The Things that Remind Me of You!

While watching this bunch of people throw random crap and try to take pictures of it, I'll write about my favorite time of the year: Spring!

I totally love this time of year, where the flowers are the most beautiful and when the wind blows it isn't biting at all. The Dogwood trees in front of my place are in full bloom and I can't help but think of Granddaddy whenever I see them. He always had Dogwood saplings randomly growing in his yard somewhere, so I always had one wherever I lived (granted that has only been two places, but still). I recently visited the trailer park where I used to live and found the proud Dogwood at over 20 feet tall acting as a giant over the home of my childhood. Unfortunately, the one from the house of my adolescence was taken out by hurricane Isabel. Now, wherever I am, I tend to find them and think of my Grandfather holding my chin, giggling it just a bit and making the coolest Donald Duck voice as he did it. I miss the guy, I hope he's doing alright in heaven.

Actually, come to think of it, many random things make me think of certain people for legitimate reasons...

Cardinals and Blue Jays: Grandma Matthews, because she loves birds and these two are everywhere in her backyard. Plus, everywhere perfectly placed throughout her house. But I think they also represent her personality: an air of regal-ness and a sense of a free spirit. Also Milanos, because she still gives me a pack whenever I come to visit her.

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets: Melinda, because of the first time I met her, we connected over our favorite thing from McDonald's. She could have said anything else, and it wouldn't have mattered, but the fact that we shared a weird taste bud, made me very happy. I can't help but get some and think of her when I do.

Books in general: My mother of course. At a very early age, she has always encouraged me to free myself from the rainy day and go to a different world. I blame her for my broad imagination, child-like nature, and my English degree that I'm about to receive.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies and Libraries: Grandma Hollabaugh. She used to put the cookies in the freezer and share a sleeve of them with me and a tall glass of milk. Those were great times. When I got a bit older and I helped her babysit, we used to go to the library ALL the time. It was here that I learned that you didn't have to pay to read a book, that there were places that loaned them out for free! Plus, they had really cool documentaries (I recommend Bill Nye the Science Guy).

Rivers, Daisies, Finding Nemo & Kaleidoscopes: My Liz. I chose rivers because the first time I took her hiking, we forded a nice size river 8 times going to the campsite and 8 times coming back. It was March, the river was deep, and the river was 45 degrees. This equals a not so happy Liz, but an extremely cool story. Daisies and Finding Nemo, because these are her favorite flowers and movie, respectively. There's not a week that goes by that we don't talk in whale speak, or act like Crush the Turtle. And finally, I chose kaleidoscopes because of her "favorite gift". When we first started dating, we were walking around the Barnes and Noble when I handed her a small brass kaleidoscope. I told her it was hers because she was a dreamer and this would help her dream more. Needless to say, even after her handmade engagement ring, she still thinks the kaleidoscope is her fave gift. I love her, because she loves the small things in our life together.

Hemingway & Submarines: My Grandpa Hollabaugh. In most of his pictures from his final years in the Navy, I can't help but think of the sheer correlation you can make in look between him and Ernest Hemingway. It's uncanny. I also think of him when I see pics of subs, because of his cool stories of being a sonar in the Navy. He's a cool G-pa, and he's where I think I get my sarcasm from.

Chess: I think of my Dad whenever I play a chess game or when I see a cool handmade chess set. I remember times when I was a kid, when all Dad and I would do would be play Chess on his hand carved set. It didn't matter who won; we would always reset the pieces and start over again and again. It was kinda cool to see me slowly start to be beat him more and more as I got older. The things I learned playing chess and the things I learned from Dad while playing Chess have helped me in life tremendously. I now can no longer make a decision without playing different results in my head quickly. Plus, since I've been working on this whole Lawyer ordeal, the game helps with my logic. I can't stop playing it online!

