3 Day Weekend

My long weekend is over sadly...but it's ok, I get to do it again next weekend. I'm trying to cram as many of these 3 day weekends in as I can before school starts... 2 Weeks.

Nick, Jason and I hit up Shreveport yesterday to get away from College Station for a day. We had fun. Departing a little after 8AM, it was a short 4 hour trip up there, driving through cities you wouldn't hear of otherwise. In one particular little town, we stopped at a red light next to a movie rental place. I noticed the odd logos they had on the building above the windows displaying the new releases. There were 2 large "Fram" logos. Oil filters aren't something usually offered at video stores, but it's a small town... While I was staring at the fram logos, one of my companions pointed out a sign in the window that said there were Tanning Beds Inside. Interesting. But the third sign we noticed on this video rental/parts store/tanning salon that really made this business unique was the one advertising their all day Mexican buffet... At this point the light turned green and I had to drive off, but I'm sure if the light would have been longer, we could have found a few more intersting points. Perhaps they offered a extermination service.

Nick proved himself a competent co-pilot as we arrived safely in Shreveport. We hung out at Hollywood and played some slots because they're Nick's favorite. A big waste of money if you ask me. It was soon lunch time and we decided to find us a cheap place to eat. After aimlessly wandering for 10 minutes or so, we were met on the street corner by Terrence. As his story goes, his girlfriend had left him stranded in Shreveport 3 days earlier. "If you woulda walked by1 minute later, I would have been asleep on that bench, ya heard?" He was hungry, so I agreed to buy him lunch if he would guide us to a restraunt. Our new friend led us a little further down the road in the direction we were headed to the restraunt strip. We then realized that if we were right next to where we started and if we would have just walked straight, we could have made the trip in about a minute. Terrence chose Brother's Seafood for us to eat at. So we entered, got a table for 4 and ordered. Terrence waited to see what we ordered to to gauge our price range no doubt. We all ordered hamburgers and water, placing us in the poor college student price range, he followed suit with a hamburger for himself. He told us that his family had warned him to not mess with that girl, but he ignored their advice. And now, he was feeling the effects of that as his family refused to help him. Depsite Jason's questioning, Terrence didn't share with us the specifics. He seemed like a nice guy though, very unlucky. Although I'm sure it was more stupidity than bad luck that got him in this situation. But that's what women do, they take away your common sense. For the price of a burger, he did share some timeless advice. "Don't ever let anything control you," he said. He agreed as I added, "Especially not a woman." It seems drug and alcohol addictions aren't the only kind that can leave you on the street with no food in your stomach and money in your pocket. He told us that he was looking to get back to Longview, which was out of the way for us. So we thanked him for his company and wished him luck. Penny promised me upon my return that she would never leave me in Shreveport. I wasn't too worried. She's one of the sweetest girls I've known. Which I guess is what my friends have always told me I deserve all along. I'm glad we got to meet Terrence and I hope we helped him out with his misfortune. Later, a woman walked through a crowded room and asked us (no doubt she was looking for the most handsome guys in the room) if we wanted a free buffet coupon. We accepted it and later looked for Terrence, but were unable to find him. As I said, the slots are not my cup of tea. I prefer the blackjack table. My favorite dealer was Keesha and she treated me well. I left with 55 more dollars in my pocket than I came in with.

