Moooovie

The Sturken encounter was fine. We actually ended up talking for a couple of hours, but it was just as friendly people, with nothing of the something of before. The Harry Potter movie was fabulous. It completely destroyed the book, but it was horrifically exciting. Julie spent a lot of time saying "it didn't happen like that!" and Gretchen and I clutched each other at the very predictable sudden zombie appearance. It was fun.

In other news, I'm going to blatantly steal another portion of Nyx's life. Can I help it if she's doing more interesting things than I am? After all, no one really wants to read about Sturken and I complaining about are siblings and noting his anger issues. Actually, I'll tell you anyways. He hit his sister's arm a few weeks ago because he was just so mad at her, and he needed somewhere for the violence to go, and I said that I'd never experienced that sort of violent impulse, and his response was that he did kind of have some anger issues, but "I'm not a psychopath! really!" My response was, "if you were, I think I'd have noticed by now."

He agrees with Nyx that our hometown is stifling. "London's really opened my mind," he said. "Not that your mind isn't open. You seem really, uh, universalist." I laughed. "It's just, for me, I was really close-minded before I left. Kind of a jerk, really." He still used gay as an insult once during the evening, so he must have been truly awful before. I told him about the boob bead (minus the boob part) and he thought it was kind of awesome in a rather gross way, but recommended that I not tell Mario. We gossiped some, and he agreed that Johannes is really rather odd. We mostly just talked, on and on and on, for literally hours, while he played some racing game on our gamecube and I hid in the basement from my sisters, who were playing fashion show. He showed himself as perpetually more flawed as the time wore on. At first, he made fun of me for being on the math team. Then, later, we talked about SAT-IIs, and he mentioned that he'd actually been on it in middle school. It's nice that he takes the IQ thing for granted. He willingly admitted that I was a bit smarter than he was, but it didn't seem to bother him, it just was. I think that since we've known each other so long, we take the things that would normally make us inaccessible (my nerdiness and his excessive athleticism (he can do A LOT of push-ups. It's scary)) as just part of who we are.

It's odd, really, how different it was from the last time I saw him. I still like him, obviously, but it's lost all of the physical attraction that there was. I think I've finally managed to file him under extended family. He's just another one of the endless string of odd cousins. Shelby, on the other hand, just can't get used to it. When she was eight, during my nightmare trip, she informed the family that "I want to hit him, but I don't know why," and proceeded to attack him. Yesterday, while we were standing around in the yard, she just spontaneously bit him. It was entirely bizarre. He was shocked at first, but when we talked it over later, he seemed to be over it. "It's funny, really, you and Shelby," he said.

I sighed. "Yeah, I just can never understand her. Genie I get, but Shelby's just completely alien."

"Well, you're really polar opposites. You're a complete introvert, and she's more extroverted. She's entirely impulsive, and you think before you act. And then Genie's somewhere in the middle."

Poor Genie, always somewhere in the middle. If I didn't love her to pieces anyways, I'd feel bad.

Oh, he remembered me talking about Gretchen two years ago, and continues to deliberately mispronounce her name, and he even talked about Nyx's biking accident. He said everyone thought she was going to die, which is, really, kind of awful.

Speaking of Nyx, she's gone and had another accidental date. The boys seem to be falling all over each other to get to her =). Direct quote below.

OH CRAP.

if my head were ANY denser, my brain would be a ShamWOW towel.

that is my analogy for last night. yay for un-dating!

i went to see harry potter with this guy. i've thought of him as like an older brother before, so i didn't think it was that weird. even when we saw the preview for twilight, in which bella says to edward, "it's my birthday, kiss me" and he leaned over and said, "it's my birthday..." i thought he was joking. i mean, he didn't protest when i paid for my own ticket.

after the movie we went to longshore because i had never seen it at night before. we sat on one of the catamarans and talked for a really long time. finally my mom's friend called and asked where i was, and i said i'd be home soon. Yamaha pulled me closer on the catamaran, but still i was just thinking, "this can still be friendly, right?" finally i said we should go, and he leaned over towards me.....dialogue to follow in next post.

