6 Degrees Of Me

Ramya and I just got back from a little trip to North Carolina. She has a little time off from the end of school and the start of her summer internship so we used the time to get away, without really getting away. I realized once I got out there that the vacation was much needed. There’s that limbo period in between real life and vacation. I’m gonna call that agitation mode. It’s like an awakening. Suddenly you’re on vacation and you kind of step outside of yourself and take a look in. I was so damn surprised at how on edge I was.

We arrived on Friday @ 3am after our flight was delayed 3 hours. We got to the hotel and went to sleep immediately. When we woke up we took a trip that got me out of Agitation Mode within a few minutes: The Duke Gardens. I’m UNC blue tried and true but there are few things that can hold a candle to the garden experience Here are a couple of pics from the gardens.

Actually this pic is from the N train in New York. Cinco de Mayo means mariachi on the train. These guys were amazingly able to balance and play through a moving train. They weren’t even swaying. I guess a lower center of gravity helps in that regard.

Every single plant species is painstakingly labeled in the garden. Every tree, bush, flower, plant. I was surprised that the animals that I saw didn’t have one of these signs stapled on their ass.

Speaking of animals, what the hell is this one? I really could have used that sign that I just mentioned before.

Now of course when a couple of my friends read this – you know who you are – they’ll say something like, “oh that’s a teradactylus plecebariumus winer bird” like it’s a species that you routinely see on your jogging route or walking the dog. Retarded. By the way, the animals in the Duke Animal Sanctuary have very little fear. This elephant-man-faced bird is actually about 2 feet away from me in this picture. This is unfortunately the limit of my 2002 year modeled camera. It is sad.

Bee. I got stung 4 times while taking this shot. I didn’t realize that Ramya was in the background until I posted this pic.

Ramya bought the shirt she was wearing at the gardens. It’s made out of the flowers that she’s standing in front of. No label though. The magic that they perform at the gardens is really out of the ordinary.

I was sitting on a bench when I looked over and witnessed this lizard touch a plant and watched as the plant died immediately. I ran over to take a picture but kept my distance. There’s joy and danger in the garden experience.

I lost track of Ramya for about 2 hours. When I asked around a couple of the other visitors who had fancy cameras and lots of attitude barely looked up at me when they advised that she was probably sucked into training at the shaolin temple. I got this picture of her as she tried to sneak back into my area. Sneaky. Like I said, the Duke Gardens had everything that a couple could wish for. I wish I went to the training too. I could have cleared my agitation a lot faster if given the chance to kick someone in the stomach before lunch.

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