spring break part I: 3.19.2002 7pm – 3.21.2002 7pm
not too long after my last post, i talked to emily on IM. apparently my attitude in the post was disappointing to her, because she thought i’d been doing better. i felt bad, but also defensive–i didn’t think that i was leading her on, or lying, or being false in any way. it was a rough conversation, and a bad way to start a trip, but i had to leave right after for the airport. truth be told, however, i certainly can’t lay any blame on emily for anything, and especially bad conversations. i’ve given her more than my fair share of hurt in the past few months, and i admire her perseverance. also, as she poignantly told me, i really just need to “get [my] act together”. she’s no doubt sick of the wavering, the unsureness, my ‘weird’ feelings, and whatever else. i’m sick of them too. and i wholeheartedly agreed then, and now, that i need to get my act together. thus, getting my act together is the theme of spring break. because, as emily and i both know, for me to ever make a decision about our relationship, it needs to be in a vacuum of other life doubts and problems, or i would forever wonder if it wasn’t one of them that needed to be fixed instead. we’ll find out if this is possible.
back to the story: right on time, at 11pm, my plane left san jose for chicago. i tried to sleep, but i started feeling a little too sick, with a little too much of the runny nose to sleep comfortably. i’m sure that it was staying up all night studying for my greek final which killed my immune system, and planes are notorious for spreading sickness. anyway, we got into o’hare at 4am local time. i was tired but couldn’t go to sleep for fear of being robbed in the airport. so, i walked around zombie-like until 5am, when mcdonald’s finally opened for breakfast. dying, i ate a ham/egg/cheese bagel thinking it was completely wonderful. i still think it is–those things are good.
then i walked to my gate and settled down to wait the 2+ hours until boarding. as it turned out, though, the plane was overbooked, and the gate agent called for volunteers who would be willing to fly on a flight 3 hours later. the reward for successfully volunteering: $500 in travel vouchers. i jumped up and made sure they put me on the list. when it was time for the plane to leave, they finalized the list and i was given the $500 voucher and a boarding pass for the flight at 10am.
tired but more than happy to have $500 for my troubles, i changed gates and settled down to wait another 3 hours in chicago. reading and listening to music helped pass the time. once again, my flight was overbooked, and they asked for volunteers, but i was feeling sicker and more tired by the minute, so i figured that at $500 i could safely call it a day and i boarded the plane. we got into orlando at 1pm and i was met by my mom and dad, who were coming home from work early.
i got home and unpacked my portable hard drive first thing, connecting it to my dad’s computer. then i opened up my last logic problem set, and spent a few hours finishing that (i wasn’t able to get it done before i left). i e-mailed it off to achyut and said goodbye to phil160a forever. my brother dave and i worked out for a while, then played thief (a unique sort of computer game). of course, we had to load it first. (hehe). to cap off the night, we watched the mummy returns. it was pretty stupid, but with one funny line and good effects. this brought the clock to about 1:30am, 3.21.2002. meaning, more or less, that i’d been awake for 51 of the past 58 hours. surprisingly, i wasn’t tired, and i couldn’t sleep. i’d say i knocked off around 2:30.
then comes the good part: i slept for 13 hours. i woke up, and was still tired, but my sony minidisc mic had come from UPS and rachel had brought it to my room, so the fun of new electronics brought me groggily to my feet. i played around with it for a while, recording my new song for kicks, and then drove to panera to see mark. i was thinking maybe he could get me some free food, since i hadn’t eaten in close to 20 hours and was hungry. he had just got off work, but i did see karen heine, which was cool. i left panera for mark’s apartment and chilled there for a while. josh killingsworth was on IM and he was talking to mark, so i said what’s up and he asked if i wanted to come up to gainesville that night. i was still feeling sick and a little tired, but i figured that was just from waking up so i said sure.
the clock at this point is about 5:30, and he wants me to be there by 8:30 so i can go to his campus crusade for christ meeting with him, and surprise nate and chris with being there. i call my mom and dad, they say it’s fine…only i have to check the oil and all the fluids before i take the jeep. a done deal, i say, and rush back home to pack and ready the car. i pull out of my driveway at 6:30, make a stop at taco bell / pizza hut combo restaurant and order my $2.94 usual–2 tacos and an order of breadsticks and sauce. gassed up, food sitting wonderfully close in the passenger seat, and my pedro minidisc winding up, i enter the 408 at 7:05pm.
to be continued…
playing: “options” | pedro the lion
