David’s Ramblings

The last week has been quite exciting. I went from being a teenage slacker to a college student, a transition which included moving away from the only state I ever remember living in as well as a lot of money spent on books and fees.

The week preceding my move to Georgia I had been spending some time at my dad’s home in Virginia. I hadn’t been to Virginia, but I found it to be a very enjoyable place to spend a week. I’d have liked to spend more time out there, but that just wasn’t much of an option with school starting.

So, after getting my things together and packed into the car, I got the wonderful chance to ride in a car all the way to Georgia from Virginia, a good, eight hour voyage. Driving eight hours gets very old very fast, but I found it almost preferable to the strip search required to get on a plane these days. At least we (we being my father and I) got the chance to stop in some places and stretch our legs.

We spent that night in the hotel and then spent the next day exploring the campus and checking out my dorm room. The Georgia Tech campus seems really nice, but I don’t make a habit of exploring campuses around the country, so I don’t have too much to compare it with. I can say that it’s better than any others I have seen. It’s very green, the buildings are nice, everything is well kept, etc, etc.

The next day my father and I attended the “FASET” (freshman orientation). We also go the chance to explore the campus a little more and try out Rocky Mountain Pizza and the Varsity, both excellent places to eat. The Varsity is actually the world’s biggest drive-in, if I understand properly. They have to have a two level parking deck to accommodate all the customers, and the food is definitely worth the attention. Lucky to find that my dorm is right next to it.

I spent my first night in the dorms and got a chance to start arranging my stuff. I’m going to be living here for the next year, so I think it’s probably good that I at some point make my self comfortable.

The next morning I finished orientation and registered for my classes. 14 hours, a fairly standard load for a full-time student at Tech. Then I got the chance to say goodbye to my dad and was on my own for the first time in my life. It feels kind of nice, the freedom of being on your own. Of course, being on your own doesn’t mean you have to go it alone, and I got the chance to meet my roommate. His name is Tom. He’s a pretty good guy. We went to have dinner at his grandparent’s house the next night (friday). His family was quite nice, and I’ll hopefully be seeing a little more of them soon.

Saturday was a bit of a road trip up into northern Georgia, and then Sunday involved last minute preparations for classes and just general relaxation and such. Then came Monday, first day of classes. I was quite excited. It was awesome to go to a class and for the first time be taught instead of tended. High school was always about keeping the kids in line. It’ll be a nice refreshment to actually learn something in class.

Nothing bothers me more than an idiot whining about something they know nothing about. That’s why it pains me so much to hear all these activists whining about video games, especially the main target – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. There are pounds upon pounds of “studies” about how violence in video games is damaging the poor. little children’s minds, and more and more push for legislation to do something about it.

One recent topic in the ongoing debate has been Grand Theft Auto, with its unlocked, sexually explicit material. It’s okay that we have a video game where you can steal a car, pick up a hooker, do your business with her, chase her down and bash her head in, kill all the witnesses with a chainsaw, and then slaughter any cops stupid enough to visit; but it sure is horrible to let that video game go further and not delete completely unaccessible code allowing for you to get a cup of coffee in your girlfriend’s house. A simply absurd stance, in my opinion, to take on the game.

Of course, many people have been against violent video games long before someone unlocked damning code from within. Many people are crying for legislation to ensure that kids don’t have access to such things. Hmm… maybe we should ask for ID’s on any game that’s rated mature. We could do it at every store even. How would we decide something was rated mature? Maybe we’d put a rating on it like we do movies. We could call is an ESRB rating, because that’s a cool name….

When I hear all these parents ranting and raving about the kids being harmed by the video games, it’s almost hard to conceive that the system I described above, for those that didn’t catch on, is already in place. Who’s fault is it kids are getting these video games? Adults. The manufacturers are doing all they can. Only adults can buy Grand Theft Auto, so if you’re scared of the impact, maybe you should stop whining and start parenting, start telling your children that you’re not going to let them play a game like that.

Earlier today I left for Virginia, the last stop before I grace Georgia with my presence for college. When I say earlier today I of course mean last night, but when you get less than four hours of sleep they feel like the same day. I find myself pretty energetic for running on four hours of sleep though. I may even finish this post tonight.

My day started out with a fun-filled yesterday. IHOP is a wonderful place to start a fun-filled day, especially when french toast is involved. I decided to try the cinnamon french toast. It was good. I had an enjoyable chat with Riley, my only friend who was cool enough to go to IHOP with me.

After saying goodbye to my friends, I spent some time with my family — meaning I basically watched TV until my flight was ready to leave. It seems my mom had already forgotten what I liked to eat and where my room was, but that was to be expected. What was also expected was a classic ‘remember who your are and what you stand for’ speech, that one that every family member feels the need to give at some point.

So then I arrived at the airport. After some hassle with my baggage that weighed around 3 pounds too much in one bag, I managed to get to my strip search early so I could make sure to be on time for a boarding. I don’t know why I bothered, since we ended up being an hour late anyway. The Delta employee didn’t know what he was talking about, but he was trying to make us feel updated.

‘It looks like the engine is running up now, if they don’t get the results again, they’ll probably have to go back and troubleshoot and stuff. But there’s baggage going in. That’s a good sign,’ said the employee that sounded very much like he was trying to use every airline buzzword to keep the masses from turning against him.

They soon found a replacement plane that was able to take me to my first destination 0 Las Vegas. The connection was a little too close in boarding time with my next connection, but I managed to get on before half the others anyway. The flight to Georgia was a long one, but I managed to cope with the doldrums by sleeping, leaving a horrible kink in my neck.

(To be continued after around a week of living in a stone-age wi-fi-less house)

I spent a little less than a week in Virginia, occupying my time with Halo 2 with my brothers and a visit to Busch Gardens, intermingled with a lot of TV and sleeping. It was the last of my vacation away from Georgia. As I write this I’m sitting in a hotel right near the campus awaiting my orientation and registration.

Virginia was beautiful, and from the looks of everything so far, so is Georgia (but of course most stuff does look good after 8 hours of driving). Things are much more green over here than in Utah. I look forward to writing about my orientation tomorrow.

Whoops, one more review. I’ve had a lot of movie watching lately.

Taxi is a mediocre comedy about a taxi driver that drives so fast that she can solve crimes on her lunch break. Even if you can believe Queen Latifah could manage that bike ride in the beginning of the movie, and even if you could believe her ultra sweet Taxi modifications, this movie still comes out short on the laughs. It was decent, but that was all it managed to be. 3.1π

My final mini-review to post for the night (man have I seen a lot of movies lately), this movie features a very politically correct team of pilots that find out their wing mate is going to be an AI construction.

Of course, as all AI do, this plane gets hit by lightning and starts thinking differently from its original programming. Thus comes the basic plot of the movie – how do you beat a plane that has reflexes a billion times quicker and a brain a billion times smarter?

If that was all that happened, I would have been disappointed by the formulaic feel to it, but they managed to throw in a twist or two to keep it interesting.

Final Score: 4.2π