Soon it was time to come home. After a brief hunt for the correct highway (the road system in Louisiana isn't the best), we were on our way home. Everything was smooth sailing the rest of the way through Louisiana. We entered Texas and at some point in Waskom, I had those flashing lights in my mirror. I had been going with the flow of traffic, not paying much attention and although I wasn't speedin on purpose, I was speeding. I was ticketed for 81 mph which comes with a steep $170 fine. In Wascom, Texas their ticket system is done by how fast you were going, not how much over the speed limit you were going. According to the chart, speeding at a rate of 30-39 mph comes with a $100 fine, while going 76-80 mph is $160. Of course I was going 81...tack another $10 on for that 1mph. But according to the chart, I think if I had been going 81 in a 35mph zone, I would have still been hit with the $170 fine. I feel a little cheated.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Basically the same scenery, just on the other side of the car. But for some reason what was a short 4 hour trip, turned into a long 4 hour trip and the county of Cherokee still smelled like beans... With my co-pilot in and out of conciousness and Jason listening to some headphones for most of the way, the drive was relatively quiet. I just wanted to get home and sleep. Finally at about 10:40, we arrived back to Fox Meadows and the gas bill tallied $33.99. Fix these gas prices. Upon entering the door, I was ready to pass out in my bed and Nick headed straight to his and was out cold. I however showered, made a frozen pizza and visited with Penny. I also waited for Kevin to arrive with his delicious mango salsa. He wanted me to try it and tell him what I thought. It's good stuff Kevin, I wish I had tortilla chips. I had to kick the kids out by 1:30 so I could retire to my room. I set my alarm for 11:15 because I was straight beat and I needed some serious sleep before work at noon. I got in bed and had no problem falling right to sleep in my exhausted state.

The phone rings at 7:22, it's mom. I called her the night before to tell her about the unfortunate speeding ticket, she was returning my call. I told her the bad news. I think it's been less than a year since the last itme I took defensive driving. Thanks a lot Refugio. She said we'd talk later. I tried going back to sleep, but soon a doorbell startled me. I went to the door which for some reason I had deadbolted. It was Dooley needing in the house. He was already in the act of taking the screen off of his window to attempt entering that way. I let him in without saying a word and fell back in bed. And then it started. The roofers which had ruined my naptime last week by working on the adjacent building had begun on ours. I only heard some vague footstepps and voices and the sound of materials being drug across the roof. I placed a pillow over my head and after a while, I was somehow able to drift back off to sleep. 8:30 a text message from Tiffany interupts my sleep. I remove the pillow and read it. "Erin Sightning." I roll back over and the sounds from the ceiling had turned into a louder thud. I placed the pillow over my head, but it had become too loud to sleep. I got up and went in the hallway. Dooley was standing out there. He asked if they were playing Dance Dance Revolution upstairs, walked into his room and returned with his gun. Despite his pleas, I told him he had to take the gun back to his room and told him what they were doing on the roof. We don't need a hole in the ceiling to match the one in the floor. I walked back towards my room and the thud turned into a constant pounding. Nick's door opened and he stepped out. He looked at me, then Dooley, who was still holding his gun. "What is going on?" I told him we were at war, which by the sounds that were coming from outside could very well be the truth. I looked in his room and Kitten was screaming at all the racket. I walked back into my room, climbed in the shower, turned my shower radio up full blast and still, I could hear the pounding. It was unbearable. I decided it would be nearly impossible to try to sleep through this, so I scheduled some errands.

First on the list was changing my course catalog. The Marketing Department drastically changed their class requirements this year in the freshmen's catalog and I wanted in on that. The rules state you can move up editions in a catalog, but never back, so I was going to take advantage of that. I called the Marketing Department and was told that she could actually do it over the phone. The woman on the other end was incredibably nice and I had a nice conversation with her about the hammering, Louisiana and her trip to Hawaii. Try making small talk with advisors in any other major. Especially the worthless Management advisor...I dare you. Soon I was the proudest member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Course Catalog of 2009. AAAAA! At this point, the pounding had given me a literal headache and I exited the apartment. The pounding hammers echoed across the parking lot making it seem like the roofers were exchaning gunfire with the next building. Debris was flying everywhere, men were yelling, a worker jabbed him pitchfork into the ground and hurried up the ladder. It was definately time to leave this warzone. I journeyed off to the bank, Blockbuster (who does not have the first season of the OC for rent either) and then Wal-Mart. Glancing at my phone, it was not even eleven yet. But with lack of anything else to do, I went straight from Wal-Mart to work. How many other jobs can you go to just to hang out? Well after hanging for about an hour, Tiffany reminded me that it was Buffalo Wild Wings Tuesday! We got our wings and our waitress gave us a couple of cardboard "Buffalo Horns" kid crowns which I proudly wore back to work. And just like that, my day turned around for the better. Now it's just about time to go home and reading over this, I've noticed it's immensely long. Good luck reading that....and I didn't even mention Friday, Saturday or Sunday...