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Another beginning

Quickly, a catch up timeline:

May 2011 – August 2011: Epic Cross Country Roadtrip

August 2011 – May 2012: Epic Internship at Oak Ridge National Lab

May 2012: Epic Graduation from William and Mary

June 2012: Epic Sleep

July 2012 – TBD: Epic Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech

I regret to say that as of late I have not been attentive in recording my adventures. Tennessee itself was one big journey composed of lots of little expeditions: hikes and plane rides among the smokey mountains, pub crawls in Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis, the never dull investigations at a National Laboratory, living in an apartment for the first time, watching the boomsday fireworks and learning rocky top, being a real person away from school. But to spell out all of these adventures right now feels like such a Herculean task – especially when I’m only just beginning to acknowledge that smaller adventures deserve as much recording as the epic cross-country ones. Last week I moved to Blacksburg, Virginia to begin engineering school and study power systems. This alone will make me incredibly busy with little free time without adding finding a job and some research – which will make tiny adventures all the more important – a respite from the chaos, a chance to get to know this new place, fun. I’m hoping for an “adventure” a week, which may be a tall order (or just full of incredibly dull adventures, though I suppose you will be the judge of that.) So, onward!

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The Strenuous Life

In speaking to you , men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who pre-eminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, or labor and strife; to preach the highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

Theodore Roosevelt, “The Wilderness Warrior”
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14,549

164915 [end vehicle mileage]

–

150366 [beginning vehicle mileage]

=

14,549 [ total number of miles put on my car this summer (beat that!)]

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I’m coming home, I’m coming home, Tell the world that I’m coming home

8/25/2011

Originally I had planned to visit William and Mary for another round of birthday celebrations before coming home for the weekend, but hurricane Irene began to look more and more frightening on the radar screen. Even if the severity was all hyped up and nothing would happen (as usual) any major storm would flood my street, turning my neighborhood into a secluded island. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge deal – but it was Thursday and my new internship started Monday morning in Tennessee. So, I would simply reverse my order, going home for a day and then seek shelter at the higher ground of Williamsburg.

Except, just as I pulled into the driveway of my house for the first time in three months, the college emergency notification service called me and an automated voice declared that the college would be closed as of noon tomorrow. Everyone out of the dorms now. I immediately went into contact mode – did everyone have transportation? Where were out of state students going to stay? Was there any sort of plan? I hastily and grumpily flung my clothes from the car into the laundry before massively unloading the rest of my clown-packed car into the living room. Soon I learned that everyone was accounted for, a relief despite my disappointment in not getting my college reunion.

I visited my next-door neighbor Ann and got some delicious and calming pie and soon after my dad came home from the grocery store. My cats were delighted to see me (at least I would like to think so) and I cuddled Graycie until she began to look annoyed. Meanwhile, my relatives from my dad’s side of the family in upstate New York were in town. It was the first trip down that they had been able to make in years and the hurricane was about to cut it short. Again, though it was the first time I had seen my dad in several months, soon we were both out the door to meet up with the relatives for dinner. It was wonderful to see everyone again and the restaurant we ate at had the most gorgeous waterside backdrop – made even more impressive by the tempestuous winds beginning to toy with the waves.

We came home full and happy, and I vegged on the couch eating more junk food (and by that I really mean popcorn) and watching more tv (and by that I mean a USA marathon of Psych that turned into another marathon of Monk) than I had in a while.

The next morning we said good-bye to my Aunt Lorraine, Uncle Bill, Aunt Judy, and Uncle Doug before they began the drive west away from the storm. I continued to stuff my car full of whatever random things I believed I would need for the coming semester. My visit home had been less than 24 hours, but I needed to push on.