Day 19 - Babysitting, Bikes, Rooftop Party

Today was another Liam and Kate day. I took Liam and Camp to the pool and let them go off on their own for a bit. I was able to enjoy some time to myself, read some Augusten Burroughs, and drown out the terrible Timiquana music with Ghostland Observatory and With Faith or Flames. Julia was up there and we hung out of a little bit. She is going to be a debutante this summer, so that is exciting. I also encountered some of the rudest girls ever today. That is nothing new for Timiquana, but these girls today were a different breed. One soaked my book my shaking her hair off and when I said something, she just looked at me, laid down, and closed her eyes. Bitch. Liam and Camp had been swimming for a long time, and I kept telling Liam to tell me when they were getting lunch since I was starving, and finally I was just going to go order ahead of them, our number gets called. Turns out Liam completely ignored me and went ahead and ordered his lunch. No surprise. So I just planned on getting my lunch then leaving. I waited for about 30 minutes for my lunch until I decided to just leave. I stopped to see if it was just sitting there, but turns out someone just came in and took it. Jerks. So I had to wait for the woman to make me a whole new order. I hate the people at Timiquana sometimes.

This afternoon was pretty boring, didn’t do much of anything. Jenn and I went on a bike ride this evening, and that was nice. It gave us time to just talk and not have our phones buzzing every 30 seconds. We need to do that more often.

Later we went to Kickbacks for dinner then to a birthday party for one of the guys that she works with. On the way to the party we stopped at Walgreens to get some jellybeans, and there was this woman checking put in front of us with the worst hair I have ever seen. She was leaving and the cashier handed her a bag stuffed with candy and said, “Oh wait. Here’s your candy.” Then handed her some beach toys and said “and your toys.” And Jenn and I thought it was the funniest thing ever. Typing this now, I have no idea why, but at the time, it was hilarious. From there we headed to the party. It was on the roof of the new lofts in 5 Pts and it had an amazing view. I felt mega lame at the party since a good amount of the kids that were there were just graduating high school. I met some cool people, and saw some random people from high school. Eric Branholm and David Meyers were both there. When I first got there I thought I recognized David but decided it probably wasn’t him, but turns out it was. It was funny seeing him and Eric there, and it was nice to catch up. I sound so queer for saying that, but its true. At one point last night I went downstairs to use the restroom, but turns out two of the people from the party were having sex in the only bathroom that was available. David and I both got a good laugh out of that one and listened in for a while. They were there for a while so I had to pee on the roof. Great fun. Tonight was really good. Just hung out, talked, drank. It was nice to do that instead of TSI or the Pearl, where you cant really talk and people are swarming. It was a nice change of pace.

Tomorrow is another day of Liam and Camp. Can’t wait… Oh and I have the most hilarious sunburn from today. One side of my body is a tomato, the other is white as a sheet.

This is my life. I am such a pushover.

Day 18 - Liam, Laid back

Liam and I spent the day together. Kind of. Mom had to work so Liam and I hung out, played Uno, and went to the Orthodontist. His front two teeth are both growing completely crooked, so we expected his orthodontia to be super expensive to get it all fixed. The orthodontist said it would only cost $160 total, and that would be for the wire alone. The front brackets will be free, since that is all he needs. Apparently once they get his front teeth straightened out, they wont need to do anymore after that. So I am excited about that.

Jenn and I watched Taken today also. It was so good. Neither of us really like action movies, but this one was amazing. We went to Panera and I got my yummy sandwich and my day was complete. After Jen left I was feeling oddly domestic. I did the dishes and cleaned, drank too much wine then just walked around the house finding little tings to fix up or clean. It was fun, in a really weird way.

Today was obviously just laid back and I didn’t really do much. I am falling asleep now, and it is still early for me. Tomorrow I am babysitting Liam and Camp again and I think I am taking them to the pool. I am getting somewhat of a tan, which is a big deal for me.

Oh and I got my IRS return today. Made my day.

I feel like my first week home was amazing and action packed and now my days and getting more and more laid back. That is a good thing though. I am exhausted.

Day 17 - Bikes, Kickbacks, Colton, Jenn

Last night right after I posted Jenn came over and we hung out for a while and figured out who some people in her phonebook are. That was great fun. This morning my mom and I rode our bikes to the Brick for breakfast, and we sat next to the weird group of people. This girl was wearing a red beret with a bill on it, a white shirt with some sort of image on it with rhinestones, and a red short skirt. It was not very Ortega-ish, to say he least. And they were talking and I was listening of course, and she was saying how recently he got really drunk “at this place downtown. Like TSI? TIS? I don’t know.” She was talking about different forms of transportation when you are drunk, and how when she is drunk, she gets a tow tuck to take her and her car home, and its free. The guys that she was with were both like, “No I don’t think they do that” and she was dead set on it. It was hilarious. And then one of the guys kept saying how he knows one of the guys in Lynyrd Skynyrd and how “Lynryd comes into the store all the time.” No one’s name in that band is actually Lynryd, first off. Yet again they were like, “No, I don’t think you’re right.” It was funny to hear each person at the table do the same thing.

