Ben, ‘11

July 18, 2008 

In one week, I will be leaving Richmond!!! I think it’s pretty clear what’s been on my mind lately. Yes, summer is already on the tail end for most, but I count summer as officially starting for me in a little more than a week. I’ll finally get to be home and sleep in my own bed and hang out with my friends and have home-cooked meals and RELAX!!! I’m already planning fun things to do for the three weeks I’m home.

With research almost being done, I’ve packed up almost everything I own and have put it in storage at a friend’s house. I’ve also started using up all the money I have left for food. So, I went on a $150 shopping spree and got tons of food.

Packing up all of my stuff for the weeks when I’m back home

However, I am still in Richmond and I still have one more week here. This past week was very low-key at work. We’re just working on putting together a presentation showing all of the work that we did the previous eight weeks. Unlike most other weeks, though, my social life was fairly active.

I went to Pony Pastures on the James River for the first time last Saturday. It’s a really cool part of the river that has huge rocks that people lay on and tan, fish from, or use to cross the river since it’s very shallow in this region. My friend and I actually crossed the whole river by going from rock to rock and wading across.

My friend and I went to Pony Pastures

We crossed this entire river by going rock to rock

Saturday evening brought a Murder Mystery Night. Five of my friends and I got dressed up in character and then had dinner together. Cooking the meal was quite an adventure at times, but it was fun. It turns out that my character, the genius child protege who happened to be socially awkward and shy, was the murderer.

Cooking up brinner (breakfast for dinner) for Murder Mystery Night

Beginning the role playing

My attempts at playing the role of socially awkward.
I think I did a very good job.

The entire group, with me playing my role as socially awkward and shy again.

We needed a tape player to listen to the narrator, but no one had one
so we all piled into the minivan to listen to the tape

My friend dressed up as a man and did a very convincing job

I also participated in another police training. This one went on for three hours and I got to hide in the trunk once again. There are some great pictures that were taken, but I have yet to get a hold of them.

Participating in police training for felon traffic stops

Additionally, I met with my academic adviser for lunch. We talked about a whole bunch of things, but I mainly wanted to throw out some ideas that I had for study abroad. After the talk, a few of my plans were set back a little, but there are a whole bunch of new possibilities out there that I am very excited about. I’m not ready to share any of them with you right now, so this will have to be a little teaser to keep reading in the coming months.

To keep even more busy, I have finished the fall schedule of events for InterVarsity by editing the dates and times, reserving rooms, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Now, it’s all set. The events that I have volunteered for and will specifically be in charge of for the fall will be the New Student Move-In, Campus Ministry Open House, NFL Kickoff Party, Dollar Burger Night at Capital Ale House, Virginia State Fair Trip, Scavenger Hunt, Goodwill and Ice Cream Trip, Medallion Hunt, Football Game vs. Delaware, and Christmas Caroling and Ice Skating. In all, I believe we have 32 events planned in addition to the weekly large group and Bible studies.

I also continued with my Classic Movies. Recently, I’ve watched “12 Angry Men”, “Silence of the Lambs”, and “Titanic”. All of them were quite good. Finally watching “Titanic” was fun because the main character mentions growing up in Wisconsin in Chippewa Falls and falling in Lake Wissota during the winter as a kid while ice fishing. It was fun because most of my relatives live in Chippewa Falls and my grandma actually lives on Lake Wissota and I’ve visited it many times. So, that was a fun little surprise in the movie.

I hate to end with bad news (at least I think it is) but my great dreams for the fall semester have faded a little. I was informed by the Housing Office that I will have a roommate in the fall. It’s not that I’m opposed to a roommate, but I had a fantastic double that I was going to live in alone and have plenty of space for hosting Movie Nights and Game Nights and be in a suite with two good friends. Now, a new person was added to my Lakeview program and he’s going to be my roommate. It’s just been a very frustrating week for me because this whole Lakeview housing issue has been quite a hassle and I had no say whatsoever in who my roommate would be. The two of us have talked a little and haven’t exactly started on the right foot and I have several concerns, but I’m hoping that we can rearrange rooming situations or just work it out. Needless to say, it’s been a frustrating blow for me, considering that I had been given the impression rooms were set and I had also bought the appliances and posters for my new room.

Quote of the Week: “If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you” -Anonymous
Thought to Ponder: How do you handcuff a one-armed person?
Shout Outs: Any fellow researchers who keep reading this to make sure I don’t embarrass them. Namely, Erin.
YouTube Video of the Week:

“The Dark Knight” trailer in honor of all of my friends who went to the midnight showing and helped the movie earn $18.5 million within the first three hours of being released.