Well Helllllo,
It's been a while since my last posting, and let me tell you- a whole lot has happened.
I have left Clark, Colorado. Carly flew out and rode back with me- which was amazing and so good for us. When we arrived in the east we stopped in Maryland for a bit to visit her parents- I love them! It was then on to Morgantown to see our peoples and to view the Banff Mountain Film Festival... Back to Maryland then onto Virginia to be reunited with my family!
MY BROTHER FLEW IN FROM SEATTLE FOR MY DAD'S BIRTHDAY!!!
It was great! We celebrated in a classic Shon way- we sat around and just spent time together, no big celebration, just enjoyed the observation of my Dad's gift of life...
Then I had to jam back to Motown to join my Adventure West Virginia peoples for the Co-Regional AEE conference in Claryville New York. It was so great to see Greg, Forrest, and the entire Adventure Crew. I also saw Joanna Lilley! I HEART HER! She and I won a trip to go onto Keith King's Schooner in the fall, and we are sooooo pumped about it!
I was able to present two workshops on integrating Environmental Interpretation into a freshmen orientation program and the OOPS! Symposium was so great also! Brent Bell has really started something good.... it is great to see the OOPS! torch being carried from year to year. Next year's symposium will be in Asheville, NC at the AORE conference. I AM SO EXCITED TO BE IN THE AREA FOR THIS EVENT! I had a great time...
So ANYWAY... About the Big Apple- right? p.s. did you notice my interpretive thematic title about NYC? Catchy :) Catchy...
So... I came to NYC en route to recertify my WFR in Burlington Vermont. I didn't want to drive back to Virginia and then back up to Vermont and i have several friends in the city. It makes sense to come here.
On this visit I am only able to see my two beloved friends Aspen and Ginny. Aspen is a grad student at Columbia University studying film, Ginny works for Spin Magazine as a free lance writer, but her full time gig is working for MTV in their Digital department. YAY!
So... I am currently writing this blog from a New York Apartment in Harlem where Aspen lives, where as Ginny lives in the Neighborhood near Greenwhich Village.
First of all...
I am leveled to know that the Virginia Tech mass slayings were committed by a guy from Centreville, VA- the town next to Manassas- where I grew up! I am still very attached to Virginia and I found out about the tragedy from Aspens Apartment. Well... Columbia had its own fair share of problems too...
A man captured a girl at her apartment, took her upstairs, raped her and tortured her from 9p.m. until 4 a.m., tied her up, and set her apartment on fire. She managed to escape, and is alive, but so is he. He is running the streets of New York somewhere and the police said that even the drug dealers (or "corner boys" as they called them), want him. This was really looked down upon even in the criminal community. How did I find out about this?
Well... Here's the deal...
Aspen had an apple computer and a part on it broke. Her CD player had a bad component, so she sent it in using her "applecare" warranty thing. Long story short, Apple says "Oh, the part won't be in for a month, have a free brand new I Book." Aspen replies "Okay I'll take it!" We take the subway to the Apple store- which is underground, however, to enter the store you must approach this 60 foot glass cube with a front door and a giant apple symbol on its frontwall.
It looks like a clear giant cube from afar, and it has posted security all around the cube peering into the store from above... kind of a neat environment that they have created. But I digress...
So, Aspen gets her IBook but she doesn't want to take it on the subway or train, because it was about 10:30 p.m. when we piked it up- the store is open 24 hours, and that says "PLEASE ROB ME OF MY NEW IBOOK!." So, we walked to my vehicle that I needed to move because of street sweeping anyway, and I drove her to her apt. where she would deposit her computer, get back in my car, and we would drive to a parking spot and ride the subway train back to her place. Great plan!
While I am waiting for Aspen to return to my car from running upstairs, I am sitting there with her roommate in the back passenger seat, Padmini. As I am talking with Padmini, I see two flashlights approaching me from the back of my vehicle. "Shit. What did I do?!" I think to my self. I didn't do anything- I was double parked, but everyone does that here.
It turns out they wanted to run my plates and such to check on any suspicious activity. Having Virginia plates, an a green 4runner packed to the brim, I made for an enticing q&a with the boys in blue. While they were running my plates, about three other cops came around to my driver's side window just make conversation... They were actually very cool with me.
I was respectful and acknowledging of their authority, and they treated me like a real person. We talked about backpacking, telemark skiing, and that one of the officers went to school in Baltimore at Howard. Very cool. They also were patrolling to inform everyone that a 6-foot tall bald man with a goatee was at large, showed us a sketch, and let us know how serious it was. They said "If you see a stranger matching this description in you're lobby, let us know... If you see him at your apartment door waiting for you? Beat town... run... call us."
So it was pretty alarming..... This guy, to my knowledge is still at large.
That's where buildings, bites (as in megabites), and cops come to make part of my NYC experience. But wait! THERE'S MORE!
Ginny, the lil' MTV staffer that she is took us to a CD-release party for some rock band that is up & coming in the city. Aspen and I felt pretty darn cool to be around such an event- we had a few drinks, listened to some pretty cool music, and we headed out around 2 a.m. when a lesser known band played their music (which was after the CD of the release party band had been played through). We left. The band that was actually playing live wasn't so good. They had promise to be a really good rock set, but then it quickly diminished to high school antics on stage. Poor form guys! They did have an awesome violin player though :) She could rock out harder than any other violinist I have ever seen in such a context of he rock genre.
ANYWAY... so that was fun. We are going to see the CD release party band tonight in Brooklyn for, like, 12 dollars or something. I am excited. Their CD was pretty good :)
After I head out from the big apple (and I'm not talkin' sizely computers here people), I am going to stay with my friend Jarod in Burlington, where I will recertify my WFR at St. Michael's college.
I think that is all for now- this was a long one that really only scratched the surface of everything. I would love to sit down over a cup of tea and share with you more on the Adventures of Kev.
After this entry, I will only have to share about the WFR and leaving for NCOBS which I will do in May. We'll see what other adventures happen along the way...
See you on the other side,
Kev
