A welcome diversion

This quarter I have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time in which to do it, so I’ve been wondering exactly how to manage it all. However, I got a nice and unexpected reprieve from that this afternoon.

When my last class got out at 5, I was in the engineering building preparing to head out to the car when I noticed that the doors were open to the new wing they’ve been building for the last many months. It looked fairly finished, there wasn’t much in the way of construction in sight, and someone was walking through on their way out, so I decided it was safe to have a look. Only a few rooms are inhabited at this point, the others still being in the process of having their furniture and the like installed. There are lots of glass-walled labs, as well as lots of glass to the outside. It looks like a nice place, and I had fun exploring all the hallways, including the slightly twisty one that finds its way back into the third floor of the old building. I ran into no one until I reached the third floor, where there’s a big room with a big glass overlook. There were three people in there, so I didn’t go in. I shall have to return sometime soon to complete my exploration.

I’m not sure exactly why I found it fun; perhaps it’s the combination of the novelty of having a new building on campus, the sneakiness of wandering around in an empty building, my interest in behind-the-scenes type things (seeing as not everything was finished yet), and simple adventurousness. I emerged happily onto a new sidewalk, where I was greeted by unexpectedly warm weather and a shining sun. Everything was still wet from the thunderstorm earlier in the day, which I had only heard from inside a classroom and wished I could enjoy it. I strolled happily out to the car (once I located it), and headed out. I opened all the windows to enjoy the air, and noticed, among other things, the sound of cars driving on wet pavement. Ahhhhh.

About half-way home, what did I spy in the middle of the road but — what else? — a rubber snake! I had seen it on the way in this morning, at first thinking it was a real snake but then realizing that it was coiled too neatly and was too non-squished to be real. So I turned around and came back to grab it. I then resumed my course, laughing at the fact that God had provided this fine day with not only building exploration and nice weather, but also, as if those weren’t enough, a randomly-placed rubber snake! Excellent, wouldn’t you say?