The drive from my place in Columbus to Philly is between 8 and 9 hours. This is the longest drive I have even driven alone. A concern for me was that I haven't been sleeping very well and long lonely drives often make me sleepy. So, to address this need, my boss in the business school gave me a book on CD. A Team of Rivals is about Abraham Lincoln and his election and terms as president with his cabinet members made up of his political rivals in the Republican Party. It's researched by looking at the letters, newspapers clips and other written correspondence between Lincoln, these three men Seward, Bates, and Chase, and their lives and daughters among others. It's been really fascinating and I'm a little over halfway through it, so it will keep me entertained on the way back. From being fascinated by how brilliant a politician Lincoln was to being close to tears in hear about Lincoln's son dying why he was in office, it's a great insight to what was going on in the White House during the Civil War. As a big history fan myself, I'm totally sucked in, especially since my Civil War knowledge is a bit weak.
A few more updated notes on Lincoln now that I have finished the book. One, its very powerful to hear a detailed description of Gettysburg as you literally drive by Gettysburg. To hear about the most famous, bloodiest, and crucial battle of the war and quite possibly our nation's history while standing on that ground sends shivers. Also, hearing the play by play account of the night Lincoln was assassinated, and how Andrew Johnson was almost assassinated and the secretary of state Willian Seward was nearly killed (he was stabbed in the throat, his son literally cracked in the head, his servant literally stabbed in the back, and the two men who defended him each receiving gashes in the head among other places, all by one man) was like something out of a movie. Abraham Lincoln really does deserve the place in history he has, honored around the globe, including a statue outside the House of Parliament in London, for his brilliance, empathy, sympathy, compassion, patience and honesty. This story truly has been an impactful and dutiful companion.
So Lincoln and I made the drive to Philly. This drive introduced me to eastern OH, most of Pennsylvania, and briefly, to West Virginia, which for 40 minutes was my favorite strip of road. Guess they wanted to show off knowing that the other two states didn't care for their highways like WV did. The drive itself wasn't too bad, but it was way lucky I had cash on me. I learned a lot about Toll Roads on this trip. For one thing, they are stupid and expensive, and you need cash for the most part. But besides that my trip was uneventful. I only took the wrong on ramp once which caused me to be That Guy who quickly cut across the divide to make sure I made it going the right way. I didn't want to pay a toll just to turn around. More on that later.
My time with Micki Granger and Mother Mapster has been wonderful. I got in around 11 and we talked and joked and caught up for the first evening. We played with Mick's dogs, Pluto and Goofy. Nah that's not their names but it amuses me to think of them like that. We ate Mama Maps' delicious cookies and all around had a nice night. The next day, we ventured into the city which, I have decided is one of my favorite cities in the country. Among the major US cities I've seen Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Honolulu, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Columbus. Philly tops all the non-Western ones for sure (and I was little when we went to New Orleans so that one doesn't qualify). So yea, I really liked Philadelphia.
We started out by visiting the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Congress Hall and Old City Hall. Again, with the patriotic stories in the back of my mind, it was nice to see a little bit of history. I had recently read up about the Liberty Bell when Tenshi went to Philly last year, so I didn't spend a lot of time reading the various descriptions but it was cool to see the Bell and then tour Independence Hall, seeing where our nation was founded, our constitution drafted, and the building where so many of our founding fathers wrestled with the issues that continue to affect us today. I also so copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and George Washington's copy of the Constitution. I love artifacts like that. So awesome.
We continued exploring the city, seeing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the Revolutionary War in Washington Square, City Hall which has four entrances for each compass point, a sculpture garden of sorts with giant game pieces like pawns and dominos and parcheesi pegs everywhere followed by the famous Love sculpture and the long avenue that ended with the Museum of Art. Walked toward the museum, we stopped in the Franklin Science Center, the free library which has a Shakespeare statue outside it, the Ronin museum which has a Thinker statue and replica of the Gates of Hell piece on its doorway and finally reached the museum, guarded by a fantastic statue of a horsed George Washington.
As per obligation, I ran up the stairs of the Museum of Art reaching the top and throwing my hands in the air, just like Rocky Balboa did in Rocky I. I then took a picture next the the Rocky statue. You know. The things you HAVE to do in Philly. Even though I've never seen Rocky :)
Besides stopping at the Joan of Arc statue and the sculpture tribute to those lost in the Armenian Genocide (which is especially poignant consider the US doesn't officially acknowledge the genocide) we made our way back. Of course, we were still very full from our stop in Reading Market for Philly Cheesesteaks!! While I went to By George's and no Genos (which I hear is the best) I did get my first cheesesteak with their special cheese sauce and it was. so. good. Overall, I fell in love with the beauty, welcoming nature of the city, down to its streets lined with every flag of the world, its USB drive shaped building along with the rest of its skyline and its mixture of old, colonial, and modern art and architecture everywhere. James seal of approval Philadelphia!
Actually hanging out with mama Mapster and Micki was a blast too! They were open to my exploratory nature when in a city, even though I made them walk everywhere. We had fun times with pancake competitions (Micki won) cookie baking (yay Mapster) and board games. In particular, we played Disney trivial pursuit and Disney charades. While the trivial pursuit was fun and entertaining the real games began with Charades. For one thing, it was less competitive and more see how many words we can get through. For another, we were acting out Disney characters, so you would get things like people trying the elephant walk to show Mowgli and sliding around the tile floor to represent Bambi. Doesn't make sense to you? Let me show you these pictures:
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So yea, craziness! We laughed til we cried and laughed so more. It may have been the highlight of the trip. But overall it was great just hanging out, having fun, talking about life, love and the pursuit of degrees and jobs. Thanks for the great trip friends!
As promised, I have more cohort stories. First, I've been playing racketball with Powder Climber every week. It never ceases to amaze me how we can both be so competent hitting this tricky shots but then swing and a miss and the nice easy bounce. It's just like charging forward barely saving the shot and then the next hit just staring at the ball magically passing through the racket. Yea fail. Also, it suppose its probably racquet not racket. But typing racket is easier so this is me not caring.
I played on game of squash with Tall Bear. For one thing, even though he was trying to teach me it was "open court" which meant we had to share. For another thing, in squash you have to anticipate and chase the ball rather then react and/or wait for the ball to come to you. I can't think of any other sport besides maybe tennis that you have to be so proactive about where your location is. I'm more reactive than strategic and have no experience with raquet err racequet err dammit racket sports! Also, Tall Bear can't exactly turn off his competitive nature in the game. So its partial teaching partial lets kick James' butt. I suppose I've earned a few humbling experiences after all our smash games. Heh.
One more quick cohort tale: Picture a bunch of graduate students flooding out of a classroom with aims to find the nearest unsuspecting undergrad and record them answering the question: "What's the meaning and purpose of life" or "Why do bad things happen". Yup, welcome to the HESA program. We are going to spend this coming weekend recruiting next year's class. It's gunna be fun!
I think since this post is late and probably long already, I'm going to head out. Shout out to Pokeboss for having most complicated and crazy life moments of the week! Have a great week the rest of y'all.
-JTY
Reading: all about Org Theory, so I can write my paper tonight SIGH!
Listening to: Needing/Getting by OK Go. Watch this video. Now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MejbOFk7H6c#t=0s
Playing: League of Legends for quick games. TOR for longer games, usually with my brother or others.
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