Robby Makes it Home
December 29, 2005 @ 03:26 PM
Well, I made it home safely, despite my best efforts to the contrary. I've driven 600 miles in the last 30 hours, which is something like 15 miles an hour, but instead of the slow and steady approach I decided to speed through large portions of it and take breaks in the interim. It didn't work out too well for the hare, as I recall, but the hare also didn't have a hot young bunny waiting for him at the finish line, either. ;)
I had a really good time in Nebraska. I'd write that one down, as it probably doesn't get said too often. The drive to Dana's aunt's house in Lincoln took around four hours, and then after meeting the aunt, the cousin, and the sister, Dana and I headed back to Omaha to go to the zoo. She hadn't been in manyplus years, and I'd never been, that I recall, so I was pretty excited. And justifiably so! Check out my flickr feed, as I've some fun zoo shots posted.
Robby's FavoriteZooMoments!! of 2005:
- When Dana and I got "Wed" stamped on our hands. It made me laugh.
- Watching sharks, sea turtles, and stingrays swim within a foot of me in the aquarium-tunnel thing. I don't have any great shots, as the flash would have been rubbish and the lighting was dim, but I do have one shark pic posted.
- Watching the jellyfish float through the water, beautiful and ethereal and yet somehow alive.
- Making out in the dark against the vampire bat cage. Gotta take those opportunities when they're given. :)
- Sitting inches from a mountain gorilla and sharing a moment. I love gorillas, but I'd never seen one in person. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to ruin the moment.
- Watching the tiger cubs play. Pretty kitties...
After the zoo, we ate at Chipotle and headed back to Lincoln to find a hotel. We ended up booking a room at the Fairfield Inn Marriott. Then we headed back to her aunt's place to hang out for the evening. Her family members have fantastic memories, and as such, I couldn't really contribute much to many of the conversations. I had a pretty good time regardless. :) I spent the evening working on a really hard puzzle (puzzles suck) and watching Midnight Lace until around 1:30am.
Other Stuff.
I left Lincoln for home around 10:45am. I don't remember much of the drive home (not surprising considering I've had 7 hours sleep in the last 48) except that I sang along with too much Slipknot and now don't have much of a voice, and that I once drifted off in my head and came back very confused because I didn't remember why I was on the road or where I was going. The dense fog 90% of the way didn't help matters any.
Hehehe... Grewcock. That was a good joke for like four hours. I think I need a nap.
Wherein Robby Himself Migrates West.
December 28, 2005 @ 08:17 AM
Well, my little pickadees (or however one would spell that were one wanting to call you such), I, too, am going to briefly migrate west. It's come to my attention that Dana is visiting relatives in Lincoln, and her proximity is too much to bear without action. The good news is, this means I only have to go ten days, twice, without seeing Dana, instead of three weeks at once. The bad news is I'm (we're) a little worried we're going to upset her family by briefly ignoring them for each other. We've decided that's a risk we're going to take, I guess, because off I go into the Void,* that dark spot on the map known as Nebraska.
I'll be back Thursday sometime. Not that this will probably bug many of you, because 95% of you (assuming I could claim a 20-person readership) aren't in Ames regardless. However, for those of you who ~will~ be in Ames come New Year's Eve, I've an invite to Welch Ave Station that night, and you're more than welcome to join me and whatever friends I happen to discover there.
I burned four CDs for the drive: Slipknot, Beck, The Darkness, and Queens of the Stone Age. I'm hoping they'll be enough to keep me awake through the fog and the wide open spaces (which I probably won't be able to see through the fog). I'll probably stop for coffee in Des Moines, too, as it seems I no longer have a travel mug thinger. Must've gotten lost in the last move or two.
Westward ho!**
* The Void has also previously been assigned to parts of Canada. I don't know how it can exist simultaneously in two places. Much like Chuck Norris, one does not question the Void, as the Void simply Is.
** Please don't tell her I called her that. ;)
End of an Era
December 21, 2005 @ 02:16 PM
Justin just left a few minutes ago, and I'm already lonely. Pathetic, I know. It'll be a hard adjustment: Justin has been my roommate and friend since August of 2000, and now, I'm not going to see him again for quite some time. I'm considering visiting during spring break, if I can get away that long, but that's still over three months away.
He hugged me before I hugged him. I'm proud of the kid. :)
He left me his bed (score!). His bed is the most comfortable thing I've ever sat on. I've never slept in it, though, so I hope it isn't just a posterier tease. That sounds really dirty. I guess I'll find out tonight, 'cause I'm planning on moving it into my room this evening.
For now, though, I need to head to work so that I'm not a complete lazybones today.
Wherein Rob's life migrates west.
