![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quadruplifyWell, the past couple of days have been fairly eventful, all things considered.
SATURDAY
After a pretty not-noteworthy Friday night, I finally met up with my mom and sister about noon or so, after I had breakfast at the dining hall. They had already bought some food at the local bakery (especially some scones, one of which she gave to me and still haven't eaten yet, lol) and went to the farmer's market (no Greek food vendor this time around, but they still got some mimosas anyway), and generally looked around town. It was pretty raw and cold when I met them, with the temperature hovering around 50. We went to Bristol, about a 10-15 minute drive north, because my mom thought there was an art gallery there (and incidentally, it's where my current faculty adviser lives). The place turned out to be a very small store where they sold work from local artists and artisans (kind of like the now defunct state-run Frog Hollow store in Middlebury). Still, it's the sort of thing my mom is really interested in, and me too, to some extend. I had a talk with one of the women working there about life in college and how the food there has really gone downhill, and my mom ended up buying a cane with a serpent head to give as a gift to my dad, who has a small collection of them, and maybe something else, I can't remember. Then we checked out the extremely small downtown; Bristol is a much smaller town than Middlebury, and you can tell that while there's some catering toward tourists, it's not at all a "trap," and it's apparent that it's fairly poor. Still, there were a couple of interesting stores there; there was one that sold a lot of tacky children's gifts and lots of stuff from India, especially incense and things pertaining to Hinduism and yoga. I bought a set of origami paper that maybe I or J-House could use (I was thinking about buying a "kanji-a-day" pad as well, but looking at the box I knew I could read pretty much all of them already, and I realized I'll probably figure out the rest soon enough, and memorizing kanji is the least of my concerns in Japanese right now), and my mom bought a couple of fair trade Day of the Dead figurines from Mexico (yes, fair trade -- this is Vermont, after all), and maybe one or two other things.
Since there really aren't any good places to eat in Bristol, I suggested we go to Vergennes, about another 5-10 minutes to the northwest, where I knew we had never really had the time to check out and had more things going on there, so we did. Some of the places we visited included an extremely small art gallery, a resale shop (you can usually find interesting things in places like that, but the most interesting thing I found there was a Tae Bo video), an antique shop (not all that interesting, although there was a vacuum cleaner from 1910 made in Connecticut that was pretty neat, as well as pillows made out of old newspaper pages), a small but really cool and awesome chocolate shop (I think I bought some chocolates with pieces of tangerines and cherries in them, as well as a chocolate fruit bark -- there were so many cool and inventive chocolates that they made there, and the whole place smelled really good, and the fact that it was a bit out of the way made it all the better), and maybe a couple of other places. Then we had a late lunch at a café, where I had probably the biggest ham panini I have ever come across -- I think I could only finish half of it, but it was extremely good nonetheless.
Then we left at around 4 to go back to Middlebury, where I suggested we visit the Vermont Folklife Center in the downtown near the college because my mom and sister never visited there before. It's a place that specializes in gathering oral histories and folk traditions from people all over Vermont, and for a place of its size and type it's surprisingly modern, with iPods and computer terminals where you can sit and listen to/read various accounts and oral traditions from ordinary Vermonters. (There used to be a "digital quilt" in one of the rooms, where it was projected onto a table, and you rubbed parts of it to see images and read quotes about various aspects of traditional Vermont life. But since it's their 25th anniversary, they were using the space to hold a month-long silent auction, and I noticed the projector wasn't there either, so I don't know what they're doing with it now.) Since the place was about to close (everything in town except for the restaurants closes at around 5 or 6), we only checked out the pretty interesting gift shop (even though I didn't buy anything as usual, although my mom did) and didn't go to the rotating exhibit upstairs. Then we went back to my dorm, where we brought in everything I bought, as well as some things I asked for -- 5 lb. barbells, gym pants, grapes, Cheerios, popcorn, breakfast bars, and those Pirouette cookies I really like -- basically, snacks that aren't just chocolate. :D Then they left so I could go to my anime club meeting at 6 (I don't know why they held a meeting today, considering pretty much everyone is/was off campus in some way). I got out as early as I could, which was around quarter to 8, so I could meet with my mom and sister so we could go to dinner in town. I suggested an Indian place we've never been before, and it turned out to be really good! I had a shrimp tandoori with onions, peppers, and rice, with an Indian iced tea, and all of it was absolutely delicious. Walking back to the car, I was amazed, as I continuously am, at all the über-left-wing bumper stickers plastered on every other car with a Vermont license plate. :P
Then they dropped me off at my dorm, and I left them for the night. I caught up on the Eden of the East episode that I missed, since I have those episodes on my external hard drive (apparently there's something really wrong with my computer, because the audio and video fell out of sync either right at the beginning or halfway through, depending on whether or not I had full-screen on, and I didn't know how to get it back together, and it was really frustrating because I've never had this problem before -- has anyone else had this problem with MKV files?), and basically stayed up until 3 AM for no good reason.
