Friday, September 30, 2011
Day 26
Day 24/ 25
Woke up at around 9 o clock and had a dream that Will put me to work on the farm that day. He was saying that my pain was already gone so we might as well give you some chores to do. I remember being pretty pissed off because one I was leaving the day and two I was kinda of still sick. I woke up smiling to the reality that it was 9 and everyone was out of the house. I fooled around on the computer, called cath, and then went down to the kitchen to look for some breakfast. To my delight there were stacks of pancakes and scrambled eggs waiting for me. But are they for me? I went up to Kent who was classically watching TV and asked him, to which I got the response: obviously ( in the nicest possible tone ). I sat down and vigorously put down three pancakes and half of the scrambled eggs in the bowl. I don't know why but I have never been much of an egg person. After I stuffed my face, I went back up to my room, and the extent of my day was spent there. Besides watching the twilight zone for two hours, I was mainly on the computer, or reading Steiny. The Twilight Zone is a classic series. The first episode was about a man who brought back a girl he met in New York to his home town, which he had only been gone a week from. When he got to his home town, he didn't recognize some buildings, and it felt as if he had been gone for 20 years and not just a week. There was an insane twist that would be extremely complicated to explain, so i won't, but I was utterly engaged. There were multiple times where Will wold come walking towards the house, and I would tense up a little bit hoping he wouldn't ask me to go do the rounds, or help him with the pigs. I felt fine, but I still didn't want to have to work on my last day. So I packed up all my clothes after, and brought them down. Wow, I really don't know where that month went. Take it I had a handful of days visiting various people in maryland and New york, but still, how quickly time flies. It had been just yesterday that I watched my mom drive away from the farm, just yesterday I had learned what the "morning rounds" were, just yesterday I had felt uncomfortable at the dinner table when Dan made various sexual innuendos. So many amazing memories that I will have me with forever, with some classic help form this blog. I had an amazing time at Whitmore farm, and an experience I never could have imagined, but there comes a time where you must move on to the next experience. I frequently think back to the conversation Will and I had about making your own opinions and judgments about topics. How do you know what you feel unless you educate yourself, and make certain conclusions? Just because everyone else is doing something doesn't mean its right, which is a pretty cliche phrase you hear about staying above the influence, but it goes to much greater lengths than just marijuana. People should be independent, and find themselves; be themselves; love themselves. Me doing my whole gap year was a big part of that. I questioned and acted on the classic route of going to college. Who needs it right. Living with a gay couple was pretty abnormal as well, along with capturing various animals for slaughter. It all falls under the category of questioning everything, to find out more about what you love, and who you are. Enough of an essay topic, back to the story. I loaded the car with my bag, and bike ( which I never used because it was such a pathetic excuse for a bike and two that the roads in Emmitsburg don't exactly favor bikers i.e. no bike lanes. I slowly walked up to Dan, and said my goodbyes. It's been a good time bud, Yea enjoy your travels in Maryland. You know I will, have an amazing time working at the National Zoo. Course. I'll find you on Facebook ( classic ). Yea man, take care. It was nice getting to know Dan. I can truly say I have never met anyone like him. A great individual. I said goodbye to Steve, and after a few pictures taken in front of the house we were on our way. After 5 minutes I fell asleep in the car. I am notorious...famous rather, for falling asleep in any car. I slept for 30 minutes, and was half asleep for five. During my half asleep state I overheard their conversation about Steve and Dan. Apparently Steve was under the influence on the job, and Will was extremely upset because Steve was a very faithful employee. And then Dan takes too long to complete the most minute tasks. But the worst: when Steve and Dan are working together they take twice the amount of time that Dan would take. I was pretending to be asleep because I thought it awkward to participate in the conversation about my fellow workers. Then Will said what do you think max am I being too harsh? Eyes closed, and deep breathing. Kent said he's asleep. Thank goodness. I fake woke up within the next ten minutes, not so smoothly, but who cares. We got to my Aunts house and they dropped off my bags and bike, and I thanked them for everything, and I was off on the next part of my yearlong escapade. I dropped my bags on the porch, and walked into my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Marty's house. It was great to see everyone, a little awkward at first, but fun nonetheless. The first thing I noticed was that no one cared THAT much about what I was doing. Sure they asked me, but no one asked as much as I cared for my plan. It's always funny going to a house that isn't yours. Take it, this is the closest thing, but you still feel awkward. Every little thing you mess up you think every one is always keeping track, and laughing. I was never satisfied with doing nothing, because I always would want something to do, to occupy the classicness. That always goes away, but the first couple hours are pretty eminent. The only real cure for the prescribed awkwardness, is to realize how stupid it is, and go with the flow. Chillllllll out. But it is funny. Dinner that night was nice, obviously not in the rank of gourmet-ness, but its always nice to be eating with family around a big table. After dinner Sandy surprised me with the news that I would be sleeping in the living room, in the middle of everything. Now, when I first thought about it, it didn't seem that bad because the couch was noticeably more comfortable than the one downstairs. And then I remembered that there were three babies in the house...classic. That next morning I woke up at 8, and never really went back to sleep. The baby toys were sounding like firefighter sirens, and the kids kept coming to the edge of my bed for some reason. Classic case of hating where my bed was. I was supposed to go temple for Rosh Hashanah but I really wasn't too fond of walking there. On the high holidays for the Jewish religion using technology is condoned. So driving is never an option. I barely squeaked by, but i managed to not go to temple. It was quite a feat, but I did have a pretty valid reason. I did have to catch up on my blogs, and study for the SAT. Only one of those tasks got done...classic. I blame my cousin Nina. We had a very in depth conversation about what school I would be going to , and what major I would be pursuing there. It was an interesting conversation that blew up into how much people make annually and whether or not people choose their jobs based on their passion for what their doing, or for mercenary purposes. That took up an hour, and then when I finished my blog, the temple goers were already back. The Austers, my cousins, have a lot of routines at their house. I guess with being Orthodox, it makes sense, but even then they have plenty. One of many: eating lox and bagels, walking to temple/ walking back, lay around and talk in the living room, eating leftovers for lunch around 3, napping until dinner, and then ping pong until bed, repeat, repeat...classic. Thats how the day went besides one strange encounter. The maid came to clean the dishes, and we met, and exchanged glances. It was as if in movie, where the glance was in slow-mo and I flashed back to the morning before I went to Whitmore farm when she came in the house to catch me in my underwear. Classic case of my arch nemesis. Otherwise the night was classic, enjoyable, and relaxing. I have an appointment in the morning for my stupid kidney, so on that note. Nighty.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Day 22/ 23
