06/16/11

UP!  Mariano and Erika are gonna pick me up around noon.  In what?  What will they pick me up in you ask????  Oh, you know…just a jacked up TRUCK!!!  HA!  YES!!!!!  Yea, one of those that has a step so you can actually get into it!  DREEEEEAAAAMY!!!!  Good thang I was wurin’ ma’ boots!

I haven’t seen Mariano since…high school…which was…ugh…20 years ago.  Ouch!  20 years, man!  20 YEARS!  And he’s still the same!!!  Well, he’s not all lanky and skinny anymore since he’s a navy diver, but still crazy sweet and amazing.  So yea.  That’s real nice.  How come everyone I knew back then got all buff and stuff?  Kasper was the same way!  Where’s MY buff??!!  Tssssssss…I just seemed to have gotten more lanky.

We pull into downtown San Diego to get lunch and have to park in a parking garage.  See, usually Mariano is on his bike (motorcycle), so he doesn’t have an issue parking, but this truck can’t just randomly pull into some spot on the side of the road.  Oh.  And don’t forget that we’re in a jacked up truck…yea.  So we pull into a garage and we hit the 6’-8” height restriction with … something…meh?  Whatever, just do it.  The whole way up to the top the antenna decides to hit every carrying beam in the place.  Wow.  That’s embarrassing!  And we did get out and check at one point on the way back down.  We had at LEAST 4 inches from the top of the roof of the truck to the concrete beams of the garage.  Plenty of space!  WAAAAHAHAHA!

Lunch at TGIF with beer and talks and jokes and fun.  Erika recorded a ton of stuff…I’m not too sure I want to see it, but Mariano is a film editor too (in his spare time), so I’m sure it’ll be awesome!  Then we walk around a bit and go into this mall, which is unlike any mall us Eastern folk have been it!  It’s 3 floors and completely open to the elements!  WOW!!!!  There’s even a food court!  Craziness! 

Now we’re gonna go back to my hotel so I can grab my swimsuit and a change of clothes, because we want to go out dancing after we swim in the pool where Mariano lives! 

Pacific Beacon.  Military base.  I haven’t been on a base since 1993 and I just have to say that it feels like home.  I don’t know why, but just driving through the gate and then walking to the store…yea.  That’s home.  I probably should have joined the military, huh?  Naaaaahhhhh…that wouldn’t have been a good idea!  ;) 

But they’re all so YOUNG!  The GIs!  Were they always this young?  Is that dude even old enough to be buying beer??!!!  Oh.  Crap.  I’m getting old huh?  As a side note, I decided to wear my Army shirt this day.  Whoops!  Hey Amber!  How ‘bout you walk around a naval base with an Army shirt on.  Betcha you’ll make fast friends with that ‘un! 

So here’s the base and military housing.  Military house has changed a wee bit since I last saw it.  Yep.  It’s all purdy and clean and modern and they have a Subway in the building and a fancy lobby and roof top swimming pools and roof top jacuzzis…yea.  Changed just a bit from dorm room style housing for Gis.  We were gonna go swimming and hang out in the jacuzzi, but it seems as if everybody else had that same idea and there is no way in hell I am getting into my swimsuit and hanging around a bunch of Navy dudes.  Nope.  Nuh un.  Not gonna do it!  How about we just hang in your apartment (with a balcony) and have a beer and then go up to the pool and hang out there on the side (fully clothed)!  YAY!  I gots ta’ learn some Swedish too!!!  The sounds come from the back of your throat.  It’s difficult and it sounds like you’re saying the same letter over and over again, but they can tell the difference! 

It was an awesome day and night (nite and day cue:  Kid Cudi) other than the fact that those dudes have NO IDEA what good music is!  Tsssssss.  C’on now.  What is this slow bad R&B that you are playing??!!  OH!  Journey!  Ok, that’s fine…nononononono!  Don’t change it!  DAH!!! 

Mariano had 1 beer too many we think and there’s no way he is gonna drive me back to my hotel!  Nope!  Adventure to end the night?  Call a random cab, walk to the side gate, and drive to the hotel!!!!  Crush hug Mariano and Erika before you leave though as Mariano is informing the cab driver that he needs to treat me like royalty and that he will NEVER have someone more important in his cab.  Because he’s got Ambah D in the backset.  V.I.P. brothah!  (hearts)!!!!!! 

20 years don’t mean nuthin’ when you’re with crew.