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Nags Head Vacation Extravaganza

As is my newest custom, I’m writing a blog about something that happened nearly two weeks ago. The idea is to remember as little as possible about what I’m writing about. It makes blogging more of a challenge. The challenge tonight was remembering what trip we recently went on. I poured myself a nice glass of wine, sat down in the living room, and started preparing for my blog about our most recent trip. I realized I had already written about New York. What was left? Where did I spend an entire week, 7 days even, recently?

Ahha! Nags Head, North Carolina (RAISE UP!)

We took Diana’s car because my Jeep is not the workhorse it once was. In fact, of the four of us that live here - 3 separate cars were driven. To think - the mountains of recycling we put out every other week was completely cancelled out by our need to drive separately. But at least we’re canceling shit out!

I could provide a full summary of all events throughout the week but that would be:

1. Way boring for anyone who wasn’t there.
2. Way too much work.

So instead, I’ll give you… all of the highlights!

• Diana and Sandy were in this knitting competition. And although they won’t admit it, they were both risking arthritis to see who could knit the largest quantity of this incredibly elaborate stitch. I think Diana won, but I don’t want to get caught in the middle of it. Plus, I’m biased. Brownie points.
• Grant taught me how to surf! I tried last year but nearly got my torso ripped apart by a mass group of sharks. Well, this spring I studied sharkology and found that punching them in their stupid noses will cause them to back off. So Grant and I spent several days learning the motion of the ocean. He was awesome. He was always hanging out with this group of other surfers who were too embarrassed to surf near me. Because of my cult-like shark following.
• Anne Spraker, AKA Bacon Spraker, who is a frequent reader of this blog, and David Shultz (of The Skyline) came down and invited us to one of their properties. I was promised there was a Dacquiri Machine. I don’t know where that came from, because there was only a blender with Pina Colada freezer mixes. But we played this awesome game called… Catch Phrase. It’s a permanent staple in our friend group game collection.
• Grant, David and myself took a trip down to Cape Hatteras. My buddy Mike Lester’s parents have a restaurant in Buxton called Finnegans. We ate their foods, which were glorious, then went fishing at the Frisco Pier. It was amazing - we caught NOTHING. Nothing but crabs.
• Carla Mathews and I basically slaughtered all opponents in Scrabble. This happens a lot, we’re kind of like the Lance Armstrong of Scrabble. The funny thing is, I didn’t have to be present for much of the game - major stomach problems (the details of which I will pleasantly omit).

That’s all I have for now. There’s more, but this isn’t a book - it’s Cliff’s Notes!

Seeya! Pictures are below.

Sigma Tappa Keg Lives ON!

In rememberance of not only High School Days, and the cookouts (drunkfests) of Marcus’s house in Minneola, but also of college, each of us having a different recollection of the Greek System, we at 608 decided months ago to throw a “FRAT PARTY!.” One would think that planning a party three months in advance would supply ample time to reserve a keg, make a killer playlist (rap, duh), and get your letters cut out.

One would think.

So Saturday rolls around, and like the motivated souls we prove to be again and again, we:

(Matt and Sandy) reserve a keg- actually I think they reserved this on Friday, come to think of it.

(matt and diana) clean the house and move all rugs the the second floor

(diana and matt) pick up the keg, pingpong balls, solo cups, ice

(diana and matt) go to target to get the finishing touches for my costume and tiny cups for jello shooters

(diana and matt) go to the ABC store to get vodka for jello shooters and 6 Apple Pucker airplane bottles… cause come on- this is COLLEGE!

(diana and matt) go to lowe’s for wood and spraypaint for STK sign

(matt and grant) move the diningroom table outside for beerpong and cut out STK letters for our frat sign

(diana) makes jello shooters and vodka lemonade

KILL THE DESKTOP is recorded downstairs while all others nap

(sandy) gets more ice for the keg at da market

WE DRESS…

WE PARTY…

WE RECOVER. (thanks to ZUPA and Josh for the only breakfast in town that can actually absorb all of the Natty Light left in your body the morning after.)

All in all it had all of the signature Frat party aspects. People I haven’t seen in years showed up out of the blue… people arrived after the keg was tapped, and proceeded to take shots of vodka with chasers of A1 (GROSS.) I can’t say that I actually miss college, but it is sure fun to go back every now and then.

Another Hair in the Devil’s Mustache.

A new follicle of muscle, masculinity, and noise has appeared on the face of evil. The resurrection of the 1980 Yamaha XS400 at 608 N 24th st Could only have been accomplished at the hand of such a craftsman as satan, or Grant Mathews.
After a long drawn out process of payment to the previous owner, this bike was delivered to the “CHILL” with expedited service, repairs were made, tank was filled, and the great beast came to life. Now stands the task of registration, inspection and licensing. A small task in the wake of such an accomplishment as bringing a $400 piece of junk back to life.
The time and money spent in this endeavor provide a horizon of fun, great gas mileage, and many tiny parking spaces. Don’t worry mom, I’ll be very careful.

