I showered naked
I went camping. And survived.
I'm not sure if I really do hate camping. I enjoyed participating in all the outdoor activities, the bugs weren't bad, and the company was fantastic. I didn't enjoy the sleeping in the great outdoors though. And when I say "the great outdoors," this means anyplace where the great outdoors can come and get me. I guess technically we stayed in cabins. Very nice cabins actually. With beds. And screens on every window. And lights. But since the great outdoors was able to get in, it was still camping.
Case and point:
Friday night I got to the camp after dark, so I had some difficulty finding my cabin (a 2 minute walk turned into a 30 minute trek). So, I settled into my bed with my queen size sleeping bag (why does a single girl need a queen size sleeping bag? I have no idea. But I have one because it was attached to a blow up mattress I had in college that my obese roommate popped, thus I threw out the mattress, but decided to save the sleeping bag, because I'm cool like that.) around 1 a.m. Like I said before, I don't like sleeping in the great outdoors... I jump at every sound, so with some difficulty, I started to fall asleep. Then out of nowhere, something landed or fell on my stomach!
I SCREAMED!
IT WAS A BAT!
A RABID BAT!
Out to get me!
I thrash around attempting to get the horrid creature off of me but I don't get out of my sleeping bag and stand up. Instead, I dive deep into my sleeping bag, curling up into a ball at the very bottom of my massive sleeping bag.
It gets hot at the bottom of a sleeping bag. But bats can't get you there.
The next morning I experienced something I've never experienced before. The horror of public OPEN showers. Let me explain, our bathroom was shared by about 20-30 girls. There were 3 toilets, separated by shower curtains, with another curtain to pull closed to provide privacy. Right, privacy. Then there were 3 lovely sinks with separate hot and cold faucets. (Who's bright idea was it to have separate faucets for hot and cold? I mean, it makes it impossible to wash your hands with warm water without burning/freezing your hand momentarily. Really stupid if you ask me.) 3 mirrors. Then, there were 3 shower heads.
Note: 3 shower heads, NOT 3 separate showers.
No shower curtains. No separation. Just 3 shower heads. Together. Next to each other.
You can't imagine my despair!
I had been warned that this may be the case, but I failed to believe it possible. I did bring my bathing suit... but I didn't want to shower in my bathing suit. I mean, every girl needs some naked time everyday, am I right?
So, I experienced being naked in front of others. Stark Butt Naked. It wasn't pretty. I mean to say, mine wasn't but many of the other girls were. This was in no way sexy or lesbian or anything of that sort. It was simply girls ignoring each other's nakedness. And that's exactly what we did.
However, I did announce that they were welcome to look at my boobs, just not my butt. I have a butt phobia. No one is to look at my butt.
I showered naked.
And that's really something. For someone like me.
On another note, why is it, as women, we don't want guys to know we like them? But we want them to be interested in us, but they just can't know we're interested in them. Then we get jealous when the boy we're interested in, but have showed no interest in, talks to another girl. So, how are women supposed to show interest without actually being boldly out there? I mean, I've been told guys are dense. Which I believe. But how can we show a guy we're interested without appearing desperate? Even though we are desperate. But we don't want him to know we're desperate. So, I guess the question is, how do we get a guy to become interested in us?
Okay, I'll drop the fisade. How do I get a guy to like ME?! I'm an old fashion kind of girl so I don't believe in making the first move, but I believe my flirting skills are not what they used to be. They are lacking. Very lacking.
Don't bother to ask who the guy is. I won't tell you. Won't. tell.
How pathetic am I?!
I'm SO tired. I had to be at work by 7 in order to get a document signed by customer, and he was leaving town between 7:30 and 8. Ugh. so. tired.
Plus, I just HAD to watch all of Dancing with the Stars last night. It was way good! You remember the guy who played AC Slater on Saved By the Bell? He's on it! And he's WAY good! And OH SO cute! He totally has ADHD and his partner gets frustrated with him. Its fantastic. You MUST catch it sometime! Oh, and Joey Lawrence is on there too. He's way hot as well, but not as good as Slater... or Emilio or whatever his name is.
