RaVn_R

I used to think I wanted to live in San Francisco — then I went and was overwhelmed. Now I know that Seattle is for me: it is like SF’s wise older brother or something. It’s the same funky feel, a little mellowed-down. I not only enjoyed visiting, but I knew everywhere I went in this town that I would enjoy living there as well. I look forward to making my way back as soon as I can!

Well so I’m here to tell you all about my weekend, right? I feel like I’ve recounted this story 20 times. Okay, so it was really only 4 times but it’s old already.

Ben and I went over everything as we were saying goodbye, then I wrote it down in my journal so I wouldn’t forget; told Jeff when I saw him, and told Rebecca everything last night.

I’ll tell you guys, too, and this will probably be the most detailed account, but it’s gonna take me about half an hour to do it right. So bear with me, fingers.

OK:

Friday afternoon, drove into Arlington and while I was waiting for Monique to get off of work I went up to the library, where I got to see my buddy Charles who was with his group working on their summer business course presentation or something. I told him what I was up to, and he told me he really missed Band and that we should go see UTA march in the fall sometime. Liz called me while I was there and wanted to hang out. I suggested we go to the Asian market, cause I had some stuff I wanted to get while I was there that can’t be purchased out here in the middle of nowhereland. So I put all my crap in the back of my truck, and drove over to KC to pick her up. Monique called and said she was off, and I asked did she want to come with? She was like, sure; so all 3 of us crowded into my Ranger. Liz got the bitch seat, which was fun cause if I wanted to I could pretend to miss the shifter handle and grab her knee instead :P

That trip was mostly me driving around Arlington trying to find this Asian Market, only to discover I was right the first time and if I’d just gone a few more blocks we could’ve been there a lot sooner. It was still pretty fun, though. I luckily remembered to call and ask Rebecca to tape Battlestar Galactica for me, well for Ben, which she thankfully did! YAY! Then we three went to get Lizzie some food cause she was hungry, and hung out in the Lipscomb common room for a while before heading up to Monique’s room to do, well, nothing. Liz found some book abou the female orgasm, from like 1975 or something, and was readind it out loud until Navi called and asked if we wanted to come to his party. We said no, but then Mon and Liz still wanted to drink, and we decided we’d all go out. Liz wanted to borrow my shirt, so I let her. I saw her boobies, they were great. She also stole my jacket, but I got it back. We were all finally changed and stuff, so I took them down the street to Bentley’s, which was cool cause apparently if you don’t buy alcohol they don’t charge you. I swear I had 4 Dr. Peppers!!! Then I went to sleep.

Got up at, like, 5 the next day and on the road. Drove all the way to San Antonio, no stops, and I got to my hotelabout 11, which was too soon to check in and too soon to go to the show. So I walked around a bit, and then saw the day show. Well, most of it. I saw Traci DM for Revolution (woot?), saw Magic (eww) and Capital (meh) and some other people. Left right after that cause I wanted a nap. I missed Vanguard, which is OK, but I was kinda curious about their show… Drove back to the hotel, checked in, took a shower, and tried to sleep but couldn’t. Ordered a pizza instead, ironed my pants, and tried not to look so bloodshot, which didn’t really happen. Left my room with an hour to spare until the show, to go get gasoline which turned out to be a much bigger problem than I would’ve expected. By the time I found gas station, and was back at the stadium the parking lot was blocked off.

So I cried all the way back to my hotel, when Ben’s daddy called me and wanted to know if he could help. Between they managed to calm me down, and when I drove back the parking lots were open again, but there were no spaces. Which I could’ve lived with if I hadn’t seen 6 separate vehicles double-parked. I managed to fit my little Ranger in between a double-parked F350 and an over-parked Cadillac. :Props: and made it to warm-up with plenty of time.

The warm-up, by the way, is very cool. They play less than half of the time, it’s mostly just silence and focusing. It’s very Zen (and don’t tell Ben, but his dad cried and so did I. We’re so proud of him, it’s ridiculous!!) Saw the Scouts perform, and saw BD. Skipped out before the Cavi’s and now I wish I hadn’t cause here were the ranks: 1) Cavi’s, 2) Scouts, 3) BD …. hrm. Oh well.

See I wanted to get out to my truck in time to move it without the two people I was stuck between getting pissed off at not being able to get into their cars/without them scratching me cause they can’t pull out straight and I can! So I did that and met up with Ben, who very sneakily put his stuff in my truck. I finally got to see him up close, too, and to kiss him. He has a mustache now, which is really blonde against his sun-dark face, and he’s gotten even skinnier if such a thing is possible. With his hair down, he looks like a porn star, or maybe somebody from a 70’s country band. It’s freaking hilarious, and I cracked up laughing. But I do like the stache, it’s cool. Then we walked over to the busses so Robert and Laura (that’s his dad and stepmom) could meet us and tell us the scores. We met Laura’s cousin, they both grew up in San Antonio, and waited around for a long long time for Rebecca (Ben’s mom) and Jon, his brother, and their grandma before finally walking back to the parking lot to meet her at their van. They were hungry so we were supposed to follow them to their hotel, but they got lost and took us with them.

