an evening of no cameras

Yesterday Jeana, Justin and I toured Virginia Tech, then took a slight jaunt down to Roanoke, sans cameras. VA Tech is really pretty in a strange, cold kind of way. Most of the campus buildings are made of this thick, gray stone and look like old castles. The memorial to the victims of the shooting is really moving. Each one of their names is on a stone in a circle on their main drill field in the center of campus. We went to Norris Hall, where the shooting took place and stood in the hall. It was silent and felt like hallowed ground. The most unsettling part of standing in that hall was the eerie feeling of similarity it had to just about every hall at MSU; a sad reminder tragedy can strike anywhere.

After we got to Roanoke Justin took us to his favorite Chinese place. The food was good, but the lady who owns it/served us was really something else. Apparently people try to fuck with her all the time. The last time Justin was in with his friend Evelio some woman came in and tried to get free food. When the owner refused she started to scream and claimed the cook touched her in the parking lot. Eventually she left, but she sounded like a real nut.

Well, the owner was telling this story to the other two customers in at the time, and she mentioned the weird woman was black. Without missing a beat, the woman sitting in the booth next to our said, in the amazing southern drawl, "Well, crazy comes in all colors." I think that about says it all.

After that we headed downtown and hung out at the Roanoke Times for a while, waiting for Justin's friend Jared, another shooter, to get back from assignment. The newsroom is pretty chill, and the photo area is awesome. And I mean seriously. I wanted to move in. I lost track of all couches they had. Well, anyway, we met and hung out with Evelio, who is a writer turned videographer, and Jared for a the evening. After we left the bar at about 11 it was dark enough for us to head up to the star.

So there's this 50 foot neon start mounted on the top of a mountain overlooking the city. We drove up through the rain in the pitch black on the other side of the mountain. When we got out of the car to walk up to it, I trailed along behind. I can tell you that watching the forms of Jeana and Justin appear from the black, illuminated by a giant neon star was one of the single most beautiful moments of my life.

Pure joy. And crazy comes in all colors.