#75: Sport some 2011 Gear

Somehow I found a way to accomplish this task without spending money on another shirt I wouldn’t wear! Woopie! Representing the Class of 2011 with my free swag: chapstick and fourth year fifth sunglasses!

Napoleon Dynamite Well, will you do me a favor then? Can you bring me my chapstick?
Kip No, Napoleon.
Napoleon Dynamite But my lips hurt real bad!
Kip Just borrow some from the school nurse. I know she has like five sticks in her drawer.
Napoleon Dynamite I'm not gonna use hers, you sicko!
Kip See ya.
Napoleon Dynamite Ugh! Idiot!

#84: Visit Monticello

            In the spirit of doing new things in the New Year and getting off our lazy bums before classes started, Joe, Kalli, and Dave and I visited Monticello this past Monday! For those of you who are interested in doing the tour (and I do recommend it) I also highly recommend waiting until the weather warms up so you can enjoy walking around Mr. Jefferson’s other grounds when they are ripe with tulips undaunted by the nipping mountain breezes.

            Anyway, when you arrive at Monticello you pay $17 for an adult ticket (it’s BOGO with student IDs so bring a friend!) and then are told you have 20 minutes to wait until the shuttle takes you up to the plantation. How convenient that a gigantic gift shop awaits you right between the two destinations!

Sacagawea and Jefferson's Treasure Hunter extraordinaire, photo courtesy of Allison Campbell!

            Monticello is of course featured on the nickel, but the entrance is the lesser known side of the home. Inside, although you aren’t allowed to photograph, there are dozens of replicas and actual portraits (we got to see his official Presidency portrait that switches off between the Smithsonian and Monticello with replicas!) of the Jefferson family, beautiful antique French clocks adorning every fireplace, and other various items of amusement such as Lewis and Clark expedition findings of pelts and game horns. My favorite thing was the dumbwaiter that slaves used to shuttle wine from the cellar up to the dining room!

My fourth grade teacher Miss Lingerfelt was actually in love with Thomas Jefferson for every genius he became as he dabbled with gardening, book-collecting, mapmaking, other more influential inventions, and of course politics. He surely was a fascinating man (probably on my top 5 list of people to meet when I do get around to making such a registry…) and his home is just lovely. We had a really engaging tour guide who knew everything I had hoped to hear, and he won me over when he mentioned the fact that on Jefferson’s tombstone he wanted to be known as

1)     Author of the Declaration of Independence

2)     Of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

3)     And Father of the University of Virginia

And so, for three of us at least, we ushered in the last “first day” of undergraduate classes.

P.S. The tourguide only gave us one half of this quote. It’s too epic not to share; Jefferson never would’ve been caught by a forcible fondler unawares!

“A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.” -- Thomas Jefferson

#86: Go Beyond the Corner to the South Street Brewery

            I have a confession to make. I almost missed this task by mistaking it for another brewery; an inferior brewery at that. I’ll set the record straight now: South Street Brewery is fantastic. While it is clearly marked by a simple and large panel running across the front dictating the name, the restaurant/microbrewery can be easy to miss as it is engulfed by the paved paradise front yard and situated on the street parallel to the downtown mall.  

            In order to overcome the burn we felt from the sun and the loss against Florida State, Joe really wanted to get a group together to go out and celebrate my birthday despite my protests. He is too sweet and I don’t deserve him. Anyway; Molly, Lauren, Jon, and Joe met Heather, Kimberly, and me on the trolley downtown that Saturday night for a shot at checking this off the list! It was a lovely evening, slightly too warm for some, but seeing as my body never could adapt to retain heat I was a bit chilly in my skirt. South Street was awesome…something that felt much less like a college scene and more as a transition into the type of place I would like very much to frequent as an adult (how apropos for the occasion of my twenty-second birthday). The restaurant was once a 1800s grain warehouse that still maintained the hearty polished wood floors, antiqued brick walls, and beer contraption I’m sure I will never fully comprehend.

