reporting live from blacksburg...

*The two pictures aren't for the Tech VS VA game, they were from earlier in the semester against USC. Look at that sea of orange!

Well, not really, I think I'd get mobbed if I went to Virginia Tech dressed in Virginia colors (UVA's usually called Virginia in sports). Rather, I'm sitting in the comfort of a friend's apartment watching the Virginia VS VA Tech game after a crazy Black Friday (more on that later).

At the moment we're in the second half, just after a series of unpopular ref calls in the apartment (aka much screaming and yelling at the scream). We were all in shock when the team started Vic Hall instead of Verica, then decided Groh was crazy for not starting him as QB much, much earlier. 13,000 yards in a high school career? Really? I have to concur today that Groh is probably the most overpaid coach in college football history.

Aw, Glennon just threw the ball deep... into the hands of a Virginia receiver. Poor guy looks frustrated, back to the game.

twilight. when the stars come out.

..or the new movie that incites either extreme love or hatred from its viewers. It was my last year's roommate's birthday yesterday, so we got together for a little celebration of pizza, Chinese food and the best molten chocolate cake ever (my other second year suitemates were excellent bakers. They would be forever making bread, cupcakes, cake, etcetc.). Somehow it turned into everyone watching rerun of America's Next Top Model finale, which made the lone guy in the midst of eight girls feel very, very awkward. Of course, he would chime in with insightful comments such as "Oh, her hair looks like a nest," or "That's... just.. scary," to which we'd scream in outrage and attack him with cushions.

It was also a Maupin reunion -- everyone there were my first year suitemates, we'd hit it off really well and stuck together second year, and finally parted ways third year. I did have some friends whose roommate situation didn't work out so well first year. There was the poor petite Asian girl who had to deal with seven very tall suitemates who liked to blast music at 3 am and run around screaming at each other (not sure how the height situation happened, haha). There was the Russian guy whose roommate made weird crackling noises in his sleep. No kidding, it sounded like his bones were spontaneously breaking the first time I heard it. There was also the girl down the hall who would watch House so loudly that the RA thought someone was really being hurt the first time she heard a scream. Ahh, fun times as a first year. =P

Now that I've probably thoroughly weirded you out with bad roommate situations, here's a couple good ones. My violin playing guy friend clicked really well with his hallmates, to the point where they would have intense philosophical discussions, referring to Plato, Aristotle and Socrates at 2 am. My Jewish sister suitemate loved her roommate so much she took her home during Thanksgiving break. And then of course there was a bunch of guys in the building next to us who would have LAN parties all weekend, night, and sometimes even all day long. I'm.. still not sure when they slept, ate, and got work done.

Every summer before students arrive on Grounds, I see a lot of posts on message boards and questions thrown around about roommate dynamics and the possibility of a single room. For me, I don't want a single. College is the four best years of my life, and I want to share that with as many people as possible. There's plenty of time to be alone after college, I don't particularly want to start now. But then again, I'm a bit of an extreme case. I live in a sorority house with 20 other girls -- but there as been surprisingly nonexistent drama. With all the real life shows these days, you'd expect us to be at each other's throats about hair dryers, shower time, and who knows what. Heh, go figure. *shrug*

what's the longest time that you've...

spent in a physical school building? I erected my own record yesterday after spending 13 hours in the comm school building. Yes, a grand 1, 3. Also absolutely insane.

My group and I spent such a long time in the building because it's coming down to the line for our final project (recap: my block sponsor is Rolls Royce, we have to give them a recommendation of choosing between developing a military trainer engine or a civilian turboprop engine). We decided which project yesterday, and spent quite a while debating it. I think we've decided to go in a direction that most groups didn't go in, so we were a bit scared for our grades and really spent a long time debating every single possible angle about the project.

But I've pretty much been talking about my block's project all this time, there are also three other corporate sponsors. Those two blocks with Macy's has to give a (I think) marketing recommendation/financial strategy of a current product line. People with Dell has to build a new computer. And I'm not sure what the Dominion folks are doing. Our group study rooms are all fully booked these days as the majority of the projects are due within two weeks.

