Whoa! Shut Up!

The past 48 hours have been nonstop, hardcore Bardo-style action. Pictures will follow, but only after I can figure out what's wrong with AIM's file transfer function in Trillian. For now, a recap.

Dan and I arrived at the Bardo homestead around 8:30 on Friday evening. We had just enough time to get our stuff inside, meet Amanda's mom and brother, and play a quick game of NHL 2002 (I kicked ass) before we had to leave for Denny's.

We picked Shannon up 45 minutes later (Amanda lives 45 minutes from everywhere) on the way to Denny's. Upon our arrival at Denny's, we met Christin and got a table in the freezer section. Service was substandard and the food was everything I expected Denny's food to be, but hanging out with Amanda and her friends in a diner atmosphere was a good way to wind-down from the torturous drive out Rt. 80. Discussion topics ranged from spitting in ice cream to swallowing live goldfish. Yum.

Our next stop was Giant (supermarket) to meet Sarah, who, unfortunately, was working a 10 PM-7 AM shift (torture). I've never had so much fun in a supermarket for 30 minutes.

Driving back to Shannon's house after Giant was a real eye opener for me. Apparently, living in a place such as Bloomsburg gives people opportunities to create new and exciting methods of entertainment, such as screaming at random pedestrians from a moving vehicle. Incredibly, no obsenities were used; only random sounds or exclamations, such as "Whoa! Shut up!" (which had Dan and me laughing for a good five minutes).

We didn't get back to Amanda's house until 1:15 AM, and didn't get to sleep until 2, as Amanda leafed through her High School yearbook and gave me and Dan updates on the current...status...of some of her former classmates.

Saturday began sunny and rapidly degraded. After picking up Shannon, our plan to spend the afternoon at Knoebels was nearly foiled by torrential rain. Fortunately, however, after rides on the Carousel and the Cosmotron, the sun came out and we spent the rest of the day at the park under blue skies. The two prime coasters of the park, The Phoenix and Twister, were not disappointments, though I have had difficulty deciding which I prefer. The Bumper Cars were, as promised, the best I've ever ridden.

After leaving the park and bidding Shannon farewell, Amanda, Dan and I drove to Steph's house where we were treated to the last 45 minutes of Bridget Jones' Diary. I could hardly contain my excitement. The first 35 minutes of X-Men while we waited for dinner, however, perked me up.

Six o'clock rolled around, and we proceeded to Applebee's to meet Bryan and Mike for dinner. "Colin Firth. He's dreamy." Good friends, good dinner.

Drove to The Farm, the former home of Amanda's grandparents. It was the closest to the middle of nowhere I have ever been; closer, even, than Harrisonburg. The front yard was, effectively, a meadow, and the back yard was a veritable forest. We played pool (badly) in the basement, then met Amanda's cousin David and his girlfriend Gwen. David made funnel cakes, and we enjoyed (for the first time) When Harry Met Sally.... Amanda, Dan and I fell asleep on the living room floor watching The Whole Nine Yards.

I woke up this morning to some cruel form of torture at the hands of Dan and Amanda and was then berated for invading Amanda's floorspace during the night. Remembering no such assault on Amanda's bubble, I could only respond, "Bummer."

The three of us drove back to Amanda's house, where we had very little to do; we had packed all of our plans into Friday night and Saturday. We ate a pizza for lunch, played another game of hockey (I kicked marginally less ass than Friday night, but I still won), and then went outside to attempt a game of frisbee. The wind was merciless, however, and we gave up shortly after Apollo (Amanda's yellow lab/husky mix) got ahold of it. Instead, we tried playing with the Foxtail. Turns out that that is almost as hard in high winds. Amanda, please plant some trees.

By the time we were tired of the Foxtail, it was 3 PM, and time for me and Dan to hit the road. We loaded up the car, filled up at Sheetz, and were home by 6:30.

Amanda, thank you for a tremendous weekend. Can't wait for you to visit!

June 16, 2002 - 11:00 PM