04-IX-2009.
The long trip to A-burg and then to Undersville. We took two cars - one with us three, and Nina and Ender took her RSX for a bit of a mountain drive.
The first part of the trip was quite uneventful - and so we got to their effin university while still rather early. I remembered where to park (ha!), and then we went in to gather as much info as possible on how to enroll Lena as a student next year. After hearing a presentation (in the Rotunda, so it's different from the original Rotonda)(everything's a copy of something here), we eased our way to some guidance councellor (or a counselor or councillor or one of the twenty spellings they have for the advisor). The good news is that there's no problem, she can enroll. The bad news is that she'd need an alien registration number, which we don't have, never had, and our chances to have it are thoroughly screwed up by the catch-22 we got trapped in (or outside of). She could apply for a student's visa, but then there's no way to be on Virginian tuition rates - the fees for sheiks' sons will apply. Bummer.
Had a bit of a stroll around the place, ate somewhere downtown perhaps (surely not at Bodo's, just took pictures of), and satisfied the bits of nostalgia by going for a coffee to Greg's joint on that other mall. He appeared after a while, and of course his first question was "is Lena still smarter than me?", to which he got an immediate and resounding "yes!". Played the usual back and forth with him just like always. Explicitly missing was any mention of his wife from our side, and since we didn't ask, he didn't tell. The bitch.
Then we drove down the 29 to Gretna (not Danville, that would be a detour) and enjoyed a green and empty side road. Just when we thought we were lost, we reached Martinsville, from the unexpected side (it doesn't get to 58 regional road, but to 58 business, which means we got somewhat lost for a while, but headed downtown this way or other and finally hit the main street. Took rooms in the usual Super 8 (not film tape, motel), held by the same hindu family as usual, and headed for the nearby chinese eatery, with bent forks and almost no guests. But the food was great. We taught Ender to play lorum.
Few days later I posted this on ppp, just to show the folks how the bros in the hood put large wheels on their clunkers. Somebody had to notice that this was a good season for tomatoes.
The tomatoes were noticed otherwise anyway. Les's housemate, Will, has asked for one for his sandwich. Sure, why not, she picked a nice one and gave it to him. He later specially thanked her for it, saying it was the best sandwich he had in years. Well, of course, any tomato will be right if you let it ripen on the vine and skip the chemical mumbo jumbo, or else it's „I love tomatoes and fondly remember them“.
Few months later they took him to a hospital, and got him back a few days later, this time on foot, no shoes, just socks - didn't bring any when they got him on the stretcher. Then a few weeks further on they took him again, and Les got on his bike to bring him slippers, bot no need for that, Will had died.
Mentions: Annenburg (A-burg), Ender Aquila (Ender), Greg Reubenthal, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Les Paul, lorum, Nevena Sredljević (Nina), ppp, Undersville, in serbian
14-X-2016 - 23-XII-2025