"If you were alive back then and living on the east coast, you probably heard a lot about the Blizzard of 96..."
I don't know that one, but Canada is a magnet for those kind of storms. We've had really bad ones here in Winnipeg, including the one that I'm sure was responsible for the Red River flooding badly in 1997.
I think it was more US-centric but a 2nd wave also hit Alberta that year. Virginia was probably wrecked especially bad, which is surely why it sticks in my own memory now.
First 3 roommates; not memorable. They were grad students, nice enough but I was a freshman forced to live out of town because the dorms were full. Second 3 roommates, now that was a thing. Because the dorms were impacted they turned each floors 'library' into a triple. You could barely walk through that room, between the bunk bed, a double bed and 3 desks. Didn't care; I was so excited to be on campus. Fell out of the top bunk the first night - dreamt I was flying. 3 roommates because the one who looked like a troll brought in his troll girlfriend where they did unspeakable things like squeeze each others pimples. The other one was a senior letching on the freshman girls. No matter, I didn't care, I didn't have to ride my bike 3 miles to campus and back to my lonely little room.
Lived in a few more places after the dorms and they were all ... special. In the last place, there was a barely serviceable elevator and on the wall it was written: "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I am the meanest motherfucker in the valley."
The first time my old roommate, Mike, and I drove across the country was an adventure. We traveled tried to drive all the way from Los Angeles to Lovato Jr.’s academy, but we were pulled over twice! Neither time we were given a ticket even though the cops were rude and insinuated we were up to no good. By the time we arrived, we basically collapsed at the front door so tired and dehydrated. Lovato just looked at us and offered us some water. We made it to Pennsylvania and attended wrestling camp in the middle of nowhere. Mike caught a huge catfish during his first time fishing out there. Then we went to Richmond and competed in my last US Grappling tournament. We visited the Smithsonian then started the trip home. In the middle of the night in the desert, a spark plug blew through cylinder and dented the hood of my car. (I think this was during that trip.) We made it to a Autozone in Barstow, the graveyard of lost souls and their cars. A second ignition coil was destroyed during the incident. My roommate joked that our car had cauliflower ear in the engine. We cleaned the area up as much as possible then slowly limped home on two working cylinders.
"If you were alive back then and living on the east coast, you probably heard a lot about the Blizzard of 96..."
I don't know that one, but Canada is a magnet for those kind of storms. We've had really bad ones here in Winnipeg, including the one that I'm sure was responsible for the Red River flooding badly in 1997.
Here's some color on the 96 one, if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_blizzard_of_1996
I think it was more US-centric but a 2nd wave also hit Alberta that year. Virginia was probably wrecked especially bad, which is surely why it sticks in my own memory now.
First 3 roommates; not memorable. They were grad students, nice enough but I was a freshman forced to live out of town because the dorms were full. Second 3 roommates, now that was a thing. Because the dorms were impacted they turned each floors 'library' into a triple. You could barely walk through that room, between the bunk bed, a double bed and 3 desks. Didn't care; I was so excited to be on campus. Fell out of the top bunk the first night - dreamt I was flying. 3 roommates because the one who looked like a troll brought in his troll girlfriend where they did unspeakable things like squeeze each others pimples. The other one was a senior letching on the freshman girls. No matter, I didn't care, I didn't have to ride my bike 3 miles to campus and back to my lonely little room.
Lived in a few more places after the dorms and they were all ... special. In the last place, there was a barely serviceable elevator and on the wall it was written: "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I am the meanest motherfucker in the valley."
The first time my old roommate, Mike, and I drove across the country was an adventure. We traveled tried to drive all the way from Los Angeles to Lovato Jr.’s academy, but we were pulled over twice! Neither time we were given a ticket even though the cops were rude and insinuated we were up to no good. By the time we arrived, we basically collapsed at the front door so tired and dehydrated. Lovato just looked at us and offered us some water. We made it to Pennsylvania and attended wrestling camp in the middle of nowhere. Mike caught a huge catfish during his first time fishing out there. Then we went to Richmond and competed in my last US Grappling tournament. We visited the Smithsonian then started the trip home. In the middle of the night in the desert, a spark plug blew through cylinder and dented the hood of my car. (I think this was during that trip.) We made it to a Autozone in Barstow, the graveyard of lost souls and their cars. A second ignition coil was destroyed during the incident. My roommate joked that our car had cauliflower ear in the engine. We cleaned the area up as much as possible then slowly limped home on two working cylinders.