Coming Home to the 757 for Break

After a long semester at college, it’s always nice to make the trek home for friends, family and some much needed rest.  There’s always a little nostalgia on the trip back, and you try to take note of the things that have changed, things like which building was torn down, which road got remade, what does my high school look like now (except you just wonder that, because no one dares return to their actual high school).  So here are some of my favorite things about home, to the 757.

The first thing I do for nostalgic purposes on the ride home is turn the radio to 94.9 The Point.  This radio station is famous for me, not because it plays great music, (I guess you’d call it alternative or just mainstream) but because listening to 94.9 is like going into a time capsule.  The songs they play are the exact same songs you heard driving to high school 4 years ago.  If I ever want to remember what songs were popular when I was in high school, I just flip it to 94.9 and sit back.  Here’s some highlights from my last trip, John Mayer-“Waiting on the world to change”, Nickelback-Rockstar, Snow Patrol-Chasing cars, “Stacy’s Mom” – (Who Knows?)  (Side Note: this is even funnier because I dated a Stacy in high school.)

After I eke out 2 minutes of Rockstar, I quickly change it to the party station, Z104.  And after about 1 or 2 top-charting hits, I wait for my favorite Bar Norfolk commercial. 

“Tuesday night is ladies night at BARRR Norfolk, doors open at 9 and girls get in free so come early and dress to impress at BARR Norfolk” 

Growing up I heard Bar Norfolk and Have a Nice Day Café advertised constantly on Z104.  Oh yeah don’t forget about Peabody’s.  (Can anyone actually tell me what goes on at Teen night at Peabody’s? Is that like 8^th grade dance, with games set up, or more like Dare Skating) More funny side notes: It looks like two of these have closed because they don’t sell enough real food.  Looks like they were right the whole time saying they go hard.

The next thing I love about the 757 is driving.  Driving is wonderful and at college, we can’t do it enough and there’s too much traffic.  In the 757, we have to drive, but never have to go very far (cough NOVA) to be where we need to be.  In fact, I used to be able to get everywhere I wanted to go in 7 minutes.  Which brings me to two other things I love about the 757, movie theaters and Yorktown Beach.

The movie theaters in Charlottesville are terrible, I can get better seating and better sound at my apartment, the Shithole S-Class.  Theaters in the 757 are legit, AMC 24 and Regal are awesome, and make Carmike look like a waste of space.

Yorktown Beach is the dinky, crappy beach about 10 minutes from my house, the swimming area is smaller than your local swimming pool and there isn’t enough sand to play beach games, but you can definitely work on your tan there.  The other great part about Yorktown Beach is it’s a prime first date location, especially at night.  You can walk down the beach, see the lights reflecting off the bridge and you might even confuse your date into thinking your romantic, and just hope Chasing Cars comes on in the background.

Tanning in the 757 is completely kosher unlike other areas of Virginia.  I have no problems going to the beach solely to tan, or going to the pool, heck, I’ve gone outside my own house multiple times just to go tanning.  I’ve asked around and it seems like no other area of Virginia has agreed that it’s completely okay for a guy to tan alone.  Tanning is beneficial if done in moderation in multiple ways, it zaps acne, gives you vitamin D, and boosts your self-esteem because you look great, and finally it lets you relax.

And now for my favorite part about the 757 is how awesome we are at football.  Okay, so I had to broaden my definition of “we” to include myself with the beasts of the 757.  Because the historic triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown is not a hotbed for the football recruiting, but the Peninsula district and Cheasapeake definitely are and they’re from the 757 too, so I’ll group myself in.  Here’s some rational to why we rock.  Phoebus and Hampton dominate division 5 football, and Oscar Smith is a perennial power in Division 6.  So many big names have repped the 757 throughout the years such as Michael Vick, Ronald Curry, Percy Harvin, Tyrod Taylor, Tahj Boyd and Perry Jones.  And Mike London knows as good as anyone, if you’re going to win in Virginia you have to recruit the 757.

There’s nothing like coming home driving around cranking some tunes and talking high school football, and that’s why I love being born and raised in the 757.