Thought for the week: Why does repetition tend to do the opposite of what it's meant for?
Preparing for the upcoming week, July started off most interesting. I've come to the realization that I am utterly emotionally attached to those closest to me - notably poor Josh, who must have me stuck down his throat like a cough he can't shake. He says he doesn't mind it so much as it feels nice to be so wanted, but I feel bad for wanting all the attention of one person. How can I miss someone so much when they live a mere 20 minutes away from me? It all seems improbable to me, yet I miss him all the same. After a cookout with friends over the weekend - where the mightiest of stories were told and broken, and sanity alike - I spent my mellow week merely sitting for my siblings. I don't mind this, I know both my stepfather and mother are under a lot of pressure, but at the same time my little siblings drive me up the wall. They love to scream, especially my little brother. It's hard to discipline them correctly, as the minute they realize they're in trouble, they continue to scream. Ah, there's simply not enough ibuprofen. Also, last week I decided to delete my Facebook account for one month, as per the advice of Josh. This will serve as an experiment to my self esteem; on Facebook, all I do is worry about how much better others are than I. Without that constantly popping up in my face, hopefully I can focus on better, more important things this summer, like having fun. And hopefully it'll do good for my self-esteem. I can only hope for the best. But as the week came to an end, we planned a family trip. The weekend of July 4th is always busy, but this year it was especially so. My mother planned a trip to the Great Escape, and we lodged at a nearby inn for the night. My adult sister and her fiance joined us, and it was all around a fun time, since I seldom see her these days. The first day, my mother, stepfather, younger siblings, sister and fiance, and Josh and I arrived at the hotel at 3 pm to check in, and we then unpacked our things and hung out for awhile as everyone got comfortable. I feel bad, and just hope I didn't make Josh feel awkward at all during the trip. I've spent so much time around his family, but he has yet to see the worst of my own. Hopefully he won't start running for the hills once he does. But after we were all settled in, we decided to go to Pizza Hut for dinner before hitting the Great Escape. Salads, large pizzas, hot wings, the usual meal there. Except the hot wings are just what they sound like. Hot. Not so much spicy as they are just hot. They make you break out in a sweat and leave your mouth on fire for a good 5 minutes. But overall, the meal was delicious, and we took home plenty of leftover hot wings. We went to the park around 5-6 pm, and while there my sister, Josh, and I rode the Boomerang. Josh doesn't scream on rides, while my sister loves to scream on rides. Me, I had the wind knocked out of me while going forward on the Boomerang, and thus I was unable to scream as I would have loved to out of pure fear. But the ride was fun. My little sister, Alex, got to go on the rides she wanted as well, and my sister and Josh and I went on the Comet, first to commemorate our deceased great grandfather, who loved the Comet, and then to see if I could hold my hands up the entire time on the ride. Josh doubted me, and I don't blame him, but I managed to do it. Never again. We left the park at 9 or so to go view the fireworks show from the Great Escape parking lot. The show was beautiful, and the finale was fantastic. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and went from room to room having fun. The sleeping arrangements were pelted around, mostly because Josh and I are still teenagers, and I suppose my mother feared the worst. I hope she knows I'd respect her and everyone else, and I know Josh would do the same, but there's no arguing a moot point like that. Josh thankfully got a bed to himself, however. I'd feel bad if I put him in an awkward position by making him sleep next to one of my siblings. I shared a bed with my younger sister, and my younger brother slept with my parents. In the morning, we all sat in the hotel for awhile, as my stepfather was in a drunken sleep and preferred to leave later. We drank crappy hotel coffee and gosh darn it we liked it that way (we didn't). We packed up our things and left for the park around 11 am, and spent most of the day in the water park. Josh got Kris, my mother and I to ride the Tornado, a ride that sends you through a tube and into circular dome where you are pushed down on a 4-person tube to the bottom pool. It's a scary rush if you're the one riding down backwards, but a lot of fun overall. We garnered plenty of souvenirs while at the park; my mother bought plenty of souvenir cups for all of us, and I sent Josh home with one of them. She also bought shirts for herself, me, and my younger sister, and Josh won me a green mushroom hat (like the one-ups from the Super Mario series). Overall, I enjoyed every bit of the trip, and I was thrilled that Josh was able to come. He took me to the Great Escape 4 years ago, and it was nice to return the favor, finally. We didn't get to ride the Sasquatch like we did last time, but we have plenty more opportunities to go this summer. We ended up leaving the park a bit early, around 5, as everyone was getting tired. On our way out of the park, we came across a woman who had won a HUGE stuffed gorilla, about 5' tall and 4' wide, and seeing our little sister, she approached us and offered the gorilla to us. Of course, we have no room to put such a big gorilla in our tiny apartment and car, but being that my sister was so excited, we couldn't say no. The gorilla takes up a lot of space in the dining room, but my sister is happy. The rest of the weekend has been lax and mellow, but I still miss Josh as much as I did last week, if not more so. I wonder why I'm so attached to him, even if he doesn't mind it. It makes me feel bad that I want so much of his time, but it's always great to be around him, I miss him the second he says he'll have to leave soon. But I'll see him soon enough; Thursday afternoon should be fun. The kittens his cats had have returned, and are cuter than ever. With enough luck, I may be able to convince my mother to adopt one of the four. But until then, I enjoy being able to see them when I visit Josh, and they're a great comfort to him, too. Hopefully I can convince Josh to try a game with me while I'm there, and then show him the ropes. Hopefully. Or I might scare him away. But we'll see how that turns out. I expect the remainder of the week to be somewhat chaotic, but ever yet, the sun still shines. May I live long and prosper through it.
