Pre-Trip Part IV: The Day Before

  Brooklyn, New York, United States
Thursday, July 20, 2006

01 - The Day Before

Today started way too early.  While I hadn't been able to fall asleep until around 3:30, the alarm on my television woke me up at 8:00.  The whole point of getting up at 8:00 all week was to be able to fall asleep earlier than I had been.  Well, it didn't work.  Instead I've just been getting four hours of sleep a night since Monday and I feel pretty crappy.  It probably would have been better to just sleep late and stay on my normal schedule, and then just be tired tomorrow.  At least I would have been well rested all week... now I'm ridiculously exhausted and my eyes are all bloodshot and I'm still not on a good schedule.  Oh well.  Anyway, I was up at 8:00 this morning and I was absolutely exhausted.  I got up for a few minutes and watched some TV, but then I just laid in bed and tried to fall back asleep.  I didn't care about not being able to fall asleep tonight anymore, I needed some sleep!  I laid in bed tossing and turning until 9:00, when I heard mom get up.  I still laid in bed but I just couldn't fall asleep.  At 10:00 my Aunt Stacy called and mom was in the shower so I answered it and talked for a few minutes, and I guess that woke me up because I got up and dressed a few minutes after that.

03 - The Day Before

I then went downstairs and went on the computer for a while.  I really just uploaded some pictures, checked my Myspace and a few message boards, and checked my AOL mail.  Then mom went to 711 to get an iced coffee and the ninety-nine cents store to get herself, dad and Mike a few cheap pairs of flip flops to wear on the water rides, and I had some Frosted Flakes for breakfast.  I thought it was Special K and was surprised by how sweet it was!  I never really like Frosted Flakes...  Moving on.  At 12:00 I laid on the couch in the living room and watched "Warped: Inside and Out," a Vans Warped Tour special I had Tivo'd on Fuse.  Halfway through it a huge moving truck pulled up in front of the house and just sat there for twenty minutes.  Then a bunch of people came and started unloading Marketeer's from the truck to a van that had pulled up behind it.  It was very weird.  Mom got home a few minutes later, and since the truck was blocking our driveway she couldn't pull in.  She was going to tell them to move but there was a spot in front of our neighbor's house so she just parked there.  I then ran upstairs to wake up Mike since he had a haircut appointment and then I watched the end of the Warped Tour special.

08 - The Day Before

By 1:00 I was more tired than ever and I still hadn't packed yet.  For months before this vacation I honestly couldn't wait to pack.  It always seems like such a fun thing to do until you actually have to do it!  And I really didn't want to pack!  I laid in bed and watched "The Hills" and a few episodes of "Step By step" before realizing that I had to get going.  I put my suitcase on my bed and packed as best as I could.  With my shorts, shirts, pajamas, undergarments, robe, sneakers, flip flops, DVDs, books, magazines and more, it was definitely a tight fit.  I got it all in there, though, and then went about packing my toiletries which I HATED!  Everything that I packed in my suitcase I wouldn't need until we got to Orlando.  However, my toiletries I still needed for tonight and tomorrow morning so I had to go through all of my makeup, creams, body washes, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, nail polish, etc. and decide what to pack and what to leave out.  I wound up just packing it all to see if it would fit.  This was an even tighter fit than my suitcase was.  I wound up having to get out my Sephora bag to pack my hair stuff since it wouldn't fit in either of my toiletry bags.  I watched "Boy Meets World" on the Family Channel as I packed away my toiletries.  I feel like "Boy Meets World" is a tradition when it comes to going on trips, as crazy as that sounds!  When I packed last year I watched my "Boy Meets World" Season One DVD's so I now I have to watch "Boy Meets World" whenever I pack for a vacation!  It's my favorite show ever... I have a very unhealthy obsession!  Haha!  I love being able to relate it to traveling, something I love just as much!

12 - The Day Before

By the time I was almost finished packing it was 3:00 and dad was home from work and Mike was back from getting his haircut.  We were originally planning on ordering pizza for dinner but mom thought it would be easier to just go out for Chinese at China New Star a few blocks away.  I really didn't want to go since I was exhausted, dressed in my sweats and I wasn't yet finished packing.  There was nothing to eat in the house, though, so I changed quickly and we were out of the house by 3:10.  I was in a really bad mood.  In fact, we all kind of were.  While we should have been psyched to be leaving for a three-week trip to Florida tomorrow, we were all annoyed by the heat and stressed out from having left so many things until the last minute.

