A Satellite Castle:Ultimate Romance?

Today was like a crappy hangover from my four day party of fun.

I was just so tired, I couldn't help it. I was a grouch. Not a good attitude to have on the switchboard! (Though I was told that I was doing a good job)

I just didn't get anything planned to do today. Kind of caught with my pants down, so to speak. It was terribly boring.

Anyway, I have lost track of time. I cannot really remember what happened last week, save for Friday, when it seems my minds' recorder of history decided to come back from vacation.

Thus began the start of my four days of events.

The first day, I was planning on hanging out with Paul. Not really sure what we were going to do, though the future did not look promising when he kept wanting to put down flooring for his house. I would be game for doing something like that, but only if i'm learning it for the first time. I work 6 days a week typically, and spending my 1 day off installing floors does not seem like time well spent to me.

But!

When he got to my house, we decided upon making a pizza. Through his gracious generosity of footing the bill (I, admittedly, am too poor right now. I'm not worried or bothered about it: I'll see better days in the future) , this project was to be...

magnificient!

Ok. Maybe I'm getting full of myself. *pats knee, motioning children to sit on it* I shall tell story now.

We decided that it would be a wonderful day for me and Paul's *cough* girlfriend to meet (she insists they're not in a relationship like that. "I don't want to get attached to him before I go to college in a few weeks," she says. Whatever. It's too late. I know.) . We decided to meet at the grocery store. As luck would have it, the not-advertised McKinleyville Farmer's market was happening! So we got to eat good organic produce from the locality.

We didn't go for regular veggies to put on this pizza. No sir, we stuck by odd-named sorts of tomatoes and peppers and such; The type that tasted very good but costed a little bit more.

We went into SafeWay and bought the rest of the ingredients...

And then, we set out upon our glorious project of cooking mayhem. All natural, from-scratch components were set together to create this mechanically perfect machine. Its purpose: to feed the hungry.

We did a lot of cutting, rolling (improvised with a flower vase, since I didn't have a rolling pin. We were thinking about a wine bottle) , and mixing. Then, we Slammed the food into the oven and made string beans with feta and grape oil (I love oil). When the food came out, we arranged it with elements of beauty (such as sesame seeds. It made it look like a blizzard was happening on the blood red/orange/pink tomatoes) and set about enjoying the fruits (or meal) of our labour.

I had a vision of a new culture when we all sat down on the kitchen floor at 90 degree angles to eat. Why aren't there any restaurants that use the floor as seating?Maybe I enjoyed this heavily romantic idea because everyone was happy, sitting there and enjoying themselves without a table, and the light streaming through the blinds in a dazzling pretty display (we sure do get pretty weather sometimes)

Anyway, after eating, we talked for many many hours and then said our farewells.

The next day, I had to work, and could think of nothing but the LAN party that I had planned with Eric, Nick, and Ben. Back to my nerd roots.

And when work was over, I immediately drove over to Nick's house to pick him up. Me and Nick used to be participants of large LAN parties, and the nostalgia that I got after picking him up was just killing me.

When we got his computer, a backpack, and a chair in the car, we set out to the house... but

the nostalgia was too much. Traditional LAN parties call for soda pop. So, we stopped at the store and found, surprisingly, a whole bunch of soda on sale. We picked one 2 liter for each member of the party (minus Ben, who doesn't ever drink sugar water. Right on, Ben!) and joined the crew.

I won't bore you with the games we played. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun, and I drunk my entire 2-liter of mountain dew in an hour (I can drink a lot quickly) . Towards the end of the party (on my 18th hour of wakefulness) , I convinced Nick to relinquish his anime shooting games. I *love* spacecraft anime shoot-em-ups. I begged and whined... I wouldn't take him home until I had them!

Then, I drove Nick home and talked with him for a long time at his house, getting updates on my former gamer buddies of yore. Then I drove home and tried to sleep.

Tried to

I had drank too much Mountain Dew. I never drink soda pop. As I tossed around in bed, thinking with a mind that operated like an engine stuck in gear, I vowed to declare war on sugar, and to stop the caffeine intake (which may be why I'm so grouchy and tired today). What's worse about that night, I was stuck playing particular clips of songs in my head like a broken record. I couldn't get to the next part of the song... I was forever stuck hearing the same track repeat.

