When the English colonists settled at Jamestown, I remember learning in school that they suffered from all kinds of nasty diseases. Malaria, dysentery, and others come to mind. Why? Because it was a swamp. 400 years later I live in that swamp. Today, the swampiness is getting the better of me as some tropical crap from the south pushes simultaneous rain, burning sun, and humidity our way. I don’t want to think about what it’s like in the Bay Area.
Everything seems so run of the mill compared to this summer. Classes are more or less the same. The professors are the same. The environment is the same. The people are more or less the same.
I started practicing with the team again which helps some, but that isn’t much different than it’s been before, either. Except that I’m definitely not in shape. I was owned in a workout on Friday, but hopefully I will be able to get back into it. I wish we would practice in the mornings when it’s much more temperate. That won’t matter in a few weeks, however.
Last weekend I went home, which was something I almost never while at school. It took a record 2.5 hours to get there Friday afternoon. I’ve done it under an hour when the conditions are right — such as when I came back Sunday night. Most of it was because of Labor Day weekend traffic, but there was an accident. While at home, I managed to get some kind of respiratory infection, the first I’ve had in a very long time. When I got back here this week, everyone seemed to be getting it. So, I just sat around the house and read. I ran some, too, but that was about it. I felt a lot better on Monday but whatever it is still hasn’t completely left my system.
One day this week I was feeling tired and drank one of those Vault sodas — holy crap, the caffeine blew me away. It seemed as if everyone else was moving too slow. I probably talked more in class that afternoon than I have ever. I don’t drink soda too much but I seem to be picking up a habit. Mostly I’ve been getting glass-bottled cream sodas and root beer from the grocery store, and ones without caffeine at that.
On Friday Sarah was in town so we went out to Carrabba’s. We ordered lasagna, but they were out of that, so I got a dish with chicken, pasta, and cream sauce. It wasn’t bad, but it’s hard to tell when you’re starving and eat everything really fast. Sarah got ravioli (which is going to be my dinner tonight because she didn’t eat it all and left it in my fridge: muahahaha). Afterwards we went to Bruster’s and shared a cone with pumpkin ice cream. I wanted to try the White Turtle flavor since I never had it before, but they were out of that. Two for two with supply shortages that night. Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors, but they only have it in the fall. I can’t figure out why some of the best stuff is seasonal. They should have it year round. The Caf does that too with some of the stuff they make.
On Saturday my family and I went to Richmond for a NASCAR race. My uncle is a huge fan and had never been to one before so we met him and one of my other uncles there. None of us had been to a NASCAR race before either. I don’t follow that stuff at all, so it was an interesting experience. We got there really early and got one of the last parking spaces a mile or two from the track. It was a real game to find where my uncles were in relation to where we parked since they were here earlier. If cell phone providers weren’t such tightwads with their proprietary crap, we could use the GPS in the phones to easily find each other.
The race didn’t start until 8 so we had a few hours to kill. There were tons of people in the grass lots tailgating with barbecue grills and crappy beer. Eventually there was this general movement towards the track and we followed the herd into the place. A lot of the people there were your quintessential, stereotypical country bumpkins. Everyone was decked out in a tshirt or hat of their favorite driver while drinking light beer as if it was water. As we walked into the place random people were handing out jello shots. Tons of people were screaming for whatever reason.
It took awhile to find our seats since the place was packed. It was probably one of the few public places where they still let you smoke, and lots of people around us took advantage of that. We sat in the seats for about an hour while they introduced all the drivers. Finally, just as the sun was setting, they started the race.
Of course, I had no idea what was going on half the time since it was hard to see with everyone standing up all the time. When everyone was sitting down it was much easier to see. But, as soon as one person in the stands gets up, the people near him can’t see, so everyone starts standing up.
We got one of those radios so you could hear what the drivers were saying as well as the ESPN radio. I listened to the ESPN station most of the time so I could tell what was going on. It wasn’t too hard to follow the leaders, but with the cars moving so fast and with people standing in the way it got confusing sometimes. The die-hard fans (most people there) would stand up and toast their driver with their oversize beer cans as they drove by. They would also boo the drivers they hated as they drove by and cheer if one they didn’t like crashed.
There were a few crashes and they happened fast. Stuff would be whizzing around and suddenly a puff of smoke would appear in one of the turns. Then the caution lights would come on and all the cars would drive slowly until they cleared the wreck. A lot of the cars got really beat up as the race went on. One was missing an entire fender.
The race was stopped completely because of crashes twice. One bad one happened right in front of us, but it was hard to see because it happened so fast. With it taking under 20 seconds for the cars to complete a lap, I can see why crashes happen so often. It reminds me of an indoor track race where everyone is bunched up and starts tripping over each other, except at warp speed. It was also a lot like short track speed skating with the crashes and especially with passing. It seems that the main problem was getting around the other cars if you wanted to get in the lead.
It was a long race — 400 laps of a 3/4 mile track. With the cautions and two red flags, my mom, sister, and I left early since it got so late. With the long walk back to the car through piles of beer cans as well as the drive back to Williamsburg, I was exhausted. In all, going to the race was an interesting experience, but I think you have to be a fan to really appreciate it.
Now that I’m back, it’s time to take care of all the usual stuff: laundry and school work. School hasn’t been too bad, but that will gradually change as the semester goes on. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
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