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Last-Minute Roadtrip & Summer Vacation

July 26, 2001 in Life, Travel | No comments

Well, an eventful month is nearing it’s end and once again, I’ve nearly gone the duration without an update. I suppose that I could start at the top- Hell, I’ve got all afternoon to write this. It all started with a phone call from Mary…

You see, a friend of hers was stranded in Willits, California and needed someone to drive with his girlfriend in a rental car to meet him down there, so they could get his car in the morning. Mary and I, driving down in the rental, would return directly after dropping off the girlfriend, Mar’s friend Christina. This seemed like a simple enough plan, and hey- I had nothing else to do on a Sunday night, so I went. Little did I realize that it would mean driving about 900 miles over 15 hours or so.

The trip down was rather uneventful, save for an ill-advised move by Mary to warm me up at the beach in Crescent City, CA by forcing me to wear her sweatshirt. Of course, she is a lot smaller than I, so this was a humorous sight indeed (at least for her- I was just uncomfortable.) Maybe I’m just not used to having a bare midriff. Oh well. The rest of the way down we took turns sleeping, as Christina drove the distance. At about 1:00am, I began to reconsider my situation, as we were still about 100 miles for our destination and I was a little more than tired. Somehow, we made it there and by about 3:00am, Mary and I were ready to embark on our ride home. This trip was filled with conversation- mostly about our futures and the sometimes frightening ride down to California, but for the most part, we simply enjoyed each other’s company. At about 4:00am we found ourselves in a section of redwoods and decided to take a look. While out of the car, we glanced at the sky and were captivated by what looked like thousands of stars. There’s something that must be said about being on a side road in the middle of a forest with no lights, a clear night, and a beautiful woman. What that something is, I don’t know, as it was scared out of my head by the rustling in the bushes and subsequent dive back into the car by both Mary and I. We made it out alive that time, but barely. Who knows what sort of beast was lurking in the bushes- maybe it was a raccoon, or some random drug-crazed drifter. I’m sticking by my theory that it was the yeti.

We continued driving, and as I was at the wheel, Mary was allowed to sleep, which she did until I woke her to look at a giant herd of elk, which she subsequently misidentified as cows. I thought that the antlers were a dead giveaway, but hey, she had just woken up. From her side, I wonder what it felt like to believe that you had been woken by the sound of your ex-boyfriend’s excited voice only to see a field full of cows. A little further up highway 99 I got out of the car to take pictures of the “cows.” I drove for a few more hours, and she slept a little more, and we finally stopped in Grants Pass to eat breakfast at Denny’s. It was good, but the locals were staring quite a bit at me, my greasy hair, and my shiny, tired face. Mary looked pretty normal, aside from the fact that she had bed head from sleeping for about four hours. My pancakes were pretty good, as I imagine Mary’s hot wings were as well, and we left there by about 9:00. Considering the length of our trip down there, we were making great time back, which was good, considering that Mary had an appointment in the afternoon. After breakfast, she took the wheel for the final 100-150 miles or so, and I tried to sleep. After what seemed like a very short ride back to Eugene (I guess I fell asleep), we arrived at the campus, where I picked up my paycheck and proceeded to sleep.

The California trip was by far the most eventful thing to happen in the first couple weeks of July, with me working or being extremely poor for most of the rest of the month. However, I did make it to Newport to enjoy their fireworks show with my parents, as well as go crabbing with my dad and brother. It was pretty fun, and I brought home three large crabs to enjoy with my friends once back in Eugene. About a week later my brother visited for a couple days, during which time we went bowling with Curtis, Chris, Zach, and Geoff, and were subsequently humiliated by Curtis’ once in a lifetime (for him anyway) 180+ game. Due to that performance, Chris and I had to wear skirts to a staff meeting. (but that’s another story.) the next day, Brandon and I went golfing, and the rest of the time he was here was spent hanging out and/or going out for meals. After a few days, he returned home, and my life returned to normal for a couple weeks, balancing work with more work, mixed with lounging time. This continued for a couple weeks, until I went on what will probably be my only real vacation of the summer- to Sun River with Curtis and Jessie-co.

