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Nov182005
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I woke up at nine this morning and finished packing. There were only a few things left to do as I got most of the work done yesterday. I had the rest of the pizza from last night for an early lunch. There were still a number of people left in Cottingham, most all of which left this morning. The residence halls closed at noon today, bur I wasn’t able to leave until a couple hours later. I talked to Joe, the R.A. last night about it last night though and it wasn’t a problem. I had pretty much everything ready to go by noon so I spent a couple hours just waiting. Dr. Stephenson and his brother Glenn arrived at about 2:30. From the rather sparse directions I gave them, they actually parked right outside my window in front of Cottingham. They were driving a sizable SUV with a trailer, although both were packed pretty tight already with Doc Stephenson’s stuff. It took about a half hour for me to carry all my things downstairs and find places to put everything. At first glance, I didn’t think I’d be able to take my fridge, but we managed to get almost everything on the trailer. I had just a couple items in the Yukon. I only had to leave behind a box of food and all the bedding I bought, which quite honestly I wouldn’t have had use for anyway since there are no twin beds in the house. Just before I left, I locked the room and went down to check out and turn in my key. Joe signed me out, and so ended my time in Ruston. The ride to New Orleans must have been about six hours or so. The sun set about two hours in. We drove west to Jackson, Mississippi and then headed south to New Orleans. We stopped in Jackson for gas and to check on the trailer. All the ropes and ties were fine with the exception of one frayed line. I noticed that one of my demotivators posters, Indifference, fell off the trailer. It was ‘secured’ under some straps atop the mattresses. Both Glenn and I thought that was a fine place for it but apparently not. It wasn’t really a big deal, although I hope it didn’t hit anybody. To be honest, the bigger loss was the cheap poster frame. I had to painstakingly cut it with an X-Acto knife to fit the poster. I’m not sure, but I don’t remember stopping again until we reached Hammond, LA. I called Dad at a gas station there and told him we were getting close. As we approached the city, I couldn’t see all that much as it was dark. The only apparent signed of damage were bent and broken signs of businesses. We arrived at Doc’s apartment complex, Chateau Napoleon in Metairie, some time after ten. We were there for over an hour unloading the trailer, which contained some mattresses, a number of boxes and a quantity of lumber. I got all of my things out and put them in Dad’s car. I don’t recall any details about the work that are work documenting, although I was rather tired by the time we were finished. We drove home when we were finally finished. As it was night time, I couldn’t see a whole lot as far as damage goes. I noticed the Superdome roof looks fixed. I suspect if I were the poetic type I could come up with some fancy metaphor related to returning to my broken home town at night… good thing I’m not that type. Our house was fine and familiar. The big tree that was in our front yard is gone. Inside, there was a lot of unfamiliar furniture and things from Aunt Lauren’s house, which was flooded and largely ruined, as well as Grandma’s Laughlin’s house, which was sold shortly after the hurricane. I got something to eat, watched a little TV and was on the computer for a while before I went to be shortly after two. Commentary On My Stay at Louisiana Tech I wasn’t looking forward to spending a term at Louisiana Tech, perhaps just because I don’t like change. That and likely because I was going to miss the very cozy situation I had in New Orleans and have to stay in a dorm, in a small town I can’t stand small towns, at least not for extended periods. Visiting is fine and all. Looking back, it is somewhat difficult to understand my trepidation as I’ve become a very optimistic person in the last few years, a far cry from my unyielding pessimism in high school. I wasn’t entirely apprehensive however, as I went in knowing I already had friends there. Bianca and Khadijah most notably, as well as several other familiar faces from Edna Karr. As it turned out, the quarter I spent at Louisiana Tech was actually a very pleasant experience. I did not encounter a single unpleasant person during my stay. I couldn’t possibly have been luckier with my dorm assignment. Cottingham, the ‘honors dorm,’ is probably the cleanest and most spacious dormitory on campus. My roommate John was pleasant and harmless. Overall my classes were pretty decent. I just took general studies B.S. to fill the hours. Introduction to Economics was pretty fun. Professor Blackstock was refreshingly candid, honest and conservative, a much needed inoculation before going to Dr. Martin’s sociology classes. The tone of her lectures and the curriculum made her sound like a closet communist. French was fun. This was my only small class this semester with under 20 students. Unfortunately I did rather poorly and barely passed. I’m not sure I could show my face to my high school French teacher again. The history class wasn’t bad. Dr. Anderson was a very competent teacher, although he’s more than somew3hat full of himself. His lectures were interesting enough and he makes great PowerPoint slides. In my book, however, he couldn’t hold a candle to my world history teacher in high school, Alton Bryant.