my return

just got back from mellissa's party. here's the itinerary

9:30 - get out of les mis, change, head to shelton party
10:50 - arrive at mellissa's house, hang
11:45 - leave for home
12:39 - get home

that sums up to about two hours of driving, one hour of hanging. common sense says there's something wrong with that. i took 302 east, and intercepted 3 south to e mason lake rd. the scenery was beautiful. 302 runs along the lake for a while and it's one of those things where if i wasn't going anywhere, i would've gotten out and dwelled in it. 302 is a long and winding road that's easier to go west on than east. where 302 intercepts 3, it's like a hairpin turn south. 3 reminded me alot of KPN. the trees were tall and majestic. in retrospect no more majestic than any GH trees, but they reminded me of a mountain pass of sorts. the trees were all the same thickness, and sheltered the road while towering 200 ft in the air. SR 3 mentions everyroad that they have on the side. there's a town in the middle, called allen or something. they had a center called allen center that was almost exactly like key center. probably just over the water. after turning off on the road, i couldn't find the house. i ended up going past it, finding a mailbox, looking at it, turning around, going for another couple miles, getting out, getting my flashlight and checking a mailbox. i eventually made it, made my appearance for an hour, then left. pip called me a waste, but pip can "go eat a dick." i went back the way i came, the trees towered, the road wound, and i saw a giant red spot on the ground, hopefully not a mason county gang shooting. but the spot was huge, probably 4x2 ft. 302 is harder going east, because the corners are downhill. someone like pip, could very easily mess himself up. after passing the water front again, i was behind this poor guy with a horse trailer (that had a horse in it) who seemed to be sleepy, or drunk. he ran off the road a few times, and a few times i felt like asking him if he was okay. after we merged onto where 302 turns into KPN he pulled over to let me by. the whole trip was great, i loved being at the party (though anyone there would say i looked rather dull), and the driving was a great time for truck bonding. pip finally met mellissa, i made my complimentary appearance to check in on pip, hopefully that old guy isn't dead, hopefully neither is pip.

and now i'm home

the week in report

monday was the first day of les miserables rehersal, well, rehersal for the orchestra. chris aakre orginized this, called alex, called me, called other people to get an orchestra together. the director is a nice guy, can't be more than 22 years old, football, and golf player. although he's not a very experienced conductor, he's better than anyone else we could get, being a les mis. veteran must help. his style is a little eccentric, and vague, you just have to watch for the downbeat.

the first day there was just me and natalie, and the piano, one trombone, one flute, one piano. my lips were like a virgin's and swelled up quick and i couldn't make much of a sound at all. dick and i left and called vanessa about bowling. we took our time to go bowling, and vanessa and shannan were waiting there for a while when dick and i finally arrived. we bowled, we left. reset.

the second day it there were more people. i was glad i wasn't the worst there, because alex was. i was wearing my manchester united scarf, alex punched me. that day it rained. i went outside and felt the rain hit my face, then i took a walk in the rain and picked some black berries. it had stopped raining by the time that alex and i threw his boomerang around, got it lost in a thicket, and then beat it out using the bokken to make a 20ft. path. then we got it lost in a tree. we rehersed, alex left, dick and i went bowling again after eating at kinza teryaki.

the third day, mellissa came. i met her at the park, we took a walk to the finholms, walked towards the harbor, then turned around and headed back to the park, i took her on a tour of gig harbor, and we went by pip's house and checked it out. then we went ot my house, and to rehersal. alot of people showed up, and it was strange. dian was there, i don't know how she got mixed up in it. so a whole bunch of us, including mellissa were just hanging out by the truck, dian was used to it from before and was leaning over the hood, while the rest of us just stood with our backs on it. alex and i found an ingenius method to retrieve the boomerang, which was about 20 ft. on the otherside of a fence and through stickerbushes and trees. we took a long slat, and put duct tape on the other end. that managed to get the boomerang a couple feet, but then we came up with the master idea. we found a stick that would function as a hook. we duct taped the stick to the slat and pulled the boomerang through the brush. pure genius. we jumped around victorious. michael, this really really cool guy showed up this time, he doubled up with me on trombone, and is also a percussionist, and a pianist, and a really cool guy. he reads and counts music better than i do, but i'm better than him at the trombone, which works both ways. with him, i'm never lost, but i can tongue faster and make a better sound than him. however, with sheet music, he can read and play anything he sees, and can play by ear as well, where at times i just bumble along. at any rate, he's an awesome guy, reminds me a bit of alan, but with hella cool style and some nice hair. exactly where i want to be in a couple of years. then we went bowling, and mellissa left.