I woke up still kind of loopy. What happened was that in the middle of the night my back started to hurt again, so I took a Vicodin. I felt a boat load better in the morning though, nothing really hurt, and I was actually hungry. I went to the kitchen and made myself some toast with jelly, nothing too serious. I went and sat next to Kent who was plopped on the couch watching television. I ate my toast cautiously as to not drop any crumbs on the ground. I felt worse, and worse about my condition because I didn't want to inconvenience Will or Kent anymore than they needed to be, which was a joke because they had a lot more coming there way. I futzed around for a while, and didn't do much, and then it was about lunch time. I do remember though that this is when it started hurting me to go pee. This was the first time that it was painful to go to the bathroom since I was diagnosed yesterday morning. I wasn't sure if it was a big deal or not, so I asked Kent, and he told me that I was in the process of passing the stone. The bad news was, that the bathroom pain wouldn't stop until the stone was finally out. It was around 2 o clock when I played with the idea of taking another Vicodin. I wasn't sure if that would make my stomach upset or not, and I did have pain in my back and in my urethra. So I popped the pill. In a short while I was feeling great, no pain, but a little drowsy. I decided to take a nap. Laid down, opened a book, closed the book, and fell asleep. When I woke up it was around 430/ 5 o clock and I wasn't feeling all that great. I called home, checked in ( by this point I was calling home a good 5-9 times a day...classic ), and then immediately went to the bathroom to throw up. I guess my stomach is not a good host for Vicodin. As soon as I left the bathroom, Kent called up Hey Max dinners ready! Yea, I think I am going to pass on that Kent, thanks though. I hung out in my room for a little, until the shock subsided. I went down a little later that night, and watched X- Men First class with Will and Kent. i actually really enjoyed the movie because I love watching the buildup of a character. And this was basically a preface to the X- Men movie that came out awhile ago. I love seeing things in different perspectives. So, after my stomach went back to normal, I opted out of taking any more drugs that night. I went to bed with a capsule free stomach. I woke up the next day feeling great. Extremely hungry, and basically pain free. I still had a little ache, but nothing near Vicodin worthy. thank goodness. I hung out in my bed for awhile, heard Kent turn on the TV, watch for 30 minutes, then go out and check on the pigs. I felt weird not being able to work. Technically I was still sick, and of course I couldn't work but I felt bad because I looked fine. I acted normal. I was walking OK. I just felt like I wasn't contributing to the volunteering compromise. I wasted some time watching TV, and reading some more, and then it was about time to go to my Ultrasound. Of cousre Kent was taking me, which I felt bad about, but someone had to do it I guess. We made some stops before hand, and then he dropped me off at the ER to get a lab report that my dad wanted just for the analysis. I walked in and happen to ask a lady who barely spoke english at the information desk where I could get a lab report. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about, and sent me to the radiologist desk. The radiologist sent me to the main Hospital desk, who then sent me to the information desk. classic. I asked the same lady the same question and this time she led me to the medical records room, where I had to fill out a form to obtain my lab report. After I got my report I had about 30 minutes to kill before Kent was done with whatever he was doing. So i sat down in the waiting room, and played on my phone for awhile. I had to go to the bathroom, but I remember kent telling me that I need to have a full bladder during my ultrasound. After thinking about it for a few minutes I convinced myself to go pee then, and cart drinking copious amounts of water mountain water. Turns out later, that the nurse who gave me my ultrasound said she didn't see any fluid in my urethra...classic. But before that all happen, in the waiting room of the ultrasound office was a classic boisterous redneck about 70 years old. I sat next to him, and after staring at me a couple times debating whether or not to say anything he spat out So what you in here for, as if we were sharing a jail cell. I told him about my kidney stone and he looked off into space for awhile and said Yea I think I had stone bout 30 some years 'go. All my doctor tol me to do was drink beer. Beer beer beer. Logical aint it? Yea I guess it does make sense, not that you say it. silence. Logical aint it? Yes, yes it is. Haha. Max, they will have you in room 3 now. Alright. I went to the room took off my shirt, and she applied warm, very warm goo to my pelvis region and both my kidneys. The warm goo felt very awkward, but I would rather have that than cold goo I guess. I asked why it was warm, and she said because no one likes cold goo. go figure. I left the ultrasound, and Kent I and went to subway for lunch, where I thought I ate my footlong sandwich extremely fast, but I looked at Kents' and he was looking back at me waiting for me to finish...classic. I got another prescription pill to help me pee, and then I bought some cookies at the market and it was time to head back to the farm. I was suppose to be leaving wednesday morning, but it turned out I wouldn't be leaving until Wednesday night. yay, another day for me to do nothing, and feel bad. On the way home Kent told me that the squeak I had caused in the JD was actually a bent axle that cost 720 dollars to fix. Uh, I don't know what to say. Wow, that is a lot of money. I told my parents and my dad wasn't to fond of paying the money, only because it was there liability, which was true, but my mom thought we should at least pay half, which sounded reasonable as well. I dropped the idea on Will, who told me to drop the idea on Kent, who told me that they would talk it over. I felt bad enough for laying around the house all day, but that news really threw me off. I basically hung around for the rest of the day and switched from computer, to TV, to phone, to computer. So yea. Nighty.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Day 21
If you thought last night was hard to take, try this one on for size, I will try to make it as painless as possible. Right when I woke up I had a stomach ache so naturally I went to the bathroom...classic. For some reason it hurt to go pee, and I couldn't really go in the first place. So that was strange. Then I went outside to start feeding the animals, when my lower back started to really hurt. It kind of took me by surprise and built up because at first it was just a little pain. I called my dad and he thought I might have a kidney stone. The pain got stronger, and more sharp. I limped inside to my bed, and called Kent. Will and Kent were out at a dinner party the night before and slept at friends house nearby. It was about 8 when I called them and told them that I needed to go to the ER. Kent was a little hesitant at first as to why I thought I had a kidney stone, but after telling him my morning he quickly arranged for their neighbor to take me to the hospital. I got off the phone and took some Advil to ease the pain, but ended throwing it up all back into the toilet. Finally, the neighbor came to pick me up. Now I had met Rick before at a dinner party, and he seemed like a nice guy. Not the most intelligent, but nonetheless a nice guy. So I got in the car, and this was when my courtesy and patience was still prevalent, hey hows it goin' Rick. I hear ya got a kidney stone, eh? That was the start of a long and painful car ride. Rick started