Well then....SA sucks. A lot. What else do I need to say? My ankle is still swollen, but it doesn't really hurt. I was able to limp around the store easily enough. I'm sure it wasn't great to stand on it for 5 hours of work...but that couldn't be avoided. And now I'm wired and want to go out and do something, but I have to work tomorrow too and go to church as well...so I decided I can't go out or do anything stupid. Tomorrow night is G-Master's 21st b-day too. And I can't celebrate it with her. I'm bummed. I mean, sure....nobody was able to celebrate my 21st, mainly because I'm like a year older than all of them, but it would've been great fun to get absolutely smashed with G-Master....even if she starts to get a little inappropriate around me. Oh well.

I got a rare phone call from Meredith tonight. That was fun. What do you guys think about this title? I've got a few more possibilities, but this "phrase" came to me in a dream this past winter. This one night I suddenly woke up and sat straight up in bed and said "99 Jewish Monks" outloud. It was very odd. Anyway, I gotta write a letter. Peace.

Ok, I retract what I said about Cruise Night. It was actually decently fun...lots of cool cars. After that was over, which ended earlier than everybody expected, we headed over to someone's house downtown. And that was actually pretty fun as well...just sitting around and drinking...even if there were older people there as well. And, of course, there was drama among the usual suspects. You'd think that group of friends could get over all of that, but apparently not. Usually I try not to get involved because I'm not around them enough for my opinion to matter. But somehow I did....unwittingly, of course....I thought I was just joking around with Hunecke, but I soon realized that there was more going on. And he was drunk, which made it worse. So yeah...I definitely told him it was time for him to go to bed. But that was over the phone, so I hope he listened to me.

Oh yeah, and the best part of the evening was when I was walking through someone's backyard and literally fell off a retaining wall. It was super dark and I didn't see it and wiped-out....I'm talking an all-out fall on my face and roll a couple of times, ending up on my back. Fortunately nobody saw it happen. Unfortunately I totally sprained my ankle....which normally wouldn't be that bad, but I have to work today and I can't really stand on it. So I'm going into work 3 hours later (as if that'll make much of a difference) and the other dude working might let me go early....but I doubt it. So yeah....I'm just kind of laying here with my foot up, icing it occasionally. What do you guys think of the new title? Kind of lame, I know....let me try another one....

Alright, alright, alright....let's see....last night. What'd I do last night....can I remember last night? hahaha! Yesterday was my first day of work back at SA. Some of the workers seem decent...some are a little sketchy. I can definitely see why the manager was happy to have me on the schedule. I sense a wave of firings to come soon. Other than that...it's pretty much just the same as it always has been. Sell gas and cigs. Meh. There was some wacky scheduling going on yesterday, though, so there were 4 of us working come 3. So I left at about 3:45, even though I technically was supposed to work until 5. But 4 people working there was unneccessary....so I left.

Then, last night, I went with G-Master and that crowd to the VFW downtown to play bingo. Let me as you this....how is it that I can incredibly frugle with my money when I'm out on my own, but when I come home I just spend like crazy? It cost 7 bucks to play bingo...and then we couldn't even hear the dude, so we quit playing. I was planning on having a couple of beers and a brat, but the beers were tiny and cost 2 bucks each. So instead I had 3 beers and no brat....read: I was drinking on an empty stomach. Then G-Master, Anna, Hunecke, and I decided it was lame so we swung by the liquor store and picked up some beer. (Again, I have beer at home and I definitely don't have money to buy more) And then we went to Hunecke's house and sat around and drank while playing video games. Right around my 6th beer or so, I decided it wasn't a good idea for me to be drinking around Anna. (ex-girlfriend) Not because something would happen between us -- she has a serious BF (although her first since we dated) and I'm not interested in her at all, I have someone else on my mind -- but because I was liable to say something to her about other stuff that was never resolved. But I'm ok being around her....probably the most ok now that she's with someone. Anyway, the moral of the story is, I did talk to her about misc. stuff and I don't remember anything that we talked about. Yeah....I was definitely at the point where my speech was waaaaay slurred. People were making fun of me. Hahahahaha....good times. G-Master had to drive me home...although she DID drive me there, so that's not a big deal.

