Until the Stars Are All Alight

I'm officially a dork, posting a survey about my #2 from MySpace on LJ. XD

Can you answer 23 questions about your number 2?
DON'T change your top friends, and answer 23 questions about the 2nd person in your top friends.

( Bask in the Shelly-ness! )

70 Odd Questions

( I wonder if there's actually 70. They're not numbered. )

I was about to head home, but as I got out in the lobby I checked my phone and had a text from Duncan.

He's currently in Kansas.

*scratches head* I think he mentioned he had family out there, too, but--dang. He said he hasn't been getting service (which would explain his lack of calling me), but started getting it today out of the blue. Now I'm debating whether to text him back or just call him.

Meh. Either way I'm calling Nico first. TTFN!

Written last night:

Shelly called and woke me up this morning, during my snooze-alarm period of the day. I really don't remember anything we talked about, just that Josh ended up meeting her for lunch so she had to get off the phone.

I ended up falling back asleep until about three, when Jacqui called me and asked what was going on today, if I'd managed to get a hold of Duncan or if I was free or what. I told her that if she wanted to come over to give me thirty or so minutes to straighten my hair (which I'd slept on wet) and that I didn't have plans. Got up and out of bed. I put my contacts in--BOTH OF THEM ON THE FIRST TRY OMFG, I did it on a whim but I guess it paid to put them in in the opposite order--and then called her back and told her if she didn't mind watching me straighten my hair she could go ahead and come over. She did so, bearing gifts--an "I Heart Dorks" bumper sticker that I'm debating about removing "Chicks with Attitude" to put on Laurien, and a book about LotR and Tolkien that I actually didn't have: "Tolkien: A Look Behind LotR" by Lin Carter, published by Ballantine in the 60's. ^_^ YAY. (The back cover calls it a "survey of Tolkieniana." XD Also, apparently, old-school fans call it LOTR, to rhyme with boater. Hee. I've always pronounced the letters, except when referring to "LotR-ry stuff" with Nico, lol.)

We discussed the varying benefits of different types of straighteners (not that she bothers with hers all that often) and other random stuff, lol. We also discussed whether or not I should call Duncan and see if he was free, since I had made no attempt to call him since Monday. She told me to do it. I did. Got his voicemail, left a message, then the two of us decided to go to the library so that I could post my chapter (which I didn't). As I was running around upstairs getting shoes and double-checking my makeup, I looked at my phone and found a missed call--Duncan. So I called him back and finally got a hold of him. ^_^ "I tried to call you--" "Yeah, I tried to call you back right after you called me--" I asked if he was free tonight, and he said no, he had plans with Robert (his best friend) that he'd made, like, a week ago, and wouldn't be available. And then I asked, "Well, are you free now?"

"Well, I'm running errands, but I will be free soon--what did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, dinner?"

"Okay, let me call you back in about 45 minutes."

So Jacqui and I went to the library, where I realized that I'd left the disk with my chapter on it at home. >_< Checked up on my email and such, though. Printed a picture of Esme, which is now hanging on my fridge. ^_^ (The "OMG she's smiling!" pic, Kat. Lol.)

It was more like an hour before he called me, and even then he was calling to let me know it would be a little while longer. Nico called and when he found out Jacqui was there told her to call him when I ditched her, lol. (Jacqui, unlike Nico, totally understands the reasons and admits that if she had a guy she wanted to see would probably ditch me just as easily--and I, in turn, would totally understand if she did.) Jacqui left and Duncan showed up about 7:30. We talked for a few minutes and then headed for El Charro's for dinner and conversation. We took Laurien, and I have to admit I like the fact that Duncan isn't all "I'mI'll drive," because I like to drive, too. ^_^ He asked which car we should take, and I said I didn't care, and he said, "Well, you just got yours back, so we'll take yours." (I also mentioned that I'd washed her the night before and he said he noticed, lol. I'm not sure if that means he's uber-observant or if poor Laurien was just that filthy--I hadn't washed her since before I moved out, lol. I figured after a week in the shop I owed her that much.)

We decided to pay separately since we both seemed to be able to afford our own meal but not both (the waiter didn't bother to make two separate tallys, so we ended up halving it, but whatever--Duncan got the tip). and Duncan said, "I can't afford it right now, with no job, but once I can afford it I will be more than happy to take you out. And hopefully that'll be in the not-too-distant future."

*melt*

We talked a lot about really dorktastic stuff--zombies and grammar (always) and even D&D (um, yeah, he's played)--and I thought to myself that if anyone was listening that they would think that we're even bigger geeks than we really are, lol. (But I'm totally okay with that.)

Turns out he never got the text I sent him Friday night--or at any rate, his phone never alerted him. It was on his phone but he'd had no idea it was there. So that makes me feel better, because that's one occasion where it's not that he failed to get back in touch with me. I still think our phones hate each other, because when I do actually get through to him and speak directly to him (not his voicemail), he never fails to get back with me. (He may call late, but he never completely FAILS, lol.)

After dinner, though, we pretty much had to come back to my place so he could go meet up with Robert--I think he was half-an-hour late as it was. (He actually likes me enough to hang with me and postpone his best friend. WOW.)

