I'm in O.C.C. with Andreu right now. He's in between classes doing math homework, so I figure I have more of a chance to write about Washington while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind. It's already been over a month so I have to get it all on paper as soon as I can.

On the ride to Spokane I just listened to music in the back seat and watched the scenery. It was enjoyable.

We arrived in a little under two hours. The plan was that my uncle would meet us in front of the mall downtown.

Now just to refresh your memory, my uncle and I hadn't met since I was 12. When I was 12 I was about five foot four inches tall, I wore clothes from L.L. Bean that my grandmother picked out for me, and I had braces, glasses, long ratty hair, and zits... the works of a stereotypical junior high dork.

Now, there I was with neon orange hair, high heel boots, and a guitar case that was plastered with stickers, some of which were quite obscene.

Poor man. He didn't see it comin.

He finally pulled up in a white truck. He was much shorter than I'd imagined. He had trouble walking a little bit. His legs seemed stiff. I didn't need to be told that he was older than my grandfather. Though he was much more physically apt, his face had crisp defined wrinkles that showed he had smiled a lot. I later learned that most often he smiled when he was uncomfortable or nervous. Not to say he didn't the rest of the time, but I guess it probably wasn't a good time to judge. I mean it was his first time seeing this poor creature he once called a niece since she was an innocent and normal 12 year old dork. Alright... maybe I'm exaggerating a bit. He actually took a liking to me pretty quick considering the shock he must have gone through.

At first it was just lots of nervous small talk. Then finally he couldn't hold back any longer and autopilot kicked in. This man is a walking history book. He began telling me the stories about everything we passed. He drove us to a nice side of town showing me all of the nice houses and scenery. Eventually we made it down to this organic food place. Kind of like our version of Green Star.

We went in there and I ordered some hummus along with a wrap. We shared our views on religion, life, and maybe a little bit of politics. I shyed away from the politics as quickly as possible. I don't like talking politics, especially with family. At first I tried to do the same thing with the topic of religion, but when I mentioned I was agnostic he didn't seem offended at all. So I cautiously proceeded with the topic, and soon learned that he goes to the Unitarian Church. This is one of the only churches I know of that supports gay marriage. That really made me feel more at home. He was open minded. Later on I learned that he was kind of on the fence... he also attended anoooother church that was much less open minded. He confused me. Then again what member of my family didn't? I took it with a grain of salt and moved on.

He was quite disapproving about me smoking. At this point I still smoked like a chimney. Luckily he kind of got over it. Mostly.

Okay I know this one was short, but I'll write more soon. Haha, I say this like there's lots of readers out there or something.

Well if there are any, I'll be back. Ciao.

P.S. It's my 9th day without a cigarette!

I just woke up and have a headache still from last night... I hate my brain.
So here's part two...

I joyously had several conversations about how bars in airports were a complete contradiction while I triumphantly puffed on a cigarette indoors. Unfortunately I didn't realize the time that had passed, and also couldn't hear through the smokey haze that they'd paged my name several times. When I got to the gate and the guy was red-faced. He gave me a short lecture and said he'd paged me a million times, then told me to run as fast as I could to catch my flight. This... was one of those moments that you wish you could freeze a frame of and stow in your pocket to hopefully look at later and laugh about (this is if you lived through it). Unfortunately those moments often look completely absurd. I must have been quite the sight to anyone who witnessed it. Me in heels trying to sprint down a long corridor with a crappy wheelie suitcase from walmart after chain-smoking 4 cigarettes. My initial plan when buying the suitcase was to keep the price tag and make sure it looked un-used when I brought it back to get my money back. After this... not a chance.
Miraculously I made my flight. How? Probably an act of god or something, but unfortunately I don't believe in that stuff.
Panting like you wouldn't believe, I took my seat in the back.
You know those (other) moments in life when you look back and wish you knew what you know now? That is one of those moments where I wish I knew what was happening only a hop skip and a jump from where I was. But maybe that's just how it was supposed to be. I may not believe in a lot... but I believe that sometimes... just sometimes there is a slight order to things. But I'll tell you about that later...