by telling me, I remember my first kidney stone, back when I was a teenager. Boy in those times, it was hard. I remember my Dad's first Kidney Stone too, we was at home and his back started hurting so my mom told me to drive them to the hospital, course I had just gotten my license day of, so I drove them to the hospital and my mom was telling me go through the red lights! and ma Daddy as saying no don't do it! Yes, that was how the 30 minute car ride went to the Emergency Room. I was gripping my seatbelt to distract myself from the pain in my back, but nothing was working. The pain would not stop, and it felt like someone was punching me in the kidney over and over and over again, showing no mercy. Another thing: Rick was meticulous about driving the speed limit. He said I don't understand why people have to be driving so fast, I mean I'm goin' the speed limit and that guy and those guys are prolly goin' 80 mph. Why don't you drive a little faster Rick, because you actually have a reason too! Of course I didn't say that, but I thought it. We were heading into town, and he mentioned now I don't exactly know where the Hospital is, but Oh wait ok its this way. I was so close. Now where is that Emergency Room at? Probably where the sign that says emergency is, Rick. But I said, Oh right there! He dropped me off at the door and I hobbled to the desk, where they asked me identification questions, and whatnot. At this point, I could barely stand anymore, and every time someone asked me a question, my response first was: can you please put something in me. After they got all of their mandatory information I had to wait in the waiting room, before I could get a room. I was sitting there writhing in pain, and then Rick came in. At this point everyone waiting in line before me, probably felt bad that I was behind them. Right then, I got up and went to the bathroom, not to go number 1 or 2 or even 3, but a one way ticket to yack town. I threw up, and i am sure my gagging could be heard throughout the whole waiting room, because when I got out everyone was staring at me, but I didn't care because the pain was worse than ever. I sat back down next to Rick, as he asked me if I wanted to read a magazine. No Rick, I do not want to read a fucking magazine. In retrospect, Rick was probably just trying to take my mind off the pain, but in all honesty you can't, when its that strong. After Rick asked me if I wanted a magazine, he struck up a conversation about high school volleyball. So did you guys do a lot of off season training? Yes. Oh really? what kind?...no answer. Long distance or short distance running? mainly short. Oh ok. Would Max Wyman please come into room 11. Thank fucking goodness. I barely made it to my room when the nurse told me to put on a gown, and i thought it was all taking too long. She left the room as soon as I put it on. No. Please don't leave me. I ran out into the hallway of the hospital, and pleaded, can someone please give me something? please? The nurse will be in shortly dear. I cautiously laid back on my stretcher, and impatiently waited while I groaned. Kent finally came to the office, and I felt better, not just because that meant Rick was leaving but because Kent was an anesthesiologist at the same hospital ( although no one recognized him...classic ). As Kent and my nurse were making casual conversation, I was constantly moving and writhing in my stretcher trying to make the pain go away somehow. I guess they both knew that within the next ten minutes I would be fine, but I just couldn't take the pain. It was killing me. It felt like someone was drilling a hole in my back. Finally they started poking me with needles. But wait, this was just IV. And then the stupid assistant nurse messed up on the fucking bandaid. Learn how to do your job mam! I just about had it, and when they finally got the Iv in it took about another ten minutes until she put drugs in me. I was feining for drugs, to put it lightly. Then slowly, the pain started to melt away... I started to ease in my bed more...and everything became...more...loopy...and.....sloooooooowwwwww. I was happy though, just as long as my pain was gone. I then got a cat scan, and came back to the room and hangout with Kent for awhile, and talked and talked about who knows what. I can barely remember. Then after some time the pain started to crawl back. Drugs! I was injected again, and this time hit me hard. Like a wall. I felt it through my whole body. But alas, I was pain free. After some time waiting for my CT scan on disc, and chillaxing we left the hospital. It was Kent's idea to get lunch at Chipotle. Hell, I was still on drugs and that sounded fine to me. I ate half of my burrito because I didn't want to "overdo" it. We got back to the farm, and I took the antibiotic they told me to take, and hung out around the house until dinner. Watched some TV, read, but I was still kind of loopy. When Kent said that dinner was ready, I went to the kitchen but didn't plan on eating very much. I ate a couple pieces of tortellini, and stayed around for polite conversation even though I wasn't feeling all that great. I went up to my room, and started to feel nauseas. Once you feel that feeling, that terrible feeling, that feeling of putrid, warm, sweaty, insanity, it doesn't go away; until you puke at least...classic. So that's what happened, I puked up all of lunch and my dinner, and it was a nasty one. One of the worst I can remember. I felt a bunch better, but I also lost a lot of fluids, which sucked. Anyways, I sipped on some ginger ale the rest of the night, and right before I went to bed I took a Vicodin, which put me to sleep instantly. So I guess. Nighty.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Day 20
Lifting heavy coolers at 530 in the morning, is not part of my repertoire. We had to pack the truck up for farmers market, and I was barely awake. After we put everything into the truck, Kent told me I would be driving half of the way because he wanted to make sure it was OK for me to drive home. Kent and Will went to a dinner party tonight, and are still currently there, but Kent never came back to the farm after the market, so I had to drive the monster of a truck back. Classic case of Will probably just wanting to rest, because I obviously know how to drive...actually ( after the JD incident )...classic. So I drove all the way to the gas station ( all of like 15 minutes ) and then Kent took over from there, and drove the rest of the way. As soon as Kent turned on the car, the beeping noise, indicating that a seat belt was unbuckled or a door ajar, went off; which was normal. But after we double checked that everything was clicked and shut, the noise still didn't go off; which was abnormal. For the remainder of the drive, all of 1 hour and twenty minutes, that beeping noise rang in my head, and didn't leave until halfway through the farmers market. We arrived, and Kent sent me off to get him a black coffee with half and half, and basically whatever else I wanted to do with the 20 dollars. I got myself a ham and cheese sandwich, and a few donuts. I walked back and we were ahead of schedule with about 20 minutes to kill. Classic case of waking up at 530 for nothing. Anyways, I decided to draw on the whiteboards they had, and ended up drawing a small thumbs up on the main whiteboard right by the Whitmore Farms label. Then sales started. It was supposed to rain today, but it never really did, however the weather was still pretty overcast. i think that might have hindered the sales a little, because there was a lot of downtime today. At the farmers market there is an uncanny number of people who are amateur chefs. They will cook anything, and everything. Especially using the meat that we sell, so when they come up to the table they are looking for a very in depth conversation on how and what to cook. So I am pretty terrible with descriptive or detailed questions, because I don't know all the answers. I try to listen to what Kent says to the customers, and then try to feed that to some of the ones that ask me questions. I