There are many things that remind me of certain people. I'll probably end up writing others as the year progresses, but right now, this blog is already 10 times longer than I expected! Oh well, this is an easy way for people to know that I sometimes remember some of the smallest details of my life with them. I love you all so very much!

Conquering Dirtied Lands

After a long and arduous journey, I have officially cleaned Liz's room.

Seriously, it was like a dungeon during the time of the Black Death. Sifting through her piles of clean clothes, balled up kleenex, and discarded receipts, I became afraid that there would a monster lurking in her room. I'm thinking of something that was a cross breed. A mut that was part monster from "Where the Wilds Things Are" and part sea creature from that dumpster in "Star Wars".

I am Sir Gawain, conquering the Green Knight, whilst vanquishing the town's pilfered clothing that can stand on their own.

I am, in essence, rescuing Liz from a frightful welcome when she hits her bedroom and recognizing the mess she had when she left. I wouldn't want to come home to a dirty bedroom, so I helped her.

Really, to give her credit it wasn't all that dirty. I just like to fabricate these really cool images in my head in order to make the task go by quicker. For example, when I spray the windows with glass cleaner, it isn't just Windex, but a Clint Eastwood-esque moment where I draw my revolver in a stand-off. I know I sound like a weirdo, but Liz and I like to dream and it keeps me in a optomistic mood. Because of this, I think I'll keep it going. After all, to live like Peter Pan, you're not allowed to grow up. Ever.

I miss London. I miss Kensington Gardens (which we didn't get to see, but will next time [hopefully April of next year]). I miss Liz. And I miss Fruit Stripe bubble gum.

Oh well time to write for Environmental History of South Africa, run a bit outside, and then chill watching "The Last Call": a movie (with Nev Campbell) about the final years of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life. Dr. Mangum is letting me borrow it; here's to hoping it is worth it!

Be the Good Samaritan, Ryan!

I love being that person that can help others in need, and it hurts me when I feel like I can help, but am unable to do so. Today, I have had an example of each.

First, the example of where I could have helped someone, but through means uncontrollable by me, was unable!

My bud, Josh forgot his work clothes back in Midlothian (about a 25 minute drive from our work). All he needed was a friend to loan him a pair of khakis and a black polo. Result: he asked his best friend closest to his work. Problem: all of my work clothes were dirty and were waiting to be washed. Josh apparently didn't care too much and was willing to wear clothes that I had sweat in during the past week, but I couldn't bring myself to help the poor guy. I mean, I wanted to but I needed to wash these things, and there were others he could grab clothes from. His final solution came from another friend of ours, Drew who is of a different build than Josh. Where josh is a 32 waist (like me), Drew is a 36. I'm going to guess because he has birthing hips. When I got to the Starbucks to study, Josh looked like he was preparing to go to the Renaissance Fair. It was a fun spectacle to watch.

Second situation was one where I could help out, and that was for my Liz!

Liz is having a tough time up in Massachusetts. She's getting past hurts thrown at her from the court case and there isn't much time for her to do the homework she needs to finish. Take those things and add a cup of hormones and you have one REALLY stressed out Liz. What could I do to help her? First she asked me to pick up some books for her for her long paper she has to write. The biggest problem with this was that the books were located on the OTHER campus, that requires a longer drive and a parking garage fee. Thankfully enough, God blessed me with a grace period where I didn't have to pay the parking fee and all of the books were there waiting for me! Now, I'm going to go through them with a fine tooth comb and sticky-note good passages for her to use. This won't take much time for me, but will be a tremendous help for her. I'm glad to do it for you, honey!

Now, I have to brainstorm ideas to help her even more. I wish I could fly to Massachusetts and just hold the poor girl and let her know that God and I both love her dearly.

(Liz don't read this next part!)
I definately am going to clean her room so she can study better when she gets home. She kinda doesn't want me to do it, because I already have a busy lifestyle as it is and some of her papers need to be kept. No worries though, I have a plan for that too!

