So... I have not written in here in a few days, but I thought it was time to take an hour out of my busy day and write down some wordage. My second day at Moe's was a little more productive than the first; in that this time I actually was able to work. They still did not have a shirt for me, so I ended up looking like a coat hanger swimming in a pool of bright orange fabric. I felt very, "I-am-serving-9-to-10-and-picking-up-trash-on-the-side-of-the-roadish." Not only did I honor my Spanish ancestors by learning the proper way yo deep fry a tortilla chip, I was also schooled in the correct way to fold a taco (c/o the know it all illegal immigrants that I work with, that also think I do not understand Spanish, I think I will continue to let them think that). I greatly underestimated the amount time and energy that is required to skillfully construct a burrito, but I soon realized that was why I was given the simple task of putting the beans on the burrito assembly line. All in all it was a productive day.
I had to rush from work at 12 45pm to get to my interview at Copper Beech, I basically ran home showered and turned around to run back to the horse shoe to catch the Copper Beech shuttle, assuming that the time the office assistant told me the bus arrived at was correct. it wasn't. As I walked the bus came flying by me and my excitement turned into disappointment. I had to wait an extra hour for the shuttle again and was more than an hour late for my interview. I was surprised she even wanted to see me, but alas I was still granted an interview, which went very very well. I have followed up with them and will know something on Monday. So everyone keep your fingers crossed because I really really want this job. I took the shuttle back to campus and Shawna picked me up so we could swing by the casting office for NAILED, the new major motion picture that they are filming here in Columbia. It features, Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tracy Morgan, Kirstie Alley, and many other great actors. Well I am happy to announce that I got the good news today that the hair department on set is taking me on as an intern! I am sooooooo excited about this awesome opportunity that God has entrusted me with. I pray that I will be able to make good connections and learn a lot for this experience. So Wednesday went pretty well.
Thursday Shawna, Draper, Becky, and I went to Charleston. We started off our trip pretty poorly, when none of us realized that we were going to wrong way on I26 until we ended up 55 miles outside of Greenville in smoke etcha-sketchy town called Joanna that smelled like chopped onions and corn chips, not my favorite honestly. We filled up with gas and floored it the rest of the way to chucktown. While in transit I got a call from my mother telling me that while I was home I needed to visit my aunt in the hospital, because her condition had worsened ( I had visited her the previous week and she had seemed ok in fact they went her home the next day). I went with my mother around 930 and had to see my aunt in a coma with tubes everywhere in her body, she is literally on her death bed, and I am pleading with the Lord that if it be his will that he preserve her life, and help her fight this. She is suffering from heart and breathing complications due to some medical issues that she has. They are performing a tracheotomy on Monday so that they will be able to take her off the Ventilator that is keeping her alive in order to perform the needed pulmonary surgery. I am begging that she be in everyone's thoughts and prayers, I have never asked this of anyone in my life, but I love her dearly and I know she has life left in her. I am so afraid that when she wakes up she will just give up and slip away, but I know that through prayer and love she can receive the will to fight that she needs. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers even though none of you will ever meet or know her, just know that she means the world to me. Her name is Linda, and she is a very loving and caring woman.