was educated on one sausage in particular. The seasoning, the taste, and what you can prepare it with, so whenever I got the chance I would spew out that information. I would get a little rush every time someone happened to ask for my recommendation, or about the specific sausage itself. The food truck that came was a fusion of korean bbq and mexican food. classic case of nowhere near as good as Kogi, but it got the job done. After a slow day, it was finally time to take the ol truck back home. Kent set up the GPS, and after only one recovery U turn along the way, I got home safe and sound. I was making some serious time on the highway back. In spite of me being in maryland, I thought it necessary to pay some tribute to my cousin Paul, who frequently makes "good time". So i got bcd to the farm to find Dan hard at work with the piglets. He told me that the piglets had been giving him a hard time all day, and that he spent three hours feeding them, and transitively he was behind schedule. I unloaded the truck, and went inside the house to make myself comfortable. It's set in stone that when someone works the farmers market, they are excused from the rest of the days work. so bomb.com. I went inside the house, and after Dan showed me quickly how to feed the piglets, I took a real nice nap. A good hour and a half usually does the trick. When I woke up Dan was finally getting ready to leave. That guy either dilly dallies the whole day, or cares so much about each animal he spends 30 minutes with each one. So before he left he told me I had to go feed the piglets twice tonight. So I started to make my dinner, but then Kent texted me right in the midst of me preparing my food, and told me to go fed the piglets. I dropped what I was doing and walked out to the barn, and after finding the right size of bucket to stir the milk feed in I whisked away. I poured 8 cups of this goat milk type powder into hot water. There I was at 8 at night stirring away the milk for the baby piglets like a big cauldron of magical concoctions. When I went to feed the piglets, there was a small runt who was shaking all over and could barely walk. Dan had warned me about this one. He said he wasn't sure how long she would last. I piked her quivering body up and tried to get her to drink the milk i prepared. She could barely gain her balance, so she kept falling into the milk, so I held her snout up to the bowl, but then she kept choking on the milk. It was a terrible situation, and she could barely stand. I felt terrible. This was the first time in my life I had ever dealt with a dying animal. I didn't know what to do. There was nothing I could do. I decided to lay her down, and try and comfort her. I started petting the piglet and telling her that everything was going to be alright. Truth was I had no idea. I left her, but I knew that when I left she wouldn't be alive when I came back. I felt terrible, and I didn't know what to do so I texted Kent, but he just texted me back saying don't worry about it there is nothing you could do. I wonder how many times they have had to deal with those situations. I watched some terrible Lil' Bow Wow flick while I ate some pizza. After the movie I had to go back out and change the milk. I staled the inevitable when I got to the barn. I worked on the milk vigorously because I knew what was awaiting me in the pen. I walked in to find the runts body laying on the ground, a few feet from where I left it. It was cold, and hard, and so empty. I could barely look at it. I filled the milk and picked up the piglet by her hind leg. As I was picking her up, her brothers ran up to me to see where I was taking her sister. It was an awfully sad picture. I took the piglet, and thought it necessary that I bury her that night because I felt somewhat responsible for her passing. A very sad ending to my day, as I sit here typing all by my lonesome in the house. Nighty.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Day 19
"Well this day has just been bizarre". I think Steve put it best. I woke up at 710 because I had already planned out my breakfast meal. I had some leftover pop tarts from New York that were ripe for the picking, so I basically ate breakfast in bed. Booyah. And what a breakfast it was. I was out the door by 730, and just as I was walking out Will layer some heavy news on me. The JD was in the shop, so I would be doing the morning rounds on foot...classic. So this took some immense organizing in my head for maximum efficiency. So I ended up carrying a whole bucket of bird feed, my egg basket, and two bowls of dog food. As I went from pasteur my left hand with eggs got heavier, and my right hand with feed got lighter. But in the end it wasn't bad. I moved each rabbit cage, and then Steve offered for the rest of the rounds, he would be willing to drive me around with the tractor. score. So the pigs, and the rest of the bird feed were all done nicely, compliments of Steve, but more importantly compliments of the tractor. We fed the three pig paddocks that were nearest, and then it was off to the Sal's paddock. Now let me explain in greater detail what was happening with the murderous Sal. A Sal gave birth to 11 piglets last week, but had a terrible limp. She had the limp prior to the birth. As she gave birth to the 11 piglets, her tits ( teets ) grew bigger to feed them. Unfortunately, for the piglets they have to reach under their mother to get to the milk. Unfortunately because the Sal's bad leg has hindered her ability to get up. So as a result when she plops down, she can't really get up. As a result of that result, she has killed 5 of her own piglets, and one baby pig form another mother. It really is a terrible situation. That was why Dan had to save the one piglet yesterday, who was squished by the Sal, but still barely alive. It's not really the mom's fault that she has a limp, but its also not the piglets fault for being so young and needing constant milk. Again, a very tragic situation. So as we went around feeding the pigs, we looked inside to see if anymore piglets had been crushed, or trapped under the mom. Thank goodness there were none then, because earlier that morning Steve told me that him and Will had found the baby pig, from another mother, dead. So we moved on, and I collected the rest of the eggs for that side of the farm, and I went back to the barn and washed them all. I fed and watered all the rabbit bottles, and placed a handful of hay in each cage. After that Steve and I were supposed to move a whole pig shelter from one side of the paddock to the other. These shelters are pretty big, and not to mention they were cemented in the ground by mud and old straw. We ended up getting extremely lucky, because the forklift on the tractor lifted the whole shelter very nicely ( sometimes the forklift slips off the shelter, Steve told me ). So that was pleasantly easy, but as we were finishing the rain started to come down. and it was coming down hard. Cats and Dogs hard. So we decided to stay in the barn for awhile and try to wait it out. We waited/ bonded for about 45 minutes, and I played about 5 games of hanging with friends, until it seemed that the rain wasn't going to stop. So we broke for lunch. I went in and heated up some lasagna I had never seen before, and made a small tuna sandwich. The lasagna happened to be Eggplant ( which I did not know at the time, but Kent told me at dinner that night ), which i was not too fond of. The tuna was classic though. After lunch I kid of moseyed around, but the rain still didn't let up. So I met Steve in the barn, and we decided to start doing some work because the rain was only lightly drizzling, and we didn't think it would let up much. So we took a small shelter to the Sal's paddock, and some straw to cover the grotesque shelters. As we were about to put some straw down, I looked into the shelter with the limping mother, and noticed two small lumps in the dirt. I walked closer, and found out that these lumps were two dead piglets. I gasped for air, but Steve was pretty used to it by now. It was terrible. Piglets are debatably