I tried not to think at all. It was hard, but I made it through, didn't I? Now, what did we learn about soda pop, kids?

crowd of bored children:Soda Pop is bad

Good.

So then, the next day was Sunday. Me being slightly groggy, I went to work again. There were a lot of births that morning (the first), and I had to register them all by my lonesome (that and fill out lab requisitions for patients that dropped in), Which I did.

As the day wore on, I got a call from some crazy Italian lady. Originally, she had charged me with calling home health for her, but decided to "sit down" (or so she said) and tell me her story about why she needed my help, without asking me if I had better things to do. Well, I did, but I supposed that it might be interesting to hear what she had to say while I did my work (albeit at a slower pace). So, I did. As I heard her stories, she got weirder and weirder. She kept telling me about her mental problems, how this therapy of looking at certain angles was helping her feel the best she had felt in years, how she was old enough to be my mother, yet had friends my age, how she wrote children's books and needed an illustrator (I can't really draw, but I said that I might have friends who could do the work. Anyone need some money?) and so forth. Then, she magically hung up, and that's the end of it (though she claimed earlier in the conversation that she would call me again on the weekend. *shudder*)

This all reminds me of Evan and the lady in upper Washington who, being 12 years older, was knitting him socks for christmas, and desperately wanted him to come visit her. He says that the lady was an inspiration in some ways (she had 2 jobs and was working to get away from her husband with 2 kids. Bah. Too much to say about this. I'll stop right there)

But anyway...

So, once work was off, I picked up a couple of people and took off for Japanese class. We did our usual studying, and when class was over, me and my friend Eric (not anapolsky the nerd) ran off to WinCo for food. We got munchies, talked to Evan (I don't know if he's still joining the military. He just found out that his friend (a big influence) got screwed over by the military, giving him the wrong training, and the military isn't compromising), and went back to Richard's to watch old movies.

Paul and his girlfriend were there.

I was planning on bike riding with Meghannraye the next day. But, I knew she needed to some sort of transport for the bed she wanted to buy. Paul has a truck. I just needed a way to get it from him (actually, I got an agreement to use it earlier on. But I got the agreement for Wednesday, not Sunday)

So, in a heroic, balsy feat of bravery, I started getting all macho right then and there. I started hitting my chest with my hands, saying "Bring it", when food was getting made by Koichiro. Paul knew what I meant.

I was challenging him to an eating contest.

The rules were so simple. Eat the most of selected dish, and win! That day's theme was spaghetti, prepared by Iron Chef Koichiro Mochimasu! (well, he's an Iron Chef in my heart, at least). We had Koichiro working hard, working fast, working strong! To create the dishes of doom. And create them he did.

I consumed 2 VERY LARGE plates of spaghetti. Paul had 3 plates of normal portions of spaghetti. Lots of bread was served, too.

But, as I neared the completion of my 2nd dish, I started having lots of pains in my stomach. I couldn't really continue, though I knew I must. I kept thinking of hernias *shudder*, and didn't want one over this. The stakes were high.

I knew I was getting gas from the spaghetti. So, I waited, slowed down my eating significantly, and then let it out (I couldn't contain it. It was reflexive, really. Quit giving me that look!) Paul was pleased. "You have restored honor to the Brower clan," he said. "You have much potential."

Yum.

So, I impressed him enough to loan me the truck. But I felt like I jeapordized it all with my pick of the movie. It stank.

The movie was undercurrent. I had heard good reviews on it, but man, what a chore to watch that thing! In the end, me and Paul were making bets, almost always nailing it on the nose! In the end, Paul correctly guessed the only twist in the movie -- that the horse was going to kill the bad guy -- before the plan to ride the horses even happened! That's how dull it was...

Anyway, everyone else left and I watched movies with Richard until close to midnight, when I was to meet Meghannraye. She took me to her place in her car.

And there I slept, after suffering terrible caffeine-caused time schedule problems, and 2 days of little rest. We woke up in the morning and ran off to CostCo to get the bed.

I discovered that my dad's membership had expired (my dad just can't be counted on with ANYTHING. Of course, this should already be known to me, since he's actively trying to drop me) so, with all these bills running me close to a deficit, I renewed my membership right then and there. Then, we got the bed.

