Reminiscing

Last night, after dropping the Man off at his house and still daydreaming about the french fries he ate in front of me, I decided that hard-boiled eggs sounded like the most delicious thing on earth. So I busted out a pot, turned on the stove, and waited. And waited. And waited some more because how did I forget! Hard boiled eggs take a lifetime! Then, naturally, I got impatient and tried to eat them before they were done. Bad idea. I went through 6 eggs trying to get it right, 45 minutes of half-sleeping half-starving irritation, and by the end of it all I just felt like puking the eggs right back up.
Then naturally this morning, before pouring myself a giant heaping bowl of cereal, I checked my "dietary restrictions" list and realized that I don't get to eat today. At all. By the time my appointment comes around tomorrow (today), I won't have had anything other than Gatorade, water, and laxatives in over 30 hours.
I can't sleep, either. I passed out earlier today, around 7. I'd been cold and shaky and achy and miserable for a few hours, but I'd tried to fight it off by reading a book. Instead I fell asleep, and according to the laws of my life, my mom called at 9 and woke me up. I've been wide awake since.
Her news wasn't all that great, either. Go ahead and read about it. I knew this girl in junior high, and had a hard time placing her name while my mom was talking. It hit me right after I hung up. I hated her. Not in a full-blown planning for her destruction sort of way, but she was a year younger than me, went to my church, and in general was a huge pain in the ass. This isn't a very accurate description of her, though, considering it's the memory of a 14 year old. Anyway, I wish her all the best in the world. It sounds like she's being cared for, though, so I guess her parents are the ones in need of support now. (My mom told me about all this as a warning against letting people drive my van, of course. Thanks Mom.)
Now, on to the entire reason I started writing. I want to talk about food, and all the food I want to eat when I come out from the anesthesia tomorrow.
Taco Bell: A cheesy gordita crunch with refried beans. The texture of all those ingredients - crunchy lettuce and taco shell, combined with squishy tortilla, beans, and melted cheese would be Heaven. Also, steak taquitos drenched in sour cream.
McDonald's: An egg Mcmuffin, of course! The sweet burst of ham on top of egg and cheese, accompanied by the crisp feeling of biting down through a freshly toasted english muffin. As for potatoes, I can't tell which sounds more appetizing: fries or hash browns.
Other Things: A Boomer's burger. The roommates and I are going for dinner, fo' sho'. Peanut butter toast. Kenny was eating it earlier tonight, it smelled divine. The nacho cheese Doritos someone left at our house after the party - yummm. Also, I want a hot dog. And some sort of meat with BBQ sauce. Or a taco salad from Dos Padres! Hell, even a big bowl of Rice Krispies with milk sounds divine.
It's going to be a long night, I can tell. A headache has settled in on top of my head, the cigarette burn is itching, and in general I'm feeling downright bitchy.

Park Day!

Today was another Chelsea & Sharron Go to the Park Day! We hit up Larrabee again, because come on, you can never go wrong at Larrabee. As usual I took a handful of decent pictures, and Sharron practically filled her memory card with professional-grade photos. We watched little children play on the rocks, college students skip stones, and kept our eyes out for our Beloved Starfish. Unfortunately it was high tide, so we didn't find many interesting critters among the rocks.
Right now our Park Days are a quarterly ritual, but today we decided that Bellingham is far too pretty to only by documented every three months. Besides, it's a good break from the usual. We put on our rain boots, wade through the water, and spend very little time actually talking. The goal is mostly just to wander, look at interesting things, and listen to the soothing sounds of families playing and waves crashing. Later tonight she'll be handing off her thousands of photos to me, so perhaps in a few days I'll load the best of the best up here.
Now for tonight! It's our quarterly Shit Show here at the apartment. This year is a step in a new direction - the goal is still to get trashed on trashy cheap drinks, but we've mixed the themes up a bit. Last year it was always Wine and Cheese - this fall we did a toga, and tonight is Freaks & Geeks, aka Awkward High School Party! I'm thrilled to see the turnout. Cole, my friend from Church Camp, is coming up on a bus from Shoreline. Tuey is going to come by in her gothic chain pants, fishnets, and Alice in Chains gear. Nick has a shirt with wolves running across his chest. I'll be channeling the dark-eyed duo from my own school, with heavy black eyeliner and a compact mirror to touch it up as the night goes on. Also the Man will be attending, which is sad because he's missing out on camping, but also awesome because I wanted him to come. I'm going to see if I can turn his hair into a mullet when he shows up.

