Controlled Chaos

I got up early the next morning, showered with only shampoo,and headed to the J-school to anlyze my thesis data with Dr. Wanta. I got a lot done sitting in the J school lounge, and wrote out my findings. I have strong and significant support for the hypothesis that weak tie online social capital amassment leads to civic participation; i.e., using facebook and myspace might lead some people toward service. Eventually, I met up with Keith for lunch at Main Squeeze, then returned to the J-school lounge, then to see Marla Applebaum Wilcox, then Jim Scott. At around 5, I went to see Kim’s new house, then caught a ride to the International Café for dinner with Sarah Skaggs, which resulted in great conversation. She took me to Walgreens for bandaids and hydrocortisone, then back to Paul’s. Then we went to his friend Dan’s, then Nick and Scott showed up. Eventually, I fell asleep on that same couch.

I woke up that night feeling a little rough, very bugbitten, but completely alive. I was the first up, and first in the water. We spent a good deal of the morning swimming and then packing, and eventually made our way out in the high heat, just Bailey, Justin, Hunter, and I. When we got out, Bailey went his own way, and the three of us went to Justin’s so they could shower off, then to Paul’s so I could. From there, we went, with Paul, to Bambino’s where we drank margaritas that just hit the spot bullseye. Justin and Hunter left from there to go fishing, but Paul and I went for ice cream. On Felicia’s recommendation, I went and got a blueberry frapp. Then we headed back to Paul’s place and relaxed until he went to StL for the evening to help Lucia move. I relaxed, a bit worn, and that night had Scott deliver a pizza. He was going to come hang after his shift ended, and it even ended early, but I was again asleep.

I woke up, unpacked, found a towel, showered, and enjoyed some peace and quiet. Eventually, Justin came over, then Bailey. We started discussing the camping trip we were leaving for that night, and decided to go get supplies at HyVee. We got wine, water, beer, lentils, yogurt-covered almonds, and other necessities. We had so many liquids that Justin and I started leaving piles of our stuff around the store, so that we could come back and get them as we approached the check-out line. It was kind of funny. When we got back to Paul’s, Amber and Scott were already there. We consolidated our stuff, got bug spray and sleeping bags and whatnot, and headed off to Justin’s new place, which is in the basement of a house some distance from campus. It’s awesome – a three-story house with a hidden balcony in back that overlooks a little pond. The owners, sociologists that had gotten an assignment at another school, had entrusted the place to Justin in their absence for a very reasonable monthly rent. Here, we gathered up the last few things we needed, and headed out to the Rocky Fork Lakes Conservation area. Camping is technically illegal here. We arrived, then hauled all our gear out to the spot Justin had always wanted to camp at. We were a forty-five minute hike from concrete, cars, or anything manmade, and it felt great. The spot was an abandoned quarry that have been filled with water that was crystal clear. Justin threw in his pole, and caught a fish on the first cast. He caught about 6 more that night. Meanwhile, we set up our primitive camping site, hammock in the trees, got an area ready for a small embers fire, then we jumped in. The water was cool and so clear you could see at least ten feet down uninhibited. We swam for most of the day, and eventually Corley and her boyfriend, then Hunter, then finally Paul and Lucia and Emily showed up, and at one point we had about 11 people out there, although only 6 of us stayed the night. Two in a tent, two in a hammock, me in my sleeping bag, and Bailey in a sleeping bag until he couldn’t take it anymore and stumbled back to his car in the middle of the night. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We kept throwing beer cans out into the lake, and they’d float to the surface and we’d race to them and drink. Then Justin and Hunter started crushing them and letting them sink, then “penciling” down to get them by letting their legs fold on top of them and the gravity would take them down 15-20 feet. They’d let the can get just out of eyesight, then dive. Eventually, they did lose one can, and Justin was pretty upset about it but he got on anyway. A lot of us ended up skinny dipping as well, and then we were feeling really free. Eventually, we started a small fire, put it out to embers, and put a pot in it with some lentils and stewed tomatoes, and also we put a can of corn in the embers, and made a little hobo dinner that we had with a jug of wine. We swam some more at night, and eventually we all kind of made our way out of the woods or to sleeping bags where we fell asleep.

