Big Sky Country

Charlee’s Slice
I just got from the Midwest. It was a very enjoyable trip, minus a few whiney boyfriend moments. I went wandering around the badlands, and found a fossil to illegally take home with me as a souvenir. In my defense someone had stepped on it and broke it into 3 pieces, so I figured it was safer in my hands than left there to be trampled on. I also saw Mt. Rushmore. It was a rather underwhelming experience. If you have any doubts about global warming, take a trip to Mount Rushmore and see the effects of acid rain first hand! The faces are eroding away in a rather scary manner. Also, welcome to the least diverse national park in all of America; white republicans GALORE! Too shake things up a little, Erika and I decided to cause a stir by holding hands. A fourteen year old boy walked past us and asked his dad, “Did you see those girls holding hands. “ His dad’s reply: “Yes son, those are a couple o’ lesbians.” It was great, I couldn’t keep a straight face. Ha pun. It was just as funny as Anny and I pretending to be out-of-staters in Ritzville eastern Washington.
Anny: “Now I thought we were in WARshington, but where’s the Ocean?”
Me: “I don’t think we’ve reached to POOO-get sound yet.” The get pronounced as get.
I think the funniest part of the whole trip occurred at approximately 3:00 am Thursday night. Everyone had called it an early night except Erika and Tracy (the guy that owns the house we were staying at). After staying up the last few hours drinking and having a heated conversation about our friends’ living/relationship situation, the two of them reentered the house. I was sleeping in the living room and woke to the sound of the door opening. Tracy slurs “Now that the uncomft-or-bility is gone, we can spend ONE, just one night of bliss together…” and Erika replies, “Uh, I have to find my shoes before we leave tomorrow.” Not wanting them to know I am awake, I had to choke on my laughs.
Other than that, I saw a million antelope, cows, hair, prairie dogs, horses, wild turkey, dead bear, dead deer, 7 toed cats, jackolopes and peacocks. Also, lots and lots of countryside. I spent two nights sleeping in my car at roadside rest stops. I spent 4 out of 6 days in my car. Finally checked Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota off my states I need to go to list. Found Wall Drug. Experienced 4 lightening storms minus the thunder. Also, saw the crazy horse monument, that shit was cool.
Also I got an email from my archaeology professor; turns out my horrible essay earned me an incomplete in her class. I’m actually not at all surprised and kind of feel like I would rather take an F than have to spend any more time on that essay, but I think UBC admissions might not understand my motives there. I met with my prof. on Tuesday, she was actually really cool about the whole thing, she just told me, revise it and turn it in at the end of July for a grade. Can do.
I started Summer classes on Wednesday. There are no labs the first week of school, so my professor decided to use the lab time to continue lecturing. I had a 3.5 hour Organic Chemistry lecture. It might as well have been torture. She only stopped when she saw at least half the class asleep or squirming for dear life. Luckily labs start next week, so lecture will be limited to the allotted time.
Last night I met some friends at the Honey Moon for some meade. Nothing gives a hangover like honeyed wine. I am currently trying not to vomit my life out. I made coffee and can’t bring myself to drink it. It was well worth it. The turnout was wonderful: Alyssa, Anni, Cameron, Derek, Mac, Kime’, Hunter, Shawnti, Sarah, Laura, and Grace. Mike and Peter came and found us later, so the three of us shared a large bottle and I continued to get more fucked up. Mike, Peter, and I then decided to go play free pool at the Royal. On a normal day I wouldn’t step foot in the Royal, but this was a Wednesday and I was already pretty drunk. So we played some free pool, and then everyone from honey moon followed us there, it was pretty great. I’m really going to miss them all, luckily some of them are sticking around for the rest of the summer, so I don’t have to say good bye just yet. How did graduation come up so fast? Well, my time is coming too I guess.
I’m planning on spending the rest of the day nursing this hangover and looking up volunteer opportunities at the alternative humane society. I already spent a good part of the morning researching how to become a Disney princess for the time between graduation next winter and when I start grad school the following fall. Dreaming big.

Rachel’s Slice

It’s been wayyyyy tooooooo loooonnnnggg since a good pie blog has been written. The fact that I am exhausted and slightly sunburnt is not going to stop me from writing a good one though. Lack of interesting material may though. So, let’s work backwards shall we?

I’m going on four hours of sleep today and have started my summer job. My boss is great—a hilarious guy who’s from rural Minnesota and speaks fluent Spanish. The kids this week that I’ve got in camp are wonderful(so far) and this whole work thing is just not too bad. Why so little sleep? Because last night was Sunday—and since I’m young I’ve decided to live it up. So instead of going to bed at around 10 so I could get my recommended 8 hours of sleep, I went out dancing and had a lovely time in my new dress. Plus, it may been the last time in awhile that Charlee and I get to see Herding Cats for awhile since we both have early commitments to deal with now! What is up with that? The Pie girls do not do well with commitments that cut into their social lives.

It’s a real bummer that Charlee’s up in Bellingham for the summer while I’m down in the hometown with my summer job. I miss her tons and it makes the week nights super boring—I can’t even go out for pie! It also means that the Broman is once again a pretty stable drinking buddy. He came over to play flip-cup with the fam one night, and last week came over to help me build up my alcohol tolerance some. Mostly, it’s just nice to hang out with a guy that you get along with and don’t mind looking at.

Well, not only did I have an excellent date with the Physicist in early June, but I managed to see him two other times. The first was right after he got back from Vegas. Went for dinner at his parent’s house. Even though I was nervous as all get-out, I think I conducted myself with a certain amount of poise. The only bummer about that night was when my Jeep broke down 20 minutes away from Joe’s house—so a good 40 or so away from my parents’. I sat out in my poor broke down Jeep on the side of the road for what seemed like an eternity. I’ve yet to get it back from the shop. I was able to borrow my mom’s car to go see Joe for 80s night in Bellingham(as well as meet his friends). It was a pretty good night overall, but I was super overwhelmed. You see, I’ve never really had to do the whole “impress the friends” bit before. I know most of the Broman’s friends—Mike is one of my best bud after all. And the Evil Ex really didn’t have any friends to speak of. So here I am, sitting at this table surrounded by all these people who know Joe better than I could ever hope to. And what kind of vibe was I supposed to be going for? ‘Oh yeah, I know Joe has probably never really ever mentioned me before, and yeah we only see each other every few months; but no seriously, I’m totally head over heels for the guy,’ yeah, that works super well. I just get self conscious I guess.

I feel really odd about the whole thing now. Yeah, I really care about Joe and have a great time with him. I miss him when he’s away in Alaska, but at the same time it’s nice because I don’t have to worry about a super serious relationship again. I can keep my Broman on the side and all that. But now, so many people keep saying things like, “Oh, it sounds like you’ve met Mr. Right, but he’s just not your Mr. Right Now yet.” Charlee’s got me up in Alaska with Joe, co-owning a llama! And Ms. M is saving for a wedding present. So, when they all started saying this, and Joe’s lying there in bed snuggled up to me—I panicked. Commitment makes me queasy; I had a rather bad time of it the last go-around. And poor Joe probably thought that this was me not having a good time with him.

Well, not much else to report as of yet. This job is taking up a large amount of my time. But, this Fourth of July should be amazing. Wood Family wedding and Rachel is going to have an amazing time! Shit’ll buff out indeed! Keep those fingers safe from explosives and have a good one, dear readers!

XOXO, Rachel