This post went on for far too long...
My little reminder on here to post later didn't work. So I suppose I have a lot of things to catch up on.
Like I said before, Dorene's wedding went well. I made great time getting to her house, but then I needed help with the whole parking aspect because I needed to park on the street, and I had kinda missed the house and had to awkwardly back up on this narrow road and blah blah. Misty was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette in her pajamas and motioned for how I should turn my steering wheel to get situated well. I thought, "That's nice of her," but I was still guarded because assisting me in parking doesn't mean that we're BFFs or anything. Then I got out of the car, and she ran up to me and hugged me.
For a lot of the day, it was as if we'd never stopped talking.
I helped set up a bit, but mostly I just took pictures of other people doing things, like preparing snack trays. More guests trickled in before the ceremony, and Jodie and I got lots of pictures of behind-the-scenes stuff, like Misty working on Dorene's hair. AJ got there around 1:00 that afternoon. We were told that there was a costume theme, but we were the only ones really dressed up (although Jodie and her daughter wore faery wings). I was Red Riding Hood and AJ wore a lab coat and carried a skull. He was a head doctor. Badump-ching.
The ceremony was delayed a bit because hair time was underestimated, but it all worked out. It was a beautiful ceremony, and then we all took pictures outside. Jodie and I got great couple photos of Dorene and Drey, of the wedding party, of family members and friends, and there were a few group photos of me, Jodie, Jill, Misty, and Dorene. It's amazing how long we've all known one another. I've known Jodie since 1994, Misty since 1997, Dorene since 1998, and I managed to go without officially meeting Jill until 2007. AJ had to leave shortly after that, and around the time we were saying our good-byes, we were standing outside with plates of food with Misty. She was catching me up on some things and then said, "Oh, and just so you know, we're totally cool." That was the absolute best-case scenario, which I hadn't truly entertained because life never really goes that well. But in this case, it did. She said that she didn't care anything about the drama over Laura's wedding several years ago, and that when we stopped talking, she was going through some difficult things, and my not talking to her kind of pushed her away in an effort to reduce drama in her own life. So while I was busy not talking to her because I thought that she thought x, y, and z about me and that her not talking to me after I backed off only further proved my point-- I was causing her added stress by not talking to her, resulting in her continuing to not talk to me. Nyuk nyuk.
So yeah. AJ left shortly after that, and he kissed my belly good-bye too to give Nathaniel love.
Yeah, it's a boy. His name is/will be Nathaniel. :D
The rest of the weekend was nice. Dorene and Drey left for their evening at the hotel, and Misty, Dorene's mom Sue, and I stayed over at the house. We chatted for a long time and played Phase 10 until something like 1:30 in the morning. At some point, Drey and Dorene called us to bring a few things they'd forgotten to pack, so we all dressed up in our costumes (well, I just stayed dressed up, but Sue and Misty dressed as witches), and then we went to the hotel. We got a few smiles. Their room was awesome!
Near the end of the weekend, I told Dorene that she traded up with Drey. He's good people.
So that was the weekend of the wedding and the end of the tension between me and Misty. All is well there. I can't remember if I said this before or not, but with how well things went there, it tempts me to talk to Candice sometimes, but I have a feeling it wouldn't go as well. I'm not sure if that's intuition or anxiety. I've never been good at distinguishing between the two. I suppose one day, we'll talk.
The weeks were kind of hard with AJ being gone. It felt surreal because he's always around. And I felt silly for making such a big deal when I'd been in a long-distance relationship with Kris for all those years while he was gone in the military. I'd go months, almost a year, without Kris, but I was teary-eyed over three weeks without AJ. Our Skype dates made it easier, and I'd made sure to fill up the weekends.
The following weekend, Samantha and I met up in Staunton. Samantha didn't seem too impressed with the Friday night showing of Tamburlaine, which made me a bit sad because I usually enjoy myself at the plays, but I wasn't too happy with it either honestly. I wanted her first play there to be the same experience I had when I saw a play there the first time two years ago. I saw Titus Adronicus by myself, and it was a wonderful experience. Even the interludes were entertaining, with the actors singing cleverly relevant songs like, "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Thankfully, the Saturday evening performance of The Importance of Being Earnest was a pleasant one for both of us, even though we were stuck with not so great seats at the side of the balcony. We had to lean over the railing or look between the bars to see the players. I did the latter more often than not because I try not to lean forward too much with this bebbeh. In between play-watching, we wandered around the town and hit up shops and restaurants that Matt and Robert had never introduced me to, so it was new territory for me and Samantha.
