Since I last wrote, there’s been quite a lot going on. Here is the SparkNotes version: I’ve finished my sixth quarter at SCAD, in which I wrote my thesis and participated with my classmates in a portfolio show. I said goodbye to many of my SCAD friends because though I have one more quarter left, which I’ll finish in the fall, most of my peers graduated a few weeks ago. I then went to New Orleans with my good friend, Katy, where we celebrated my 26th birthday and her upcoming wedding, explored the city, and had a wonderful time catching up and being grateful for 23 years of friendship.
After a one-day stopover in Savannah, I flew to Washington, D.C., where I met two of my friends from Hollins (not to be confused with Holland!), the university where I do my summer program in Children’s Literature. We spent three days in D.C. visiting almost all of the Smithsonian museums and monuments. I hadn’t seen these girls since I was at Hollins in 2009, and it was a blast to catch up and remember exactly why we were friends. I don’t know when I’ve last laughed so hard and so consistently. We drove down to Roanoke on Saturday and have gotten to catch up with other Hollins friends. I am SO excited to be back here. Within the first 24 hours, I went on a gorgeous walk in the pouring rain with one of my friends, reacquainted myself with the Hollins library, a positively soul-building place, and rejoiced to see fireflies again. Hollins is definitely a surreal, bubble of a place, but what a bubble! I had my first class today and I’ll write more about it and about some of these other happenings in the next few weeks, but until then, I thought I’d leave you with more highlights from my Amazing Journal:
March 6, 2011:
Today, at lunch, ESPN 2 was showing some national dance team final. One team tried to do a stunt where two girls lifted another girl onto a fourth girl’s shoulders, but they didn’t lift her high enough. So the other girl just ended up head-butting the one girl in the bottom.
March 8, 2011:
Today I saw a box in the computer lab by the printer that said it was for organ transplants. It was styrofoam and had official-looking forms and signage on it.
March 17, 2011:
Today, Jude, a British girl at the conference, told me that one of her friends was from Florida and that her family lived on a swamp somewhere. One Christmas, the family saw a cougar by their house. So the men all got their guns and followed it. It was in a tree and they fired and all missed. The cougar ran away, but a few seconds later, a dozen squirrels dropped dead to the ground, probably from heart failure. They became the main dish.
March 22, 2011:
Today, at Bonaventure [Cemetery], we learned that they have a package you can buy if you’d like to bury an amputated limb. Naturally, it’s the least expensive option.
March 30, 2011:
Today Qian and Becky Google-mapped walking directions from China to Savannah. It included, “kayak across the Pacific Ocean. Turn left.”
April 10, 2011:
Today I heard on Wait, Wait [Don’t Tell Me, a Public Radio show] that a woman in Georgia (the country) was digging in the ground and she struck a cord. In doing so, she cut off the internet for the entire country of Armenia.
April 28, 2011:
Today Becky opened her bag of grapes and there was one that had a sticker on it that said “Control 4.” Does that mean all the other grapes hadn’t passed an inspection or were out of control?
May 2, 2011:
Today when I went outside to spray fix my monarch butterfly image drawing, a monarch butterfly floated by.
May 13, 2011:
Today Becky and I each encountered the word “heuristic” in separate readings so we had to look it up. Sadly, the American Oxford English Dictionary on my computer had a singular/plural pronoun error, although I suppose it’s just an indication of how the language is changing. Alas.
May 15, 2011:
Today I saw a pirate ship on a boat trailer in someone’s driveway.
May 22, 2011:
Today, I got a voicemail from a lady and it said in a very melancholy voice, “Hey Sarah... I’m trying to get a hold of Ryan and I think I’m dialing the wrong number, but I thought this was Ryan’s phone, but I’m sorry to bother you so have a nice day and don’t think I’m stalking you or anything. See you later. Bye!” 1.) Why leave a message when you know you have the wrong number? 2.) It’s way creepier when strangers tell you they’re not stalking you. 3.) “See you later”??
May 24, 2011:
Today, at Zunzi’s, a lady sat down outside at one of the tables and she’d brought a large cushion which she set on a ledge next to her (at table height), then put her small dog on the cushion. I wonder if he got the falafel.
May 27, 2011:
Today, I went to get our keys duplicated at this ancient lock place. There were a million old keys hanging on the wall and a bunch of old machines. About three young black guys were working there, and in the middle was an older white woman with huge hair sitting behind a circular counter with the till. She was looking down and not moving and I thought she might be a mannequin. When the guy told me the price, she sprang to life like a coin-operated machine, sold me the keys, and then went back to her stupor.
May 28, 2011:
Today one of the houses on Gaston had a gigantic U.S. flag draped over the whole front of the house. It took up 2.5 stories. I eventually realized it was for Memorial Day. I guess those people really want to remember.
