i think yesterday was one of the longest days i have had in my life. it felt that way, at least. thursday night was my friend kyle’s 21st birthday so we went bar hopping all over boone. i had not planned on sticking around with them all night because i wanted to get a good night’s sleep before going to cisco on friday, but i ended up running into so many old friends i couldn’t resist staying out all night because i was having such a good time. since i’ve quit yaz, i’ve felt like my old self again and actually hanging out with my friends instead of being a hermit is such a good feeling.
i met up with the bunch at applebee’s. people joined up with us as the night went on so it ended up being a group of about 10 of us running around at any given time. we walked to ruby tuesday’s after applebee’s and that’s where i had my first beer–a 22oz of bud light in a mug that was almost taller than i was. i felt slightly like a hobbit holding that beer, not gonna lie. it didn’t help that they had HUGE chairs around the bar that i couldn’t get in between or reach over and the bartender just put my beer down in the middle of the bar. I COULDN’T REACH MY BEER TO PICK IT UP. i was on my tip toes stretching to grab the handle on the mug and i seriously could not get to it. i turned and looked at amanda and my face was fire truck red from my embarrassment. instead of helping me, she looked me square in the eyes and lost all composure and almost collapsed to the floor laughing, and then announced to everyone else that i was too short to drink there and we needed to go somewhere else. i still have not heard the end of that. they finally gave me my beer. all i could think of was lord of the rings when merry goes, “IT COMES IN PINTS?!” :mad:
ruby tuesday’s was boring and we relocated to cafe portofino. we all played darts for a while and i ran into some of my neighbors and some buddies from high school. it was a nice little reunion. i didn’t drink anything but i almost wish i did because their drinks come in little bitty mason jars that. they were so cute. :razz: i’m a sucker for miniature things, kind of ironic.
cafe portofino eventually got boring, too, so we ran to murphy’s. literally. i was wearing a pair of corduroy pants i hadn’t worn in probably a year and a half and on the upside, i lost some inches around my hips. on the downside, my pants wouldn’t stay up long enough to run 10 feet so i kind of waddled/sprinted/waddled all the way to the next place. i did, however, get footage of the guys running through the streets of boone trying to find their way to the bar. it’s pretty much impossible to get lost in boone but we were on the backside of the main strip on king street so they didn’t really remember which part of it the bar was located in without seeing signs. so… there was a lot of running back and forth, screaming, getting hurt, and hailing hitler involved. they’re going to hate me for that video, i think.
it turned out there was a live band at murphy’s which was a nice surprise. it was a reggae band but i can’t remember the name. i wish i could, though, because i liked them a lot. usually that place has some weird groups come to play but i really enjoyed their style. i never knew a white guy could sound so much like bob marley!! weird. i kind of split off and started making rounds and saying hey to people i knew. i ran into my old neighbors from sophomore year when i lived in my studio apartment. these guys were some of my favorite people to be around and i was so happy to bump into them and they make up some of my fondest college memories. unfortunately they’ve all graduated for the most part, and if they haven’t, they’ll be gone after may. i almost cried when they told me, so i made sure to hang around for the rest of the night.
i almost forgot how much i love people-watching. i was sitting at a table listening to the music and taking it all in. there were these 2 girls and a guy who was friends with my friends all kind of standing around near the singer. to put it in perspective, he was your stereotypical frat boy with the pastel colored polo, sperrys, pleated shorts, sport coat that didn’t match, aviators, gelled hair, the whole works. the girls were your stereotypical hippie chicks who weren’t paying attention to anything but swaying to the music and i’m pretty sure they were lesbians from the way they were acting with one another. this kid walked up to them, started trying to booty dance in between them, and they immediately turned and gave him this “i’m going to kill you” kind of glare. one of them just laughed afterwards and said “no” which was probably the most blunt, calm, and hilarious shut down i’ve ever witnessed. the other girl told him to throw away his sport coat and then turned and walked up to ME and tried to dance. it was an awkward situation. i got up and went to the ladies room. to be honest, the poor guy needed a hit to his ego, lord knows some men need to be put in check every now and then.
i stayed there until around 2-2:30 and a buddy of mine drove me back to my apartment. i didn’t get to bed until 3-3:30 and i probably should’ve just pulled an all-nighter. i slept until 5:30 and got up to shower and get business-casual for cisco. i was SO excited about the trip but you know, it’s hard to look excited when you can barely open your eyes. i was proud of how i turned out, though. my outfit looked cute, i actually picked a comfortable pair of heels, and my face was not hating me that morning. my make-up actually looked pretty and i could look in the mirror without wanting to punch myself.
i picked up kyle and 2 other guys that rode with us and we made our way to charlotte. there were a couple speakers from 2 consultant groups (one of which we’d met through AITP already so i gave him my resume :lol: ), a sales guy from cisco, and then 3 women spoke to us for the remainder of the day. we got to check out their telepresence room (what i would give to have something like that, probably my first born child), they talked to us about all kinds of stuff and even though i looked like a zombie, i was completely consumed in the lectures and discussions we had. i love trips like this, and i’m almost certain this is the route i want to go. i will be submitting my resume, most definitely. i couldn’t think of a better opportunity. i would go into more detail about the cisco meeting but i think it would bore most of the people that frequent this website, and i don’t want to type all that. if i had to write out every acronym i would probably be sitting here for 6 hours.
they gave us pizza and salad and sodas and i had the ladies look at my resume. they said it’s very professional and they told me to highlight all the web-work i’ve done over the years and that i should use the linux user’s group and the gaming club and all my technical interests as much as possible because being female, it will very much be in my favor. they stressed diversity in the IT field and how much they want more girls so it was kind of fun talking to them.
our group left at 3:45-4ish and drove back to boone. the drive back felt significantly longer than the drive down, probably because my eyelids felt like they had bricks on them. i dropped the guys off and went home and packed and drove straight back down the mountain to meet my dad and christine for dinner. we had mexican and i drank a bunch of cokes so that woke me up again. we came back to find that loki had freaked out when we all left her and she was in their backyard by herself (she isn’t used to my dad’s house) and she chewed the rubber lining off of the back door. i kind of want to strangle her sometimes.
i got back on the road last night around 9:15. i tried to call adam a few times to let him know i was coming later than expected but he was already passed out and didn’t pick up, which didn’t bother me until i got to fort bragg and found out bragg blvd was closed and i had no idea of another road that went near adam’s apartment. i know my way around fayetteville really well but i don’t know that side of fort bragg or the particular highway i ended up driving down. it took me through the ghetto and some seriously trashy parts of the city that i’d rather not end up in again. i tried calling adam to wake him up so he could mapquest it and get me out of there but due to my sweet echolocation skills (and i could see the glow of skibo road/the other half of bragg blvd) i found my way to the apartment.
it is 2 PM and we are still on the couch where we ended up falling asleep last night. we watched doom and mortal kombat until 3 something, not sure. as soon as i layed down, i was out cold. i guess i can’t do all-nighters anymore. i think we’re gonna be posted on this couch for the rest of the day. i love saturdays, and secondhand lions is on TV. i’ll put pictures up in a little while when i’m more awake and get some food in my stomach. my tummy is grumbling.