the cutest things on the farm, and to see a caracas was just awful. We went into the shelter and picked up the two bodies. Steve went in first and picked one up, like it was a grocery bag, and I was astonished at his casualty about the retrieval. Yea, so just pick the other one up. Back to reality. Yea, alright I will. And I walked into the shelter and picked up the piglet by its hind leg, and put it on the tractor like it was a piece stinky trash. Holding that frail, cold body was something I have never experienced before. It grossed me out, it saddened me, and scared me for the other piglets. I didn't want to leave the shelter just in case the Sal laid down again. So we drove the piglets to the compost pile and buried them. As Steve was burying them, I said a few words in my head about the piglets, and how it wasn't there mothers fault, but I had hoped that the time they had been alive they enjoyed it. And then it was on to the next task. I packaged some eggs, and then it was time for the afternoon rounds. So i picked up my egg basket, and as I was leaving th barn a contractor who works there, muffled hey we need to go help steve get the sheep on an island back. ?. classic chewing tobacco language barrier. But it still didn't make sense. So i found Steve, and what had happened was that because of all the rain, the river in the back of the farm and made sort of an island where the goats and sheep were roaming. Turns out about 15 of them were stuck there. So I had to cross the 2 ft river to the island to herd them back. As soon as my boots were completely filled with water, they all scurried back to the main land. Nice guys. As they were hopping throughout the water, they almost looked like a single file line of gazelles, it was rather graceful they pranced. So for the remainder of the day I had a good liter of water in my boots. I was drenched, and uncomfortable, but I didn't mind. I finished collecting eggs, and came back to wash them when Steve told me he need my help to capture the piglets. We were ordered to move the remaining four that were left, so that they wouldn't be squashed by the mom. So we went in with a net, and put the four in a straw filled bucket, and placed them in the barn. They were going to be bottle fed, because it was a liability to leave them with their mother. It was so sad too, the mother put up such a fight for her children, and I felt so bad taking them from her, but she was killing them accidentally. Will reminded me that each piglet was about 500 dollars, so they were very valuable. I thought it completely the wrong time to be mentioning money in all of this. It was hard enough to separate a mother from her children, that was killing her babies by accident. Now he water to complicate things even more by bringing an economic standpoint to it. Forget about it. We also moved the mother Sal out of her paddock so that on Monday, it would be easier to get her into the trailer to be slaughtered. After all that excitement, the rest of the day we just packaged up eggs, and coolers for the farmers market tomorrow. I went back into the house to shower, but realized that I had forgot to do my laundry so I didn't have any clean boxers. I put all my laundry in, which was basically all of my clothes, and waited so that I could time coming out of the shower with the end of my laundry. Turns out it didn't work that way, and oddly enough we were going out to dinner. So I didn't have any clean boxers or socks for the meal. I just decided I would go commando...classic. Wasn't that bad after all. So now I am in bed eating a bag of gushers, and excited for the farmers market tomorrow, even though it should be raining. So. Nighty.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Day 18
So after being half woken up to Sarah's roommate's four course meal cooking for breakfast, I fell back asleep until 10. My train left at 1135 and I didn't really know where to go, so I wanted to leave early. I packed up all my disgustingly smelly clothes, in my red backpack, packed my computer, phone, toiletries, a few leftover pop tarts, and I was on my way to the subway. I walked and found my way to the 3 subway, and stayed on for a good 10 minutes. I found my way to Penn Station, and got my train ticket, and sat down at a little cafe place. I had about 45 minutes to kill because I wanted to be extra early. I got a chocolate donut, and a sprinkles donut, and a small hot chocolate. Classic case of great breakfast meal. AFter that I went and sat down on the floor of the Penn Station and waited for my gate number to come up by my train number. Its pretty funny how people sit around and watch the train board, for hours even when they know their gate number won't come up until 5 minutes before they board. Its as if they were all watching some mass hysteria on TV, their eyes glued to the screen like they were robots. And then finally the gate number pops up, and everyone makes a dash for their gate. Its madness, complete madness. Its almost like a flashmob. So I got on my train, and what I was planning to do was take the train from Penn Station to BWI, and get in at 227. From there I was going to get to the BWI Airport by shuttle and take a bus to Frederick at 305. Turns out, our train was delayed 45 minutes, so I ended up getting in at 312. But, also just a small incident. Right before BWI there is a stop at Baltimore, and for a split second I thought this might be BWI and I asked my seat neighbor and they didn't know whether or not this was BWI. So for a few seconds I was considering taking my belongings and getting out, but then the doors started to close, so I basically accepted that I had completely gone off track. Then the man in front of me said BWI is the next stop. Oh my goodness, thank you. Wow, the amount of pleasure those few words brought was unsurmountable. They really were like music to my ears. So I got off at BWI train station with no hope, and no way of getting home. I decided to take the shuttle to the Airport because that was an easier place to get picked up, and maybe there would be an information booth to ask if there as another way to get back. I got off the shuttle and went to information, and it turns out there was a shuttle! The only problem was that the next time the bus was shuttling was in an hour and a half. Kent offered to pick me up, but there was no way I could inconvenience them anymore. They have done way too much for me. So I searched for the nearest cafe, and bought a smoothie and some sort of meat sandwich? Lets just say it wasn't the best thing I ate all weekend. I sat a table by myself and commenced writing my other blog. As I was writing I saw a Black Man, who looked like he could've been a drug addict at some point in his life, and some sort of gangster, joking around with his mother in the cafe and it made me laugh/ and happy. And then before I knew it he was going up to a random girl saying Dayyum girl , how you doin? After a few seconds of silence he proceeded to say Das why I love it hurt in Baltimor Baby. Absolutely classic. And then as he was leaving the cafe with his mother he bumped into an old man, and immediately said Oh I am so sorry sir, are you alright? As if his previous tongue had just been an act. I thought this guy was hilarious. Not anywhere near your typical gangster. Just having a good time, and knew his manners. Anyways, so after being delayed some more with the shuttle I finally got to Kent's car in Frederick around 610. And at last I was back on the farm. What a vast transition between New York City and Emmitsburg, haha basically 100% opposite. But I love it. It was nice to be back to open fields, and vegetables. After some socializing in the kitchen I had found out that some of the newborn baby pigs had been squished by their mother, because she has a limp and falls over constantly. Dan among burying some of the dead ones, did mouth to mouth resuscitation and saved one. What the hell? So basically, Will told me that I should be ready for tomorrow... Oh boy. Well I'll just brace myself. It's all for the experience...I think. Nighty.