Time for more LSAT practice, which I'm starting to get the hang of, a late night run, more studying on Liz's part, and then a deeeeeep slumber.

Eyes to the Sky...or Mountains?

Oddly enough, I never thought that Liz being in Massachusetts would have affected me in the way it has. I miss her laugh and her even being annoyed at me! It seems that I really didn't realize that I would miss her this much until she was already gone. That's ok though, because I'll be the first one she sees when she steps off of her plane.

I guess it's the radio silence that is theme of her trip. Not like she's incognito or anything, but she has a ton on her plate at the moment. She's a witness in a very important case AND she needs to complete homework when not in the courtroom. Plus, I have some papers to start on and have chores to finish. Hence, it was a mutual agreement to talk the very least on the phone for us to accomplish the things that we neded to get done.

The coolest thing about this time away is that I get to do one of my favorite things this week! I get to take all of my camping gear out of storage. I'll lay them all over the floor in a chaotic/organized fashion and decide what needs repair, what needs to be replaced, and what is still going strong. I tend to keep my stuff in good shape so it shouldn't take long, but I love playing with all the cool hiking gizmos I've collected over the past three years.

It'll be great to get back on the trail and just get going. I've always found the hardest part is actually getting out the door and just going. Once that happens, it really isn't all that bad to hike even when it is raining. The views especially make everything else worthwhile! They can really make the 5 miles you trek through fly infested forest seem like just an easy stroll.

I just hope that most of the melted mountain water has fully passed if I take the usual routes. I don't feel like fording a river seven time that is 20 feet across and 40 degrees! It'll be nice to finally find some complete solace where there are no cellphones, Starbucks, or grad school denial letters.

Generalizations of American Culture

If I were an Anthropologist, and wanted to see the best/worst of what humanity has to offer, I think I would go no further than a bar. Especially the ones here in Richmond. I mean honestly, how does such a thriving cultural center go overlooked by these scientists?

There are certain things that you can focus on in order to focus on mankind in general:

1. the "Bro"s
Look for these guys by their overuse of cheap cologne and flipped polo collars. They'll almost always order a Coors light and insist that it's one of the best beers America has to offer (Seriously?!). After a few of their beers and continuous shots of cheap liquor, they'll commence to do more homoerotic things to their guy friends as a joke. However, it more than often comes off a sort of closet homosexual ritual. In Richmond, these creeps usually tend to travel over 10 miles with ten of their friends from their cheaper apartment in the West End to come here in order to pick up their biggest fantasy: the art-chick.

2. The Art-chick
The main target for people that come to a Richmond bar, that don't live here. These women primarily give the I-don't-care attitude. They'll smoke cigarettes (preferable Camels) in the corners and may allow another guy hit on them if the air is right. However, don't be smug about their casual nature. They all have some sort of odd thing going on in their life, whether it be that they're habitual heroin users or they have a cookie jar collection back at their apartment. I'm so glad I snagged Liz before she went this route!

3. The Scenesters
These are the guys that I hang with mostly. You can find them by their overlarge Chrome messenger bags and their high cut dickey's jeans/converted shorts. The will almost certainly drink PBR (Pabst blue RICHMOND!) and bring up the three no-nos in drinking conversations:
a.Religion
b.politics
c. insert any random/possibly hurtful generalization
However, most are good-natured and have a quiet disposition.

4. The Ditzes
These women are the typical "Whooo!" girl. If you want to see them in their primal instincts find these when they're at a table with their closest friends and one of them just broke up with her boyfriend. They'll almost ever look for a guy when this occurs ("No guys tonight! I just want to be with my girls!"). If studying these creatures, I recommend earplugs. At every overplayed song on the radio, they will commence to scream joy and then commence to botch up the lyrics while drunkenly dance all over their fellow girlfriends.

These people make bars that much more interesting when I go to one. I immediately ignore the price of a vodka and tonic when I get to see America at its finest. The sad thing is, if anyone has been to a bar recently they know the types of people I'm talking about.

