Sunday, November 8 - New York, Crystal Castles

I went to New York last weekend to watch my mom and her running group run in the NYC Marathon. Five years ago my mom was hilariously nonathletic, and here she is now, just finished her second marathon. I am really proud of her. Her entire running group did really well, all setting new PRs and finishing. The trip was really fun, otherwise, aside from getting there. My flight leaving Lynchburg was 3 hours later, thus creating a snow ball effect that left me stumbling into my hotel room at 2:00 am, trying not to wake everyone up.

The next day my mom and I went to the Brooklyn Museum. I don't know how I have never manged to go there, but I finally made it. I wanted to go to the Whitney but we ran out of time. I finally was able to see Judy Chicago's dinner party, and I didn't think I would ever see it. It was a thousand time more amazing in person than it is in photos. Its ginormous. We spent over an hour walking around it.

The day of the marathon I woke up with the runners and went with them to Staten Island at the crack of dawn. Shaun stayed back and slept, so I was left to catch another ferry and a subway back tot he hotel. It was about a two hour ordeal. But it was really nice, being able to just sit on the subway, listening to Crystal Castles at a deafening level and tuning out the rest of the world. I got off the subway about 10 blocks early so that I could just walk around, and it was oddly soothing. It was only about 8:00 by this point so there was not much going on, being a Sunday morning.

Shaun and I hung around for a few hours, and he went exploring into Times Square since he had never seen it, and I read and napped. When it was time for us to go to the bleachers at the finish, we though we only had to walk a few blocks, since he had scoped it out earlier. Oh no. No no no. We ended up getting do badly diverted that we had to run three miles through tunnels in Central Park, down by the zoo, jsut to get the 65th street where we were to begin with, basically. Shaun missed Traci finishing, but I hung around the 1/2 mile to go point and waiting on my mom. When I saw her I ran along with her for a bit. I didn't get to see her finish, though, since the bleachers were so congested.

The weekend has been really nice. I haven't stayed here and done nothing for quite a while. Friday night was the opening of the new gym. So Shep, Jenny, Sarah, and Lauren and I went to that an watched the Proposal with a bunch of girls. That was actually a really good movie. Then yesterday morning Jenny and I went and explored the new gym, played tennis, walleyball, raquetball, ran and worked out for a while. We were there for over 2 hours. Last night we were going to watch a movie, but we were both in too much pain to move. So Shep and I sat around, read, and I talked to Matt for a while.

The morning when I woke up I felt paralyzed. My back i in excrutiating pain, and my legs are urting so bad. I have not been this sore in a long time. I waddled over to breakfast and texted Jenny. She replied with, "Kate. I'm walking into Prothro right now and I look like I had really bad sex last night." And she did. It was hilarious. Shep was sitting a few tables over from us and was aparently laughing at us each time we had to slooooowly stand up and go get a fork or something. It was horrible.

I came back from breakfast and just collepsed back in bed, planning on never moving again.

No such luck.

Shep ended up convincing me to walk the lake trails with her, and that ended up being a lot of fun. The last time I did that was last February with Ashley and Jerri when the lake was still frozen over and we could walk on it. I want to go back to the field behind the lake with a blanket and just lay there. It was such a nice day.

Right now I am struggling to get up and go to my Voice meeting. I have no photos to add to the paper, and I honestly don't care. I want to quit, so badly, but I can't. Next year, not doing this again.

Oh and jussayin, I think that this song is the greatest song ever created. I think I listen to it over 20 times a day, for the past few weeks, and I have Rob doing the same.



I feel like this would be an amazing thing to experience live, although Alice sounds really rough live...

Day 90 - Norfolk, South of the Border

This morning I woke up at like 5:00. Which is very uncharacteristic. Jenn picked me up a bit later and we got all ready to drive up to Norfolk. First we had to go by Mike’s house so that she could get her charger and then back to her house to pick up a few things. We hit the road and I promptly fell asleep.

