The Land of Mary: Day 9/ January 18/
Last night my aunt and uncle got home from their vacation. They rolled in the driveway around 11: 30 and brought back t-shirts, lots of pictures, a box of alcohol, and considerably tanner skin. Needless to say, they had a good vacation. Hearing their stories of the island and their relaxing week long vacation really inspired me to go to a Caribbean island one of these days. OH WAIT that day will be March 13th. When I'm flying to San Juan. How silly of me to forget that. SB'09, I'm counting the days until we meet. Speaking of Caribbean islands, today I had to go to the liquor store to get some coconut cream and pineapple juice for my aunt so she could make me a delicious blended drink she had at St. Maarten. And can I just say that trip to the liquor store made my day.
I almost had to wipe drool from my face because I wanted to drink all of the alcohol or at least open every other bottle just for a taste. I almost wrote a list of things I wanted to buy and barely stopped myself from breaking out my camera phone to take a picture of a 24 oz. bottle of Smirnoff Ice. It was huge! The hardest part was hiding my utter excitement about the whole experience because I was with my 14 year old cousin who I should probably set a good example for and in front of whom I don't really want to be caught jumping up and down about the abundance of flavors of Smirnoff and the lower prices of a handle in Maryland. SO, my strategy for acting nonchalant consisted of immediately walking over to the hard liquor section when we were supposed to be looking for pineapple juice and saying to Ian, "Maybe it's over here" while I kind of quickened my pace to buy a few seconds of drool-time. I'm smooth. And I don't have a drinking problem. One or both of those statements may or may not be true.
Today was the last day at my gym. My week membership expired and I was very sad to say goodbye. Every time I went to work out or run though I was the only girl my age there. This gym seemed to attract a lot of out of shape old people, over-active soccer moms, and weirdos who wear jeans to work out. (pause- how the hell does that even, in any way, sound comfortable or logical to burn calories while wearing denim?? C'MON!-resume) But I really liked that gym. They had a lot of new equipment (even though I only used free weights, treadmills, bikes, and two machines) and a very nice locker room. I didn't feel as self conscious as I thought I would lifting ten pound free weights (which is actually a big upgrade from my five pounders back home) next to guys benching a lot more than ten pounds. Maybe because I will never see those guys in my life ever again. Or maybe because no one actually cares about what you do at the gym contrary to what our conscious tells us. EXCEPT when you wear jeans. I'm not letting that go. The only down side to the gym is the fact that I had one of the sketchiest moments of my life that reminded me of a movie I just saw when I was leaving one day.
Yesterday as I was walking to my car, I passed a group of three people that were having a lively conversation about the Baltimore Ravens game saying how there is no way that the Ravens could lose to the Steelers three times in one season (they did, by the way and Dylan is kind of upset because the Ravens are his team). As I passed by the small group they stopped their conversation which I didn't think very much of at the time. It only prompted me to not turn around to find out why and to walk just a little faster to my car. Then as I was pulling out of the parking lot to turn in front of where they were standing, one of the ladies is flagging me down. In reaction I signaled her to cross in front of the car, pretending that's what I thought she wanted me to to and hoping she would change her mind about asking me to roll down my window. She didn't. I rolled down my window halfway when she asked me if I was driving south (which I was) and while I paused, truly trying to remember which direction the house was, she told me that her and her brothers were part of a traveling shelter and would really appreciate a ride. OK, there are a couple things wrong with this statement. She was talking to a man and a woman, not two men so unless the lady was pre op or something, I'm pretty sure she was not with her brothers. AND what the hell is a traveling shelter?? The very definition of shelter implies a stationary structure. I quickly reviewed these flaws in my head before I told her, "Oh, no, sorry I think I'm heading north" and made a face to seem like I was truly upset that I couldn't help her out. Now, this scene reminded me of a scene in Yes Man. Jim Carrey just gets to the point of the movie in which he has to start saying yes
[OH MY GOD PHOEBE JUST POOPED ALL OVER DYLAN'S BED AND FLOOR WHILE HE WAS ASLEEP. Since my aunt and uncle are back, I'm staying in Dylan's room. He just turned all the lights off to go to sleep about fifteen minutes ago leaving me sitting on the floor with only my computer's light shining on my face. All of a sudden, I hear Phoebe's collar jingle as she gets up from Dylan's bed and walk out the room and once again I think to myself "I hope she's not pooping." But sure enough, once I shined my computer light to the other side of the room, I can see a terd lying on the carpet. She left four terds at the end of Dylan's bed and three on the floor. I don't remember feeding her that much! She's on a diet of about half a bowl of food a day to minimize the pooping accidents. I didn't wake up Dylan while I was cleaning until the other dog, Buster, barked for some reason and Dylan sat up in bed. I hope he didn't notice the poop smell. Oh, Phoebe. I guess she had to give me the honors of cleaning up one last mess before I leave tomorrow. What a bitch.]
