Going to the Pitt

So I'd been wanting to take a vacation since forever which didn't involve going to New York, which is what I've done for every last possible break since 2002. No offense to my sister, but I'd like to see other parts of the country. So my prayers were answered when Steve had asked me to accompany him and his mother in dropping him off at the University of Pittsburgh (or is it Pittsburgh University?). My presence would also mean Mrs. Kocian wouldn't need to drive home alone.

So on Wednesday, I got to Steve's house at around 11:30PM after watching The Dark Knight in IMAX with Chen (and speaking of which, screw all of you who didn't want to see it with me). I slept over and was awoken by the World's Greatest Alarm Clock at about 3AM and we left an hour later. Thankfully, I didn't have morningwood this time, but I did drool a good amount...at least that's easier to hide.

We ended up leaving around 4AM and spent the drive talking about quite a few things, most notably Islam and Pakistani culture. Even better, we listened to "I Am America (And So Can You!)" which was quite hilarious. Also, did you know that honeydew is the money melon? Since I'd gotten about four hours of sleep, I don't recall too much about the drive aside from realizing how many double-standards exist the modern Pakistani marriage process in America. That and the stories Mrs. Kocian told me about her students.

I do love how Steve hadn't slept since 11AM the previous day. Reminded me of my days when I would do the same for absolutely no reason. He ended up beating my record of staying awake for 39 hours, whilst mine still stands at 37. In retrospect, he really shouldn't have driven.

Anyways, I drove the final stretch of the trip, arriving at Steve's uncle's home (whom he was named after, incidentally). I didn't get to meet Big Steve since he was performing a really crazy kidney surgery where someone's ureter had gotten tangled with some blood vessels. But I did get to play with some dogs...which I was pretty surprised that I handled them without screaming like a girl (see: Cyanophobia). Afterwards, we headed to Steve's half-apartment, half-dorm on the Pitt campus.

Looking back, I'd wish I'd brought a camera; the views were gorgeous, especially a panoramic view of the south side of Pittsburgh with all the houses down a foresty mountain whilst driving from Uncle Steve's house to campus. And that was just one of the awesome views I'd seen. There was this all glass castle called the Powerpuff Girl Building as well that was really cool.

Upon arriving, we unloaded the car with the help of Seth, one of Steve's roommates. I wish I'd planned a false identity better; I nearly convinced this one girl that my name was Chris and I was transferring to Pitt and had known Seth in high school until I moved to North Carolina. Unfortunately, since I was functioning on minimal sleep, I couldn't weave a solid web of lies well enough to convince her. I'll have to keep in mind to plan ahead for when I adopt a persona in the future.

We spent the rest of the day exploring campus and met quite a few of Steve's friends in the process. And boy, I gotta say that his college friends outclass his home group by quite a bit. A rather sharp contrast to Derek and Lindsay's college friends, whom I single-handedly outclass without too much effort.

That night we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant with Seth's parents, who were ridiculously nice. After getting back to Forbes-Craig Hall, I spent about two hours trying to hack someone's Wii before realizing that the problem simply involved a misnamed folder. But I got it working, so Seth and I played Tecmo Super Bowl. Now, I'm no fan of sports games, but this game was too much fun.

Steve couldn't sleep that night either, so I thought maybe I infected him with the insomnia I'd suffered about a year and a half ago. We'll see if he recovers from that; it took me months.

Friday was separated into two parts. The first was a massive shopping spree spanning Ikea, Target and Costco. Seth and I caught a dragonfly at Target inside one of their tupperware containers, so we had to speak to the management to take it outside the store and clear up the fact that we weren't stealing it. No alarms went off, which leads me to believe that tupperware is safe to steal from Target stores.

Friday night, however, was another romp for Batman. There's an incident which occurred that is best expressed in video, so I shall refrain from too many details. However, I'm not sure why, but my ass muscles got really sore from running around for some reason. Anyone have any ideas why?

Steve's mom and I left Saturday morning around 4AM. She drove us out of Pennsylvania and I took the Toyota Sienna for the rest of the route. It's a nice ride and certainly comfortable after six and a half hours of driving. And upon arriving home at about noon, it seems I have the house to myself for the next two weeks. I would have a booze party, but unfortunately, everyone's left for college now.

So now I'm left with two weeks to prepare for DePaul. I guess I'll get my annual playthrough of Metal Gear Solid 3 out of the way! And time to plan for a second road trip. Anyone wanna ditch school and come with?

EDIT: Forgot the song/factoid combo!

Factoid: Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince voiced Shredder in the TMNT cartoon.

Song: Damn you Steve! You got this stuck in my head after you played it in the car!