SUNDAY
I woke up early in the morning to a fire alarm. Yes, a goddamned FIRE ALARM. It happened a little after 5 AM. For a moment I was wondering whether or not it would actually be worth getting up and having to go out into the cold, but I decided that staying in bed if there was a real emergency was a stupid idea, so I put on a sweatshirt and sneakers to keep warm, got my cell phone, wallet, and access card, and went outside. I and a couple of other kids (like I said, not a lot of people here on campus right now), were waiting on the outside of the building near the very edge of campus, but after a while we all split and went around the building to where the other people/buildings are to see what was going on, and I did the same.
When I did, I overhead a Public Safety officer explaining to some kids that there was a gas leak somewhere in the building -- you heard me right, a freaking GAS LEAK -- and that we had to get away from the building. Fortunately, PS had opened up the science building and the other dining hall that's not part of this building, so that we could go somewhere to stay warm; I went to the science building because it was closer. For the next couple of minutes I was vaguely freaking out (I would have been freaking out even more if I weren't half awake) and trying to take stock of my very limited options, so I called my mom and told her what was going on, and that this might put a damper on our plans for today. I stayed near the entrance, watching the emergency lights in our dorm go off and the people slowly coming in; I didn't want to sleep because I wanted to know what was going on so that I could go back to my room as soon as possible, but I tried to rest as much as I could. I heard the PS officer come in and say we might be waiting for up to three hours, so I tried to mentally prepare for that, but about a quarter after 6 I noticed a couple of kids leave, which made me notice that the emergency lights stopped going off. I went outside, and I didn't hear the alarms going off anymore, nor did I see anyone telling us not to go back in yet, so I entered cautiously. When I noticed other kids going inside, I assumed that it was safe and that the gas leak was small and contained, though I've been checking my e-mail today to see if there's anything about the incident, but since nothing's come in I assume there won't be.
I met with my mom and sister again at around 1 for lunch in town, where I had another panini, this time Cuban pulled pork (which was really good, as food at the Storm Café usually is). We then went back to campus, where I got some arts calendars that my dad requested, and then they dropped me off at my dorm around 2:30, where they said goodbye. I've pretty much been in my dorm room, relaxing and writing this since.
All in all, I had a really great time! I had no problems with my mom and sister at all (though partially because they didn't overstay their welcome), and it was great to get off of campus for a little bit; this is a rare opportunity for me because a.) I don't have a car, and b.) I don't really know anyone who has a car. The fall foliage is really peaking in Addison County right now, so it was great to go out and see it, and since yesterday and today were both beautiful (albeit a bit cold and raw yesterday), it was great to go out and see the foliage and scenery -- I loved it a lot. (A lot of the leaves on the tree outside my window have fallen off because of some high winds today, but at least now I can see the fields and the Adirondacks to the west.) Plus, it's great that I was able to avoid the dining halls since yesterday morning, although I'm going to have to go to dinner there pretty soon (ugh D:). I feel sad that it's over, and that I won't see my family for another 5-6 weeks when I go home for Thanksgiving.
