time for another update.
i’ve actually been meaning to do this for what seems like forever but each time i think i’m ready to update, i get all caught up in doing something else and never get back to it. so here it is. my update.
things have been good. things have been lovely. things have been simple. for that i cannot complain. as usual, there really hasn’t been anything much to stress about. there have been a few things that i’ve wanted to write about but as i said before, i just haven’t gotten around to it.
first thing that i can remember. i was driving somewhere in Biancas car the other day and for the first time in many months, i brought along some techno to listen to. i can honestly say that riding on the beats of techno is like riding a bike… once you’ve been touched by the music, it doesn’t take any effort to get back to that place. i drove with the windows down and i turned up the music. i was finally able to remember what it felt like to let myself go again. what it felt like to close my eyes and fly. and at that moment, i thought i should return home quickly just to write about it but i just kept driving. the point is. it felt good. i felt good.
second. i went to the Renaissance Festival with Bianca and my parents this past weekend. my mother had been sewing costumes for the previous two weeks; staying up until 2am to get four costumes finished (she actually made 5 costumes but the first one she made for herself didn’t fit and she wasn’t willing to stray from the pattern to make it work… so she just made another one). so yes. that’s right. your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. we all went in FULL costume. my father was a wizard. i was a peasant (a damn cute one according to my girlfriend) and both Bianca and my mother were ‘middle class’ women. it was basically an excuse for the two of them to show some cleavage. i have to say… Bianca looked amazing. she was glowing. i found myself staring. we held hands a lot. we kissed a lot.
we ended up watching one of the live acts at the festival. two ‘loverly washing women’ on stage. comedy act. pretty damn funny actually. at the beginning of the show they called out for three men in the audience to come up and receive a flower that they could give to their loverly ladies… oddly enough, i hesitated only a split second and was STILL the first person to stand up and walk up to get Bianca a flower. once all three (four of us showed up) men were up by the stage, one of the ladies mentioned that NOTHING is ever free from a woman. i thought “oh god. what have i done?!” i ended up having to run out past the audience to some stranger (a man) and cry out “FATHER, FATHER… why did you LEAVE me?!” and get a hug from him. i gave this man NO time to think. running out past the audience (wearing a Ren-Fest costume mind you) i ran up the stranger crying out “FATHER, FATHER… why did you LEAVE me?!” and threw my arms around him. oddly enough, he actually reciprocated and hugged me. hehe. crazy fucker. i ran back up to the stage to collect my prize. i think both Bianca AND my mother were in shock. to be honest, it’s interesting to note that in the past, i NEVER would have done something like that. i’ve always been faced with a small amount of stage-fright and i’ve never really been the type of person to make myself the center-of-attention for ANYTHING. but it went well. it felt good. i think that my experience on reality-tv has made me MUCH less apprehensive about being watched by people. so. i got Bianca a flower. and she was happy.
we spent the next few hours walking around beneath the shade trees looking at all of the crafts and other Ren-Fest goodies. we drank wine. we ate ice cream. Bianca got her Tarot read (aparently the lady said lots of nice things about me. hehe. oh. and we’re getting married eventually). at the close of every night, the ‘King’ makes a speech and marches out the gate to the sound of a bagpiper, followed by his entourage of custumed guards, knights and merry-makers. being that my father was slightly intoxicated by all of the wine he’d been drinking, as the King passed us on our way out, my father approached him, bowed and said (slightly slurring) “Good Sire. May we join you?” the King replied with “Please do my good man.” So we all jumped in behind the king and his knights and marched out the gate. however cheesy it may seem… it was pretty cool.
after the Festival, we headed to Bennigans for a post-festivities dinner of fish and chips. my father was silly drunk. my mother kept telling him that nobody was tugging on his ‘wizardly robe.’ Bianca and i kept looking at each other with amusement. it was a good night.
i think it’s amazing how my relationship with my parents has changed over the last few months since Bianca and i have started dating. my mother thinks she’s lovely. my father. well. who knows what he thinks but i know that he thinks good of her. my nights at the parents house no longer consist of stressful converations about money (since i’ve been doing exceptionally well at budgeting my money for the last three months). Bianca and i go over for dinner. we drink tea on their front porch and we all talk. a week ago, we were both over at my parents house playing a game of Clue and last night Bianca and i ate dinner with them and sat out on the porch afterwards. she looking at clothing catalogues and me… well. i was just relaxing.
this summer is going to be nice i think. there will be lots of beach trips and cookouts with my parents. plenty of humid Florida nights while we all play cards.
point is. things are just comfortable. Bianca actually put it quite nicely in HER livejournal the other day.
