This past weekend was my last one in Florida. I love my roommates, my supervisor and of course, the weather, but I think the company is laughably run, the pay is terrible, and it'll always be the place my heart was broken. I was more than ready to run from it like I eventually run from everywhere: without a second glance back.
My last week was extremely annoying. I had tech and then previews for the last show of the season. This show was terrible. It was torture having to watch it over and over. Berta and I started smuggling bottles of wine to drink in an attempt to ease our pain. The show opened on Friday and I spent that night drinking with Berta like I always do. When the party got crowded, I stole a few bottles of beer and snuck out. I sat by the water for a couple of hours, thinking about Nic and our first date. A drunk middle aged couple came by and I think my presence unnerved them because they had planned to hook up. They got in a little motor boat and after a lot of effort, got the engine going and drifted away to do their business. That's when I finally left.
Saturday morning I heard the girls up and decided to come out of my room to say hello. Kelsey saw me and exclaimed, "Why are you still here?? I thought you were planning to leave at the ass-crack of dawn on Sunday! I woke up this morning upset that I didn't say goodbye to you!". I told her I was planning to leave really early on Sunday but today was Saturday. She was silent for a long while as she tried to make sense of that. Finally, she realized it was in fact Saturday and yelled in disappointment that she had to work 2 performances that day. I made coffee. The three of us continue to converse. Then Kelsey mentions the company boat trip "tomorrow". Ashley tells her, once again, that today is Saturday. The boat trip is Monday. Silence. Kelsey remembers that this is true and the conversation continues. When she messed up the day for the third time I finally made her repeat after me.
Me: "Kelsey, I want you to say this out loud and really listen to what you're saying: Today, is SATURDAY".
Kelsey: "Today....is...Sat-ur-...day? It's Saturday. Today.......This is gonna be a rough day for me, ya'll".
Eventually she got her shit together and went to work. Ashley and I spent the day watching movies while I packed. I found Kelsey's atrociously inappropriate jean shorts (more like panties in my opinion) and hid them under my mattress. Ashley commented that she hadn't had a day off in 2 weeks and so needed a movie day. I reminded her that 5 days ago we did exactly the same thing. She argued that was the week before and the movies I was naming, she'd never seen. Eventually, after going through her schedule and the plots to each of the movies, she remembered I was correct. ....I swear to God, if these girls aren't the perfect ad for kids to lay off the drugs and alcohol, I don't know what is.
My drive to NY wasn't horrible. I really don't mind long drives. I have plenty of good music to listen to and I'm pretty flexible. There are about 5 different positions I can sit in and still drive comfortably. However, my air conditioning stopped working last week and Florida and Georgia are hot as hell already. Consequently, my 12 hours in the car on Sunday, were the most miserable I've been since my exorcism of a virus got me on an airplane this past Christmas. I texted my mom that I was so uncomfortable I wanted to cry but didn't think I could afford to lose the water. I finally was able to stop to get gas and buy a Gatorade somewhere in South Carolina. I walked into the "convenience store" to find a table with a bunch of old dudes sitting around playing cards. They of course stopped to look at me when I walked in. I tried my best not to look too much like an impatient, bitchy "yankee" but I don't think I succeeded because the woman at the register was polite but forcibly so. Oh well. I just wasn't expecting a store to have a card game going on in the middle of it. My bad.
I got to my friend's house in Raleigh, showered, ate, and entertained them with wine and stories from my 8 months in Florida. Day two of driving should have been less than 9 hours but I had to get through Washington DC and NY. As the roads narrow, the buildings get closer together and the air gets cooler, the construction lane blocks and car accidents increase, really putting a kink in my journey. But at least, it's what I'm used to. Managed to get home in only 11 hours. When I got to my parents' house and sat at the counter, I confessed to my dad that I felt like I was still moving. Probably a good thing I wasn't driving anymore.
I got a text from Berta Monday afternoon while I was driving through DC saying that Ashley almost drowned. I talked to Ashley this morning and confirmed it was true. She was drunker than she had thought (which is almost always true), and was swimming from one boat to another. She swallowed water and ran out of energy. They threw her a life vest but over shot and it landed nowhere near her. Eventually 2 guys had to jump in and get her. The rest of the party goers all posted on facebook that the first half of the day was super fun but the second half they were really sick.....Definitely not regretting my decision to bolt from Florida before this event.
