The Stars That Usher Evening Rose

24 hours. That is how much time I spent driving and riding in a car over break (that's just traveling time that doesn't include little drives around town). I left here amongst the snow flakes on Tuesday morning around 11am. The snow did not impact my driving as it wasn't sticking and the only place I hit some heavier snow only lasted for about three or four minutes. I arrived at Cathy's place around 1:15pm or so. I preceded to watch the movie "Finding Neverland" while waiting for Jacqueline to get home and for William's dad to pick him up. I finished the movie and we packed up the car and headed out the door around 4:30pm. The drive down to Orlando was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Orlando around 12:30am.

The next day (Wednesday) was spent just laying around the house enjoying break. My uncle Johnny and his wife came into town for thanksgiving and stayed at my parents house too. They got in around 7pm on Wednesday. I spent part of the day hanging out with Clancy, atleast when he wasn't sleeping. He is still doing fairly well but having Casey around you can definitely see his age coming through. He and Casey seemed to get along fairly well. Clancy laid down the law pretty quick and let Casey know he was the boss and Casey listened.

Thursday morning my dad woke me up at 7:15 to get up and get ready to go play golf as our tee time was at 8am. We ate and headed out the door and met my Uncle Butch and my cousin Chris at the pro shop. After paying we headed out on the course. We played like crap as normal so nothing overly unusual there. Only interesting things of note here were when I hit a ball in the water near the bank of the pond and my dad told me to step out on the sand patch so I did and I quickly found that it wasn't very stable and I sank about shin deep and when I yanked my legs out they flung sand and mud all over the place including the golf cart and my dad. The other thing of note is that on one of my shots on the 17th hole I almost hit a passing golf cart which was pretty funny. After the game of golf we returned and I changed my sandy, muddy pants and sat down to watch the Falcons game, which they won. After the game we had thanksgiving dinner which included me, my parents, my uncle Johnny, his wife, my Uncle Butch and Aunt Rita, my cousin Chris and his daughter Marissa, Cathy, and Jacqueline. Dinner was great and after words Jacqueline and Marissa insisted everyone go out on the back porch to watch a play they had made up. The play ended up as mostly a disaster as they kept screwing up so we kept giving them a hard time. After a while everyone went home and we headed to bed.

Friday morning I was woke up at 9am to get ready to hit the road to head up to Atlanta. An hour and half later we were out the door. We arrived in Atlanta around 6pm dropped Casey off at Petsmart to stay the night and a chunk of the following day. From there we went and checked into the hotel and then went to dinner at the spaghetti Warehouse. After eating we headed back the the hotel as we had an early wake up call coming on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning did start early as I was woken up at 6:30am. After Cathy got her shower and the rest of us got ready we headed down stairs around 7:30am to get some breakfast. At a little past 8am we headed out again making our wake to Penske so my dad could rent a large truck to empty the storage unit with. After getting the truck we headed over to the storage unit to begin taking everything out of there and moving it into the truck. After a few minor items we began to take the phone booth out which probably weighs close to 700lbs or so and as we began to move it up the ramp to put it in the truck the weight shifted and it lost placed and fell to the ground with a fairly big bang. Luckily though it seems to have made it through the fall just fine. My dad at this point figured it was probably a good idea to go hire some people to come help us. So he hopped in the car and drove off as Cathy and I started pulling a bunch of the boxes out of the storage room. After about 15 minutes or so my dad returned with some guys he picked up at a bus stop. With their help we easily got the phone booth on the truck and even loading the rest of the stuff on the truck was a snap after that and we were finished by noon. Just before finishing William was dropped off by his step-mother so he could go with us to the aquarium. So after seeing my dad off we headed into downtown. We arrived in downtown a little after 1pm and parked in the Aquarium parking deck and since we were hungry we decided to walk over to to the CNN building to get something to eat in the food court there. Around 2:15 we left the food court and headed back to the Aquarium since our tickets where for 3pm. We got in line and waited for about 20 minutes before being let into the Aquarium.

