Guys...when will I just accept it? I go into a vacation thinking that I'll come out of it "rejuvenated and ready for the week," and as the time comes to face reality, I am wishing that I could turn the time from 10:17pm to 10:17am. As in 10:17am last Friday. An indefinite number of times. That way, I could wake up every day to leftover turkey and pie.
But until one of you brainiacs invents a decent time machine, I guess I'll just have to recount the experience on the ol' blog.
Wednesday, Nov. 24: Our awesome boss let us out at noon. Went to lunch at Pho (Vietnamese noodle joint) with a friend and his cousin who asked REALLY awkward questions. Took a stroll to the National Archives. At 5pm, I decided that I didn't much like the idea of having nothing to do for the whole night, so I sent out a mass text inviting people over for games and cocoa. The night turned out much better than I anticipated: 12 people came, which led to a perfect amount of people for Cranium. But the true victory of the night was in the music: I brought out the 80s joy playlist and it was A HIT. The BEST part was hearing the song "Working for the Weekend" by "Loverboy" and realizing, as a group, that the weekend had officially arrived!!!!!! Euphoric bliss, friends.
Thursday, November 25: Caught a 10:30 train at the jam-packed Union Station to Philly. At Philly, grabbed some lunch and a sweet potato pie (for Thanksgiving dinner). I also went to Subway to grab some cookies, which I tend to love because of their cheapness/doughiness. Instead of paying the typical $1 for 2 cookies, the guy gave me 2 cookies for free! How sweet (when I put this good news on facebook, a few people responded in outrage to the notion of me being at Subway on Thanksgiving, and that I'd better call them if I didn't have plans...which I did...but they didn't know I did...confused yet? Good. Point is, it's nice to know that there are people watching out for me). Caught the train to Cherry Hill, NJ. Got off at Cherry Hill and waited. The rains came down and I did not care for THAT one bit, especially since I had to wait for an hour for my ride. But he came through. Perhaps I should explain who "he" is...Landon Sikahema, one of my mission companions. In case you're curious, his dad IS Vai Sikahema, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and walloped Jose Canseco in a boxing match. I am amazed that some people can be so successful and humble at the same time, and happy for reminders that such people exist. Got to the Sikahema house, walked right in, sat down and started eatin' da ono kine grindz (Hawaiian Pidgin for really good food). Landon's mom Keala and sister Lana were there, and they were so sweet and accommodating. Another family from Landon's ward, the McCounagheys (I'm not even concerned about if I spelled that right, as I'm not sure that's even their last name...) were there along with Vai's long time friend Brian Rowley. Lot of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, laughter, and good times ensued. A great day was capped off by the movie "Heavyweights" and a documentary about the history of Honolulu. I LOVE Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 26: Slept in (duh). Got up, mused about going into Philly, found out that TBS was playing 8 hours of Seinfeld, and all other plans were duly cancelled. Don't worry, we did take a break to walk Charlie, the Sikahema beagle, around the block, which was really cool because I got to see the open spaces (yep, contrary to what you may think, open spaces exist in New Jersey) where Landon lived out his childhood. After the walk and the Seinfeld-a-thon, we played a few rounds of Scattegories and the Sentence Game (write a sentence, draw a picture underneath, repeat. If you need more detail, PLEASE ask me as the Sentence Game could very well fill any voids in your life) with Lana, Keala, Brian, Sage (Brian's daughter) and David (Vai's cousin). Another great night.
Saturday, November 27: Packed up (and in case you hadn't guessed, yes we did sleep in again) and headed to Philly. Although I've been to Philly before, this time I found myself wishing that I had more time to spend there. We got some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches at Carmen's in Reading Terminal Market and tried to get to the Rocky Steps....but ran out of time and had to get to the station to catch my train. The night was fairly uneventful, and I probably would just be getting home now if it weren't for...
Sunday, November 28: The Legendary Paul Saunders and I sang a duet in church. We sang the first verse of "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" followed by the third verse of "Reverently and Meekly Now" followed by the second verse of the former and wrapped up with the fourth verso of the latter. And if THAT wasn't enough excitement for you, it was sung to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". Yeah. Paul's creativity conjured the amazing arrangement. I just sat there wishing that more Subway employees gave out free cookies. Speaking of singing, our ward choir performance is in a few weeks, and the music committee petitioned people to come to rehearsal so they could participate. We had about 35 people show up to practice, so many that no one could sit down and our chorister had to stand on a chair. It was awesome. Someone even brought cookies!! The Sabbath was wrapped up pleasantly with a sing-along at Rachel Murdock's where we sang all of the Christmas hymns. Great times all weekend long.
I guess I can't complain too much about returning to the grind...I head back to Utah on December 17th to spend time with family and any friends who aren't still embarrassed about "that one time". It's less than 3 weeks away. Cakewalk!
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Brad, I didn't think that anyone could ask awkward questions. Rather, I didn't think that you would perceive anything as being awkward.
ReplyDeleteAlso, when did you get a cell phone with which to text??? When did that occur???