December 18, 2005 @ 10:09 PM
Dana left for Colorado this afternoon. Last I heard, she was stuck behind some massive multiple-semi accident in Nebraska somewhere, and should roll into the Boulder area by around 3am. This marks the beginning of three weeks without her, which is going to be pretty hard. We still have a lot left to learn about one another, and time apart is not conducive to that end. We were lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time together in the last week, though, which has been great.
I told her I loved her last night. She responded in kind. :) I'd wanted to tell her for a while now, but I promised myself that I'd wait until we'd been a couple at least a week, because anything less just seemed far too soon. Also, I'm an ass, remember? It felt fantastic to be able to say those words again after so long — it'd been18 months, to my reckoning, and for a few months before that I would only let myself whisper them to Megan's back as she was walking away. Dana is only the second woman I've ever said those words to, which I'm hoping helps her realize I mean them when I say them.
In short, I've got it bad. :)
To make my loneliness worse, I haven't seen Justin since Monday. He called tonight to say he'd be back for one last visit on Tuesday evening. He's planning to spend the holidays with his family in western Iowa and leave for Seattle the day after Christmas.
I probably won't tell him I love him. ;) I may give him a hug, which would be the first (and last) time that would have occurred. He's not big on the whole personal contact thing.
Eric is coming up tomorrow so that we can do a little Christmas shopping. He and I have been hanging out together more than usual lately, which has been a nice change of pace. He didn't get a chance to meet Dana before she headed west, though. Ah well. There should be plenty time yet.
It has recently occurred to me that I have yet to even begin looking for a roommate. My final projects had priority until last week, and then Dana had priority. However, now that I've no immediately pending projects, no Dana, and no roommate, I think it's time to ramp up the search. If any of you know of a generally cool person (probably male; I was originally unconcerned with gender, but let's not tick off the Danas) who likes to study during the week, party on the weekends, and could handle me in either scenario, let me know.
I've made a few changes to the site, but I'll talk about those in a separate post. It's probably best to keep the personal and professional stuff separate on some level, even if it's only different posts in the same blog.
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
December 13, 2005 @ 08:09 PM
Please don't tell her I called her that. :)
Okay, my Spanish Galleons, this is going to be short, odd, and disjointed, because I'm apparently heading for a bar in Des Moines in a few minutes. However, I know you're all dying for an update, and two weeks is long even for me, so I'll submit.
The lovely lady whose picture is featured in this article is my new old lady, Dana. I like to call her Danamahol, as it incorporates two of my weaknesses in one. :) Or sometimes I call her Dana, because even that name is new to my lips. I've never before called her new old lady, and probably won't ever again, because it's a little confusing and probably offensive.
Dana is in the same degree program as I, but is lagging behind me by about a year. Probably because she started a year later. She is a little short, meaning I have to scrunch over any time I want a kiss. Which is pretty darn often, because she's a pretty darn good kisser. In fact, it was our first kiss which made me realize I wanted her to be my girlfriend, not just friend, or even friend avec benefits. I then made her wait a week to find that out, because being an ass is so very deliciously fun.
Dana also has naturally blond hair and, naturally, blue eyes. This is odd, because I've never been in a relationship, pseudo or otherwise, with anyone who didn't have brown hair and brown eyes. However, she currently has red hair following an extremely close encounter with a dye job, so maybe that's what slipped her in under my radar. Not really, though, cause I thought she was kinda cute even back before she dyed her hair. Of course, I always thought to myself, "She's kinda cute… for a blond." I told you I was an ass.
We've been dating for nearly four days now. Four ~whole~ days. We decided to officially become a couple very late Friday evening, while sitting on the couch in my apartment. We cemented the decision with a kiss. Roughly two seconds later, exRoomy Sammie walked in the door, said "Hey!", took off her coat, and sat down at the bar. I said hey, and went back to watching the movie we'd started. About five seconds passed before Dana finally turned to me and whispered, "so… who is she?" It was the perfect beginning to a relationship.
It was also probably the worst possible time to start a relationship. We've both been horrendously busy for the last week, as we both had lots of projects due and were also trying to get to know one another better at the same time. Both attempts suffered as a result. There's also the problem that Dana's from Colorado, and will be heading back that way at the end of this week for the Christmas break. We'll have been a couple for about eight days when we have to then be separated for three weeks. Also, there's the minor detail of me graduating in a few months, and her having another year left. Life is inconvenient sometimes.
Now, however, I must head to her place so that we can leave for the bar. It's supposed to be slick and snowy tonight, so it should be fun. I'll probably tell you-all more later. Unless I get the feeling nobody wants to hear it. Adieu, lovely persons.