Someone was parked in my spot again but it was early enough that I could go get the landlady and have the owner come move it. ^_^ YES.

So then I got another hug (that almost makes it not suck when he leaves) and we chatted for a few more minutes, and I asked, "Well, when are you going to be free again?" He said all day tomorrow, once he got up, and I told him I had to work, and I said, "And it'll probably be too late when I get off work, because I know you were trying to sleep more normal hours--" and he cut me off and said that he'd pretty much decided to forget about that, at least until he got a job and HAD to be up certain hours, and so it wouldn't be too late. So I'm supposed to call him when I get home tomorrow night after work and we're doing what we were going to do last Thursday--watch The Holiday and drink margaritas. Mmm. (Not that I've had a wide experience of margaritas, but as far as I'm concerned Duncan makes a damn good one.)

So then I called Nico, no answer, called Jacqui's cell and they were walking down to the lake. I drove out to Nico's and walked down, met them coming back up the hill. I guess there was some couple in a truck down by the point Nico and I usually walk to, and the truck was making squeaking noises, so Nico and Jacqui decided not to stay down there. XD

So then we hung out at Nico's for a while. I tried coconut rum. I didn't hate it, but I don't really care for coconut, so it's not my favorite. Probably would be better in soda than by itself. watched Robin Williams Live on Broadway. I missed the last ten or fifteen minutes because I suddenly realized that I didn't know where my phone was. It wasn't in the house or my car, so I started to freak out. (Not so much because of the phone itself as the contacts I would have lost.) I ended up borrowing Nico's roommate's cell phone, retracing the entire walk I took while constantly calling my phone (hanging up before it hit voicemail), and finally finding it in Nico's backyard. >_< (I should have retraced my steps backwards, but then if I'd been psychic enough to know that I wouldn't have had to search in the first place, lol.) I'd had both my phone and my MP3 player in my relatively shallow pocket, and at one point I stepped into a hole and tripped, and all I can figure is that my phone fell out then. But I found it, undamaged, so all is well. (Is it sad that the thing I worried about more than anything was the fact that I don't actually know Duncan's number and probably wouldn't have been able to get in touch with him tomorrow had I not found it? Must memorize it!)

I think I'm too addicted to my phone. Had I not found it, I might have broken down into an anxiety attack. I feel naked if I leave it at home by mistake. And that's sad, because I have voicemail and all. Do I plan on breaking myself of my phone? Heck no! ^_^ (And Shelly, THAT'S why I didn't answer, lol, my phone was lying in the grass at the time.)

By then everyone else was sleepy, and I was not, so I left. Nico called me right after I got home and told me I was missing out on a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I would SO suck at that game. The only movie I've ever seen Kevin Bacon in is Hollow Man, which, besides not being as good as I'd remembered when I watched it a second time, is filled with a lot of no-name actors that I haven't seen in anything BUT that movie. And I'm really not familiar with his works in general. (I tend to confuse him with Kevin Costner.) Now, Six Degrees of LotR I can play all day long, probably dance circles around most people (except Shelly for sure and probably Duncan, lol), but that's an entirely different issue. ^_^

I did a sinkload of dishes, some of which have been in the sink since the LAST time Duncan was over, lol. Bad habit, Sarah, no cookie. (It's not like they were gross or smelled funny or had anything growing on them--I tend to rinse them before leaving them there. It's just that there's no point in me leaving them so long.) And I have since been on the computer, sorting through the last few days' finds and writing this and such. And now it is bedtime. (Some people, particularly those with farm animals that need milking, are getting up around this time, lol.)

Mom is supposed to take me to lunch, then I have to work, and then I see Duncan. *nance*

OH YEAH. Dad's car has been in the shop for a while, and they finally told him it would be about $1200 to fix, so he told me that he and Mom had decided to get a new car. No shock, really, but when he said "new car" I figured he meant newer. Not actually new. But Mom was telling me yesterday that he called his car guy (a man who makes a business of buying cars that have only slight damage to them, fixing them, and selling them) and his car guy had this great deal--a car that had 700 miles on it, a car that must have gotten dented in the dealership lot and then sold to the auction where he picked it up, a car that had only body damage but couldn't be sold as new. It's a 2006 Ford Focus, the sporty kind, black, with a spoiler on the back and everything.

AND MY PARENTS ARE BUYING IT. THEY TOOK OUT A LOAN AND EVERYTHING AND ARE PAYING $10,000 FOR A MORE-OR-LESS BRAND-NEW CAR.

They're getting it tomorrow. They really were waiting for me to move out to do all the cool stuff. My dad bought a telescope, for pity's sake! After all the times I lamented about wanting one, what does he buy a month after I move out? *sigh* I guess it's natural, they thought they were almost done and then when they were both 40, along came me. They could be more subtle about it, though--my mom is already storing her extra clothes in my old closet!

Oh well. I still heart Laurien, and Mom told me all the reasons why it's logical that they should have a new car. (It's probably the last car Dad will ever need to buy in his life, because it'll last him--her words, not mine. Plus they can "trust it" when they take long trips.) She's right, but I'm still shocked that they actually TOOK OUT A LOAN. OMG. WTF? And, like, where does my dad get off selling the Camaro that I learned to drive in (and would have gladly bought from him once I was old enough) because he thought it was "too sporty" for someone his age and then buying THIS car???