Later...

what are you doing?
What do you mean, what do you think I'm doing?
Don't do it!
Why not?
Dude, really....
What?
It's just....you're twenty-two!
So what if I am?
You're six years older than me! Doesn't that mean anything to you?
No. It doesn't.
Why not?
Why should it? Ulysses and Cleo are about the same distance apart.
Seriously! I'm sixteen!!
I know.
Doesn't that bother you?
No.
Why not? Why doesn't it bother you?
What do you mean, why?
Why....am I your favorite dispatcher? (reference to earlier at work) Why me?
Well, I've really enjoyed this conversation we've been having....(lists random reasons that don't mean anything)....and i'm attracted to you.
That's it? You're attracted to me? That's silly.
No it's not. That's what it's about!
Seriously. You're ridiculous.
Are you lecturing your elder?
You need lecturing.
Come on, are you afraid?
No. I'm just not interested. I don't think of you that way, I think of you like a brother.
Then why are you sitting here with me...like this?
I would sit with my brother like this!! Well...not like this, precisely....(indicating closeness of faces)
This conversation went on for some time, but i didn't give in. Finally i sat up and turned to him, saying:
Wait. is this gonna be awkward tomorrow? Because if it's awkward I'll punch you.
I'd rather you didn't punch me.
So don't make it awkward.

later on, walking back to the car.

Okay wait. This is ALREADY awkward. Stop it. You need to learn how to not be awkward!
And you need to learn how to not be afraid.
Do not. I'm not afraid of anything.
Yeah you are. You totally wanted to kiss me back there.
I did not. You wish.
Uh-huh.
You're being preposterous.
Yeah, okay Nyx....

fortunately after that we got back to normal conversation.

Farewell

Italian Festival pt. 3

At a bit past 10, Nyx and I decided that we really should be leaving. We debated calling our parents, but Benny said he'd drive Nyx home, and I lived nearby, so it seemed unnecessary. It took forever to drag Benny out of the fair. He wanted to say goodbye to just about everyone, and he kept running into more people (a note: he is not among those who fear 'man hugs'). To top it off, he didn't actually know where his car was parked, and he didn't have automatic locks, so he couldn't flash the lights.

Very few of the automatic things in the car worked (I had a list, but I forgot it). Despite the iffy brakes, we made it up the hill, and I was home by 10:30. He and Nyx went back to Nyx's house, and she gave him the cupcakes, and they reportedly sat on the wall by the beach and talked for a while before he left. Johannes, however, had his own ideas about what transpired, as evidenced by this facebook chat between Johannes and Tawny (on Nyx's account).

Johannes: how was the ride home lol

Tawny: umm this is tawny not Nyx :):)

Johannes: haha

Tawny: shes sleeping and i know her passward so im stealing photos of myself off peoples pictures

Johannes: oohhh wats up? haha

Tawny: but her ride home was good and they sat outside for a while looking at the moon and I walked over and said hi

Johannes: u know everything dont u! thats nice u know if anything happend

Tawny: nothing did what do you know from benny

Johannes: i don't know anything

Tawny: come onnn

Johannes: thats y i was askin u haha really

Tawny: boring

Johannes: i havent talked to him since he left to drop Nyx off

Tawny: whataboule luysander lysander

Johannes: what u mean?

Tawny: umm nvm

Johannes: no tell me! lol come on

Tawny: whatever she just thought maybe he liked her so she thought it would be awk between lysander and benny and really i didnt say any of that

Johannes: ok idk

Tawny: k good

Johannes: lol

=-------end of conversation--------=

They didn't even say goodbye. This is further proof that Johannes (who took pictures of himself on Nyx's camera) is weird. Also, *ahem* Benny and Nyx, sitting in a tree, etc.

Thank you very much.

The Ferris Wheel

Nyx hates ferris wheels. She is not afraid of them, but, for some strange reason, she absolutely loathes them. However, Cormac took it upon himself (with the support of Benny and I) to get Nyx onto the ferris wheel.

