Just got back to Fairfax after a brief trip to Charleston to visit Jim. We didn't get as much beachtime as we would have liked, but more of that later.
I'll start from about where I left off with the last week of finals, and move on from there. Last week at work, I was scheduled for a 40 hour work week for the first time scince I started. It was ok for the first few days, but it started telling on me as the week went on. Jim came in town Wednesday afternoon, not too long after Kirsten had left Blacksburg. Him, Dylan, and I went on down to Hokie House to watch the Caps game and grab some cheap dinner. The game, sadly, turned very bad. Fortunately, about that time, the people in the bar started trivia night, so that was a welcome distraction. I paid more attention to my beer than the game while it lasted. I consoled myself with the fact that I could shave my beard, and had fun hanging out with Dylan and Jim... and Cate and some of Cate's friends.
Apparently I have a tendency to act wacky or generally stupid or something at times, which makes people think I'm very drunk. I don't deny that I was a bit on the drunk side towards the end of our stay at Hokie House, but I wasn't too bad in my mind. Mostly, I started acting out to mask my disappointment at the poor performance of the Caps. However, in Dylan's mind, this translated to me being completely sloshed, which he then reported to Kirsten, so I haven't heard the end of it from either I'm sure. To be fair, Dylan's never seen me all that drunk before, and definitely not outgoing drunk. I'm usually very restrained, so me being outgoing at all usually makes people think I must be completely wasted. I think it's more of a mood thing for me, but, this could be argued ad naseum, so I'll leave it alone.
Anyway, after the game we left Hokie House and, at the direction of Cate's friends, we went to VT's, which is formerly the Nerv, among other things. We met up with Brons and Jimmie there, and Dylan and I chatted with them for a while. Not too long afterward, we left there, moved on to Big Al's, saw it was packed and left. Jim and Cate and their coterie planned on moving on to Tots, and we refused to go, deciding it wasn't worth waiting in line and paying a cover to go into a subpar bar. Wandering back down the street and debating where to go next, we ran into Cubbage, Scanlon, Abbamonte, Donnie, and Sei Joon. Of course, we had to stop and chat for a while. Eventually, we decided to go to Sharkeys and brave the crowd there.
We had a table once Jim and the Chi Os and friends showed up, and I settled in (with my water, which is all I'd had since Hokie House) and tried helping Dylan do anything remotely social with a girl. I also tried convincing Jim to stay with the girl that was fawning all over him rather than go with the girl who had rejected him a few times in the past, but always led him on. He heeded my advice for a while...
Dylan actually ended up buying a girl a drink. But afterwards, didn't follow up with conversation, but came back and sat by me. He pointed her out to me, and I watched her and her friends, noting that she was the only girl of the three in the group who wasn't semi-attached to a guy. I pointed this out to Dylan and kept trying to get him to go over and talk to her. I considered talking to her myself, asking her to come over and sit with us and talk with Dylan, but decided that would probably backfire on Dylan, or send the wrong message. Soon after, we decided to leave and headed out to meet our DD, Chip. As I made my way out, I lost Dylan for a few minutes.
Yes, it is possible to lose a 6'5" giant in a crowd. Eventually he caught up with me and we left. When we got back to the apartment, he filled me in on what had held him up. He had seen the girl again and, decided to heed my advice and stop for a brief chat. He got her name and told her his, and then whished her a good night. It was probably one of the best outcomes for him, and helped serve as a morale booster, which is all he really needs.
The next morning, I got up at 8:00am, showered and trimmed my beard down to a goatee for old times sake. Then I left for work. I pretty much walked in the door, nodded to my manager, and started to work without hardly saying a word to anyone. I felt utterly depressed and eventually decided it was because I had absolutely no human interaction before I got to work. It was a very lonely feeling and I hated it. I absolutely hate the idea of getting up in the morning and going to work without a single word or brief conversation with a friend, someone I like talking to and whose company I enjoy.
Around lunch time, Jim picked me up and we went over to the "Grad Bash," which was complete with odd fair games and more importantly, free food. I ganked some delicious pulled pork, and promptly had Jim drive me back to work. I was much cheerier after that, but unfortunately, the day seemed to crawl until 5:00pm.
After work, I drove down to Sal's Italian Restaurant and submitted an application for a serving position. I haven't recieved a call back, so I'm not very optimistic. After that, I went back to my place and took care of some things, including finally writing a season wrap-up for the Caps. Around 6:30, I decided to join Jim and Dylan down town. The problem was, I couldn't find a ride and eventually had to take the bus. I tagged along with Jim and Cate's group playing bar golf for a while, and had an excellent mojito at Boudreaux's along the way.
When the group got to Champs, the steady moving stalled in a flurry of dart games. When the group finally started leaving and dividing, Dylan and I decided we'd rather go hang out with Brons at the house. And that's what we did. We stayed there for an hour or so, and then had him drive us back to our place. Right as I was about to go to bed, Jim came back and I was then treated to about an hour of fairly random conversation and YouTube clips before I finally could get to bed.
The next day was much the same, though I was antsy to leave work and get on the road for home. I asked my boss if I would be able to leave early and he figured I'd be able to around 3:00pm. Jim and his Dad came in a little after noon and asked if I could get away for lunch. My boss approved and I was out of there. Eventually, we went to Champs and got food, but my 30 minute lunch break was stretched to 50 minutes, and I apologized profusely on my return.
Soon after, we entered the 1 millionth book, to much hubbub, and then stood around for a bit. Then my boss told me I could go home, since it was obvious I was loathe to do any more work. I left happily and made my way back to my place, packed and left pretty quickly.
This has gotten a bit long as it is, and I'm not even to the beach or the Chili Cookoff. So, I am going to end here, and I'll pick it up in a day or two for part II.
Until then, all the best to you and yours,
-TES
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