Stephen iChatted me around 6:30 yesterday evening informing me that the forecast foretold clear skies for the evening and that if I wasn't going to be back too late from my prior engagement we should go "star starring". I thought that sounded lovely so when I returned to lovely Gaines around 9:30 PM I went to the male RAs' suite and woke Stephen up from what I learned was a 2 1/2 hour "pseudo sleep". We headed out to the Ruins in our trusty golf cart with blanket, camera, and Stephen's recently-purchased-from-the-wal bag of Twizzlers in hand. This was approximately 10:30, by the way (we had made a Wal-Mart run previously). On our way up we saw about 4 deer chillaxing off the road up by the Pavillion and around the Ruins, and each time we saw one Stephen literally screamed. Apparently he doesn't like deer? I proceeded to tell him to chill out, but he insisted on informing me of the danger to us the animals signified. "There's got to be a buck around here somewhere" is probably his favorite phrase because I heard it several times. I calmly informed Stephen that the deer are more afraid of us than we are of them, but he still pleaded with me to go back to Gaines and abandon the star starring adventure. I refused. Now, one Stephen M Wilson might be upset that I am broadcasting news of his irrational fear of cute forest animals on the world wide web, but I think since his fear is so ridiculous he can get over it. Anyway, we finally got to the ruins, and after taking a few pictures and making sarcastic comments about the place being haunted (which, needless to say, Stephen took seriously) we laid out a blanket and attempted to look at stars. Although the sky was beautiful, it was difficult to enjoy the stars because every second Stephen would sit up and gasp with a “What was that?!”
“Did you hear that?” “There’s a car coming! What if they’re here to kill us, our getaway vehicle isn’t very fast or menacing!” (which was actually a valid, quite terrifying point). Whilst lying out there we saw some bats, which I informed Stephen generally eat bugs and fruit, not people. We took note of the big dipper in the sky but realized that we should have “pre-gamed” for the adventure, if you will, by reading up on our astronomy knowledge. Oh well, next time. After lying there for a bit, attempting to explain to Stephen the necessity of using stargazing as a chance to clear your mind, connect with nature, contemplate your place in the universe, get to know your fellow stargazers, etc (all my theories about the personal development that can occur under the stars were wasted on an unwilling Stephen) we finally left. This was pretty much because more cars started showing up in the freshman parking lot right next to us (even though it was 11:30 at night, which I admit was kind of sketch). So after once again discussing the fact that not too long ago, certainly not when the ruins were an actual building, neither of us would have been allowed up there (I being of the female species, and he being African-American) we got back in Patty the Putter (as we affectionately call the golf cart) and headed back to campus, fears of ghosts of the confederate past coming to haunt innocent stargazers behind us. On our way back we passed a few more deer (I named one Felix and another Frances, because Bambi is far too cliché), and made it back to Gaines safely. And thus ends our stargazing adventure. Good times were had by all, here’s hoping that next time Wilson is much more mentally prepared. Perhaps we’ll find a better location, one that isn’t so overrun with wildlife that sdub is distracted by illogical fears. We shall see, though.
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