June 8, 2011:
Today I saw a guy biking with a (presumably) styrofoam statue of a beardy man painted entirely in silver. The statue was life-size and was riding on the handlebars. This would have been odd enough, but the best part was that yesterday, we’d seen him (the statue) in the square with the other actors pretending to be statues, asking the tourists for money.
June 15, 2011:
Today, we walked into the library and in the foyer area, a man was drumming on a wooden box. He told us (completely unsolicited) that it was cherry wood, and he opened it up to reveal a bunch of Bigelow tea bags which he offered to us. He said that this company knew he wanted to make a drum, and so they sent him this tea chest. He was very fond of the acoustics in that particular spot.
Today, at lunch, ESPN 2 was showing some national dance team final. One team tried to do a stunt where two girls lifted another girl onto a fourth girl’s shoulders, but they didn’t lift her high enough. So the other girl just ended up head-butting the one girl in the bottom.
March 8, 2011:
Today I saw a box in the computer lab by the printer that said it was for organ transplants. It was styrofoam and had official-looking forms and signage on it.
March 17, 2011:
Today, Jude, a British girl at the conference, told me that one of her friends was from Florida and that her family lived on a swamp somewhere. One Christmas, the family saw a cougar by their house. So the men all got their guns and followed it. It was in a tree and they fired and all missed. The cougar ran away, but a few seconds later, a dozen squirrels dropped dead to the ground, probably from heart failure. They became the main dish.
March 22, 2011:
Today, at Bonaventure [Cemetery], we learned that they have a package you can buy if you’d like to bury an amputated limb. Naturally, it’s the least expensive option.
March 30, 2011:
Today Qian and Becky Google-mapped walking directions from China to Savannah. It included, “kayak across the Pacific Ocean. Turn left.”
April 10, 2011:
Today I heard on Wait, Wait [Don’t Tell Me, a Public Radio show] that a woman in Georgia (the country) was digging in the ground and she struck a cord. In doing so, she cut off the internet for the entire country of Armenia.
April 28, 2011:
Today Becky opened her bag of grapes and there was one that had a sticker on it that said “Control 4.” Does that mean all the other grapes hadn’t passed an inspection or were out of control?
May 2, 2011:
Today when I went outside to spray fix my monarch butterfly image drawing, a monarch butterfly floated by.
May 13, 2011:
Today Becky and I each encountered the word “heuristic” in separate readings so we had to look it up. Sadly, the American Oxford English Dictionary on my computer had a singular/plural pronoun error, although I suppose it’s just an indication of how the language is changing. Alas.
May 15, 2011:
Today I saw a pirate ship on a boat trailer in someone’s driveway.
May 22, 2011:
Today, I got a voicemail from a lady and it said in a very melancholy voice, “Hey Sarah... I’m trying to get a hold of Ryan and I think I’m dialing the wrong number, but I thought this was Ryan’s phone, but I’m sorry to bother you so have a nice day and don’t think I’m stalking you or anything. See you later. Bye!” 1.) Why leave a message when you know you have the wrong number? 2.) It’s way creepier when strangers tell you they’re not stalking you. 3.) “See you later”??
May 24, 2011:
Today, at Zunzi’s, a lady sat down outside at one of the tables and she’d brought a large cushion which she set on a ledge next to her (at table height), then put her small dog on the cushion. I wonder if he got the falafel.
May 27, 2011:
Today, I went to get our keys duplicated at this ancient lock place. There were a million old keys hanging on the wall and a bunch of old machines. About three young black guys were working there, and in the middle was an older white woman with huge hair sitting behind a circular counter with the till. She was looking down and not moving and I thought she might be a mannequin. When the guy told me the price, she sprang to life like a coin-operated machine, sold me the keys, and then went back to her stupor.
May 28, 2011:
Today one of the houses on Gaston had a gigantic U.S. flag draped over the whole front of the house. It took up 2.5 stories. I eventually realized it was for Memorial Day. I guess those people really want to remember.
June 8, 2011:
Today I saw a guy biking with a (presumably) styrofoam statue of a beardy man painted entirely in silver. The statue was life-size and was riding on the handlebars. This would have been odd enough, but the best part was that yesterday, we’d seen him (the statue) in the square with the other actors pretending to be statues, asking the tourists for money.
June 15, 2011:
Today, we walked into the library and in the foyer area, a man was drumming on a wooden box. He told us (completely unsolicited) that it was cherry wood, and he opened it up to reveal a bunch of Bigelow tea bags which he offered to us. He said that this company knew he wanted to make a drum, and so they sent him this tea chest. He was very fond of the acoustics in that particular spot.
Have an amazing week,
Sarah/Mouse