We drove until South of the border, where we got out and explored. I found the Charles Trippy CTFxC thing, and took a picture, feeling very lame as I did so. But whatever. We went into the little shops, and went to the top of the huge sombrero. It was fun. After that we got back in the car, got some lunch, and spent the rest of the drive listening to Disney music and whistling along until we were light headed. And then I fell asleep for a bit.

When I woke up we were in Jenn’s dad’s driveway, but neither he nor his girlfriend were around to let us in. He rents the back apartment to this girl named Ashley who is just a bit older than us, and she is really nice. She let us in and we hung out with her for a bit in her apartment and watched TV and talked about fun stuff to do up here.

Once Susan came over and unlocked the house, we spent a while unloading most of Jenn’s things out of her car. And now there is just a clusterfuck of stuff on her bedroom floor. We are going to bed in a minute.

Day 81 - Day of Adventures with Jenn

Today was Jenn's first full day home. We woke up early this morning (well, early for me) and went to the Fox for breakfast. Honestly, I am the worst Ortegro ever. This morning was the third time I have been to the Fox. That is just shameful. We went from the Fox to the town center, where pretty much all we managed to do was walk around Urban and go to Barnes and Noble. At Barnes and Noble I bought the Tao Te Ching and the Hua Hu Ching. I am excited to start reading those. The guy that was at Barnes and Noble the other night when I was there with Emma was there again, and we talked about Chamblins some more.

So after all that talk about Chamblins, Jenn and I headed to the new Chamblins downtown. I got even more Taoism books, including the Tao of Pooh, which explains Taoism using all of the characters from Winnie the Pooh. I feel like its a good starting point to getting into all of this Taoism business.

Then this afternoon Jenn and I decided to go rock climbing. but first we went to the tax collectors office to get her tag renewed, and we were there for about an hour. In that time I was able to read about half of the Tao of Pooh. So far its really good and very helpful. There were some of the sketchiest people ever at the tax collector's office. this one guy that came in had a really old slipknot shirt on that was way too short, and it hit about an inch above his waistline, suspenders, and Levi's. He looked like a rapist. And his butt was hanging out of his pants.

Finally we got to the Y, and we had to sign up for rock climbing classes since either of us were certified for that location. So about an hour later, we had learned how to tie all the knots and do the self-belays, then we asked our instructor if we could just do the auto-belays. Apparently we wasted $10, and an hour of our time and his time. Oops. Anyways climbing was a lot of fun. Jenn just went last week in Colorado, but I haven't done it in years. Although apparnelty I am scared of haights and I didn't really know it until I was half way up the wall. I was terrified that my belay wouldn't catch as I started to repel each time so that was fun. Until I got a little too confident in the belay and started flinging myself off the wall and flying about all willy-nilly. I got in trouble. Oh well. After a few hours of climbing, we went to the San Marco Loop for dinner. It was the first thing I had eaten since the Fox and I was about to just drop. Starved.

We got back to my house and started to watch the Girl with the Pearl Earring. Of course I fell asleep one minute into it and woke up right at the end. Oh well. Jenn and I were both hungry yet again, so we decided to get up and go to Kickbacks. We got there at about 10:30, and Rob and Clay and Clay were already there. Clay and I have been barely missing each other every time I go. I leave, then Clay tweets about getting there. So for once we were there at the same time. A bit after we got there, Eddy walked in so Jenn and I hung out with him. Just a few minutes later a fight broke out. I have never seen a fight at Kickbacks before. This woman started yelling and there were chairs in the air. It was crazy. The police came a bit later and that was that. Jenn and I just sat there and Eddy ate dinner. Then Jenn and I decided to get the brownie bits. They come with chocolate dipping sauce, which all it is is Hershey's syrup. So after we ate the brownies, Jenn went to town on the chocolate sauce with her straw while Eddy and I watched and laughed. Once she finished that one, a waiter who wasn't even ours brought her another. She ate that one as well.

The three of us left Kickbacks and went to Shanty Town, since it was Metal Mondays. I have never been to Shanty Town before, and I was very glad Eddy was with us. We followed him there and the whole way there and I was thinking "where the hellll is he taking usssssss." It was like off 8th street but still downtown. It was in a perfectly fine area, but it was late and I doubt I would have wanted to be there if it was just Jenn and I. thankful for Eddy. So we just hung out there, listened to music and talked.

