Mood: Industrious .: Happy Inside :.
Listening to: .: Etta James – At Last :.
Reading: .: Kidnapped :.
Watching: .: Cast Away :.
Aloha!
My Journal will not be illustrated be the RobotOrion account anymore. If you want to see the pictures that correspond with my journals, open your “My Friends” section on the front page and check “scraps” next to my name. All my personal photos will be going in there.
I got back to Harrisburg yesterday.
I ended up not being able to visit Vanessa in Montréal on the way back from Sept-Îles. She ended up having to do something with her Mom downtown at the time when my dad and I were going to meet up with her. We spent the night in Drummondville, so it wasn’t out of the way at all. I called here from there.
There were no struggles at the border this time, because we took back roads home.
I spent a couple days with my parents in Connecticut; and helped them paint the basement of their new house. It’s weird being home sometimes. I’m not sure if it’s me or them, but my mom seems to yell a lot, or just give orders in a really commanding way. I used to be pretty hot tempered when I was younger, and that would constantly light my short fuse. It was difficult not to go back to that when she would complain about different things. I broke her plastic broomstick while I was painting, and she yelled at me for that (even though I planned on buying her another one anyway), called me lazy because I thought of a different way to paint that was easier, and hollered at me because I didn’t put down drop cloths (something they had not asked me to do). I figured it was a basement so it didn’t matter.
Anyhow, it was trying, but I cooled as fast as I could and let it go. It is so different hanging out with my Dad than my Mom. My Dad seems to get along a lot better with my sister than me, though. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I was the guinea pig. It always seemed that they were trying things out with me. I guess it made me more independent; which I wouldn’t trade for anything, but sometimes I miss the closeness my sister seems to have with my Dad.
We had a housewarming/graduation party at the new house on Thursday, and invited over Babchi & Jaju (Polish grandparents), Uncle Dave, Aunt Linda, Julie & Lindsay, Uncle Jim, Aunt Kim, and their kids, Aunt Wendy, Zack & Jared, Nick’s friend, and Beth’s boyfriend Barret (I think it has only one t). It was a lot of fun having them around and to see them and tell them what’s new in my life. Conversation was a bit tense between Uncle Dave’s and Uncle Jim’s family, so I spent most of my time with Zack & Jared. They’ll both joke about everything, so they’re a lot of fun to hang out with.
I really got to talk to Julie later on, she seems to be excelling in Architecture and really enjoying it. If I had more money; that’s probably what I would go into. I’m very proud of her, and her growing eye for art. I gave her a couple pointers on frills to add to a portfolio, and said I wanted to see hers when I came back to visit; with the promise of bringing mine.
After everyone left; I opened my cards.
Babchi gave me TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS.
I was SHOCKED. She had given me two very cool shirts when she walked in the door (one of them I’m sure you’ll all see in later pictures), and I gave her a kiss and thanked her for the 50$ check she had sent me. She smiled mischievously and said it was only my birthday present.
This 2000$ is an incredible blessing, because it is just the right amount. I owe the College (not in loans) 3000$ that prevents me from getting my degree, and I have exactly 1000$ in the bank. The 3000$ would have gained interest at 30$ a month because it is not a real loan, and now I can pay it of completely! All I’ll have after that are the two real loans! I’m hoping the work from the summer will be able to pay off the 1000$ loan I have from the College, and leave me the 17,000$ government loan starting in effect in March. It’s really looking up, and God has provided wonderfully.
After the party, I took the train to Philly. I met up with Tamika Pinkney’s mom and her cousin named Cricket, and they took me to Tamika’s parent’s house. I had been invited to a graduation party with them by Tamika. I met her little sisters Natalia and Talisha and her little brother Joshua. Her littlest siblings were a lot of fun to hang out with. Everyone in their family is quite petite, so me being 6’3” was fun; they climbed all over me. Tamika arrived at around 7 (she had to work). It was good to see her again. We watched the new edition of “Peter Pan” that night. The movie is very well done. It’s got a very weird blend of special effects. Some of them are absolutely stunning, and then others are so fake you’d think that it was a made for TV series. The acting is very very well done, though, and the storyline and backgrounds are so artistically done it makes it wonderful to watch. It ties in incredibly to “Hook”, even down to tiny parts of the music being copied over.