Today, I spent the day with my brother, sister in law, nephew and 2 nieces, one of whom I hadn't met yet. Mak let me into the house and I immediately scooped her up, kissing her all over her face. When Blaise came home from school he ran up to me and gave me a big hug. He was careful not to knock Sierra, who had been asleep on my lap for a good hour. We watched Frozen, which Makenna sang along with........I have to interrupt myself here for a moment. I just called my mom because she kept calling my dad's cell and the house phone over and over. He was in the shower and I knew she wouldn't stop calling until he answered. All I did was call to tell her to stop and she, first, was annoyed that Dad showered before she could shower. Apparently he's supposed to wait because she doesn't like to wipe the walls down....Yes. You read that correctly. Second, she proceeded to talk for the next 20 minutes about work. When she got home from work last night, she walked in whimpering and whining about how exhausted she was. I was like, "Bitch, I spent 23 hours in the car, the first 12 in 90 degree heat. I don't want to hear your complaints". When the moaning and groaning continued, I texted my friend Crystal that I was ready to leave Long Island again.
Anyway, back to the kids, while waiting for dinner, I taught Makenna how to take a selfie. She proceeded to take several with me. The first one we both smiled. The second one, I was smiling and she had a rage face on. One of the funniest pictures I've seen. Lori (my sister in law) showed me pictures she took of Mak earlier in the day. Mak came walking into the room in only her underwear and Lori's high heeled shoes. She did model poses and said "I'm beautiful" over and over. Lori said she's a future Victoria Secret model. I replied that there is a fine line between Victoria Secret and Playboy and Makenna is balancing on it. Lori said we might as well prepare ourselves for that now so it won't be a shock later.
All in all, it's pretty much as I expected. Everyone I leave behind and everyone I return to, is out of their damn minds. I was the mother figure to my redneck roommates, then I come back to Long Island and am immediately a teenager. I really feel a lot of the time that I'm still 22. My life has not progressed at all since then. But being around actual 22 year olds for the last 8 months showed me I have definitely progressed at least mentally. Now if only the rest of my life would catch up.
My last week was extremely annoying. I had tech and then previews for the last show of the season. This show was terrible. It was torture having to watch it over and over. Berta and I started smuggling bottles of wine to drink in an attempt to ease our pain. The show opened on Friday and I spent that night drinking with Berta like I always do. When the party got crowded, I stole a few bottles of beer and snuck out. I sat by the water for a couple of hours, thinking about Nic and our first date. A drunk middle aged couple came by and I think my presence unnerved them because they had planned to hook up. They got in a little motor boat and after a lot of effort, got the engine going and drifted away to do their business. That's when I finally left.
Saturday morning I heard the girls up and decided to come out of my room to say hello. Kelsey saw me and exclaimed, "Why are you still here?? I thought you were planning to leave at the ass-crack of dawn on Sunday! I woke up this morning upset that I didn't say goodbye to you!". I told her I was planning to leave really early on Sunday but today was Saturday. She was silent for a long while as she tried to make sense of that. Finally, she realized it was in fact Saturday and yelled in disappointment that she had to work 2 performances that day. I made coffee. The three of us continue to converse. Then Kelsey mentions the company boat trip "tomorrow". Ashley tells her, once again, that today is Saturday. The boat trip is Monday. Silence. Kelsey remembers that this is true and the conversation continues. When she messed up the day for the third time I finally made her repeat after me.
Me: "Kelsey, I want you to say this out loud and really listen to what you're saying: Today, is SATURDAY".
Kelsey: "Today....is...Sat-ur-...day? It's Saturday. Today.......This is gonna be a rough day for me, ya'll".
Eventually she got her shit together and went to work. Ashley and I spent the day watching movies while I packed. I found Kelsey's atrociously inappropriate jean shorts (more like panties in my opinion) and hid them under my mattress. Ashley commented that she hadn't had a day off in 2 weeks and so needed a movie day. I reminded her that 5 days ago we did exactly the same thing. She argued that was the week before and the movies I was naming, she'd never seen. Eventually, after going through her schedule and the plots to each of the movies, she remembered I was correct. ....I swear to God, if these girls aren't the perfect ad for kids to lay off the drugs and alcohol, I don't know what is.
