More from Virginia Tech

I'm back again with more college goodness. Or badness, as it may apply.

To start with: my roommate. You may have noticed earlier that I praised him for actually knowing something. While he does, he does have some detracting qualities. To start with, he clings to me, like a remora to a shark. I probably should have noticed this in the time before the move-in when he IMed me constantly. In any case, he constantly considers me his personal entertainment, asking me incessantly if I want to play a computer game. When I go out, he always wants to know where I'm going. He always wants me to go with him to the student union building to play pool. He always wants to sit with me at events. He follows me everywhere, and it's driving me insane. Like I've said before, I've always been used to having my own space. He's a nice guy and all, but he's suffocating me. I've tried to make him understand this, but to no avail. Perhaps I should break out the two-by-four...

I've been doing other things around campus...like scoping it out, for instance. I wasn't kidding when I said the place was huge. I also scoped out the downtown area -- not even as big as the gargantuan common area which is the center of everything. There's not much to do in parts of town I've been able to access by walking.

On campus, however, there's much to do; aside from some of the bureaucracy I've had to do (I shan't bore you with the details), I've had a lot of stuff going on. This past Friday, I rode on a skydiving simulator -- essentially an airplane propeller with a safety cage. We had to wear these baggy suits while two guys made sure we didn't fly away or get chopped up, which was difficult anyway because of the safety net, but never mind. My experience was, shall we say, not great; I spent a great deal of time trying not to crash into the net, the suit whipped through the wind so hard it felt like a whip itself, and the wind dehydrated me. If this is what skydiving is like, I'm out. But I'm glad I took the chance to experience it anyway, even if it was not for me.

I also went to the big-screen movie they showed at the common. It was Spider-Man, and I left after a while. I didn't like the movie much the first time I saw it anyway. I also went to a Spirit Picnic on Saturday - one of the events to get everyone riled up before the football game the next day. I was loath to going -- I don't like pep rallies -- but they closed all the dining halls for the picnic, and there was no other place to get food. Ah well...at least the pep rally part was easy to avoid...

The fans at the football game the next day weren't as easily avoidable, however; they were all over the place, and they were the loudest and most obnoxious people I have met in my entire life. And childish, too; every time the ref made a call against them, regardless of whether or not it was justified, they acted like he had just committed some sort of personal affront. I left at halftime; it seemed pretty pointless when the spread was Tech by 56 points. If this is how it is against a "piss-ant" school (Arkansas State), imagine how bad it's going to get when UVA (Univ. of Va. in Charlottesville, the mortal enemy of Va. tech) comes to town...

After that, I just unwound, playing volleyball in the quad and hanging out with one of my friends from high school. Then I packed my things for my classes tomorrow. I'm not sure what it will be like, but if my books are any indication, it may be a rough ride...