If I had just one last wish, I would like a tasty fish

Man, things have been... weird lately. Well, not weird. Bad. Let's do a recap.

Wrote Carrie a four page letter before work on Tuesday; should surprise her when she gets that in the mail. Took Mom's car to work Tuesday morning; Allison freaked out when she first pulled up. She was all, "Crap, who the heck's car is that? I thought I was opening with Will!" I explained the whole thing to her, though. The phones went down again Tuesday. Morgan tried to call in, but she couldn't, so she ended up coming down there to let us know what was going on. She was *really* sick. I mean, her voice was all messed up, she was coughing something awful, you could tell she had massive congestion. She also just found out she has asthma, which really sucks. We couldn't call anyone to cover her, so she kinda hung around. Luckily, we were really slow. Javi got there and sent her home. Not much else notable, though I did manage to get a hold of Mom concering L&S, they would have Chelsea ready to go around 5 or 5:30. For 440 dollars or so. To be fair, that did include an oil change.

So I got my truck back, was running good. Talked to Heather, she mentioned a friend of hers was selling a king bed for like 95 dollars. I figured there was a slight miscommunication, but it sounded like he had a bunch of furniture he was trying to unload, and thought I might still be able to get a good deal. Got David to come along, which is always nice. Mom printed out some thing from the 'net about a rental property that they were clearing out, anybody could just go by and pick up whatever they wanted. I was going to go, but I wanted someone to go with me. Took about three minutes to exhaust the list of potential partners-in-crime in San Marcos. That was fun. Ending up taking Janelle; we got there, and it was... well, kinda weird. It was dark when we got there, and of course, there was no power. We left my truck lights running, but that didn't really help once we got inside. Nothing in there was worth it, though Janelle did get a bag of stress-relief toys, so the trip wasn't a total loss.

Wednesday afternoon, went to Pflugerville with David to meet up with this guy. He wanted 350 for the bed, but he came down to 310 since we also bought a couch with a little fold-out bed. It's kinda small, though - more love seat-ish, really. Two cushions. Though it means people will have somewhere to crash. Or something like that. Loaded up the bed and the couch and drove home. I thought the bed looked a little small, but I figured that that was just my high expectations failing. Stopped at the Buda Sonic, 'cause I really wanted a cherry limeade. I climbed into the bed to check out my recent acquisition. Something seemed kind of off, though - a king bed is supposed to be about 6' 1/2" square, which means I could lie either way without anything dangling off. However, that didn't seem to be the case. I thought it might have just been the way it was sitting in my truck or someting, but I resolved to check it out when I got home.

So we get home, and I pull out a tape measure. Sure enough, it wasn't a king, but a queen. That kind of upset me. I mean, I can get a brand new queen bed in town for like 120. I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt; I called him back and confirmed that it was supposed to be a king bed, and informed that it was, in fact, a queen. I told him this, and he reacted... in a bad way. He started saying how we had an agreement, and that I had looked at the bed and said it was okay, etc. I then told him that yeah, we had an agreement that I was buying a king bed. So he scooted around the issue a little bit more - said something about how when you buy something at a store, you can't just bring it back 'cause you don't like it. I told him that yeah, you basically can, *especially* when they lied to you about what you were buying, and in that case, they can face legal action - not that that would have to happen in this case - so that was kind of a bad example. Eventually, he agreed to just give me my money back. He tried offering some of it back, and I'd keep the bed, but after his little thing, I was really pissed, and didn't want him to get anything. I was ready to bring the couch back as well, but David wanted to keep it.

Went to work, got to talk to Lala. She seems cool. Came home, showered, etc. Started to feel a little bad. By 3 or so, it had graduated to full-on nauseua. I knew I was going to throw up, but I wasn't sure how long it was going to take. So I kind of lay there in bed, with Eddie Izzard on, in a half passed out state, 'til it finally came. And come, it did. It was *gross*. Went back into my bed, and just kind of lay there, not quite asleep, but not entirely awake either. I threw up, I think, about five more times. Most of them were just dry heaves, which were terrible. It felt like someone was wringing me out, like a wet towel. I had been drinking water and took some anti-nauseua medicince, but I threw that up as well. It wasn't pleasent. The *really* fun part came a few hours later. My stomach and chest muscles were really sore from all the contractions during the dry heaves, so I couldn't breathe. Well, not really. I'd start to breathe in, and my lungs would start expanding, but the muscles around them were really sore and wouldn't go any further. So that was fun.

