Alabama, Revisited

Ok. I didn’t have much time to update things my last two days in Alabama. So, here’s a slight recap.

On Friday, I was to give a short talk on Flash and multimedia and literature. Fun stuff. The whole day, I ate next to nothing. I was nervous about getting the class site working, and then sprinted off to campus so I could prepare notes on what to talk about. Since I was going to be speaking in front of a large group, I decided against eating lunch – more coffee!

Earlier in the week, I came across some students playing chess in the Student Union. This guy (Eddie) asked me for a game, but I was in a rush and had to decline. He mentioned that they would be back here on Friday, around 2:30. Well, I had been thinking about it all week and stopped in to find him at a table.

Above is my humiliating defeat. We played a round of speed chess (10 minutes), and I hung my knight on move three. Wasn’t thinking at ALL, and he barely needed to concentrate while sweeping my sorry ass around the board.

The whole week, I was pretty much on the second floor of Morgan Hall. My office was there, as was the computer lab. But the talk was going to be on the third floor, and as I climbed the stairs… I noticed this chair on the stairwell. The ceiling is really low here, and the idea that anyone would just sit here struck me as kind of funny. I dropped all my notes (along with my coffee) on the steps and shot a few pics.

After the reading, Justina invited people over to her place for some drinks. When Sandy and I showed up a bit later, we found the driveway lit up with candles and it was really just great. I started guzzling beer, and before long… yours truly was a bit tipsy. No food and all coffee will do that to a guy.

The whole night, Justina had everyone cracking up. She’s an awesome person, a great host, and she says exactly what’s on her mind. She was so incredibly friendly and nice, words don’t even begin to do her justice. And to top things off, she made a killer grilled cheese sandwich. I had no idea cheese and bread could be combined in such a way.

After a bit, Justina’s neighbors stopped by. I guess this threw me a bit, since I wasn’t sure who they were. But all three of the boys were (like everyone I met) incredibly friendly. The fact that all the neighbors knew each other, and didn’t bat an eye at stopping in to see "what was going on" surprised me. But I’m glad they did stop by.

Left to right, it’s Grey, Dylan and Mica. Apparently, Mica’s known Justina since he was four years old. Grey’s dressed up as Towelie? From South Park? Mica is dressed as the inestimable Hunter S. Thompson, and Dylan as the Samoan lawyer.

Medicine! I need my medicine!

Heheheh.

A shot of Justina’s kitchen. She has an awesome place. I tried taking a few photos of her, but my flash wasn’t working. Well, that and I was a bit, how shall we say… drunk? Four beers and two glasses of wine.

This is Justina’s friend Kay, who was visiting from Mobile. She was quite cool, and filled me in on a bit of Justina’s previous life as the PR person for the mayor of Mobile.