#70: See the Declaration of Independence in the Special Collections Library

Well, there are 50 days left until graduation and the panic is setting in as I am frantically scrambling to find a job and not be “that girl” who goes to a top university and ends up working in a low-scale restaurant. Oh wait I can’t be that girl because I don’t even have that job yet. Awesome.

Anyway, counting down the days brought to my attention I have 26 things left to accomplish in a short amount of time! So on a spur of the moment jaunt, Kimberly and I ended our traditional Thursday Newcomb lunch with a little treat trip to the Special Collections Library!

The regalia of Declaration materials is housed at the bottom of the beautiful spiral staircase and, of course, guarded by busts of Madison and Jefferson. The facsimiles and actual letters from the Founding Fathers here comprise the largest collection of Declaration of Independence materials in history and are definitely exciting to look at if you’re a major American history buff. There’s also a plastic shield barricading the public from entering the actual Special Collections library where succulent miniature books (and perhaps gigantic… for everything wonderful is exaggerated) rest untouched, perhaps on four-score-and-seven-years scales. The collections after all extend throughout 12.82 miles of shelves in an underground passage not even counting the electronically restricted works. Ahh… if only I could sneak a peak at what the University is hiding down there!

In the words of the newly late Elizabeth Taylor,

“So much to do, so little done, such

 things to be.”

#3: Streak the Lawn

 

                                                                            <ngunderground.blogspot.com>

           The cornucopia of information one can look up on the internet is getting to be absurd, but the knowledge imparted even from the most unreliable source (which Wikipedia actually isn’t, much to the protests of my high school teachers) can usually yield exactly what you’re looking for. Like today when I was researching “A History of Streaking.” Did you know college streaking actually originated in Virginia!?

            Yes, readers, I have sunk to a new level of depravity. And I have bludgeoned one of my biggest fears: public nudity with threat of arrest and the stigma of “sex offender” attached to every fiber of your being. Honestly, I am frequently shocked by what some people wear in general or how they act, and I so rarely do things that could potentially scar my reputation like this before. I have been so so worrisome about it, so much so that I feared I would not only not accomplish this on the 111 Things and fail at checking it off my life list. Yeah, it’s on there. My life list has very specific criteria when accomplishing tasks: state the date, place (if not obvious), and people involved. This morning I crossed off in pink ink: “3/17/2011: Jade and Joe (2 random dudes, and all my other friends watching. And the three cops).”

            My 3 recommended P’s for streaking are: Practice, Pace, Plan. I only paced myself, but seeing as I was sick and had not practiced, I was still way too out of breath! Jade and I freakin took off but she burned me all the way and so did two random guys behind us. Then Joe came and sweetly ran with me until he tripped over himself and pulled me down with him going up a hill. I kissed Homer’s butt and made my way back, but I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that I was naked because as I got over the last crest I noticed the two policemen and the undercover cop (whom I had previously suspected!) on the East Lawn. They were giving me time to get dressed which I thought was weird, and as I hastily threw on inside out and backwards clothes I started getting more nervous and made a break for it towards the West side of the dome. Jade followed me and we hesitated for a while before going back. Unfortunately, the minute we decided to step out under the lit passageway the cops were right there so we ran and ran for GOOD. No phones, no purses, no shoes. Down into the darkness of Madbowl where we borrowed some guy’s phone to try and call Lauren who was too preoccupied to receive the call ;)

            Jade and I walked back up to the Rotunda but didn’t want to reveal that we had no shoes, so we asked a sweet first year named Louise if she would find Joe and Lauren for us. After a while she came back and said that they weren’t there, but that the policemen still were. PLAN: Not knowing where to go with no shoes, we took roundabout sidestreets to the Venable apartments and thankfully found Lauren and Bryce at home… Molly had Jade’s things and Joe and Heather had gone hunting for me. Special thanks to Nick for driving me home and for Sipian for being AT home to let Joe in after he re-locked himself out.

            I will never streak the Lawn again, but thank you so much for everything on St. Patty’s day… all of you from the Fishbowl and beyond!

"Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings?" – David Niven

#96: Leave your legacy and give a fourth year gift to something that’s important to you

      

      $20.11 sounds cheap of me for giving back to the school that gave me a basis to find a job, a new career path, a beautiful new city to love in, and you amazing people. I never want to be rich, but I do hope to have enough someday, on my own, to be comfortable and be able to help others become comfortable. For tonight, this is the best I can do. As I stated before, 100% goes to Madison House! Please give here: uva2011.com/giving

#5: View UVA from the Roof of a Building

            First year escapades proved to be unrivalled, and one of my favorites was exploring the roofs around Grounds! Click here for a helpful site if you’re interested in making your way up on one, although I’m a little disappointed that I have yet to find my way to Clark’s roof (especially as an Environmental Science major!).

            One of my favorite memories was climbing on the roof of the Chem Building (via the sketchy ventillation room at the top of the building) and getting a kiss from Joe before we started dating. Tori and I made hot chocolate that night and went up with Sam, Alex, Jon, and Joe. I’d been up there twice and I think made it over to Wilsdorf, but I’m not sure I made it up to Gilmer ever. Let’s please do Cabell before graduation…I miss the rush so much.