But after that horrendously exhausting stint in the comm school (by now I feel that they should paint the walls some other more cheerful color. The endless shades of cream and yellow make me feel tired now), I went to a friend's place and hung out. It started off with just me and another friend, but quickly exploded to 20 other people. Seeing as the torrential downpours of rain had stopped, we decided to walk around Grounds.

Passing by the Rotunda, some of us had the brilliant idea of upholding an age old UVA tradition of streaking the Lawn. I'm sorry to say I wimped out and was one of the many watching people's clothes. =P I'll do it before I graduate! It's on the list of 100 things to do before you graduate from UVA (yes, we even have a list). Perhaps due to the horrible weather during the day, none of my friends were spotlighted by Lawnies.

Spotlighting = a lawn room resident gleefully shining a spotlight on a streaker as the streaker ran up and down the Lawn.

Streaking is actually a lot more tiring than it sounds. Our Lawn is long AND hilly. When you run, you also have to be careful of not flipping over and therefore almost killing yourself over the chains across the grass that go waist high and are almost invisible in the dark. I'm expecting this might be some of the last nights of UVA madness for me this semester. We have Thanksgiving break next week, and are hit with finals right after we come back. Hope I stay alive! =X And good luck on those college apps, if you haven't filled any out yet, best pick up a pen/start typing away at your keyboard. =)

the tension that you can cut...

with a computer. My fellow classmates were very tense in class today, as this was the day when most of my classmates signed up next semester's classes. Unfortunately, the exact signup time for many people fell right during class, so a lot of people brought their laptops and surreptitiously clicked away. You can always tell if someone got all the classes they wanted by the smiles or grimaces on their faces. Y'see, the bad thing about registering for classes at UVA is that the only way you can really see if a class has space or not, prior to actually trying to sign up, is to go on our Course Directory website. Well, that website only updates twice a day. So when hundreds of people are signing up for classes at the same time, that class that you desperately need for your major had 20 empty spots... well... it's actually full.

*cue screaming fits of rage*

It's actually kind of funny, watching my roommate stride around angrily around the room, muttering and shaking her fist. For all her anger though, she's not serious. At least, I think so. I try to keep harmful objects out of her way when she starts threatening to hurt the person who took the last spot in a prerequisite class.

Alright. I've been watching Made of Honor with a friend and my boyfriend. Being a chick flick, this is kind of going over my boyfriend's head. My friend though, insists on interpreting every romantic thing into cynical sarcasm. Boo! Some little UVA madness. =)

i need to imprint my agenda on my brain...

Because I did something quite silly today. I got up for my 8 am class, showered and went out the door, walked to the comm school, looked in bewildered uncomprehension at the empty classroom, and realized that the first part of class had been cancelled today. Hahaha whoops!

I'd say class cancellation is a.. moderately common thing at UVa. Usually it's because the professor is out of town or it's right before a major holiday (aka Thanksgiving), but don't think you get a break on work, but you're expected to do reading regardless. Pbthhh!

So after that I decided to sit outside (on this chilly, chilly day) and eat my breakfast. It was a rare idyllic moment that I wish I could have captured forever. My view at the Newcomb bus stop was only slightly marred by the sight of the broken gates in front of me.

At UVa we have three gates on McCormick road to cut down on traffic during the day. This always causes a problem when people don't realize the gate will only go up for UVa vehicles, drive up to the gate, and then just sit there glaring at the gate for a while. I had the privilege of witnessing two trucks, three buses and one trolley backed up behind a Honda Accord on the first day of school because the parent in question refused to move. =S Another sight often seen is broken/snapped gates. For some reason, drivers seem to like to ram through the gates and just break them. I also saw this on the first day school -- a tractor (of all vehicles) just kept driving into the gate until a bus driver yelled at him. I personally don't know if I'd ever drive my car through a gate, I'd be worried about damaging my car. *shrug* Moral of the story is? If you come for a campus visit, please don't ram through the gates, and watch out for pedestrians. Drivers here are nice enough to stop for a student even if they're five feet away from the crosswalk that students have just gotten into the habit of crossing the street without even looking. Yeah.. it's a bad habit.