Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508230099
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: WS-50 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
We ended up at a local pub sitting over greasy food while that distinct scent wafted through the smoke-filled air. It's a very high school gym kind of smell, the kind that comes from people who sweat a lot.
The birthday celebration went like this: we split a couple pitchers of Black &Tan, ate our greasy food, went home and watched some formula show on The Discovery Channel about sharks (one guy dumps blood and fish heads into water, other guy jumps into underwater cage to film, human dummy is thrown out so shark can angrily chew on it and scare viewers).
I actually had a good time that night. I really did. Besides I don't even own a long black dress with a slit up the side.
Simplicity. Sitting over beers in a local dive, hiking, lying on a blanket on top of Brush Mountain when it's deathly quiet, sipping iced mochas on the steps outside of Mill Mountain ... these are a few of my favorite things.
So going out to dinner for us means sitting in between dart boards and pool tables. So the most exotic places this guy and I ever see are on The Travel Channel. Right now I'm happy.
Money's nice. It pays the rent and buys the pitchers of beer. I remember asking someone once what he wanted to do with his life and his reply was, "I want to get a job that pays a lot so I can drive a cool car." It sounded like a line from Beavis and Butthead, just add "and score with lots of chicks" to the end.
OK, here's how I see it. You get your fancy car, something red and space-age looking and this is what happens: the car attracts cops who give you tickets because cars like that make you want to drive fast, your insurance company drops you and you end up riding the BT everyday. There's always a down side to desiring many material goods.
This summer he left for Alaska to work on a fishing boat (the guy whose idea of a birthday dinner is a greasy spoon). He said he would send me some stuff from "The Last Frontier." Yesterday I received a small box full of rocks he'd found and some placemats from a restaurant. Enclosed was a short note telling me to get the rocks wet and look at them because they looked cool wet (he found them in a stream) and that the placemats were haindpainted by someone, probably an Eskimo, he thought.
We do talk about someday going to one of those travel channel places with scuba-diving and an exotic three-part name. He heard of a place in Mexico where you can live in a Gilligan's Island-type bamboo hut for three bucks a night. Who knows where I'll end up.
Today I'm poor, yet fairly relaxed and happy about my life. Living simply lets you find happiness, however small, in the stupidest things, even rocks.
I thumb-tacked the placemats to my wall. I put the rocks in a jar with some water, examined them for a minute or two and smiled. They did look pretty cool.
by CNB