Chapter 7: One Tiring Afternoon

Well, I thought I'd be writing about the fair right now, but I found out that people were gone and stuff, so we were going to go during the Labor Day weekend. So now knowing that, I was able to think about other stuff (kinda).

I'm still deciding whether or not today would be classified as "did something", I mean, I sure as hell know I did something (I mean, how else do you explain my sore "biceps femoris"?). Once again, it wasn't anything special, but there was a lot of walking (matter of fact, it was mostly walking). Allow me to elaborate.

The day started slowly again. I tried to wake up earlier this morning, but to no avail. I once again arose around 1 o'clock (hey, where do you suppose that "o" part of "o'clock" came from?), and of course, Jason with his wonderful conversations slapped me awake. Well, at least he recognizes my voice now. That, or he knew I was the only one home. Anyway, it was interesting this time, though. We both knew exactly what we were going to do. We were going to school.

Before Labor Day, you ask? Well it's not like we're going there with our backpacks and Ghostbusters™ lunch boxes (not that I have one or anything . . .), we were just going to pick up our schedules for the upcoming year. THE YEAR THAT STARTS IN 2 WEEKS! NOOOOOOOOOO! So we were going to meet there in 20 minutes, huh? Works for me. It worked until I remembered how hot it was outside.

So I began my crusade through the ultraviolet jungle that is the urban outdoors, and hiked through the concrete rainforest to the one place I didn't want to be this summer: school. But, no great harm today, I only need to be there for a few minutes. But until then, I still need to trek 15 minutes or so through the 30-degree weather (I'm Canadian, so this is a lot). So I walked, and walked, and perspired, and walked, and sweat some more, and stopped at 7-11 for a slurpee, and got to the school. By now it was about 1:30.

I ran into Jason outside the office, and he tells me to hurry up and get my schedule. I was shocked to see no lines. I'm not exaggerating either. There was literally no people lined up outside the front desk. I then realized that this was good, so I hurried up and got my schedule. J and I went into the courtyard (shaded, of course) to compare our classes. Basically it ran down as "good teacher, don't know, don't know, okay teacher, hmm that's interesting, good teacher, that bitch, don't know, heard he's good". So I think I'll do okay.

So we then decided to go to my place, which involved walking BACK through the heat (I can't believe it's still this hot), but eventually we made it, and bee-lined for the basement. So I turned on the TV, trying to see if there was anything good on, which there wasn't (come on, early afternoon?). I later settled on TSC (The Shopping Channel) because they were showcasing the "George Foreman Family-size Grill" again. Jason turned on the computer (without asking [which is typical for him]), and clicked on Worms 2. I'm not kiddin', that game has become quite a staple amongst my friends. Of course, he hasn't made a team yet, so he did that first. He settled with a "Looney Tunes" naming scheme. Of course, Jason isn't the greatest speller, so it eventually became "Lonney Tones". This, in turn, included such characters like "Wyle Coyatoe", "FoggHorn Leghorn", "Twetty", and "Sylvesger" (he's not a great typist either).

Well, I have to say he did okay, considering he's played the game once before, but goddamn! Aaaaaaaaaaanyway, he eventually set out a call to Tina to see if she's doing anything. After that we all chose to go BACK to the school so she could get her thing. So we left the cool, heat sanctuary of my basement, I called my mom to say where I was, I did my quick wallet-keys-watch-sunglasses 1-2-3-4 checklist, and we set out for Tina's place. Once we got there, I once again remembered how hot it was outside. Oh well, whadayagonnado, right?

Tina brought along her new dog "Fletch" and we set for the 20-minute walk to the school. It was a little different this time, though. Now there were three people sharing a sidewalk plus a leashed canine! Not much room. Well, we did make it to the school, and found it to be closed after 3 (even during the summer). Our entire journey was a bust. We began to walk back . . . but first, we have to go to 7-11. We spent about 10 minutes loitering on the bike rack (and this is one of those cheap plastic 8" tall wheel racks) eating ice cream. Then it hit me. I know I said before I basically have 2 groups of friends, but now thinking about it, I'd kinda have to say that Jason and Tina and I are a third group. I mean, we've hung out several times as just us three, and that was it.

I don't really care much for it, though. Not that I don't like them or anything, I mean, Tina & I have gone to the same school for 11 years now! It's just that you know the whole thing about "3 is a crowd"? That's basically it. Once again, not that THEY don't want me around specifically, but me knowing what I do, I just don't want to . . . ya know . . . crowd. I know better than that.

Now for something off topic: What the hell is with Archie Comics™? I mean, I am NOT even a quarter of a loser that he is, yet he gets TWO girls? Come on! I mean, one girl he doesn't even notice that much, the other's father hates him, yet they both go crazy for this L-O-S-E-R! It makes me want to throw up what I ate last week! What is it about this red-haired moron? He always gets sent to the principal, yet he's not a real "bad guy". He plays every sport there is, yet we also know he's not THAT athletic. PLUS he's a klutz! That's not fair. Why should he deserve so much attention (even though he IS a cartoon)?