Upon entering the aquarium we decided to go see the 3D movie first in the Aquariums 4D theater. So we headed up there got your tickets for the movie (which were kind of pointless as we never used them or even showed them to anyone) and waited for a few minutes before they let us in. Once in they had a little pre-show with this guy that told us a little trivia and asked a couple questions. After a few minutes we headed into the theater and watched the movie which was about a 15 minute movie which was mostly about keeping the ocean clean. Though the special effects were cool with the sprays of water, gusts of wind, things brushing against your head and legs, and of course the bubbles. After leaving the movie we headed down starting going through the Aquarium itself. We started with the "Georgia Explorer" which was mostly for kids though they had some smaller tanks in there with some smaller fish and a sea turtle. They also had places where you could pet stingrays, different kind of crabs, and starfish. From there we headed off to the "River Scout" area which is mostly freshwater fish and animals and I think it is also were the Japanese Spider Crabs, which are the biggest crabs I have ever seen, were located. Next we went into the "Cold Water Quest" which was mostly cold water fish and animals, such as sea lions, seals, pengiuns, and of course the Beluga Whales which were really cool to watch as they would swim around and flip around each other in the water even one went to the bottom and started scratching its back. Jacqueline started complaining she was thirsty so we went and bought some bottled water before heading over to the "Tropical Diver" section which is as it says topical fish. One of the best parts there was the jelly fish as they were just fun to stand there and watch. The other really cool part was the coral reef one which had its own generated waves that would move through every couple a minutes, this tank even stretching over your head a little bit. Last we headed over to the "Ocean Voyager" where the big fish were at. You head in there passing some smaller windows before finally entering the 100 foot long underwater tunnel that goes inside the huge tanks. The two Whale Sharks swam over a couple times as we slowly made our way through the tunnel. Along with the Whale Sharks we saw, Hammerhead Sharks, Goliath Groupers, Sawfish, and some other weird looking fish. After the tunnel we made our way around and came up to this screen with moving fish on it that you could touch and it would bring up facts about the fish you touched on. After playing with that for a few minutes we made our way around the huge viewing area. This had a whole wall basically of glass (I would say about 40 feet tall and 80 feet wide) to view into the tank. They had areas where you could sit and stand to watch so we decided to sit down and watch for a little while and Cathy took some pictures. After sitting there for several minutes we got up and made our way into the gift shop. Cathy and William got some Christmas gifts for people while I got a new hat for myself. After buying that stuff we headed out of the Aquarium and back to the car. We were hungry so after leaving the Aquarium we stopped at a Johnny Rockets and got something to eat. After eating we went and picked up Casey from Petsmart and hit the road back to Charlotte around 8:30pm. We arrived back in Charlotte around midnight that night. William and I stayed up for a little bit playing PSP against each other. Then around 3pm we decided to head to bed. This is when I basically locked myself in Jacquelines room. I went in her room to get my stuff to brush my teeth and closed the door behind me not realizing there wasn't a doorknob on the door anymore. So after struggling to get out for about 20 minutes Cathy walks out with the door knob and uses it to opens the door and then gives it to me. So finally just before 4am I was able to get in bed.

On Sunday I woke up around 10:45am and went downstairs. Pretty much just sat around and played a game of Phase 10 which I finished last in thanks to a bunch of bad hands. Finally around 2:30pm I hit the road to come back to Asheville. On the way back I gave Tim a call since I had actually told him I was going to call him when we got back to Charlotte on Saturday but since we returned late on Saturday I waited till Sunday to call him. I also called Carlos to make fun of him for Florida's 34-7 victory of his Florida State Seminoles the day before. I arrived back on campus around 5pm and unpacked and did some studying trying to prepare for the next two weeks. Last week of regular classes are this week and exams are next week. December 9th probably wont get here soon enough.

I love snow, and I look forward to it every winter. I am always like a little kid whenever I hear snow is coming, except this time. Our first snow of the year here in Asheville is predicted to be on Tuesday. Again this news would normally bring joy to my life but on this occasion it does not. Why is that? Well because I have to travel that day. After my morning class on Tuesday I have to pack my car and hit the road for Charlotte. As I am sure you have already figured out snow and driving tend not to mix extremely well. So depending on the exact time the snow starts, how heavy it falls, and outside temperature. I could find my self in a small predicament Tuesday. I have some possible "out plans" and that is if my Calc. II class is cancelled Tuesday morning (got any e-mail from professor that leads me to believe it could be) then I could either leave after my meeting on Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. So I guess it's time to start keeping an eye to the sky, NOAA, local news stations, and the Weather Channel to see what my best option is. Hopefully I wont be posting from my dorm Tuesday at 11:30pm cause if I am then I am in trouble and thanksgiving plans are in real trouble. Overall this is actually one snow I hope doesn't come.

Only two days left until Thanksgiving break, thank God. I need this time off to let my brain rest, I swear that my headaches I have been getting lately are because I have been pushing myself so hard school wise. You would think it would pay off too, but I still seem to struggle to pass my Calc II test and I am really lucky if I get anywhere near a C on my Physics test. So this pushing myself doesn't seem to be working as planned, but my professors have seen me in their labs so they know I am trying and hopefully that will buy me a couple points come the end of the semester.

