Last Day of Freedom Eve

I didn't write about this but I came across this picture not too long ago.  It was one of the last things I did this summer at Holmdel Park.  We worked alongside volunteers in widening and adding more support to various areas on some of the trails.  Pretty cool ey?

Getting Stuff Done:

Today’s my 2 week anniversary and it started off very sweetly.  I got a text message from Laura that read, “Off to look at furniture…I wish you here to do this with me.  Stuff like this I miss u most.”  This text meant so much to me. I wish I could be there to help Laura get ready to take this very important step in her life….moving out.  She’s moving in to her friend Stephanie Monte’s house…not some dude Monte you crazy animals hahahaha.  I can’t help but wish it was OUR place that WE were looking for furniture for…but that’s why I’m out here…in hopes of making the dream (of sitting on a couch with Indy at our feet while we watch movies & eating Ramen) a reality.  With that in mind, I geared up for the gym and headed out the door. 

As previously stated…my car needed a bath BIG time!  I googled some local car washes and there were a bunch within the area, one being not much more than a minute out.  I stopped by that one and it was super creepy and it looked like one of those self-wash deals.  I had no idea what I was doing and I wasn’t exactly positive the place was open so I left, headed to Auto Zone for some new wiper blades while I GPS’d the next car wash on the list…it was VERY close and they did a full service deal.  It took them forever (35 minutes) to do my car…what the hell?!?! CULTURE SHOCK ALERT: There were more Caucasians than Latin Americans operating the towels & vacuums….that’s definitely not the case in NJ. While I was waiting for my car I was able to watch some of the Bears game in the waiting area.  I gotta tell ya, it’s very weird watching football before noon.  I was waiting so long for my car I was even able to talk to my sister Katie and future ranger Jake.  C’Mon Man!

After the wash I headed to Aquaplex…the gym with the waterpark.  It was my first time actually working out in the joint and it had the same frustrations as every other gym I’ve ever been to. It all started with the dude that backed up his pickup truck until his tires hit the curb…so his truck bed blocked the entire sidewalk so I had to detour up around the snow.  To make matters worse, he was in a handicap spot.  The dude was still in his car and he caught me giving him a very disapproving look when I returned to the sidewalk.  Needless to say he moved his car up. A cool thing about this place is they lend out locks for their lockers. Unfortunately, idiots don’t lock their lockers so you think they’re open…but they’re not.  My biggest pet peeve in every gym is all of the old guys walking around with their dinglehoppers exposed.  Just like the YMCA, kids overran the place but they stayed down near the pool so it wasn’t too much of an issue.  The gym part of the building had a homey feel to it.  It wasn’t crowded and the equipment was scarce but spaced out enough that you could work out without an audience…that is unless you use the “indoor track”.  The track goes around the outside of the tiny weight room; it’s so small that you have to run 15 laps in order to travel a mile.  I got a little chest action  in mixed with a lot of stretching and abdominal work and a little bit of cardio and then I was going to try to get on the basketball court.  The kids invaded that as well but they at least have a better defined court schedule than that of the Freehold YMCA. One cool thing I’m going to look in to is every Thursday Night they have 5 on 5 pickup games, winner stays on. 

My headphones crapped the bed again so I cleaned up at the gym and headed to Best Buy.  Best Buy shares a parking lot with Petco amongst other stores but I immediately thought about when I used to walk Indy around pet stores and everybody used to pet her and say how good she was.  When I was walking around Best Buy I saw a service dog with some couple and I thought that was weird, considering my train of thought heading into the store.  Then things got VERY weird.  I picked up my new head phones and came out to a central aisle and this wolf like dog came in the store and came toward me!  I think he belonged to one of the employees but nobody could corral the little fella.  He was cool looking, all white, very wolf looking, and had 1 brown eye & 1 blue eye.  He followed me around the DVDs and then to the cashier; he let me pet him but if I tried to grab him he bolted.  I steered him toward some of the employees where they leashed him up and I checked out. We need to wear a “nice” shirt to class on Tuesday since we won’t have our uniforms yet so I headed next door to Old Navy.  I love that place!  They were having a super clearance sale so I got a sweater, a fleece jacket, the shirt I needed, shorts, & a backup brown belt for my class uniform.  The most expensive thing was the belt, I got the fleece for 3 dollars, the shirt was A DOLLAR, the shorts were $2, and the sweater was $7.  I did pretty well I’d say; the cashier said she needs to start shopping with me hahaha.

