Well, I try to post at least once a week but due to the storm (Hurricane Sandy) that just came through town I had to delay posting. So let’s see what happened over the last two weeks.
I went an a spectacular date in the northern Jersey / southern New York area. Started off with a quick trip in traffic over the George Washington Bridge. After maybe two hours of transit I arrived at the pick-up point. We quickly departed for some food at a local diner. I must say the food was mediocre, nothing special but it was good to finally see her since the last time we met back during labor day weekend. After the quick snack it was off to the venue for the evening. The Warwick Drive-In. I must say a Drive-In movie is a first for me and it was great. The audio comes in over your cars speakers on radio stations and it is truly amazing the quality of audio you can get even in the most economy of cars. As I digress. It was a double feature for 9 dollars a person, truly a bargain. I recommend everyone go for the experience and the cost. After the movies had ended we drove around the area just looking at all the towns for something to do. We stopped in a local parking lot for some quick shenanigans the continued on our way to for some hot chocolate and candy to end the night. I had left the school at 6pm and returned around 4am and I must say the entire night was worth it. I left with a girlfriend who seemed to understand much of who I was. Despite it being a first date we decided that maybe getting into a relationship albeit long distance would be good for us considering how well we seemed to get along. We got a hotel room and spent the whole night and next morning just bumming around and having fun and getting to each other more and knew that deciding to be “official” was a great idea. Then came Monday morning. Day Zero.
More on the woman who has decided to invest time and emotion into me.
I met her through a friend of mine at college actually. They were dating at the time and eventually ended breaking up. I asked her what happened and seems he broke up with her. So, her and I chatted on facebook for 3 weeks and I decided to do something crazy. I drove all the way down to Virginia for Labor Day weekend to meet her (again) and get to know her. It turns out she is quite similar to me in almost every regard (except food). I packed my bag and came back to NY and continued to talk with her. Soon our conversations were sort of serious and we decided we needed to meet again. Her cousin was being christened in Jersey at the end of October so that’s how she got up here for the first date.
Day Zero.
We woke up and got ready packed our things and checked out of the hotel. It was starting to drizzle. We got in the car and headed back towards her grandparents home. Then it happened. My first car accident. Headed up an exit ramp the car started to lose traction and I made a rookie mistake, braking hard. The back end of the car swung out as I was now drifting around this turn at sub 25 mile per hour speeds (about 40 kilometers and hour for you foreigners). I kept on the brakes because the front wheels were making contact with the road and were slowing down the front of the car. All I could think was “OH F*CK!” as the rear passenger tire bounced up the curb and into the dirt as the rear bumper smashed into the guard rail. The car bounced back into the street with fairly minor damage to the bumper. I was lucky the front tires slowed us down so much other wise we might have gone through the guard rail. Either way, after assessing the collisions effect on the vehicle I deemed it road worthy and continued on my way, determined to get out of the storm and my now girlfriend to safety. I closed out any stimuli that wasn’t related to the drive there, disregarding my girlfriend for what seemed like an eternity before realizing she was shook up. We finally arrived at her grandparents house where i printed directions to my uncle’s house and was back on the streets again. This time however the rain seemed to have subsided but the wind picked up. The drive was surreal. The interstate was nearly empty as well as the state and county roads as well as I traveled from New Jersey to Connecticut. After two and a half hours I had arrived safely and was greeted by welcoming family members. We enjoyed the storm until power went out at approximately 8:30pm and then it was into darkness, for maybe 3 minutes. My aunt and uncle were well prepared and had battery powered lanterns ready to go. I must say we were spoiled he had gas heat in the house as well as a wood burning stove and also had hot water to shower with. Just no lights. All in all I am quite fortunate for the luxuries I had during the storm.
I’ll hopefully try to another post out this week more about my experiences during the storm and of anything else that may have happened since I last posted.
I hope everyone fared the hurricane well.
-Mitch
The Unyielding Tide 