And Then, Hilarity Insued
Finding myself somewhat bored with the prospect of leaving work and sitting in front of my home computer or console for a Friday night, I decided I ought to do something with the evening. Facebook recently added in a party feature where people could post parties for the rest of the world to see. One of the practical benefits of this is that organizations have started using it as another method of getting information about their events out there for people to see. It was there that I learned that Mixed Emotions (the 'Tech co-ed acapella group) and Dance Company of Virginia Tech (they do modern, as opposed to Virginia Tech Dance Ensemble, which I remember doing a more varied selection) both had performances Friday night. So, I figured I'd hit up one of them. Dance Company started an hour earlier, so I was hoping I could do that, then head to the ME concert.
After purchasing my ticket but before heading in to see the performance, I spotted kumquatacat sitting in front of me. Apparently, wheeerdball has asked her if she wanted to go. (I'd actually considered seeing if he wanted to come earlier in the day, but his IM message said he wasn't home, so I didn't.) A few minutes later, wheeerdball appeared. And he had Nicole in tow. (Nicole is one of the few people to ever put me on the IM block list. I think if we also count ICQ invisible lists, the count is definitely under half-a-dozen over the decade I've been chatting online.) So, there got to be the awkwardness of kumquatacat saying "you should sit with us." I ended up doing so, with the maximum two people placed inbetween Nicole and me.
The performance was reasonable. Dance Company has always had an odd affinity for showing pictures of themselves as part of their final show of a year, which I've always found odd, because it feels like they're assuming everyone coming to a performance knows them personally, or at least finds pictures on a screen of them hugging each other in that "I'm so drunk" way interesting. They did have both Soulstice and Juxtaposition sing during the show, which was good, as I'd forgotten that I really do enjoy group acapella. (It also led me to realize that a waitress I talk to at Lefty's who was just Thursday complaining that I didn't come in when she was working is in Soulstice. She gains points.)
After the performance, I had about 10 minutes until the 9:15 bus, so I wandered around Squires with wheeerdball and kumquatacat, Nicole having already beaten a hasty retreat almost immediately after the concert. They were looking for jewelbug22083, and failed to find her. I wanded back upstairs to catch the bus when I ran into rocky people... theoriginalmcc and veritude13, specifically, plus arcaneasylum (who is still much too innocent for me to consider her a "rocky person," even if that's where I met her) and a chick I believe was veritude13's something-or-other. While chatting with them, wheeerdball and kumquatacat eventually appeared behind me after failing in their quest. Thus, we were suddenly a bunch of people with nothing to do.
There was wandering around had by myself, veritude13, theoriginalmcc, and wheeerdball.
First we wandered into Torg, which is the newest, most electronic building on campus. It even has digital clocks on the walls. Unfortunuately, the digital clocks could not agree on what time it was. When we walked in, they thought it was 9:30pm. Later, they thought it was 10:30 PM. Eventually, our interests piqued by the obvious dimentional ports we were stepping through (since, of course, each clock was correct... what other explaination could there be?), we walked through the entire building, comparing the times of all the clocks. I suspect we looked at at least 20 clocks by the time it was all said and done. Most of them agreed, so Torg only has a few dimentional pockets inside of it, which is disappointing.
Next we wandered to the Performing Arts Building on campus. The PAB is, apparently, always open, and is one of the oldest buildings on campus (1898, I think, though I honestly don't remember), and tends to have all of its lights turned off. As a result, it would be a spooky place if it were left abandoned for a year or so. As is, it was just an interesting location to walk about in, and watch theoriginalmcc tap dance, and learn what an Effiel Tower is in the porn industry, and learn that veritude13, though still as somewhat off as my gut told me, is one of those wonderful people who, when I break out into song, will jump right in with me, rather than looking at me funny. And he can whistles well, which is handy to have around when I break into "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." He is also a gay man in hiding like myself; him due to Barry Manilow, me due to Neil Dimond, both of us due to entirely too many musicals.