thursday was the same as the other days, and then i went to dick's. i got there before he did, and mellissa called and asked if i want to go to the gym with her, i couldn't cause i was going bowling, and i did.

friday dian quit the orchestra. i didn't know it at first, but then chris told me. earlier in the day i went golfing with manoah and ryan. we all shot around eachother, and i could finally hit my woods without driving them into the ground. manoah and ryan were reminicing about the summer and manoah kept saying "laskowkski, we need to get you in on this stuff" really flattering and it's a great sentiment. he also asked why i wasn't in the leadership stuff. at any rate, they're great guys. but what really pleased me about the day was that when i was sitting outside the theater waiting for people to show up, and michael showed up, which i hadn't expected (as a matter of fact, he was going to go golfing instead of come to rehersal). but then dian came and sat down next to me. it wasn't anything special, but between us it was something else. she really took control of the conversation, which is important because i used to always do that, and we always talked about how people have to keep talking, or else it'll get uncomfortable. but i didn't care, i answered her questions, made witty remarks, when i didn't have anything to say, i didn't. she left, i came away feeling really good about it, but i don't know if anyone else will know what i mean.

just chasin' my tail

so this morning i foudn that i had no better thing to do than go in seach of the book pip reccommended, brief interviews with hideous men. so i set off for borders. i got there, ran the title through the computer. they said it was there, in section 1d>literature>literature/fiction. i made my way to the f's cause his name is david forester. it wasn't there, not even his larger book infinate jest was there. so i headed down the road to the mall, and looked for it in walden books. nope, no david forester there. i started heading back towards gig harbor, and i saw a building for half priced books. i went a mile one way, turned around, headed back, went in, no david foster there either. i decided i'd go back to borders just to check again for good measure. i checked the title sluth again, and i read his name wrong, david foster. checked again, no foster. checked again. the man's name is david foster walliace. big difference. got the book, went back to gig harbor, stopped by albertsons. i walked in the front door, and crystal clements was right there. i picked up a sandwich and we talked and shopped for her. she's getting her wisdom teeth out tuesday, so she was getting soft foods. yogurts, apple sauce.. soups. i never ate soups when i had my wisdom teeth out. she straightens her hair, which is very attractive.

there was a beggar outside of borders the first time i left, i passed him and i thought that when i get older, and at least look like i could help him, i'd invite him home and clean him up, line him up with a job, something benevolent. it may not be the answer, but it's better than giving him a $5 bill. money won't clean him up, or give him a job, just another meal. i drove by the front of the store and the guy was pulling a wendy's bag out of the garbage can smiling. it made me sick.

a man for all seasons

largely social situations make me anti-social. even if they're people that i'm comfortable around, no, scratch that... especially if they're people i'm comfortable around. today, tim jones called me up about something chelsea had arranged, sort of, yesterday. i got the heads up and then waited for his call again. we met at the school around 5:30. tim jones got a new car, 3.2k, and it was a very nice car too. keegan and vanessa show up sometime, and eventually keegan ends up being chased by vanessa, vanessa bails and slides a few feet on the ground. i guess she was hurt cause then people were all around her and i was running and flailing my arms, with my first aid kit yelling "hold on!!! i'm coming!!" she was fine other than the scrapes and dirty clothes.

we decided to take different cars, mainly cause tim's was new... to him, and i love my truck too much to risk leaving it in the school parking lot, alone. we then started the "race". tim jones voiced doubts on whether i'd be able to keep up with the teal eclipse, and the a6, keegan vouched for me being able to keep up. well, medium story short, i drove the truck within 5 miles and hour of it's supposed limit deemed by the speedometer. i was going 80mph and she was purring like a kitten, a sexy 5.0L v8 kitten. i'm not a big truck guy, but it's hard not to fall in love.