I left work early yesterday because my boss is out of town, so he'll never know. I left at 3, got to the gym early, got all my cardio out of the way before I had my session with my trainer. I left at 5, went to Target to buy Drano (for my tub... its been acting up) and the 2nd Season of Grey's Anatomy (!!!!!!!!!!!!). $180 later, I left Target. Just walking around that place makes you remember what you need. I didn't even look at shoes or clothes!
Hm... what did I buy, you may ask?
Well, first I went to look at scarves, I bought two. Totally necessary. Then I went looking for socks... couldn't find any so I bought some pantyhose (don't laugh, I was raise in the South where I was taught this if you are wearing a skirt, you must wear nylons). Then I went down to find the Drano... I bought the cool stuff that fizzes up, too bad the entire bottle is only one use. But I bought it because A said it was the best. Then I came upon some dishwashing sponges... which I knew we were in need of. I found the sponges next to cleaning stuff... so I bought the Scotch Brite Tile and Tub Cleaner, it came with the cool reaching device so I don't have to stand in the tub to clean... I can just extend this arm thing and it it does the job. Very cool. Although I would've preferred the Mr. Clean one. Then I went to the movie section, where I found Grey's Anatomy, but since its the movie section I wandered around a bit and found that Harry Potter, Goblet of Fire was on sale for $10! I'd been waiting a long time for it to come down in price (it was still like $20 as of last week). So I had to buy that too. Then I started thinking that I should buy some more shampoo since I'm almost out. So, I picked it up, but they were out of the conditioner. They're always out of the conditioner. I hate that. Then I saw some hair elastics, and I TOTALLY need those, so I bought 40 of them. A necessity. Then I walked by hair products so I decided to see if they had any of my mousse in (which they rarely do), but they had it so I bought 2 bottles. Then at the end of the aisle there was a sale on Body Wash, so I picked some of that up. Then I figured I should pick some stuff up for the camping retreat thing this weekend. The next aisle just happened to be travel size stuff so I picked up a travel loofah, a small thing of bodywash and deoderant. That reminded me that I needed a new loofah, so I got a big loofah, very cool, half exfoliating, half soft. Very good. My period should be coming soon so I figured I should find some Women's Tylenol (it doesn't have caffeine so its the one drug I use). But I couldn't find it but then I decided I should look into buying some protein shakes. But as I looked through them I realized that the only ones that would be any good would be chocolate, and I gave up chocolate. So that was a no go. But the protein shakes were next to the nutrition bars. So I took a look over all the interesting flavors (all the good ones are chocolate) but I picked up some non-chocolate ones, plus some boxes of bars were on sale, so I bought 3 boxes of bars, as well as about 8 lose bars. Then I decided that I'd had enough and I probably should go. Which I did. On my way, I passed the sodas, so I picked up a 12-pack of Fresca. My absolutely last purchase.
I forgot to pick up mints for work. And bugspray.
Looks like another Target run is needed.
How sad is that?
Someday... I see myself leaving Target spending less than $100. But not yesterday. And certainly not anytime this week. But someday.
Where were you?
I was a sophomore in college, living with 5 other girls in a crappy, hole-in-the-wall on campus apartment. I had an early class (early being 9), so I was standing in the hall right outside the bathroom, waiting for one of my roommates to get out of the shower.
"I think the World Trade Center has been bombed," my roommate B called out to me.
I ran to the living room (a mear 4 steps), and turned on the television. I saw people streaming out of the World Trade Center, smoke billowing, as people ran out of the building covered with ash. But it all looked familiar.
"Oh, they're just playing old footage from when the World Trade Center was bombed a few years ago." I explained.
But I continued to watch. It all seemed familiar. But then I listened.
It wasn't a bomb. It was a plane. My 5 roommates and I stood transfixed in front of the television.
I can't remember if I ever got a shower. But I know I was standing in my living room when the second plane hit. I remember screaming. It was like watching a horror movie. This wasn't something that happens in real life.
I was numb, this couldn't be happening.