Day 16/ 17
Yesterday and today followed the same schedule. I would wake up at around 1130 take a shower, fool around on my computer for a good hour or so, think about reading, then actually read, and by 2 o’clock or so I would go out, get lost, then find somewhere to eat. New York City is just extremely complicated. Between, the subway system and the streets, I probably averaged 30 minutes of being lost a day. On TUESDAY, I found Leo’s Bagels, after walking in a full circle around it, and got in line just in time. I was seriously planning on ordering a bagel with cream cheese, and lox…classic. But then another sandwich caught my eye. The Leonardo. Parma Prosciutto, Mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar. Oh, did it SOUND so good. After I bit into it, I was surprisingly displeased with how tough the cured meat was. Maybe I am just a noob with prosciutto, but I was not enjoying myself. I frequently had to pull apart the meat with my hands, and ended up just taking it out altogether. The coleslaw was pretty solid, and of course I had to top off my meal with a Black and White cookie, just as cath would. I walked out of the bagel shop, with no direction and no appointments, so I explored for a good 10 minutes until I got bored. I asked my sister, Sarah, where I could find some thrift stores to shop at. First of all, I am a terrible shopper. I am no good at the sport. I don’t like spending a long time looking at different articles. I don’t like looking at the price tags, I usually cant decide what I want if I stay for too long. So that’s why I am notorious for going into a thrift shop, buying the first 3 or 4 things, and walking out within 5 minutes. Going to Buffalo Exchange was no different. Walked in, bought a short sleeve button down, a Patagonia jacket, and a shirt I probably will only wear two times in my life and then walked out. I decided after I left the store, that going back to the apartment, eating a Milky Way and reading would suffice until I was going to dinner. I got back, and opened my book for 5 minutes, and then fell asleep until 530, when Sarah called me and told me that an Italian Fair was in town, and I should meet her down by Mulberry and E. Houston street I had never attempted at calling down a taxi before that night. I stood on Water Street waving my long gangly arms to flag down a taxi that didn’t have their “off duty” lights on. It took me a solid 10 minutes for one to pull up, and when I told him the cross streets, he replied with oh sure, but I don’t have a meter so whaddya say you give me 20 dollars. I obviously, had no perception of how far it was where I was going, so I responded Well I am not sure how much it would be, and he curtly shot back, ok bye. I did find one in the next minute, and I was on my way. The only problem with this one, well actually it was my fault haha, but I didn’t realize that you were supposed to tip taxi drivers. So when he asked me how much change I wanted back, I thought it obvious to say …the change. Turns out, that was pretty cheap of me… but hey I am just a kid. I met up with Dave, and Sarah and we began to walk up Little Italy. It was a marvelous fair, decorated, and filled up nicely. It was a funny parallel to the Frederick fair, actually. Two completely different genres; but both the same attractions. They both had their fair share of carnies, and game booths, but the best biggest difference was that the food booths, were amazing. There were many well-respected restaurants that were selling their food from these booths. We stopped at many booths and got sandwiches fed off brioche bread…classic. It was all very scrumptious, and I finished off the night with an Italian sausage followed by a cannoli. A truly delightful dessert that I had never experienced before. I visited a friend from Palos Verdes, who goes to the New School, and we had a great time, and I met a bunch of her roommates/ friends. One thing that I noticed was that there was such a blend of people/ ethnicities, and on top of all: not every one was a hipster… I guess that taught me a lot about stereotypes, even though I claim to know, I still succumb to them. On WEDNESADAY, I found Luke’s Lobsters. My sister recommended it to me, and I had nothing going on all day. I walked in and was greeted by a familiar Band of Horses song, which immediately put this restaurant on a pedestal. I ordered a lobster roll for 16 dollars…wait 16 dollars? Alright. Turns out that lobster roll was one of the best things I ate during my 3-day stay in New York. Extremely over priced, but totally worth it. Welcome to New York. I then wandered off until I stumbled upon the Vietnam Veterans Park, and sat and played a new game that my brother introduced me to. Instead of playing words with friends, which is a variation of scrabble on the iPhone, I was now playing hanging with friends. Hanging with friends is a variation of hangman against friends. Pretty straightforward. I sat and played games on a small piece of technology in the heart of New York. Yup, classic me. As I was leaving I also noticed how amazing of a skate spot this park would be. Obviously it could never happen because of all the police, and businessmen smoking their cigarettes, but I was thinking of another limitation. Ethical. Would it be ethical to ruin the marble, and mark up the grounds dedicated to those soldiers that passed away in the war? But then I remembered that skaters don’t really care about anything that they are skating on, so I kept walking. I went back to the apartment, and read for a good 3 hours. I have been getting behind on my reading so I thought I might as well. Steinbeck is extremely classic too, so why not spend my afternoon with his company, instead of my phone. After I read for 3 hours, I easily took an hour and a half nap, and got ready to go to dinner with Sarah and Dave again. This time we went to a family style Italian restaurant that was bomb.com. I really, really liked it. Even though it wasn’t gourmet, top Zagat rated type food; it did more than get the job done. After dinner, I hung out with a girl who went to my high school, whom I wasn’t incredibly close with, but we had a fun night. She showed me around her dorm, and even let me know that the Sprouse twins ( the Suite Life of Zack and Cody stars ) lived in her dorm. I told her I would have freaked if I saw them because me and my little brother still watch those shows on Disney Channel. I never saw them, but she said she’s seen them all the time. I met a bunch of hilarious people, and none that I thought would have gone to NYU. Just goes to show, stereotypes mean nothing. I took a taxi home and remembered to tip this time, and now its time for sleep. Nighty.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Day 15
I woke up at 7 and went down for breakfast, to find an empty kitchen once again. Will is always late. So i got two bananas and a glass of milk because one I don't like breakfast to start with and two I never really cook breakfast for myself. Will told me that all I would have time for today was the morning rounds, and then I would be off to NY. I was pretty stoked about leaving the farm, so the morning rounds weren't half as bad as usual. They did end up taking a long time, however. I had to put water and feed in four new different locations for some birds. Will moved them because he was separating some for a show to be sold at. So after I did all that I got my squeaky JD ready, and moved coops, collected eggs, filled feeders, cleaned waters, etc. The usual. That took me awhile because i had to go back and retrieve the rabbit feed and water, because I didn't have room on my first trip to bring it along. I fed the pigs, and then fed and checked up on the rabbits inside the barn. Finally the home stretch! All i had to do was wash all the eggs, and weigh and separate thrones from yesterday. That took me about an hour, and after I was done I was glued to the radio. What was happening was that Ryan Seacrest has a show in the morning where a spouse will call in thinking that his/ or her spouse was cheating on them. Ryan then calls the other spouse up on the phone on air, and they confront each other. It was so extremely awkward, and probably staged, but I still was entertained. So after that, I went back into the house packed up my belongings into my over sized, red flannel backpack, and it was off to New York. As we approached the car form the house, Will casually mentioned that I would be driving myself to BWI while he would work on emails in the car. classic. So i drove my first scion on the freeway, for about an hour. It was pretty fun, but I was extremely diligent, because I didn't want to inconvenience Will more than I had with making him to come