RyanHarne.com

I like the sequential order of the Virginia Tech headlines for today. “First day of a promising future for Virginia Tech’s Class of 2010…” and then “University to cancel remaining classes”.

This goes back to about when I was a freshman here, but there is currently a manhunt for a one Will who killed a security guard while being transfered from jail to the hospital and then killed a deputy this morning. I say it goes back, because Will used to be a regular of Bollo’s and roomed with an employee (though, he sometimes didn’t pay rent, so he wasn’t exactly a preferred customer). I was interviewed by the Roanoke Times yesterday while I was working at Bollo’s, although I couldn’t provide much information about him, apart from that I would always see him there in my freshmen and sophomore years. He also talked a lot, often getting argumentative on topics related to miner’s rights. I just now remembered that - maybe I should have mentioned it to the RTimes lady.

Anyways. I guess this means another day without mail or Huckleberry trail potential. I can always stay in my room and study. Which. acually is. what I will do.

This evening I coordinated a six-way roommate swap, handled an hour-long power outage as the on-duty RA, had a meaningful conversation with my neighbor from Israel, and watched others make cookies while I ate a few. It has been a full night so far, but if this many noteworthy events happen during the regular semester, while I am studying for a test or just balancing sanity and subjects, then I may have that inner explosion that was mentioned a while ago.

However, that roommate swap was satisfying for everyone, and we sealed the deal with high-fives all around; the power outage allowed me to meet (or at least me introduce myself) most of the residents in all of Newman; the conversation with my friend was good enough that I’m mentioning it here, for all of the internetz to see; and those cookies were filled with chocolate chips and conversation about famous couples (Lucy and Ricky, Belle and Sebastian, peas and carrots).

So, if each stressful event of the imminent semester can touch both annoying and relieving, then I will be ok and will continue to update the webcam thing. The webcam continuity, though, is dependent on Best Buy who still have possession of my lowly Canon. My aggrieved attitude is even more enhanced by my usage of a friend’s Nikon D2sx a few days ago. As I have been telling some, 2006 might be my dSLR year. Let us bow our heads and cross our fingers.

Check-on for on-campus housing is a deeply routed collegiate tradition full of both anxiety for new beginnings and impatience in the old routine. Recently, parental involvement and protection is a factor, one that drives for on-campus authorities batty, including RAs. However, things at Virginia Tech are running smoothly, as far as I can tell.

But this means the summer is fading, the glory days are scampering from our memory and good times are what is recalled in photo albums or saved in Photo Booth images. For me, the curtain call for summer is a clear wrap on the glory days of summer, even though the greater portion of mine were raced and stressed. New students, old faces, return to VT’s campus, completely ignorant and oblivious to the fantastic and peaceful summer living that Blacksburg is - even somewhat removed from the domineering status of Virginia Tech itself.

Blacksburg in the summer is a community. With 20some thousand students gone, more-so studious ones remaining, the Blacksburg population comes out of the closet and is as vibrant as ever. Complete with banjo and upright bass. The summer breezes are calm, not painful; the summer nights are serene, not hopping; the summer sky is blue and black with bright pinpricks, not hazy and blinded by artificial halogen lamps.

This year, students who were summer-absent will return to find the campus and surrounding area swarming with “Hokie birds“, four-foot tall monstrosities part of VT’s extraordinary fundraising campaign - another way to steal $7,500 from local businesses while the university living involuntarily promotes corporate takeovers of the area. I find this somewhat of a joke on returning students and a playful novelty for n00bs. My hypothesis is that 30% of them will be defaced or vandalized within the first 6 weeks of classes. Really, they are truly hideous.

So, anyways. While the Fall semester will be a relaxing moment for me (the summer pushed me to several brinks), I still look back on the summer with envy. Don’t leave me, please. Those walks to class every morning were wonderful. Watching robins hop about, watching spaniels chase after birds and then jump back in fear when the bird pecks it, laying on the grass and watching the clouds dance - it is all so pure and vivid and real. Sitting in a residence hall typing this, I feel just another cog in the big game of making money. A cog with good intentions, right?

Well, there is paperwork to fill out in a manner that makes me feel like I am not doing paperwork. And a bunch of people to talk to who are newly moved-in, whom I really do want to meet and talk to.

