Poor Decisions

A couple of days ago I blogged about how I like being young because I get to be stupid and make poor decisions. Well, I made one the other day. And it actually doesnt feel that great, actually I feel really stupid.

For lunch on Friday, I went to Harry's Chocolate Shop, one of the more popular bars on campus. Adam and I go nearly every Friday because they have a good lunch special and its just great being in that atmosphere, especially when its cold out. We are like regulars there on Friday afternoons, the waitress even knows us and expects us. But since it was the last Friday of the semester, we decided to invite several other guys in the house to join us. So I arrived there with Brad at about 1:30pm and met up with four other guys who had already been there a while, Adam was still at an exam.

When we got there, the guys already had a pitcher waiting for us, it was their third and couldnt finish it, so me and Brad took it. And usually when Adam and I go, we'll each have a beer with our lunch, or maybe even nothing, but since it was the last Friday, I decided to allow myself a couple more, but not enought to get drunk because I was taking a girl out later that night and I wanted to be prepared for it. So throughout our lunch, Brad ordered a couple more pitchers. Then Adam eventually came, and we ordered a couple more pitchers on top of that. I kept saying no more, but would cave in and finish my share. All in all, I think me and Brad had about 4 or 5 pitchers of beer. Thats a lot! We left Harrys at 5pm after being there for 3 and a half hours. Needless to say, I was gone.

So I had to pick up Christine at 7pm that night, we were going to a dance show in the art building, a show for the dance majors. She is on the Purdue Dance Team, so I thought she might be interested that. But anyways, once I got back to my room I started eating a bunch of crackers and drinking a ton of water to try and sober up. But I eventually fell asleep (passed out) on my couch at about 6pm. I was awaken by my buddies at 6:45, and I felt like I was in no shape to go anywhere. So I texted her that I couldnt go because I wasnt feeling well, but never sent it because that wouldve been really really crappy of me to cancel 15 minutes ahead of time. So before I left, I decided that I needed to get all of that crap out of me. So I went to bathroom and made myself purge. Once I got back to my room and got my teeth brushed, it was 6:57. I put on my coat and shoes and a ton of cologne, headed out the door, and sprinted to her dorm....I mean, I was at a full out sprint the whole way, which luckily isnt too far, only three or four miles. Ha, just kidding. But once we met up, I tried to play off that I wasnt drunk, but probably wasnt very convincing. I probably smelled like alcohol and vomit, and couldnt really walk straight. So as we were walking over to the art building, I confessed that I was still a little drunk from lunch and apologized, she just laughed and said it was fine, but who knows.

I sobered up during the dance show though. It was actually a pretty interesting show, and a lot shorter than I thought it would be. But anyways, as we were walking back I invited her back to ATO to hang out, and she agreed. So we talked for a while, then popped in a movie, then I walked her back.

But I feel really stupid that I got that drunk right before taking her out. I should have just stopped at the first pitcher. And I hope she doesnt think Im some big stupid fratboy drunk or something because she is a really sweet and really pretty girl. But anyways, theres one more lesson learned. Idiot award goes to me.

Fun Date

So a couple of weeks ago I met a girl named Lindsay. Ive been hanging out with her quite a bit lately, but havent really told many people. I dont wanna get my hopes up, its seems like every time I do, I get my spirits crushed. But anyways, yesterday I called her to see if she wanted to hang out for the night, go to dinner or something. I didnt even plan anything for the night, just knew that we were going to eat somewhere, not even sure where. I picked her up at 6 and asked her where she wanted to eat. We agreed on a really nice place called Red Seven in downtown Lafayette. So we ate there, I got some salmon (which was scrumtulescent), and she got some Thai dish. Somewhere during our conversations we got to talking about Candyland, not sure why though (some foreshadowing), but overall the dinner was pretty fun. We always have these weird conversations about random things......which I love doing.

After dinner we decided to walk around downtown Lafayette a little to check it out. But we didnt do that for long because it was so freakin cold out. So we drove to Starbucks and got some coffee. And what do we see there as we're waiting in line? Candyland. So as we were sitting there drinking our coffee, we played a game of Candyland and ate a giant rainbow cookie. She won the game. I was very upset.

So as we were drinking our coffee, we were trying to come up with things to do for the rest of the night. She knew that I was taking a ceramics class and had been asking if we could go to the art building and play on the wheel. I was hesitant because I didnt want the instructor to be in there and chew me out, but figured it would be worth the risk. So we headed there next. They also had a gallery going on, so we checked that out first. Then headed to the ceramics room. We played on the wheel for a while, she made a nice plate with swirlies, I made a couple of cylinders, it was a good time. Cleaning up sucked though.

Afterwards we were at a loss for what to do. I brought up the idea that later we should buy a disposable camera and head to the bars and get our pictures taken with a bunch of drunk people, so we were planning on doing that later. It was probably 9:30 or 10 by this time, so it was far too early to meet drunks then. So we just got in the car and started driving around, thinking we would see something interesting and check it out.

Then we created a really fun game in the car. I told her to get a coin and at every intersection we would flip the coin to decide which direction to go. Heads is left, tails is right. And she came up with the rule that if its the same side as the previous flip, we go straight. But after every 10 minutes or so, we would forget which side meant which direction. So she came up with the expressions "Left our heads....", and "Right on our tails." And needless to say......we got lost. But we just trucked on until we found something familiar. We eventually made it back to campus and back to ATO. Once we got back we watched to movie Blow, and after the movie we were too tired to take pictures with drunks and she had to get up early for church, so I dropped her off and called it a night.

So that was a pretty fun, random night.