to BWI. We got there at about 1 and my train left thirty minutes after that. I got my ticket and snacked on some Chex Mix cheese flavor that I have had since my mom dropped me off on the farm. Waited around, played some games on my phone, and before I knew it I was boarding the train. The first stretch of the train I fell asleep on my left side which never turns out well, hence the sore neck. The second stretch I got to sit by the window and that worked out nicely, I sleep unequivocally better when I can lean my head to the right. So i slept on and off until we finally reached Penn Station which was about 3 hours, so boo yah. On the train I remember feeling not as excited as I was to go to college park. Maybe it was because I don't like New York to begin with, maybe it was just me worrying again. Regardless I got off the train and made my way up to the main level of the train station. Goodness gracious, the proximity of one person to the next was just short of a couple centimeters. It was so ridiculously crowded. But i managed to get out alive and make it to 8th and W 33rd street. I called my sister to give me her job's address, so I could walk there and pick up the keys to her apartment. So I walked past about 3 billion people, dressed up Mickey and Minnie mouses ( which I threw huge shakas to ), and about 3 billion solicitors. Classic case of New York. So i finally came to my sisters work place, and got interrogated about where I was going and who I was seeing. After I cleared some things up I met my sister outside the door to La Cuchina Italaliana, and she gave me directions and keys to her apartment. The rest of the day isn't very interesting. The only people that would rally care to read are my parents, so I can go into further detail with them haha. Basically, I got back to the small apartment took a shower, went back out to meet my sister and her boyfriend, Dave, for chinese ( which was quite possibly the best chinese food I have ever eaten ), almost saw a fight break out, then went and hung with a friend form Palos Verdes who just transferred to NYU this year. Rod Paulsen was always a friend of a friend, but a close one at that. Rod is a super cool guy, and we mainly just talked and hungout in his top floor "suite" in the dorm. His place was amazingly nice, with a view that he probably couldn't pay for at an apartment. So we listened to music talked about life, and it was time for me to go back to my sisters apartment for a classic nights sleep. And that's about it. Nighty.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Day 14
I woke up at 7, and played some Words with friends from my bed until Dan was out of the bathroom. When I walked down to the breakfast table, I felt a little awkward knowing that Dan was homosexual for some reason, I am not sure why. But anyways, I was infer med when I got down there that on sundays they typically feed the dogs and pigs, and then we all go out to breakfast. Sounded dandy to me. So Dan and I tag teamed feeding the dogs and pigs, in the terribly squeaky JD, and managed to get back into the house within 20 minutes. We changed into our regular clothes and were off to the Morning View, a new breakfast place that Will and Kent had not tried before. So we were the Guinea pigs, fine with me. Just as we were walking in I can remember having a short cough attack and coughing up some mucus which was actually extremely disgusting, just thought I should share that. So i got an egg sandwich and a chocolate milk, and we made casual conversation about my dyed mustache. They thought that was the funniest thing in the entire world, and so did I when I used to do it ( but I actually used to think it looked baller ( and I still do ) ). I forced down the last bite of my sandwich because Will and Kent were paying for my meal, and I didn't want to waste any of their money. We then went to the grocery for 10 minutes, and then headed home. Right when we got there, Kent told us that we were going to be castrating the baby piglets today at some point. So right as Dan and I were about to start the actual morning rounds, the baby piglets were out roaming around near where we were. So, we got out of our squeaky JD and decided that we should start catching them now because they were away from their mother, and it would be less dangerous for us. As soon as we came with nets the baby pigs ran right back the gate, but some of them got trapped. So Dan and I scooped up five baby piglets in our nets, just as I scooped up chickens a couple days earlier, only this time I felt three billion times as bad. These were so cute, and when I caught them in my net they tried to run out of the stitches, but couldn't latch on to anything substantial with their feet. I felt terrible, but it needed to be done, and in the end the pigs would have it easier, than the now "already cooked at restaurants" chickens had it. So after we captured the pigs, we put them in a big box so that we could take them one by one and castrate the boys. The reason for castrating them, is that if you slaughter and eat a pig with testicles the meat is "tainted" as they call it, and tastes so vulgar that none will eat it. And the reason you need to castrate them when they are younger, is that they would be much to strong to hold down when they got older. Strange enough holding them down today was about one of the hardest things I have done on this farm. It was determined that Dan would be making the incisions and extracting the testes while I held each pig in place so that Dan could do each procedure peacefully. The amount of strength I needed to hold each little pig down will keep me sore for a week, and I am serious about that. These little baby piglets possessed so much hidden strength, its amazing. It was probably the goriest, crazy experience I have had on this farm, and going into detail hurts for me to live through again. First Dan would inject some sort of anesthetic into the testicle then make a small incision. from there he would "gently" pop out a testicle and then proceed to clamp it. This was when the pig would shriek the most. If you have never heard a pig shriek, then you are lucky, because the gut wrenching sound is treacherous. It is worse than nails on a chalkboard. So from there he would basically stitch up where he would be cutting it, and tightly knot it up. then he would cut off the testicle with scissors and repeat for the next testicle. after both were out he would rinse thoroughly and then Kent, who was overseeing the whole process, would spray a sort of band aid on top of the gash. We did this for five piglets. I can now say that i have helped castrate a living being. How insane is that. So that was the big hoopla for the day, and after that I continued washing eggs...classic case of switching from exhilarating to uneventful activities. After I finished the eggs, a helper came today who was learning to do the afternoon rounds. His name was Ethan, and from what Will and Kent told me it sounded like a 15 year old girls was coming. So when Ethan showed up, i thought to myself, Oh ok well this girl kind of looks like a boy, but hey maybe she is just unconventional. So for a good 30 minutes, I thought Ethan was a girl. classic. After talking about multiple video games, did I realize I was dealing with a 14 year old boy. He was a funny kid, who wasn't all that fond of retrieving eggs from under the chickens, as am I. But Ethan tried to convince me that he could talk to the chickens, and tell them to move so he wouldn't have to be potentially get bitten. Strange enough it actually worked the whole day haha. Maybe Ethan can talk to chickens I guess. So we finished up with that and Ethan washed the eggs, and I showed him where to put everything. As the day was coming to a close and as I was walking back to the house i thought about something. I wonder if the animals here think that their life is good. From Will and Kent it sounds like their life here is amazing, and I don't doubt it. We take amazing car of them, and always try to give them the most humane and best care possible. But do you think that the animals think their living situation is terrible? Its definitely possible, because how can you tell if something is good or not if you don't have something else to compare it with. I don't think many of the chickens, or other animals call their other buddies from different farms and ask how their living situation is, so I think that they probably don't appreciate the life that Will and Kent give them. Sounds like my mom when she is trying to tell me that I am "living the life of Riley"...whatever that means. Anyways, jut something to think about. And I am leaving for New York tomorrow so that should be fun. On that note. Nighty.