Came home. Now it is time to go to sleep. I feel like today lasted 3 days instead of one. It was a very good day.

I can't feel my arms.

Day 78 - Kennedy Space Center

Today my mom and Liam and I took a day trip to go to Kennedy Space Center. That was exciting, actually. I dont think I have been there since elementary school. There was a rocket garden, with all of these ginormous rockets that were blasted into space, and we got to meet some astronauts and go on a flight simulation ride. Overall it was a very good day.

I watched Knowing tonight and it was amazing. Kind of. Okay not really. Some bits were really good but the ending was the dumbest thing ever.

Day 73 - Trickery, Rob, Kevin

I woke up this morning to trickery. My phone rang, waking me up, and I saw it was my dad. "Come over we are making chocolate fondue!" Alright, how am I supposed to pass that one up? I scurried on over there, and then as I am pulling in I see it: Kathleen's car in the driveway. So I was tricked into spending the morning with her. Great.

Rob and I went to the Loop for lunch. Then he got a ca rwash. That's pretty much all we do anymore. It's getting pretty pathetic. We need to actually do something soon.

Tonight I finally saw Harry Potter. Kevin took me to see that, and it was really good. I am sick of everyone saying it was really bad because it didn't follow the book. But really, if he movies were going to follow the books, the movies would be 10 hours long. I really liked it. Afterwards, we went to Dennys and I had delicious french toast. Then we drove out to the beach to walk on the beach for a while. I have never really hung out with Kevin, but it was a lot of fun, and really nice. He is a sweet guy and really easy to talk to. As we were walking, we kept seeing huge black blobs running across the sand, but we couldn't tell what they were. A bit later, we passed a couple walking in the opposite direction, chasing one of the blobs and taking pictures. They were armadillos. WHY were there armadillos at the beach? and in the water? It was crazy. We walked from the plaza, down under neath the pier and well past the pier. I think we walked for about two hours. Then when we were walking back, we lost the car. Of course neither of us payed attention to which street we parked on, so we walked for what felt like another hour before we found his car again. Tonight was a very good adventure.

Day 71 - St. Augustine

This morning I woke up far too early after going to the Pearl, and my mom and Liam and I went to St. Augustine. We went to Ripley's first, but I went there last summer. Corbett said it best: "Yeah that's a place you can only handle once a decade." I agree. I hate it there, especially since once you walk in, and you go to read the very first placard, there are so many typos. It frustrates me. Thank god Liam can be a little wuss sometimes, since we only made it half way through Ripley's when he got spooked and we had to just walk through the rest of it. Score.

From there we went to the Lightner museum. At first I thought it would be a fun place to bring Ashley when she comes down to visit, but I don't thank I am going to take her there, since that involves me having to go back. It was terribly boring. From there we had lunch at the Columbia, and got some delicious Kilwins sorbet. We tried to get over to the lighthouse before it closed, but by the time we got there the weather was too bad and they had shut it down. So no lighthouse today.

I got home and took another terrible nap, then Jenn and I went to get dinner. Of course our first choice was Kickbacks, but it was 10:00 on a Friday night and it was ridiculous. When we walked in we saw Rob and Clay, but didn't talk to them and tried to find a table. No such luck. So we ended up at Sonic, listening to the Grease Soundtrack, and me wearing my Mitchell Davis glasses. Seriously, I cannot take them off. Especially in public. I look so stupid, but that's the best part. Jenn leaves tomorrow for Colorado. Bestfriendless until the first. Ugh.

Day 59 - West Palm, Breakers, Las Olas

Today was so much fun. It seriously felt like it was a week long. We woke up early this morning, at around 7:30, but we didn’t 100% wake up and get out of bed until 8:30. We headed up to West Palm so that we could go to the beach there and whatnot.