The whole point of going to Sun River was that Josh is working there for the summer, so we would be able to do most of the activities there for little or no cost, as well as spend some quality time with Josh and the lovely Jessie Kirk. After driving for about three hours, we arrived in Sun River and proceeded to get back in a car, this time Josh’s, in order to go look at stars and stuff on top of a hill.  On the way up the hill, we passed a random drifter on the side of the road. I thought for a moment that this could in fact be the same drifter that tried to attack Mary and I in California, but that thought soon retreated to the back of my mind. Once atop he hill, we all talked, shared a few memories of the past year, and looked at stars until they all retreated behind the incoming clouds. The rest of the evening was spent making fun of Curtis and preparing for the next day’s activity- kayaking.

We woke up at about 9:00 and proceeded to get an early start on our kayaking trip, which, aside from the sight of the unhealthily-white and skinny Curtis and his orange-haired legs diving into the river, was quite good. Actually, it was really fun- especially since we could all now call Curtis “Orange.” The trip down the river lasted a few hours, after which time we retreated to Bend where we went grocery shopping. We then went exploring deep into a lava cave, where, as required, I turned my ankle and proceeded to battle ankle pain for the rest of the day. That night we went out to dinner and Curtis bought me a drink, never mind the fact that he’s 20. Don’t ask questions- just accept it. After a few hours at “Cheers,” we went back to Josh’s for “The Big Lebowski,” followed by bed.

The next morning, we awoke at around 10:00, ate breakfast, then embarked on the longest bike ride of my life. We rode a total of slightly more than 20 miles down the Deshuttes, looking at waterfalls, and risking cardiac arrest. The ride went pretty well, aside from the fact that I was exhausted by the end of it, and the fact that my bike was falling apart. (Twice during the trip my pedal fell off completely.) Once we returned to the house, we cooked and ate dinner, then proceeded to see Jurassic Park 3. It was ok, but totally unrealistic. I mean, come on- how many new islands filled with dinosaurs are there going to be? Anyway… we pretty much lounged around the next day, until driving home at about 7:00. Since then, I’ve attended a few classes, gone out to dinner once with Mary, and cleaned my room a few times. That’s about it. Tomorrow I’m going to buy two tickets to see Tool in Eugene on the 5th, and on the 7th I’m going with Lauren, Brian and Chris Wells to see Eric Clapton. The next few days will be very work-filled, as a response to the fact that I ran out of money entirely too soon this month. For now, I’ll work on a few other pages.

21st Birthday

July 5, 2001 in Life | No comments

Now that the months of summer are upon us, I’m deeming this evening’s update to be the one that finally deals with the world-shaking events otherwise known as Chris’ birthday. After all, as Ham Staff knows, birthdays last but three months of the year. So, in keeping with recent tradition, let us wish Chris a happy birthday, July 5th style!

Hey- it’s not that I’m really intending for people to continue the celebration, it’s really just that I now have time to reflect. Besides, I’ve pretty much been called out by Vanessa. Between pistols at dawn and a website update a month late, I pick the update (primarily because I do not own a pistol.)

The day started as other- with a midnight trip to Albertsons to buy some Weinhards. With this, I was able to exercise my new found responsibility to both buy alcohol, then later consume it. I couldn’t believe the actual transformation that my body went through at precisely 12:01 am, May 29th. It was as though I was suddenly a grownup. I cast aside my childish dreams and immediately grew a mean beard. Most of all though, from 11:59 to 12:01, I officially became responsible enough to be trusted with fire water. I couldn’t even imagine what would have happened had I possessed alcohol before I reached the age of 21. I promptly returned to my room and basked in the moment with Chris Wells. About 30 minutes later I retired to bed. I guess it was my age catching up with me.

In the morning I went to class, like most other days- though I left early. I proceeded to walk to 13th street, where I met Vanessa, as well as DPS Eddy and Joey for lunch at Sy’s. It was very nice and low-key, though Vanessa was pissed since I had received a 35 (out of 35) on my geography midterm (half of which I was not in class for), while she received, well, I can’t remember what she received. Anyway, she was not happy. She did get to laugh at me though, as I proceeded to drop sausage all over the place as it fell off my pizza. Lunch only lasted about a half hour, and following its completion I returned to my room, where I basked in the first day of what I now simply refer to as “birthday.”

