Four days into the Valley yields a lot of different things...
I drove up Tuesday night in order to have Epic Fandom. We gathered back in the Valley like we had done for the past two movies, squeeing over the characters, arguing because we had read the book, and generally giggling too much. 
Hunny, Smurf, Bluejay, Hunny's friend we don't have a name for yet, me, and Kayrin. Apparently, I have the stance of, "Yo, these are my bitches." I also like to think of saying, "Here's is Hunny's eyeliner; let her show you it." But THIS is FANDOM.
We met afterward at the diner I used to live at, Coke replacing my Mountain Dew, but still getting cholesterol on a plate. We slept on futons and couches, murmuring about what had been happening and how much we missed each other. I was awakened shortly after falling asleep, Kayrin needing to take Onyx on a road trip due to a Key Fail with Otter Bucket. Eventually, Smurf and I woke back up after lounging throughout Bluejay's house for a couple of hours. We went back to Bethlehem, sitting in the tea room we used to go to in college.
It's been five years since most of us graduated, four for me.
We drove through the Valley, remembering Apartment Six and Cedar Crest, and how many times we had sat at Harvey for srs bzns conversations before we knew what srs bzns was. We then went to West Allentown to pick up Shink and Metal Darts, which threw my brain for a flip. It was the first time I had been in that apartment since everything went down between us; the furniture was different, pictures of the baby showed him older, there wasn't a hook anymore for my towel. I knew if I opened "my" side table, my Chapstick and hairtie wouldn't be there. I didn't even try to touch the knob.
We gallivanted off to Dorney, into a water park I had never been in. We flounced through rides with intertubes too little for us, scraping our knees, our butts, and Shink even face-planted. We did quick changes, smoked a lot, then rode a few rides in the actual park until we all realized we were too old for this shit, it was late, and sweet Jebus, I shouldn't never do a Tilt-a-Whirl again.
I probably will, though. It'll still be dumb then.
The following day, I dropped Onyx off at Kermit's godfather's, then we took off to Philly to get Kayrin and head for the beach. It's still an odd concept to me to have to drive for HOURS to get to a beach when I'm so used to just walking down the street. Regardless, we waded in, and I realized that Northern beaches are wicked cold compared to Florida beaches.
This is my beach towel. I is on Wildwood. Let me show you it!
I frolicked for a bit, we smoked more cigarettes, changed in the back of a car, and walked the boardwalk. We ate deep-fried Oreos and a spinach empanada, then walked the distance to get amazing boardwalk fries, all in awe of the tattoo shops and awesome shirts ("For You, It's Rehab. For Me, It's a Time Out"), and definitely making sure we were paying attention to watch the tram car, please. Watch the tram car, please. I had excellent seafood for dinner, Bluejay and Kayrin did not, and we got a discount, got back into our little car, and drove back Northwest.
We decided we needed more time on the water and planned more trips later this month.
We slept too late yesterday, exhausted from our day of not-sun and too much traffic. We got Onyx, went on a shopping trip where I didn't buy anything, and ate good Southern barbeque too far North for me to tell my Southern friends. I read more of my book, watched an infuriating movie, and got purdy to go to a dead bar where I was insulted by a virgin. We eventually took said virgin and the rest of the crew back to the diner back to the booth where I had lived for five years of my life. I was slightly drunk from some sort of lime-y drink and ate off of everybody's plate except for the virgin. But he had my fries, so it was okay.
There was talk of me being nekkid and sleeping in my bed, and sweet God, I've known Freight Train for three years. How did THAT happen?
We stood outside and smoked since we can't do that inside anymore. We dodged around topics, talked a lot about gaming, and generally reminisced in the parking lot. I saw the PP&L building and knew this wasn't my city anymore, but damn, I had some good stories.
I woke up this morning from a dream where I was supposed to be with Shink and wanting to talk on the headset to his gamer friends like back in the days of yore. When we had arranged to pick up one of his gamer friends, I heard through the mic, "Jess?" "Yeah, hey! I just sit here and do commentary, he's the one to game." "Jess, it's (Insert Mimosa's client name here)." At which point, Shink and I went to said client's house, picked him up, and I had to have a conversation with him about being involved in my non-clinical life and no, you're not going to know the back story to most of this because it's inappropriate. Then I called Mimosa and pulled a "oh-em-gee, you would not believe whose house Shink is taking me to" conversation, because that's totally appropriate.
Today's a day for cook-outs and fireworks. I'm apparently on duty to chop fruits for some sort of fluffy dessert. There will be food on the grill and excellent noms in general, and I just made sun tea which makes my Southern heart happy. We'll sit on blankets tonight, try to not smoke at our neighbors, and watch big KER-POWs in the sky. There will be pictures of me doing inappropriate things somewhere; maybe I'll straddle Trips, maybe I'll poke Shink, maybe I'll carry Bluejay around her deck, even though I still have a Franken-hand.
It'll be another story in our repertoire. I'll share the stories when I finally return to work on Tuesday. Maybe I'll have a sunburn, maybe I'll be angry, maybe I'll have leftover bar-be-que. I'll re-immerse myself into Baltimore and remember how much I love that city. Being up here makes me realize I used to have a good life up here, and it could have come back, but that's not in my cards. Maybe the next time I come up, I'll be bringing a significant other like Smurf, where the guys will disappear for hours so the girls can watch Twilight. Maybe if I move further South, I'll start flying up for Independence Day celebrations because Coplay's fireworks are still better than the Landing's. There's a lot of maybes in my future. Right now, I just need to focus on chopping up fruit...
