Hey, guys and gurls. Long time no speaky, uh? Er...well, a fairly long time since I did promise to try and update every other day at the least. Well, a lot has happened since that early Saturday morning update. If anyone would care to be filled in, then please read on... Saturday~ Well, I updated my journal here early that morning then went out to lunch with my family. Like I’d said, my parents took me around trying to find something for my birthday. I told them that if they wanted to get me something then to just buy me anime, of course I was merely joking. After we did some work on the house later that afternoon, my pal Jesse calls and he asks if we’re still on for anime/manga shopping that night. I say yeah and I’m hanging out with him, Cambell and Rob all night when Jesse gets a call from Natasha. We go and pick her up from a after-party for one of Harrison’s plays and we’re with her until midnight cause she asks us to stay with her. I won’t go into the details (they’re personal on her part), but I was with her all night long. That brings us to... Sunday~ I take her with me to go home and check in with my parents (my cell was dead, so it needed to charge anyways). 1 AM rolls around and we’re at the Robert Stadium parking lot just hanging out. Details here I definitely can’t say cause they’ll get me into trouble. Lets just say...jeep + girl without a permit or any formal driving experience + me trying to be a teacher = not so good.. Anyways, we get a call from Rob saying that a storm is on the way and that we need to get to some cover fast. Well, I hear the tornado sirens blaring so I’m rushing over to the new place quicker than convential speed limits would allow. But I could care less about the law, really, I had Tasha with me and I made her a promise that she’d always be safe in my hands. We got to my new house safe and sound...a soaking a little, but safe. We waited until the storm died down to head back to her place. On our way there, we saw a funnel cloud forming. Once we got in, we were told that a tornado had just ripped through an area packed with our friends. So, after about an hour of calling to check in with everyone, Natasha asked if we should go and help/check it out. I was really leery about it. I mean, what if the storm picked up and another tornado ripped through? My first instinct was to tell her no, but the way she looks at you...you can’t say no. We went to see if there was anything we could do but they wouldn’t let us unless we were trained professionals or what not. Well, honestly, fuck that. People were hurt and all that, they needed as many as they could helping. After driving around and stuff, we found our way to Jesse’s place at like 4 in the morning. We snuck our way into his basement and hung out until about 4:30. After that, Natasha, Tiffany, Rob and I drove about Evansville for about an hour. Rob and Tiff fell asleep in the backseat, so that left Tasha and me some privacy to listen to the radio and talk. Well, we listened to the radio more so than actually getting a chance to talk, but just having her in the seat next to me was like heaven. Well, I took them home and then us. After getting just a few hours of sleep, woke up around 10 am. The news was still going on about the events of the morning. I don’t blame them. It was horrid and I still feel for all those effected by it. It just does me good to see how fast the city and state came to the aid of it’s people. But as much as I wanted to let my mind think/settle on the world as a whole, I was quickly brought back into my own little corner of the universe. About 6 or so Sunday night, I got a call from Tiffany. She was almost in tears. I asked her what was wrong and she asked me if I’d seen Tasha. Of course, I hadn’t seen her since I dropped them off and she told me Tasha had ran away. My face went pale as a ghost. I wanted to scream but I was in the middle of Best Buy. I kept my cool and headed on to call everyone I knew if they’d seen or heard from her. After about an hour of worrying, she calls Rob’s cell and tells us that she’s fine but by herself at her house. I get in the jeep and floor it to her place. We get there and I walk to the front door slowly, and she’s standing there. I wanted to scream and cuss her out sooooooo fucking much. But once she wrapped her arms around me...all I could do was stay quiet and thank what ever controls the cosmos that she was safe. I waited for her to pack her bags and I took her home with me. My parents once offered her a room to stay at and she wanted to take them up on the offer. Sadly, that part of the house isn’t ready yet. So, I hung out with her for a few hours and took her to Kim’s house where she stayed the night. But before that, we made plans for her to skip school on Monday. I didn’t expect her to, though. Monday~ 7:12 am...my cell rings and a number I’ve never seen before pops up on the caller ID...Hey, Tim, we still on for today? Natasha had asked her mom to call her in and asked me to pick her up at Harrison when I dropped Rob off. Well, I picked her up at the circle drive in front of the office...that girl is braver/more foolish than most...and we left. Sadly, after breakfast, I was supposed to help my parents finish painting/working on the house. So, as badly as I just wanted to make it a day of the two of us, up until about 6 it was spent working. SORRY TASH!!! Anyways, it was interesting spending an entire day with her. Most of the time with her was either spent laying about the house talking or carrying her on my shoulders. We talked a lot and such. She’s got me taking her dress shopping for Harrison’s Christmas dance and I’m going to be taking