The rest of that day was spent more or less relaxing, later traveling to McMenamin’s where Brian and Lauren treated me to a burger and a beer. This was good, and Brian and I were able to talk for about an hour about cars and other miscellaneous things while Lauren looked on. I’m not sure how entertaining it was for her, but hey, this is MY birthday, so there. After dinner, I returned to my room where I waited for an impromptu staff meeting. While waiting for the meeting to commence, I was graced by the appearance of Jessie Kirk and the lovely Josh Christiansen. Wait… I think I reversed those. Anyway, they brought me a Corona and happy birthday wishes, while helping me watch Traffic. After the meeting, I retired to my room, where I eventually went to bed. Nothing much happened on my birthday, but more was to come, with a promise from Vanessa for a full day of birthday celebration.

On Saturday I arrived at Vanessa’s place at roughly noon only to find her laying in bed. This was ok though, as it was my day and she in turn had no right to feel as though her privacy had been invaded by my presence at the foot of her bed. After about a half hour of conversation, she finally rose from her slumber and we were ready to start the day. She proceeded to make breakfast for me, consisting of toast and sausage, which was very good by the way. After doing the dishes, she began working on what was soon to become my birthday cake. While the cake was baking, we worked on cleaning the kitchen and continued talking. When the cake was done, we commenced our day out. The first stop was VRC where Vanessa searched through racks of discount clothes, somehow finding outfit after outfit that looked great on her. I’m not sure that I can count all of the articles of clothing that she pulled off of racks, but the whole trying-on process probably lasted upwards of 20 minutes. It was ok though, as I knew that this was at least in preparation for what was to be our evening out. In all I think she bought something like $100 in clothing, which I think is more than I have spent in all my years in Eugene.

We walked around the mall for a while, but didn’t really buy anything else. From there, we drove to Dairy Queen where we sat in the parking lot and ate hotdogs, which, if it were not with a beautiful woman, would sound very pathetic. We then drove to some cool neighborhood in the area of Coburg Road and looked at big, cool houses and just talked. The day soon took a turn for the serious though, when while shopping at Wal Mart, we found what seemed to be an excellent engagement ring- and for only about $7.00! It seemed perfect, not to mention the fact that I wasn’t all that sure that I had asked for her hand in marriage. However the joy soon turned to sadness when we realized that there were no rings in her size. Disappointed but not defeated, we ventured to Target where our luck was better. Secure with our newly discovered engagement, we separated for a while when she had to make an appearance at work. I used the opportunity to change my clothes and shave, as she had made a vow to “be the most beautiful date” I’d ever had. I decided that I should probably look decent as well. (At least I tried.)

She returned to my room at about 9:30, and we decided to go out shortly after 10:00. Where she had attempted to become the most beautiful date I had ever had, she largely succeeded. In truth, I was pretty surprised that I was going out with this woman for a night (as were my residents, who, as I was told, actually watched us leave the building and continued talking about us quite a while after we had left.) Vanessa wanted to go to a place where we could dance, but I’m not really much a dancer, so we seemed to settle on a sort of middle ground. We went to Diablos, where we sat at the bar for a while and ate, (as well as drank). After eating and watching the bartender spit fire, we went downstairs to the dance floor where I proceeded to watch her and many other people dance. It was actually quite fun, even though I was mainly in an observatory mode. She would come over to me every now and then and talk, but for the most part I was just glad that she was having fun for my birthday. Perhaps the best part was watching all of these guys making passes at her, then looking slightly dejected when they realize that she was in fact with me. In a few cases, guys even came up to me to comment on my “fine” girlfriend. I, of course, nodded and smiled.

