i can't believe it's been at least 3 years since i had been to blacksburg. that's where i went this weekend, with the half-excuse of the NRV's toreador ball, but with trepidation about actually participating, and more of an interest in just seeing the place. one thing that struck me on arriving in town - other than the bizarro smart road thingy - is that i cannot clearly remember the last time i was there. it must have been in 1999, that's all i can pinpoint, and then i must have avoided the place ever since because i felt it was too full of my ex boyfriend. (who, by the way, i didn't see at all while i was there, which i pleasantly don't care about.) as we got past the new road wackiness, and things became utterly familiar, i began to feel the onlaught of nostalgia... as tzel can attest, i nearly started crying in the grocery store. there's a memory attached to nearly every square mile of the place.

that was just the beginning; i mean, i was heading into a camarilla larp, something i haven't done since late '99 or early '00, i can't quite remember which. it was immensely pleasurable to see and talk to old friends. at the risk of being melodramatic, it made me realize alot of things about myself. i felt detached from the actual club goings-on, and i'm quite sure i could never really put my brain to LARPing again, but maybe i do still have some friends from that period of my life. i was reminded of many of the good things about '96-'99, and even before. korangar reminded me about "part-time". mountainwitch reminded me about the good roleplay i had back in the day. of course, there were lots of holes, lots of absent friends and characters (by which i mean, not vampire characters, but people who were so colorful that they are now characters in a past drama).

it was a very relaxing weekend. it built me up for technicon. it made me appreciate where/who i am right now. it made me want to visit blacksburg more often. i could never recreate certain things, and i wouldn't want to, but i really want to make an effort not to forget them. man, i never thought i'd see pat shelor again in my life, and there he was! i can't get over that for some reason. the drive was even relaxing, although i think tzel wasn't feeling so hot on the way home. i miss the mountains. although, i know now i'm a city girl, and i don't think i could go backwards in that regard. but damn it's cheap to live out there. ugh, it's hard to verbalize all the things i miss about the place!

i'm really glad to have had this positive re-embrace of the burg, as i had grown to hate it and va tech as a symbol of a time when i screwed up alot and had really bad youthful drama-filled experiences. to everyone who spent time with me this weekend, thank you... it was great!!!

re-reading this post, it doesn't speak enough to the people who made my weekend so nice. yes, i was interested in seeing the place, but that was only half of it... it's also about the people.

a very little. i'm at work and it's dead silent in here. Number One just told me i could leave whenever i want and i think that will be real soon now. i can get to mom and dad's before they even wake up and scare the heck out of em! not to mention the roads being totally clear if i do that. aww, yeah. i hear i will see my uncle, which will probably be interesting, i haven't seen him since he moved to california, a decision that had left everyone (everyone being my mother and grandmother) feeling quite concerned. not about him, i don't think. more about his mother and children. but anyways...

today i was going to do laundry. oops. i didn't. they sent out the roster for my camarilla chapter and i'm STILL not on it. for some reason i feel like if i go to any effort to be a part of the club that they should be ever-so-grateful which is stupid, i know. i just remember back in the day when it was this desperate struggle to keep the roster long enough to be a valid chapter, and here i am a paid (heh) member, and no one's noticing! maybe it's because i attend absolutely nothing related to the camarilla. yeah, maybe that's it. other than that i went to visit jack. it was grand. ridculous as it sounds even to my overly-romantic ears, although we will see each other in two days i will miss him. considering all my friends that have to deal with long-distance hoo-hah, i should shut up.

Number One reports that there are scary drunk people at the 7-11! how will i get my snackage for the road?? the Boss just gave us a verbal warning about sleeping on shift again. it's ironic since the only person that does that isn't here. if he wanted to warn me about something it really ought to be posting too much to livejournal. i just spent 15 minutes composing an impassioned response to something on the feminist community. heh. that said, i think i'll getup and go!!!

those are just the song lyrics on the mp3 player right now. i'm pissed because the one cd i burned is all skippy. stupid tempermental software. that's not how you spell that, is it?

at any rate, saturday (which i'm currently still thinking of as yesterday) we drove to the tiki party; apparently there was some hullabaloo on the PA turnpike, however we saw none of it because they were turning cars around right up until us, and they let us go ahead. thank god. i remembered about halfway there that i had indeed been to pittsburgh before; for the WORST REGIONAL CONCLAVE EVER, which was also my last big cam event. RCC '99, ahhhh yes. let's continue to pretend i have never been to pittsburgh. oh, and i had the best fucking hardee's hot ham and cheese sandwich EVER. where is the nearest hardee's to laurel??? so, anyways, the parts of pitts i saw between meatnog's house and the highway were quaint; it made me enthused about the place immediately. the house itself was roomy and everyone was relatively friendly. unfortunately, i had a pretty introverted night, and ended up doing as much reading in a corner as socializing - that's pretty rare for me. i got to talk some to jody, but felt comfortable with everything, and disappointingly got no pleasant alcohol feelings. fortunately, that means i got no unpleasant ones either. and i even got to share a futon and not have to sleep on the floor. it was about the best post-party waking up i could ask for. then denny's, then the drive back was nice. we hardly listened to any music the entire way because there was PLENTY to chitchat about with meercat, to whom i am grateful for driving the entire way.

oh, the book i got a good start on is Orson Scott Card's Lost Boys. i'm really really hoping it picks up after page 135, because it's been really depressing and dull up to that point. and the characters of course are irritating. i thought it was supposed to be a thriller about the son of the family, but mostly so far it's been "blah blah blah our lives are so miserable, people suck, too bad everyone is not mormon". rar.

i made bizarrojack sit around and watch my newest obsessive TV show with me, Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska. it's sick, and awful, and i am totally addicted. i will note that i heard that the newest Law & Order series (yes, another one) will be real people in real courtrooms. freaky.

on a not funny note. i found out that a former coworker from the National Academy of Sciences, Marvin Weeks, passed away recently. i wish i had kept in touch with him because he was a kind man who helped me out a great deal when i was going through a miserable time at that job. he was always cheerful. i had not spoken to him in the three years since i left that job but i remember him as clearly as when i just left. definately a reality check. i hope he had a peaceful passing.

So, I did it. I went to a Camarilla meeting. It wasn't that bad. I didn't even make that many snarkey comments. It was strange in one significant way: the people at the meeting were different, but the experience was so very much the same. It was just like I had never left; uninterrupted. I don't know if I'd go back and play, really, but it might be a nice alternative social outlet on the happenstance that I need one. And if they do community service projects, I'd be happy to help. As long as I don't get too involved, or let anyone's gripiness get to me, I think it might be good. Maybe I can even contribute... but yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself. One good meeting, that's fine.

Yesterday was a little stressy, but all in all turned out well. I got things done, I got to take a metro trip, I got to eat someplace new and different. Although, my car's at the metro. Anyone wanna help me go get it?

Today: Adventure! LARP. I need shoes! I need to go to the dry cleaners and pick stuff up! Wargh!