I wanted to take one of those Duck Boat tours of West Palm, so we drove there first, but the tours ended up being like $20 so we didn’t go on that. Instead we went to Palm Beach and to the Breakers. It is so pretty there. We walked around and took pictures and explored. Then we had lunch there, but I remembered it being pretty reasonable. Apparently not. Lunch was still fun. We had a good seat right by the window over looking the beach. Our waiter was so hot. Omg. Unfortunately he offered to bring us crayons so that we could color in our kid’s menus…. He took pictures of us and he was really sweet. He asked where we are from, and Jenn told him that I am interning here while she is from Jacksonville. Later on he asked me where I am “externing.” Um. Alright.

We left the Breakers and drove down Ocean and Worth Avenue, then got out and walked on the beach for a bit. The sand was scalding. I already had a small blister on the bottom of one of my feet but now it is so much worse. The water was beautiful though. The water at Ponte Vedra is brown and gross, but here is amazing and blue. I wanted to go swimming so badly.

We left Palm Beach and went to the mall at Boca, where I got a new dress and Jenn got a bunch of stuff. I thought about driving down to south Beach, but that takes a bit more planning. We ended up having a relaxing afternoon lying out by the pool and swimming on the roof.

We went to Samba Room tonight for dinner with Marsha. When we got there, there was music playing and all this cool art everywhere outside on the patio area. Apparently every Sunday night they have an art party right there. We ate our delicious dinners and I discovered that I love plantain chips, which I did not expect. Afterwards Jenn I went on a walk down to Yachtland and stopped in the shops along the way. And of course took more pictures. On the way back from Yachtland we were playing “Dare or Dare” but that just turned into doing a video project. We stopped random people and asked then what makes them happiest in life, and we got a lot of good answers. The very first couple we ask was two older gay men, and when I asked them one turned to the other and they kissed. And that was their answer. It was adorable. Some people said things like family, friends, etc. But there was this one guy who was walking along, holding a cup of coffee, and his eyes were about a mile wide. I stopped him and immediately h was like, “What? Can I help you? Do you need a picture?!” All in one breath and super fast. He was quite hyper. He and his wife were also a cute couple. His answer was “Good health, the people I love, and motorcycle racing. Yeah that’s about it.” Then he tried to get his wife to say motorcycle racing as well. Funny, she mentioned their kids and he didn’t.

We also asked a homeless man who had the most hilarious answer. Something about woman wearing pretty things and leaving a little bit to the imagination, and smoking cigarettes and throwing up on people that disagree. It was my turn to ask the question and Jenn had to jump in since I had no response to that one.

On the way back we walked back to Samba Room since we were going to buy some of the art. We met the guy that is in charge of all of it and he was really nice. He gestured to a table of drinks and was like, “go on have whatever, this is your house!” And we just got some water and he said, “oh that’s just water…” There were two pitchers on the table and one looked like wine. So Jenn was going to get some, but he said it was Mountain Dew. Ew. It did not look like Mountain Dew. We kept sipping the water and he brought us some cranberry juice and said, “Here this is to mix with the vodka!” Oooooh. So basically we ended up sitting on the artist’s couch, drinking the mango vodka reserved for the artist, and talking to the guy who is in charge of these events. He got my info and I may do it in December. That would be fun. As we were leaving he invited us to come with him to the Viper Room tonight, and it is gay night. He was like, “Yeah you come in, sit down in the back room, smoke a joint, enjoy a drag show and have fun!” We wanted to go, but I told him I had work in the morning. He said he would make sure that he kicked us out by 2:30, but I couldn’t do it. He was so sweet.

Today was so much fun. Seriously, it felt like we did a week's worth of stuff. I am glad Jenn came down to visit. I only have another week of work, then home for good1 Hoorah!

Day 50 - "Starts off fun. Ends HORRIBLY."

Today was both the most amazing night of summer and the worst. Half in half.

Lets quickly run through my day. Woke up and went to the hospital to visit Granny for a bit. She was supposed to go home today but apparently her Potassium levels were too low so she may go home tomorrow. Not sure.