Other than dinner, the rest of my plans for this evening include cleaning, doing laundry, taking out the trash, a little bit of reorganizing, maybe taking a walk around campus, and maybe catching up on anime and grading CDs for the radio station. And probably more of the same tomorrow, as well as going to the bookstore in town, since I don't get to do that nearly as often as I'd like. I'm going to have to start doing work sometime late Tuesday afternoon (when everyone comes back), but I don't have too much so I'm not all that worried. So much to do, so little time. :( But in the meantime, I'll enjoy it the best I can -- I think we all need it. :-)
SATURDAY
After a pretty not-noteworthy Friday night, I finally met up with my mom and sister about noon or so, after I had breakfast at the dining hall. They had already bought some food at the local bakery (especially some scones, one of which she gave to me and still haven't eaten yet, lol) and went to the farmer's market (no Greek food vendor this time around, but they still got some mimosas anyway), and generally looked around town. It was pretty raw and cold when I met them, with the temperature hovering around 50. We went to Bristol, about a 10-15 minute drive north, because my mom thought there was an art gallery there (and incidentally, it's where my current faculty adviser lives). The place turned out to be a very small store where they sold work from local artists and artisans (kind of like the now defunct state-run Frog Hollow store in Middlebury). Still, it's the sort of thing my mom is really interested in, and me too, to some extend. I had a talk with one of the women working there about life in college and how the food there has really gone downhill, and my mom ended up buying a cane with a serpent head to give as a gift to my dad, who has a small collection of them, and maybe something else, I can't remember. Then we checked out the extremely small downtown; Bristol is a much smaller town than Middlebury, and you can tell that while there's some catering toward tourists, it's not at all a "trap," and it's apparent that it's fairly poor. Still, there were a couple of interesting stores there; there was one that sold a lot of tacky children's gifts and lots of stuff from India, especially incense and things pertaining to Hinduism and yoga. I bought a set of origami paper that maybe I or J-House could use (I was thinking about buying a "kanji-a-day" pad as well, but looking at the box I knew I could read pretty much all of them already, and I realized I'll probably figure out the rest soon enough, and memorizing kanji is the least of my concerns in Japanese right now), and my mom bought a couple of fair trade Day of the Dead figurines from Mexico (yes, fair trade -- this is Vermont, after all), and maybe one or two other things.
Since there really aren't any good places to eat in Bristol, I suggested we go to Vergennes, about another 5-10 minutes to the northwest, where I knew we had never really had the time to check out and had more things going on there, so we did. Some of the places we visited included an extremely small art gallery, a resale shop (you can usually find interesting things in places like that, but the most interesting thing I found there was a Tae Bo video), an antique shop (not all that interesting, although there was a vacuum cleaner from 1910 made in Connecticut that was pretty neat, as well as pillows made out of old newspaper pages), a small but really cool and awesome chocolate shop (I think I bought some chocolates with pieces of tangerines and cherries in them, as well as a chocolate fruit bark -- there were so many cool and inventive chocolates that they made there, and the whole place smelled really good, and the fact that it was a bit out of the way made it all the better), and maybe a couple of other places. Then we had a late lunch at a café, where I had probably the biggest ham panini I have ever come across -- I think I could only finish half of it, but it was extremely good nonetheless.
Then we left at around 4 to go back to Middlebury, where I suggested we visit the Vermont Folklife Center in the downtown near the college because my mom and sister never visited there before. It's a place that specializes in gathering oral histories and folk traditions from people all over Vermont, and for a place of its size and type it's surprisingly modern, with iPods and computer terminals where you can sit and listen to/read various accounts and oral traditions from ordinary Vermonters. (There used to be a "digital quilt" in one of the rooms, where it was projected onto a table, and you rubbed parts of it to see images and read quotes about various aspects of traditional Vermont life. But since it's their 25th anniversary, they were using the space to hold a month-long silent auction, and I noticed the projector wasn't there either, so I don't know what they're doing with it now.) Since the place was about to close (everything in town except for the restaurants closes at around 5 or 6), we only checked out the pretty interesting gift shop (even though I didn't buy anything as usual, although my mom did) and didn't go to the rotating exhibit upstairs. Then we went back to my dorm, where we brought in everything I bought, as well as some things I asked for -- 5 lb. barbells, gym pants, grapes, Cheerios, popcorn, breakfast bars, and those Pirouette cookies I really like -- basically, snacks that aren't just chocolate. :D Then they left so I could go to my anime club meeting at 6 (I don't know why they held a meeting today, considering pretty much everyone is/was off campus in some way). I got out as early as I could, which was around quarter to 8, so I could meet with my mom and sister so we could go to dinner in town. I suggested an Indian place we've never been before, and it turned out to be really good! I had a shrimp tandoori with onions, peppers, and rice, with an Indian iced tea, and all of it was absolutely delicious. Walking back to the car, I was amazed, as I continuously am, at all the über-left-wing bumper stickers plastered on every other car with a Vermont license plate. :P
Then they dropped me off at my dorm, and I left them for the night. I caught up on the Eden of the East episode that I missed, since I have those episodes on my external hard drive (apparently there's something really wrong with my computer, because the audio and video fell out of sync either right at the beginning or halfway through, depending on whether or not I had full-screen on, and I didn't know how to get it back together, and it was really frustrating because I've never had this problem before -- has anyone else had this problem with MKV files?), and basically stayed up until 3 AM for no good reason.
