Welcome to August, Welcome to Blockbuster!
What. A. Month. July was intense to say the least.
I'm gonna start with the Memphis trip.
I left on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. I was headed to Chris's house. I enjoyed a beautiful drive up the east side of the state. Eastern Mississippi reminds me of the places I like most in West Tennessee, gently rolling hills, trees, the occasional small home or trailer, and not much else. By the time I got to Savannah, I was a little tired but more importantly very low on gas and completely broke. Well, as usual, Chris is absolutely horrible with directions, which I'm fine with, but I may have seemed a little overly critical to Chris. Well the next day we went canoeing, and I had to drive, which I was not told in advance. I was fine with it, but I didn't want Chris to think it was okay for him to just assume I was going to drive, and I may have seemed a little hard on him then too. Well we got out to the Buffalo River and got everything set-up for canoeing. My phone was water resistant, but I didn't want to lose it, so I put it in a plastic bag and stuck it in the cooler. Everybody else took their iPhones and put them in a watersafe box. So off we went on a canoe with a bunch of beer, a little food, and legal herbal potpourri (which I affectionately call "poe" since "pot" was already taken by its illegal cousin). Well, things started off well but turned sour when the other two canoes flipped over trying to get to a place to jump off a cliff into the river. The other guys tried to get everything together as I photographed. We didn't realize it until a little bit later, but it was at this time that they all lost their phones. This changed the whole mood of the trip, and as the poe and alcohol wore off, everyone was tired and pissed off. I tried to stay in good spirits, but the trip itself could have gone much better. Well, when we got back to Adamsville, Chris asked me for money (which I knew would be to buy poe), but my check hadn't shown up in the bank yet, and he knew that. I was not very nice in my response. Later that night, when the money did show up (I honestly did not believe it was going into the bank until Friday), I told Chris that we could buy some more poe. This was irritating to him, but he has to realize that I can't spend money that I don't have. So off I went back to Adamsville to get some. You buy it at the gas station, which feels really strange, but it's about 45 minutes round-trip from Savannah that Chris surely felt like was a waste of time and a slap in the face to him from earlier when it was convenient and I had yelled at him. There were multiple mentions during the trip about Memphis in May as well, and I told him he was making me feel really guilty. I really enjoyed myself during the trip, but I don't think that Chris enjoyed my company. I haven't had any way to get in touch with him since he no longer has a phone, and I'm not sure when I'll see him again. I guess this is going to be one of those times that you find out how other people really feel, because I truly consider Chris to be my brother, and I'm really hoping that he feels the same way.
So off to Memphis I went, feeling refreshed but concerned about the events from the previous day. First stop was a haircut. I was long overdue, and I had committed that particular paycheck for play money, since I was expecting gas money from my mom and maybe a little from my grandparents. Next stop was Kohl's to buy some new sunglasses and earrings. I had originally planned to meet up with my mom in Tunica to go swimming, but my grandparents ruined those plans by going with her and changing hotels from Sam's Town, where we had expected, which has an outdoor pool, to Goldstrike, which has an indoor pool and defeats the purpose for my mom. So I met up with my aunt and cousin from New Orleans that I haven't spoken to since her wedding, we all went out to lunch. It was much better and way less awkward than I had expected, which sort of set the tone for the whole family part of the adventure. I may have forgotten to mention, the whole purpose of the trip was to celebrate my cousin Hayley's Bat Mitzvah, so I met up with my mom at the evil grandparents' house and we got prepared for Friday night services. There was a dinner at one of the family members' houses. Saturday was the main event, and Hayley was absolutely fantastic. I mean, I thought it was special that I chanted my torah portion, but she chanted the entire service. Truly amazing. She's going to be a famous actress one day, I'm sure of it. Isti, Hayley's dad, made a video that he showed at the reception, and it was really touching. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house during the part where he edited in footage from Hayley's baby naming with Uncle Joe and Aunt Marilyn. They both passed away over the next couple of years after her birth, but they were amazing people. It made me realize that the reason that the family isn't very close is due to my grandparents. They are the wedge that drives that whole side of the family apart. Saturday night was the party, which was a blast, and then I went over to Britt's house for the night. I woke up early to setup because our side of the family was putting on the Sunday brunch. I said my goodbyes to everybody and headed back to Britt's to continue the adventure.