One funny thing that happened was on that Friday night: We were walking back to the hotel from seeing Tamburlaine when a car drove past us, and we heard a SPLAT near my feet at about the same time. We were really confused... We looked around and saw a banana peel inches away from my foot. Normally I have a filter, but it malfunctioned, and I yelled some things to the car, which stopped at the end of the intersection, which was in the direction we were headed. "Uhh, let's go this way instead," and we altered our route a bit. I went from being angry over someone tossing a banana peel at me to scared over yelling obscenities to a stranger that could be armed to amused over the whole thing. So then we started coming up with terms to explain what just happened. "Did they think they were playing Mario Kart?" "They bettah be glad we don't have any blue shells!" "You just got Hanna-Barbara'ed!" "I just got Magilla Gorilla'ed!" We got back to the hotel, and I informed Facebook of this, saying something like, "I just got Magilla Gorilla'ed. I hope that's not something horrible in the Urban Dictionary." Turns out it is. So I had to retract my post. It would have been easier to just delete it, but the awkwardness of it was funny, so I kept it.
So that was Staunton, more or less. The following weekend was going to be another Staunton trip, but AJ really missed me... and I obviously missed AJ, so we decided to meet sort of in the middle in Greensboro. Carolyn and Leo were down with that because it saved them money on gas, play tickets, and hotel rooms. Plus, they got to pick up some extra shifts at work. So it was a win/win. First stop on my journey was at Chewie's place, where Chewie and I giggled at AJ and Brian playing the new Call of Duty game. AJ played with precision, while Brian got up in people's faces before shooting. I picked, even though I couldn't do any better. I left to meet Carolyn at her work, with AJ not too far behind (about 20 minutes), and I had the most difficult time finding where her store was in this large shopping center. Eventually I found her though. When AJ got there, we just left my car in the parking lot because the plan was to come back later when Carolyn got off work and just follow her to her place. So AJ and I went to Tate Street to reprise Coffee Time with Olivia. I've missed that! We met up at Tate Street Coffeehouse, and I ordered my classic order: hot chocolate. The prices went up and the size went down, so instead of ~$2.50 for a bowl of a cup of cocoa, it was ~$3.00 for a tiny mug. We caught up for a bit, and then AJ and I had plans to meet Tim at El Carreton. He and his very-pregnant wife Natasha met us, and Natasha and I swapped silly pregnancy stories, like how I get stupidly emotional at times (I'm pretty sure LJ already knows about that). Tim and AJ discussed guns, and then AJ and I picked on ourselves for being shotgun-owning hippies living in the mountains of West Virginia. Tim and Natasha wanted coffee, but after the experience earlier, we opted to introduce them to Coffeeology instead. They had good cocoa there, but I might enjoy Tate Street's better.
After saying our good-byes, AJ and I killed some time in Barnes & Noble while I got a decaf mocha at the Starbucks while sporting my "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Franchise Coffee!" tee. I bought the shirt for a social experiment that I had yet to try, so this was my moment! I intend on going to some franchise shops and outright note the irony, and go into others and not pay any mind to the shirt I'm wearing. In the case of the latter, I try to take notice of any snooty looks, since most people are passive-aggressive and aren't likely to tell you that you look like an idiot. No one noticed. If they did, they did an amazing job at being friendly and nifty people. We bumped into Steve Gwyn before meeting up with Carolyn when her store closed. Then we stayed up kind of late (or maybe it was just late to us) with her and Leo, and Carolyn's roommate and his girlfriend.
