| [ |
mood |
| |
 contemplative |
] |
| [ |
music |
| |
Madonna "Love Tried To Welcome Me" |
] |
Ahoy, maties. I have returned from my voyage to Colorado... and it's not like the event was a horrid experience, but it is motherfucking NICE to be home. I really should've done some note-taking while on vacation so that I could discuss all the essential trip details here in the DJ, but I have slacked and not kept up. There were some inevitably memorable times though, and of course I won't keep you in the dark.
But before I get to that story... within the past few hours, that male-acquaintance I've written feverishly about has officially blocked every screenname I have. Now, this was bound to happen sooner or later, but I guess the question is what does he know and how much does he know and who told him. Kind of a mysterious thing, I feel like the main character in a Hitchcock movie who is about to have the rug pulled out from under him...think James Stewart in Vertigo. All I know is if shit really did hit the fan (say this whole scandal was exposed to the masses and I had to confront a lot of people I normally wouldn't care to talk to EVER), I have nothing to lose. I've accepted, I've transcended...most of all, I don't care all too much. It's his ass that's gonna be grass if things do get out of hand. Who knows, maybe it's this journal and the things I've written earlier that have dropped the ball. I think more people read this than I realize...this URL is in my fucking profile after all, which is completely fine with me, except you have to wonder about those people who like...I never talk to that know my screenname for reasons beyond my comprehension. To those people, I say hello, you're welcome to stay, and...if you caused this mess to implode...then that's cool. It was really, really about time. Who needs that many handjobs anyway?
I need to stop being that cavalier about shit like that. Oh well, as the prophet Phair notes in her song "Never Said", "Don't look at me sideways, don't even look me straight on, and don't look at my hands in my pockets baby, I ain't done anything wrong." This sounds like the beginning of a giant "Hands Clean" scenario...maybe I'll be Alanis and he'll be the bastard ex-lover record exec who doesn't want to acknowledge what ever happened. Actually no, that scenario would imply that all of this sexual gratuitousness happened because of an emotional connection. Come on. What happened between me and this guy did was nothing more than a secretive exchange of impulses. It was catharsis of the penis in the most cryptic way possible. It's the stuff art house films are made about. I should get cracking on making that.
So anyway, back to the Colorado trip review...spent a lot of time in the car with my cd player since that Playstation car hookup turned out not to work at all (which blew). We traveled over 2,000 miles, and so I filled those miles with Madonna, Til Tuesday, the Carpenters, Annie Lennox, Liz Phair, the Pretenders, Alanis Morissette, Aimee Mann, and PJ Harvey. My dad had the radio playing for some of the time, so I also got to revisit with Mark some classics like "What I Am" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians. The song annoyed the hell out of both of us. We ended up singing it for hours.
The whole trip started swimmingly as we drove for a good ten hours to the state of neon lights and movie stars...Nebraska. We stayed there a night, which actually wasn't as wretched as you'd think. First of all, our family found a place to mini-golf, and that was a beautiful thing. They played "Don't Tell Me" at the mini-golf course, and that just made me putt like a winner. We stayed at a cute hotel and I watched Jeopardy! eagerly as Ken Jennings almost met his match...but alas, the dictator remained supreme. The next day our family made it to Estes Park, Colorado, home of huge-ass mountains and a YMCA. The car trip through the mountains was simultaneously gorgeous and frightening...I did my fair share of hair pulling since I hated how my dad was swerving on mountain roads like he was James Bond knowing he wouldn't fuck up. Though James Bond's Astin Martin and the Virtels' Chevy Astro share some letters of the alphabet, they are not very similar. Well anyway, we made it to the place, and all 50+ members of my extended family stayed at the Mt. Ypsilon Lodge, where we stayed in cramped rooms that fit four people. In my room (after some string pulling) were me, my brother Mark, my cousin Drew, and my cousin Mike. Not a bad line-up. Personally, some time away from Mark might've been ideal, but he was fun too. As expected, there really wasn't a hell of a lot to do at this YMCA, so the four of us spent the majority of our time cooped up in our room playing Jeopardy! on Playstation or my Trivial Pursuit game. Needless to say, I did a lot of ass-kicking in both areas. Drew was impressive during the second Triv P game, but we never ended up finishing that round. So screw him.
