Get a drink and get comfortable
OK, I hope I remember everything. Let me just trace my steps for a second here..... ok here we go.
Tuesday: I fly to Arizona on Southwest. The plane is crowded, it is hot, and I am sitting next to a sweaty fat guy. I guess I can only balme my self becuase I chose to sit next to him. I just wanted a damn seat. The said "fat guy" took up the entrie arm rest so I had my arm at my side which was uncomfortable. Since it was hot I started to sweat, I could not sleep, 4 hours of torment. Worst... flight... ever. I went to the bathroom 2 times just for some extra space. yeah it was that bad. When I landed I took in the first breath of that Arizona air. It was almost perfect. 78 degrees, it was cool and a beautiful day. My mom came to pick me up, now I have not seen here in 3 years and I did not leave on the best of terms, so this was akward for about 2 min. We talked about all kinds of crap as I took in the sight of mountains and relived my past. hmmmm... This is going to be a long journal. Better not make it to boring... moving on. This whole day was ... weird. When I stepped into my Mom's new house to me it looked just like I thought it would with the way she decorates. I can tell you this, you will never see another house as fancy as my Moms becuase of how much time she spends decorating the inside. I need photos. After I setteld in I got in contact with a good buddy of mine. He was working so I went with my rents to go see Casino Royale. Great movie, I will own it when it comes out. After the movie I did like a speed dating except it was with all my friends since this was the only day to see them. I felt nostalgic, to see everyone again in this setting... wow. That night I went all over Arizona with my compadres. It eneded to quick and before I knew it I would be another year at least before I may see them again.
Wed: My brother and his significant other, Hidei, I will burn for not spelling that right, flew in this morning. We went to pick them up and had breakfast at Mimi's, a really good resturant. I had a breakfast buritto, and cracked jokes the whole time. It was good to see everyone. OH and yeah, during breakfast my brother annouced he and Hidei are engaged. My brother's second marriage and I have yet to reach my first. After breakfast I went with my Brother and Hidei out to Apache Trail. It is about a two hour drive and lots of dirt on the way. When we got to the trail it is about 22 miles of mountainous dirt roads. Enough to barley fit two cars on side by side and then a huge drop off down one end. The sights were beautiful. Most people think of the desert as being ugly becuase everything is dead. This is not so, don't knock it until you see some of Arizona's landscape for your self. The car ride allowed me to get to know Hidei a little bit. She is really nice and down to earth. She is very active, owns her own motorcycle, and is a bit of a Tom boy. After we drove Apache Trail we arrived at a place I can't remember the name of. When natives came to this part of Arizona a long time ago they settled in this hole in the side of the mountain. We hiked up to this area where there were what remained of their homes. All built out of rock, and the history was intersting. We could see a great portion of the valley from here. What a sight. Later that day, we were supposed to pick up my sister at 3:00 so we could do some more stuff but we were late coming back by almost an hour. It's ok Burk, remember a squirrel stole my cell phone. :) After we picked up my sister we headed out back to my Mom's house to hang for a little bit and then it was on to Reatta Pass. This resturant was once part of a stage coach stop back in the day. It is as Cowboy as you can get. Country music playing and the way it was decorated, yeah country style. I will have to get some of my good friends to go there some day. I think they would like it. We ate dinner and I had the whole family cracking up, this would be the start of some of the funniest moments I had on this trip. There was a tottaly random moment when my sister suddeny said that I have the face of a model. I just smiled and said smoothly "yeah... I know" :P. When we left Reatta Pass Burk wanted to buy Over the Hedge so we could watch it that night. On the way to target to buy the movie, something interesting happend. I was taken back by it and I didn't know what to think. Here is what happend:
My step dad, Tim, was in a very bad motorcycle accident. He was not wearing a helmet. I could go more into detail but basically he has a really hard time getting his speach back. Before he could only say the word policy, it was bizzare. He knows what he wants to say, but the words just won't come out like he wants them to. That side of the brain was severly damaged, but he is improving well. So, what he can do is Sing. Singing is controlled by another part of the brain, so he can sing songs perfectly. If he wants to say something to you and he does it to a melody he can get every word out. So here is what took me back. Tim puts in a country song, which is his and my moms song. I can't remember what it is called, but it was a nice song. He starts to sing the lyrics, then almost at the same time everyone starts to sing this song together. I was the only one who did not know the words so I sat and listend. With the everyone singing and the content of the song it all meshed together into this bigball of love and compassion that filled the space of this tiny truck cab. It is hard to explain, but the atmosphere was intense. After all Tim had been threw the love was strong. I was taken back by it a bit. Crazy stuff...