The following morning, Carolyn and her roommate-in-law prepared breakfast for all of us, and then AJ and I went back to Coffeeology to meet with KB and wait for Robert, Matt, and Jodie to join us. AJ decided to take off a little before the rest of the crew got there to look around at Ed McKay's and was going to meet us at a nearby Chipotle afterwards. So a lot of us sat around the coffee shop for a bit and then met up with AJ, Carolyn, and Leo for lunch at Chipotle. There, I confessed a secret to Robert, who-- as you may or may not know-- is a Jew. "Robert, I've been holding this in for years. But one day in college, we were eating lunch at The Caf. You sat your tray down in front of me, and you stole one of my green beans and ate it before I had a chance to say anything. (Matt in the background cracking up and saying quietly how I'd told him this one...) Had you asked, I could have warned you. I HAD JUST EATEN ALL THE HAM THAT CAME WITH IT." He was unfazed. I told him how I was so worried about whatever would happen to his soul as a result of eating something that was cooked with ham... but then I realized I was being silly. AJ left to dork with Chewie and their crew, and the rest of us went to a nifty yogurt shop that KB told us about. Then KB had to leave, and the rest of us went to Celebration Station. Pregnant Miki can play DDR! Not for very long, and not very heavily, but I can play. Matt played in his suit, which was a funny sight to see. Matt and Robert took over the game for a bit, and Jodie and I wandered to take photos and find a working token machine so that we could play some Skeeball.
Fast-forward a bit. We all parted ways outside in the parking lot. Carolyn and Leo gave me a ride to Tate Street to meet up with Kris and Michelle for dinner. I gave AJ a call before we were on our way out. Gretchen met up with all of us at New York Pizza. I got to meet Kris and Michelle's daughter Leona for a second time and their daughter MacKenna for the first time. Leona is three years old now, and she cracked me up. She was told no about something and then began to cry. I started to feel bad for her but then noticed something was off. AJ and I exchanged glances, and then I asked Michelle and Kris, "Is she trying to manipulate us?" "Yes." Then that little girl's laugh turned into a maniacal cackle. I couldn't hold back from laughing. She tried that fake-crying again later, and some woman leaving the restaurant paused, turned to face Leona, and mimicked her crying. This went on for 2-3 minutes. Then Leona gave up the fight and started laughing. The woman said, "Works every time," and left. Kris and Michelle had no idea who that woman was.
I've been typing for too long... Anyway, I think that's all the cool stuff from the Greensboro trip. Fast-forward. AJ came home a week later. Yay! It's good that he gets to clean the litter box because I was tired of having to wear gloves and a face mask, looking like I was dealing with biochemical waste.
I'll type more eventually. I've only caught you up to mid-November.
Like I said before, Dorene's wedding went well. I made great time getting to her house, but then I needed help with the whole parking aspect because I needed to park on the street, and I had kinda missed the house and had to awkwardly back up on this narrow road and blah blah. Misty was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette in her pajamas and motioned for how I should turn my steering wheel to get situated well. I thought, "That's nice of her," but I was still guarded because assisting me in parking doesn't mean that we're BFFs or anything. Then I got out of the car, and she ran up to me and hugged me.
For a lot of the day, it was as if we'd never stopped talking.
I helped set up a bit, but mostly I just took pictures of other people doing things, like preparing snack trays. More guests trickled in before the ceremony, and Jodie and I got lots of pictures of behind-the-scenes stuff, like Misty working on Dorene's hair. AJ got there around 1:00 that afternoon. We were told that there was a costume theme, but we were the only ones really dressed up (although Jodie and her daughter wore faery wings). I was Red Riding Hood and AJ wore a lab coat and carried a skull. He was a head doctor. Badump-ching.
The ceremony was delayed a bit because hair time was underestimated, but it all worked out. It was a beautiful ceremony, and then we all took pictures outside. Jodie and I got great couple photos of Dorene and Drey, of the wedding party, of family members and friends, and there were a few group photos of me, Jodie, Jill, Misty, and Dorene. It's amazing how long we've all known one another. I've known Jodie since 1994, Misty since 1997, Dorene since 1998, and I managed to go without officially meeting Jill until 2007. AJ had to leave shortly after that, and around the time we were saying our good-byes, we were standing outside with plates of food with Misty. She was catching me up on some things and then said, "Oh, and just so you know, we're totally cool." That was the absolute best-case scenario, which I hadn't truly entertained because life never really goes that well. But in this case, it did. She said that she didn't care anything about the drama over Laura's wedding several years ago, and that when we stopped talking, she was going through some difficult things, and my not talking to her kind of pushed her away in an effort to reduce drama in her own life. So while I was busy not talking to her because I thought that she thought x, y, and z about me and that her not talking to me after I backed off only further proved my point-- I was causing her added stress by not talking to her, resulting in her continuing to not talk to me. Nyuk nyuk.
