The Break is Over!

Thanksgiving break had now officially ended and classes began with a fury. This week I planned to enact a new plan for getting up this time during the week. First I would try to wake up at 6:45 everyday and turn the TV on to watch several cartoons. In between the cartoons, I would (for an allowance of 30 minutes) go and wash up and shower. Immediately following this break, I would return to the room to watch another cartoon. At approximately 8:38, I would leave the room and go to my 9:00 Religion in Contemporary America class; if it were a day in which I didn’t have this class than my time would last until 10:35 in which I could leave the room to go to an activity. If there were no activity, then I could stay in the room until 2:30, at this time I would have to go eat lunch somewhere, in order to get some nutrients. Now following this, I would have to go to class and do evening events. Pending the day (Monday) I would return to the room immediately following the last class and have the TV on at 8 to watch Battle Frontier on TV and then Pucca immediately thereafter (shower time would be before this period but no later than 7:45). Following this event at 9-9:30 I could either watch TV or proceed to doing work. And then at 10 (pending the day) I could go to a meeting or not. But I had a cap of being back in the room at 10:30 to watch one of several episodes of Digimon. From this time until 2:30 and 3:00 AM I could do whatever I chose as long as I had these slots clear for Digimon, and of course bedtime was capped at anytime before 3:30 preferably 2 to enable at least 5 hours of sleep. This plan probably took me about an hour to create, but I am so far proving to follow it closely as Tuesday is the second day I have been on it, and I am feeling good about it.

After class Monday, I was presented with one of the hardest tasks that I ever had. In need of some money, I journeyed over to the ATM machine on campus, the Wachovia one near the Welcome Center (which is a good walk away). I proceeded to normally draw money out but the computer alerted me that I needed to contact my financial institution, because access to my account was blocked by the BB&T Banking Company. So I left there with an unhappy face and a useless card, but more importantly moneyless. I called my dad and explained the situation. He believed that I was trying to pull too much money out, I of course told him I wasn’t because I was only getting a very small amount of money out and my account had enough (for he just put money in there). So next he said he would visit the bank. When I got back to my room, he called back and told me that I would have to get a new card (which they would send to the house and not to the dorm, in a period of 4-14 days). Or in other words—I would be out of anyway to get money out of my account for this period of time. But loe and behold, there was a way for me to get money. I would have to visit the branch that is located in Richmond.

To discover where this bank was I had to go to my RA and seek his knowledge. He searched for me and told me that it was somewhere downtown (he actually gave me directions). He instructed me that to get there I would have to take a bus (the free VCU Campus Connector) and then I would have to walk several blocks to get there. So, I put my shoes on and immediately left out. I did feel a bit uneasy about going there but I immediately put my qualms aside and went ahead to go, since I did need the money.

Bus Ride

Today was the first time in virtually 2 years since I rode VCU campus connector. Their route has not deviated in the two years that I have known VCU; in fact it is still exactly the same. I could recite it in my head. I had to ride the bus to get to the downtown of Richmond I believe (I guess it is downtown because the streets are all like 1st-8th, though I didn’t see the infamous Court Street, Jefferson Ave, or other streets that virtually every city has, I did see Main Street and Broad Street!).

I got to the first bus stop one minute too late; as I got there I saw the bus pulling off so I had to wait for nearly 15 minutes. As soon as I got on the bus, I found an empty seat and sat down for a small ride. I rode on past the Monroe Park Campus and got off at the 6th Street bus stop (if you want to call it that, it is more like a bench in the middle of a construction zone with a cheap drugstore). From 6trh Street I had to follow my trusty map to get to 8th Street. So I walked up or was it down, I can’t remember because it seemed like Richmond had suddenly become the city of the rolling hills as it was hilly. I got to the center of the spot and was surrounded by these monumentally tall business buildings. They looked fancy too. I did have a qualm walking past a bus stop bustling with people though, but I managed to keep my calm and avoid walking through them (I felt so bad wearing stuff with VCU on it, I felt like everyone was looking at me!). But I got to the 8th street and walked over to Main Street. I then walked up and discovered that I was going the opposite direction of the BB&T bank. It was so strange as well because I was looking for the more traditional bank (its own building with fancy signpost outside). What I saw when I turned around was more surprising.

I met an extravagant or rather fancy looking tarp covering a pathway that had the insignia BB&T on it in all of its maroon and white glory. Had the covering not been there. I wouldn’t have known where the bank was (even though I could have put two to two together being that each of the buildings had banks on their first floor). So I ran quickly to get to the bank. I walked past three set of doors before finding the one that was open (Many of the doors had decorations in front of them on the inside). It was the strangest bank setup ever. Usually in a bank the teller desk is the first thing you see when you walk in, instead, this one, and the first thing you see are the bank account setter-uppers in their windowed rooms. I had to ask the lady at the first desk where to go and she pointed me to the opposite end of the bank (on an architecture note, the middle of the room had a spiraling staircase going to its bottom, it was amazing and majestic). I got to the teller desk and proceeded with getting money out of my "locked for who knows what reason" account. I then left and walked all the way back to the bus stop. I had to wait at least thirty minutes this time, as the first bus came and wasn’t the Campus Connector.

It was an alright wait, I did get a little disenchanted though when this man kept standing directly behind me, then across the street and then kept following certain ladies up and down the street and then looking at me. One of the things I remembered was that he got a bit excited when someone walked by him (though the person walking had paid him no attention at all). Strangely when the bus came he decided to get back on my side of the road and assume his position right behind me. The bus came and was fully packed so I had to stand for a while. And as I had said, the route was still the same as I remember (go to Sanger Hall, then go to the Ambulatory Care Center, then go to the MCV bookstore, then go through city area to reach Monroe Park exit stop, then go to place in front of library!).

Normal Business

After that event, I had to eat lunch. This time I went to Quiznos on campus and endured their line that seemed like it lasted several miles. It took about an hour for me to get through the whole line but I managed to make it in time. I was disappointed for when I got my sandwich part of it was burning hot while others parts of it were freezing cold. They shouldn’t have mixed their meat up like that.

The day proceeded normally with its day to day business. I went to a group meeting that I hadn’t been too in over a months and talked with them for a while. It was interesting as the two of them were going to dental school and perhaps a forensic psychologist. But that is what I did Monday in a nutshell.