and a homeless man walks up to his window and asks for a ride. Jim Carrey has to say yes and drives him to a park while the homeless guy uses up his cell phone battery talking to his homeless friends. Once he tries to leave, he realizes that the gas tank is empty and has to walk miles to a gas station where he meets his love interest in the movie. Based on this example, I decided not to be a Yes Man despite the fact that I would like to meet a love interest but mostly because I only had a quarter of a tank and was not about to let someone working for a "traveling shelter" use my cell phone.
I'm about to go to sleep and I haven't started packing. Cool. My aunt paid me $350 for the week. Once I saw the figure written out on the check I blinked my eyes really hard and just said "Whoa!" and she just looked at me and said "Good." I guess that was the reaction she was looking for and intended to give me that amount. So, I'm not really one to let people down. Even though I feel bad. Except I don't at the same time. Anyway, tomorrow I'm flying to Hartford, Connecticut then taking a bus to New Haven where I'll spend the night with a close family friend. Tuesday morning I'm going to drive into work with said friend's partner (who works at Yale, how cool is that?) and visit my friends at Yale. I already feel smarter knowing that I'm going to witness the inauguration on an Ivy League campus. Maybe some IQ points will rub off so I can do better next semester. Speaking of next semester on Wednesday I'm taking a bus to Lee, Mass to see my roommate!!!! I'm super excited especially since we will hopefully drive across the state to see some other crazies that live on our hall before we head back to campus. I'm so excited that this time next week I will be back at UMass (most likely on Facebook in my dorm room, but at UMass nonetheless). I will miss Maryland and my cousins, though. My aunt and uncle should take vacations more often.
yJw
I almost had to wipe drool from my face because I wanted to drink all of the alcohol or at least open every other bottle just for a taste. I almost wrote a list of things I wanted to buy and barely stopped myself from breaking out my camera phone to take a picture of a 24 oz. bottle of Smirnoff Ice. It was huge! The hardest part was hiding my utter excitement about the whole experience because I was with my 14 year old cousin who I should probably set a good example for and in front of whom I don't really want to be caught jumping up and down about the abundance of flavors of Smirnoff and the lower prices of a handle in Maryland. SO, my strategy for acting nonchalant consisted of immediately walking over to the hard liquor section when we were supposed to be looking for pineapple juice and saying to Ian, "Maybe it's over here" while I kind of quickened my pace to buy a few seconds of drool-time. I'm smooth. And I don't have a drinking problem. One or both of those statements may or may not be true.
Today was the last day at my gym. My week membership expired and I was very sad to say goodbye. Every time I went to work out or run though I was the only girl my age there. This gym seemed to attract a lot of out of shape old people, over-active soccer moms, and weirdos who wear jeans to work out. (pause- how the hell does that even, in any way, sound comfortable or logical to burn calories while wearing denim?? C'MON!-resume) But I really liked that gym. They had a lot of new equipment (even though I only used free weights, treadmills, bikes, and two machines) and a very nice locker room. I didn't feel as self conscious as I thought I would lifting ten pound free weights (which is actually a big upgrade from my five pounders back home) next to guys benching a lot more than ten pounds. Maybe because I will never see those guys in my life ever again. Or maybe because no one actually cares about what you do at the gym contrary to what our conscious tells us. EXCEPT when you wear jeans. I'm not letting that go. The only down side to the gym is the fact that I had one of the sketchiest moments of my life that reminded me of a movie I just saw when I was leaving one day.