“At night the stars put on a show for free
And, darling, you can share it all with me
I keep a-tellin' you
Right smack dab in the middle of town
I've found a paradise that's trouble proof (up on the roof)” – The Drifters

#4: Remove Yourself from Facebook for 24 Hours

                                                                                   <bleedinout.blogspot.com>

            Here I am people…live and coming at you Spring Break style 2011. If you hadn’t heard, we had to put my sweet boy Comet to sleep at the beginning of this week, so I had a pretty rough start. Luckily, I’m blessed with a bunch of amazing friends who played such an integral role in helping me move on. Thank you <3.

            Between road tripping with Kristin, Jess, and Kimberly to Raleigh (if you ever hear a girl complaining that there are no men anywhere, send them to Raleigh. Seriously.) and a beach trip to Jewly’s in the Outer Banks with Joe and many of my favorites from his crew, I’ve been in North Carolina for most of this week and out of touch with technology! SO even though Lent didn’t start until Wednesday, I’ve been off Facebook since Monday.

            In addition to giving up Facebook for 40 days I will be giving up pizza as well. Unfortunately, a few hours at home alone has already driven me to boredom, and the food cravings kicked in as early as yesterday. However, I’ve successfully relinquished both of these delights in previous years, and I have the will to do it again. Wish me luck! Maybe it will give me more time/drive to finish the list!

"I'm not a big fan of young kids having Facebook...you know, it's not something they need." – Michelle Obama

#83: Check Out a Black History Month Event

            PATRICK WINS AWARD FOR BEST FRIEND! When no one else was willing, he was a beam of sunshine that asked to join me on my adventure to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library downtown! In my planning and spacing preparations for ensuring accomplishment of the 111 things, it slipped my mind that February was such a short and busy month, so I almost ran out of days to go to a Black History Month event! 

            Ohill claimed to be celebrating on Wednesdays and Fridays by playing jazz music instead of pop, but I didn’t think that merited a “check”. I scoured the internet and was dismayed to find that according to the Office of African American Affairs, the “closing ceremonies” or whatever had been this past Thursday! Yet thanks to the wonderous technology of search engines, I finally found one event that fit in my schedule:

February 27, Sunday

DRUM CALL AND FRIENDS!
JMRL - Central Library.
Celebrate Black History Month! Groove to the beat of African drumming with drummer extraordinaire Whit Whitten and friends. Central Library.  Directions: 201 East Market Street.  2pm.  $free.  All ages welcome

Close, free, for kids of all ages?! HECK YES. There was a trolley stop right in front of the library, and when Patrick and I made it up to the third floor, there was no mistaking the room it was in. There was a woman in full head to toe African dress, at least a dozen different sized bongos and drums, and a man who had been to Ghana himself (“back in ’92”; he thought some of the 7 year olds might have been that old haha) It was super fun, and while 90% of me wanted to get up there and steal a drum from a 3 year old or start dancing with the older woman, I controlled myself—partly because Patrick wasn’t goading me too hard and partly because the number of parents there was intimidating. One of my favorite parts was the kid in the Batman shirt next to me who couldn’t take his hands off his ears!

            It was such a lovely day that we decided to walk back to Grounds and grab something to eat at Mel’s (because we were starving and it was on the list). It’s closed on Sundays for future reference. But we DID make it to Arch’s to get not only a free sample of Angel Food Cake (#41: Get a Free Sample at Arch’s), but to chow down on their delicious paid for fro-yo concoctions. What a lovely afternoon, thanks Patrick!!

"I bless the rains down in Africa." - Toto

#104: See a Show at Old Cabell Hall

            Thanks to V-Dubs I’ve sung on stage at Old Cabell quite a few times, but tonight I went to the UVA Jazz Ensemble’s concert featuring the Free Bridge Quintet. While I rearranged a lot of my schedule to fit this one event in for my History of Jazz concert paper which is due in the matter of days, I’m glad I had the opportunity to go. John D’earth (the leader of the ensemble AND lead trumpet for the quintet) basically co-wrote my textbook and we see samples from the famous band members (Jospe, Decker etc) practicing all the time in class.

            Probably my favorite part of the whole experience was reading the song titles and trying to imagine what the composer was going for…any shift in your perception makes a world of difference in what you “hear” from a song. This particular concert spoke to me as they played “Dolphin Dance” by Herbie Hancock and then actually dedicated the concert to Rachel Carson! D’earth wrote a new arrangement for this Green Chemistry movement that’s going on in the sciences right now… I just felt like it was the perfect concert for an environmental scientist named Emily to go to :D

            And there was a girl with adorable cheetah shoes and a pretty fine trombonist. I went by myself. I’m tired of going to these things by myself. More tomorrow I suppose.

“OOoooOOh Carrie likes the JAzZ man. JAZZ man.” –Big, Sex & The City