With nothing but time on my hands I headed directly across the street to the Toyota dealership to check out my dream car. (Quick aside: Anybody from NJ that knows Route 9 won’t believe this.  You can pull into a shopping mall out here, say on the southbound side of the highway, and when you’re done you can just make a left out of the parking lot and head right back on the northbound side…thanks largely to the center lane designed for turning.   This is a major highway here but they don’t believe in jughandles.  Weird.) So I pulled into the lot, which I love doing on Sundays because nobody’s around to bother you, and the white 4Runner Nick & I have passed a few times was no longer there…surprise surprise…they’re all over the road!  Since they are slightly cheaper & almost as cool, I’ve also been looking into the FJ Cruisers and wouldn’t ya know it…they had a 4Runner & a FJ Cruiser right in front of the store.  I checked out the FJ first because something looked different about it; that difference was a $5,000 mountain type package called the “Rock Crawler” option.  What the heck?!?! This cost as much as a 4Runner.  Next it was on to the 4Runner.  This one looked like the Limited model but the running boards were missing.  Looking at the price tag I let out a loud YIKES!  These two vehicles were way too overly priced so I decided to walk around the lot…and that’s where I found the truck of my dreams; my gun metal 4Runner SR5 with black cloth interior, moonroof, & a trailer hitch (cue the Tim Allen growl from Home Improvement).  Uh Oh! Somebody left the truck unlocked so naturally I jumped inside. So beautiful.  This bad boy is the only materialistic thing I’ve ever wanted sooooooooooooo badly so I called it my motivation.  The day I obtain this beast I’m getting a personalized license plate that reads: NVRGVUP.

My Dream Car: NVRGVUP

FJ Cruiser with Rock Crawler Package

So it’s after 2pm and the only thing I’ve eaten today was a half a wheat bagel thin right as I woke up and there was one place I’ve always wanted to try but never had the chance too…Sonic…and I with my rejuvenated spirit pumping, I headed over there.  The whole ordering & having somebody skate your order to you was a little weird but I got a grilled chicken sandwich on wheat and a Diet Dr. Pepper.  After ordering I called Laura to see how her shopping was going.  She sounded so elated that it was almost intoxicating talking to her; this was probably our longest conversation in a long time and when we got off the phone we still had so much more to talk about.  We only paused once when I thanked the car hop for bringing out my grub but I was so enthralled by the conversation that I could hardly eat. That’s fantastic considering we talk every day.  Laura had so much good news to share.  She got a great deal on all of her super cool “big girl furniture” AND she was presented with an opportunity to work the job she’s always wanted with the company she’s worked with all throughout X-Ray school and ever since.  It’s only one day a week, to go with her other 2 jobs, but it’s still a hell of a break! I got my food on and headed home…it looked like there a party going on and I couldn’t even get in the driveway.  I turned around and Arkansas & Nick came out of the house and were heading out to get a post workout meal.  I got in the house and Jane & Jim Honey were constructing a CD tower so I caught up with them and started cleaning my room so I could show you all what it looks like.

This my room. That's my Indy blanket spread out on the bed, my NAU blanket rolled up against the wall, that little thing in front of the TV is my pic of Laura & I, I did have Step Brothers on the TV but this was when Sex Drive was on, my homework is open on my laptop, and I have a closet right next to my desk.

Every Sunday Jane’s daughter Mandi swings by to see her mom & do some laundry.  Today she stopped by with her boyfriend Josh and they actually went hiking on the mountain at the top of our street.  Guess what I just added to my “To-Do List”! I got my room cleaned up, worked in some homework, and saw the end of the Jets upset over the Pats.  Both #1 seeds knocked off!!!  As a Steelers fan this makes me very happy because I’d rather face the Jets than the Pats for a shot at the Super Bowl.  It’s time to prove that that Holmes trade wasn’t as stupid as it appeared in the offseason.  I called my boy Rath and we actually talked on the phone for the longest time that I ever remember.  It’s weird not seeing him for over 2 weeks after I spent so much time in his apartment before I left.  Rath’s my “hetero life mate” and this July he’ll be taking the plunge into marriage.  I’m super pumped because I’m THE BEST MAN!  He had some good news today as well; him and Lindsay got their wedding rings!!! Woooooo!  While we were talking I got a voicemail from my favorite drunken ranger from home, TO.  His voicemail was priceless.

I was done being a social butterfly and Nick needed groceries so we headed out to Fry’s…a little bit of a lower end place than Safeway but it too had a gas station connected to it.  While shopping we decided we were going to do tacos one night, picked up an awful rotisserie chicken for dinner tonight, and I took my first ever “Fail” picture…seen below.  One key thing I had to pick up was a plain black knit hat.  I have so many at home and I left every one of them there. D’Oh!

my first ever "fail" picture...I didn't know Silk was chip or a snack

We got home, whipped up some Velveeta shells & cheese and steamed vegetables and ate our grub. To pass the time while everything was cooking, I wrote a fun little message on our communication chalkboard and had Nick read it: "Eye Am Sofa King We Todd Did".  He didn't get it at first so I had him read it even louder and by the time he was done I was red in the face and I couldn't breathe.  Go ahead, try reading it out loud haha.  After dinner we threw on the SNL Best of Christopher Walken (Netflix rules!) then Nick went to sleep and I’m about to do the same.

read it out loud.  like how I tried to set it up so it looks like he wrote it? hahaha

Not a bad Last Day of Freedom Eve! 

Catch ya tomorrow!