Anyways, tonight Jenn and I started off the night awesome. Se picked me up and we headed towards Riverside. We got there and had no clue what to do. Axell was going swimming and asked us to come but he wasn’t going to be off work for a while. So we were just driving around and killing time before heading to Steamworks and ended up on Colton’s street. We were supposed to be hanging out with him so we decided to go by and get him. We saw him and Ben and hung out with Colton for a bit at his house. That was fun. We walked down to the gas station and back, stopping at Kickbacks on the way so that Jenn could try to get a lighter from someone. We went back to Colton’s house, Joe came over, and then we went to Steamworks. Once we got there we hung out outside and it was fun.

Eventually we left to go back to Joe’s house to watch a movie or something, and when we got there we just danced and hung out and had fun. Axell finally called Jen and she left to go hang out with them. Colton and Joe and I sat around for about a half hour then the night took a turn.

Axell called me to get directions to Joe’s, but of course I had no clue so I gave the phone to Colton and Axell was flipping out. Apparently Jenn was upset but I had no idea why. A bit later Axell called again and told us to go downstairs as fast as possible. So Colton and I were gathering Jenn and I’s stuff together to leave then the Asshole came upstairs. I am just going to refer to him as Asshole. He started yelling at me to hurry up and go downstairs, saying “Someone else needs to deal with this fucking bitch downstairs I have had to deal with her for over an hour.” (10 minutes, max, he had been with her. Whatever.) He kept yelling and I screamed at him that he was being a jerk and to shut up. I went downstairs and Colton was right behind me, leaving Asshole upstairs. Once we got down there I didn’t see Jenn anywhere, and Axell was standing outside of the car. I can’t remember what he was saying, and I just remember Asshole storming downstairs and screaming about Jenn. He was calling her all of these terrible things and yelling that I had to go deal with her. I can’t remember exactly what he said that made me snap, but I ran at him, threatening to punch him if he didn’t shut up. I didn’t even get the chance to ball my fist. Next thing I know, I couldn’t breathe and his hands were around my neck. I froze and I had no clue what to do. I scarped at him until he threw me down to the ground, where I just laid and cried with Colton trying to console me. Then what happened hit me, and I realized he went towards Jenn. I got up and they were half way down the block. I ran towards then and got to Jenn and pulled her back towards the car, all the while screaming at Asshole. He and Axell finally left and it was just Jenn and Colton and I. I have no clue how long I stood there crying into Colton’s shirt with Jenn standing there in shock. Once we got into the car I found out what had happened when she was gone. Axell picked her up, and took her over to Hendrick, Asshole, and Jeremy’s house. Apparently Hendrick was there with another girl and flipped out on Axell for taking her there and wanted her to leave. She was fine with that, and since she was only a few blocks away she started to walk, and she was fine with that. Then Asshole comes up to her and picks her up. She was kicking at him but he would let her down. He unlatched the back of Hendrick’s Scion and literally threw her in there, while Axell and Hendrick laughed. He locked her in and wouldn’t let her out. Once they got back to Joe’s house, where Colton and I were, she didn’t get out of the car until I was on the ground. She heard me yelling at Asshole but didn’t see what he did to me, she just took off down the block.

I am home now, with a fresh bruise appearing on my neck. Erica called me, and I am going to file a police report in the morning. I have let one boy hurt me and get away with it, but I am not going to let him. My only worry is the consequences. The people that he knows and what could happen if it ever got out that it was me that reported me terrified me. But if he has absolutely no problem strangling and throwing one girl and locking another on a car, what would he do to anyone else? He obviously didn’t care about what he did, and watched me lay on the ground where he threw me, crying.

Jenn and I drove back, both in tears the whole way back. She is sleeping in Liam’s room right now. I completely agree with Jenns away message right now. “’Asshole’ is a nasty, sick fuck. Kate has bruises around her neck. Axell and Hendrick think it’s funny. I fucking hate every single one of you.”

The worst part about tonight is that I didn’t stand up for myself. I froze, and everything I have learned and I teach women was erased from my mind. I can’t be afraid of the outcome of reporting him. He deserves whatever he gets.

