Talyn: Flashbacks--Episode One

In my mind, this semester hasn’t been all that eventful, but the little, normal, day-to-day things is what blogging is all about, right? That's what people keep telling me. Too bad I only saw it that way when my day-to-day activities were hysterical enough or cool enough to mention--the most notable things being in London, DC, and, in times past, on BYU campus (remember U.G., in the library, with the bad pickup line). Unfortunately I haven't been fed any cheesy pickup lines (at least from people I don't know...and that seems to be a criteria for me to feel alright about shaming people online), none of my professors were obnoxious enough to complain about, my job is pretty low key with nothing to report, and life just seems fairly bland most days. However, there are things that I find extremely dull and typical that some people enjoy reading about, which makes sense since I've been so busy this semester that I can barely keep people updated as it is.

So, I am going to start from the beginning and do what I can to fill in the gaps of this semester. I'll do what I can to spice things up a bit, but this is just my life. And like Bree and Gwen Woolstenhulme poetically put it, I am not capable of sugar coating a dang thing...

SO here it is. Flashback number one.

At the end of August, I went to on a road trip. By myself. Longest day of my life.

This is what I said in an email to a friend the day before I left:

"I'm headed out of town tomorrow morning to have a whirlwind of a few days. I am flying to Sacramento, meeting up with my cousin and driving two and a half hours to Redding (northern California), vacationing for a day and an evening, and then driving 9 or 10 hours back home to Utah to bring back a car for my aunt. Party. I'm sure I'll have plenty of music and books on CD, but I'm really hoping I don't drive myself bonkers with all of that alone time. Don't get me wrong, I like being alone more than most people, but that is a long time all at once."

This is what I said in an email to the same friend the day after I got back:

"My trip to California was actually quite the ordeal. The 10 hour drive home turned into a 16 hour drive home. 'Nough said, eh? Haha I'll admit it was lonely and frustrating, but I did get to listen to a book on CD and some pretty great music.

The ordeal was centered around my uncle telling me the engine would explode (that is the exact word that he used) if I drove in the rain. Turns out it was pouring rain that day, I spent hours along the side of the road (in the middle of the mountainous wilderness with no cell phone reception) because I didn't know what else to do and thought I was going to die if I tried to drive. Then I found out that when he said "explode" he meant "stall." Talk about a huge communication gap. Thankfully I got a call through to my mom and she cleared that up for me and told me to drive and just keep driving.

THEN my aunt made my cousin meet up with me and change the exhaust because that was what would have caused the problem and I was supposed to run into more rain once I hit Utah. I waited for him for 2 hours...and then didn't hit any more rain. Awesome."

Here's the run down.

When I got to Sacramento I met up with my cousin, Trent, who drove me to Redding. We had a super fun time and I loved making him listen to songs from Glee, which were mildly painful for him to listen to. It was only fair after he left me stranded at his bachelor pad house for a couple hours while he went to class. Pretty sure I'm not going to forget, or identify, that smell. Ever. I'm starting to believe that guys in their early twenties flat out just don't shower. Love ya, Trenty.

I got to Redding and Trent, Paralee, Tom, and I went to dinner at Red Robin--that was the first experience I had riding in Par's new Subaru Outback. Let me just say that I hate Outbacks almost as much as I hate an old Ford Taurus. The Taurus, until its new body design came out, was probably THE ugliest car ever built, with the Outback at second. But Subaru done good with the new 2010 body design of the Outback--that car is NICE. I don't know that I'd go out and buy one, but I've been converted into a fan. And who doesn't love all wheel drive when they have ZERO wheel drive. That would be me.

The next day Par and Tom were at school and I spent the day in the sun. Yes, please! I was very proud of that tan, and remember it makes me a little eager for warm weather.

That night, Par and I went to eat at my favorite place of all time, Logan's Roadhouse. It's really similar to Texas Roadhouse, and it is AMAZING. There was the couple sitting in the booth across from us and the girl was an OIKER. She was eating a salad and kept shoving the biggest bites in her mouth--oh my gosh. She couldn't even CHEW because her bites were so big. It was disgusting. I tried to sneak a picture, but to no avail. Truly, though, it was quite a sight. As was the weather I ran into on my way home. This photo doesn't do it justice.

Like I said, I was told that the engine of this car would explode if I drove in the rain because water would get into the engine through the exhaust something-er-other and the engine would explode. Perfect. So it starts pouring and water is in huge puddles on the road and layers of water are rushing down the mountain, and I pull over and turn on my hazard lights because I think I'm going to go up in flames if I try to keep driving. I wait and I wait and the rain isn't letting up and I can't call anyone because I don't have any reception. Great. At one point a car pulls up behind me and a man gets out and walks to my window, which totally freaks me out because I've seen enough crime shows to know that's bad news! I barely roll down my window, after making sure the doors are locked, and this guy just looks at me. Um...okay? So I just say, "Everything's good with me, things are fine." And he says, "Oh, I wasn't going to ask about that, I just want to know how you get to such and such a place." Dude, seriously? Thanks for being so considerate, man! Of course I have no idea how to get where he wants to go, so he leaves.

A couple hours later, Par calls me and tells me that she told Trent to meet up with me and change out the exhaust thinger before I got too far along and hit another storm. I waited for my cousin for over two hours, haha. Ridiculous. Good thing he switched it out because I didn't hit any more rain. Awesome.