Cormac failed. Nyx is, after all, an extremely stubborn person. At the last minute, Nyx ran away and Benny chased after her, leaving behind Ryan, Cormac, Lysander, Johannes, Benny's little sister, Benny's sister's friend, and I. Rather than trailing Nyx (which I have been known to do) I stuck it out, granting her and Benny some quality time. Fortunately, I managed to end up next to Cormac, across from Ryan, and diagonally across from Lysander. Ryan and I both sat with our legs over to one side so there was absolutely no physical contact. I think our knees bumped maybe once (translation: they did bump once)

Johannes got stuck with the two little girls. Ryan yelled over at him, "Johannes, you're such a Dad right now!"

"No, dude, I planned it like this," he said. Lord only knows why he would do such a thing.

"So, how's the phone search going?" somebody asked Lysander.

"Oh, pretty well. I sent a text message offering a two hundred dollar reward."

Ryan looked shocked. "Seriously?"

"Well, I actually just said 'reward if found,' so I wouldn't actually have to cough up the money."

"Is the phone actually worth two hundred dollars?" asked Cormac.

Lysander shrugged. "Probably not. But it's my phone."

As we neared the top, I looked over to the stage. Everyone was leaving, and I'd missed my sister singing.

Cormac looked down as well. When he saw someone carrying a large stuffed animal, he remembered a joke he'd attempted earlier. "Imagine seeing one of your teachers here, carrying some huge prize."

"Imagine if Mrs. V was on this ferris wheel. That would be a safety hazard," said Ryan. I didn't laugh. Fat jokes are a) rude b)disproportionately directed at women, and thus sexist and c)remind me of Livny (it's a type of russian pig), who always told them about the other orchestra teacher during biology.

I can't really remember anything else from the conversation, but I do remember enjoying it, and I definitely talked some, because I remember Ryan laughing at something I said in this way where he seemed to think about it a moment, understand it, and then decide that it was funny, as if the little comment truly deserved to be laughed at. I feel like that happened more than once, but I can't remember anything I said for the whole ferris wheel ride.

When we got back down and found Nyx and Benny, we discovered that, because Johannes had made them hold his popcorn, they hadn't actually been able to go into the funhouse, and had instead wandered around aimlessly for the duration of our ride.

an aside: check out this link.

Italian Festival

Last night I went to the Italian Festival with (prepare for a slew of new nicknames) Nyx (who you know), Benny, Ryan, Johannes (like Gutenberg, who invented the printing press to make books *hint hint*), Cormac (you know that's what they should have called the other brother), Lysander, and Nick. We saw Cormac's brother, Cameron, as well. Anyways, I have a whole bunch of stories to share, so I will spread them over the coming days, just like I did with the SHP.

We spent a lot of time just standing around. The laws of inertia and magnetism appear to apply very strongly to them. The will remain at rest unless an outside force makes them move, and they have a mild magnetic attraction to Nyx, since she is the only person capable of making them move. They also had a tendency to split off into groups, with Lysander and Benny vanishing temporarily, which bugged Nyx to no end. And spending any protracted amount of time with Lysander really introduces me to the concept of wing-woman. But he's really not that bad, so I suppose I'll manage.

At one point last night, I was standing with Nyx and Cormac when I saw a familiar face approaching. I tried to remember who it was. A gym teacher, maybe? No, then Nyx would recognize him. As soon as Cormac gave a very friendly hello!, I realized it was our youth group advisor from last year.

"It took me like ten seconds to recognize you," I said.

"Really?" He started counting on his fingers.

Then, Cameron popped up behind him. "Hi!"

"Hey! How you been?" said the youth group advisor.

"Pretty good."

Nyx, who had wandered away, then came back with Benny.

"This is Benny," said Cormac.

"Hello."

"Hi," said Benny. "I want to call you Mark, for some reason."

"I like Mark. Mark works."

"Okay, then. Hi, Mark."

Cameron laughed. "His name is Chad."

I laughed too, since his name isn't actually Chad.

"Should I call you Chad?" said Benny.

"Chad's fine too. It's all good."

"Hmm. How about Chad Mark?"

"Now that is a great name."