Charles

So today I went to Walmart to buy some trinkets (CO2 cartridges, deodorant, and a box of cereal, you know, the usual) and as I was entering the parking lot, I once again saw a homeless person standing there with a sign. Once I saw him I again thought to myself how I could approach and get to know this person. So as I was leaving, I drove up to him, parked my car, got out and introduced myself. His name is Charles. This man was a little different from Heather in a sense that he looked like he was going to die any minute. I was in shock at the bad condition he was in. He was on oxygen, coughing and hacking, shivering, and just looked like death. Now I know that he could be putting on a show, and thats a shame if he is, but I really felt like I needed to do something to help. So as I was talking to him I told him that in exchange for a high five, I would give him $20 to help out a little. So he gave my a sweet high five, I gave him some money, then left. I also told him I would keep him in my prayers, I think you should too.

Oh My, What a Weekend

So this weekend I drove down to Indianapolis to see the Brickyard 400 with a few friends of mine from Purdue. It was a pretty enjoyable time down there. And it was pretty much free for me haha. We planned on buying some tickets at the gate and parking in the infield, but when we got there we found out that they weren't selling tickets at the gate for the Brickyard, they only do it for the Indy 500. So they made us turn around and park in the big grass field where all the tailgaters park. We got there at around 7:30am and the race didnt start until like 2, so we had a long day to tailgate. We had brought something like 60 cans of beer to drink and a bunch of food so we were pretty much set for the day. I ended up having a few beers than becoming rediculously tired so I slept in the truck for a while (and some random guy walked by and tickled my feet...I was so confused). But anywho, after the race had started, we decided that we would wait a while, then try and sneek in. So when the race was almost half over, we tried it.....and succeeded. Not-a-one person tried to stop us. So we ended up sitting in the infield for the rest of the race. Mission accomplished.

But thats really not the interesting part of my weekend. I kind of hesitate to write this, only because I know that my mom and grandma read my blog. But I need to write it because it happened. I cant only post profound thoughts and wonderful experiences that make people think that Im a saint, because I am not. And Im not trying to be. Im just me, and Im just trying to live an adventurous life.

So anyways, Adam and Rob took me to a strip club Saturday night. It really wasnt what I thought it would be. I even told them on our way there that I would probly just hang around the bar most of the night, but the bar was minute in this place. There were girls EVERYWHERE. I figured there would be like two or three up on top of a pole and the place would be really run down and dirty with old men hounding at the girls. But actually, it was a pretty nice place, clean, nicely decorated (only I would notice that), with a lot of young guys.....several of them with their girlfriends (I thought that was extremely odd). Now for the first couple of hours, I thought the place was really strange and awkward, and I didnt really want to be there. But after a while I started getting used to it, i guess.

But on this particular weekend, they had a feature girl dancing from Penthouse. She did like three dances all night, and she was kind of a big deal in that place. She was also selling pictures and selling private dances in the "VIP room". So obviously, Rob buys me a dance with her....a $50 dance. He likes making me feel awkward. But I am pretty amazed that my friends spent so much money on me that night, I guess they thought I needed to experience this. So anywho, me and Rob were talking to her before my big private dance, and Rob was telling her that its my first time in a strip club and that I still held the V-card. She didnt believe me for a few minutes, but I confirmed and eventually convinced her. Then she thought I was gay, I told her that I fancied the ladies, and from then on she kind of took a liking to me. She gave me a couple of free pictures (she was selling them for $25 a piece), put some flattering comments on them, and then she gave me a job offer to be her "lawnboy" haha. She told me that I was a pretty good looking guy and I would have to mow shirtless, of course. Then later on she gave me her email address and told me to email her if I seriously wanted to be her lawnboy. Now, Im pretty confident that she was just doing all this because its her job to make guys feel special. So Im not really expecting to be working for her. So yeah, Saturday night, I met a stripper. (I did email her by the way, pretty much saying "Hey, whats up". I do think it would be interesting to get to know her, because she was really nice and fun to talk to, and ultimately completely different than me. But Im not really expecting a response.)

But overall, I did have a pretty good time. Im really not cut out to be in a strip club though. Sometimes.....actually most of the time I was there, I would just laugh at some of things going on in there. So there you have it, I have been strip club devirginized this weekend. (I hope I havent disappointed you too much mom and grandma)

Heather

Today I was working on my moms house, doing some painting, building a cellar door, tearing down a swing set, just doing some repayment because she bought me tires for my car. At about noon, I had to go over to Lowes and buy some stuff, and I figured while I was out I might as well get some Wendys because its close. There is this one intersection over by Wendys that is sometimes occupied by one or two homeless people, trying to get money or food or something. And everytime I drive by them, I have this feeling that I should stop and talk to them. Im not so much interested in giving them food or money, but I just want to talk to them, get to know them. But I think that Im always scared that they will be mean or get angry. So today, of course, there was a woman standing at that intersection with a sign saying that she is stuck, struggling, and hungry. Instantly when I saw her, my stomach began to feel sick. But it felt sick for me, because I knew that it would another time where I would drive by and try to forget about avoiding them. So today, I drove by, went to Wendys, and ordered some food. But today I found myself ordering two meals. When I got my two meals, I drove back over to her, parked my car, and asked her if she would like to have a meal with me.

I tell you what, this is one of the more enjoyable experiences this summer. I got to know her. Her name is Heather, and she is a really nice woman. We sat there on the curb of the Wendys parking lot for about 20 or 30 minutes chit-chatting away, talking about where shes from, her kids, how she ended up in Plymouth, we talked about me going to college, me being jobless, how "nutritous" our meal is, stuff like that. She is different than me, almost an opposite, and I like that. I love meeting people who are different than me. I hope she enjoyed meeting me as much as I enjoyed meeting her. And it makes me feel good that I accomplished something today.