After a nap and a Target run, my mom and Jenn and I went to Timiquana and laid out for a bit. Jenn and I were swimming at one point and talking about apparently strippers at the Dollhouse make around $1000 a night. I don’t think that’s right, and I said, “Well its only $5 for them to get naked.” And Jenn said “Also its like $30 for a 3 minute lap dance.” And then we remembered that we were surrounded by children and there was this mother right next to us and it was very awkward. We just… swam away…

Tonight Jenn and I went to Kickbacks with Colton and Ben. That was fun, since I haven’t hung out with Colton in a really long time. It was nice to catch up and everything. I forgot how hilarious Colton can be. After Kickbacks we were sitting at their house, and it was 11:11 and everyone was like “make a wish!” None of us did, then Ben made us say what we would wish for if we wished on 11:11. Jenn and I both chose not to answer, since our wishes are probably similar. And Colton was like, “I just wish I could always be doing something sweet.” Which is such a Colton thing to say. He went on and described what his perfect life would be, where even flying wouldn’t top the sweetness of his day to day life. After he finished, both Jenn and I wished we had written it down. It was amazing.



I silently stressed about something for the past 2 days, and I think everything was resolved tonight, which I am excited about. Oh and I bought more wine. Woo!

Jenn is sitting next to me in my bed right now, stealing my music from my hard drive. I am falling asleep. There is a beer teetering dangerously on my dresser. Ironically, it is a beer from Colton’s, and it is sitting on top of my Pray for Jax painting. Funny.


“My days begin with a holla, end with a Creamsicle, and if there is time in between: Thunder Cats. Ho!”

Day 16 - Art Market, Outlets, Augusten Burroughs

My mom and I were going to ride our bikes to the art market in Riverside today, but my aunt and grandmother came over to go so we didn’t get a chance to do that today. I went to my dad’s though to get my bike back, and barely spoke to him while I was there. I am still livid with him. I don’t plan speaking to him for a while. But that probably wont work out. Marsha, my mom and I went to the art market, and I was really disappointed. I went once when I was home in March or early April, and it was the second week of the market being open. Then it had a lot of art, and little tents for a bunch of different local galleries. But today it was all food and clothes and regular vendors. There were a couple of cool artists though. There was one I fell in love with. His name was Schallenberg, I think. All his work was really textured and abstract, kind of like a really 3D Pollock.



Afterwards my mom and I went to the outlets to get work clothes. I am not too fond of this people work clothes and I just don’t mix. I don’t have a very feminine style and everything is skirts and blouses and slacks. I hate slacks more than anything. I cant even wear normal jeans. F I can feel fabric flapping around my ankles, even in the slightest, I cant stand it. I have been wearing skinny jeans for far too long to ever go back to normal pants. Also, the people that shop at the outlets are… interesting. You get such a range. While we were in J. Crew everyone was normal, and dressed cute. But then we walk outside and first thing I see is a woman in a huge grey shirt, red, ill fitting sweat pants, and carrying a child haphazardly on one hip and smoking a cigarette. Can we say classy?

Rob met us at Marsha’s house to fix up her internet and then went to dinner at Barbara Jean’s. every time I go there I think, “OK, lets be open about this, maybe I will like it this time.” Nope. I still don’t. The fries are delicious, but I don’t like anything else. The majority of their menu is sea food, and I don’t eat sea food so I am kind of screwed there.

Finally I am getting my iPod to work. It is too small for all of my music, so I have to pick and choose what I want on here. I went through and put everything on it that I would like to listen to driving up and down between Miami and Jacksonville, and it was only about 2,700 songs, which is about a third of my iTunes library. I miss my iPod, and I am excited to have it back.

I am riding my bike to the Fox tomorrow morning for breakfast with my Mom. I may die, for reals. I am so out of shape, which hopefully will change this summer. I haven’t ridden my bike in so long, aside from between my mom’s and dad’s today. And even that was kind of painful. My mom and I watched a bit of Running With Scissors tonight. Earlier we listened to some of an Augusten Burroughs audio book while driving out to St. Augustine and that got me in the mood to watch that movie. I forgot how weird it is, and now I just really want to watch the Royal Tenenbaums. I haven’t seen that in a really long time.

I am falling asleep while typing this and I have to be fairly soon to go to the Fox. Although this is a video from Davey Dance Blog, where he goes to historic locations, picks a song, and dances. The song he used in this video is one of my favorite songs, and it was the finale of the CollegeHumor all nighter this year.

DaveyDanceBlog -64- NYC Union Square from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.

I didn't talk to a certain someone at all today. Ugh "/ Going to Miami is bad luck, I swear.

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 14 - Nothing

I went to lunch with Daniel today. Got my drug screening. Took pictures with Jenn. Ate dinner at my dads.

Although, this describes my day, perfectly.



On a more important note, I am out of wine.

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.