Next was the Ice Cream Crank, the wonderful non-chain ice cream shop in Blacksburg (that everyone should eat at when they're here), wherein we were regaled with stories by wheeerdball about how he kept getting rejected by the women around him, including Nicole. We also learned that Nicole had a boyfriend in Afganistan, to which veritude13 replied, "Damn, that's one hell of a commute." We all found this entirely too funny, even though it wasn't even 10pm yet, so it shouldn't have been sleep-dep humor time. We also were reglaed by theoriginalmcc with stories of fellow RHPS cast members. During this leg of the journey, I also got to give theoriginalmcc a piggy-back ride. She was a rather light backpack.
The result of veritude13's humor is that we decided that we should share it with Nicole. My original idea, found as we were walking back toward campus, was to call her and tell her. (This cropped up in the middle of a rather interesting comparison of theoriginalmcc talking about how women have the "friend" ladder and the "sexual" ladder, and contrasting that with my 3-intimacy model, which veritude13 seemed to get immediately on first explaination, which impressed me. Eventually, the fay-ness of our moods morphed my joke about calling into wheeerdball noting that he thought Nicole would be at the apartment of another friend of his, Harry, who lived over India Garden. Thus, we continued our quest.
Looking for an entrance into the apartments, wheeerdball noted how he wasn't sure he'd remember which apartment was Harry's. This led veritude13 to begin his morose cry of, "Nicooollllle," a cry that would become commonplace as the night wore on. It was around this time that wheeerdball began noting to passers-by that we were, in fact, sober. This also became a commonplace thing as the night wore on.
Once we found an entrance into the apartments above India Garden (which was one of the strangest apartment buildings I've ever seen... the hallway was friggin' huge, and the apartments seemed to have an upstairs patio... except the patio opened into the hallway), we set wheeerdball onto trying to determine which apartment he was looking for. He thought it was #2, which had the door open, but no one inside. Deciding he was perhaps wrong, I had the bright idea to check the mailboxes for names. So, we exit the building, and walk around it again, looking for mailboxes. I was foiled when I learned that the mailboxes did *not* have names on them, only numbers. So, we go back and try #2 again, only to learn that a nice-looking young black man lived there who had no idea who Harry was and was somewhat put-out by having a group of total strangers loitering outside his door. As we were leaving, we passed #1, and wheeerdball suggested that *this* might be it. theoriginalmcc adopted the proper stern voice to explain to wheeerdball how he ought to just knock already; the "dammit" was implied in her tone, I think. So he did, and out popped a face wheeerdball recognized. Unfortunuately, the lady we sought, the Sangrail of our quest, was not to be found there.
Only slightly dejected, we began to walk toward campus again. During all this walking, I learned that theoriginalmcc crossed streets like a woman afraid of cars, making even more obvious the fact that she was, indeed, a country girl.
wheeerdball then got the bright idea to cheat and call Nicole. She was actually in her room, in her pajamas, preparing for bed. Not willing to let simple things like sleep stop us, we headed for her dorm. On the way, we regaled whoever happened to be within earshot with renditions of great songs like "Copacabana" by Manilow and "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes and "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns n' Roses and "Hooked on a Feeling" by BJ Thomas. In singing them, I learned that Linda Perry and Axl Rodes sound amazingly similar in many ways. We also learned that wheeerdball does *not* have the musical background the rest of us do, as he stayed silent throughout.
At her dorm, we, as experienced college kids (with the dissenting voice of a young, naieve wheeerdball) decided that we would wait for a smoker to come out to get into her dorm, rather than having her come down and open the door. theoriginalmcc busied herself with trying to find enough cigarette butts of two colors that we could play checkers. wheeerdball annoyed us with his college-rawness by asking passer-bys if they lived in Lee and could let us in. We broke him of the habit, I hope.
Eventually, someone did exit the building, and thus, we entered, finally nearing the end of our quest. We ascended to the seventh level of the serpentine complex, and followed our intrepid guide, wheeerdball, as he navigated us through its twists and turns. Eventually, he stopped in front of a door, marked only with two names. We all held our breaths (well, not really, but it sounds good) as he knocked. A moment later, the door quietly opened.
