My Weekend

I thought I would give another little update as to what I have been up to.  Yesterday I spent most of my time with the Baja team again, and this time we drove about a half hour off campus to do some bigger terrain tracks.  As opposed to my experience last weekend, this was not just a two minute lap, but rather a massive expanse of hills, dirt, and grassland that was all pretty much open for us to mess around.  I had a fantastic time, and got to see some pretty crazy things.  First off, I saw someone on a dirt bike (not with our group) ride straight up what appeared to be a cliff.  He did not quite make it, and at the top he actually ended up jumping off the bike and rolling down the hill to retrieve his bike at the bottom.  No injuries, and very, very crazy to watch.  Another freshman on the trip got a little bit bold after seeing the Baja videos presented to us a few days ago decided to ride through what looked like a puddle, about 12 feet across or so.  Turn out it was about 3 feet deep, and we had to tow the little car our with one of the trucks we had with us.  Driver was soaked and covered in mud, as was the car, but we got it running again once the air filter had some time to dry out.  

We changed locations after another group came as well with their off-roaders, making the area a little more crowded than we liked.  The new location was just hill after hill with steep valleys in between and very few flat sections, and no grass.  I had an awesome time driving the green car I showed you in the last email (which was also the one that had been driven through the water).  The hills were a bit too steep for my liking in some sections, so I took the time to scout out a little area for me to play around where I knew I wouldn’t, say, drive off a cliff.  Visibility is not fantastic, since I can’t move my neck and my goggles block my peripherals. No one else seemed to be bothered by that, but it definitely worried me. And I know the cars do just fine on even the most extreme of slopes, but I just didn’t want to risk it.  The area I found was relatively flat, and included 5 hills, all of which were not too crazy coming at them from any angle.  I do with I had pictures of this area, as you would probably laugh at me saying “Not too crazy,” but it was a while away from where we had parked the cars and I did not at the time want to risk taking my phone with me in my pocket.  Even on these “less extreme” hills, the phone could have quite easily fallen out of my front pockets due to gravity.  I had a great time experimenting with the four-wheel steering, which is a blast, and doing donuts on a 30+ degree slope.  Also drifting.  Lots of drifting.

One of the guys on the trip brought an RC car that could do about 35 mph with its nitro-fueled motor, and another brought a quad rotor.  They were cool to watch, but I did not want to try to drive either due to the possible repercussions if I crashed one.  Another guy decided to try to do some off-roading with his Suburban, and nearly rolled it over.  I was not dumb enough to be inside the truck, thankfully.  We ended up getting it out of that situation with a couple of the ATVs we had brought along with us as spotting vehicles.  The ATVs pulled him to the left as he just drove forward, and he was able to right himself.

The day ended once one of the seniors got a little too bold with the blue Baja and broke the front suspension.  I did not see it happen, but I wish I had because I don’t have a clue what he could have been doing to inflict that much pressure onto the vehicle.  Kind of crazy.  We were all tired and ready to go home by that time, though, so it was nice to have an excuse.  

I ended up with a minor sunburn, which was very shocking to me since I never, ever burn and I had even put on some low-SPF spray sunscreen, but it was all gone the next day, so that is good.  I slept for a little over 11 hours, and am enjoying my day of doing very, very little.  I went to the gym and did some homework, but other than that?  Not much.  I had breakfast, and I will probably have dinner, but I didn’t bother going to get lunch… it is just a very lazy day.  We finished reading a Medieval Epic poem in my British Literature class, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  Very fun story, with very interesting writing techniques.  The style of the time was to use mostly alliteration instead of the rhyming we use today.  I had my first major test on Wednesday, in Geography, and I think I did very well.  Other than Geography, I believe I have a perfect score in every class so far, so that is awesome!  I am definitely planning on keeping that record as long as possible.  I did miss one question on a Brit Lit quiz on middle English translation, but it was covered by my successful completion of the extra credit points on the same quiz.  I went to “Improv Night” hosted by the Drama club, and enjoyed seeing everyone, including myself, completely embarrass themselves in silly games.  I went the the Esports club, which was the most pure and unadulterated nerd-fest I can imagine, and really don’t know how to feel about it.  On one hand, everyone there was interested in some sort of game that I was also interested in, but on the other hand they were all super competitive with these games that I prefer to play for fun, and that kind of ruined it for me.  I was able to introduce more people to the brilliant game of Antichamber, though, so at least one good deed came from the experience.  

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! -Christopher