'Round noon, I left to get David and go *back* to Pfulgerville (this is an hour drive, mind you) to get my money back from that guy. I really didn't want to, given how incredibly crappy I was feeling, but I didn't really have much choice. So we got there without incident, he didn't really say anything as we unloaded the bed back into his house. I was *so* pissed at him. So we had to stop at a gas station on the way back so I could go to the bathroom. Got back to David's, and he let me hang out there for a little bit. I felt really bad, and just wanted to lie down for a while. I did, 'til he had to leave to go to San Marcos to talk to the guy at Best Buy here. I came home, and fell asleep. Upon waking up, I felt... well, kinda better. Different. I don't really feel nauseous anymore, though I do have a massive headache. But I can deal with headaches. I'm good at ignoring them.

Picture dump - D&D, Heather, and stuff

The night line as I'm driving to Austin.	Heather, sitting in my truck.
Heather again, as we're leaving.	Laurin, Freddie's chick, in her apartment as I was dropping him off.
Her cat liked me.	Laurin again, this time, looking at me.
Laurin and Freddie looking the other way.	Jarrod, as we're getting ready to play.
Matt.	Luke. I like his shirt.
Michael.	The guys.
I'm trying to remember what happened. I think this is them... fighting some orcs or something like that.	Nice face.
My DM table.	Sideways.
Luke got some cool sticky notes.	The kitchen.
The couch and living room.	The side door to the balcony.
Luke's bedroom.	The clock and front door.
No idea.	A cup. I think.
The party sleeping, and Matt comes back with a dead body? No idea.	Still none.
Michael.	Whoa!! Crazy!!
And again.	Brett waited for us at Burger King for like ten minutes.
Matt getting his soda.	Luke. I like his shirt.
The caravan, as Lorm tries to sneak in the princess's carriage. He tried to break the door down, but somehow faild.	I don't trust them.
Or him. I don't even know what he's doing.	Again with the door.
Zhao Xi and his super-horse hovered above the carriage and she asked the princess what was going on.	They prepared to attack the caravan.
They just jumped out and started it up.	The soldiers turned the wagon and carriage and used them as cover.
Lorm triple-critted the leader, taking him out, then found himself surrounded by archers.	But started going through them like miniature kobolds.
Cullen in action at the smoothie place. My first SWT picture.

I do some strange things sometimes

So it looks like I'm not going to be taking Discrete I this semester, which isn't that big of a deal. It is, but I'll live. Looks I won't be starting class 'til 10, which is a decent upside. I'm thinking about walking to (and from) class, which will be good for a couple reasons. I won't have to worry about finding a parking space, and it'll definitely be good exercise and put me out in the sun some more. Campus isn't *that* far from where I live, so it won't take that long. The only problem would be if I have to get to work quickly, but I can of course just take my truck on those days, if necessary.

Work sucked today. 12 - 7 is actually a nice shift, but i had to cook with Dennis Leech. Don't care for him at all. He's kind of annoying - and several of the other people there (Allison, Tracy, Freddie) all asked me about having to work with him. It's nice to have other people agreeing with me about someone being annoying now, instead of two months later.

Cooked for two hours with Freddie, which is cool, because him and I get along real well and our work reflects that. I wouldn't mind cooking nights more often, except I have to deal with the new guys more.

School starts tomorrow. I don't have my books yet, and won't until I get paid or my loan comes in. I'd much prefer to have them now, but that's just not in the cards at the moment. I'm basically ready other than that, I just have to put everything together. I'll do that sometime tonight.

Oh, and had the following conversation with Heather:

Billy: Congrats on the new job. Billy: So I was wondering if sometime when we're both not busy (which is going to be less and less likely, I know) if you'd like to get together sometime and maybe... Billy: make out? Heather: what? Heather: uh.. not really Heather: kinda just want friends Heather: kinda just want friends Billy: Damn. Billy: Fair enough.

Why? Don't know. I've always really, really wanted to kiss her. Her lips were really shiny when we went and saw Bourne Supremacy. Then there was the time we went canoing (canoeing?), and she GOT NAKED RIGHT BEHIND ME. (Or changed her clothes, which doesn't necessarily mean competely naked, but pretty damn close). I understand it's a trust thing - she trusted me enough not to 'sneak a peek' or something like that. Not that I would - don't misunderstand me. I'm not a subtle person, nor do I act on things I think might be subtle hints, because I'm often wrong, and even when I'm not, the risk, while possibly worth it, isn't one I want to take. I think I might have trailed off a little bit. Let me try again. I'm not a subtle person, nor do I pick up on or offer subtle hints. I have no doubt that that 'attribute' is one that will hinder me in life, especially in relations with the fairer sex.