her tanning. The day she wants to do both of those hasn’t been decided, but she said I better not cancel or I’ll make her cry. Watch her choose a day that I’ve already got something going on and it’s either her or that, a damned if I do/damned if I don’t situations. There was actually one moment that she, inadvertently mind you, actually made me collapse to the floor out of breath. The way my new living is set up is that it has two large windows on either side of the front door; one giant on the side one and two small ones on either side of the fireplace. It was about 1 or so, and the sun was coming in through the giant one fairly well (there’s another house to that side) and it gleamed across our carpet rather lovely. Natasha and I were just taking a break from painting the upstairs and I went to the kitchen for a drink when I heard her say how warm the carpet was in the living room. I walk through the dining room and she’s sitting in the sunlight and sun is just gleaming radiantly in her eyes and bouncing off her so perfectly. At that time I was drinking some Sobe and began to choke. I mean, I’d seen some beautiful stuff in my life, but that literally takes the cake. I fell to my knees as I coughed, I was so totally choking. She came over to check on me and asked me what was wrong and I told her that she could say I was suddenly hit by a strong sense of inspiration. Anyways, the day went on, we found ourselves hanging out with Jesse at Two-Bit (the arcade by Showplace East). There I showed off my horrid DDR skills...if you can even call it that. We walked back to Tucker’s (that’s Jesse’s last name) and just goofed around. Well, time passed and we had to get Tasha home in about an hour to two hours. She didn’t want to go home right away and I didn’t have the jeep. So, I called my dad to bring it by. And then this is where things got bad. Now, I need to explain something very simply. My parents are completely giving when it comes to the time my brother and I stay out to. They know we are good kids and that we won’t do anything wrong to get into trouble. We are allowed to stay out as long as we want as long as we check in and are in the house by sun raise. Not too much to ask, right? I don’t think so either. Well, it was a school night and we were supposed to be home at a reasonable time so Rob could get some sleep. Well, one thing led to another and lets just say that we weren’t in the house until nearly four in the morning. Not really a reasonable hour. It scared my mom nearly to death cause both of our phones were dead and they couldn’t get a hold of us. What we had done was pick up some friends and just drive around town. Natasha didn’t want to go home at all and, like I said, I can’t say no to her. I think she realizes that, too. And once we picked up this one guy who I’ve been friends with for years, it’s like I ceased to exist to her. Then to keep me and Rob out of serious trouble, I was able to get Tucker to cover for us and say we all accidentally fell asleep at his house watching Adult Swim. So, I lied to my parents for the first time in nearly 11 years all for the sake of making sure a girl was happy? Well, I dropped Natasha off about quarter to four and gave her a big ol` hug. I told her that if she ever tries to run away again to call me and I’ll come and get her, that I’d take her as far away from her home as she wants. It wasn’t that I condone running from your problems...hell, I’ve wanted to do it many times....but I want to know that she is safe. I’ll admit, it was hard letting her go. I’d been with her basically this entire weekend and I didn’t want her to do anything stupid. I mean, Tasha is a smart girl, but can do some rather stupid shit. I just worry about her, that’s all. As we drove off, Rob and Jesse looked at one another and then Rob started in on how I’m “half-in love with Natasha” and Tucker agreed. Basically, he can’t decide rather or not I love her like a sister/friend or if I love her love her. Really, I can see where their coming from. But as happy as I am right now in my life...or more so what happiness I have found in this life...I am not going to risk it on Natasha. She’s got this guy that is so into her and I can’t tell rather or not she is into him as well. Frankly, I just can’t compete. Who I am completely throws me out of the running. Lol...though one would think that I was actually trying to by how protective I am of her and all I did this weekend... Finally...Tuesday...~ Honestly, I did nothing today. I was sicker than a dog and had a headache the size of the Grand Canyon. I found my way online earlier finally to check on Bell and a few others. I can honestly say that I am beyond proud of you, Jess. Not many people can do what you did without ever wanting something in exchange. You proved just how good of a person you truly are. I’m honored to call you my friend. Also, speaking of you, thank you so much for the birthday gift. It was lovely beyond words...no pun intended. It was truly the best gift I got. *Hugs tightly, not wanting to let go of her either* I also found my favorite musical of all time...Cannibal! The Muscial. It’s from Troma films and is written by, staring and such the guys of South Park: Matt Stone and Trey Parker. It is so damn funny and is definitely one of their better non-South Park related works. But nothing beats Team America: World Police, though. It’s just good to laugh some more. ^_^ Everyone should really check it out. Well...*sighs*...that was a very long, long update and I apologize for my lengthy absence. I’m going to jet cause it’s like 3 something in the morning. So, I’ll catch you all later hopefully. Later. ^_^