1980 Yamaha XS400

coined phrase

Matt- “Hey Grant, you wanna come help ‘tag team this fat boy with me’?”

The Belle Isle Experience

The recent beautiful weather has been a relief from the generally sucky weather we had last week. Feeling inspired, Matt, Anne and I took a trip to the river. An activity the we generally look forward to doing every weekend, sometimes twice a weekend in the Summer. We all figured a bit of sunshine and fresh air could do nothing but help our minds, moods, and severe lack of tan. Upon arrival, we set up camp (a couple of bath towels) and laid down to sleep, read, and listen to the ipod. Things seemed slightly trashier than usual, but thankfully we parked it upwind of the resident hippies, drunks, and presumably homeless gents. Aside from a couple of dogs with complete disregard for sunbather’s personal space, things were pretty good.
That’s when all Hell broke lose.
To our right (downstream) about ten feet we notice some shirtless guys stumbling around looking for a snake. Luckily, the leader of the shirtless militia had a plastic grocery bag to put the captured snake in, once caught. This would normally be an activity that comes and goes, ending in the drunk shirtless guy either catching the snake, then letting it go somewhere, or falling in the river, carefully not spilling a drop of his Natural Ice. This time, Drunk Shirtless Guy is shown up by Drunk Shirtless Hippie, who walks straight into the water and grabs the foot long snake. Once caught, the snake (as a perfectly natural reaction) bites Drunk Hippie on the hand. Drunk hippie gets belligerent and starts shaking, squeezing, and yelling at the snake, quickly killing it.
As if things weren’t bad enough for the snake, who after being ripped from it’s natural habitat was killed by a shirtless, drunk, idiot of a hippie, said hippie BITES HIS (or her) HEAD OFF.
The neighbors to the left of us seem to be about as disgusted as we are, but everyone else is fascinated. The snake is passed around, and eventually ends up looped through the killer’s belt loop. The dead snake. Is hung. On his pants.
A tattooed Asian girl comes along and finds the snake’s head, which has been forgotten on the ground, where it was spit out. She tosses it at her boyfriend, who laughs, and they go on their way.
Meanwhile, Drunk guy is sucking the venom? from his hand, and spitting into the water. In utter shock and general disgust, we decided then and there that we had to blog this. Just in case there were any doubts that Belle Isle has completely been ruined by idiots like these. I never thought I would miss the simple days when all you had to worry about was stepping on one of the three dozen broken beer bottles. God bless.

Pictures:

And Video:

Slowed to a Drip

So I thought… I really thought I could do it. Blog on the regular. Not so! Matt is in California, Sandy’s about to leave for Japan, and me? I’m just basking in the glow of my 13″ Dell INSPIRON 1000. Not my normal work computer, but has proven to be about as useful as the standard. I can literally feel myself becoming pastier by the day. Will Spring ever really be here? It’s not fair to be teased by a week or so of beautiful, warm weather only to be knocked back to reality with SNOW! ON THE GROUND! We couldn’t get snow to stick in February, but April? No Problem!
There’s been shows, and shows, and lots of pictures we SHOULD have posted, but here’s one of my favorites lately. Sarah’s getting tuned up.

Check out Matt’s flickr for many more interesting photos!

VCU Wins…the first round.

This was intended for posting on Friday, but I have been slacking off. I’m making a good effort, though. On Thursday night we cheered VCU on as they (Maynor) put up an outstanding fight against Paulus, well and Duke too. VCU won by Maynor’s incredible 3-point shot at the very end of the game.

It was quite possibly the first basketball game I have watched enthusiastically in its entirety, and will be hard to outdo until VCU starts back up next season. Friday night we had a victory celebration at our house which drew a small but enthusiastic crowd. I guess it was a foreshadow of what was to come on Saturday night.

I can’t quite claim I watched the game on Saturday, unlike everyone in Richmond without the HD channel, but I concentrated so hard on the score on the top left hand corner of the Vanderbilt/WSU game that a couple of times I thought I may have had an influence on VCU’s 19 point comeback with the clock at 3:09. Alas, Pitt won in overtime, which I tip my hat to, because they are a damn good team.

Great job this season, Rams! Can’t wait until I’m interested in the games next year.

Welcome, Shorty!

Look at this handsome new feline we attracted…

After much deliberation in the cat living rooms at the new Richmond SPCA, I came back to the original room where I found Matt with cats surrounding him like he was giving out free catnip. We finally agreed upon one of the cats surrounding Matt with duck feet and 1/2 of a tail. For Matt, it was love at first meow.

In the height of march madness, the day after VCU’s huge victory over Duke (haha…losers), Matt had a chance to shoot a basket at the SPCA to win $10 off the adoption fee, which he made! We’ve got our own star athlete right here at 608 N. 24th St.

On the way home from the SPCA, our new found love Shorty managed to score a basket on his own, leaving a smelly present in his box and marking a trail of celebration in his new home. Matt, like a good father, did what fathers have to do sometimes, and wiped his ass.

One Month IN!

In honor of one month of blogging:

http://www.youtube.com/v/LsDM65pxkjU