I get to my class late. My professor doesn't have a clue what's going on. And he doesn't seem to care. We tell him everything and he says we should just continue like everything is normal. Many of my classmates were from New York, they were in more shock than the rest of us. I don't remember a thing that was taught during that class, except he let us out early and we all turned on the television in the class. That's when we heard about the Pentagon.
My heart started racing. My best friend's father worked in the Pentagon. He was like a father to me. I was panicked. I left class, making my way to my apartment. My cell phone rang.
"Pack up your car now and come home!"
It was my mother.
"They're going to cancel school for the rest of the year, you just need to come home! I told you not to go to school so close to D.C. It's the end of the world as we know it!"
"Mom, they aren't cancelling school for the rest of the year, they aren't even cancelling class for the rest of the day." I tried to explain.
That's when my phone went out. Lines were down. Everywhere. I stood in the circle in front of the George Mason statue, trying to call my friend S, to see if his dad was okay. I couldn't get through.
That's when I heard someone call my name.
It was S. He couldn't get through to either of his parents. I tried on my cell phone. Nothing.
We walked back to my apartment where we could use a landline. He called his mom, but the line was busy. We sat in my living room, just watching update after update. We sat there for what felt like hours. Numb.
He finally got through to his mother. His dad was safe and on his way home. Little did we know that trip would take close to 8 hours. I was shaking. Still numb.
My next class was cancelled. It wasn't until 3p.m. that all classes at George Mason were cancelled for the rest of the day.
How does that make sense? Virginia Tech cancelled all classes at 10a.m.; UVA cancelled all classes around the same time. Even BYU cancelled classes before we did! And we were less than 10 miles from the Pentagon.
Everyone sat in front of their TVs, watching but still not quite comprehending it all. My mom was wrong. Classes weren't cancelled for the rest of the year. They weren't even cancelled for the next day. We just kept going.
I was angry. I still am angry. That hasn't gone away. I remember watching the local news that night when they urged at Middle-Eastern people to stay out of public areas. This was a matter of their personal safety. I should clarify. I'm not a racist. But I was angry. I watched on TV as people in the Middle-East cheered at our tragedy. They cheered.
So, you can imagine my shock when I went to class the next day and saw the entire Middle-Eastern population of my school standing in the square just outside the Johnson Center. They were everywhere. Handing out flyers. Sitting in my classes. I could stand to look at them. For those moments, I was a racist. I didn't want to see them. I didn't want to hear them say they weren't involved. I didn't want to watch them put on a rally for peace. I was angry and I just wanted them to disappear. This is when I regretted going to the most diverse university in the country.
My feelings made what happened during World War II make sense. The government send all Asians to camps for their own safety. Not just Japanese, but all Asians. September 11th, I wanted to do the same with all those of Middle-Eastern discent. I'm not proud of it. But I was angry.
I was angry when I went to my Lit class and watched a girl tell the professor she was dropping out of school since both of her parents had been killed in the Twin Towers. I was angry as I drove past the Pentagon the night of September 12th.
I was angry. I wasn't sad. I was angry. I remember when Toby Keith's song came out about September 11th. I.love.that.song.
I wanted to put a boot up Iraq's ass. I wanted to beat the shit out of them.
My anger is still around, although not as prevelant. I'm shocked to see movie's coming out about September 11th. I'll never, ever be able to sit though them. Its all still too raw for me. Too real.
Last weekend I was in New York, I visited the site of the World Trade Center. Then last night I went to the Pentagon. It was beautiful yet depressing at the same time.
They say everyone remembers where they were when Kennedy got shot. I don't know, I'm not old enough to know. But this is our generations equivalent. So, in honor of September 11th, just take a moment to think where you were, what you were doing when the world stopped turning. The moment our nation came together, when we learned what true patriotism was.
Get outta here!
Since my life is dull and boring, I decided to spice it up last weekend. Holiday weekends were make for getaways. Thus, I got away! Where? I went to New York City! YAY!
This may not seem like a big deal to some, but to me it was a HUGE deal. I rarely go anywhere. And in the past year the only place I've gone out of town is home. It was somewhat last minute. But totally exciting!