I don't know where all that came from. In fact, I'm not quite sure what I've been trying to say this whole post (after the bookkeeping details, of course). Something about how non-reciprocal affection, and how much it sucks. And closure. I don't know. Maybe we had a chance for a good, close, platonic relationship. Which is cool, don't get me wrong. And I'm not stupid. Things wouldn't ever have worked out between us.

Hell, I don't even know what I'm trying to say anymore. You're on your own.

Despite occasional good things, it's been a bad day

Went by work and got the schedule for next week. I've got Tuesday day, Thursday day, Friday night, and Saturday morning. Four shifts. I picked up Freddie's shift Monday night, and will probably pick something up Sunday as well. I donn't want to, but it'll be better.

Came home, and found that Heather had both IM'ed and called me, suggesting that since we're both bored, why not go see the Bourne Supremacy? I finally got her attention via IM and we made plans - I would drive down there, then she'd drive us to the theater. I didn't get there 'til 9:48, when the slated start time for the movie was 9:45. She called while I was en route, and it turned into she would meet me down there. So that happened. She looked pretty cute - tshirt, ponytail, the whole bit. Had really shiny lips - later said she was wearing chapstick.

We got to the theater without incident (other than Heather not knowing exactly where it is, and having to make a few, um, 'course corrections'), and only missed a little of the movie. While in line, I spotted a DDR machine in the lobby, but Heather was quick to assert that I couldn't play, and I agreed. For now, at least.

The movie was okay. I haven't seen the Bourne Identity, so some of the stuff didn't make a ton of sense, but I followed things decently.

I drove her home, and she got out and went upstairs while I drove home. Fun stuff.

The whole thing was kind of weird. I mean, situations with me tend to be awkward, and I'm finally accepting that it's because I'm an awkward person. I did used to have a major crush on her. We were fairly close at one point. Not like really close or anything, but close relatively for me and a female. I remember the canoing day very well, and the ice skating day was a lot of fun as well. But I'm not stupid. Misguided, but not stupid.

Stopped at the Ben White IHOP on the way home and saw Rose while she was on her break. She needed a hug (as did I), and I was only too glad to render that service. Things aren't really going too well for her right now, but she's doing alright. I really do love that girl.

Fun Times, pt 2

So I got to Blazer Tag ready for another night of hard DDR. I brought my backpack in this time - three liters of water, a towel, phone, keys, money, change of clothes (for when I went back to Katie & Rose's), my Care Bear, and my GBA (which I've almost never used). Went in, and there were four people - Tess and three other girls. I went over to the chair by the Deer Hunter game and sat down and watched. Tess came over and we talked a little bit. I told her I remembered her, and she looked happy about that (odd). We talked for a bit, and she asked me how old I was.

"21. You?"

"14. Well, almost. I'll be 14 in a few days - <Some band name> is going to play here in a few days, on my birthday."

It was funny, to say the least. The really cool part was that she definitely looked dissapointed with my age, as I'm sure I did with hers. A lot of people have asked me how I didn't know she was that young. (I feel look like I could be doing a VH1 special right now). I knew she was younger than me, but I thought she was about 18 or so - as i'm sure she thought I was (Heather told me I look about 17). Again, pretty funny. I've caught some flak from this at work. But it gets better.

So there were three others there Friday, significantly fewer than the time previously. At one point or another, they all came up to me (I was sitting at the same large table as they were, which was the closest to the DDR machine) and asked me my names. They were Jenny, Robyn, and Elvis (a nickname, didn't ask the background on that one yet). They're all about Tess's age, give or take. I ended up talking to all of them throughout the course of the evening, Elvis more than the other two. We even played two or so games together. At one point, Jenny sat down across the table and said, "You're really kick-ass at DDR." Robyn was the ditzier one that lost her cell phone, borrowed mine to call it (it was in her pocket), then later called me back because she had a missed call from an unrecognized number.

All in all, it was a good time. Tess left about halfway through, and I hung out mostly with Elvis, and to a lesser extent, Jenny. It was really weird - they seemed to accept me as part of their group right away with no hesitation or questioning. When Jenny and Elvis went to leave, they both came up and gave me big hugs, despite the fact that we were all (me especially) very sweaty. I haven't really met that many new people since leaving high school, so it feels really, really good, even if they are all way to young to ever consider hooking up with.

