I'm back and I'm sunburned, but oh so happy!

Tubing or "toobing", as all the signs say in Gruene, Tx. is really ......well, it's an experience. Here's how you do it:
1. Get a truck or other large vehicle and fit as many people as you can inside
2. Bring coolers, koozies, and a lot of sunblock
3. Buy as much Pabst, Lonestar, and keystone or other cheap beer of choice as you can fit in a cooler with 2 bags of ice
4. Jam to Willie Nelson, Beck, or Pat Green ( if you are so inclined ) on the way there
5. Get on school bus wearing only your bathing suit and whatever you think you can fit in your innertube, beer in hand
6. Get in tube, float, drink, hang on to your friends so they won't float away, and be merry :). Oh, and MIND THE JAGGED ROCKS.

Since it was 4th of July weekend...the river was basically a floating keg party with no cops. There were giant subwoofers playing hip hop attached to some dude's tube, the Austin kids were smoking pot, and the A&M kids were doing beer bongs. I was expecting to just fall asleep in the sun, but there were rapids, rocks, and lots of bugs. People were jumping off trees. Everyone was friendly, though, and that was cool to say hi and strike up conversations with people I didn't know...and even though I hate " Holla Back Girl", it was fun when pretty much an entire river of people were singing to it and wiggling around in their tubes to the beat. About 2 and a half hours in, I was ready to get the hell out. Natasha ( who is fun and great ) brought allllllll her Mexican cousins and they brought their friends, so after they shotgunned their beer, they were loud and rowdy and I learned a whole lotta new dirty Spanish. There were words that not even Matt had heard. Go San Antonio. " A la Uno! A la Dos! A la Tres....A la Spurs! A la Spurs!" Matt teased me the entire time because I wouldn't pee in the water. That is disgusting, I don't care if everyone else did it. He made it a political issue, " you call yourself a liberal!" I told him that peeing in the water hurt the environment; hurt his turtle friend that we spotted sunning under the tree. Matt just said he had probably evolved to flourish on urine, beer, cigarette butts....and then I thought about the nastiness that was in that river and really really wanted to get out. There were some beautiful areas though. The trees were big and beautiful. In the quieter parts you could smell the food on people's grills, hear them play John Mellencamp or some more Willie Nelson. When we finally did get out, I was burned on my knees, my tummy, my chest, arms, and shoulders. I made sure to wear spf 60 on my face and tops of my feet, since thats the worst place ever to get burned. I also bruised my ass and ripped my bathing suit bottoms on some rocks. Soooo.....while it wasn't a bad experience, I don't really think I want to go again anytime soon. Matt loved it because Texas is still new and fascinating to him.

Speaking of El Matt, we decided we are going to take on the big "R". His brother Anthony pulled him aside at Sherlock's when he thought I wasn't listening and said " dude, she's great." I couldn't hold back my smile. He asked me shyly that night if I wanted to be in a relationship and I said " yup!" When we pulled away from kissing, there was the slightest pop of a blue spark. Honest to God. It was probably because of the all the synthetic material I was wearing in my shirt, but still....that was really cool. I think my single most romantic moment has been replaced.

I can't say it's been easy to get used to. While I was driving us home, and he was asleep in the front seat, I got deja vu. There was a car commercial where a girl was driving, and the guys in the front seat kept changing. It felt kind of like that. But, any new thing will be weird. We often sit around trying to figure out why we felt so endeared to each other. Still can't figure it out. I think maybe it's because we know we both have this vulnerability...and can totally empathisize with each other. We want to protect each other. From what, I don't know.

But, we already have inside jokes! " were there llamas there?" And, he asked to borrow a bunch of my cd's and French movies. Now that's dedication....I don't know if I'll go as far as borrowing his favorite comic-type movies, but we'll see.

In other news, I have my probationary teaching certificate now. Woot! I start training in 25 days. School starts in 35.

And despite my Tom Cruise hatred, and the obvious pro-army propaganda, War of the Worlds is really good!