After watching lit up cities below me for a few hours, I landed in Pasco Airport. Tiniest airport ever.
Now before I go on.. I guess I should tell you why exactly I took this trip. Around three years ago I was on one of my ventures in Virginia Beach. I was with my friend Ashley, who was unmistakably very good looking. We were complete opposites when it came to everything... especially that department.
So we were just standing there quite hopeful in meeting some people that were worth the time when this guy wandered up to us from his group of 3, and said something completely dumb and irrelevant to start a conversation. We found this kind of amusing so soon enough we joined him and his two friends to mingle and wander for the day. His name... I can't remember. Not because he wasn't a good guy or anything, just because I didn't keep in touch. The other two were Brad and Brian, both of which took somewhat of a liking to Ashley. More so Brian. (You dog you ;))
We all wandered up and down the strip, and eventually to Barnes and Nobles for something to drink. At this point it had been pouring for a while, so we decided to part ways and go dry up. Brian and Brad had just been visiting their friend anyway and were ready to continue their journeys down to Florida. Somehow I kept in touch with them for 3 years. Then... one day I hated Cortland. Actually, that was every day. But on this particular day I was talking with Brian, who suggested a trip was in order. And that it was.
So here I was arriving in Pasco having only pictures to figure out exactly what Brian looked like at this point. Surely enough I recognized him... but barely. He had lost a lot of weight, and had a much more toned figure. And of course it wasn't exactly hard for him to pick me out... hmmmm... lets see... which chick with the bright orange hair could it be?
We picked up my luggage and chatted about this and that... but somewhere I failed to have heard that his ex girlfriend was in town. I only hear these things when it is currently going to affect my life. The rest of the time... in one ear and out the other.
Before I continue with this... there is something you should know. Girls... intimidate me. Girls with boyfriends that I'm friends with... terrify me. Girls who didn't realize I'm arriving that night to stay under the same room roof as their boyfriend and them... PETRIFY ME.
This all worked out fine of course... in fact we ended up getting along just fine the next day. But man was the first night awkward.
Brian owned a beautiful little home... but the neighborhood was one of those little mazes of houses and streets that all look the same. I hate those... I always... and I really mean always get completely lost.
He had two dogs. Champagne and Deike. Champagne was a lab retriever? Or... not... I don't remember. And Deike was some sort of Boxer mix... maybe a little bit of German Shepherd or something. He was much younger though... still just a pup. Adorable.
Brian and I began writing a song shortly after I got there, which we later on decided to name "The Driver and the Storm".
I found it hard to sleep that night. I felt so out of place.