Bobby had a bunch of homework to do, so I'm glad we had all had a chance to hangout and go up to Shelby Forest the night before. Britt and I didn't really have much of an agenda other than we wanted to go play on the new playground at Shelby Farms, so we looked up fun free stuff to do in Memphis to see if there was anything we hadn't done, got together a little list and headed off. We really wanted to actually play on the playground at Shelby Farms, but since it was a Sunday afternoon, there were lots of real kids, and we didn't want to draw any attention to ourselves. We still had a pretty good time. We toured around Memphis, but the real highlight of our trip was the Memorial Park Cemetery. I was familiar with the cemetery from when I was a little kid. It's more of a really big park. They have a big Easter egg hunt there. Anyway, we saw stuff I had no idea was in there. I mean we hit every square foot of that place. It's kinda creepy how a graveyard could be so freakin cool. They've actually got this big quartz cave right in the middle with different scenes from the Bible in it, there's a fountain of youth, a wishing chair, I mean the list goes on and on. I was really sad to leave, and I honestly stayed in Memphis way too long, but alas, I had to start the journey homeward. I made multiple stops along the way, because I honestly wasn't in any hurry, and ended up sleeping at a rest area. I made it home the next morning with just enough time to take a shower and head to work.
Life since the Memphis trip has been kind of rough. My mom did give me way more money than I had expected, and my grandparents sent me off with nothing but some shirts that Pop-pop didn't want. I continued the job hunt, which at times felt more like begging, and I've finally got a new job, which I start today, at the Blockbuster. July 26th was actually a pretty important day in the life of Jacob. Through strange karma, my phone committed suicide. It was like Final Destination. My phone somehow was supposed to have been lost in that river, but it made it through. So now I have a new phone, that's the day I got the job, I gave my old laptop to Adam, I took out my neck ring (due to a missing ball and it being slightly crooked and off-center), and I got two new (to me) pet turtles. I've actually go to head off to the new job now, but I'll try to update more often. Hasta!
I'm gonna start with the Memphis trip.
I left on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. I was headed to Chris's house. I enjoyed a beautiful drive up the east side of the state. Eastern Mississippi reminds me of the places I like most in West Tennessee, gently rolling hills, trees, the occasional small home or trailer, and not much else. By the time I got to Savannah, I was a little tired but more importantly very low on gas and completely broke. Well, as usual, Chris is absolutely horrible with directions, which I'm fine with, but I may have seemed a little overly critical to Chris. Well the next day we went canoeing, and I had to drive, which I was not told in advance. I was fine with it, but I didn't want Chris to think it was okay for him to just assume I was going to drive, and I may have seemed a little hard on him then too. Well we got out to the Buffalo River and got everything set-up for canoeing. My phone was water resistant, but I didn't want to lose it, so I put it in a plastic bag and stuck it in the cooler. Everybody else took their iPhones and put them in a watersafe box. So off we went on a canoe with a bunch of beer, a little food, and legal herbal potpourri (which I affectionately call "poe" since "pot" was already taken by its illegal cousin). Well, things started off well but turned sour when the other two canoes flipped over trying to get to a place to jump off a cliff into the river. The other guys tried to get everything together as I photographed. We didn't realize it until a little bit later, but it was at this time that they all lost their phones. This changed the whole mood of the trip, and as the poe and alcohol wore off, everyone was tired and pissed off. I tried to stay in good spirits, but the trip itself could have gone much better. Well, when we got back to Adamsville, Chris asked me for money (which I knew would be to buy poe), but my check hadn't shown up in the bank yet, and he knew that. I was not very nice in my response. Later that night, when the money did show up (I honestly did not believe it was going into the bank until Friday), I told Chris that we could buy some more poe. This was irritating to him, but he has to realize that I can't spend money that I don't have. So off I went back to Adamsville to get some. You buy it at the gas station, which feels really strange, but it's about 45 minutes round-trip from Savannah that Chris surely felt like was a waste of time and a slap in the face to him from earlier when it was convenient and I had yelled at him. There were multiple mentions during the trip about Memphis in May as well, and I told him he was making me feel really guilty. I really enjoyed myself during the trip, but I don't think that Chris enjoyed my company. I haven't had any way to get in touch with him since he no longer has a phone, and I'm not sure when I'll see him again. I guess this is going to be one of those times that you find out how other people really feel, because I truly consider Chris to be my brother, and I'm really hoping that he feels the same way.
