On Thursday, July 14 me and Jennie left for Los Angeles, I think we got in there about midnight or so.

Friday we went shopping, I bought some used clothes for too much money and we drove all over and went to the Museum of Jurassic Technology. That night we couldn’t find anything to do so we drank wine and looked at the internet.

Saturday I met up with Mike O’Brien at the beach. I said to him “Mike, six years ago if you were to ask me what we’d be doing I would never have said that we’d be laying out like a couple of nancy boys.” That lasted about an hour, neither of us are beach dudes, and we couldn’t hide it. Me and Jennie then drove up to another beach in Malibu, and went to a couple of parties that night.

Sunday we saw Willie Wonka. It was fun to watch. I got to the airport at 8:30 Sunday night.

Monday morning I arrive at JFK and head over to another terminal and get on the plane to Miami. I am about to embark on a 4 day cruise in the Bahamas that Grant is going on because the company he works for sells a bunch of this certain kind of tractor. Just as I am about to get on the plane I get a call from Grant that he has missed his flight in Kansas, and he’ll meet me the next day. I get to Miami and get in a van with two old couples that are with the same group. They don’t talk to me. I get all checked in and meet up with the leaders of the group. They look at me kind of funny cause I don’t fit in. I am on the ship with no friends so I sit in my room and watch TV for a bit and try to nap. Early afternoon I decide to explore the ship and found the bar pretty quick. All expenses were paid, so I loosened up with a few cold ones. Went to the social functions and tried not to give too many details about my life. The other people wanted to talk about tractors, so I asked them questions. By 10 I was pretty drunk and I fell asleep.

Tuesday we ported at Nassau, went to the beach and swam, it was really nice. Crystal clear water and warm, the beach was pretty empty too. Found Grant on the boat that afternoon, we started drinking. That night there was some kind of midnight party by the pool. We partied.

Wednesday we went to CocoCay, an island owned by the cruise line. It was not as good and they cleared us out at 3 in the afternoon. We drank a lot again and made plans to meet up with some other kids at 11, but we fell asleep at 10:30.

Thursday we ported in Key West. We went on this boat called the “Crazy Boat” it delivers what it promises. That afternoon I was convinced I couldn’t have another beer, as I was experiencing some pretty sharp pains in my chest. But I surprised myself on our pub crawl. Key West has a lot of bars and they all have a guy with a guitar singing all day. Lots of people were partying and it was only 2 in the afternoon. That night at dinner one of the old tractor guys, Paul from Kentucky (talks like an old hound dog), told us to meet him on deck 11 later. We partied with this old dude all night. Friday we had to get off the boat at 9am. I was pretty damn tired.

Back in New York I began the healing process. It only lasted one night though. Saturday me and Mike went to look at art. Then we saw Firecracker, the movie filmed in Wamego. It was so terrible I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t have high hopes for this movie, it surpassed my expectations, only in the wrong direction. Just painful to watch. The me and Mike drank a ton of beer to try and forget the experience.