South 6D

One story of the day was that today was the NJAC outdoor track and field championships.  I was entered in the 800, but since I haven’t run an open 8 all season, Tim entered me with "No TIme" so I ended up being the last seed in the slow heat.  So all I could do was watch as the first section ran and pay close attention to the time, which ended up being 1:57.0.  Then I had my work cut out for me, so as soon as the gun went off for my heat, I took off, racing just the clock, and ended up running 1:56.8 to defend my title as NJAC 800m champion!  I normally wouldn’t have been that happy with a 1:56.8 fresh, but given the circumstances of the ludicrously slow meet leading to a 2 hour warmup and then not having any competition, I’ll take it.

The main thing I wanted to write about, though, was that since the official school year is over, they made us move out of our regular housing and corraled us into Centennial, the shit housing of TCNJ.  What that meant was that last night was my last night ever in South 6D, which was where I lived for the past two years.  Having packed up all my stuff yesterday so I could be out by 8am this morning, the room was a lot more empty than I’m used to, but as I lay in bed last night, I couldn’t help but think about all the time I’ve spent there.  I’ve spent so many hours in that room, done so much.  Just as an example, it was in South 6D that I watched the Red Sox lose Game 7 in 2003, and then watched every game of the ALCS and saw the Red Sox win the World Series there this past fall.  All the parties pregamed, getting my Tupac tattooes drawn on, all the lab reports written, and the lazy Sunday afternoons wasted after long runs.  And there are a million other occasions I can’t even begin to name.  Two years of memories, and now I’m never gonna go back through that doorway again.

Which is truly a shame, because Centennial sucks!  How the hell am I supposed to go back to community bathrooms and showers?!?!