My drive to NY wasn't horrible. I really don't mind long drives. I have plenty of good music to listen to and I'm pretty flexible. There are about 5 different positions I can sit in and still drive comfortably. However, my air conditioning stopped working last week and Florida and Georgia are hot as hell already. Consequently, my 12 hours in the car on Sunday, were the most miserable I've been since my exorcism of a virus got me on an airplane this past Christmas. I texted my mom that I was so uncomfortable I wanted to cry but didn't think I could afford to lose the water. I finally was able to stop to get gas and buy a Gatorade somewhere in South Carolina. I walked into the "convenience store" to find a table with a bunch of old dudes sitting around playing cards. They of course stopped to look at me when I walked in. I tried my best not to look too much like an impatient, bitchy "yankee" but I don't think I succeeded because the woman at the register was polite but forcibly so. Oh well. I just wasn't expecting a store to have a card game going on in the middle of it. My bad.
I got to my friend's house in Raleigh, showered, ate, and entertained them with wine and stories from my 8 months in Florida. Day two of driving should have been less than 9 hours but I had to get through Washington DC and NY. As the roads narrow, the buildings get closer together and the air gets cooler, the construction lane blocks and car accidents increase, really putting a kink in my journey. But at least, it's what I'm used to. Managed to get home in only 11 hours. When I got to my parents' house and sat at the counter, I confessed to my dad that I felt like I was still moving. Probably a good thing I wasn't driving anymore.
I got a text from Berta Monday afternoon while I was driving through DC saying that Ashley almost drowned. I talked to Ashley this morning and confirmed it was true. She was drunker than she had thought (which is almost always true), and was swimming from one boat to another. She swallowed water and ran out of energy. They threw her a life vest but over shot and it landed nowhere near her. Eventually 2 guys had to jump in and get her. The rest of the party goers all posted on facebook that the first half of the day was super fun but the second half they were really sick.....Definitely not regretting my decision to bolt from Florida before this event.
Today, I spent the day with my brother, sister in law, nephew and 2 nieces, one of whom I hadn't met yet. Mak let me into the house and I immediately scooped her up, kissing her all over her face. When Blaise came home from school he ran up to me and gave me a big hug. He was careful not to knock Sierra, who had been asleep on my lap for a good hour. We watched Frozen, which Makenna sang along with........I have to interrupt myself here for a moment. I just called my mom because she kept calling my dad's cell and the house phone over and over. He was in the shower and I knew she wouldn't stop calling until he answered. All I did was call to tell her to stop and she, first, was annoyed that Dad showered before she could shower. Apparently he's supposed to wait because she doesn't like to wipe the walls down....Yes. You read that correctly. Second, she proceeded to talk for the next 20 minutes about work. When she got home from work last night, she walked in whimpering and whining about how exhausted she was. I was like, "Bitch, I spent 23 hours in the car, the first 12 in 90 degree heat. I don't want to hear your complaints". When the moaning and groaning continued, I texted my friend Crystal that I was ready to leave Long Island again.
Anyway, back to the kids, while waiting for dinner, I taught Makenna how to take a selfie. She proceeded to take several with me. The first one we both smiled. The second one, I was smiling and she had a rage face on. One of the funniest pictures I've seen. Lori (my sister in law) showed me pictures she took of Mak earlier in the day. Mak came walking into the room in only her underwear and Lori's high heeled shoes. She did model poses and said "I'm beautiful" over and over. Lori said she's a future Victoria Secret model. I replied that there is a fine line between Victoria Secret and Playboy and Makenna is balancing on it. Lori said we might as well prepare ourselves for that now so it won't be a shock later.
All in all, it's pretty much as I expected. Everyone I leave behind and everyone I return to, is out of their damn minds. I was the mother figure to my redneck roommates, then I come back to Long Island and am immediately a teenager. I really feel a lot of the time that I'm still 22. My life has not progressed at all since then. But being around actual 22 year olds for the last 8 months showed me I have definitely progressed at least mentally. Now if only the rest of my life would catch up.