typed last night...
Mar. 14th, 2007 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rena_librarianSo I went to Branson with the parentals and Shelly this weekend. Shelly got me a really pretty throw that matches nicely in my living room. I had to call her later, when I opened it up, to inform her that the name of the color is...(like more than two of you will get this joke)..."Warm Chocolate." ^_^
Shelly met up with us after me and my parents went to the Ripley's Believe it Or Not! museum, which was pretty cool. ^_^ I wanted to post pics, but I haven't yet managed to figure out how to move them from phone to computer.
I also got the Sims 2 (okay, so Dad wasn't quite sure what I was talking about and got me an expansion pack, but whatever, he was smart enough to keep the receipt and I exchanged it for the Sims 2), which I'll be able to play once I buy my internet-capable computer. ^_^ (Hobbity: I want to download your Elijah!! OMG!)
Speaking of my internet-capable computer--I got a thing in the mail today from Capital One and they said that if I used my card within the first 90 days (I did), don't exceed my credit line (I won't) and make my first three payments on time (I will), my credit line will automatically go to $500. So that's a failsafe, if I absolutely cannot scrape together $250 in the next couple of weeks, I can at least scrape together $100 (the computer I want is $548+tax, and doesn't come with a monitor, so after I get the balance paid down a bit I'll buy me a nice shiny flat-panel) and put more of it on the credit card. But DANG. I should have the cash long before that happens. (ETA: Got some more birthday money from Grandma Crawford and my state tax return turned out to be double what I thought it would--bad math in MY favor, who'd'a thunk??--so I'm going to crunch some numbers tonight, I MIGHT be getting it on Monday--payday. If not, then next payday for sure.)
OH! And I got Dance Factory, which is basically DDR, with the exception that you can put in ANY music CD and it'll generate steps to ANY song. ^_^ So that ROXORS. (It says "burned CDs will not work as well" but THAT turned out to be complete BS. XD )
And yet despite the fact that I had so much fun, what I can't get out of my head is what happened AFTERWARD.
After I got back into Mountain Home that night, I had to run to Wal*Mart (at least twice a week, it seems, lol), and then on my way back decided to drive around the side streets near my house, try to figure out some shortcuts and such. I accidentally turned onto a private lot--it was dark (approaching midnight and all) and it looked like a side street. After I turned I found it was just a bit of a gravel lane leading to a metal gate set back from the road. Not wanting to get shot or arrested for trespassing, I sensibly turned around and back onto the street, went back the way I'd come from.
I was just a little ways up from a stop sign, and a cop and I both approached the sign from opposite directions at the same time. I stopped carefully, and then started again. The cop went through the intersection--then PULLED A U-EE and started FOLLOWING ME without ANY lights on, including his headlights.
Well, needless to day, in this age where we forward emails to our girlfriends about how not to get raped, this didn't feel right to me. I was close to home (one intersection away, actually), but I've already had a cop pull me over in the apartment driveway once, when I had a taillight out. Left the blue lights going and all. I was freaked at the time, because I thought I might get in trouble for bothering the neighbors, but nothing came of it. Nonetheless, I didn't want to have it happen again, you know? Especially if the cop was going to accuse me of trespassing or whatever. No need for the neighbors to, like, think I'm a drug dealer or something.
So I was panicking, trying to think of where to go that wouldn't make it seem like I was trying to dodge the cop or hide something or whatever, and suddenly it clicked--the gas station up the street from my house.
As in, the one where Duncan works, and where I've been going once or twice a week (twice, more often than not) to buy Jones Sodas. At this point he recognized me, usually said hi, and would sometimes chitchat with me for five or ten minutes if he didn't have customers.
So I went there, and the cop went around me on the road and turned down the next street. Danger averted (I looked and I'm 75% sure it was a real cop, the paint job certainly looked like the town police cars--I've seen them, what with Taco Bell's manager moonlighting as a cop), but I was still unnerved, so I went inside and started babbling to Duncan. "I know I'm earlier than usual, and I'm in my car this time, but this cop was following me..." I told him the whole thing and he agreed, it was really weird and that it made perfect sense that I would be weirded out. (Nico later said that if the cop had tried to pull me over I could have gotten out of any ticket.)
Long story short, I ended up staying there for, like, an hour. We got to talking--I think I mentioned having been to Branson earlier and that turned to my birthday and then to alcohol and it got to cabbages and kings from that.
He's a Ringer. OMG. Like, one who actually loved the books first and loves the movies (despite their flaws and deviations from the books, he said, if you look at them in and of themselves, they're some of the greatest cinema ever created).
At some point (I think we were talking about cell phones and then it turned to text messages) we got to talking about punctuation and how sad it was that most people don't care, and not only did I find out that we share a love of the English language, but I ended up offering to loan him "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves." ^_^
Nico called me and invited me over, so I finally did leave (no longer shaken). I told Duncan I'd be back in the next night or two with the book, and he asked my name. "If you introduced yourself before, I'm sorry, I've forgotten..." I told him no, I hadn't, and told him my name finally. ^_^
So I went back the next night, Sunday night, with the book. He was on the phone when I got there, but since I bought another soda I waited five or so minutes for him to get off the phone (like, he didn't ring me up while he was on the phone) and we started chatting again. As a matter of fact he bought himself a Jones soda and we drank them together, there in the store. ^_^ Spent another hour.