Can't Concentrate!

Today has been surprisingly productive. Tuesdays and Thursdays are fast becoming my favorite days (although they're showing a sad trend towards doing homework for several hours.) I spent almost two hours at the gym! It started as a determination to run and use the ellipticals, and turned into a bet against myself that I could stay until I burnt enough calories that eating an elephant would seem like a good idea. Ran into the brother while lifting weights, which was rather odd. Our family is not known for being healthy, so seeing each other working out was like a step outside of reality. He and I exchanged a few words and quickly separated. And yet, despite that extreme creep-out moment, I still stayed on for another 40 minutes.
Then it was gorge time.
Unfortunately the Atrium, no, THE SUB CONNECTION HAS A VERY FUCKED UP PRICING SYSTEM. A baja chicken wrap comes with bacon! A baja chicken sub costs $0.50 MORE and HAS NO BACON. I wanted them to stop and swap, but they weren't going for it.
That said, it was deliciously spicy and I inhaled it in less than five minutes.
Walking through Red Square I watched a boy carrying a very large street sign while holding his girlfriend's hand. He almost hit her in the back of the head about 5 times. I followed not-so-stealthily hoping to see it happen, but alas, he caught on and shifted it.
Then I sat in a secluded corner of the library and did homework for two hours without falling asleep. So proud of myself! But still no closer to understanding this take-home econ quiz. Or having a working calculator.
Went home around 5. Went out to Boomer's with the boys an hour later. The wait was about 30 minutes this time -- worth it! The most satisfying $3 ever spent, except for all those other times I'm going to buy burgers this month. Shortly after dinner I went to the pool, where I saved my coworkers from several deadly hypothetical situations. Unfortunately it ran way later than I expected, so I didn't get home until about 10. And we're still not done. And my essay is still incomplete.
So now here I sit, having been working on an informative guide to salvia for the last hour and a half, only lacking a solid conclusion, and I just don't know if it's going to happen. Of course, it will, but only after another hour of staring balefully at the Word document and giving up to scour Youtube.

Martin Luther King gave me the day off!

The newest Spanish essay prompt is to research a drug, legal or illegal, and talk (or argue) about it. Initially I was looking into male contraceptives. Unfortunately they're all either abandoned ideas or still in testing, so I'd be doing more of a hypothetical analysis than anything else. Instead, I turned my sights to salvia. Who knows, maybe it will be an original topic. Or maybe I'm doing the college version of a high school report on pot! (Haha, I loved those kids. They were always so clueless and giggly while talking about the munchies.)

I put the Buena Vista Social Club on LOUD and cleaned tonight. Instead of using the dust bin and broom, I swept all the dirt into one big pile and vacuumed it up. Earlier in the quarter, before we had a mop, I took paper towels and Windex to every inch of the linoleum. I like to think that as I get older I'll just become more eccentric with my house cleaning. Toothbrushes to get the grooves between the molding and the floor, gleaming stove tops minutes after cooking spaghetti, bathrooms without a hint of hair... Naturally, I won't be able to live with anyone else.

Owww

Hikes are lovely. Fabulous. Excellent fun. A time to test your physical ability, appreciate nature, and bond with good friends in a new and interesting way.

They are not, however, a good idea when you've just come down with the Irritating Nose Drip From Hell. I'll be falling asleep, belly full of cold meds, within 30 minutes.