Anyway, it was a good time with my friends in Lakeville. I haven't hung out with them in a looong time. And I even saw some people that I haven't seen since high school. On the downside, there were a lot of church people at the VFW and I'm hesitant to drink around them. And this same group wants me to go to "Cruise Night," which is quite possibly the gayest thing I've ever seen...but maybe I'll just go to redeem myself for last night's actions. Oh yea, and I was so used to playing video games with my roommates, that I started to slip into their lingo which, if you've ever been around them.....they swear more than anyone in the world. Normally this wouldn't have been bad, but Hunecke's parents were in the room when I let fly a "F**K that SH*T." Yeah....they usher at my church. Hmmm....but I guess Hunecke swears around them and it was ok. Or at least that's what G-Master told me. Oh man....I always get myself in trouble. Ha. Ok, time to drink some water and get ready for the day. Peace.

I win again. It's so nice to be back in an area where it's easy to find a job. I went to my old store to see if they needed help, and they had JUST hired someone to fill the empty spot. Bummer! So I went to the next store down the road, at County Rd. 46 and Cedar, and that manager said he needed someone to fill 3-11 shifts, but he had to call the district manager. I said sure, whatever....but that I was going to keep going to stores to see if they needed help as well, thinking that this dude could only give me like 20 hours. The next store, Cedar and County Rd. 50, needed some help on overnights, but they only could guaruntee like 20 or 30 hours...and they were crappy hours. But I agreed and took that spot. About 10 minutes later, the store on Cedar and 46 called me and was like "we'll take you." I explained the situation, and the manager was like "whatever you want to do, but you'll get 40 hours here." Well then.....I decided to go with him and withdrew my offer at the other store. Apparently this store has been having a rash of bad workers lately, so this guy was excited to have someone like me...a tried and true worker. He even called my old manager, who I'm sure recommended me. So, it looks like I'm good to go again. I figured it out and in about 4 weeks I'll be able to cover what I owe my parents for school and then I'll still have about 4 weeks of work to make up some cash for myself. Amazing. I'm working tomorrow from 9-5, but that's just to get me familiarized with the store and then I'll look at the schedual with the manager and see what he has for me for the rest of this week. I win again.

In other news, I'm thinking about changing the title of my blog....I'm floating some ideas around, so if it changes a few times that's what's up.

Well, I'm back. It's good to be back in MY room. At MY computer. Sleeping in MY bed. As much as I enjoyed using my brother's stuff....being back here is nice. So, my drive home from Colorado Springs didn't go quite as planned. 90% of it was uneventful and normal...except for getting stuck behind a bookmobile and waiting for a parade to get through a small town, nothing really happened until Iowa. I was about 10 miles out of Des Moines when I realized that I wasn't going to get into Waverly until really late, and that it would actually take me less time to just keep going home. So I decided to do that. My roommates were a little disappointed, but I told them I'd take another weekend to go down there. I got back to Lakeville at about midnight and I was not tired at all, despite having just spent 14.5 hours in the car...so I did the unthinkable: I filled up the gas tank and kept on going north. About half-way into that last leg of the trip, I realized how exhausted I really was. But I made myself keep going...and got into our resort in Park Rapids at about 4:30 a.m....and just about collapsed. 19 hours in the car? What was I thinking?!? But then I got to spend the whole day there and relax. I knew that if I had stayed in Lakeville, then I would've slept in late and made excuses to avoid traffic in the cities....and probably wouldn't have gotten there until like 7p.m.

It was beautiful as usual there. Some nice weather and some junky weather, but it was just nice being there. Late Sunday night my brother and I went out in onto the lake in a couple kyaks. The lake was so incredibly smooth....and the sky! My God, I've never seen that many stars in my life. You couldn't see them all on the shore, but when you got farther out on the lake, it was amazing.

But yeah, I'm back and now tomorrow I'm going out on the job trail once again. *sigh* If I wasn't so broke, I'd just give up...but after paying for all of that gas, I have zero money. More than if I'd flown, but still zero. Anywhoo...I think I'm going to write a little letter and then go to bed. Peace out.