Family Vacation
My brother got back from Japan on Monday (for good). It's good to have him back, but not his snoring. We decided to take a small family vacation down to Myrtle Beach before I start work. And of course, we picked to the hottest week so far to do it. The trip took about 7 1/2 hours from my place outside Washington. Our plan was to get down there Wednesday afternoon/night, spend Thursday and Friday on the beach, and come back Saturday afternoon. Myrtle Beach has this really cool attraction called Broadway at the Beach, which is a boardwalk around a lagoon with hundreds of stores and restaurants, aquarium, movie theater, etc. Thursday we spent 10-4 on the beach. This turned out to be a very bad idea since it turns out it was a day with a UV rating of Extreme. The temperature was about 100 on the beach, and was only slightly bearable because of a minor sea breeze. The outcome of the 'day at the beach' makes the sunburn I got driving down to Virginia look like a kindergarten kid complaining about a 'boo-boo'. I'll spare the gory details but let's just say, if you ever wondered what blistering sunburn felt and/or looked like I could help you out.
Thursday night we went back to Broadway at the Beach for dinner and mini-golf. The mini-golf place was easiest I think I've ever played at. Everyone in my family got below par. The thing I hate about mini-golf is how people with completely no aim have incredible luck. My sister got 3 holes in one. One of them bounced off of 3 rocks and still managed to go in. Friday was ungodly hot again and since everyone was sunburned we went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean. Afterwards we got some lunch at Fuddruckers, which we used to go all the time until they closed the one near my house.
At night we headed back to Broadway to a store called 'Wolf Creek Gallery' which is a Native-Americanish store with sculptures and other related items. They had a funny (at least it was to me) shirt that had picture of Red Cloud (the indian) on it and had 'Fighting Terrorism Since 1492' below it. I had gone to this store 7 years ago on a HS band trip when we went to Myrtle Beach and bought a cool mountain lion sculpture (you might remember it from my collection of stuff). This time I found this interesting eagle sculpture (http://www.wolfcreekgallery.com/store/proddetail.cfm?ItemID=419&CategoryID=27&show=subs). The guy at the store noticed my sunburned arm since I had my sleeved pulled up so it wouldn't rub against it and it was purple at this point. He told me to try some of this 'Cherokee Indian Ancient Remedy' stuff, to which I oblidged. The part that I applied the medicine man junk to is the part that is blistering now, so I don't know if blistering makes the sunburn better or worse off.
After that we went to the Nascar Speedway which is a huge go-kart park with 7 or so tracks. Beyond the long lines it was pretty fun. There were a lot of hicks there (as one would expect). We got back to my place Saturday around 9pm and my family left for home. Today I went exploring some more and headed over to the local mall. There are a ridiculous number of new developments of condos, apartments, and single family homes in this area. The same holds true for shopping centers. There is nothing really (development-wise) older than 15 years.
My apartment is pretty much set up (with what I have). The only thing in my living room is my ikea chair and AIWA stero. I ordered a sofa but it won't come in for 3-4 weeks. I don't have a TV since my parents are still using it and I'm not sure whether I'm getting it back or not. I was thinking about getting a new one, but since my car needed $1300 of work to pass inspection I don't think I'll be able to get one anytime soon. In my bedroom is the bed (which is extremely comfortable) and the bookcase (which is empty since I don't know where I want to put it yet). My computer is set up on the upside down empty box of my stereo. It's not the most comfortable thing to sit cross-legged on the floor with the keyboard on my lap, but it's working for right now.
Tomorrow is my first day of work. It should be interesting, or at least I hope it is.
Thursday night we went back to Broadway at the Beach for dinner and mini-golf. The mini-golf place was easiest I think I've ever played at. Everyone in my family got below par. The thing I hate about mini-golf is how people with completely no aim have incredible luck. My sister got 3 holes in one. One of them bounced off of 3 rocks and still managed to go in. Friday was ungodly hot again and since everyone was sunburned we went to go see Pirates of the Caribbean. Afterwards we got some lunch at Fuddruckers, which we used to go all the time until they closed the one near my house.
At night we headed back to Broadway to a store called 'Wolf Creek Gallery' which is a Native-Americanish store with sculptures and other related items. They had a funny (at least it was to me) shirt that had picture of Red Cloud (the indian) on it and had 'Fighting Terrorism Since 1492' below it. I had gone to this store 7 years ago on a HS band trip when we went to Myrtle Beach and bought a cool mountain lion sculpture (you might remember it from my collection of stuff). This time I found this interesting eagle sculpture (http://www.wolfcreekgallery.com/store/proddetail.cfm?ItemID=419&CategoryID=27&show=subs). The guy at the store noticed my sunburned arm since I had my sleeved pulled up so it wouldn't rub against it and it was purple at this point. He told me to try some of this 'Cherokee Indian Ancient Remedy' stuff, to which I oblidged. The part that I applied the medicine man junk to is the part that is blistering now, so I don't know if blistering makes the sunburn better or worse off.
After that we went to the Nascar Speedway which is a huge go-kart park with 7 or so tracks. Beyond the long lines it was pretty fun. There were a lot of hicks there (as one would expect). We got back to my place Saturday around 9pm and my family left for home. Today I went exploring some more and headed over to the local mall. There are a ridiculous number of new developments of condos, apartments, and single family homes in this area. The same holds true for shopping centers. There is nothing really (development-wise) older than 15 years.
My apartment is pretty much set up (with what I have). The only thing in my living room is my ikea chair and AIWA stero. I ordered a sofa but it won't come in for 3-4 weeks. I don't have a TV since my parents are still using it and I'm not sure whether I'm getting it back or not. I was thinking about getting a new one, but since my car needed $1300 of work to pass inspection I don't think I'll be able to get one anytime soon. In my bedroom is the bed (which is extremely comfortable) and the bookcase (which is empty since I don't know where I want to put it yet). My computer is set up on the upside down empty box of my stereo. It's not the most comfortable thing to sit cross-legged on the floor with the keyboard on my lap, but it's working for right now.
Tomorrow is my first day of work. It should be interesting, or at least I hope it is.