I'm definitely going back up Friday, since I'm scheduled Friday day/Saturday night again. It'll be another chance to crsah with Rose :)

Oh, so back to the story. Left Blazer Tag about ten minutes after Jenny and Elvis did - 12 or so at this point. Went to Le Fun, and played a few more games, nothing groundbreaking. My feet were really hurting at this point.

Went back to my truck. There was a couple standing together right outside their car, talking very softly, and kissing, as I got into my truck and left. Kinda odd. Drove back to Rose & Katie's (I have a key to there nwo), changed, climbed into Rose's bed, and crashed. Rose got home from work and climbed into bed too, woke me up. I had a weird dream about us making out and what-not. At first, I wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. We talked some as well, I told her about Tess, and I left. Katie was downstairs lying in a blanket with James, so I guess they worked out their problems. I left and went to the Cameron Rd Sonic to see Heather and Steve.

Heather's lost some weight, but she's still cute as hell. It was good to see her again, but apparently, she doesn't want people she knows stopping by there (there's an explanation about it on her blog. Also talked to Steve for a bit.

Came home, went to work, and worked again today.

Carrie's Back, and Spider-Man 2 is awesome. And my speech professor is... okay, but not terribly intelligent.

Possible spoilers, I don't know yet.

So Carrie's finally back from NY. That's cool - Carrie's *so* awesome, like a bear. We met at the arcade the second time I went to go see Terri; didn't really talk that much while I was there, but I got her AIM sn, and we started talking when I got back. And we've talked a *lot*. We just kind of clicked. I mean, if we had been in the same area, and had this great connection, there's no doubt we would eventually hooked up. I mean, we just... I don't know. It's hard to explain.

But it's good to hear from her again. She's been gone like all summer, and it's been lonely without her or Rose to talk to online.

Except:

Heather and I have been talking online again. Which is weird - I had almost, almost written her off. In fact, I know her number isn't in my cell anymore, and she was off my buddy list for a while (spring cleaning). But we've more or less picked up right where we left off - well, sort of. I think basically just ignoring the, um, well, you see:

mrbinkyjackalope: :( Heather: ? mrbinkyjackalope: i trusted you mrbinkyjackalope: i liked you Heather: and? Heather: something has changed? mrbinkyjackalope: you fowareded me something mrbinkyjackalope: *fowarded Heather: hahaha mrbinkyjackalope: well, it almost makes it easy to get over you mrbinkyjackalope: well, it would, if i possessed whatever part it is that allows you just move on Heather: you do mrbinkyjackalope: hahahahahahhaahahahahaaha mrbinkyjackalope: i still like you mrbinkyjackalope: i mean like Heather: Im sorry mrbinkyjackalope: when there's really no reason to, as it's abudnantly clear we're always going to be just friends - and don't get me wrong, i'm not dissing that in the slightest - i love it

Don't ask why. I don't understand it myself. This was from October sixth, 2003.

Wait a second... That must have been like, a couple days before I met Suzie. Or she found me. Or whatever.

Weirdness.

Anyway....

So yeah, Spiderman 2 is really, really cool. Jarrod didn't like it, but he's an idiot. Not really. I thought it was great; better than the first. The villian wasn't some super-buff guy who got dosed with strength serum or whatever; he was a flabby, middle aged guy who just happened to have four super arms wielded to his back. He does end up with MJ, which wasn't completely unforeseen, but I think he should have explored other options first, like the chocolate cake chick. She was cute. King Arthur and Anchorman come out Friday, which I am definitely and possibly going to see, respectively.

Speaking of Friday...

I'm going up to play DDR Friday after work, and I will probably crash at Katie and Rose's that night. That'll be cool - I still haven't done that since they moved, and I've only been up there once since. They both still seem to want to talk to me, which is a good thing. Rose is already kinda hooking up with this guy from (her) work, which doesn't surprise me. I don't know what Katie's been up to, but I hope to find out Friday night. I'm going to bring some flowers - not a romantic bouquet, but a house-warming, colorful array. I think it'll work well.

My truck's back in the shop; this time, for a cracked radiator. Which, despite how bad it sounds, isn't that bad at all. I should have it back sometime tomorrow, ready and raring to go.

I'm enjoying my speech class, although the instructor is annoying me as he incessantly repeats himself. But I find that happening in most classes I've taken, which is just a function of my personality.