I made a point of wearing my Elven Brooch and of course he thought that was really cool. ^_^
He finally did tell me that he did have work to do and couldn't really do it and keep talking to me, so I was like "Yeah, that's cool, don't want to get you in trouble" (I know EXACTLY how that goes at Taco Bell, there are times you'd like to chat with a customer friend of yours but there's someone watching and you really do have stuff to do), and then he said, "I've enjoyed these little chit-chats. ...I presume there will be more?..."
I told him that yes, unless something disastrous happened I would be back sooner or later, and he kind of laughed and said, "Yeah, barring death or zombie attack," and I was all, "Yeah, exactly."
So...I don't know. Clearly he wants me to keep coming around, but I don't know beyond that. I'm trying to remain calm, cool, and collected about it. I told JoJo about it tonight and she told me to try not to fall too hard until I knew more, but I told her it's already too late--I can never help myself. I fall fast and I fall hard and I rarely know why. (I think I recover faster these days, but the pain isn't any less so I still just...gah.)
At any rate, to avoid creepy-stalkerish-ness I didn't go back the night after that (though I wanted to). And I toyed with the idea of going tonight (Tuesday) but decided it would probably be a bad idea. (JoJo confirmed this and thereby strengthened my resolve not to go.) She did say tomorrow would probably be okay, so I'm going tomorrow, for several reasons. (He might have finished the book--it's short and he says he reads fast, I do usually go about that often, and it'll be my birthday and all...I should treat myself, right? XD )
After deciding that, he ended up coming through the drive-thru. I didn't talk to him long, what with the timer and all, but still. Made MY night. ^_^ And I'm relatively sure that it came out in the conversations that I worked at Taco Bell, so it MIGHT have been intentional on his part...
So yeah. It's really hard for me to think about much of anything without it turning towards Duncan at the moment. What I'm really trying to do at this point is NOT SCREW IT UP. If there's anything TO screw up.
And while I love replaying those conversations, I'm getting a headache. (Lack of hydration, methinks.) So I'm going to go to bed now, because tomorrow is my birthday and I have STUFF TO DO, hopefully including posting this at some point.
I'll be 21 in 25 hours and three minutes! ^_^
ETA: I'm 21 NOWWWW!
Shelly met up with us after me and my parents went to the Ripley's Believe it Or Not! museum, which was pretty cool. ^_^ I wanted to post pics, but I haven't yet managed to figure out how to move them from phone to computer.
I also got the Sims 2 (okay, so Dad wasn't quite sure what I was talking about and got me an expansion pack, but whatever, he was smart enough to keep the receipt and I exchanged it for the Sims 2), which I'll be able to play once I buy my internet-capable computer. ^_^ (Hobbity: I want to download your Elijah!! OMG!)
Speaking of my internet-capable computer--I got a thing in the mail today from Capital One and they said that if I used my card within the first 90 days (I did), don't exceed my credit line (I won't) and make my first three payments on time (I will), my credit line will automatically go to $500. So that's a failsafe, if I absolutely cannot scrape together $250 in the next couple of weeks, I can at least scrape together $100 (the computer I want is $548+tax, and doesn't come with a monitor, so after I get the balance paid down a bit I'll buy me a nice shiny flat-panel) and put more of it on the credit card. But DANG. I should have the cash long before that happens. (ETA: Got some more birthday money from Grandma Crawford and my state tax return turned out to be double what I thought it would--bad math in MY favor, who'd'a thunk??--so I'm going to crunch some numbers tonight, I MIGHT be getting it on Monday--payday. If not, then next payday for sure.)
OH! And I got Dance Factory, which is basically DDR, with the exception that you can put in ANY music CD and it'll generate steps to ANY song. ^_^ So that ROXORS. (It says "burned CDs will not work as well" but THAT turned out to be complete BS. XD )
And yet despite the fact that I had so much fun, what I can't get out of my head is what happened AFTERWARD.
After I got back into Mountain Home that night, I had to run to Wal*Mart (at least twice a week, it seems, lol), and then on my way back decided to drive around the side streets near my house, try to figure out some shortcuts and such. I accidentally turned onto a private lot--it was dark (approaching midnight and all) and it looked like a side street. After I turned I found it was just a bit of a gravel lane leading to a metal gate set back from the road. Not wanting to get shot or arrested for trespassing, I sensibly turned around and back onto the street, went back the way I'd come from.
I was just a little ways up from a stop sign, and a cop and I both approached the sign from opposite directions at the same time. I stopped carefully, and then started again. The cop went through the intersection--then PULLED A U-EE and started FOLLOWING ME without ANY lights on, including his headlights.
Well, needless to day, in this age where we forward emails to our girlfriends about how not to get raped, this didn't feel right to me. I was close to home (one intersection away, actually), but I've already had a cop pull me over in the apartment driveway once, when I had a taillight out. Left the blue lights going and all. I was freaked at the time, because I thought I might get in trouble for bothering the neighbors, but nothing came of it. Nonetheless, I didn't want to have it happen again, you know? Especially if the cop was going to accuse me of trespassing or whatever. No need for the neighbors to, like, think I'm a drug dealer or something.
