Coast Vacation

I just got back from the coast today. My dad and I went for four days. It was nice to get out of town for a little bit. Also the break from this insanely hot weather was nice as well. Although we are supposed to be getting some rain this weekend which I can't wait for. In fact, I'm excited to be able to go outside and not sweat after five minutes. I saw my grandma today. She gave me a set of towels for college which was for sweet of her. It's also a very nice set of towels too, I would have bought myself an inferior set. I do feel bad for my grandma though because she tries so hard to help out everyone in her family, and I think she's being stretched a little too thin at the moment. I hope that some day I can be as generous with my family as she has been.
I also hear from my mom today apparently she has a new job teaching at a public school instead of the crappy private school she was working at. That's basically the only good information I received from the exchange I had with her today.
Anyways, during our vacation my dad and I played skee ball as we normally do at the coast. This time I got a mug with my tickets instead of a bunch of candy even though I did get some candy. We also got some ice cream, and the guy who served us ice cream commented on my The Head and The Hear t-shirt which is the very first time I have had anybody say anything about it to me that actually knew who they were. I was really happy about that. My dad wanted to go fishing, but there wasn't enough water for him to fish. We went in a couple lighthouses, bookstores, and saw Ricki and The Flash, it was a good movie. We also went to the aquarium and this marine science center. All in all it was an awesome trip. 

Crazy Parent Train

It's a month and four days before I leave for college, and a part of me is wondering if I should be going. I'm worried about what everybody is nervous about, but other things on top of that. Mostly, I'm worried about my dad. I know that he's lived in an empty house before, and he hasn't always had me living in his house with him, but things as of late seem to be bothering him, and I can't quite figure out what's going on with him. I think he's kind of freaking about me leaving, but he won't tell me the whole truth of it all because he doesn't want me to feel bad for leaving. I know my dad thinks it's a good idea for me to go, and I know he wants me to go, but I also know he's never been more than a forty-five minute drive from me for all my life except when I went on vacation with my mom.
The reasons for my new suspicions about how he's going to handle the house being empty are little things I've picked up on over the last few months. I've learned well from my mom to be able to tell when my parents are in a bad state of mind. Although my dad is way better at hiding things from me, and he doesn't tell me all his problems like my mom would. First off June my dad went to the doctor which isn't a big deal really he goes every few years or so, but he mentioned that he wanted to make sure everything was in check, and to keep him from stressing out so much. He also said him and his girlfriend would be living together much later than planned. The original plan was once all of their kids were out of the house they would, "cohabitate," but they has changed because my dad needs to stop having meltdowns every week is what he told me. I wasn't even aware that my dad was having any meltdowns. And I don't think they've stopped either because Brandon was telling me that on Wednesday at work something major happened. My dad and Brandon got into some sort of argument, and Brandon, "quit," for about an hour. According to Brandon there was an "intervention" for my dad's attitude at work (I'm using lots of quotes but that's because of how everybody else put it). Recently, my dad said he was having a harder time with me leaving than he was expecting which means my dad is probably having all these issues right now because his "little girl" is going to be out on her own in the big, bad world. I know I can't stay here just because of my dad's own problems, but if something really awful happens while I'm gone I'd feel really bad about it even if it technically isn't my fault. I've always felt somehow responsible for my parents, more so than my brothers ever have. I just wish that for once one of my parents could stay sane and normal while I'm still living with them. 

Flies and Groceries and Dogs

Last night at around nine o' clock my dad decided to go grocery shopping for Family Weekend this weekend. He invites everybody out for the whole weekend, and all my relatives get to rafting, and we all get to see each other and have good, ole, quality family fun. Except that it's more along the line of everybody gets super wasted for two days straight, and we play a brutal game of whiffle ball. My family is extremely competitive, and I hate that every year I have to pitch because if we lose it's because of me. We do go rafting in between the drinking and the terrifying game of whiffle ball.
Anyways, last night my dad discovered that he had left his wallet at the office which is a half an hour away from where we live. This put a huge damper on his plans for preparing for the weekend because he was going to have to take the new delivery of flies into work, and go shopping, and cook all the food on the same day. After a few minutes of silence my dad says, "I could take the flies to work now, get my wallet, and then go shopping at Safeway afterwards." I agree that this isn't a terrible, and I tell him that I will go with him. We also decide to take the dogs with us because well why not no one else was going to be at the office besides us. So we get to the office get out the flies sorted and ready for people to put them away in the morning, drink some Pepsi, and leave to go shopping. We get to Safeway, and P-Knut jumps out of the car. She's afraid of being in the car for some, we're not really sure why. My dad puts back in the car, we get our groceries, come back, and realize that my other dog, Tweakers is not in the car. We're kind of freaked out at this point because it's after 11:00, and neither one of us is sure if he got in the car before we left the office or if he got out of the car when P-Knut did when we got to the store. So my dad drives back to the office which is only a few minutes' drive from Safeway, but he's still going nearly forty miles an hour in a 25 zone. We get to the office, and Tweakers is just sitting there in front of the door waiting for us. 