We did finally make it back, though, even though Rebecca called us 3 times to be sure we were still behind her … lol. And apparently she knew Ben was staying with me, but Jon didn’t and was asking annoying questions she didn’t want to answer. Like, “Doesn’t Ben have to be back at the busses at 1 o’clock?” … yeah. She told him it was OK cause he’s with family, or something like that. But I’m pretty surprised she was cool about Ben and me staying together, I never even got a dirty look or anything! Wow. And I also seem to have passed whatever test might’ve been involved in meeting his grandmother, as well.

We got a little (not lost!) misdirected on the way back, seeing that Becky had thrown me for such a loop but with his help I managed to find my way back to the hotel. It was probably 3 am by the time we got there, and tucked into bed. I was exhausted personally, having been awake for 22 hours. So we laid down in bed, and Ben scootched up behind me and put his arm around my waist, just like old time. I’m thinking to myself “aww how cute – we’re going to sleep this close even in a King bed” at about the same time that he starts kissing my neck. Next thing you know he’s on top of me and we’re kissing, when he stops and he asks me, being the wonderful boyfriend that he is, "If you’re too tired and you want to stop … " at which point I of course grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss me again. After much, um, deliberation (as Charlie says, we “played checkers”) we went to sleep and slept terribly! Tossing and turning, whatnot.

Woke up around 7:30, and went downstairs for what turned out to be a really shitty continental breakfast. I brought Ben some toast and orange juice, and had myself some tea and trail mix. Yum. I worked a really nasty tangle out of his hair while he slept, and when he woke up he gave me my present from Venice (which is a maslk, and there’s a really neat story behind it, too) and we watched “Big” on television. Well, we watched most of it. We were goofing around being cute in our underwear for most of the movie, then we got distracted and played checkers again. Or maybe it was Chutes and Ladders … I can’t remember. I remember I won, and we took showers and started towards the Riverwalk cause we were meant to have lunch with Robert and Laura, who managed to sneak up behind us (themselves being ridiculously cute in public, as per usual). We had a very nice lunch at Casa Rio, and walked around on the streets for a bit too. We had our pictures taken in front of where the original Church’s Chicken was (Laura’s grandfather owned the place, hence her maiden name of Church) and then she took Ben’s and my picture again several times on the way back to their hotel where Ben could see how his pictures from Europe turned out and explain what they were all about. That was really enjoyable, too. They were leaving to go to a Bed and Breakfast out in the hill country (which, as Robert told me during warm-up doesn’t actually serve breakfast; and which Laura told me over lunch was really just an excuse to get her man out in the woods alone for a few days) so they left in kind of a hurry after that and Ben and I walked the long way back to my hotel, stopping only to take silly pictures with statues and such. We took a nap when we got there, cause it was hot and we were still sleepy (for obvious reasons). The nap itself was nice, better than the evening’s sleep had been, but not nearly long enough. We played checkers again from 5 until 9:30 or so when we ran down to McDonald’s for dinner so Ben could get to his busses at 10. Met a few of his friends while we were waiting around, got to talk about cars and stuff. He made me call when I got back to my hotel room to be sure I was okay, which I thought was terribly sweet of him. I slept like a rock (for obvious reasons) and left San Antonio around 8.

Here’s where the real fun begins … I’m supposed to meet Jeff in Duncanville for lunch. I exit North 35E for North 35W, to cut to 67. Well,turns out 35W is closed off about 3 miles before my exit. SWELL!! Sat in stop-and-go traffic (and was once again glad to have stopped for gas when I did) and when I finally make it to Cedar Hill Jeff tells me that Sam’s Pizza and Pasta is apparently closed on Mondays, and not only that but he has locked his keys into his car. And he’s not in the car. Well we ate William’s Chicken in the bed of my truck instead, and I drove him home. Got (not lost!) misdirected yet again on the way back, and wound up taking 30 east to 80 instead of 20 east all the way to Canton. No big deal, really, but I’m terribly grateful to Ben for driving around with me in the middle of nowhere, cause I doubt I would’ve survived this trip if I hadn’t learned to keep myself oriented. SO big thanks to him.

And when I got home I was really really tired. And un-hungry, even though my dad wanted to eat but not to cook. We went down the street to our local TexMex restaraunt (which is apparently now called Del Rio’s … heh) and the food was worse than usual, and not just in comparison to having eaten really good mexican food the day before. Anywhoo, came back home and attempted to tape off Battlestar on my tape (which didn’t work and which I redid immediately prior to typing this up) and told Rebecca all or most of the stuff I’m telling you, plus some things I promised to leave out of here.

So that’s my story

I’m already packed, I’m so excited. SERIOUSLY!!