Really Old Stuff I Said I’d Write About

Though I guess it’s not so old . . . I see Clay has just gotten his own report of our visit to the International Spy Museum up on his LiveJournal, so perhaps I’m not as behind as I thought. Anyhow, let’s see. Back when I was still at home, I believe I promised updates on the following stuff.

1) Trip to DC: With Jen, Dan and Tina away in North Carolina, Clay’s stop through EC was a decent break from the monotony of work, room cleaning, MST3k-watching and not packing that was the end of my summer. I drove down to Silver Spring and only had to make one U-turn, which I believe is a personal record for that trip. The spy museum is very cool; people in the area should check it out. But buy tickets first, unless you want to be like us and stand in line in the heat, get tickets for two hours later, then wander down to the Natural History museum and look at the extinct megafauna. Then again, I recommend that, also. The world needs more extinct megafauna. Wait, no. The world needs more recognition of its already-extinct megafauna. There we go.

Also, see Clay's LiveJournal for description of The Thunderstorm of Doom.

As for the actual spy museum, it was quite impressive. They had a whole lot of old Soviet stuff as well as American, and interviews with current FBI and ex-KGB agents, as well as a room that let you crawl through the ventilation ducts. I spent a few days afterwards being overly conscious of how easy it is to bug a room these days, then gave up after I remembered that my life’s not interesting enough for people to want to monitor me constantly, anyway.

2) Radiohead Concert: Wow. Just wow. I would’ve driven hours to this concert, but never have I so much appreciated having a concert pavilion within ten minutes of my house. If Merriweather gets walled in or closed down, I’m going to be very disappointed. Though I suppose I won’t be around enough to miss it. But anyhow. Thom Yorke is both shorter and more twitchy than I expected he’d be in person. You’re thinking he really can’t come any closer to going into convulsions and still manage to sing like that . . . and then you hear the first chords of “Myxamatosis.”

3) Hangin’ Out With the High School Crowd: Basement company much as I remembered, without any real loss of the old familiarity between us all. Plus, we located Svet again! Nice end to the summer, there.

4) Drive Down to Georgia: So eventually work ended, I packed, we loaded up the Subaru and Mom and I drove from Maryland southward, through relatively few thunderstorms for an all-day August drive through the South. On a whim, I decided we should stop in Athens for the night. Never mind that it was half an hour off the highway; I’d never been to Athens, and the drive must’ve taken a toll on Mom’s judgement, as she actually seemed to think this a neat idea. The last hour or so was killer, but on reflection, it wasn't a bad decision. We stumbled into town and had probably the best meal I’ve had in months (second only to Tamarind), then crashed at the hotel. Got up the next morning and wandered around the UGA campus a little, then stopped in a Starbucks for coffee before leaving town. Upon ordering my cappuccino, there was a very confusing moment in which I ordered my coffee from the girl from Starbucks at Emory. Not quite recovered from the thirteen hours of driving the day before, I looked around in confusion and must have appeared thoroughly lost. “I didn’t know you transferred to UGA, too,” said Person-Whose-Name-I-Should-Really-Remember. I explained. “Oh, okay. So you’re not going to be in here five times a week, then. Not that you ever were before,” she teased. Hmm. Perhaps the folks at my coffee places have me pinned down more than I realize. Although it’s been a year or so since I actually lived out of the Emory Starbucks.

5) Move-In: I’ll save the comments on Clairmont Campus and my apartment for when I actually have pictures up, other than to say that it’s really, really nice here. The family's been calling it Country Club Coca-Cola.


Okay. I think that brings you all up to date, other than to make a brief mention of classes (intro physics, evolutionary bio, intro japanese, cell bio), and that I'm still writing questions and helping Steve edit this weekend for our high school tournament, which is on the 13th this year. If by chance you're in the area and I haven't mentioned it, talk to me about reading or scorekeeping or something.