Au Revoir

So a friend of mine is moving from Pennsylvania to the great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina on Saturday. Last night I met up with her and another friend of ours for a bit of a goodbye dinner. The restaurant that was chosen for this event was the Powerhouse Eatery in White Haven, which I had never heard of, until yesterday. When we arrived, there was a foyer where we had to wait for a hostess to seat us. As we glanced into the dining room area, we realized that the establishment was much fancier than we anticipated. I joked that I could now cross something off of my bucketlist: eating dinner in a fancy restaurant whilst dressed as a hobo.

The hostess sat us in the back room (almost like she knew how we act in public) and KK requested the booth, which was practically closed off to the rest of the eating area. It was pretty cool to have our own little nook, and it was definitely necessary given our conversations. Our first, albeit brief, discussion involved the debate of "once saved, always saved" and how to interpret certain Bible verses about the issue. Soon Hannah was speaking in foreign accents and telling a made up story about the German phrase "macht schnell," which means hurry up, but Hannah told a story about a man herding snails 37 miles in Alaska. Because, you know, that's related. Our conversation soon drifted to the show "1000 Ways to Die" and how it would be amazing if Hannah went to the beach with her future husband dressed as an Amish couple, but then they opt to rebel and strip down to a bikini and speedo. KK and I are supposed to be in the crowd to film it whenever this occurs; I can't wait for that day.
After dinner we decided to go drive past the monastery to see if it was as interesting as we made it out to be in our heads. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of workers at the end of the driveway, so we couldn't go make friends with a bunch of Greek Orthodox monks. We circled back to the eatery's parking lot listening to the Rend Collective Experiment, which Hannah determined is like the Christian version of Mumford & Sons. We had an impromptu dance party in the parking lot following our spinning in circles and trying to walk straight on the lines of the parking lot. Definitely a lot harder than I thought it'd be. Soon we were taking pictures of all of us trying to do cartwheels and handstands, followed by interpretive dances such as life of a polliwog and attack of the dinosaur. I can't imagine a better way to send off a dear friend on a new adventure in life!

Take home points from my day:

• Euthanasia...not to be confused with kids in China
• I feel like I'm in an episode of The Big Bang Theory trying to find a chirping cricket inside 
• It's fun to play the game of "Who can drop more bo-bos"
• A 4 month old pretending to be superman is rather drooly
  
  

Quarter Century Reflections

Last night I had an early birthday dinner with my parents and brother. It was a tasty lasagna that I baked and a cake that my mom baked. Of course she used the candles that don't blow out, so I got a glass of water and dipped the candles in it since they wouldn't blow out. My brother was sweet and got me Oreos and a bouquet of roses. My dad gave me a sweet card that had a bookmark and said to keep reading and traveling, along with a large bag of mini Reese's cups. Madre got me two neon tanktops and a lovely card. Pretty awesome! I didn't realize until my brother was leaving, though, that it would be our last meal as a family until at least July since my brother is leaving for Germany next week.
Anyways, I turned 25 today. I'm not one who enjoys being the center of attention, so birthdays have a tendency to be a bit of a dilemma. I enjoy visiting people, but I don't want them to make a big deal over it or me. I also would much rather spend time with people than have them buy me presents because memories are what I really treasure, as opposed to material possessions. Overall, today was a fantastic day on many levels.
Despite the fact that I was functioning on three hours of sleep, I've enjoyed every minute of my birthday thus far. It was nice to get texts and Facebook messages from people, but I especially loved chilling with my favorite two month old. Getting to have naptime with Niklaus was super relaxing and just what I needed. Mama was nice enough to make me french toast for breakfast since I showed up at 10am, which was about 9 hours early for dinner according to Papa. I said it was because I wanted to make sure Mama didn't set it on fire by accident. J's Pop and Nan showed up for dinner, too, along with two friends and her sister Lu. Mama made an excellent spread of baked chicken, stuffed shells, Texas toast, meatballs, bowtie noodles, and sauce. To top it all off, they made me an icecream cake with chopped Oreos and Reese's cups and Skittles on top. The presents were lowkey and included a framed collage of pictures of me and the little guy, a 45 oz bag of Skittles and the book God Never Blinks, which has a bright orange cover...so me!
I think my favorite present, though, came from Hannah and KK from afar. They were at a flea market in Lewisburg and decided to make a video compilation singing me "Happy Birthday" in a variety of fashions that involved a creepy doll, mannequin heads, pictures of Dracula, and a roller skate with flowers jutting out of it. By far the sweetest and most hilarious thing anybody has ever done for me :)