Okay, Archie Comics™ aside, after our "sev" trip, we went back to Tina's to drop off Fletch. After that, we chose to go to the bike shop on the other side of town and down the hill. So we walked, and walked, and talked, and sweated, and walked, and sweated, and talked, and complained, and walked, and all of a sudden we were there (boy, half and hour sure goes by fast when your griping about the weather). Essentially we walked around, looking at all the really expensive bikes, playing "appraiser", guessing the actual retail price of them. Well, eventually Jason & Tina started looking around on their own, and I put myself in front of the water-bottle thing. I mean, not everyone can afford a $60 water-backpack. Yeah, so I bought a water-bottle holder and a bottle. It was gray.

So we left the place, and re-entered the purgatory that is the sun. With that, we went to the 7-11 across the street (I'm seeing a trend. Do you?). So we bought some more drinks, and started walking BACK home, UP the hill. So we walked, and walked, and sipped, and walked, and sweat, and cursed, and drank, and hiked, and limped, and sweat some more, and spilt some pop, and cursed again, and walked, and gulped, and spat, and walked and we still weren't there. Technically, it was now evening time, but I still didn't notice a difference.

Yeah, so there's all these cars and trucks and stuff flying decimeters away from my fingers, which really isn't helping any. Soon afterwards, we coincidentally found ourselves walking past a bus stop as a bus was, well . . . stopping. I thought to myself, "gee, is there anyone on there I know?" Then Robyn and her sister stepped out. And ya just know someone "up there" is laughing uncontrollably.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed in her always-pleasant demeanor.

"Hi," we all say. Basically I don't really remember what we said to each other. Just that we didn't really say much, and then we all headed off in our own directions. At least at this point we hit the peak of the hill. Technically it was all downhill from here, but it's not like life is THAT good, right? So we slowly dragged ourselves in our respective ways and said our good-byes. As we all left, I quickly shouted to them,

"So, you guys up for a movie tomorrow?" They answered with "sures" and "okays".

Man, I don't think that couch EVER felt so good in my life! I think I may have just stretched out on that thing for well over an hour. Of course, I didn't. So there I lay, noticing that that "Friends" was almost on (gee, I was outside for a long time!). So I watched that for the next block of time (at THIS point I lay on the sofa for well over an hour). I still hadn't eaten anything, though, and I was starting to get hungry. But then again, I don't want to put too much effort into making it. I settled on canned soup. But hey, it was good soup. After that, I was stuck alone to my thoughts again. And that is ALWAYS so much fun!

Well, the bit of thinking helped me out a bit, as I realized what was wrong with my "comedy act". I try too hard. I try to make a joke, but it sucks because I simply try too hard! I mean, Pete was always telling me this, but I always thought nothing of it. Perhaps I should've. So that's resolution #1: don't try to be funny. Just be. Now that's gonna be a quote used forever (except I'll bet someone has already said that before). So I was thinking about this movie, and who to call. Shoot! I should've asked Robyn when we ran into her. Well, I'll call her tomorrow. And then I'll hafta call Jody (come on, that's a given), and Meg as well. And Craig? Well, I learnt that his dad was part of the same union the locked-out projectionists are (yeah, we've had this problem for a while), so he's against the theatre. And Tony's . . . still out of town, apparently.

So that night, I watched a little wrestling (typical), and went online. I was shocked for the second time today. Whereas the first time involved few people, this one involved several. There were a lot of people online right now. Let's see . . . Jason, Pete, this other guy from my "other friends", and . . . hey, it's Phil! Another bio coming up;

Phil: he's a year younger than all of us, but he also grew up with the likes of Tony and Jason, so he's a pretty fun guy to be around. He also watches wrestling (I think), and is really funny. I mean, he's on hot streaks all the time when it comes to making people laugh. In other words, "Phil is to Chandler as Tony is to Joey." Oh, and we don't bug him about being younger either; he's in our grade of math.

Well, seeing him online itself is not such a big deal, but the thing is that he went on the trip with Tony. Therefore, they are both back in town. We talked for a while, and asked him if he was interested in the movie as well. He agreed. Just in case he reads this, I just want to say I'm sorry I didn't mention you earlier, but ya know . . . sake of simplicity. Aaaaaanyway, I guess I'll also be calling Tony up tomorrow.

Later that night, while "ICQing" Jason, he informed me that Meg was out of town. I told Phil that and he was surprised . . . but now I realize it was because he just got back in town! Still, I think I'll give her a call tomorrow.

Well, I shut off the computer and went upstairs to watch TV. Of course, at this time it's all infomercial (which I don't mind at all), so I was basically alone with my thoughts again. My mind eventually drifted to Jody again (typical). This time I was thinking about my conduct in her presence. A lot of it really sucked. I'm thinking I may have gotten weird on her and made her feel a little uncomfortable lately (lately, of course meaning last month). I realized something else about this: Much like how I'm not funny when I try, I believe that same rule applies here. Yes. Resolution #2: In such . . . situations, just relax and play through it in a normal fashion. Okay, that doesn't really make a lot of sense. You're just gonna hafta "feel this one out".

That night I found myself biting my nails a lot too. I don't know when this habit started up again (during braces, I couldn't, so I stopped. But now that they're off . . .). All I know is that during this night my thumb slipped and a jagged nail went into my gums. Yes, I had to do the whole salt-water swishing thing, and yes it hurt very much, but it was my own fault. Matter of fact, I did that a few days ago on the other side of my mouth! Not to as great an extent (I mean, the newest one bled!), but I did it nonetheless. So I guess that's resolution #3: STOP BITING DA NAILZ!!!!!

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