Vicki and I hung out today. I drove to Chapman in the afternoon, which really amazed me as to how many places in Southern California, and even the immediate area, that I've never been to. I was so completely lost and feebly trusting my Mapquest directions. Once I got there and parked in the football field parking structure, Vicki came to get me. I finally gave her her birthday present that she left at my house last year and I met one of her roommates, Sasha, and their friend Justin, who were engrossed in "The Virgin Suicides." Vicki's room is huge!! Even for a triple, it's pretty roomy, and they have their own, huge bathroom. The entire dorm was really nice, with computer lounges and study nooks on every floor that looked a lot newer than ours.

We drove to the Block and roamed around, where I was a "bad influence" on Vicki by dragging her into stores that said SALE and then watching her spend exorbitant amounts of money on cheap things while not spending any money myself. :D I DID buy candy! I was very upset at Bath & Body Works for daring to have a sale of basically everything in the store, but not having any scent that I liked. Grr. And I was also very upset with Wet Seal for not allowing you to return anything unless you have the original receipt. Not even an exchange. Stupid butts. What am I supposed to do with oversized clothes that people bought me for Christmas? Grr.

After walking around the entire shopping complex, we headed back to her dorm, where we then watched... SPACE JAM!!! AMAZING FILM!!! I hadn't seen it in YEARS! Why don't they show the Looney Tunes anymore? Maybe if they had good kids shows, such as "Boy Meets World, "The Looney Tunes," and "Hey Arnold!" these days, kids would stop watching the trash that is "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical" and watch good cartoons instead!

I drove back during rush hour, which is always a smart idea. I got off the freeway as soon as I knew how to take surface streets, which means I got off at Chapman and took State College all the way back, which essentially meant that I was going home from Troy. As I turned onto State College, everything became familiar again. I smiled as I saw the sign for "Drug Emporium," remembering the times when I would ask if they sold drugs, and Yogin would always answer me impatiently. Chipotle, of course, is amazing, but the place with the most memories was, of course, Starbucks. :) As I drove past Troy, it seemed like I was just pulling out from layout and going home, and I thought about how stressful yet fun that was. Passing Danielle's house, this wave of nostalgia crested, as the memories of filming our numerous videos rushed back to me. Matthew's amazingly bad acting, Danielle and Yogin's fight scenes, all the laughter and the jokes, the pizza, the fruit that Danielle's mom cut up and brought up to us in her cute trays, and Danielle's insane amount of food. I kept driving, of course, and passed Kristina's house, which reminded me of all the sleepovers and all the time we spent there preparing for dances. Craig Park was the site of many pretty pictures for homecoming, and Shayne's house is the home of tea time. :) Finally, the last stop on this road of reverie was Jen's house, which brought back "The Princess Diaries" and our love for Michael. All these places looked the same and felt the same and were home to so many wonderful memories, which made me really realize how much I loved my four years at Troy and how important they were and are to me. Most importantly, it reminded me of how important and wonderful the people I met there are. Despite all the stress and the insane amount of work, Troy was a great place because it brought together a bunch of insecure, dorky, nerdy kids that were unique and came up with jokes and had conversations that could only have existed amongst such people. A bunch of people I've talked to all miss the environment Troy provided, the aura of intelligence yet idiocy. I was going to say that Troy kids were unpretentious, but that's untrue in the sense that Troy kids (and I'm obviously generalizing when I say 'Troy kids') were very aware of their own intelligence and knowledge and were very arrogant towards lesser beings. But I think we were unpretentious in the way that we all, through all the hardships and the stress, understood each other more or less and accepted each other's shortcomings and quirks. I miss the aura of acceptance and light-hearted frivolity in such an academic atmosphere. I guess I just miss the nerdiness. :)