So off to Memphis I went, feeling refreshed but concerned about the events from the previous day. First stop was a haircut. I was long overdue, and I had committed that particular paycheck for play money, since I was expecting gas money from my mom and maybe a little from my grandparents. Next stop was Kohl's to buy some new sunglasses and earrings. I had originally planned to meet up with my mom in Tunica to go swimming, but my grandparents ruined those plans by going with her and changing hotels from Sam's Town, where we had expected, which has an outdoor pool, to Goldstrike, which has an indoor pool and defeats the purpose for my mom. So I met up with my aunt and cousin from New Orleans that I haven't spoken to since her wedding, we all went out to lunch. It was much better and way less awkward than I had expected, which sort of set the tone for the whole family part of the adventure. I may have forgotten to mention, the whole purpose of the trip was to celebrate my cousin Hayley's Bat Mitzvah, so I met up with my mom at the evil grandparents' house and we got prepared for Friday night services. There was a dinner at one of the family members' houses. Saturday was the main event, and Hayley was absolutely fantastic. I mean, I thought it was special that I chanted my torah portion, but she chanted the entire service. Truly amazing. She's going to be a famous actress one day, I'm sure of it. Isti, Hayley's dad, made a video that he showed at the reception, and it was really touching. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house during the part where he edited in footage from Hayley's baby naming with Uncle Joe and Aunt Marilyn. They both passed away over the next couple of years after her birth, but they were amazing people. It made me realize that the reason that the family isn't very close is due to my grandparents. They are the wedge that drives that whole side of the family apart. Saturday night was the party, which was a blast, and then I went over to Britt's house for the night. I woke up early to setup because our side of the family was putting on the Sunday brunch. I said my goodbyes to everybody and headed back to Britt's to continue the adventure.
Bobby had a bunch of homework to do, so I'm glad we had all had a chance to hangout and go up to Shelby Forest the night before. Britt and I didn't really have much of an agenda other than we wanted to go play on the new playground at Shelby Farms, so we looked up fun free stuff to do in Memphis to see if there was anything we hadn't done, got together a little list and headed off. We really wanted to actually play on the playground at Shelby Farms, but since it was a Sunday afternoon, there were lots of real kids, and we didn't want to draw any attention to ourselves. We still had a pretty good time. We toured around Memphis, but the real highlight of our trip was the Memorial Park Cemetery. I was familiar with the cemetery from when I was a little kid. It's more of a really big park. They have a big Easter egg hunt there. Anyway, we saw stuff I had no idea was in there. I mean we hit every square foot of that place. It's kinda creepy how a graveyard could be so freakin cool. They've actually got this big quartz cave right in the middle with different scenes from the Bible in it, there's a fountain of youth, a wishing chair, I mean the list goes on and on. I was really sad to leave, and I honestly stayed in Memphis way too long, but alas, I had to start the journey homeward. I made multiple stops along the way, because I honestly wasn't in any hurry, and ended up sleeping at a rest area. I made it home the next morning with just enough time to take a shower and head to work.
Life since the Memphis trip has been kind of rough. My mom did give me way more money than I had expected, and my grandparents sent me off with nothing but some shirts that Pop-pop didn't want. I continued the job hunt, which at times felt more like begging, and I've finally got a new job, which I start today, at the Blockbuster. July 26th was actually a pretty important day in the life of Jacob. Through strange karma, my phone committed suicide. It was like Final Destination. My phone somehow was supposed to have been lost in that river, but it made it through. So now I have a new phone, that's the day I got the job, I gave my old laptop to Adam, I took out my neck ring (due to a missing ball and it being slightly crooked and off-center), and I got two new (to me) pet turtles. I've actually go to head off to the new job now, but I'll try to update more often. Hasta!