We were there until about 2:00am, when we returned to her place and just sort of relaxed for a while. Nothing much was said at this point, but I think that we both were in agreement that it had been a very good day. I guess that perhaps the best part was that she did so much for my birthday, especially when she really didn’t have to. I mean, she baked a cake and took me out to lunch, which is where most people would stop. However, she went head and shoulders above what she needed to, and I really appreciated it. Even now, a month later, I look back to that day and it really means a lot to me. I’m really glad that I’ve grown so close to her, and it is times like that one Saturday that remind me of exactly how good she has been towards me in the year that I have known her. I’m just glad that she’s my fiancé.

November; Sickness

November 27, 2000 in Life, School, Work | No comments

Aw yes… The holidays are upon us, which invariably means that Chris is once again battling some form of bronchitis. It seems that whenever I am ready to jam myself full of turkey and stuffing, whether it be Thanksgiving or Christmas, I find myself confined to the sofa sipping from a glass of water and taking in whatever holiday marathon is taking place on The Learning Channel. This Thanksgiving it was “Junkyard Wars.” It was pretty cool because this team of fat, British bikers turned a Land Rover into an amphibious vehicle, kicking the crap out of a Royal Navy Team. When I saw them, I couldn’t help but think back to an old Monty Python skit advertising the hip new “Royal Nayvee” (Which, by no cannibalism, I mean that there’s a certain amount). It made me laugh, which unfortunately hurt a lot.

Aside from TLC, I also watched my fair share of Comedy Central- which was nice since we don’t have it here in Eugene. I loaded up on SNL repeats and The Daily Show when whatever was on TLC or the History Channel didn’t interest me.

Unfortunately, this meant that I spent almost every waking moment of the two days that I was in McMinnville sitting in front of the television- save for the hour or so that I spent at the doctor’s office getting prescriptions for stuff that would make me not want to get out of bed for days.

But it wasn’t all bad, I did get to clean my Bimmer and see my family, so that was cool. I just would have liked to be able to leave the house, or at least eat. I arrived back in Eugene Friday night, at which time I cleaned my room a little, watched “The Perfect Storm” in Curtis’ room and retired to bed where I stayed until roughly noon. Saturday was spent driving around Eugene visiting many, many thrift stores and a guitar shop with Vanessa. Our goal was to find a petticoat for her to wear under her gorgeous new dress for her mother’s wedding. Though we stopped at more stores than I can count, our mission ultimately proved unsuccessful. She still tried on the dress for me, and yes, she still looked beautiful- even without the extra poofiness that a petticoat would have provided. We were out until about 6:30, when I had to come back to my room for duty. It was good timing too as I made it back just as our steak had hit the Red Devil Grill (The Ultimate Outdoor Kitchen) over on the Watson porch. I proceeded to have a delicious steak dinner with Pete, Josh, Curtis, Roland, and Taka. Vanessa was there too, but she didn’t really eat, so she doesn’t count. The food was good, we made a lot of jokes, and it was the first real meal that I had had in a few days, so I was happy.

The next day was spent laying in bed until about noon, when my election coverage intake was interrupted by Mary and Jen, who were coming to make sure that I had been taking my medication and drinking plenty of water. They proceeded to make me drink water out of an empty Weinhard’s root beer and choke down my huge pills. While that wasn’t very pleasant, it was reassuring to know that they would prefer that I not die. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around my room with an assortment of people, including Mary, Jen, Peter, and Patrick until I decided that showertime is traditionally before 3:00. Eventually, I emerged from my room to pick up Cassie from the train station. It was the first time all day that I had actually left my room, so that felt good. Besides- Cassie is a sweetheart, so I had to.

Cassie and I returned to my room where we watched The Simpsons with Mary, Peter, and Kayla. This was eventually interrupted by over five cop cars outside Hamilton, but that’s another story. Once we were done standing in the cold, inhaling pepper spray, I followed through on my threat to make Cassie watch “American Beauty.” She seemed to like it, and I of course still regard it as genius. With the exception of my comforting Mary through “Apocalypse Now” later that night, this essentially ended my Thanksgiving weekend. I’m going to aim at ceasing my illness sometime this week, but no promises. We’ll see how the week goes- all things considered, this weekend was pretty cool.