Let's see, there was a mini golf place that the four of us frequented along with my cousins Caroline and Brian. On one particular game, there was this bratty seven year old who insisted on throwing his ball in our way, calling us all names, and basically being your all-American jerk second grader. I didn't say much to the kid other than he should shut up while we were putting and that he should wait his turn...he called my cousin Mike "bucktoothed" (which didn't make sense) and he mocked how I talked. Eventually I got fed up. I said to the kindergartener without a cause, "Thank God for things like the Make-A-Wish Foundation to give a crap about little shits like you." After that, he stopped bothering us. Did I feel bad? Sure. Did I win the mini golf? Naturally. Consider me clear conscienced.
I went on a hike up in the Colorado mountains which was utterly awesome most of the time, especially when my gorup stopped on a strip of land that was in the middle of a sparkling, picture-perfect river between two rows of misty, larger-than-life mountains. I felt like I was in a picture on an Aquafina bottle. Had a nectarine while there, made it all the more delicious. The walk back to our starting point was pretty treacherous though, it started to rain (as it did a lot of the time during the entire Colorado trip), and me and my cousin Drew trekked apart from the rest of the group to get back to the bus. Funny that the bus would pull away moments before we arrived back... oh well, our other relatives met up with us and we caught the next bus a half hour later. We were so hungry as we waited for the next move to take us to our car that Drew and I started stammering all sorts of foods we wished were eating...chicken from Chili's, chicken from T.G.I. Friday's, pizza, licorice, anything. After we made it back to his mom's car, we ate Chex Mix and Sun Chips like Sally Struthers just flew in to give them to us.
When I got back from that tiring, rain-drenched adventure, I took a shower in my lodge room...easily one of the best showers I've ever taken. I'm still reeling from that one.
Mike, Drew, and I have been known to discuss things like "how much action have you been getting" and "who was on top" and "dude, were you drunk when that happened". Surprisingly, the two of them were pretty perceptive and not assholes about the strange action I'd received. I told them all about the aforementioned guy, and they were as interested in that as they were any other topic of conversation, so it was refreshing to get that out in the open. We also set out to find hot females for Drew to snack on...I was especially set on this because Drew said he was too shy to approach hot girls. The only real progress our trio made was when Mike went up to this girl on a payphone and said, "Excuse me, we're taking pictures of hot girls, and since you obviously qualify, will you take a picture with my cousin?" What a Casanova, eh? As far as I know, Mike still has that picture in his phone. The last chapter of the Colorado trip was the big family picnic. Pretty basic except when my eccentric cousin Mary Grace called my Uncle Mark unintelligent and Mark replied nonchalantly with "Be careful about the pot, Mary Grace" which I thought was a marijuana reference but no, it was a reference to the saying, "the pot calling the kettle black". Dammit, so close. Nonetheless, we all laughed for a long time, especially after Mary Grace nasally remarked, "You're evil!!"
So okay, my immediate family left Estes Park for Denver since my brother Jim needed to get to the airport to be flown to Quebec for his six-week schooling venture. We get Jim all dropped off, and then we head into the city. Mark and I went to the Six Flags in Denver, and guess what, if you've ever underestimated Six Flags Great America in Illinois, then reprioritize and repent, fucker, because Six Flags in Denver had...oh yes...one FOURTH the coasters that Six Flags Great America has. Not to mention, every coaster at Great America tops the coasters in Denver. Raging Bull alone could kick the "Minderaser" and "Twister II" into oblivion...who the hell thinks of these names by the way? I wasted a few quarters DDRing at the Six Flags arcade. It's a weird feeling, DDRing and gathering a crowd. As one onlooker noted, "He's like one of those fucken Asians!" Later that evening, my whole family went to the Colorado Rockies game. Milwaukee won, but I got to help eat two bags of popcorn, so I think realistically the "winner" of the day was the Lemont boy sitting 50th row on the third baseline. Louis 10, Popcorn 0. The fans go wild. In my head.
