The Flip Flop Revenge

Heard a little story (I guess you can call it a story), in the few hours I spent in L.A. before embarking on Pete and I's Epic Quest to Orlando, which really made me laugh. So, because I like to make others laugh as well, I figured I'd share. I know, I know, you're welcome.

But first, a little back story:

A few days after returning home from L.A. last November, Pete asked if I had left a pair of crusty brown flip flops at his apartment. And yes, in fact I had. These "crusty" flops were just that, C-R-U-S-T-Y. They had been in commission for probably a year too long, mainly because I'm lazy; and so, were forced to trek on.... and on... and on (undoubtedly, these shoes had seen their day). Without hesitation, I told Pete it would be in their best interest if he'd put them out of their misery, and toss 'em. To which he SAID he'd do so immediately.

Fast forward to last week, and you can imagine my surprise when, while talking to Bobby and Ryan outside the apartment, I saw them reappear right before my eyes! They had NOT made it to flip flop heaven after all.

After reuniting with my old pals, I decided I still did not want these shoes (especially since they had been dubbed "crusty") so, I thought the best thing to do would be to contribute to the trash that is the run-down rooftop next door. Pete threw the first shoe (it landed face down, much to my disappointment), and just before I threw it's sibling, Bobby and Ryan spoke up, stopping me. I didn't really get it, why did they care if I threw the shoe? They looked at each other and concocted something to the degree of using my shoe as a bug smasher (they have/had a little bug problem, but don't cringe too much, it's no Joe's Apartment). So alright, that's kinda gross, but ok, whatever, "haha", my shoe's a bug killer. I got the feeling however they were BS-ing me, and I was somehow left out of the joke. Hi middle school flashback...

Later, the truth came out. Apparently my flip flop had been used as a way for Bobby to torture Ryan, and for Ryan to try to torture Bobby. One would hide the crusty flop in a strategically placed area where the shoe would then become a horrific surprise to the other. And back and forth they'd go. This is funny enough, but Bobby, I've decided, is a genius; coming up with some of the best hiding spots in history:

Under Ryan's pillow.
In Ryan's guitar case.
Taped to the back of the closed toilet bowl lid.
And my personal favorite, deep within Ryan's cereal box.

The last of which is my favorite mainly because, while the flip flop quietly awaited Ryan's arrival, Bobby and Ryan were busy debating whether or not to go out to eat, and Ryan decided that he'd rather just eat at home.

He was really craving a bowl of cereal. Little did he know...

And so, because of their little game, Bobby and Ryan were not yet ready to say goodbye and part with the flip flop that had brought so many laughs. And really who could blame them?

So there the flop will stay, and there the flop will play, in a cozy little apartment, on Rampart in L.A.

Texas smells like sh*t.

So we're on the road, just got into Texas, and we've got about another hour to go before we stop, and I'm feeling EXTREMELY antsy, so I thought I'd do a blog on the fly. Hurray! We've reached the mid point of our little adventure, and so far it's really been a lot of fun. I've been snapping pictures just about every three minutes, getting excited at every mountain type thing I see. We'll probably have about 500 pictures by the time we're done, so everyone get ready for the most exciting slide show you've ever seen!!

We just passed through a cloud of stank, and I mean STANK. Jamie: "what is that smell! It smells like SKUNK." Pete: "Yeah skunk that's been burnt. That, or burnt pop corn." Uhh...okay! Now I'll probably smell skunk every time I sit down to enjoy my movie with a bowl of pop corn in my lap...thanks Pete.

Vegas was exciting, especially driving up to it; it felt like my first trip to Disney World. So sparkly. We stayed at the Luxor, (the pyramid shaped hotel with the big dog thing in front, what are those called? I feel dumb.) and our suite was very sweet. What a sweet suite. I wish we had gotten there a little bit earlier, but, I did get to eat L.A. Chinese food, and I was very happy about that, and Pete had to pack the car....twice. I can't believe he got everything in here. I was expecting to see him shove the last thing in, only to have the whole car bust it's seams and send Pete's stuff a flyin'!

So Pete's trying to tell me right now that we have another FOUR hours to go before we stop, he's such a funny guy. And he just found a rock in his pocket....weirdo.

But yeah we made it to Vegas, and spent our night walking around and checking everything out. I also spent the night accumulating about 5 blisters, one of which is the BIGGEST blister I've ever had, and maybe even ever seen. I named her Bertha. So as the night was ending I was only slightly uncomfortable because of that, and I had to walk around bare footed to avoid the pain. Classy class, that tis me! I played the slots and won two dollars and seventy five cents...ballah!!

Okay, now it smells like a circus in this car! We just realized we had the outside air coming in, NOT a good idea. Know what else is not a good idea? Rolling down the window to confirm that the dank smell of circus is actually not inside your car. Because it isn't. And now you've just blasted your face (Pete) and mine with ranky dank circus elephant poo air. We nearly crashed in panicked laughter. Good times! We really need to get out of this car soon, Pete's started his opera singing, and is now dancing (I think?), and I'm pretty sure we could both benefit from stopping and doing a couple laps around the car.

So then yesterday was the Grand Canyon, which is not false advertisement, that thing is Grand indeed. A little scary only because you could pretty much jump right in if you wanted to, I'd really be curious to know how often that happens. It was definitely worth the extra travel time, something I'm really glad I got to experience, and with Pete (awww)...special times, special times.

We saw the Meteor Crater in Arizona today something like 4000 feet across...say what?!

Okay, we're heading to the hotel, so I'm signing off for now. I'll have some pics up soon, but in the meantime, check out Pete's blog: petegrein.tumblr.com He's got a video up of Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Bumpin' Grein Productions....can ya dig it?

We can dig it.

Ya gotta love it when your roommate let's you pay rent in liquor!

Yup, that's right! Well, sort of. I paid Todd the bulk of rent in cash, so instead of writing a check or withdrawing five dollars (what was missing from the cash), I paid with a half empty 10$ bottle of vodka. Shweet!

In other news, I do believe I've caught a pretty bad case of the Blogging Bug. This stuff is pretty addicting! I'm sure it will die out over time, and anyone who reads this will be restricted to maybe, say, three blogs a day(sorry guys). And although I don't have anything fantastic to write about at the moment, I thought I would share with you an email I received last week:

SUBJECT: Yes.

"I'll really call in on the nuns, he said to the officers who
watched him smilingly, and he rode off by the winding path down the
hill.

Now then, lets see how far it will carry, Captain. Just try. said
the general, turning to an artillery officer."

Wow. Thank you Lela Bridges, whoever you are, for quite possibly the best email I'll ever receive. Snidbit of a short story? Mad Libs? I'll never know for sure (I wrote her back but she didn't reply), but I believe It'd lose it's magic if I did know, so really, I do not care.