The next day both Brian and Chelsea had to work, so I had the day to myself.
Now... none of you have probably ever been to Kennewick Washington. This place... is Jersey condensed into one city. A mall, Communities, and fast food joints. I hated everything on my first day. I cursed the ground I walked on.
So first, I woke up. After having my second, but this time very friendly encounter with Chelsea, I watched Music & Lyrics (I love Hughe Grant despite the fact that he chose a hooker over Elizabeth Hurley WHO IS one of the hottest women to ever live) and I began to get ready to start my day.
Though things were better... I missed my hometown more than ever. It was my first time flying somewhere by myself... not only that but all the way across the country. So after moping and calling people a lot, I decided to walk to the McDonalds that Brian had given me directions to. It didn't sound that far.
I found my way out of the maze onto a main road. It was windy and cold. I hated everything. Now... don't take this the wrong way. Some days, regardless of my surroundings or the people I'm with, I just hate everything. Some days I love, somedays I mope, somedays I'm angry at the world... you get the idea.
So I recalled Brian informing me that I was in the middle of the desert. I thought, "Yeah sure... sure... in the middle of washington... in a desert. Hah!"
After walking what seemed to be an infinite number of blocks, I reached the street I was supposed to turn onto to get to McDonalds. At this point, I was questioning why I had even decided to go to McDonalds to begin with. I hate McDonalds, and by far... I didn't need it on the waistline.
So I turn the corner to see myself facing a slightly downwards slope in which somewhere far in the distance I could see the golden arches, and to my surprise on my left, there was a empty plain of nothingness and some mountains. I sat on a small brick wall to take a break from walking, and as I looked across this empty space I still wasn't quite convinced it was a desert though... no way... a desert in the middle of Washing- THWAP! I got hit square in the face with a tumbleweed. That was the final spoonful of fuel for my self pity. I took a deep breath, and held it as long as I could and then continued to trudge on mumbling and cursing things. I'd made it this far... I was going to have my fucking McDonalds.
Finally... I got there. I'd left somewhat late in the day, so at this point the sun was setting. I got some beautiful pictures of it.
While I waited for my order in my destination I thought, "Okay.... so maybe it wasn't so bad after all. I mean... it was a nice sunset....and" and then my order came. They messed it up. But no! No... I wasn't going to take it out on some poor soul who had to work there... but instead make my self pity overflow and call my boyfriend while I cried over what should have been a yummy chicken honey mustard wrap...(for the record, there were no tears involved.)
Then half way on my walk in the windy darkness back to Brian's, he texted me to inform me that they were making burgers. Burgers. I could have enjoyed a nice juicy burger. But what did I do? Walked a long treacherous walk (which for the record really wasn't all that long or treacherous, but I figured I'd be dramatic) to get my order messed up by someone who I couldn't even yell at because I knew the pains of their JOB! Okay. Let me catch my breath here... it gets better.
On top of all this frustration, I somehow managed to make it back to the community but to a DIFFERENT entrance than I'd come in through. So remember how I said the houses look alike? Well... inevitably THAT was in the day time. Now? It was dark and they didn't just look alike... they were IDENTICAL! (Once again this is a dramatization)
So I wandered for thirty minutes or so while bothering Brian at least three times for directions, and eventually stumbled into the house that was in fact right there all along...
After that it was a lovely relaxing evening. we got to go watch Brian at hockey practice while we bonded. Luckily the one thing we had in common is that we both generally didn't get along with other females. I guess we were each an exception in this case.
That night I went to bed without fear of being slaughtered in my sleep. It was nice.
In fact... I actually felt okay. I wasn't homesick anymore... I felt welcome. It's a nice feeling.

The next day was much more stress free. Brian dropped me off at the mall, where I bought bright orange hair dye at hot topic, played in a photobooth (by myself. Yes I am pathetic.) and spent a ridiculous amount of money there trying to kill time before my movie. I went to see P.S. I love you, which is about this woman who is never happy with her husband because she always expects more and more... and this is always so blinding because she really does love him, and he loves her regardless of what they do or don't have. Then (of course) he dies. But on her thirtieth birthday which is only months afterwards, she gets a cake and a tape recorder that's from him. The tape recorder he left informed her that she would be getting letters from him in different ways over a period of time. I hate to admit this, but I've never cried so much during a movie. I think mostly because I'm always the bitch that gets mad about too many things. So of course after that, I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought lots of art books for Andreu and I. Then I met up with Chelsea and we went to Brian's hockey game. It was my first. I enjoyed it. Then I went to a concession stand and stole some plastic gloves to color my hair that night. Brian's team won of course, and then we went on home ahead of Brian to start soaking my hair in orange hair color that seemingly smelled a lot like candy... I resisted to urge to eat my hair. The result was awesome. I was a tangerine!
After that we all went to bed early because we were driving to Spokane the next morning. Brian was going to a hockey game, and I was going to visit my grandpa's brother, my Uncle Tom, whom I hadn't seen since I was 12. I spoke to him on the phone a few times. You know those people that insist you stay on the line, but without saying it? Well he is indefinitely one of those people. Though we only spoke twice, I knew alll about his two adopted children, and their families, along with his two other sons and their families too. I knew he was lonely though. His wife passed away about 10 years ago, so I just let him talk my face off. His voice was surprisingly close to that of Bob Ross... I really had no idea what to expect. I'm sure he didn't expect a neon colored neice. So we were even.

But that's all for now! Time for photo class.
Miraculously my headache is fading... hopefully it's not just the tylenol and it's gone for good. I hate headaches...