Hehe. The bed fit, but only at an angle. Meghannraye proposed not using rope, saying that we'd be ok. I aggressively disagreed. She just wanted to get out of CostCo, and I knew it. She felt bothered at how we now had to find rope. I suggested that I guard the truck while she go to a store to get rope... but she had a better idea: ask CostCo!

They gave us a ton of rope to use, and we tied that sucker down TIGHT. Then, off we went. Me, driving this Isuzu P'up, with her right behind. I had trouble looking out the side view mirrors, and the back was full of bedding. The P'up is designed to have something tied to the sideview mirrors, so A string was there to guide me on the tension.

Off I went.

As I drove on the freeway, the string showed that it was slightly tensioned, and the beds looked fine, so I kept driving. I felt a little leary of it all, especially when people passing me from the side (I was doing under the speed limit) gave me looks. When we got to her place, Meghannraye said she was kind of distressed by what she saw from behind. The bed in the back was floating in the air from the speed, but, luckily, The rope had saved the day!

So, after swapping the beds, we both laid upon one of the most comfortable beds ever... I know I didn't want to get off of it! Now, as soon as I get the chance to test drive it (sleep, you fools!)...

Meghannraye had to leave for work (though she wanted to lay on the bed) so I had to go return Paul's truck. I told Paul I'd only go to CostCo, then to Meg's house, then to his, but I made a pit stop -- at the carwash.

I cleaned the dirty insides of the windows, vacuumed all the hair, everything. I was certain Paul would be pleased that he had a "sweet ride". (I stole that line from a guy who believed that washing his car would deflect police radar (the stealth bomber must be washed every day or something!) , and thought that putting car accessories like yosemite sam mud flaps and chain steering wheels on the car made it faster) , but when I got to Paul's house, he forced me to wear the "Jacket of Shame", for not doing exactly as I said I would do (was just a regular thrift shop jacket) . We walked around his town (west haven), talking, and then ate fruit from his trees and bushes (growing fruit from trees is such a good investment, if you think about it)

During the discussion, we talked about how Paul went to the casino on his 18th birthday and watched erin blow 10 bucks for nothing, with me chiming that I had never gambled.

The choice was clear:I had to go to the loser's palace (as I call it). Paul thought that, because I am close to the edge of my budget, that we shouldn't do it, but I decided to since I was only going to put in a max of $1.50, AND If I won, even once, that was it. Time to leave. with that agreement, we went.

We were checked for ID, but allowed to pass. Once in, I had Paul put a quarter in on one of the machines, which he lost. Then, it was my turn to lose. I stuck the coin in the betty boop slot machine.... and won 5 quarters!

With me giggling with glee over my new-found fortune, we left promptly.

Thus: I left the Loser's Palace Smelling Like A Winner!

We decided to Celebrate by eating in Trinidad (I love visiting the local restaurants there). We found a restaurant that did American and Mexican food, and was (surprisingly!) cheap. We ate, and then I went home.

I crashed on the couch from more exhaustion.

But, Paul and Ben woke me up! After a little bit of wakeup jerk action on my arms, we went weight lifting. To me, it was kind of disappointing. I didn't have a clear plan down, so I spent a lot of time wandering, and what's more, I discovered that some of my muscle groups have deteriorated since I last lifted 3 years ago (I was shocked to find myself losing in a struggle to get the barbell with two 25 lbs on both sides, up when I was doing bench presses) . It takes so much to maintain your strength...

I will have to train and do better. I'm better than this!

Then, we went to the scale, and I found that I lost a lot of weight again. I'm down to 153 pounds... -_-. Granted, I don't eat like I used to, and I'm hungry more often, but...

Well, anyway, we did some old school Arcata Pizza and Deli socializing (though we were missing a very important and indispensible ingredient to the mix -- Erin), and then I went home to crash.

Which leads to today, where I'm cranky from NO Caffeine, NO candy, and a diet that is very meager (not purposefully, of course, but i'm having trouble finding good dishes to make)

I had to fight my insurance company today. I hate my insurance company. Grr!!! They upped my rate, so I had to go moan and complain... which I did. Surprisingly, I won the argument. I thought that they had adjusted my rates because the contract was changing, but no... I won!

Anyway, I'm tired so much of the time... I get up at 5:30, but i'm a night owl... here's to another repetition of work!

Oh, I missed you...
D.