to a coffee palce. Rather than risk another navigational fiasco, we all crowded into Rachel's car and went to the nearest Starbucks. Actually, the only Starbucks we could find was located within a Safeway, and by this hour (it was like 9:45 PM) the Safeway was closed. We noted that the street we were travelling on was adopted by Starbucks, and yet we couldn't find a Starbucks except for this one. So instead, we went to a Panera's. We took pictures, had hot cocoa, ate some of the ice cream we brought with us, and I ate a rather tasty portabello and mozarella sandwich with a side of potato chips even though I wasn't really hungry. It was all good fun.
After this, we head back to Ms. Sandstrom's place. She isn't home. Rachel is about to drive us back to our cars, when we see Ms. Sandstrom's car pull up, recognizable by the personalized liscense plate that says "yrok," meaning "lesson" in Russian. Rachel turns around and pulls into a parking space, and we wait for Ms. Sandstrom to get out of her car and walk to her home. We wait. But this does not happed. As far was we can tell, Ms. Sandstrom turned her car around and left her neighborhood, after coming into it. We search the neighborhood and cannot find her car. Disheartened, everyone decides to go home.
Now, I lingered for a little bit. I didn't start my car up right away, and instead called home and told them I was coming home.
Of course, right as I'm about to go I see Ms. Sandstrom's car pull into the neighborhood again.
At this point, I kind of freak out. I turned off the car, jumped out, and ran wildly in the direction I saw her car go. By now, another person living in the neighborhood has pulled up in a car, and I'm running along the street, not sure what to do. This fellow stops ahead of me, gets out of my car, and asks me what's wrong. I respond that I'm looking for my teacher, as she lives around here. I am quite aware of how ridiculous this sounds, particularly given the hour. I turn around and head back to my car.
I call Robert's cell (as now his number is more recent in my call history... I really should enter it into my cell for permanent storage) and tell them I saw Ms. Sandstrom's car and I ask if they'd like to turn around and try again. They are more or less finished for the night, and I can't blame them. They continue to go home. I go home.
Well, we'll try again winter break. Wasn't that interesting?
By the way, I got home without any difficulties.
I've noticed that whenver I get really lost, it has to do with the Mixing Bowl or the Springfield area. The last time something like this happened, I headed north on 495 to get home, which at Springfield actually leads towards Baltimore in the wrong direction (anywhere else before Springfield, I would go North to Tyson's corner rather than South to Richmond, yet from this exit, I was supposed to go South to Richmond rather than North to Baltimore). I had realized I had made a wrong turn when I crossed the Woodrow Wilson bridge and had a hellish time turning around, and yet then, as I was heading back home, I was ambushed by a forced turnoff onto 95 that's located along 495, and once again I'm screwed by Springfield. This time, I was more or less wandering about the Franconia-Springfield area, in addition to heading off to Woodbridge from there. Therefore, it is my conclusion that the traffic gods do not favor Springfield. At all. Not to mention the fact that I'm a lousy navigator, but I reiterate that my worse screw ups have tended to be around the Springfield area.
Ok, enough, about my traffic snafus. Perhaps that was interesting to some you, perhaps not. Ultimately, I enjoyed myself. In any case, I'm tired as hell now.
(BTW, forgive my spelling mistakes, as I'm too lazy to go through and remove them, even though I note that there are quite a few. Furthermore, I hope you'll all find it in your hearts to forgive the length of this post despite the lack of an LJ cut, as I felt like forcing this post upon all of you in all of it's obscenely large glory.)
It has been a while since I've posted though. No single event has motivated me to post until tonight, although many events have occurred in the last few weeks which made me seriously consider posting. By which I mean, the whole Thanksgiving thing, and seniors from TJ visiting W&M. I will therefore be posting a rather lengthy post on all of these little events, and also what happened tonight. I don't really feel like making a lj-cut out of this, because I'm like that. In any case, I'm sure you will find my retelling tonight's events amusing. I mean amusing not in a "Haha, that's so witty Justin" way but rather a "Haha, you're kind of pathetic, Justin" way. Tonight has been one of those nights which I will look back on and laugh at. By which I mean, I'm already laughing.
Edit: On second thought, I it put into an LJ-cut, because I'm not an ass. Really. ([/edit])
But to digress, on the topic of senior visits, I met with Karen and Deborah two weeks ago (the Sunday before last, I think). Originally I would give them a tour of campus and just wander for like 2.5 hours, and then they would meet with William Ames and wander. That didn't really go down, though, as the lines of communication between them and Will had kind of broken down before any plans had been made. So I wandered with them for like five hours, although some of that time was spent eating lunch, and around an hour of that time was spent in the college book store. When we saw Will walking by, we stalked him to Swem library and said an embarassed hi, and then wandered off. A rather interesting and fun day, all in all.