we saw johnny english, the best part of that movie was the opening song a man for all seasons by robbie williams. the movie itself was all right, the humor was mostly predictable. right after the credits, i lowered my black new york hat, put my hands in my pockets, and spike walked outta there.

i drove home, in the dark, not playing my andrew w.k., but listening to king fm. the fact that i had spent 4 hours with friends, made me want to spend less time with them. same is the case with every large social outing. me and someone else, or a group of 3 (including myself) i'm totally all right with, any more and it seems a bit uncomfortable. i think life for me was meant to be solitary, maybe not forever, maybe i'll get married someday, no time soon, dieter's are meant to be alone.

but if i'm learning this now, there's a great chance it could be wrong, and an even greater chance that there's more to learn. much more

the peninsula high school band urban legend

this is a story that has been told through word of mouth for years and years now, and i was lucky enough to be part of it, and now here's the first version of it ever in any sort of print.

Deet R003: i have horrible stories about throwing things out of hotel windows
Deet R003: you have no idea
Mellissa321: lol sure I do
Mellissa321: my friends and I had a water balloon fight in a very very expensive hotel down in san francisco
Mellissa321: mucho fun
Mellissa321: I ran into my hotel room to get away from my friend and he chased after me to throw a balloon at me so I went onto the balcony
Mellissa321: he followed and threw the balloon at me, I ducked
Mellissa321: the balloon flew over the edge and landed near some older people who were leaving
Mellissa321: lol
Deet R003: okay
Deet R003: YOU HAVE NO IDEA
Deet R003: i deem it story time
Mellissa321: lol okies
Mellissa321: tell me a story
Deet R003: okay, freshman year, three years ago, the band went on a trip to hawaii
Deet R003: i'm in the band
Deet R003: so we're in hawaii, the sheraton waikiki
Deet R003: this thing is a 40 story hotel
Deet R003: the lobby right outside our window is covered by a couple feet of concrete
Deet R003: we have the balcony things they called lanais
Deet R003: so we're in hawaii for 4 or 5 days
Deet R003: the second day, we start buying things at the abc store (kinda like a dollar store) like those little styofoam airplanes and bouncy balls
Deet R003: cause we want to see if we can fly things to the other hotels
Deet R003: i'm in this one room, with brad fulfer (my texas guy) ashton nolan, and matt mooney
Deet R003: the sophomores at this time are in a room accross the hotel
Deet R003: people like nick richards, alan stokke, nate radmacher, matt wenmen, and tim roe
Deet R003: (i know you ahve no idea who these people are, but they're important for future reference)
Mellissa321: I see
Deet R003: okay, so, the third night, the sophomores start throwing other things off the lanai
Deet R003: like, ice bags full of water
Deet R003: now after falling 400 ft, these bags made an explosion like sound
Mellissa321: nice lol
Deet R003: so we all have a good laugh, cause just sitting on the lanai watching them hurl these things off
Deet R003: the next night probably the last night, these guys decide to have a grand finalle, last night in hawaii
Deet R003: so they're filling these ice bags up, and filling the bathtub with them
Deet R003: matt mooney goes a little psychotic in our room and starts filling up every bag he can find and throwing them off
Deet R003: he starts with ice bags, then shopping, etc.
Deet R003: now... this night, the democratic national convention is holding a meeting in the lobby
Mellissa321: lol
Deet R003: and they're hearing these explosion like sounds above them
Deet R003: nick richards is running around with these ice bags full of water
Deet R003: now these next parts are tricky, cause they're happening at the same time
Deet R003: in the sophomore's room, they have this huge cache of these bags, and they start throwing them off like, 3-4 at a time
Deet R003: making these sounds in rapid sucession
Deet R003: nick richards making this running start with five in his arms and throws them off
Deet R003: and we're all thinking "very cool"
Deet R003: well, the next time nick runs in with bags full of water, he yells "dude! the security guards are coming!!"
Deet R003: so everyone just starts panicking
Mellissa321: lol
Deet R003: they have these piles of bags on the lanai, so nate radmacher pushes the cot they got over them, consequencially bursting them
Deet R003: tim roe rocks himself in the bathroom full of waterbags and turns the light off
Deet R003: everyone just hides everything they've got, so then the security guards come in
Deet R003: and they're all looking around for these explosives and such
Deet R003: matt wenman is just freaking out
Deet R003: nate is still on the lanai on the cot