Then yesterday our family really braced ourselves for a fucking 14 hour cartrip from Denver to Lemont, Illinois. Turns out it can be done. Not only that, I returned home and after Dad retrieved our mail from the post office, I received my Aimee Mann shirt and poster that I bought online. Very exciting and not too expensive. I'll be stylish and advertising a band...God, who could ask for more?! Pretty soon I'll go to those St. Al's shows and cry in the front row for tight-shirted lead singers who live in their parents basements. They are, after all, the only people who understand me.
I talked with Elyse on the phone today after a fucking week of being taken from her...wooo what a relief. Still a rockstar, that Elyse. Tonight was excellent. I went with Sarah, Katie, Kaylin and eventually Amanda to the kickass Evergreen Park fireworks. We were kind of under a tree, which can surprisingly limit your view of fireworks, but I had an awesome time. I got dropped off at home semi-early, but not before Sarah blasted the drama club pump-up cds, and her once-drab Chevy turned into Club Cavalier! I have never danced so hard in the back of a Chevy. Come on, the fucking Vengaboys were playing. Party in a can. Kaylin and I now plan on clubbing sometime in the future...beyond Zero Gravity. Who the hell goes to Zero Gravity and makes him/herself believe it's a trendy place to be? Look, girls/gay preteen boys, there's a juice bar there and illegal drug exchanges. And most people are dropped off there by their parents. You all lose just like the Rockies.
Besides that,I'm doing fine. The fact that I've been adamantly blocked by Captain Boy Toy makes me wonder a bit, but I'm not too worried. Monica's still gone, Rachel's now gone, but I have an email from her, which is nice. I also plan to get in touch with Ben Tasker sooner or later... eating out at Chili's one night with Corey after an arduous tennis match...going to Six Flags Great America sometime soon...making more money...writing more...writing more comfortably...spending a day with Elyse some day...calling up Lizzo and talking...chatting with Joe...learning about shit hitting the fan. So many things, so much time. Also, this week I have orientation at Iowa, so that's a good two days I have to fuck over. Or three days, actually...July 6th-8th. Whatever, and later this summer I would love to see Tiffany again before school starts up, and my mom seems to think that's a possibility. I would also like to have dinner with Madonna, Alanis Morissette, Liz Phair, and Aimee Mann. I hope they like Burger King.
And speaking of that, no one should have to stomach as much fast food as I did during my week-long vacation. I had Burger King no less than three times in a row! That's pandemonium. For the next week I want to eat like I care just to make up for all the crap I've eaten frivolously in the past week. Most likely I will give up on this goal after tomorrow. It is good to be virtuous though. I didn't say anything about living up to those virtues. I love loopholes.
Alright, I'm-a-headin'-out...apparently some freak tried to follow Sarah into her house. Since when is Timberline the new crime capital of the world? Freaky stuff, no doubt. The guy apparently drove a taxi...now are we sure this isn't all part of an Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode? Is Doctor Vink sitting somewhere with that grizzly beard? Who liked that character? Anyone? Because he was retarded. He made the whole damn show seem like a showcase for his hobo routine. And no one likes the homeless. Well, this has been quite a week, full of mountains and coolness...we've still got many weeks of summer to drift through lazily and lovingly. I'm excited to see how the rest of it will play out, and I look forward to spending my time wisely and unwisely as I please. I love you all, let's be unconditional in our understanding of one another. Let's not villify and isolate anyone, let's bring em all closer. Let's be truthful about ourselves...the truth will set us free.
Let's be ourselves and kick any otherwise ass,
Louis.
|