Last Friday, I had a pleasant surprise as Misha, i.e. Robert from my Russian class, who is also now a TJ senior, called me unexpectedly. He tells me he's at W&M right at that moment, because of a Model U.N. meeting. This was, of course, a delightful surprise. I met with him, we wandered a bit, ate caramel dessert things, and I was rather cold because I decided to wear flip-flops, a T-shirt, and shorts. More fun.
I promised Deborah, Karen, and Robert that I would see them at TJ this Wednesday. Sadly, I'm an evil person and slept in on their half-day, so I goofed up and didn't go to TJ on Wednesday. I felt kind of bad about this, especially since I really wanted to talk to some of the teachers.
The rest of my vacation (except for tonight), has been more or less uneventful, despite the fact that relatives I don't normally see even for Thanksgiving are now visiting. Alas. I did see Harry Potter 4 today, though, so I have kept myself occupied somewhat.
As for tonight, I need to give some background. Once upon a time, Ms. Sandstrom told our Russian class somewhat jestingly that if we ever came to her house with ice cream, she'd let us into her home. Now, us being the mischevious devils that we are, conspired to have a bunch of us get together and go to her house with ice cream. This went down tonight.
Ok, so, I meet with Robert, Carey, Rachel, and Erin at TJ at 8 PM. We call Amit and get him to meet us at Ms. Sandstrom's house. Everythings great so far. Then, we head out for her house. Only Rachel has the instructions to get to Ms. Sandstrom's house, so we have Rachel and Erin in one car, leading, Robert and Carey following them, and then at the end, me following Carey's car.
Perhaps you can see where this is going?
Ok, I fall somewhat behind them. I keep track of them in front of me, though, and follow them through the mixing bowl in Springfield. At this point, they change lanes somewhat, but I spy what I think is Carey's car. I follow this car southwards, but then as I speed to catch up, I realize that I've been following the wrong car.
That's right folk, I got lost. I will describe this experience in brutal detail because it is kind of amusing how badly I get myself lost. And because I'm a narcist and think you all care about this. But whatever.
Panicked, I take the nearest exit, and pull over. I don't have anybody's cell phone number in my cell, unfortunately. I do remember that Robert called me recently, when he was at W&M, so I browse through my call history and try to find his cell phone number. I actually accidently called Erin S. in the process, but luckily, before I manage to find his number, Robert calls me, as he DOES have my cellphone number in his cellphone. I get instructions on how to get to Ms. Sandstrom's house from Rachel, then promptly merge back onto 95 heading south.
By promptly merging onto 95, I mean first I tried to take the street I was on, which I thought was Backlick, south to Old Keene Mill (from where I could get easily back on course), but then realized I wasn't on Backlick but some street named Alban and had to turn around. Then I merged promptly onto 95 after I had retraced my steps.
But whatever.
I was on 95, heading south. I needed to get onto 644 Franconia heading east. Unfortunately, I unknowingly had already passed the exit for Franconia (this is probably why I couldn't take Backlick or Alban or whatever, south to Old Keene Mill), so I was heading south when I should've been heading north. I go south for a few exits and begin to get rather worried. "Where is this Woodbridge place I seem to be approaching?" I think. "Could I have missed my exit?" I call my dad, and he confirms that I am, indeed, way too far to the south. I take the nearest exit so that I can turn around, and I see a sign telling me that I have entered Prince Williams County. "Fantastic," I think.
At this point, Erin calls me and inquires about my progress. I explain that I am in Prince Williams County, further off course than I was before. It was sad. Pathetic. Kind of amusing.
Ok, but by now, I'm turned around and back on progress. I take 95 north, and take the exit to Franconia eastbound. Horray. Robert calls me, and asks me how it's going. I look ahead, see a street with a name starting with F, and confidently tell Robert I'm just getting onto Franconia. "Well, that's progresss, at least," he responds. "No wait," I say, as the street's name becomes clear, "I'm turning onto some road named Frontier, and I don't know where I am." Pause. "So, how's it going for you guys over there? Oh wait, I'm in a metro station now." Interesting.
Now folks, the exit from 95 heading north onto Franconia heading east is easily the most confusing exit I have ever encountered, as it places you on local roads that take you to Franconia. I take these roads to this Frontier road, but at this point, I see no more signs directing me to 644 Franconia. I concede, I may have merely missed such a sign; in fact, it may even be highly likely that I had missed such a sign. If I had taken a left on Frontier road, it would've headed straight for Franconia. I took a right, and this lead to a metro station.
It turns out, I recognize the metro station. This is Franconia station; I meet my dad here when I take a train up from W&M. I was here Tuesday night. I don't have any idea what the roads surrounding the station are like, though. I call him, and he tell's me to take a road that goes under an overpass, and this will lead to Franconia. I see a overpass, but a rather small overpass I admit. The thing is, metro stations have many exits, and I'm rather confused. I see this wimpy little overpass and see no choice but to follow that road.
