The Sister Story: Part Two of Three
January 15th, 2007
Previously…
You know, with the way things were going in my life, I figured there would be some kind of serendipitous occurrence that would happen, and everything would turn out right in the end. But at this point, I was so lost. The unemployed kick was nice for about a few days at best, then it became a nuisance. I was coming up on about 2 years where I didn't have a job! Yes, I was surviving on the scholarship money that I had in the past, but that well had long since dried up. And there was my monthly National Guard check, which, while nice, only paid one or two of my bills. Being broke wasn't fun, and getting calls and emails that I wasn't even going to get an interview made things even more dire.
But I was still confident that I wasn't going to be forced to move to Tampa, or St. Pete, or the D.C. area to find a job in the government. That was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. Not only because I didn't want to live in any of those places, but because I was tired of working for the man. I just wanted something simple. If I wasn't going to find it in Orlando, then maybe it was indeed time to pick up all of my toys and move elsewhere, maybe (and most likely) the West Coast.
On happier things, my relationships with my friends were becoming so much better. I wasn't much of that mysterious guy that nobody trusted, but was becoming more open and just happier. Maybe I was like that all the time and the past troubles were just some sort of characteristic that I shed away. Who knew? I never did.
My sister was coming into town. Gina and I shared a unique relationship over the years. We told each other pretty much everything there was to tell about each other, so hanging out with her was perfect. When she left town for Miami, I knew she'd make it, but I was always worried about her. I mean, she was my baby sister. Yes, a grown woman now, but I still remember her as that kid who told me that she got her bellybutton pierced (and forced me to promise not to say anything to our mum about it, the kid who didn't want me to leave to join the Army, and the kid who I taught a lot to about life.
And now…
Gina and I spent the morning working in the yard, after she took our mum out to Home Depot for a shopping spree. Lots of mulch, and those little white rocks. My hands got plenty dirty. But the yard looked good in the end. I took a shower afterwards, and headed out to see Super Jenn, who was still quite stuck on her couch, surrounded by pillows and just in reach amenities.
Jenn hurt her ankle a week earlier, and while I didn't think she could get that hurt, she was in a bad way. A really black and blue bad way, around her ankle. She told me that she nearly blew out some tendons, and it would be a while before she could get back to work again. Not really good, not at all. I wondered when she was going to get better again.
We talked about trying out new hangouts, and new places. Orlando for us recently had become kind of stale. She had a few places in mind, but they'd definitely have to wait while she recovered. The thought of the new always piqued my interest. Besides, seeing the same faces all the time was getting to be, not boring, but too typical. Things needed to be shaken up. And I guess we were feeling like we were running in place. I don't know, it was something worth looking into, though.
January 16th, 2007. Movie watching day. Well, mostly. Gina and I slipped into our old roles of hanging out, the usual. She even threw something at me, which made me chase her all over. Immature, yes, but sometimes that immaturity made us realize that it didn't matter how old you were, that fun was still fun and silly was still silly. She made me watch one of those demented Lifetime movies. There was no way that whatever happened in that movie would ever happen in real life. I loved it, though, how it tried to make life in suburbia somewhat threatening and exciting.
We ended up taking a trip downtown in the evening, where we ended up at that park behind Wall Street (which isn't a street anymore, and most assuredly isn't the old potheads' hideout that it used to be, and isn't the haven of bohemia that it tried to be in the late 1990's…it's now a place where the generic hang out and booze it up, the House of the New Age Yuppies). She caught me up on what her and her boyfriend were doing, namely patching up after some drama, and about how she had officially gotten into the scene in Miami. I expected nothing less from her, as she had a great deal of street smarts, and was beautiful as well. Combining that with her streak of independence, she was doing well.
While she had street smarts, she wasn't well versed in the entertainment community, or the impact of what she was doing or who she was meeting. She told me a story about Anna Nicole Smith (and how strung out she looked), how she met Hulk Hogan, and how she didn't know who Don King was, and how she rejected the aforementioned King's son for an invite to his VIP party! She was definitely knee deep in it.
She even got an opportunity to be one of those ring card girls at that big boxing match down in Miami a while ago, and she turned it down, not realizing that it was a major bout with about a good few million people watching it on pay per view. I ragged on her about it, as she missed a good chance to get a few more modeling gigs out of it.
Gina also asked if I would move down to Miami. She got a steady job as a bartender and suggested that I might try it out, since I was good at socializing. She also said the scene down there was totally my style, and she wondered why I resigned to returning to Orlando after my long absences the past few years. I didn't have a real answer, save the job situation. If I couldn't find a job soon, it was probably time to look elsewhere. I just didn't want to be stuck somewhere that looked good on paper but wasn't the right place at all.
I told her where I wanted to live. It had to be close to water, or within a few hours drive of water. It had to be a big city. Somewhere where I could be the bohemian hipster that I am without being criticized, somewhere where my talents could be stimulated again (art, writing). So that left San Francisco, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Berkeley, Phoenix, Colorado Springs. There were a few other places, but they were overseas, and I was thinking that would be fiscally prohibitive.
We got bored of downtown and headed home. On the way back we talked about Christmas of 2005, how that was the last time that Keary, her, and I were together in the same place. That wasn't too long ago to most, but for us it was a really long time. It all went too fast, that time. We both figured we'd make the most of the week that we had.
Next: More fun with Gina! Super Jenn and more couch surfers, and Keary and my mum come up with an interesting proposal, though its execution leaves a lot to be desired! What is it? Oh, you know there's only one way of finding that out…