Ok, I'm back. For those of you that know my dad all he had to say was one word after getting me to come upstairs and into the family room: "pen?" Yep. Ok, so this weekend was my fall break. I went to the lake with Carl. Everyone else was either going home (like Joe and David) or had a test (like Vick with the GRE) or just had so much damn work they couldn't spare any time (like Drew). Various other circumstances led it to be just me and the Carl man. After the four hot foreign exchange girls cancelled, it was jus thte two of us. (PS THERE WERE NEVER ANY HOT FORIEGN EXCHANGE GIRLS BUT ITS FUN TO THINK SO, ISN'T IT? ESPECIALLY IF ONE WAS NAMED "Popyavitch") So we went and relaxed in the middle of nowhere. When we got there we went hiking back into some woods behind where a creek branches off of the main lake. It was beutiful. We went pretty deep before we stopped and I said "So wich way should we go now, Carl." Carl took a second and answered "Since there is a Doberman Pincher over there, we should go that way! (Pointing away from the angry looking dog)" So we ran. Or at least, I ran. Carl walked faster but I took off like I was still a much skinnier Chandler. Tubby has not run that fast since high school track practice. It was pretty funny. Anyway, we got away and got back to the edge of the creek. There Carl explained to me that the huge grey vats of smooth looking mud were these pools that he used to play in when small. I thought that was nice. So I went over and just put my hand in it and thought, "this is nice." THEN I WAS IN IT! It was purty fun. I acted like a scary swamp monster and stuff until I realized "ok Joe, you ARE stressed." Carl got muddy too, basically doing the same thing, flipping out (much like a ninja but with no killing). We got the mud off in the lake and then made hot dogs and beer. We made a bon fire that night and stayed very amused at the awesome echo that the lake provided. It would return almost three words after a one second delay!
The next day we swam and and attempted to find paddles for the canoe but had no luck. We went out on the pontoon boat (it was 75 degrees!) and had much fun. I got to read a bit. We played our guitars. The day ended with more hot dogs and more beer and another bon fire. We got up the next day and went back to B'ham. Then I went to T-town to pick up Nick for the weekend. Here begins the second half of the story.
If I can ever give you any advice it would be NOT to drive to Tuscaloosa on the day of thier homecoming. There was bumper to bumper traffic the whole way down and people were literally rolling down their windows and yelling at eachother from opposingly decked out Alabama and Ole' Miss vans. It was really scary. Then when I got to town there was an old lady IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET singing the fight song over and over and over again. A huge crepe-paper visage of Big Al blocked the entrance to a church next to Nick's dorm. As soon as I pulled in to the parking lot of Nick's dorm, I was blocked in by other cars. There were idiots trying to park in the ONLY EXIT IN THE WHOLE DAMN LOT! He moved when others yelled at him. Nick finally came down to the car (I had called Meghan and told here this story already to keep sane) and we left. on the way out it was like everyone on the road on the way out was on crack. Bad crack. It was most unpleasant.
Then we got home and went to church and Los Mex. Nick went out with his friends last night and I stayed home and watched BBC shows on PBS with mama and drank guinness. I know I'm a party animal. You don't have to tell me.
Today we're having a nice big lunch and daddy and I are watching football. All in all its been a great weekend. I hope the week is equally as nice.
I hope everyone is well!

Peace,
Joe