So yeah. I'm conflicted about it. I'm not sure if I'm annoyed or not. I shouldn't be, and if I am I'm not uber-annoyed, but at the same time I'm starting to appreciate the fact that maybe I'm not the only one who gained independence when I moved out. And I'm going to bed now.

Written at...

( 12:57 PM Wednesday )



( 2:29 AM )



( 3:55 PM Friday )



( 12:45 AM Wednesday night/Thursday morning, however technical you prefer to get )



( 4:15 AM Monday night/Tuesday morning )

Posted three Happy Feet icons in my icon LJ, link in the box to the left on my LJ.

So to make a long story short, he didn't call Thursday. Or at any rate I never got a call--he said (night before last) he did call but it said "your call cannot be completed as dialed." We checked the number and he had it right, so I don't know what the heck happened, but that massively sucks.

But, since I DO have a life, I didn't just sit and mope all day. Jacqui came over (with the understanding that I was going to ditch her the moment the phone rang, lol), we went to lunch, we went to Wal-Mart, we played Dance Factory (I kicked ass, but then I've played a lot longer than she has), we watched Empire Records (BTW, Nico: "SHOP-LIFT-ERRRRRRRRR!"), we went for a walk in the subdivision across from my complex, we went to the gas station at the other end of my road and bought sodas, and just as we got back to my place Nico called, and we met him and April (a new girl at work) at Hardee's. April had to leave, but then Nico, Jacqui, and I proceeded to drive around back roads until 2 AM, listening to music.

(Nevermind the fact that my phone was hardly ever out of my hands and I checked my voicemail every half-hour or so, just in case.)

Ten Masked Men: death metal remixes of pop songs like "Hit Me Baby One More Time." Download and laugh, we did.

So then...I kind of avoided the gas station for a few days. Partly intentionally, partly because my work schedule was so sucky. (I HATE 2-to-close. I'm sorry for you people that have to work it all the time, and I'm lucky that I don't get it more often, but seriously. I'm not going to stop bitching because it's never going to get any less sucky. *coughNICOcough*)

Nothing of note happened, really, until...Saturday night. (Well, okay, they finally got all the siding on the front of my house. YAY! Still construction going on, but the more the workers wake me up the less interesting I find them. >_< I work NIGHT SHIFT, people! I sleep until 1 PM because that's how long it takes me to get eight hours of sleep! QUIT BANGING ON MY WALLS! ...sorry. I digress.) I went back up to the gas station (not for as long, Nickie called me so I ended up not going until 2:30) and Duncan and I chatted more (about the movies he wants to make someday...they sound like movies I'd watch and like). It got to be almost 4:30 and I finally did leave when a real customer showed up. About halfway across the first lawn I walk through on my way home, I realized I'd been there two hours and never did buy anything. (I usually get a Jones Soda.) Whoops, there goes my pretence, lol.

So last night (Sunday night), despite my usual insistence on stringing out my trips up there (the only time I went two nights in a row was the night they were going to shoot the movie), I went back.

Unfortunately, there will be no more of these four-hour stays. The gas station had their inspection a week or so ago, and rules that never were enforced (like, say, "No sitting on the counter") are suddenly being enforced. Duncan was wearing an apron last night, for pity's sake. (Poor guy.) And I guess something got stolen on one of his shifts (not that they suspect me, I generally stay in his line of sight for that very reason and he told me who they did suspect), so now there is to be no "socializing" there. (Duncan's word, he uses it frequently.)

So as I'm paying for my cappuccino, he's explaining this to me. And then he goes on to say that he's in a "fuck-the-management" mood, flips off the security camera, and tells me that while, yes, he will have to kick me out, he's going to let me stay for a few minutes, because he can't be that mean. ^_^

I said, "So, well...if we can't socialize here anymore, we'll just have to socialize..."

And he finished my sentence-- "Elsewhere. Yeah."

My sentiments exactly.

So he's off tonight. I'm not, but I get done around midnight (more or less). He's made plans, but he's also going to be done around midnight. So he's supposed to call me ("Or you can call me," he pointed out, but I really want him to call first) and we're supposed to hang out. What we can do in this town at midnight, I don't know. If all else fails he might just be coming over and we can watch movies and polish off that two-thirds of a bottle of Jose Cuervo that's sitting in my fridge. Yay for margaritas! ^_^ (I doubt he'll be like Jacqui, willing to wander around Wal*Mart for no reason, lol. And there's only two restaurants that are open all night, and even those are only the drive-thru.)

So yeah. I have to be at work in...48 minutes, so I'm signing off for now. Can't swear that I'll be back tomorrow, as I'll likely be up late (hee!), but hopefully when I do update it will be good news.

Duncan: on the off chance that you follow the link here from MySpace... well, okay. Read if you want to. But just be aware that I HAVE been talking about you and there may be more than you want to know. Most of it was said with the idea that you'd not find it anytime so soon.

(On the other hand...you might think it's all good.)

So 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!