SUNDAY
I woke up early in the morning to a fire alarm. Yes, a goddamned FIRE ALARM. It happened a little after 5 AM. For a moment I was wondering whether or not it would actually be worth getting up and having to go out into the cold, but I decided that staying in bed if there was a real emergency was a stupid idea, so I put on a sweatshirt and sneakers to keep warm, got my cell phone, wallet, and access card, and went outside. I and a couple of other kids (like I said, not a lot of people here on campus right now), were waiting on the outside of the building near the very edge of campus, but after a while we all split and went around the building to where the other people/buildings are to see what was going on, and I did the same.
When I did, I overhead a Public Safety officer explaining to some kids that there was a gas leak somewhere in the building -- you heard me right, a freaking GAS LEAK -- and that we had to get away from the building. Fortunately, PS had opened up the science building and the other dining hall that's not part of this building, so that we could go somewhere to stay warm; I went to the science building because it was closer. For the next couple of minutes I was vaguely freaking out (I would have been freaking out even more if I weren't half awake) and trying to take stock of my very limited options, so I called my mom and told her what was going on, and that this might put a damper on our plans for today. I stayed near the entrance, watching the emergency lights in our dorm go off and the people slowly coming in; I didn't want to sleep because I wanted to know what was going on so that I could go back to my room as soon as possible, but I tried to rest as much as I could. I heard the PS officer come in and say we might be waiting for up to three hours, so I tried to mentally prepare for that, but about a quarter after 6 I noticed a couple of kids leave, which made me notice that the emergency lights stopped going off. I went outside, and I didn't hear the alarms going off anymore, nor did I see anyone telling us not to go back in yet, so I entered cautiously. When I noticed other kids going inside, I assumed that it was safe and that the gas leak was small and contained, though I've been checking my e-mail today to see if there's anything about the incident, but since nothing's come in I assume there won't be.
I met with my mom and sister again at around 1 for lunch in town, where I had another panini, this time Cuban pulled pork (which was really good, as food at the Storm Café usually is). We then went back to campus, where I got some arts calendars that my dad requested, and then they dropped me off at my dorm around 2:30, where they said goodbye. I've pretty much been in my dorm room, relaxing and writing this since.
All in all, I had a really great time! I had no problems with my mom and sister at all (though partially because they didn't overstay their welcome), and it was great to get off of campus for a little bit; this is a rare opportunity for me because a.) I don't have a car, and b.) I don't really know anyone who has a car. The fall foliage is really peaking in Addison County right now, so it was great to go out and see it, and since yesterday and today were both beautiful (albeit a bit cold and raw yesterday), it was great to go out and see the foliage and scenery -- I loved it a lot. (A lot of the leaves on the tree outside my window have fallen off because of some high winds today, but at least now I can see the fields and the Adirondacks to the west.) Plus, it's great that I was able to avoid the dining halls since yesterday morning, although I'm going to have to go to dinner there pretty soon (ugh D:). I feel sad that it's over, and that I won't see my family for another 5-6 weeks when I go home for Thanksgiving.
Other than dinner, the rest of my plans for this evening include cleaning, doing laundry, taking out the trash, a little bit of reorganizing, maybe taking a walk around campus, and maybe catching up on anime and grading CDs for the radio station. And probably more of the same tomorrow, as well as going to the bookstore in town, since I don't get to do that nearly as often as I'd like. I'm going to have to start doing work sometime late Tuesday afternoon (when everyone comes back), but I don't have too much so I'm not all that worried. So much to do, so little time. :( But in the meantime, I'll enjoy it the best I can -- I think we all need it. :-)