... and not chopping off the Franken-hand.
Hunny, Smurf, Bluejay, Hunny's friend we don't have a name for yet, me, and Kayrin. Apparently, I have the stance of, "Yo, these are my bitches." I also like to think of saying, "Here's is Hunny's eyeliner; let her show you it." But THIS is FANDOM.
We met afterward at the diner I used to live at, Coke replacing my Mountain Dew, but still getting cholesterol on a plate. We slept on futons and couches, murmuring about what had been happening and how much we missed each other. I was awakened shortly after falling asleep, Kayrin needing to take Onyx on a road trip due to a Key Fail with Otter Bucket. Eventually, Smurf and I woke back up after lounging throughout Bluejay's house for a couple of hours. We went back to Bethlehem, sitting in the tea room we used to go to in college.
It's been five years since most of us graduated, four for me.
We drove through the Valley, remembering Apartment Six and Cedar Crest, and how many times we had sat at Harvey for srs bzns conversations before we knew what srs bzns was. We then went to West Allentown to pick up Shink and Metal Darts, which threw my brain for a flip. It was the first time I had been in that apartment since everything went down between us; the furniture was different, pictures of the baby showed him older, there wasn't a hook anymore for my towel. I knew if I opened "my" side table, my Chapstick and hairtie wouldn't be there. I didn't even try to touch the knob.
We gallivanted off to Dorney, into a water park I had never been in. We flounced through rides with intertubes too little for us, scraping our knees, our butts, and Shink even face-planted. We did quick changes, smoked a lot, then rode a few rides in the actual park until we all realized we were too old for this shit, it was late, and sweet Jebus, I shouldn't never do a Tilt-a-Whirl again.
I probably will, though. It'll still be dumb then.
The following day, I dropped Onyx off at Kermit's godfather's, then we took off to Philly to get Kayrin and head for the beach. It's still an odd concept to me to have to drive for HOURS to get to a beach when I'm so used to just walking down the street. Regardless, we waded in, and I realized that Northern beaches are wicked cold compared to Florida beaches.
This is my beach towel. I is on Wildwood. Let me show you it!
I frolicked for a bit, we smoked more cigarettes, changed in the back of a car, and walked the boardwalk. We ate deep-fried Oreos and a spinach empanada, then walked the distance to get amazing boardwalk fries, all in awe of the tattoo shops and awesome shirts ("For You, It's Rehab. For Me, It's a Time Out"), and definitely making sure we were paying attention to watch the tram car, please. Watch the tram car, please. I had excellent seafood for dinner, Bluejay and Kayrin did not, and we got a discount, got back into our little car, and drove back Northwest.
We decided we needed more time on the water and planned more trips later this month.
We slept too late yesterday, exhausted from our day of not-sun and too much traffic. We got Onyx, went on a shopping trip where I didn't buy anything, and ate good Southern barbeque too far North for me to tell my Southern friends. I read more of my book, watched an infuriating movie, and got purdy to go to a dead bar where I was insulted by a virgin. We eventually took said virgin and the rest of the crew back to the diner back to the booth where I had lived for five years of my life. I was slightly drunk from some sort of lime-y drink and ate off of everybody's plate except for the virgin. But he had my fries, so it was okay.
There was talk of me being nekkid and sleeping in my bed, and sweet God, I've known Freight Train for three years. How did THAT happen?
We stood outside and smoked since we can't do that inside anymore. We dodged around topics, talked a lot about gaming, and generally reminisced in the parking lot. I saw the PP&L building and knew this wasn't my city anymore, but damn, I had some good stories.
I woke up this morning from a dream where I was supposed to be with Shink and wanting to talk on the headset to his gamer friends like back in the days of yore. When we had arranged to pick up one of his gamer friends, I heard through the mic, "Jess?" "Yeah, hey! I just sit here and do commentary, he's the one to game." "Jess, it's (Insert Mimosa's client name here)." At which point, Shink and I went to said client's house, picked him up, and I had to have a conversation with him about being involved in my non-clinical life and no, you're not going to know the back story to most of this because it's inappropriate. Then I called Mimosa and pulled a "oh-em-gee, you would not believe whose house Shink is taking me to" conversation, because that's totally appropriate.
Today's a day for cook-outs and fireworks. I'm apparently on duty to chop fruits for some sort of fluffy dessert. There will be food on the grill and excellent noms in general, and I just made sun tea which makes my Southern heart happy. We'll sit on blankets tonight, try to not smoke at our neighbors, and watch big KER-POWs in the sky. There will be pictures of me doing inappropriate things somewhere; maybe I'll straddle Trips, maybe I'll poke Shink, maybe I'll carry Bluejay around her deck, even though I still have a Franken-hand.
It'll be another story in our repertoire. I'll share the stories when I finally return to work on Tuesday. Maybe I'll have a sunburn, maybe I'll be angry, maybe I'll have leftover bar-be-que. I'll re-immerse myself into Baltimore and remember how much I love that city. Being up here makes me realize I used to have a good life up here, and it could have come back, but that's not in my cards. Maybe the next time I come up, I'll be bringing a significant other like Smurf, where the guys will disappear for hours so the girls can watch Twilight. Maybe if I move further South, I'll start flying up for Independence Day celebrations because Coplay's fireworks are still better than the Landing's. There's a lot of maybes in my future. Right now, I just need to focus on chopping up fruit...
... and not chopping off the Franken-hand.