Take home points from my day:

• Family is not all about DNA
• Correspond with those you love most no matter what
• I always end up getting random, extremely awkward advice from people such as you can wake up and eat at 2am but don't expect loving from a man who is fast asleep
• I'm an excellent multi-tasker
• My friends care more about me than I ever thought
• Moving in is not the same as passing through frequently

Five Hour Pancakes

Let me set the stage for you. I've been staying with a friend of mine who has a two month old; the cutest two month old ever, who is already a flirt. I see a budding mini Tony DiNizzo on the horizon. Needless to say, my sleep schedule and everybody else's in the house is a little less than normal because when the flirt wakes up, the majority of the house does too. This can make functioning throughout the rest of the day a little interesting to say the least.

Fast forward to about noon when Mama asks if we all would like pancakes. With a resounding yes, the griddle was warmed and ready for business! I opted to hold the little man while his ma ate her pancakes before I went to the kitchen for my serving of fresh pancakes. Papa was flipping over some pancakes when I got my plate of pancakes and returned to the living room. Mama insisted that I have seconds and to finish off the last of the pancakes so that there weren't any leftovers. Apparently she's realized the storage capacity of my so-called "hollow leg" and insists that I fill it to the brim with food. Once I had my fill of five pancakes, I chose to lay on the couch with the little man for the next four hours.

Four hours later, Mama walks into the living room clacking some hard brown objects together. She proceeded to tell us that I apparently did not ingest the last of the pancakes because she forgot about the four that were still cooking on the griddle and had been there for approximately five hours. Why we never smelled anything burning we'll never know, but chalk it up to some busy guardian angels! We also determined that five hour pancakes = not so instant hockey pucks. They also could be used to patch up holes in rusty car fenders, depending on your usage preference. Regardless, it makes for a funny story and Mama has since fired herself from working in the kitchen.

A little while later, the following conversation took place:

J: Can I go out on a limb here?

Me: Be careful!

J: Can I have an egg sandwich?

Mama: Now?

J: (insert sarcastic tone here) No, I'm putting in my order for tomorrow morning.

Me: Well, she figures it's gotta cook overnight (given the five hour pancake ordeal).

On a completely unrelated note, I opened the Sticky Notes application on my laptop and found some pretty awesome quotes that I typed from conversations I had with people. In no particular order we have:

"I used to be an altar boy. See I used to be close to God."..."Well what happened?"

"If you guys were in a sci-fi movie, you guys would be shot for noncompliance."

"The tank with no knees...sounds like a children's story."

"I'm not going for time. I'm going for don't break your ankle."

Take home points from my day:

• I got swayed, not suede the fabric
• Warning: if you go to grab the waffle box, beware of flying milk; it could knock you out
• Mama should attach smoke detectors to herself

Keep Your True Friends Close

These days it seems like everybody is trying to get fame and fortune. They gravitate towards people who they believe will make them more popular and appear relevant in this day and age. Truth of the matter is, surrounding yourself with the so called popular folk will just end with you getting used and abused and kicked to the curb. The people you should keep close to you are the ones who know you best. The ones who know to leave you alone when you're grieving or that you love the french toast at Perkins. The people who can say something really awkward in a text message, yet you can still tell how much they love you because they truly understand your personality. The friends worth keeping are those who remind you to be your true self in public so you don't feel the need to keep wearing that mask to gain approval from people you may never see again. Your friends should be proud of you no matter what stage of life you're in because they know you're trying your best to be you and live out your dreams. They understand the craziness in your life and offer encouragement that you are doing the right thing, even if that means no steady job exists. These are the people worth keeping. Not the ones who try to use you as a step stool or are only friends with you until somebody better comes along. Those individuals don't deserve the time of day and should never consume your mind. If you question whether someone really wants to be friends with you, you probably shouldn't be friends with them. It is better to have few friends who know you well than a stadium of people who can't even remember your full name. Know that you're worth it and that you should never feel down when spending time with a friend. If they make you feel bad about yourself, it might be time to walk away because you deserve happiness.

Take home points from my day:

• It's not worth staying mad at people; it's too exhausting
• It's confusing when people eat spinach out of a butter container
• You don't always need to hold a conversation with someone to show that you care
• Always offer a helping hand
• Writing should be for yourself, not a means to impress others