Later that night, we watched Over the Hedge. It was a good movie.
Thursday: Thanksgiving day. That morning everyone went hiking Pinacle Peak Mountain. Again, the Desert shows off its beauty. At the top you could see a great protion of the vally, what a sight. This is why I miss mountains. Not only are they amzing from below, but when you are on top of them... yeah. I got a lot of exercise and was in second place coming back down. I ran most of the way, Hidei beat me. :P After the hike and I was all stinky like poo I took a nice, peaceful shower. Made my self look all pretty for the family as we soon prepared to partake some Thanksgiving gorgeing. I was such a fatty, but it was o-so-good. After the usual Thanksgiving gathering everyone sat around and was lazy for the rest of the day. So lazy that I won't write about any of its boringness. Short and sweet, I watched about 4 different movies that evening. I also called some people that I missed and wished them a happy Thanksgiving. I was not able to get to call everyone because I am getting charged up the ass for mins. If you read this and I did not call you during Thanksgiving, I apologize. I hope you had an amazing one.
Friday: Slept in. Woke up got my self dressed and around noon My sister, brother, and of course Hidei went on a seceret mission. I call it that because, in fear that some might read this when they should not since it is a surprise... I will leave it at that. After that event, We met up with my parents at Islands, another fine resturant. I shared a meal with my sister becuase I vowed that I would eat at Jack in the Box before I left and today was my last day. Again, I had everyone laughing at the table and it was good times. Right after that I forced my mom to take me to Jack in the Box where I consumed an Ultimate Cheese burger.... SOOOO GOOOD. I kept the recete to prove that I am a huge dork.
my fingers hurt....
At about 4, we left for the airport. My plane left at about 6:40 and I got through security with much ease. SO, I had tons of time to kill and was bored out of my mind. I toured some shops.... ;) right most of you won't get that, but thats ok. just ignore it then. moving on. On the plane, I was stuck between the window and an old guy that kept coughing on me. One time he did it and I felt something wet hit my arm... yeah nasty. This was not as bad as the other flight though. I almost was able to get some sleep. Luckily Becky's subscription to PopSci saved my bored little ass. Thank you for leting me borrow those, I could recite everything in those mags now. :D
That was the jist of my trip, I am sure noone will read it all SOOOOO I will pay 1 dollar to anyone that reads this in it's entireity. There will be a quiz... so HA!
Better make a trip to the ATM :)
Tuesday: I fly to Arizona on Southwest. The plane is crowded, it is hot, and I am sitting next to a sweaty fat guy. I guess I can only balme my self becuase I chose to sit next to him. I just wanted a damn seat. The said "fat guy" took up the entrie arm rest so I had my arm at my side which was uncomfortable. Since it was hot I started to sweat, I could not sleep, 4 hours of torment. Worst... flight... ever. I went to the bathroom 2 times just for some extra space. yeah it was that bad. When I landed I took in the first breath of that Arizona air. It was almost perfect. 78 degrees, it was cool and a beautiful day. My mom came to pick me up, now I have not seen here in 3 years and I did not leave on the best of terms, so this was akward for about 2 min. We talked about all kinds of crap as I took in the sight of mountains and relived my past. hmmmm... This is going to be a long journal. Better not make it to boring... moving on. This whole day was ... weird. When I stepped into my Mom's new house to me it looked just like I thought it would with the way she decorates. I can tell you this, you will never see another house as fancy as my Moms becuase of how much time she spends decorating the inside. I need photos. After I setteld in I got in contact with a good buddy of mine. He was working so I went with my rents to go see Casino Royale. Great movie, I will own it when it comes out. After the movie I did like a speed dating except it was with all my friends since this was the only day to see them. I felt nostalgic, to see everyone again in this setting... wow. That night I went all over Arizona with my compadres. It eneded to quick and before I knew it I would be another year at least before I may see them again.
