Spectacular Fear

This week held a great deal of potential.

Today is the Friday of mid-winter break, so I've had a week away from school in which I could read and spend time with select friends--mostly be an introvert. And it began exceptionally well: I took a weekend to do some homework and shut out the world around me almost entirely.

Of course, then Monday came around and I thought it best to contact the few friends without whom I would most likely wither into nothingness. Unfortunately, one of them is disgustingly popular with people and had no space for communication. The Asian was making visits to some colleges (and came home with a pretentious bookshelf) which, topped with homework, left little room for contact with the outside world. A third friend, however, had Tuesday open. Thus began the epic adventure of someone else coming to my a house--and a male, at that.

My family members were considerably shocked, astounded, et cetera.

The day progressed (during which I beat him soundly at Scrabble and he played exceedingly well during some Euchre games despite not understanding what was going on). Earlier that day I had taken my sister to the mall for adventures and driven the expressway for the second time in my life.

Wednesday fell upon us and my eldest sister and I grew angry and Barnes & Noble. A few days ago we had ordered books from its website, but it had yet to either ship them or charge her. (They still have yet to do either.)

Sister and I went out and about again. (This time to a different mall.) We got books and mancala and such. (The power had gone out and we remembered mancala. We felt we should get a set and play it.)

Today sister and I again went to the mall. (She needed camisoles and agreed to get me even more books.) It was a nice escape from a cursing brother and father who always seem to get dangerously angry when building things. We also couldn't resist buying some absolutely fantastic socks for the Asian. (Who seems very ungrateful, despite the one-sidedness of our gift-giving relationship.)

Then, at four the Asian and I attended a meeting with fellow Rochester area nerdfighters. (On the way I had to drop sister off at work. I took the expressway back, using it for the third time in my life.) The meeting was a spectacular blend of awkward and awesome. We will likely be doing it again: such fantastic things should never be done only once.

Alas, then came the ride home from a coffee shop at the edge of the city. This part of the week did not go well. We tried following directions to the express way and failed. Then tried reversing the way we first reached the coffee shop. This led us to an unfamiliar street--which, ironically, would have taken us very close to home had we followed it. Alas, I was driving and did not trust it. I saw a street with which I was more familiar--a street that can actually lead to dangerous places. Panicking, I had the Asian call my sister, who instructed us to go on 480 West. (Luckily, we were just pulling up to an on-ramp.) From there we proceeded to take three-exits--returning to the expressway twice because we didn't know where to go from the off-ramps.) So, really, I've been on the expressway six times now. Gah.

Ultimately, we missed the ramp that would have taken us to the one street on which we couldn't get lost and got off at Chili Ave. Then we proceeded to take the wrong turn and re-enter the city. (Taking us back to the same area in which we first got incredibly nervous.) We turned around, getting incredibly excited when we found Wal-Mart. With the help of it's parking lot, we turned onto a familiar path.

Now all that was left was to drop the Asian off at the safety of her house and face a father that was likely to be incredibly angry. The ride was silent, nervous, and worrisome. The ride without her even consisted of tears. Surprisingly, however, there was no yelling.

I wonder when I'll ever want to drive again.