On this past Friday I went to see the movie Walk The Line, the one about Johnny Cash. I decided to go see it because it looked good from the trailers and I had heard good reviews about it. I really enjoyed the movie. I liked it more than "Ray" because I thought Ray kind of dragged on at times and I didn't get that feeling with "Walk The Line". I thought Joaquin Phoenix did an excellent job playing Cash. One of his best roles I think. After watching the movie I definitely see why Johnny Cash decided to cover the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" before he passed away as that song seems to sum up his life pretty well. I would definitely recommend this movie. After the movie I came back to my room to print out instructions to the BlogAsheville Thanksgiving Party (aka BlogAsheville's Inaugural International Giblet Olympics and Gravy Guzzler) since I forgot to print them out before I had left before. After getting the directions I went and hopped in the car and drove over there finding parking much easier this time around than the last time. I walked over to the house with my package of dinner rolls that I was told to bring and knocked on the door. I was quickly let in, handed over my rolls and preceded to walk around and say hello to everyone. Had several faces I didn't recognize this time around and several that I did. We all stood around talking for a while and I had a conversation with Uptown Ruler (I believe it was), as he goes by in the blogging world, about Global Warming. I also talked to Raphael Doxos about all sorts of deferent things. Before eating Ashvegas, as he goes by in the blogging world, had a taste test of a certain beer he had trying to see if anyone could guess the secret ingredient. I was totally stumped and had no guess at all, some other people guessed some of the other ingredients but not the secret one. After a few minute Ash finally told us the secret ingredient was "butter pecans" which as soon as he said it I noticed the taste (doesn't it always work that way?). After that we started eating, we had turkey, pumpkin cornbread (awesome), salad, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, among other things. We also had, pumpkin cheesecake, ice cream, and apple pie for deserts. While eating we sat around and talked and I actually found another person who reads Jose Saramago which I thought was pretty cool. Once we finished eating a bunch of the people started to head out but myself along with a group of about 6 or so decided to stick around a while longer. This is when all the questions started coming out such as "If you could be reborn as anyone who is living today who would it be?" or "What is your favorite band?", or "How did you learn about the birds and the bees?" had some interesting and worrisome answers to that one. Even our host Edgy Mama pulled out the book she learned from and thumbed through it for us. We also hit up the internet looking at the websites Kitten War and Cats in Sinks, a lot of cat fans there. After 11:00pm the rest of us started heading out. I got back to the room around 11:30 or so might have been a little later as I don't remember for sure. Overall I had a good time and look forward to the one in January.

Last night something that I have been waiting to happen all semester finally happened. At 3:30am the fire alarm went off. Without fail every semester I can count on some asshole pulling the fire alarm in the middle of the night cause they thought it would be funny. So I had to jump out of bed grab some of my crap and of course a jacket and head out the door. After standing outside for about 15 minutes or so we were finally allowed to go back in. Atleast this time it was on a weekend.

Anyway this semester is quickly heading towards an end. Only a couple weeks left. This weeks are going to be hell. Next week I have two test to take, a debate to go to, and then the BlogAsheville thanksgiving party that Friday assuming something doesn't pop up. Anyway since the party is a potluck, in otherwords we have to bring stuff with us, I have to figure out what they need me to bring that I am able to bring since I can't really cook anything as I don't have really any access to a stove and even if I did I am pretty limited in what I know how to make. So it will have to be something I can pick up. I need to e-mail them for directions as well since I have no idea how to get there.

The following week is Thanksgiving so its only a two day school week. I will leave here after work Tuesday to head to Cathy's place and then we are leaving from Cathy's around 6pm which should get us into Orlando around 2am or so depending on road construction hold ups. We will stay there and have Thanksgiving and then all of us, including my parents, will leave to head to Atlanta on Friday morning. Saturday morning we will unload the storage unit my parents still have there into a truck my dad is renting. After unloading the truck, Cathy, myself, Jacqueline, William, and maybe my parents are going to visit the new Georgia Aquarium which will have just opened a few days before that. So that should be fun. And I of course will return to campus on Sunday in time to be at work at 8pm. Then its time for finals, which wont be as much fun.

Every semester I talk about how insanely fast they go by. That never seems to change as the current semester is only about 5 or so weeks from ending (including exams). I swear it still feels like it should be August stil. Though I am not complaining about this semester moving so fast as it has been a really rough one. Next semester isn't going to be much better though. Hell, it isn't going to be any better. I sign up next week on Tuesday I believe. As it stands now I will be taking Calc. III, Physics II, Humanities 324, and ATMS 320 (Weather Forecasting). That is a total of 15 hours. I must enjoy killing myself. Though I think of it this way come May I should be finished with all that hard crap and pretty much can just concentrate on the rest of my Atmospheric Sciences classes. So my winter break needs to move slow, course it wont it will blow by just like everything else. Hard to believe this is the end of my forth semester here hardly seems like a year.

Other than that there really has been nothing going on as I don't really have much free time with this class schedule. I was even toying with the idea of turning one of my really weird dreams into a short story but between not having a lot of time and not knowing how to start it, I haven't been able to do anything with it. What free time I do have is normally spent relaxing or on weekends heading into town just to get away from campus.

Since I had a free weekend William expressed interest in coming up to visit. I told him it was fine with me. He ask his mom/my sister if he could come and she told him no because she didn't have the gas money to drive him up here. I told her I would met her half way but she can't do that either. So its not looking to likely that he will be coming up. Oh well, there will always be another time for him even if its not till January.

My parents have been calling the school for like a week and half (well they only called 3 times during that period) trying to figure out what's going on with tuition. Then finally just today the lady sent me an e-mail saying that she could not talk to my father unless I signed something saying she could so tomorrow I have to go do that since I have no idea what it is my dad wants to know. That and even if I did and I asked her knowing him he just wants to hear it from her. So we shall see what happens with that. But that's pretty much it as I said not a whole lot going on.