So yeah. AJ left shortly after that, and he kissed my belly good-bye too to give Nathaniel love.
Yeah, it's a boy. His name is/will be Nathaniel. :D
The rest of the weekend was nice. Dorene and Drey left for their evening at the hotel, and Misty, Dorene's mom Sue, and I stayed over at the house. We chatted for a long time and played Phase 10 until something like 1:30 in the morning. At some point, Drey and Dorene called us to bring a few things they'd forgotten to pack, so we all dressed up in our costumes (well, I just stayed dressed up, but Sue and Misty dressed as witches), and then we went to the hotel. We got a few smiles. Their room was awesome!
Near the end of the weekend, I told Dorene that she traded up with Drey. He's good people.
So that was the weekend of the wedding and the end of the tension between me and Misty. All is well there. I can't remember if I said this before or not, but with how well things went there, it tempts me to talk to Candice sometimes, but I have a feeling it wouldn't go as well. I'm not sure if that's intuition or anxiety. I've never been good at distinguishing between the two. I suppose one day, we'll talk.
The weeks were kind of hard with AJ being gone. It felt surreal because he's always around. And I felt silly for making such a big deal when I'd been in a long-distance relationship with Kris for all those years while he was gone in the military. I'd go months, almost a year, without Kris, but I was teary-eyed over three weeks without AJ. Our Skype dates made it easier, and I'd made sure to fill up the weekends.
The following weekend, Samantha and I met up in Staunton. Samantha didn't seem too impressed with the Friday night showing of Tamburlaine, which made me a bit sad because I usually enjoy myself at the plays, but I wasn't too happy with it either honestly. I wanted her first play there to be the same experience I had when I saw a play there the first time two years ago. I saw Titus Adronicus by myself, and it was a wonderful experience. Even the interludes were entertaining, with the actors singing cleverly relevant songs like, "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Thankfully, the Saturday evening performance of The Importance of Being Earnest was a pleasant one for both of us, even though we were stuck with not so great seats at the side of the balcony. We had to lean over the railing or look between the bars to see the players. I did the latter more often than not because I try not to lean forward too much with this bebbeh. In between play-watching, we wandered around the town and hit up shops and restaurants that Matt and Robert had never introduced me to, so it was new territory for me and Samantha.
One funny thing that happened was on that Friday night: We were walking back to the hotel from seeing Tamburlaine when a car drove past us, and we heard a SPLAT near my feet at about the same time. We were really confused... We looked around and saw a banana peel inches away from my foot. Normally I have a filter, but it malfunctioned, and I yelled some things to the car, which stopped at the end of the intersection, which was in the direction we were headed. "Uhh, let's go this way instead," and we altered our route a bit. I went from being angry over someone tossing a banana peel at me to scared over yelling obscenities to a stranger that could be armed to amused over the whole thing. So then we started coming up with terms to explain what just happened. "Did they think they were playing Mario Kart?" "They bettah be glad we don't have any blue shells!" "You just got Hanna-Barbara'ed!" "I just got Magilla Gorilla'ed!" We got back to the hotel, and I informed Facebook of this, saying something like, "I just got Magilla Gorilla'ed. I hope that's not something horrible in the Urban Dictionary." Turns out it is. So I had to retract my post. It would have been easier to just delete it, but the awkwardness of it was funny, so I kept it.
So that was Staunton, more or less. The following weekend was going to be another Staunton trip, but AJ really missed me... and I obviously missed AJ, so we decided to meet sort of in the middle in Greensboro. Carolyn and Leo were down with that because it saved them money on gas, play tickets, and hotel rooms. Plus, they got to pick up some extra shifts at work. So it was a win/win. First stop on my journey was at Chewie's place, where Chewie and I giggled at AJ and Brian playing the new Call of Duty game. AJ played with precision, while Brian got up in people's faces before shooting. I picked, even though I couldn't do any better. I left to meet Carolyn at her work, with AJ not too far behind (about 20 minutes), and I had the most difficult time finding where her store was in this large shopping center. Eventually I found her though. When AJ got there, we just left my car in the parking lot because the plan was to come back later when Carolyn got off work and just follow her to her place. So AJ and I went to Tate Street to reprise Coffee Time with Olivia. I've missed that! We met up at Tate Street Coffeehouse, and I ordered my classic order: hot chocolate. The prices went up and the size went down, so instead of ~$2.50 for a bowl of a cup of cocoa, it was ~$3.00 for a tiny mug. We caught up for a bit, and then AJ and I had plans to meet Tim at El Carreton. He and his very-pregnant wife Natasha met us, and Natasha and I swapped silly pregnancy stories, like how I get stupidly emotional at times (I'm pretty sure LJ already knows about that). Tim and AJ discussed guns, and then AJ and I picked on ourselves for being shotgun-owning hippies living in the mountains of West Virginia. Tim and Natasha wanted coffee, but after the experience earlier, we opted to introduce them to Coffeeology instead. They had good cocoa there, but I might enjoy Tate Street's better.