Yesterday as I was walking to my car, I passed a group of three people that were having a lively conversation about the Baltimore Ravens game saying how there is no way that the Ravens could lose to the Steelers three times in one season (they did, by the way and Dylan is kind of upset because the Ravens are his team). As I passed by the small group they stopped their conversation which I didn't think very much of at the time. It only prompted me to not turn around to find out why and to walk just a little faster to my car. Then as I was pulling out of the parking lot to turn in front of where they were standing, one of the ladies is flagging me down. In reaction I signaled her to cross in front of the car, pretending that's what I thought she wanted me to to and hoping she would change her mind about asking me to roll down my window. She didn't. I rolled down my window halfway when she asked me if I was driving south (which I was) and while I paused, truly trying to remember which direction the house was, she told me that her and her brothers were part of a traveling shelter and would really appreciate a ride. OK, there are a couple things wrong with this statement. She was talking to a man and a woman, not two men so unless the lady was pre op or something, I'm pretty sure she was not with her brothers. AND what the hell is a traveling shelter?? The very definition of shelter implies a stationary structure. I quickly reviewed these flaws in my head before I told her, "Oh, no, sorry I think I'm heading north" and made a face to seem like I was truly upset that I couldn't help her out. Now, this scene reminded me of a scene in Yes Man. Jim Carrey just gets to the point of the movie in which he has to start saying yes
[OH MY GOD PHOEBE JUST POOPED ALL OVER DYLAN'S BED AND FLOOR WHILE HE WAS ASLEEP. Since my aunt and uncle are back, I'm staying in Dylan's room. He just turned all the lights off to go to sleep about fifteen minutes ago leaving me sitting on the floor with only my computer's light shining on my face. All of a sudden, I hear Phoebe's collar jingle as she gets up from Dylan's bed and walk out the room and once again I think to myself "I hope she's not pooping." But sure enough, once I shined my computer light to the other side of the room, I can see a terd lying on the carpet. She left four terds at the end of Dylan's bed and three on the floor. I don't remember feeding her that much! She's on a diet of about half a bowl of food a day to minimize the pooping accidents. I didn't wake up Dylan while I was cleaning until the other dog, Buster, barked for some reason and Dylan sat up in bed. I hope he didn't notice the poop smell. Oh, Phoebe. I guess she had to give me the honors of cleaning up one last mess before I leave tomorrow. What a bitch.]
and a homeless man walks up to his window and asks for a ride. Jim Carrey has to say yes and drives him to a park while the homeless guy uses up his cell phone battery talking to his homeless friends. Once he tries to leave, he realizes that the gas tank is empty and has to walk miles to a gas station where he meets his love interest in the movie. Based on this example, I decided not to be a Yes Man despite the fact that I would like to meet a love interest but mostly because I only had a quarter of a tank and was not about to let someone working for a "traveling shelter" use my cell phone.
I'm about to go to sleep and I haven't started packing. Cool. My aunt paid me $350 for the week. Once I saw the figure written out on the check I blinked my eyes really hard and just said "Whoa!" and she just looked at me and said "Good." I guess that was the reaction she was looking for and intended to give me that amount. So, I'm not really one to let people down. Even though I feel bad. Except I don't at the same time. Anyway, tomorrow I'm flying to Hartford, Connecticut then taking a bus to New Haven where I'll spend the night with a close family friend. Tuesday morning I'm going to drive into work with said friend's partner (who works at Yale, how cool is that?) and visit my friends at Yale. I already feel smarter knowing that I'm going to witness the inauguration on an Ivy League campus. Maybe some IQ points will rub off so I can do better next semester. Speaking of next semester on Wednesday I'm taking a bus to Lee, Mass to see my roommate!!!! I'm super excited especially since we will hopefully drive across the state to see some other crazies that live on our hall before we head back to campus. I'm so excited that this time next week I will be back at UMass (most likely on Facebook in my dorm room, but at UMass nonetheless). I will miss Maryland and my cousins, though. My aunt and uncle should take vacations more often.
yJw