Wed: My brother and his significant other, Hidei, I will burn for not spelling that right, flew in this morning. We went to pick them up and had breakfast at Mimi's, a really good resturant. I had a breakfast buritto, and cracked jokes the whole time. It was good to see everyone. OH and yeah, during breakfast my brother annouced he and Hidei are engaged. My brother's second marriage and I have yet to reach my first. After breakfast I went with my Brother and Hidei out to Apache Trail. It is about a two hour drive and lots of dirt on the way. When we got to the trail it is about 22 miles of mountainous dirt roads. Enough to barley fit two cars on side by side and then a huge drop off down one end. The sights were beautiful. Most people think of the desert as being ugly becuase everything is dead. This is not so, don't knock it until you see some of Arizona's landscape for your self. The car ride allowed me to get to know Hidei a little bit. She is really nice and down to earth. She is very active, owns her own motorcycle, and is a bit of a Tom boy. After we drove Apache Trail we arrived at a place I can't remember the name of. When natives came to this part of Arizona a long time ago they settled in this hole in the side of the mountain. We hiked up to this area where there were what remained of their homes. All built out of rock, and the history was intersting. We could see a great portion of the valley from here. What a sight. Later that day, we were supposed to pick up my sister at 3:00 so we could do some more stuff but we were late coming back by almost an hour. It's ok Burk, remember a squirrel stole my cell phone. :) After we picked up my sister we headed out back to my Mom's house to hang for a little bit and then it was on to Reatta Pass. This resturant was once part of a stage coach stop back in the day. It is as Cowboy as you can get. Country music playing and the way it was decorated, yeah country style. I will have to get some of my good friends to go there some day. I think they would like it. We ate dinner and I had the whole family cracking up, this would be the start of some of the funniest moments I had on this trip. There was a tottaly random moment when my sister suddeny said that I have the face of a model. I just smiled and said smoothly "yeah... I know" :P. When we left Reatta Pass Burk wanted to buy Over the Hedge so we could watch it that night. On the way to target to buy the movie, something interesting happend. I was taken back by it and I didn't know what to think. Here is what happend:
My step dad, Tim, was in a very bad motorcycle accident. He was not wearing a helmet. I could go more into detail but basically he has a really hard time getting his speach back. Before he could only say the word policy, it was bizzare. He knows what he wants to say, but the words just won't come out like he wants them to. That side of the brain was severly damaged, but he is improving well. So, what he can do is Sing. Singing is controlled by another part of the brain, so he can sing songs perfectly. If he wants to say something to you and he does it to a melody he can get every word out. So here is what took me back. Tim puts in a country song, which is his and my moms song. I can't remember what it is called, but it was a nice song. He starts to sing the lyrics, then almost at the same time everyone starts to sing this song together. I was the only one who did not know the words so I sat and listend. With the everyone singing and the content of the song it all meshed together into this bigball of love and compassion that filled the space of this tiny truck cab. It is hard to explain, but the atmosphere was intense. After all Tim had been threw the love was strong. I was taken back by it a bit. Crazy stuff...
Later that night, we watched Over the Hedge. It was a good movie.
Thursday: Thanksgiving day. That morning everyone went hiking Pinacle Peak Mountain. Again, the Desert shows off its beauty. At the top you could see a great protion of the vally, what a sight. This is why I miss mountains. Not only are they amzing from below, but when you are on top of them... yeah. I got a lot of exercise and was in second place coming back down. I ran most of the way, Hidei beat me. :P After the hike and I was all stinky like poo I took a nice, peaceful shower. Made my self look all pretty for the family as we soon prepared to partake some Thanksgiving gorgeing. I was such a fatty, but it was o-so-good. After the usual Thanksgiving gathering everyone sat around and was lazy for the rest of the day. So lazy that I won't write about any of its boringness. Short and sweet, I watched about 4 different movies that evening. I also called some people that I missed and wished them a happy Thanksgiving. I was not able to get to call everyone because I am getting charged up the ass for mins. If you read this and I did not call you during Thanksgiving, I apologize. I hope you had an amazing one.
Friday: Slept in. Woke up got my self dressed and around noon My sister, brother, and of course Hidei went on a seceret mission. I call it that because, in fear that some might read this when they should not since it is a surprise... I will leave it at that. After that event, We met up with my parents at Islands, another fine resturant. I shared a meal with my sister becuase I vowed that I would eat at Jack in the Box before I left and today was my last day. Again, I had everyone laughing at the table and it was good times. Right after that I forced my mom to take me to Jack in the Box where I consumed an Ultimate Cheese burger.... SOOOO GOOOD. I kept the recete to prove that I am a huge dork.
my fingers hurt....
At about 4, we left for the airport. My plane left at about 6:40 and I got through security with much ease. SO, I had tons of time to kill and was bored out of my mind. I toured some shops.... ;) right most of you won't get that, but thats ok. just ignore it then. moving on. On the plane, I was stuck between the window and an old guy that kept coughing on me. One time he did it and I felt something wet hit my arm... yeah nasty. This was not as bad as the other flight though. I almost was able to get some sleep. Luckily Becky's subscription to PopSci saved my bored little ass. Thank you for leting me borrow those, I could recite everything in those mags now. :D
That was the jist of my trip, I am sure noone will read it all SOOOOO I will pay 1 dollar to anyone that reads this in it's entireity. There will be a quiz... so HA!
Better make a trip to the ATM :)