Thursday, January 19, 2006

Fell Depths

I lost my physics 121 course packet. Turns out that if you leave it out in the hub it disappears. To get a new one I had to go to the copy center in the basement of the communications building.

Lets just get this out of the way.
Dr Hibbert: Don't worry, you can always fall back on your degree in... Communications!?!
Victor: I know, is false degree. Victor learns nothing! Nothing!!!

All random references aside I assure you that the communications building, or "The Citadel of Comunicay" as I now call it, had no use for instictual design or clear purpose when it was being constructed. We're talking labyrinth here. Allow me to elaborate.

When I first opened the door I was faced by a short staircase or a door on my right which lead down. I needed to go to the basement, a door which goes down when the only other options are up and flee is the obvious choice. Turns out this door is locked, and probably employees only despite the total lack of sinage. Going up the stairs you find a large round room with a blackened old timsey printing press in the middle, hallways lead off to either side and no clear directions to anything are available. Walking halfway down the right hall way I make an impromptu map out of fire escape instructions, which tells me that I need to go down the left hallway. I descend a full flight of stairs to reach floor 1, another half flight of stairs to floor G, and in theory I should be able to follow this spiraloid staircase down to Basement. But it turns out that for no reason there's a set of metal bars preventing you from doing that. You have to go out into the hall, then into the door right next to the one you came out of to keep going downstairs. When I reached the basement level and walked through the building proper my true adventure began. I walked through hallways which took turns at seemingly random intervals and passed classes whose description didn't bring to mind any clear purpose. I passed large open rooms full of computers only 3 of which were occupied, at one point two of these rooms flank the hallway, and the walls of the hall are lined with arrow slit style windows. It gives you the impression that you're in some kind of observation cage, being gawked at by the natives at they drink their strange brown bean based drinks. I see a sign. It's taped to the wall, it looks to have been printed out months ago. Copy Center ->.

That would've been great if I wasn't at a an upside down T intersection. This means that strafing right and going forward is ->, but so its turning right. I pause to ask Thor for guidance, and he provides in the form of another equally dusty printout further down the hallway which is essentially straight ahead. I reach the center. They're out. I can pick one up tomorrow. I take a moment to ask Thor to punish these people and their foul citadel. I'll get back to you on that one, but if lighting strikes UW this blog will start having a lot more posts on my divine wrath. I turn around walk across the hall from the copy center. I go up only one flight of stairs (I went down 2 and 1/2 to get here) and outside into someplace I can't recall having been to ever. It seems that as a going away present they building has ejected me into some null space on the UW map. It turned out the be the place between the com building and the Thompson building, a place that you'd have to go sigfigantly out of your way to get to in any other circumstance. I stumble out of this university map limbo, and into the cold refreshing embrace of our 29th consecutive day of cloudiness. I may not have returned home triumphant, but I did return home, and that may be more then some can say.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I went through the same thing last quarter...took me five minutes to get to the basement and another ten to find the copy center...then they didn't have the packet I needed...it was a "Khaaann!!" moment.

4:29 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home