Deet R003: one of the guard goes out and he asks him why water is leaking off of the lanai, seriously, pooling off
Deet R003: "uhhh, i have no idea..."
Deet R003: it's about this time that ashton nolan and matt mooney start yelling from our lanai cause they see someone on their's
Deet R003: and shining laser pointers at them
Deet R003: mooney had just filled up a freaking garment bag with water
Deet R003: and what brad and i heard (we were laying down watching the today show) was
Deet R003: "hey ashton!! give me a hand with this one!!"
Mellissa321: lol
Deet R003: so we all rush out to the lanai, i call alan in his room with the guard still in there and say "man this one's going to be huge!!"
Deet R003: alan's just like "no! no more guys!! stop!"
Deet R003: matt runs out to the lanai, see's a figure on the other balcony, has no idea it's a guard
Deet R003: just yells "whazzzup!!!!" and hucks this garment bag off the lanai
Deet R003: it falls 24 stories and hits the roof of the lobby
Deet R003: all the windows of the hotel start just rattle and lights start going on everywhere
Deet R003: we're all laughing our asses off cause that was the biggest one ever
Deet R003: according to alan, the guards are looking for a flash of an explosion right about then
Deet R003: we all setlle down and then alan runs over and comes to our room, i open the door
Deet R003: "dude, guys, the security guards were IN our room!!"
Deet R003: everyone is suddenly petrified
Deet R003: now the room had two twin beds, so we all just get into them, so we look like we haven't done anything
Deet R003: alan is sitting inbetween them and he's all saying "dude, that was stupid" and we're all waiting for the guards to come, eventually we think that they won't
Deet R003: and then there's a knock on the door
Deet R003: no one moves
Deet R003: alan grabs my arm and send me towards the door
Deet R003: i look through the peep hole and there's this skinny little guy and these two huge samoan guys behind him
Deet R003: i open the door and i'm like "yes?"
Deet R003: the skinny guy starts talking "is there an... ashton.. dolan in this room?"
Deet R003: "uh uh uh uh yeah... a a ashton?"
Deet R003: the guard make their way into the room, they see alan and they're like "is there supposed to be five people in this room?"
Deet R003: alan turns on self defense mode and says "no, i was just telling them to stop throwing stuff off the balcony"
Deet R003: our room is a total mess and one of the guard is like "you guys really know how to keep a room"
Deet R003: the other one is telling us to clean it up a whole bunch
Mellissa321: lol
Deet R003: the next morning we go down to the band directors room, and i said "we should show up early... make a good impression"
Deet R003: so we go down to his suite
Deet R003: and the sophomore's are in there
Deet R003: and alan and nate have their back turned to us
Deet R003: and i just hear alan say "i think the worst thing was the laser pointers, cause the water bags weren't all that dangerous"
Deet R003: now our room had been the only ones with laser pointers so i'm just thinking "oh alan, i never thought you were a backstabber"
Deet R003: thats basically the story
Deet R003: their room got off scot-free, our room got like, the day in detention

the pip-deet divide and conquer plan

Deet R003: dude, what am i going to do with no adventures for like, 10 days?
themadpeno: we'll see how it goes dogg
Deet R003: dude, i'll eventually have to go into olympia
Deet R003: and then after i run away from mellissa, i'll got write a bill in the legislature
Deet R003: and beat someone nearly to death with my cane
Deet R003: AND THAT'S JUST THE FIRST DAY
themadpeno: then make sure to secede from the union
themadpeno: and then pass a law that says "mike mccourt must assrape george bush"
Deet R003: man, this is going to be the best pip on trip-from-hell ever
Deet R003: "and on pay-per-view, the passing of proposition 642, known as the 'president banging'"
themadpeno: i will be with you in spiritl
themadpeno: obi-wan kenobi style
Deet R003: oh no!!! i'll never get this bill written!!
use the pen deet my paduan!!
themadpeno: wow this IS a cool trip really
Deet R003: eh?
themadpeno: except for that whole dead family thing
Deet R003: ...yeah?
themadpeno: the washington end of it seems to be holding up pretty well. :)
Deet R003: gah
Deet R003: well
Deet R003: you'll have to...
Deet R003: okay, solve california's power debt
Deet R003: but inventing cold fusion
themadpeno: i can do that
Deet R003: using 3 potatos and a plastic spatula
Deet R003: now, those are only the provided materials
Deet R003: use whatever else becomes avalible
themadpeno: i'll just dig up jesus
themadpeno: he fixes all things
Deet R003: "hey jesus, i need to invent cold fusion"
"wouldn't world peace be a better idea?"
"hey, if i wanted world peace, i'd irradiate jimmy carter, now get snapping hippie"