The next day we went over to Tamika’s grandparents for the party…
Oh wait, I watched “Cast Away” as well, before the party. That movie is so incredibly sad, and extremely well done. I need to get both of those DVDs sometime. “Peter Pan” will probably be cheap.
Tamika’s grandparents are amazing. They are very rich, and have this huge house they modified themselves. They have a raised balcony with a library in it, and the way you get to it is a beautiful iron spiral staircase. They also had a fully furnished basement with a bar and a surround sound system, and lavishly decorated living room with a Suzuki Electric Baby Grand Piano. Needless to say, I was taking some architecture notes. They had a large pool with a Jacuzzi outside along with ornate lawn furniture and a bi-level deck with plants all over it.
I was a little nervous at first, but I asked and then hopped on the Baby Grand and played my heart out. As guests arrived I jumped up and said hello, and soon I’d wiped it all away. Twi, Adrian and Christine were also invited, so when they arrived, I felt even better. The Pinkney is very nice and after a while I fit right in. I got to know Tamika’s grandparents a bit too, and I helped Mr. Pinkney deep fry a turkey. Later that night, Tamika wasn’t feeling so well. A former boyfriend of hers, Mike, had come and, well, didn’t make her very comfortable. He was rather overbearing, and Tamika was already tense from some things her siblings had done to irk her grandparents, and so after everyone left (Mike being one of the last) she was really feeling down.
Tamika’s great Aunt Faye had been in a girls Motown group when she was young, and though she’d had a few drinks, she wasn’t very tipsy. She had marveled at my piano playing earlier, and said she’d like to sing for me.
Right then, I thought it was about time to take her up on the offer.
I sat next to Tamika at the piano and we messed around for a while and I played some bits of a song I had been working on for her to sing. After a while Aunt Faye moseyed by and I asked her if she would sing with us. By the time we were done; we’d pulled out all the Pinkney’s Etta James CDs, an Alicia Keys CD and the CD of romantic songs from the 50’s that I had made for Tamika and me, Tamika, Aunt Faye, and “Mommom” (Mrs. Pinkney) were all sitting around the CD player in the kitchen and singing along and sharing in the older Pinkney’s memories of the different songs. Aunt Faye had known quite a few of the singers on the CD I made personally, so it was really neat to listen to her stories.
Later that night, before we went to bed (Mommom made up beds for us) I asked Tamika if she felt better, and she did.
She and I rode back to Harrisburg the next day (we stayed up so late that everyone missed church) and Tamika dropped me off at my new house on Market Street. No one was there to let me in, so I had to call around trying to get someone to unlock it from the Sister’s house next door.
Lox showed up a little later, and I got all packed for camp.
Monday morning we took off for camp. I barely got a chance to be settled at all at the house, and didn’t even have to unpack some of my stuff. I just left.
It’s been good here so far, though. I have a cabin of 6 kids, and they’re all really cool. Anthony Torres, from Puerto Rico, is the biggest help of them all, constantly helping out, cleaning up, and seeing if he can make himself the most useful. Ricky is quiet but noble, a genuine heart and a skilled team player. Tashan Layton is loud and a trouble maker, but a strong ally. Brandon Davis is a quick witted and friendly kid, and always ready to laugh. Turtles (Kenneth) is a withdrawn and silent fellow, but surprises everyone every now and then with fantastic teamwork. Devon is the bully, slightly bigger and much more of a trouble maker, but when you get on his good side he can be great.
They all just came in to watch the Laker’s Detroit game, so I gotta go.
Ciao.