Day 13
So i was too tired last night to write a blog for today, and in short time you will learn why. Dan and Will were going to the farmers market, so they had to wake up at 530, and of course I heard Dan so for a few minutes I was awake that early as well. It was just me and Kent for a day, and to me it meant an easy day. Not that Kent is a pushover, but he likes to have a good time, and he likes to take frequent breaks, which is A OK in my book. So I started early and did the rounds, fed the chickens and rabbits and pigs, and dogs etc. And then I asked Kent what I should do, and he told me I had to put some things in the trashcan and build a small cage for the baby pigs to eat out of. So within 10 minutes I was done with the trashcan job, and then I went to go make a small cage, with metal fencing they had taken apart from a previous cage. So I drove over to the Sal paddock, and once I got inside I started to build my gate. Kent didn't give me much ins ruction with building the gate, but that wasn't new to me. I started with four blue metal fences and moved them around to finally make a square, with stakes and rope to tie knots from the gate to the actual paddock fence. It wasn't very hard, but pretty rewarding I guess because I figured it out by myself, now the only problem was that the feeder I put inside this little cage wouldn't fit. No matter what way I positioned the feeder, it was just too big to fit in. At that point it started to rain, so I did the best I cold and drove back to the barn to find Kent. I asked Kent what I should do, and he stopped me mid sentence, what we should do is go in for lunch. Hmmm, well alright. So we went in, had some left over lasagna, and tomatoes. After we finished, Kent glanced outside where it was still drizzling and said well we might as well relax until it stops raining, and plus Will isn't here to boss us around. Classic case of when the cats away the mice shall play. Whenever my dad would go on business trips, this was the line commonly used by cath, when we would go out to fast-food. Haha classic. So we sat down on the couch, kicked our feet up and watched some show that Will and Kent love about young couples searching to buy homes all over the world. They have a local real estate show the couple three different homes, and by the end the couple chooses their favorite home, and Will and Kent guess the right home 9 times out of 10. They are so extremely critical about every little thing in each house, haha its amazing I didn't know anyone could be so meticulous about things like that. I felt kind of bad to be honest, I mean my stay composes of working hard throughout the day to balance the food and housing they provide ( which it obviously never will because of the amazing amenities to this farm ). I kept saying hey Kent are you sure you don't want me to go outside and finish the gate, or do the afternoon rounds. Just relax a little max, cmon. So, I did and I relaxed for about an hour, playing games on my phone, and watching TV, and eating a black and white cookie that my mom packed me before I got here, so the cookie was about two weeks old. I went back out to my cage that I built and added to more metal fence panels to one set of sides to make it longer, so that it could maintain holding a feeder. I finished that job, and went straight for my afternoon rounds. As I was driving back to the barn in my JD I was going past a gate I have gone past 100 times, but this time I didn't see it on the right front of my gator I guess, and hit it decently hard. It made quite a loud sound, and for a minute I was downright scared because I thought I had either ruined the JD, or the gate. Turns out, as I got up from my gator neither was damaged. Oh thank goodness! So I went back to the JD and started it and drove it back to the garage. But wait...there was a terribly loading screeching noise every time I turned the wheel. Oh boy, I hope I didn't just make that happen ( I obviously knew I did, I just didn't want to realize it ). So for the rest of the day and up until present time the JD now squeaks with terribly loud volume while its running thanks to me. So after I finished all my duties I came back to the house, and showered and shyly waited around until Dan wanted to go to the fair with me. I had gotten flaked on the previous night, and he had promised me that tonight was the night. So I sheepishly asked him when he wanted to go and he said about an hour. After an hour I murmured again so dan do you still want to go? Yea in about 20 minutes. So I waited it out, and after 30 minutes it as game time. We got in the car, drove to Frederick, Maryland and parked next to hundreds of other cars just in Lot A. We walked up to the ticket booth and each payed seven dollars to get in. I was amazed at how many people were at the fair, but Dan was pretty casual about the whole thing because he had grown up around here, and fairs were pretty common. Our first priority was to find some nice junk food to eat. Oh but everything sounded so good I told Dan, and he told me not to blow my load too soon...classic. So after searching for just the right place to eat, I found a booth selling memphis style pulled pork sandwiches that I could just not resist. So i bought one for six dollars, and boy was it worth it. Easily the best pulled pork sandwich I had ever eaten. delicious. After we finished our meals we strolled around the whole fair, which went in a big circle. Walking around, the people looked all too classically stereotypical. All farmer hillbilly Esc and all had strange disgusting facial hair. Take it my facial hair might not be the prettiest, but at least I don't shave it to try and look hideous. Anyways, so we walked around and finally got to a kind of petting zoo, where some strange animals such as emu's and donkeys were. As I was waking by I remembered feeling terrible for these animals because of the life they were living. Now you may think that I might be contradicting myself when I say that, because on the other hand I was catching chickens up with a net. But hear me out, I asked Will about the animals on his farm and this is what he told me. The life these animals live on the farm here is better than anywhere else. They basically live in paradise, and just because the last hour or so of their lives is terrible doesn't change that fact. So I felt kind of bad for the animals at the petting zoo. We then made it to the game section. Classic carnival games. So Dan was super into wining something tonight, and I am not quite sure why, but I had a good time playing them with him as well. So we first played darts and we both got a small stuffed animal, but the pricing was a complete ripoff. But hey what do you expect I guess. After about 50 dollars later we each had the same toys. Go figure. The people working these stands were redneck hillbillies, who were never properly educated so it was almost easy for them to scam you. They would say something in a language close to english and hand you a ball, so you take the ball because you think he's giving you a free turn, but he really just told you the price from his native tongue. So as fun as all the games were, our money went down the toilet. But it was a good time. So after that we went and got funnel cake, and deep fried oreos. I am pretty sure, calorie wise, eating two of the deep fried oreos should be enough for the normal persons intake in a day...classic. While we were eating we were talking about siblings and I asked Dan about his, and he kind of dodged the question, but in a totally obvious way. As if he wasn't answering just as a joke. And it kind of ticked me off, because I didn't get what he was trying to hide, so I kept asking him questions until we left, and even until we got in the car. Questions that he was jokingly not answering on purpose, such as what his last name was, what his parents did for a living. Stupid things like that. And as soon as we got in the car, something came up where dan called a rut in the ground we drove over "gay", and I told him that I don't use those as synonymous words. And Dan got the biggest crack up about that, so he joked on for about 10 minutes calling everything we say "gay" or a person a "fag", just as a complete joke. But then after I told him the joke was over, he forwardly said well its ok for me to say because I am homosexual. And after all this joking Dan was doing the howl night, I obviously didn't take him seriously. I called his bluff. Dan you are clearly not homosexual you are just playing another joke on me, but in the back of my mind I was replaying instances that would suggest his sexual orientation. And there were actually a couple of times that I can remember where he was a little timid to talk about girls. The time when I asked him if he had a girl friend, and he responded with I don't have time for relationships, I have to focus on my goals. He kind of "beat around the bush" not exactly saying "because girls are too much work.." etc. And there was another time where I would say hey, tonight at the fair lets try and get some girls numbers, and he would kind of laugh it off and say yeah right man. None of this was solid evidence, but in my head it was something to build off of. After talking the whole ride home, Dan introduced me to his sexuality. I was mind blown to say the least. After getting to know Dan for about a week and a half, I could never ever picture him as being homosexual. That just goes to show how stupid judgments, and stereotypes really are. Dan is easily the straightest homosexual guy I have ever met, and its awesome. The only thing now, is that in the house it is almost like a wave of homosexuality trying to smother me...classic. But not really, I thought it was totally cool that Dan is a homosexual, not because he isn't flamboyant, but because he doesn't fit into a stereotype, and I love that. So on that surprising note. I will go to bed. Nighty.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)