After I left the hospital in tears that night, I had my mother drop me off at the hotel the girls were staying at downtown, I needed to go out and be with friends that night and try not to dwell on Linda. I got to the hotel and the girls were pretty tipsy from the banquet they had been to that night. These girls are probably some of the most fun people you will ever come to know. We all sat around getting ready to go out, waiting on Becky's mystery man to show up (aka Steven) I was pretty excited because he does not drink and neither do I do I would have someone to laugh at drunk people with that night. We made our way downtown, (after 30 minutes of prep time on Draper's hair, while Becky was constantly reminding us of the fact that she was ready to go, and with the socially awkward turtle (Steven) in the room starring at the TV set fiddling with his hands pretending none of us were in the room). We got parking and then Draper and I realized that we had forgotten our money and ID in the hotel, so Shawna drove us back to the hotel and then Draper realized she had lost the key, so we finally got a new one and got into the room grabbed out things and we were off. We stopped at Janita Greenburg's, Becky, Shawna, and Draper got chips and queso, the turtle got a quesadilla, and I payed 4 bucks for a red bull. Walking around downtown reminded me of the many summers away from college that I had spent there drinking up and down King street, making a complete fool of myself. We walked into one of my old bars, the upper deck. Once inside we realized none of us wanted to drink, well I never want to drink, what I meant was none of them wanted to drink, so we left and tried to find another place to maybe dance or hear some good music. We wandered down king, laughing, cutting up, admiring the shop windows whose door steps we would grace the next morning, i began to wonder if this was it. I mean I was surrounded by good friends, I was laughing and having a good time, was this it, was this what life was all about, I mean I have been working on getting my life back in order since October, changing my entire thought process, and refocusing on Christ and a lifestyle with higher standards, but this felt so good, just running around the city with friends. I mean I don't mean to say that what I am working towards is not good, or that I have wasted my time, because that is not what I think at all, but I do mean to say that I think it is ok if we take a little time out, look around, and appreciate ourselves for who we are. And if we have not figured that out yet then stopping and taking a moment to reflect on thoughts ,as these are what makes us human, is something I feel divinity understands, and even encourages.
We got to the market and made our way through small crowds of drunken sorfrastitutes barely wearing togas, many of whom were pairing off for the night. We saw a long stairway leading up to a club called Light and we wandered inside. This place was incredibly empty, but incredible all the same. The decor was gothic and sexy. Dark Chandeliers hung all down the bar and little nocks in the brick wall held wispy votive candles, the dance floor was in the separate room, onside of the room was lined with a huge bench seat covered in comfortable pillows and high tables garnished the sitting area. The dance floor itself had multicolored square lights, it gave the illusion of a huge game of dance dance revolution. The DJ was absolute crap, but that did not matter to us, we worked out our problems on the dance floor, since there was almost no one there we danced as silly as we wanted, except the turtle of course, he sat at a high table sipping his overflowing cup of social awkwardness, waiting for us to finish our fun filled night of frivolity. Finally we knew it was time to go, when the only people left were the scantily clad trashy girls climbing on the tables flashing parts of their body to the seriously aged men who took of their wedding bands and came to places like this to feel young again. We walked outside, waited for a few of the girls to grab some water and use the restroom. The cool Charleston night air felt great as it hit my face, walking down the market towards meeting, it felt like a scene out of a trashy french film, girls and boys lined the streets making out, arguing with each other, bouncers were breaking up small fights in front of bars, and the street were beginning to clear out. We arrived back the hotel and while Becky said her goodbyes to here little pet turtle, the three of us headed up stairs and got ready for bed while we waited for her report. She walked in the door exactly as we imagined, like a small child whose ice cream had fallen out of the cone onto the ground. It was one of her first actual attempts to have a real boyfriend and this guy was so wrong for her. She is so out going and unique and this guy is so introverted and boring. We shared so many jokes that night, had a 90 year old security guard knock on the door at 4 am telling us there had been some complaints, it was dark in the room so when draper finally answered the door ( we waited till he had knocked on the door like three times giggling in the dark) she appeared to have been pretending to just wake up. We fell asleep around 5 am and the next morning you can only imagine Becky was lying there waiting for the alarm to get off, I knew this because I woke up every time she got up to pee that night, which totaled out to be more than I cared to count. She got dressed and ready the rest of us layed in bed till 10 30 and then we got packed up and headed downtown, did a little shopping and then headed out to the beach, we took some great Polaroid and got all packed up and stopped by my parents office and then headed out of town. My mother insisted on keeping Madison (my dog) for a two week trial to see if my brothers and sister could handle a puppy. I am under the impression that I will not be getting my dog back.
As we rolled back into Columbia, depression set back in. I hate this place, it really sucks the life out of you, draining you of all your creative energy. Sometimes I feel like an empty shell, waiting for someone to accidentally drop me. Shawna put it best when she jokingly suggested that we design a t-shirt that says "Columbia broke my hopes, and shattered my dreams." I really can not wait to get out of this place, I mean do not get my wrong I love the people here, but there are so many things here holding me back, I feel a little smothered, and I really need to be somewhere that I can grow and breath. I already miss my family, and I am looking forward to going home again real soon.