A Nicole, now dressed in the same clothes I'd seen her in earlier, appeared behind it. veritude13 delivered his message.
Unfortunuately, Harry had warned her of the substance of it before we got there, so it was a bit anticlimatic.
After a short period of gabbing, which practically started with Nicole surrupticiously asking me via miming whether anyone had been drinking, and during which I believe Nicole only felt the need to close the door on us once, we all decided to go to Deet's, the late night on-campus ice cream (Edy's) place. Somehow, we even convinced Nicole to join us. I was, to say the least, surprised.
While in Lee, we stopped by the room of another Rocky person, Stefanie. Inside her room was also Rocky-person _bellisima. We asked them if they wanted Deet's, but they had just gotten food and were watching The Full Monty.
Thus, though our quest was complete, our night was not. We headed to Deet's, now a party five-strong. On the way, we ran into Courtney, and thus our band was made six-strong. Thus, we decended upon Deet's. Standing outside of Deet's was an impressive array of students. Almost (but not quite) all of them of were Black. There were balloon things in the middle of them. We never learned quite what they were doing (although we did learn that they had some of the angriest-sounding cheerleaders ever), but I assume it was related to the Black Student Alliance, and the Step Show that had been put on that night.
Upon getting in line at Deet's, a wonderfully coincidental thing happened. I didn't notice it at first, but theoriginalmcc, standing beside me suddenly said, "oh my god," or something thereabout. Then she tried to get veritude13's attention. Then, it hit me; what I was hearing in the background were the intro guitar notes of "What's Up?" Then we managed to get veritude13's attention. And then, there we were, four people (since Courtney also knew the song), none of us blonde, singing the one hit that the 4 Non-Blondes had, there in the middle of Deet's. Nicole looked at us as if we were crazed, which we probably were/are. wheeerdball looked aclimated, at this point. And then, a beautiful thing happened; one of the women behind the counter joined in, and then we were five non-blondes. I like to think that, somewhere in the place, there were other people singing, but I can't be sure, since our voices were quite enough to keep me from hearing much else.
So yes, apparently, Deet's keeps its satallite radio on the 90's hits station, since we were also hit with "Shoop" and other classics we all remembered far too many words to, though I think "What's Up?" is the only thing we sang all the way through.
Sitting at our table in Deet's, I mentioned to wheerdball that the night was young. Almost without thinking, I added, "and you're so beautiful." He looked at me, confused, but that was expected. Then Nicole asked me, "what key did he ask for that in; C-flat?" That didn't strike me as odd... until I realized that, wait a moment, that was *Nicole* who, despite the fact that *she's* in *VTSFFC*, likes to act like she's normal and we (and by "we", I mostly mean "me") are freaky. Anyhow, the conversation prompted my side of the table (me, veritude13, Courtney) to begin singing "Men in Tights," leading theoriginalmcc to join in. And then *Nicole* joined in, further convincing me that her illusions of being less dorky than the rest of us were just that: illusions.
Then arcaneasylum tapped on the window beside us. Since Deet's was closing, we went outside to join her, and then we were seven. She didn't know what an Effiel Tower was, so I dropped to my knees and leaned into veritude13 so that she could learn. My vision caught Nicole's response to my right, but not arcaneasylum's to my left, a fact which surfaced later in the evening when we were comparing and constrating the two's styles of innocence.
Nicole was ready to return to her dorm, but was gracious enough to let us walk her there by the not-shortest path. Upon dropping her off, she actually talked to me for several sentences while the rest of our group (sans arcaneasylum and Courtney, both of whom we lost on the way) returned to Stefanie's room. (This surprised both me and wheeerdball.
Then we hung out in Stefanie's room, wherein Ann (also known as _bellisima) suddenly realized that she recognized me from facebook. I believe that is the only time anyone has ever recognized me due to facebook. I think I am pleased... it at least means that the picture there looks like me. I learned that Stefanie was, indeed, wearing underwear, and that my ability to tell someone precisely what I'm doing in a semi-apologetic tone ("I'm sorry, but if it appears I'm staring at your crotch, it's only because I'm trying to determine if you're wearing underwear") can throw people for a loop.