After saying our good-byes, AJ and I killed some time in Barnes & Noble while I got a decaf mocha at the Starbucks while sporting my "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Franchise Coffee!" tee. I bought the shirt for a social experiment that I had yet to try, so this was my moment! I intend on going to some franchise shops and outright note the irony, and go into others and not pay any mind to the shirt I'm wearing. In the case of the latter, I try to take notice of any snooty looks, since most people are passive-aggressive and aren't likely to tell you that you look like an idiot. No one noticed. If they did, they did an amazing job at being friendly and nifty people. We bumped into Steve Gwyn before meeting up with Carolyn when her store closed. Then we stayed up kind of late (or maybe it was just late to us) with her and Leo, and Carolyn's roommate and his girlfriend.
The following morning, Carolyn and her roommate-in-law prepared breakfast for all of us, and then AJ and I went back to Coffeeology to meet with KB and wait for Robert, Matt, and Jodie to join us. AJ decided to take off a little before the rest of the crew got there to look around at Ed McKay's and was going to meet us at a nearby Chipotle afterwards. So a lot of us sat around the coffee shop for a bit and then met up with AJ, Carolyn, and Leo for lunch at Chipotle. There, I confessed a secret to Robert, who-- as you may or may not know-- is a Jew. "Robert, I've been holding this in for years. But one day in college, we were eating lunch at The Caf. You sat your tray down in front of me, and you stole one of my green beans and ate it before I had a chance to say anything. (Matt in the background cracking up and saying quietly how I'd told him this one...) Had you asked, I could have warned you. I HAD JUST EATEN ALL THE HAM THAT CAME WITH IT." He was unfazed. I told him how I was so worried about whatever would happen to his soul as a result of eating something that was cooked with ham... but then I realized I was being silly. AJ left to dork with Chewie and their crew, and the rest of us went to a nifty yogurt shop that KB told us about. Then KB had to leave, and the rest of us went to Celebration Station. Pregnant Miki can play DDR! Not for very long, and not very heavily, but I can play. Matt played in his suit, which was a funny sight to see. Matt and Robert took over the game for a bit, and Jodie and I wandered to take photos and find a working token machine so that we could play some Skeeball.
Fast-forward a bit. We all parted ways outside in the parking lot. Carolyn and Leo gave me a ride to Tate Street to meet up with Kris and Michelle for dinner. I gave AJ a call before we were on our way out. Gretchen met up with all of us at New York Pizza. I got to meet Kris and Michelle's daughter Leona for a second time and their daughter MacKenna for the first time. Leona is three years old now, and she cracked me up. She was told no about something and then began to cry. I started to feel bad for her but then noticed something was off. AJ and I exchanged glances, and then I asked Michelle and Kris, "Is she trying to manipulate us?" "Yes." Then that little girl's laugh turned into a maniacal cackle. I couldn't hold back from laughing. She tried that fake-crying again later, and some woman leaving the restaurant paused, turned to face Leona, and mimicked her crying. This went on for 2-3 minutes. Then Leona gave up the fight and started laughing. The woman said, "Works every time," and left. Kris and Michelle had no idea who that woman was.
I've been typing for too long... Anyway, I think that's all the cool stuff from the Greensboro trip. Fast-forward. AJ came home a week later. Yay! It's good that he gets to clean the litter box because I was tired of having to wear gloves and a face mask, looking like I was dealing with biochemical waste.
I'll type more eventually. I've only caught you up to mid-November.