Jenn and I think that the Dane Cook line about tickling fits this night very well. "Starts off fun. Ends HORRIBLY."

So, starts off fun:














Ends HORRIBLY

Day 44 - Ponte Vedra, Inksmith, TSI, Joose Adventure

Today started off amazing. I slept in until 11:30, and when I finally wok up, it was my mom waking me up telling me that she got me French Toast from the Brick. God it was delicious. If I could eat that every meal for the rest of my life, I would be content. Fat, but content. We spent the afternoon in Ponte Vedra at Granny’s house. Her surgery went well, and she is just recovering. We didn’t do much, and just relaxed. I went to Fresh Market and Publix and did some grocery shopping then we made dinner. Granny seems to be doing really well. She didn’t seem tired or anything at all.

When I got home tonight I took a shower and got ready to go to TSI. Jenn picked me up and we began our Adventure of the Evening. We were going to go to Kickbacks for a while since Mike Woods was going to be up there, but we wanted to find someone to get us Joose. We stopped at the 7-11 in Five Points, and tried to see if anyone we knew was in the parking lot. While sitting in the car I heard the most hilarious conversation.

Jenn looked over at the next car, where a girl was sitting with the window down: “Hey, is your name Felicia?”
Felicia: “Yeah….”
Jenn: “Oh we met once at Emily’s house.”
Felicia: “Oh Jenn, right?”
Jenn: “Yeah. What are you doing tonight?”
Felicia: “Going to a five kegger at Cuppy’s house.”
Jenn: “Oh do you know Jmo? She will be there.”
Felicia: “No. Who is she?”
Jenn: “Oh she dates Boots.”
Felicia: “Oh, friends with Titties right?”

What the hell. Do people not have normal names anymore? Cuppy, Jmo, Boots, Titties. From here on out, my name is Unicorn. That fits in much better than “Kate.” Felicia said they don’t card at the gas station, so I sent Jenn in to try her luck. Fail. We went to Kickbacks and sat there for seriously 2 minutes then got bored and left. Then we drove back and went to Inksmith, where Mike Woods was still working. We hung out for a bit and watched Lee finish tattooing this one girl, then Mike bought us our Joose. Hoorah. From there we went to TSI and hung out in the car for a little while. We parked on the side of the road near the river, and we sat and watched everyone walk by. There were some funny looking people. One guy was walking towards the car, and he was waving the whole time. We waved back thinking, “ooohh he’s drunk.” Then he walked right at the car and opened my door. Jenn and I both screamed bloody murder. He just said, “oh” and closed the door. It was scary. But of course two seconds later a homeless man walks past and I rolled down my window to make him come over to the car. He was wearing this awesome shirt, and I told him I liked it. Then he just took it off and said, “Here, it shouldn’t smell too bad” and just gave it to me. We gave him the rest of our drinks and took pictures for a bit then headed towards TSI. We told him to walk with us and right when we got there he flipped. Started making a scene and freaking out because I “stole his short.” Jenn had to run back to her car and get it because both of us were scared that he would just break in and get it. While she was gone he said, “Oh you enjoy that shirt. I am just gonna go home and get another one.” Um? Home? Another shirt? What about him flipping on us? We stood in silence for a minute and he said, out of nowhere, “You know it is true what they say about black men.” And I just pretended not to hear, but then he practically screamed it. I was just like, “Oh really.” And he said, “Yes. It all has to do with SEX!” I had no reaction to that one at all. Jenn came back and dressed him and sent him on his way. We scurried into TSI to get away.





Once we were there, safe and sound, Jenn got a quesadilla. I don’t feel like you should ever get food at a place where everyone is supposed to be drunk. Apparently it wasn’t too delicious. We hung out with Clayto for a bit then went inside. There was no one there at all. The majority of the night was spent outside talking with people or meandering about. All in all, it was a hilarious night. The whole time we were driving home my wine bottle was rolling about underneath my seat and I couldn’t find it. But every so often you could hear CLUMP. CLANK. And for some reason each time Jenn and I just cracked up.



Manly.

