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Start Your Engines: I'm a real live wire

Start Your Engines

Thursday, July 06, 2006

I'm a real live wire


We made it through vacation, but just barely.

The flight to Philly was long with one layover and circling over Akron. Liam's brother, Casey, and his buddy picked us up. We waited over an hour in the airport parking lot because only two toll boothes were open. Of course, they charged us for the time we spent sitting in the car waiting in line.

The next day, all 11 of us piled in cars and headed to the Pocono Mountains. It began to rain. There was taffic on 476 so we detoured through the country. I wasn't keeping close track, but I think it took four hours. The reason I didn't keep track is I have 1/8 the size of a normal bladder. Through being obsessive or something, I was afraid if I was too aware of how long the trip too, my bladder would become hyperactive in retaliation. At any rate, I made it without a potty break. This is earth-shattering as I normally take two pit stops in the three hours between Columbia and Springfield.
Upon arrival I met approximately a shit-ton of people and tried to remember all of their names. There are 59 cousins on this side of the family. I'm not kidding about the shit-ton. Liam's grandmother, Honey, rents out almost an entire resort with cabins, a lodge, pool, arcade, playground, etc. We stayed in the lodge where our beds were in the loft with 20 of our closest cousins.

By day three, it was still raining and I began to have tummy pains. Oh, that's right. I chucked for the next 24 hours, had hot and cold flashes, super achy muscles and really just wanted my own bed.

Day five the rain stopped. Most of Pennsylvania received 12 inches in four days. I was over my stomach bug and decided to lay by the pool. I put on SPF 15. It didn't help. Currently, I itch in a band across my stomach, boobs and the tops of my legs because I am peeling. I roasted. Why is it every summer I get big balls and think, "This year will be different"?

Never have I met a family that takes drinking games so seriously. I am close in age to the oldest cousin and God knows I have done my liver some damage. Lately, I haven't been in a hardcore drinking mood. That was part of a lifestyle I left behind. They were actually a little bent out of shape I wouldn't participate. I told them rolling dice distracted me from my beer. The first night six of them drank 60 beers in one hour. They save beer tabs and had two red plastic cups full at the end of the week, which they donate to kids on dialysis. Is this the rationalization behind not buying kegs?

Did I mention it started raining, again? We packed up the cars, went back to Philadelphia for the night and got to the airport at 6 am the next morning. Our flight was at seven, the airport is rather small for a large city- I figured this would be enough time. Negative. We stood in line to print our boarding passes and check our luggage. To my dismay, the line for security was eight city blocks long. Fifteen minutes before our flight, airline folk hussled people with flights before 7:10 into a separate line. Half the original line stepped over. The very short, paunchy man shuffling belongings through the x-ray machine was bitching about how people should get there early. I told him I wasn't going to arrive three hours before my flight just to make it through security. Liam forgot to check his pocket knife and threw it in the tub with his keys and phone. One gentleman politely told him they would confiscate it. Previous paunchy man came over to yell at him for committing a federal offense. The whole time our plane is basically backing away from the gate. We barely made it ontime.

When we made our connecting flight in Memphis, a NWA guy was snippy with me about boarding. The bathroom on this plane was out of order, which is a problem with the affore mentioned bladder issue. NWA can kiss my white ass. I think I would drive before flying with them again.

We got the car out of hock in STL, stopped for White Castle in Wentzville and napped into the evening. The concensus was vacation was NOT relaxing and work seemed a better alternative.

I missed the cat, too.


Well, now that's out of my system...

In the past few weeks we went to see Cars and Superman. I gotta admit, I liked Cars better. Superman was ok, but I felt the different story lines were a little disjointed. Lois Lane wasn't that ballsy, infact she was constantly falling all over herself. I don't feel it lived up to its hype.

Yesterday, Liam did an oil change on my motorcycle and car. I am very thankful. He tells me an oil change on momo would run about $60. He taught me so I can do it next time.

MU emailed me to say I was not in their first round of candidates selected to interview for the Res Hall Coordinator position. So, I started unpacking my apartment. Its cozy and I still need to figure out what to do about the lack of storage in my kitchen.

Business at the OG is slowing down, so I am devising a game plan. They only had me on the schedule four days this week and everyone is frantically trying to pick up hours.

Other than that, same ol' shit just another day.