I got up early, packed my stuff, and got in the car. My dad and I drove to his office to pick up Joe, one of his employees.  They were headed to Columbia for a Missouri Elder Law Attorney Seminar.  I was heading to Columbia knowing not where I would stay. I had intended to go to my friend Paul’s house, but he wasn’t going to be in town until the next day. So as we rode, I txted friends and drifted in and out of sleep. When we got there, I took the car and drove to Paul’s place, dropped my stuff off behind it, and headed to campus. I parked and walked into the J school, only to find it more or less empty. Then I got a call back from Scott, and headed over to his new place. We hung out for a while, and I relaxed, and even got a call from Julie telling me she had a key to Paul’s and would unlock the basement door and put my stuff in there when she got off work, which helped a bunch. Scott and I played some Halo (taking it back to the old school!), and as we did I realized that, per capita, Columbia is much farther left than NYC, and I reveled in that thought. Scott and I went to Cafe Berlin, a new place that NORMLers know the owner of. It was very laid-back hippy, lots of veg options, Scott got waffles with sausage and apples on them and I got something delicious and a rootbeer float. We walked back to Scott’s, then went on an adventure trying to get my dad’s car back to him (driving a BMW after not having driven in over a year was midly disconcerting, though I had no fear of an accident and was driving safely).  When I got there, my dad asked me to wait so I could see Colleen Nunnelly, who had let me stay at her place for an internship a few winters ago.  She is awesome, and I was glad to catch up with her.  After that, Scott and I returned to his place, then Amber came over and hung out. Eventually, we went to her place and when it got dark I went to Paul’s, carried my stuff upstairs, got out my blanket, and passed out alone on a desolate couch in an empty house, and loved doing it. Justin got into town that night, and Scott was planning to come by and in fact DID come by, but I was sleeping on the other side of an unlocked door, unwakable.

Today was a day for tours.  First, we went on a tour of the new Busch Stadium:

My dad and I in the Cards dugout!

A great view  of the Lou from behind home plate.

One of the coolest facts we learned about Busch washere, and not at the brewery.  Turns out, when changing the name from Sportsman’s park, Gussy Busch originally wanted to name it “Budweiser Stadium.”  However, the Commissioner wouldn’t allow stadiums to be named after products (seems funny now, right?), so Gussy decided instead to name it after his family, hence “Busch Stadium.”  Then, six months later, A-B came out with Busch beer.  =)

The next tour we went on was the arch.  I hadn’t been up in it since I was a kid,and reading all the history about the making of the arch was actually pretty cool.  My dad was 11 when it was completed.  Anyway, pictures:

The arch, looking quite heavenly.

A view looking up out of the cart as it transported us up one of the arch’s legs.

Looking down at the site of Tour #1, from the windows atop tour #2.

My mom works in the green-topped building (second-tallest in St. Louis!) on the left, and the Rams Stadium, whatever its called now, is visible on the right.

Leaning back at 630 feet!

It’s an optical illusion!

We got out of the arch at around 4:35.  I called my mom, ad we figured out that as long as we made it to the brewery BY 5, we could take a tour.  So off running we went, and we got there at about 4:54.  I ran in, and we made it!

Tour #3

A Clydesdale!  (These are probably some of the best-treated horses in the world…)

Let’s make beer!

So after three tours in one day, my dad drove me to the Loop, where I met up with Sean and Mollie, and her fiancee Chris.  We talked for a while, then went to Blueberry Hill, where we drank beer, caught up, and played with iPhones.  Which is pretty damn close to my idea of heaven.  Chris was really cool, and I got to know him pretty well that night.  Eventually, we made our way back ot the Sqrrl’s place, talked more, and eventually Mollie and Chris got on the road to head back to KC.  I decided to take the Metrolink home, and headed out soon after.

I got to the terminal, bought my ticket, and ended up talking to a guy who was spraying thegum on the pavement with some stuff called “RIP.”  NYC ought to invest heavily in this stuff, because the Metrolink stations looked clean perhaps solely due to the lack of black gum stains.  Anyway, the guy was prettycool, and took a lot of interest in my living in New York.  Eventually my train came, I said by, and headed  off.

Two stops later, trouble ensued.  With no forward warning, the train SHUT DOWN.  I was two stops from where I needed to be, and clueless as to StL’s street grid.  So I started walking, in hopes of finding a cab.  I saw only a few, and every one was full .  I eventually made my way to Locust and started heading east,but then Locust ended mysteriously, and I couldn’t find it anywhere on the other side of the block.  What I did find was a gas station, and I went in to get a drink and ask for directions.  My luck turned up.  A cab driver pulled up to get gas, and I hit him up for a ride.  He quoted me $12, which I knew was too much, but I had no alternatives.  Whilein the car, I told him I was living in NYC, and it turned out he had just moved from Queens.  So we talked about the city, and education (he had some WILD ideas that I left unaddressed), and by the time he let me out my fare was only $7.  It turns out I was over two miles from home.  I went in and fell into my bed, probably asleep before I hit it.

Went to loop, met Sean, Mollie and Chris.  Went to blueberry hill, then his house.  Then, terrible transit experience.  RIP

Today was a day for relaxing.  I worked on my computer, read on the balcony, and relaxed.  For supper, my dad and I went to Aya Sophia, a Turkish restaurant that’s gotten great reviews.  It deserved them, too, as the food was delicious.  Toward the end of our meal, there were belly dancers.  I’m not the biggest fan of scantily clad women dancing, especially while I’m eating, but it was tactful.