Day 31 - Mom, Liam, Loop, MOSH, I Love Jacksonville

Today was a very good day I slept in, then Mommy, Liam and I went to the Loop for lunch and MOSH. I haven’t been to MOSH in years, I think one of the last time I was there was my first date with James Poindexter in 9th grade. There were the same exhibits, like the whales and the Living Room, JEA, and the Dino skeleton, this time the main exhibit was one I remember seeing a few years back when I was babysitting Carlton and Colter. Okay well maybe that was one of the last times I went, not in 9th grade. Whatever. It was all animatronic dinosaurs, and the planetarium show was the history of the dinosaurs. After we left MOSH we walked around Friendship Fountain, and it was breathtaking. It was such a pretty day. Then I went to the Treaty Oak, which somehow I have never seen before.









I don't know why those are sort of blurry.

Now I am in the airport in Jacksonville, getting ready to fly back to Fort Lauderdale for another wonderful week of work. Whoo.

Day 23 - Epic Adventure

Today was the perfect day to end my small little summer with. Jenn and I decided to ride our bikes to the art market. We left around noon, and got there over an hour later. It was beautiful weather, and it was amazing to just ride and listen to music and go through Riverside. The art market was still disappointing, with way more vendors and not very much art. Jenn’s aunt has a stall there selling wheat grass. I didn’t know, but it has a lot of amazing benefits aside from health benefits. We walked around for a while and I got a muffin, and then it started to rain. We decided to just wait it out, but it kept getting worse. I kept checking my phone to find a lull in the rain, but there was nothing, so we went ahead and rode our bikes to Al’s to wait it out. Although in the short ride from the Art Market to Al’s we were completely soaked. At first both of us were completely miserable, but we realized that it was actually a lot of fun riding in he rain. So we kept going and went to Kickback’s. I went inside and just stood in the door until a waiter came over, all worried to see this soaking wet girl in the doorway, an he brought us inside and gave us towel and pretended like it was completely alright for us to be inside, all the whole looking very concerned. We ate there, and got our bikes to ride back to my house. Although in the short time that we were inside Kickback’s, the temperature dropped and it was really windy. We rode only about 2 blocks to Walgreens, and we about froze. So at Walgreen’s we bought flannel PJ pants and huge tee shirts. We changed in the bathroom and looked hilarious trying to scurry out of the bathroom and back to our bikes without being seen. Although that failed, since we saw the whole world. The owner of Violet was in there, which made me immediately ashamed of my purchases. Then once we got past Avondale, Thomas Taylor stopped and talked to us. We were wearing terrible PJs, soaking wet, with make up running down our faces. Once we got back to my house we changed and got under some blanket on the couch with some tea, and Jenn got a tweet from Preston, who also saw us apparently. So that’s just great. It was an epic adventure.

Tonight I hung out with Evan. Went to his house and watched this really surreal anime movie called Mind Game. The plot was interesting and it had a bunch of montages that showed how all of the character’s lives intertwined. It was a weird movie, but very good.

Tomorrow I leave for Miami. Boo. Although today was a good last full day at home.

Day 15 - Breakfast, Mom, Errands, TV

This morning Jenn came over and we made muffins. More like she watched me mix them and then burn them. And I burned my finger. St. Marks had their last day of school today, so my mom and I took Liam and Jack to the pool and had lunch. I saw some girls from high school which is always fun. People I care to just never see again. I am ready to get out of Ortega. Everyone is stuck up. I don’t get it. And today just confirmed it. I don’t get some people.

So apparently I give awesome advice when I am drunk. Last night I was talking to a bunch of different people and giving advice, and apparently it was amazing advice. Then this morning I was trying to help Jenn with something and I had no clue what to say. I can only give good advice when drunk. Not good.

This afternoon I went to Sports Authority to get Liam’s baseball coaches end of the season gifts. I took I-295 as usual to get to Blanding, although I was a little excited listening to Ratatat, and I missed my exit. Usually that’s no big deal. However this time I had to go 10 miles out of the way and a 10-minute drive ended up taking a half hour. O barely made it back to Ortega in time for an appointment with Denise. Turn out I didn’t have to be there at all, and I accidently fell asleep in the waiting room. That was awkward to wake up to the receptionist staring at me.