These are the Dreamakers

Ah that complete sleep!

I must have slept for a good 8 hours, and man it was perfect. I haven't had a sleep like it since I moved to Richmond. Imagine waking up with drool all over the place, the warm sun filling your room, and your two roommates saying we snagged tickets to go see U2 for extremely cheap! Whoa, that is a great way to wake up. I know I just mentioned how I came out of my slumber, but it essential to wake up well in order to complete a great round of Z's. So now allow me to work myself backwards from the best sleep of my life.

A perfect sleep wouldn't be replete without DREAMS! And these two my friends were my favorite kinds: lucid and two different ones.

Dream1.- I found out that I was the son of Barack Obama, and seeing as he only has two daughters, I became this son that he needed to catch up with. So we did all sorts of odd things you could only do as a first kid: paintball on the White House lawn with the secret service, fishing in the Potomac, and even heli-ski! It was awesome! I remember at one point being at the mall with the President, when this occurred:

Bunch of girls: "OHMYGOD! OHMYGOD!"

Mr. Obama shrugs his shoulders
O: This happens sometimes.

Me: Are you sure? I don't think many young kids know much about our government.

girls: Hannah Montana! I can't BELIEVE IT!

O: I can't believe it?!

M: These things happen in America. You should know this by now...


Dream 2:

Imagine, if you will, a zombie holocaust where everything is overrun by odd looking zombies. Of course they will eat any living flesh, but just like my video game "Left 4 Dead" they have mysteriously evolved into something even more weird! They have this one zombie with huge orange-y eyes that are used as detectors. If it finds you running around, it'll scream and alert all the other zombies in the area. The first time I encountered one in this dream I lit it on fire and then made a flaming wall to ward off the attack. As I simultaneously spat at the zombies AND in real life, Adam wakes me with a knock, "Hey man, we need to talk".

That's right, I hung out with Mr. Obama, killed a zombie horde and was then told that I got a ticket to go see Bono, the Edge, and the other two guys (I don't think they have as cool nicknames)! U2 is coming to Charlottesville (of all places) a week and two days before my wedding so everything evens out so well! I'm so pumped!

Oh that Starbucks!

Today I opened the River Road Starbucks for my Liz. She's so sweet, but I felt that she was working too hard in her classes to fail because of her constant opening shifts. I worked until 10, where she came in and finished the shift (seeing as I am now sitting in my Shakespeare class talking about Falstaff in Henry 4th part 1, instead of aerating milk).

I forgot how fun an open can be. I'm one of those guys that people hate in the mornings: once I wake up, I'm fully ready to embrace the day. I work on my own energy (until the Iced Coffee is prepped) and then I just keep on moving. Plus, the shifts in the morning go by quicker because there's always a customer and so you don't stop moving. I LOVE it!

The River Road Starbucks where Liz works is a polar opposite of the one that I work at. Funny how these things happen. Liz's Bux has the rich elitist culture of Richmond. They know what they want (almost ALWAYS some complicated drink of nothingness [decaf, sugar-free, & nonfat]) and theywant it NOW! No putting it off, if it comes out after two minutes have past, they think for some odd reason that the drink is "cold" and must be "remade immediately, because I have somewhere important to go". Thanks buddy, you basically told me that where I work is not an important place. Wow, I feel like a plebian...

My store however is somewhat bohemian. Mostly everyone owns a Mac, rides their bike, lives in the Fan, and has some job with a non-profit organization (my type of people). They also resemble more of what I think America is: a hodgepodge of cultures. I have, so far, learned how to say hello, goodbye, and thank you in over 7 different languages and it's still rising thanks to our customers. If the drink is different, it's "no worries" and a kind "take your time". I love them, and I tend to be reminded of how cool they are based on working at Liz's store.

Hometeam tonight for the US national soccer game and then many, many, many hours of sleep to recuperate.