            The food was delicious as I recall, but I was starving and as a member of the Clean Plate Club it’s hard to determine the taste of the food by what’s left in front of me. I’ll be sure to go back again and give a better report! I remember Joe ordering Hefeweizen (the name stuck with me because it sounded like a Heifer Wizard), and I could actually stand it because it had this orangish banana flavor that nearly drowned out the hoppy flavor. I had a pepperjack burger, my new favorite, but there was too much bun. I think it’s a pretty reasonably priced place, it was about $8 for my burger and they had a great selection of food overall from fancy bruschetta appetizers to pizza to delicate salmon dishes. Watch out for the bar drinks though, they were WEAK and overpriced.

            My favorite part of the night was Jon getting into Three <3. And our Rasta waiter guy who kept messing with Heather or just being sketchy...we'll never know!

“You know I love to talk about food I'm going to eat while I'm already eating.” – Will and Grace

#51: High Five CavMan

Before writing the blog, I wanted to find out the origins of Cav-Man, so I did some minimal browsing and found that the original mascot for UVA was a sweet little dog back in the 1920s! This website has a lot of great information, but Beta (the original dog) was said to have gone to classes, even been left behind at an away football game in GEORGIA and found his way back home to Virginia! What a sweetheart; there’s a cute picture of his successor Seal on this website: http://www.thesabre.com/traditions/#seal.

I’ve never been partial to human mascots… but I am fervently partial to CavMan. First of all, we have a live one that rushes out on Sabre the horse at the football games amidst fireworks and fire and screaming crowds as he brandishes a real sword… the poor man even got thrown from the horse in 2009! But CavMan is truly resilient, and for the past four years anyway has consistently and impressively the same fellow.  Then there’s the animated “suit” CavMan. As a frequent front-row resident at Scott Stadium, I’ve had the privilege of pulling him over the retaining wall, hoisting him up as he passes over the heads of the student section towards the top of the stands, and even starting his cheers when he holds up the NOISIE trash can. Yeah, you might say we’ve shared the five fingered connection several times.

“It's more than mascot status. It's hero worship.” –David Young

#91: Sing the Good Ole Song

(well, Kimberly and Heather singing it!)

The Good Old Song of Wahoowa

We’ll sing it o’er and o’er

It cheers our hearts and warms our blood

To hear them shout and roar

We come from Old Virginia

Where all is bright and gay

Let’s all join hands and give a yell

For dear old UVA!

WAHOOWA WAHOOWA

UNI-V VIRGINIA

HOO RAH RAY HOO RAH RAY

RAY RAY UVA!

#21: See a Movie at Newcomb Theater

            Newcomb may not be the dining hall of the stars, but it does have a few great assets to make up for the handful of discourteous lunch ladies. The fourth floor is rarely visited, but after 5pm it’s a quiet place with 2 little nooks to go read or study, and it’s also where the LGBT office is (I learned that trying to buy my Drag Bingo tickets!). The third floor is home to the beautiful ballroom, Blue Boy painting, and my favorite slightly louder couches for waiting for dinner mates/AAGP meetings/studying. Second floor is the dining hall and game room (free pool and ping pong!). The first floor of Newcomb houses Bank of America, the Student Activity Center (SAC), and delicious Pav XI where you can spend your Plus dollars for Burrito Theory, Freshens, sushi, Montague’s Deli (ahhhhh), some weird pizza place I haven’t tried, or Chick Fil A!

            However, the real treasure of Newcomb lies within the depths. Just outside of the post office is a side stairwell that leads you to the Theater. On weekend nights, UPC sponsors just-out-of-theater movies to students for a $3 admission. I love it because it allows me to see the movies that are important to me without spending $9 for a movie ticket in one of Charlottesville’s tiny theaters! I feel like they used to offer cheap popcorn…but that wasn’t there the last time I went.

Thanks to Newcomb and UPC, I’ve seen:

·        The Blindside (Kim and I snuck in McFlurries and BK shakes...it's do-able)

·        The Dark Knight

·        Inception

Woo for UVA doing something to help entertain on a lower budget! It’s an experience for sure… this year’s UPC is doing something different so the student body can have more of a voice in choosing the movies that are previewed, so the schedule isn’t set up for spring semester yet. What I think is interesting is that the rise in RedBoxes allows a cheaper new-movie experience (especially if you’re watching with someone) so you would have access to those instant movies quicker than the old Blockbuster way. I wonder if the theater suffers as a result.

"Although for some people cinema means something superficial and glamorous, it is something else. I think it is the mirror of the world." -- Jeanne Moreau