Finally…A Computer
After six days I finally have a computer to post with. Colorado, especially the high country region where I am, seems to be technologically challenged. Or I just haven’t had time and want to put the blame on someone/something else. I’ll summarize what I’ve been doing lately.
I left Tuesday, July 1st at about 6:15 PM. We drove thirteen hours without much of anything happening, except that I finished a book (The Warriors of Alavna), continued to neglect my summer homework, and we took a wrong turn at Espanola, a town north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. This added an extra hour to the drive, but it was scenic and second only to Ireland in natural beauty, so I can’t complain. It was Wednesday by this time; we had stayed the night in Albequerque (though it really wasn’t a night, since we only were there for three hours).
Tired and uncomfortable, we hobbled in our Chevy Malib (yes, it’s a Malib - the ‘u’ lost it’s adhesiveness and fell off in the heat last summer) to my grandparents’ house outside Buena Vista, Colorado. Just after we were settled in, we went camping in some undisclosed location. Now my tiredness was bordering on exhaustion, so going to bed that night was a welcome relief. I even slept through my brother’s nightmares in which he purportedly shouted: “The mules are on me, the mules are on me!”
So we camped and all were happy. Later we rode my grandpa’s mules in the forested wilderness, which freaked me out somewhat because I am not at all used to riding a mindless beast up and down a slope at an 80 degree angle. That was okay. We went home later and took long showers, and I almost fell asleep standing up in the living room.
The next day, Independence Day, was generally eventful. The adults went on a day-long rafting trip (I’m supposed to go later this week), and I stayed at the house and twiddled my thumbs. We had a Ricketts dinner (Ricketts is my mother’s maiden name), which means it’s really rich and painful afterward because of the huge amount of food you are forced to inhale. It tasted good, at least.
Saturday was a farewell/fishing day. My dad and his brother, who had also driven out here from Missouri, went fly fishing with my grandpa. I fished some too, but I don’t really have the patience for it. My parents and uncle left Sunday, leaving Zachary and I to fend for ourselves until we drive to Missouri for my great-grandpa’s 90th birthday. (Confused yet?)
With my parents gone my grandparents began spoiling us children, taking us out to a really good Mexican restaurant and letting me drive the Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo from the house to the county road to the main road, a distance of about a mile or two of which I am quite proud. (Really, how many kids get to drive at fourteen?)
Today was dominated by a petty dispute between my brother and I over who got to ride the “nice bike.” It sounds like a stupid thing to fight over, but I think previous arguments were just leading up to a big battle. I lost this one, but I’ll win the war, of course. I really don’t know why I even take the time to respond to my brother anymore because every conversation we have turns into a bitter debate. I really hate having a sibling sometimes.
Someday I’ll have the self-control to brush him off. Someday, someday…urf. And speaking of impossible futuristic dreams, I have decided to save up my money for a new computer, which I am in dire need of. I think I can easily have about $2000 by December 31st if I work hard and can strike some kind of match deal with my parents that would mean no Christmas, Easter, or birthday presents for a year or two. I don’t care that much for holidays and birthdays anymore anyway, since I always get stuff I never use from my family. My friends have the right idea by giving me cash and gift cards, since I can choose what I want then. So I’m going to try for it. If I change my mind before then I can put the money towards a car when I’m sixteen.
Hopefully these entries will become more interesting during Europe and when school starts. I promise, they’ll get better. This one could have been deeper and longer, but my fingertips are not getting blood for some reason, possible because I read a book for five hours today and had my hands above me, so the blood ran downward. It’s hard to type when you can’t feel the keys.
Until next time.