Well, obviously, this wasn't the right way to go. I end up on the Franconia-Springfield Parkway. Somehow. I realize this, turn around, and somehow end up back at the metro station. As you can see, I was so confused and disoriented at this point, the details became rather hazy. Well, I pull over, grab my map. I had kind of abandoned my map after I used it to navigate me south along Alban thinking it was Backlick. Well, at least now I knew where I was, so the map was somewhat more helpful. I saw that Frontier led straight to Franconia. I head up Frontier, and note that it passes under a much larger overpass. I sucessfully get on Franconia east, and then from there it's smooth driving to Ms. Sandstrom's house.
Of course, Ms. Sandstrom wasn't home.
Erin had related this info to me in one of the phone calls she gave me. They further explained this when I arrived. They had called Mr. Sandstrom (actually, first they called the Sandstroms' son by mistake because they had the wrong number, but then they called Mr. Sandstrom), and revealed their plan to him, and told him to keep it secret. He told them they wouldn't be back home for a while.
By now, Carey had to go home, so I meet Erin, Rachel, Robert, and Amit. They had decided to go to a coffee palce. Rather than risk another navigational fiasco, we all crowded into Rachel's car and went to the nearest Starbucks. Actually, the only Starbucks we could find was located within a Safeway, and by this hour (it was like 9:45 PM) the Safeway was closed. We noted that the street we were travelling on was adopted by Starbucks, and yet we couldn't find a Starbucks except for this one. So instead, we went to a Panera's. We took pictures, had hot cocoa, ate some of the ice cream we brought with us, and I ate a rather tasty portabello and mozarella sandwich with a side of potato chips even though I wasn't really hungry. It was all good fun.
After this, we head back to Ms. Sandstrom's place. She isn't home. Rachel is about to drive us back to our cars, when we see Ms. Sandstrom's car pull up, recognizable by the personalized liscense plate that says "yrok," meaning "lesson" in Russian. Rachel turns around and pulls into a parking space, and we wait for Ms. Sandstrom to get out of her car and walk to her home. We wait. But this does not happed. As far was we can tell, Ms. Sandstrom turned her car around and left her neighborhood, after coming into it. We search the neighborhood and cannot find her car. Disheartened, everyone decides to go home.
Now, I lingered for a little bit. I didn't start my car up right away, and instead called home and told them I was coming home.
Of course, right as I'm about to go I see Ms. Sandstrom's car pull into the neighborhood again.
At this point, I kind of freak out. I turned off the car, jumped out, and ran wildly in the direction I saw her car go. By now, another person living in the neighborhood has pulled up in a car, and I'm running along the street, not sure what to do. This fellow stops ahead of me, gets out of my car, and asks me what's wrong. I respond that I'm looking for my teacher, as she lives around here. I am quite aware of how ridiculous this sounds, particularly given the hour. I turn around and head back to my car.
I call Robert's cell (as now his number is more recent in my call history... I really should enter it into my cell for permanent storage) and tell them I saw Ms. Sandstrom's car and I ask if they'd like to turn around and try again. They are more or less finished for the night, and I can't blame them. They continue to go home. I go home.
Well, we'll try again winter break. Wasn't that interesting?
By the way, I got home without any difficulties.
I've noticed that whenver I get really lost, it has to do with the Mixing Bowl or the Springfield area. The last time something like this happened, I headed north on 495 to get home, which at Springfield actually leads towards Baltimore in the wrong direction (anywhere else before Springfield, I would go North to Tyson's corner rather than South to Richmond, yet from this exit, I was supposed to go South to Richmond rather than North to Baltimore). I had realized I had made a wrong turn when I crossed the Woodrow Wilson bridge and had a hellish time turning around, and yet then, as I was heading back home, I was ambushed by a forced turnoff onto 95 that's located along 495, and once again I'm screwed by Springfield. This time, I was more or less wandering about the Franconia-Springfield area, in addition to heading off to Woodbridge from there. Therefore, it is my conclusion that the traffic gods do not favor Springfield. At all. Not to mention the fact that I'm a lousy navigator, but I reiterate that my worse screw ups have tended to be around the Springfield area.
Ok, enough, about my traffic snafus. Perhaps that was interesting to some you, perhaps not. Ultimately, I enjoyed myself. In any case, I'm tired as hell now.
(BTW, forgive my spelling mistakes, as I'm too lazy to go through and remove them, even though I note that there are quite a few. Furthermore, I hope you'll all find it in your hearts to forgive the length of this post despite the lack of an LJ cut, as I felt like forcing this post upon all of you in all of it's obscenely large glory.)