Saturday, April 19, 2008

Happy Birthday to ME! (and us)

Good weekend, so far.
Katie Leibert's birthday was on Thursday, April 17th, and she and I had planned on celebrating our birthdays together on Thursday, April 24th, halfway point, you see?
Well, one of her flatmates decided she wanted to take Katie to Pho's (Vietnamese restaurant in Round Rock, Khang claims it's pronounced like "fuhz"). Anyway, the plan was to go on Friday, yesterday, around 4:30 and we would be back by 7:00 PM for me to be on weekend duty in the Ghetto.
On my way over to Katie's flat in Beall, I run into Wade Rogers, who asks me if Landon (Taylor) "got all (my) stuff packed?" Well, having no idea what he was talking about, I can't help him with any sort of affirming information, even though he persists with his questions until we part ways completely (I was walking into the SDO/SLO/Frazier building, he to Gettys).
I make my way out to the apartments to 1) go to Katie's flat; and 2) because I was going to pick up a candle at Erica Valenta's place for Midnight March, last night...or...this morning. At any rate, I'm out in Independence Village. As I leave Erica's apartment, Lindsey Harkrider, who lives there as well, hands me a candle saying it's from her, and gives me an...odd...? yes, odd look as I walk out the door.
Once at Katie's, five of us -- Garrett Smith, Katie Leibert, Hayley Friedman, Lindsey Villareal, and myself -- take off in Lindsey's car towards Pho's, explaining that Landon and Autumn (Woolsey) had gone on ahead of us and would be waiting for us to arrive.
About half way to RR, we make a pit stop at a gas station just outside of Georgetown (Landon's hometown). While mingling around the car, I tell Katie of my odd run-in with Wade earlier at the SDO. She tells me that all of her over-night stuff is gone, and she can't even find her tennis shoes or pillow and blankets. What's more, is that Garrett aparently sent her a text message right after departure from campus telling her that he told "Daniel" that I would not be at Midnight March, and to explain that to Glynis and Erica. Katie replies to this text message courteously, to which Garrett replies, "Oh, wrong number. Hello from the back seat!"
Something is obviously up.
Well, Lindsey manuevers the car back on to I-35, but this time going North, instead of South to RR, and it's clear something is going on. We make a few a turns, we go here, we go there, I ask if I'll still be back in time for duty at 7:00, and Lindsey answers yes.
Eventually, we get lost and wait about 15 minutes for Sterling Kay Parker, of all people, accompanied by Autumn to come to our rescue and take us to our destination.
After a few more minutes of driving around the more scenic routes of Georgetown, and a few more wrong turns, we find ourselves entering a Texas state park. Sterling and Autumn pay for our entry into the park, and we follow the winding road deeper and deeper into the park. We finally stop, park, and get out, at a camp site maybe 100 yards off of the water's edge of Lake Georgetown, furnished with a tent, two kayaks, fishing poles, our clothes for a night's stay, and Landon scurying around the site perparing things for us, Katie and me. Everyone I ran into from Gettys to Beall, from Wade to Garrett and from Lindsey Villareal to Lindsey Harkrider, knew about it.
Our friends put together a surprise birthday camp-out at Lake Georgetown, just for us. We had 6 kayaks for 8 people, ribs for dinner, and afterwards a camp fire and smores. I even made a torch out of a log, rolled up newspapers, and cooking spray. Twas fun. In the morning, this morning really, we fished, we kayaked, and we ate smores and granola bars for breakfast. Katie and I paddled across the lake to some cliffs, got out, walked around, and found a football to throw back and forth to each other on the way back. All in all, it was a great birthday.
Thank you friends, I love you. I dedicate this birthday, and this blogpost, to you guys.
Lovelovelove


geoff

2 comments:

Jeff said...

Sounds like you had a great time Geoff. You've got some pretty good friends there!!

Glynis said...

When I was visiting you at church the other day, Autumn called to let me know why you and Katie couldn't come to Midnight March. Before she told me that, she asked if I was with Katie, and I said no. I guess she assumed that I was NOT with you so she told me all about the plan. Hahaha... whoops! It was real funny and I felt awkward, but I'm glad I wasn't the one to ruin it for you!!! :D Glad you had fun!