So I was panicking, trying to think of where to go that wouldn't make it seem like I was trying to dodge the cop or hide something or whatever, and suddenly it clicked--the gas station up the street from my house.
As in, the one where Duncan works, and where I've been going once or twice a week (twice, more often than not) to buy Jones Sodas. At this point he recognized me, usually said hi, and would sometimes chitchat with me for five or ten minutes if he didn't have customers.
So I went there, and the cop went around me on the road and turned down the next street. Danger averted (I looked and I'm 75% sure it was a real cop, the paint job certainly looked like the town police cars--I've seen them, what with Taco Bell's manager moonlighting as a cop), but I was still unnerved, so I went inside and started babbling to Duncan. "I know I'm earlier than usual, and I'm in my car this time, but this cop was following me..." I told him the whole thing and he agreed, it was really weird and that it made perfect sense that I would be weirded out. (Nico later said that if the cop had tried to pull me over I could have gotten out of any ticket.)
Long story short, I ended up staying there for, like, an hour. We got to talking--I think I mentioned having been to Branson earlier and that turned to my birthday and then to alcohol and it got to cabbages and kings from that.
He's a Ringer. OMG. Like, one who actually loved the books first and loves the movies (despite their flaws and deviations from the books, he said, if you look at them in and of themselves, they're some of the greatest cinema ever created).
At some point (I think we were talking about cell phones and then it turned to text messages) we got to talking about punctuation and how sad it was that most people don't care, and not only did I find out that we share a love of the English language, but I ended up offering to loan him "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves." ^_^
Nico called me and invited me over, so I finally did leave (no longer shaken). I told Duncan I'd be back in the next night or two with the book, and he asked my name. "If you introduced yourself before, I'm sorry, I've forgotten..." I told him no, I hadn't, and told him my name finally. ^_^
So I went back the next night, Sunday night, with the book. He was on the phone when I got there, but since I bought another soda I waited five or so minutes for him to get off the phone (like, he didn't ring me up while he was on the phone) and we started chatting again. As a matter of fact he bought himself a Jones soda and we drank them together, there in the store. ^_^ Spent another hour.
I made a point of wearing my Elven Brooch and of course he thought that was really cool. ^_^
He finally did tell me that he did have work to do and couldn't really do it and keep talking to me, so I was like "Yeah, that's cool, don't want to get you in trouble" (I know EXACTLY how that goes at Taco Bell, there are times you'd like to chat with a customer friend of yours but there's someone watching and you really do have stuff to do), and then he said, "I've enjoyed these little chit-chats. ...I presume there will be more?..."
I told him that yes, unless something disastrous happened I would be back sooner or later, and he kind of laughed and said, "Yeah, barring death or zombie attack," and I was all, "Yeah, exactly."
So...I don't know. Clearly he wants me to keep coming around, but I don't know beyond that. I'm trying to remain calm, cool, and collected about it. I told JoJo about it tonight and she told me to try not to fall too hard until I knew more, but I told her it's already too late--I can never help myself. I fall fast and I fall hard and I rarely know why. (I think I recover faster these days, but the pain isn't any less so I still just...gah.)
At any rate, to avoid creepy-stalkerish-ness I didn't go back the night after that (though I wanted to). And I toyed with the idea of going tonight (Tuesday) but decided it would probably be a bad idea. (JoJo confirmed this and thereby strengthened my resolve not to go.) She did say tomorrow would probably be okay, so I'm going tomorrow, for several reasons. (He might have finished the book--it's short and he says he reads fast, I do usually go about that often, and it'll be my birthday and all...I should treat myself, right? XD )
After deciding that, he ended up coming through the drive-thru. I didn't talk to him long, what with the timer and all, but still. Made MY night. ^_^ And I'm relatively sure that it came out in the conversations that I worked at Taco Bell, so it MIGHT have been intentional on his part...
So yeah. It's really hard for me to think about much of anything without it turning towards Duncan at the moment. What I'm really trying to do at this point is NOT SCREW IT UP. If there's anything TO screw up.
And while I love replaying those conversations, I'm getting a headache. (Lack of hydration, methinks.) So I'm going to go to bed now, because tomorrow is my birthday and I have STUFF TO DO, hopefully including posting this at some point.
I'll be 21 in 25 hours and three minutes! ^_^
ETA: I'm 21 NOWWWW!
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:22 pm (UTC)(And, like, call me tomorrow (Sunday) around noon or one? I swear I'll pick up even if you wake me up, which you probably will.)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 01:33 am (UTC)HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
*crosses fingers for yous*
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-18 02:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-19 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-15 03:55 am (UTC)Anyway, good luck with your stalking. Just try to avoid any fatal instincts. ;) LOL
no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:21 pm (UTC)I'm not stalking him! If I was, I would know where he lives by now. Maybe even his LAST NAME. XD
no subject
Date: 2007-03-16 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-17 11:17 pm (UTC)