I took a nap this afternoon and had a serried of really weird dreams. The weirdest was a dream where I went skiing with Eddy Ospina. Why?

I saw my grades tonight, and I was really disappointed. I worked harder this semester than I had in past semesters at school. I got all A’s and B’s, but a D in Spanish. I hated Spanish with a passion, and I am not surprised I got a D. My GPA was only lowered a little bit, but it is so frustrating that all of the work I did basically just got erased by one class. Good thing is that I don’t have to deal with Spanish anymore. I wanted to go to the art show at Ocean Club with Jenn tonight but because of my grades I couldn’t go and I feel bad. “/

I have spent the evening watching TV, which is something I never do. Now I am watching Frasier. Odd. I think I am going to sleep in the TV room tonight. I’m cozy. Jenn sleeps on this couch a lot. I’m guessing it’s comfy. I guess I will find out.

This is my favorite song right now.

Day 13 - Jason, Rob, Adventures

The weather has been getting a lot better lately. Today I took full advantage and went to the beach with Jason. Watched him surf for a bit and just walked around. This evening was the Village dance recital. I wanted to go, but I stayed back with Liam instead. They did a piece just for Allison in the beginning, which was apparently really sweet.



I love how when I am typing “Sweet” into Word it auto corrects to Sweet Briar College. Jason saw the Sweet Briar sticker on my car today and wouldn’t stop making fun of the name. Granted, it is a sort of silly name for a school. And it sounds so girly. Sweet Briar. Pfft.

I found out today that I don’t have to go to Miami for another week. I am so excited about that. I still haven’t unpacked from school, and I don’t feel like I have had very much time getting everything together to head down there. I am glad I have more time to sort everything out. Tomorrow I am supposed to get some stuff from Tenet to complete, like a drug screening and what not.

Tonight Rob and I went to sonic, like old times, and then just drove around trying to figure out what to do. In what he said was our greatest adventure in the last 2 years, we drove though Riverside and Avondale and ended up at the park at Stockton. We recoded a video from Sonic that perfectly shows our relationship. Some people act differently when they are being recorded, but sadly enough this is exactly how Rob and I are. He hit me enough today to leave some intense bruises I’m predicting. We will find out in the morning.

Day 10 - Ponte Vedra, Pit, Dollhouse

Today was just hilarious. This morning Jenn, my mom and Liam and I went out to Ponte Vedra and just layed out by the pool. I actually got some sun, unfortunately my arms are burned and my nose is a little red. Nothing too exciting happened while we were there, and pretty much all day Jenn and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do tonight. Hardcore Prom was at the Pit and I did not want to go at all. If I was right about the bands that were going to be playing, I would have seen a lot of people who I never want to see again.

I finally decided to go, and we get there and there were so many people there. It was crazy. And of course since Jenn and I haven’t been going to shows for a while, and it was out at the beach, we knew about two people there at first. We eventually went inside and we saw a bunch of our friends there. Jason lives nearby so he came to hang out, and eventually it got to be more fun. I saw a bunch of people who I never care to see again, and although my stomach flipped a few times, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had expected. The two that I thought would put me in tears were always in my line of vision, and that sucked. One noticed me and tried to get my attention but I just ignored him. I am done dealing with that.

There was some girl who I don’t know that was really nice who had a birthday today. So in celebration of being 18, a bunch of people were taking her to the strip club and Jenn and I ended up going too. It was hilarious. We went to Dollhouse, where Rob and I have always wanted to go. We met a stripper named Renee who was very nice, and very talented. Thanks to Axell for paying for Jenn and I to go.

Tonight I got a call from a friend from school saying that a girl in our year was in a bad accident and she’s not doing too well. So many people have been getting hurt lately I hate it. Keri was in an accident, and it left her with massive internal bleeding and apparently part of her leg had to be amputated. If anyone actually reads this, please pray for her and her family.