Eventually, Stefanie and _bellisima headed to IHOP, and the other four of us shared an elevator with them down. We managed to dodge falling-down drunks en route.
Still not prepared to call it a night (after all, it was only around midnight), we headed to DX (which is the very-much-cleaner-than-when-I-was-a-student version of Dietrick Express, the calories-fit-for-a-college-student place that keeps late hours). I learned that DC now serves dishes such as Diablo Tortilinni
and Salisbury Steak, which makes me almost want to finally eat one meal there. veritude13 got himself a couple of burgers.
We four then headed to veritude13's dorm room (he had a single; yay!). There, we watched David's collection of Wonder Showzen, which is a warped-for-South-Park-Adults spoof of Sesame Street... I liked it okay, because it managed to occassionally get a non-crude laugh. Then we watched all the Robot Chicken that there is. Robot Chicken really is a wonderful bit of comedy, partially due to the way they use their references to the 80's, and partially because they get the actors to play themselves as much as possible. Bert Reynolds really was Bert Reynolds. I wouldn't be surprised if the Dukes of Hazard played themselves. Then we put on Red vs. Blue, and we all started to fall asleep.
After a half-dozen episodes or so, we finally marshalled up the energy to stand up and go visit veritude13's something-or-other, who was putting in a night at the annual Relay for Life. She seemed pretty miserable, but he brought her a sweatshirt, which seemed to make her happier. Then, the four of us headed to Joe's Diner, because some of us were getting grumbly-tummy, since it was around 5am. We ate greasy food. The sun rose. It was still hours before things on campus would begin opening up. veritude13 decided to call it quits and get a few hours of sleep before he went to get his car inspected. theoriginalmcc was nice enough to drive wheeerdball and I back home, mostly because he's a pansy who wasn't willing to walk and whined about it, though, I will admit, there at the end, even I was having difficulty working up the motivation for a 30-minute walk when I was fatigued and cold.
Then it was 7am, and I went to bed for four hours.
I woke up at 11:10 with just barely enough time to throw on clothes and get myself to the 11:30 bus so I could get to Gamesday on time. There, I de-zombified slightly more by drinking large amounts of coke. My voice was rough-sounding to me, probably due to little sleep, cold, and too much singing.
Gamesday was pretty typical. I actually won Princes of Florence, beating jazzfish by less than he normally beats me by. From that point on in the afternoon, jazzfish managed to stymie me in just about every game I played, either intentionally or not. It was amusing. jazzfish, uilos, markush, Good Chris, and Mike made up my fellow gamers for almost all of the games I played Saturday, which leads to really enjoying what I'm playing... but then, no one has ever accused me of being an inclusionist.
Due to my lack of energy from the night before, all of my food Saturday afternoon and evening came from inside Squires. Au Bon Paine has decent sandwiches, so I had my standard chicken and mozerella for "lunch", but I decided on a piece of pizza from Sbarro and some orange scones (2 for 1) from Au Bon Paine for "dinner."
And then I went home around 11:30 and mostly dropped. It took a while for my body to work itself into a sleep state. I think I thought alot for a while, but I don't quite remember what about.
This weekend looks to be exciting, too. There's a RHPS party on the 30th, starting at 8pm. deinna is having her housewarming party on the 30th, from noon to midnight. jazzfish will, I expect, run his standard April 30th one-off. If I were feeling logistical and masochistic, I could try and fit in a visit to JMU this weekend to see rislyn's sister do her senior piano recital... which I'd actually really like to see because, though I may not like many things about her personally, she was a rather talented pianist at 16, and I'm curious how far she's progressed. And part of me is becoming restless enough that the thought of stirring the hornet's nest that surrounds rislyn doesn't seem so bad... it wouldn't be the first time I've been in a room with a half-dozen people who hate me.
Please forgive my spelling mistakes, but I'm just not going to work up the energy to check this entire document.