aCute fear of Flying

Housing update: Officially, as of last night, Mike and I have secured living arrangements* for at least the next year. We will be living with Chris, who graduated from Duke in ’07. He is an enthusiastic guy who likes HBO shows and living in nice townhomes. I originally thought the house was part of a rental community, but we actually have a landlord; he owns two connected townhomes, one of which we will be living in. I however, will be living in both. The girl who is currently occupying my lavender colored room isn’t due to move out until September, so I will be staying in

a room in the adjacent townhouse. Therein lays the benefit of having a landlord that owns both. I am going to shift my stuff to the garage tonight, say goodbye to Chad and Lauren in the morning, and wash my hands of Flemington Rd. forever. I will miss the perpetual marathon of Friends, and the tasty ice cubes that our freezer managed to birth.

*Disclaimer: we found this place through Craigslist, so any future jailtime or brain damage resulting from said discovery should be blamed solely on one WGK. Address: 213 Columbia Place West, Chapel Hill, NC 27516

I just bought a bike on the internal company “For Sale” mailer. It’s a sturdy beast, and it now sits snugly in the back of the Intrepid. If my car has any presentiment skills, it would do well to crush the bike before I can unload it. I have a feeling that any travel outside of work will be done via my new trike, minus the training wheels. If I leave the training wheels are, they are sure to poke holes in my diaper.

Disconsolate Dreams: On Thursday night, I had perhaps the most depressing dream I’ve had since I was five; only the second real nightmare in my life. When I was in Kindergarten, I had a dream about a red sponge brontosaurus being lynched and screaming in pain. I remember I woke up crying. On Thursday night, I dreamt of running through a small desert in Spring Lake (my hometown) barefoot. I was sidestepping poisonous snakes, successfully dodging through to the other side where my family was standing. One of the snakes managed to nip me, but it was just a small flap of skin, like I had cut myself with a piece of paper. When I pulled at it though, it revealed that my entire foot was empty and a rotten black; it was being eaten away by the poison. So, for the rest of the dream, I had fifteen minutes to run around town and say goodbye to everyone who was ever important to me. My family was on the other side of the desert, so I grabbed them first, fiercely. I was able to find everyone, extended family and all, in fifteen minutes. I went to the Heins’ and then the Mikrut’s, finding Jake with his shirt off (typical), and shared a few laughs with him and his mom. The only people I didn’t get to say farewell to were my Dad (because he was on the phone with Poison Control, trying to find a cure) and Bert. I know I can’t adequately describe my fear, but let’s just say I discovered that desperation can undoubtedly equate to terror.

Big Berth Day: With that dream being my weapon of mass portent, I set out to invade the weekend. Friday night was dedicated to the celebration of Sumertime Susan’s birthday. The setting was Rum Runners, a dueling piano bar in Raleigh. The characters you all know and love. Mike paid $10 for them to play the Michigan fight song, and then some cretin paid $11 for them to stop and play Ohio State’s song instead. It was a great night, and I now reserve a special part of my heart for the love of piano bars and Gypsy’s Shiny Face Diner, where we ate afterward.

Was he hot? Was he sweaty? On Saturday, I hung out at Wisconsin’s pad with him and his friend from Atlanta. Also in attendance: Zhang it! and a guy from Wisconsin that has been here for a year, Luke Skyhook. Skyhook was telling us about how he lived next to a football player when he was in the dorms back in college. Whenever he would walk by down the hallway, the guy would be completely naked, lying on his couch with naught but a hand towel hanging out on his “front porch.” Apparently, the guy was a 300 lb defensive lineman. Without really thinking, I said “Was he hot?” In response I got shocked looks from everybody, and several pointed jabs at my sexuality. Trying to rectify my mistake, I said, “I meant, was he sweaty?” Again, nothing but shock and awe. I finally was able to communicate that I was only trying to find out why he was naked and not trying to visualize him for my own mind vacation. Still, I’ve managed to plant a seed of suspicion in my colleagues; as it has long been said, curiosity killed the cat and prying polished off the pussy. While the rest of the group joined the neighbors in an outdoor session of beer pong, I lay on a towel in the parking lot and made friendship pacts with a robot dog (a terrierist from Yorkshire) for, quite literally, at least two hours.

Snitches ain’t Snit Sunday: Went to an outdoor mall with Aaron to escort him to the AT&T store to set up his iPhone. Stumbled about Best Buy for awhile, bought a Livestrong t-shirt (in support of Johnny One-seed) and an outdoor volleyball at Dick’s. We played a few games of volleyball, and when I ran back in the words to fetch an errant serve, I almost stepped in a three-foot-long black snake. Déjà revuelta. (My best foreign language pun to date! Stop revolting... this have happened before.)Went to see the most recent Harry Potter at night with Mike and Zhang it!, and it was actually quite ambitious, much better than those previous and what I had expected.

Peach Pitney: Tonight after volleyball I am hoping to meet up with Rachel, a friend from high school. She has ties to my sister (volleyball), Bert (girlfriends!), and Duke (boyfriend!). I assume she is looking for a job related to nursing, but I guess I will find out more tonight if we are able to meet up. I need to snatch my glasses from the vision center, either tonight or tomorrow morning, so I look good for the Great Lakes.