It ended up being my roomie, her friend Blondie*, my friend Ute, and me! We booked a hotel at the last minute (Friday afternoon), and then we left Saturday morning at 6:30, Blondie thankfully drove. Who knew that NYC is only 4 hours away? Yeehaw!
We bought theatre tickets to see Sweeney Todd (dark comedy... lots of blood), and went to a local pizza joint that had the most amazing pizza. No where in DC can you get an entire meal for $3! Gosh, I love pizza!
Yeah, so Saturday night we ordered in the nastiest takeout ever. It didn't sit well with any of us. Then we went to the theatre. It was just a few blocks from our hotel. Did I mention our hotel was literally one block from Rockafeller Center? Oh, and one block from The Radio City Music Hall... oh, and one block from 5th avenue!
5th avenue.
Be still my heart.
Sunday was a full day, Blondie and my roomie went to church, were as Ute and I decided to hit up 5th avenue, but then we saw there was a huge festival going on on the Avenue of the Americas! Everything was Brazilian, lots of good food, tons of vendors. It was great.
At noon we met up with the other girls at 44 & X Hell's Kitchen. Wow that place is awesome! The waiters are totally hott and nice! No, I mean like
really nice. Blondie had experienced a mean New Yorker on her way there... some guy hopped out in front of her car and screamed at her that in NY, you can't turn on a redlight. Whoops. Yeah, so she was a little upset. When she explained this to the waiter, he was a doll! He brought out 4 mimosas! Yeah, we felt so bad turning them down! Blondie's the one who did it, she looked at him, made one of her adorable faces (because she's a total knockout) and just said, "Oh, thank you so much, but we don't drink! But we really do appreciate the gesture!" He looked crushed at first, and then took the drinks over to the semi-celebrity.
That's right. There was a semi-celebrity.
Who, you may ask?
HIMI totally recognized him as soon as I got to the restaurant. I almost pulled out my camera phone but I restrained myself. For my friend's sake.
Yeah, so the semi-celebrity got our rejected mimosas. I wonder if he knew? It makes me feel more important than him. Look at me look at me! My rejected mimosa went to a celebrity. Kinda. Not everyone can say that!
Back to my trip, we ate our fabulous brunch, feeling bad for rejecting the mimosas, only to have the waiter come back with CHOCOLATE! He said, "If you all don't eat chocolate, I'm just gonna give up!"
How could I possibly say I don't eat chocolate? So, I didn't say a word. I had 2 bites of the vanilla ice cream and then let the other girls take everything else. So sad. This chocolate fast is a real bummer.
After brunch, we went back to the hotel, where Roomie and Blondie changed and went to Central Park, and Ute and I hopped on the subway (I know! I totally rode the NY Subway! I've never done that before!), and went to Chinatown!
Why Chinatown?
I was in need of some purses. I don't want knockoffs with PAGADIO on the label. I want a fake Prada that says PRADA. So, that's exactly what I got! I went a little hog wild. I bought 9 purses and 2 wallets. But in my defense, 3 of the purses and one of the wallets are for other people. And, sadly, despite all the purses I bought, I still can't help but think about the one that got away. There was a medium sized Coach patchwork purse that I stared at but didn't get. I got the big Coach patchwork, and a small hip purse in the Coach patchwork, but not the medium sized.
Yes, I have a problem. I'm addicted to adorable purses. And shoes. And clothes.
Later that day we hit up MEXX, a great clothing store, as well as a few other stores. Lucky I don't live in New York because I'd spend all my money on clothes. All the clothes I bought are things that I know none of my friends have. Around here, all my friend shop at Old Navy and Target. But in New York, the possibilities are endless.
Monday morning we work up early and walked across the street to the Today Show set. We watched portions of the show from the Rockafeller Center. Maybe you saw me.... maybe not.
After a quick breakfast, we all packed up, car stuffed to the brim, and headed to the Carnegie Deli to buy cheesecake. Then we hit the road.
4 hours later, we were back in D.C.
So sad. Someday I dream of living in New York City. But I only want to live there for like 3 months... then I want to come back to quiet.
Yeah, so that was my weekend. It was awesome and I want to do it all over again. And again. And again.
*names have been changed to protect the innocent... or crazy.... or whatever.
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