Things to Come

I finally received my housing assignment for the upcoming school year. I was getting worried that I was going to get one, and that I'd end up in a crappy room with an obnoxious roommate. I had many worries about roommate actually some of which were, that she'd be like the roommate from Pitch Perfect, she'd want to do plan our outfits together, want to braid my hair and talk about boys, or have crappy music tastes. There are plenty more outcomes that I have in my head that could make for a terrible roommate that I suppose my roommate could have, but so far she seems pretty cool. She lives in a city which is nice because I, for one, have never lived in a city, and am pretty intimidated by the all things I don't know about cities. One of these things being I've never ridden on a bus, unless you count the school bus, but I don't. My roommate and I do so far appear to have similar tastes in music which I am very happy about it.
I also have a job in dining services, and I have to go up a few days early which I don't mind. I want to have few days to myself before everyone else gets there. I don't really know yet what food place I'll be working just not the main dining hall which I'm happy about it. Instead I'll be working in either Subway, Sandella's, or one of their other retail locations. I'm getting pretty excited for the fall, but I'm very nervous at the same time. 

Last Names

My dad and I were talking about last names yesterday evening. I can't remember exactly how we started talking about last names. I know it must have started with discussing a musician and somehow it led to last names. Anyways, my dad had asked me if I would ever change my last name in the theoretical event of me getting married. I said if I'm a musician I won't change my stage name if I use my regular name. I brought up June Carter for some reason saying she had changed her name to June Carter Cash but had still kept her name. My dad said that was because Johnny Cash was more famous than her. He also proceeded to say that Patti Scialfa never changed her name even though Bruce Springsteen is more famous than her. I said if I were her I would have changed my name from Patti Spine Disease to Patti Springsteen.
Today, a package from Amazon came in the mail. My dad guessed that it would his hat and my Bundle Monster in the box. I got really excited because I couldn't wait to get out the Bundle Monster. We had ordered this set of reading lights from Amazon for me for when I go to college, and the brand name was Bundle  Monster, but calling the reading lights themselves, the Bundle Monster sounds way cooler than reading lights. We opened the box and there was my dad's hat, and the Bundle Monster, or so i thought until I picked it up and realized it was one of the reading lights I had looked at before I found the Bundle Monster. I was very disappointed, but my dad went ahead and ordered the Bundle Monster this time. 

Rogue Rafting

Today, I went rafting with my brother, Brandon, and his girlfriend as well as their dog. Their dog is a little Schnauzer and Beagle mix along with some other breeds. She has this cute little orange life jacket that has a handle on it, so you can pick her up. She likes to roam around on the boat and since Brandon has a cataraft she likes to walk to the end of the pontoons. Today, when she walked to the pontoon right as we bumped into a rock, and she fell in. After she fell in she started swimming towards the shore, but we called her, and she started to swim back towards the boat. Brandon pulled her into the boat by her handle on her life jacket. It was really funny to watch. 

My Little Garbage Dog

This morning when I woke up neither of my dogs were in the house to greet me which is very unusual since Tweakers hardly ever leaves the chair in the living room. I went to the bathroom and still they were both nowhere to be found. I looked out the window as I sometimes do in the morning, and I see something in the trash can. I had just put the lid on the trash yesterday because the lid had gotten blown down the street. The thing I see in trash can kind of looks like the top of Tweakers' head, but I think why would my dog be in the trash? I notice the object move, so I decide to go outside and find out what is going on. When I get out there this is what I see:

I have no idea why he was in there because he was just sitting there. He wasn't eating anything, just sitting. It was the most bizarre thing he's ever done. Even since Monday when he squeezed between this old ladies picket fence to play with her dogs. My dad had to go back and get him because he was in her yard sniffing the other dogs. I think because he lost weight he's become more adventurous like he was when he was a puppy.