13 - The Day Before

We got to China New Star and sat at the back of the restaurant.  The restaurant is always packed by 6:00 but empty during lunch hours, and today was no different.  Our waiter was great.  He was very friendly and kept joking around about how it had been a long day and how tired he was.  He gave us a few good laughs and was a really nice guy.  We all wound up ordering the lunch special.  I got chicken and rice soup with plain lo mein, mom got wanton soup with chicken and string beans, dad got hot and sour soup with sesame chicken, and Mike got hot and sour soup with mixed vegetables.  Mom and I shared, and it was all delicious.  The waiter who was supposed to be catering to our table had been having lunch when we arrived so we had gotten the nice waiter.  By the time we were ready for dessert he was done, though, and he wasn't as nice as our original waiter.  Oh well.  We all got ice cream for dessert - I got chocolate, mom and Mike got vanilla, and dad got pistachio.  By 4:00 we were heading back to the house, but not before a little snafu.  When mom got in the car her door swung out and got stuck on the curb.  She tried to close it but it was just getting scratched so Mike got out and lifted the door up to close it.  Mom was positive, though, that the door would have been loosened off the curb if dad would have pulled the car up.  I don't know how that would have worked, but she had a fit and wanted us to pull back into our spot so she could show us that the door would have closed if we would have pulled up.  No one wanted the door to be scratched so we all just agreed.  It was actually really funny, and I even got some of it on video!  Haha!

16 - The Day Before

Back at the house I went up to my room and finished packing.  When I was done I laid in bed and watched "Grounded For Life" on the Family Channel.  I used to love that show and this episode was hysterical.  It was the one when Jimmy called the *67 number and had to hide the phone bill.  I cracked up the whole time!  Good stuff.  I then went downstairs to go on the computer for a while.  Mike was on the main computer playing a game so I went on dad's to check my Myspace and look at some message boards before my Aunt Stacy and cousin Alison came over and I went upstairs.  Mom, dad, Aunt Stacy, Alison and I sat in the living room for a while, talking about the trip and about life in general.  Alison was busy playing Donkey Kong on the Game Boy I gave her on the 4th of July until she got the urge to play it on the TV.  So we went downstairs and played Donkey Kong on our Super Nintendo.  It's old, but still the best system in my eyes!  She really just watched while I played and made up some crazy, elaborate story about Michael being tied to a roller coaster and tripping over not only a rock, but a golf ball.  It was pretty funny!

18 - The Day Before

We then sat in the kitchen for a little while.  Mom gave Aunt Stacy an extra package of hot dogs that we hadn't eaten and I tried to get Alison to sing some Kelly Clarkson songs so I could tape it but she was being a brat.  She knows every word of "Since You've Been Gone" and "Because of You", it's the funniest thing!  Then we all sat in the living room some more and Oreo just completely stretched out on her back on mom's lap.  It was the cutest thing, she's the most spoiled dog of all time!  Alan came to pick up Aunt Stacy and Alison at 7:00 and we hung out for a few more minutes before it was time for them to leave.  Alison and Aunt Stacy gave us all hugs and kisses, and Aunt Stacy jumped on mom to say goodbye.  It was hysterical!  Even though we won't see them for three weeks, and we usually see them at least twice a week, mom and Aunt Stacy talk on the phone forty-five times a day so we'll definitely be hearing from them a lot.

24 - The Day Before

At 7:15 Mike came up to watch "Attack of the Show" on G4 and I went on the computer to upload the pictures and video I had taken today, and to post a bulletin on Myspace saying goodbye to everyone.  I stayed on until 8:15 when I realized that I still had a lot to do.  I went up to my room and watched "Big Brother All-Stars" while I took off my old nail polish and redid my nails.  I only watched half of the show before 9:00 rolled around and I went downstairs to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" with everyone.  Martha and Dimitry were eliminated and I was sad to see both of them go.  I really like all of the contestants this year, definitely a lot more than I like the contestants on all the other reality shows I watch.  We also fast-forwarded through the Tivo'd results show episode of "America's Got Talent" where a dancing/acrobatic act and an acapella group got through.  I don't really like that show, it's gotten boring.

30 - The Day Before

At 10:15 I went up to my room and watched some more of "Big Brother" before I got some paper together to bring on the trip.  Although we're bringing the laptop to Orlando and I will be typing up my report each night, I want to bring a few pieces of paper with me each day to take notes on what we do, experience, eat, etc.  Then I went through my toiletry bags to see what I would need for tonight and took a quick shower, before watching the end of "Big Brother" while I typed up some of today's report.  I then checked a few last minute things online before watching "I Want To Be a Soap Star" at 11:00.  I then tried to fall asleep but all I could do was toss and turn...