Even though the freshness of summer is almost lights-out, there is enough newness ready to be unwrapped and explored with this Super Fall Semester 2006!

No lies. No joke. No kidding. I have so many things to take care of in the next few days that I just might explode. But the good news is that my temporary roommate was reassigned as of yesterday (and he is one supercool South African) and that I keep getting compliments from guys on my hall about my Macs.

Plus, I have met residents from more countries in the past two days than both cups of coffee and shots of espresso I have consumed combined! That’s serious business, my friends. A brief synopsis would include the nations of China, India, England, Germany, Italy, Argentina, South Africa, Israel, and a few straggling Americans. There are others but likely some repeated countries, too. Yet, that does mean I have one more friend to [try to] speak German with, and she happens to be in the Technische Universität Darmstadt exchange program within the International Languages program. Yes! I suppose that means she is trained to be ultra-patient with naïve and ignorant Americans.

The Argentinian guy happens to speak some German as well. I need some foreign blood.

Oh, and back to those million things I have to do.

Before I wander off… thanks to Adam for saving my site from an untimely death. A few anxious Skype calls between us and he diagnosed my site’s complete collapse to a stray apostrophe I left dangling in some HTML. I thought it was a rogue website hacker bent on bringing down my kingdom of rants and anecdotal nonsense. (I wish it was a rogue website hacker). But, in the meantime, I went ahead and upgraded to WordPress 2.0, but nobody notices the small things.

After my heat&mass transfer final this afternoon, I stood at the door of Randolph Hall staring outside, staring into nothing, into everything, too. Every second of the summer flashed before my eyes, quite truly. There was no noise in the Saturday late morning hallway, none at all, except for some renegade music being played far away in some closed-door room. This trance I fell into would have continued until some sound interupted the peace, but I gently snapped myself from it. Looked at the time. Five minutes had passed of pure statis, consummate reminiscence. I grabbed my iPod, something I’ve touched only in passing this summer, put on Rufus Wainwright and one of my power songs, so to speak, “Beautiful Child”, and began to walk across the drillfield.

The feeling of accomplishment and empowerment was overwhelming since I had passed through the rings of hell, somewhat unscathed, moreso benefiting from the trials. Usually, these indescribably brilliant feelings of empowerment occur twice a year, both at the ends of semesters. This summer was the most stressful period of my life, thus far, and having made it through breathing, heart beating, and positive - that places in me an unbelievable liberated animus.

RA training is exasperating but fun - actually attending all of the sessions and meeting/greeting/learning the people is quite thrilling. There was some desire in me to get some sleep tonight, but I am still experiencing this exuberance that makes me want to just run, maybe even float.

Summer began for me this afternoon and ends in two days. I am going to savor it.

ID summer studio presentations were today. Most of the projects I had witnessed several times through their design cycles, per se, but some I saw for the first time only this afternoon. There are a few students in my class that truly have an intuitive eye for a wonderful look or simple form. I wish my camera was working (and here) so that I could have taken snapshots of the results. Dang.

The only items I hadn’t yet presented were my lamps and stool. The stool is in preliminary machining due to my repeated conflicts with lampshade design and assembly. Some mediocre lampshades were placed on the lamps for the presentation, but they hardly exhibit the effect I am pursuing. Bill said my lamp bases were “excellent” and that their synchronicity was “beautiful”. He told me to keep working on the shades and also allow for a firmer connection to the base than what I had planned for. His last point was dead-on and something I had contended with consistently throughout the lampshade development - I had only two connecting pins for the shade, which caused rocking and created several difficulties in steadying the thing. Anyways. The lamps should be done by the first week of the next semester.

The one-piece stump-stool is going to be a Super Fall Semester 2006! project and I will regularly update him on my carving and lathing results. And, as you can tell, the fall semester has received its official title.

The Second Summer Session 2006! isn’t over yet. My heat&mass transfer final is Saturday morning and the intermediate time is filled with RA jazz (maybe some salsa, as well).

My iCal is filling up, my Mail receives dozens of emails per day, more and more people appear in my Buddy List - the new school year is on the horizon.