“But other then that my life is good. Im happy with my relationship. Very happy actually. Its comfortable and easy going, nothing dramatic or stagnant. Plus Nathan is really flexible and understanding. If I’m being bitchy for a day, or had a bad mood or whatever I know he’s not just gonna go and ditch me. Which is really relieving and comforting. So basically a one word description of our relationship: comfortable. That’s just fine with me.”
next up. kayak trip… well. much less of a ‘trip’ and more of a ‘jaunt.’ hehe. i’d been wanting to get back out in my boat for quite some time now. the weather has just been too lovely not to. so the other day, i got home from work at 2:30pm and asked if Bianca was interested in going kayaking for a little bit. i had planned to kayak out to my little island, watch most of the sunset with her and paddle back. so we cleaned off and loaded up the boats, drove to Picnic Park (where i usually put in) only to be confronted with some rather large waves. although it was calm inland, the bay was quite breezy. so. “Plan B” i said. we drove up to Gandy Blvd where i’ve put my kayak in before, thinking that we could paddle under the bridge and around the bend to a DIFFERENT island (actually quite a bit closer). come to find out. the waves in THIS area were even bigger. there was no way i was going to paddle out in that. sooooooooo. “Plan C” was more of an afterthought. we could drive across the street. put in at the boat launch. paddle out to the bay from the channel and we’d be okay. well. needless to say. it was really windy there too. we put in anyhow. after about 20min’s of paddling against the wind, up and down little waves etc. we turned around to come home. there was no way either of us would have made it to the little island AND back. but i was impressed and glad that Bianca put up with it all because it was what i had in mind. see… she’s not Mother Natures biggest fan. our trip to Tennessee last year was her first time sleeping in a tent. her first time kayaking. her first time doing a lot of ‘outdoors things’ but she survived. so i figure… i’ll work her into them. hehe.
lastly. kayak trip number two. a few days later i was given the day off from work. it was BEAUTIFUL out. i hate this weather to be honest with you. over the last two weeks, i’ve done nothing but daydream about kayak trips, mountain biking, road trips with the top down etc. and instead… i’ve found myself working. so anyhow. day off. i woke up early. i went to the bike shop to look at all of the new pretty mountain bike stuff. i went to Borders to buy outdoor magazines. i ate a REALLY yummy tuna-melt at Einstein Bagel and i came home, threw my kayak on the roof and went to the beach. i was determined to get some paddling in. so. out i went to ‘my island.’ on the way out there, i found myself wondering why in fact i was paddling a small boat 40mins out to an island when most normal people just drive a boat out there and it takes them 5mins. my arms were sore before i had even hit the half-way mark though i blame that on the length of time since my last kayak trip.
the hurricanes had changed the island slightly. there was no longer very much shade to be had. only four palm trees remained where there once had been a few more (including one rather nice shade tree). the latter had been blown over during the hurricanes and what little grass USED to be on the island was all gone. i made use of the fallen tree by setting my little hiking chair against it, making a very comfortable seat. i spent the next four hours listening to the sound of the waves and enjoying the sunlight. i read some of my book. i took some pictures. i walked along the waters edge and i took a nap under the palms. on the paddle back, the answer to my “why do i do this?” question was offered. i was maybe 400 yards from the mainland when two dolphins broke the surface of the water only ten or fifteen feet from the front of my kayak. one adult and one child (couldn’t have been more than five or six feet in length). thinking that i could get even closer, i paddled a few more feet and stopped, hoping they would surface again this time even closer to my boat. to no avail. about twenty feet away i saw them come up for air but this time… there were FOUR of them. two adults and two children. it was an amazing feeling. sitting there in my kayak with four beautiful creatures surfacing every few moments to get air. i sat there for maybe five minutes and paddled back to shore.
i didn’t want to leave the island that day. i called Bianca from my cell phone and told her to get the other boat, paddle out with a tent and some pillows. i was mostly joking though the idea had crossed my mind. i could call out of work and we could spend the next day relaxing on an island with nothing to do but enjoy the solitude. i think i may have to plan a camping trip in the near future.
so. if you read the entire thing… congratulations. you just won an all expense paid trip to… my life. what more could you ask for?! hehe.
in closing. life is good. i have the feeling that ‘the show’ will be airing sometime this summer though i’m not positive. i will of course let everyone know. and being that i don’t have cable, if anyone sees any commercials for “Average Joe” on NBC, let me know.