worst adventure ever

the plan was frisbee today, at the soccer field. however i woke up with a gusty plan. i hated the issues the new wireless router gave me, such as loss of connection and slow connection. we got the router because my dad wanted the dsl on his laptop, and not the wires that i had to deal with when i had my laptop. oh, and we got it cause it was free via dad's company. my plan was to hook the new router, up into the old one, which had been true to us. this worked for the computers, but seemed not to work for the wireless router. you know, i tried everything i could think of, but i had no idea why it didn't work.. so eventually we decided to go back to the wireless router, because apparently, us and our dsl was at dad's convenience, not the other way around. well, the wireless modem was being picky, but we got it working after a bit.

frisbee was next, so i left to go. when i got up to the field there was no one there. alledgedly mike was supposed to be there from one or so, when he thought frisbee was supposed to happen. it was now two. hackett and yeaman were just behind me, and pip a few minutes after him. yeaman saw someone over at the other side of the field and motioned at him. he had no idea who it was, and i said "yeaman, you have no idea who it is, do you." he just laughed and said no. a bit later the person walked towards us, who was tyler fischer. we started throwing a few frisbees around with the five of us, and we were counting on people like nick velarde, nick goetling and nathan something. as it turned out, it was just us five guys throwing frisbees. eventually we got bored and yeaman saw fischer's moped. or goped. or whatever. yeaman spent about 5 minutes trying to start the thing, eventually fishcer showed him. yeaman putted around at 5 miles an hour putting audial stress on the scooter. we decided this was a good time to throw frisbees at him. we did that, missed really. yeaman continued to write, or draw a macintosh command symbol in the grass. after yeaman tried to grab a frisbee on a pass, and failed, fishcer took the reins. the bike went about 2.32 times faster. after we got tired of sitting around, i decided that we should go down to the purdy place. first place we went was the upper field which was sodded and growing since we went there in our young days. they had a sprinkler going, one of the big ones that's raised about 4 ft. off the ground. we had fun playing with that, actually, we all had fun with it. yeaman moved it a little. then we parused the playground equiptment. it was sooo nostalgic. they had put in a few things, taken out a few things. we explored the monkey bars with new heights, and pip took a strole down memory lane.

"you guys remember the lava monster? you know, the lava monster game? you had to balance on the beam, and if you fell off, you became a lava monster, and had to pull other kids off? it kinda worked cause the beauty bark was red."

eventually we headed to eat at kinza teryaki. we all decided to take pip's car after i said "i'll go with pip." then yeaman walked over while i was changing shoes, then hacket, then i just jumped in. there we were, going 70some miles per hour down the highway, with the top down, and hackett says to me, "my hair's beating me to death!" i have longer hair than hackett. so we get to kinza, and we order, pip gets a phone call halfway into his salad. when i heard his phone i mocked his mom saying "piiiiiip, where are you??" basically cause she calls often with that question. then i hear that it is his mom, and he turns to the table cause he knows it too. then pip gets this serious tone and buries his free hand in his hair. everyone turns their head to him. he gets off the phone and says,

"apparently one of my uncles died."

the waitress that was serving us just said "oh shi--" finishing the word under her breathe. pip left a few seconds later with hackett so he could come back to give me and yeaman a ride. yeaman and i ate our meals in silence, the waitress was genuinly concerned.

that adventure totally sucked.