Summer wrap up

Last Saturday of freedom and it's closing in on 4am, best thing for me to do? Blog about it.

I suppose next Saturday I won't have school yet, but I'll be back in Logan, so this is my last Saturday in Layton. What a short summer this felt like. Summer sure does last longer when you don't have a job.. or three.. Okay I guess I only ever had two at a time.

So summer started off interestingly enough. I was dating 3 girls at once while working full time with the census, this shortly narrowed down to 0 and working part time with the census. Too bad too. The census job was miserable at first, but as I got good at it and started making conversation and getting to know the random people I'd have to go visit it really became fun and probably one of my favorite jobs I've ever had. Because the hours started getting few and far between there I got a job at a pizza restaurant. I definitely had some fun times there. I worked with cool people and the money was pretty decent. At about this point one of the girls I was dating earlier in the summer decided she still liked me and we started dating again. We did some fun stuff together. Had a Star Trek party, went to the planetarium, the natural history museum, played Mario Kart all night (no, this isn't something dirty - we actually played Mario Kart on the N64 all night). I got a job as a geologist. Oddly enough the thing I thought I wanted most ended up being the most miserable part of the summer. Go figure. Really kind of confused me as to what I want for my future, but whatever, we'll see where it takes me I guess. I went on a roadtrip with my Grandpa, which, may possibly be the last long trip he takes like that unfortunately. While out there I went and hung out in Long Beach and toured what was once the worlds largest boat. Actually I take it back, I think that trip was probably more miserable than the geology job, so the two things I wanted to do most were the most miserable.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I went and was able to spend time with my family and especially Grandpa, but the whole trip was a long nightmare for me. We left early in the morning and drove straight through to Palmdale. I was tired before we left, so my grandpa started off driving. I was unable to sleep because every time I'd get close to sleep he'd veer off to the warning track and abruptly jerk the car back into the lane, so by the time we got to about Beaver I was like, "I'll drive" so I juiced up on 60 oz. of coffee and took over. Yes, I seriously drank 60 oz of coffee on the drive to California. From here I did the rest of the driving to, around and from California as his driving slightly frightened me. We got there and I felt like ass because well, I'd drank three 20 oz coffee's in about a 6 hour period. The first thing we did was get dinner with my uncle, which was nice, and then afterward we went to a Motel for the night, which absolutely sucked for me.

Now I understand my grandpa can't go up and down stairs (even though he did on several occasions on this trip) and they had no where for him to sleep on the ground level, but I can't explain how much it sucks to have to cease enjoying the company of my family that I rarely see to drive to a crappy motel at 10 pm and sit there with a book or try to use the worlds crappiest wifi for 4 hours until I get tired. I went back over one of the nights and hung out, but it still sucked to have to drive my Grandpa there, check in, get my stuff inside, settle in and drive back to the other side of town to hang out for a few hours and return. Having to carry all of our luggage to and from the hotel to the car every night kind of sucked too, my grandpa must have had 3x as much stuff as me. So that first morning, when I thought things could only look up from here, I wake up to the smell of fire. Fortunately it wasn't fire - my grandpa just felt he needed to turn the wall heater on, despite the fact that we're in a mid-latitude desert in August and it was about 85*F outside at the time, he was cold. Later on the trip I woke up to cigarette smoke in our motel room because it was too hot to go outside and smoke, FML. Then on the way home, when all I wanted to do was just get home, we had to drive clear up over Navajo Lake (which really is quite beautiful) and through some crappy little country towns to take the "scenic route" which to me was just like 4-hour-longer-route. Basically I spent 50% of my "vacation" babysitting and despite the fact that I spent a day in Long Beach, didn't even get to see a beach. I love my family and my grandpa and, even though I'm only highlighting the crappy stuff, I really did have some fun on my little trip - it was just not quite as exciting as trips with him in the past have been. I guess we all get old. I don't remember the last time I was so happy to get back to the relatively light Wasatch Front traffic and clear skies and my mom's tiny little apartment.

As I head back to Logan for my Senior year, all I can say is that I can't believe I'm heading to my senior year. When I started college 3 years ago I was doing it because I didn't have anything better going on in my life. I didn't think I'd finish a degree. I want to thank all the people who helped me actually get this far. My mom is so supportive, my grandpa always made me feel so amazing for being smart. My high school friends did the same, by always treating me like I was smart I just couldn't drop out and change their opinions on that. That asshole Shelly for making my first semesters at Weber so much better than they would have been otherwise. The friends I've made in Logan have made living in a town that some people consider boring the most exciting times of my lives. Stew Morrill for having a good basketball team and giving me something to get through occasional long winter nights in Logan. Various girls I've dated for having good bodies and helping me to get through occasional long winter nights in Logan.

Well, that is all - I'm off to sleep now. I'll try to get a few more entries in here next month.