As you may recall from this post (and this one, and this one, and this one...), my most striven for and elusive task this summer has been finding a wild place in which to swim. However, though surrounded by creeks and three rivers of note, the closest I had been able to get was creek-walking and pool swimming.
Yesterday, that finally changed.
A couple weeks back, Briggs ‘ The Mad Researcher’ Alden found an internet guide to swimming holes…just a place where people can note their own favorite spots. He found a few in our general area, and one in particular, Jackson 
Falls, not far from us at all. We did not have time to go before this past weekend, but in all honesty, the stars were rather perfectly aligned for the trip to be when it was; the weather was warm but not sweltering, which was good, as we inadvertently took the long way around, most of which was uphill and through some brush; Anna’s family was visiting her in-laws, but she was home and looking to get out of the house, so I had female moral support and a swimming companion; we had even just been grocery shopping and recently acquired a cooler, so I was able to pack us a picnic lunch.
We got lost a couple times, as we are still breaking in the sat nav, and did have to pull out the computer and check directions once or twice, but eventually we pulled up to a beautiful, woodsy path along a creek. We had an invigorating hike, and by the time we found the spot, 
we were more than ready to cool off in the chilly water. Anna and I had definitely been concerned that we would arrive to a party spot swarming with macho teen guys and high-school girls in skimpy suits that would make us feel fat and old, but the place was relatively deserted when we arrived, and we spent a while splashing in the water and jumping off the falls (with many a girly scream from me and corresponding derision from Anna) and picking up a few scrapes and bruises and having our feet nibbled on by small fish…a phenomenon which I had heard was not uncommon, but had never experienced, myself.
Eventually, a group of adolescents did descend like locusts on the swimming hole, at which point we decided that it was probably a good time to head back. As the return hike was more downhill, it was much more pleasant…and when we got to the car, we had cucumber sandwiches, juice and marshmallow-rice squares waiting for us! All in all, a perfect afternoon.
The rest of the evening was pretty nice as well…I finished up some homework and Anna came over for dinner (massive salad with grilled salmon) and we made two failed attempts at watching a fun romantic comedy — “Conversations With Other Women” = over the top artsy, lots of ‘we’re so clever’ banter and full movie split-screen, and “She’s the One” = just…bad, and full of unlikable characters. …but we still enjoyed hanging out and eating salad. ^_^
Anyway, the place we swam is, apparently, just one of three good swimming spots on that creek…the biggest having a 30′ waterfall and a bigger pool…we are definitely going back to explore further. This time with hiking shoes, instead of flip-flops.
A happy Rei:
the bank their money. It wasn’t even a case of not HAVING money to give the bank — Briggs had just gotten paid and everything…he just hadn’t gotten around to bringing the money TO the bank.
deal with stuff like not having a car and being on the verge of a nervous breakdown, when I returned they would suddenly hike tuition by 200% for no apparent reason and I would have to drop out of school just a couple quarters before graduation and spend the rest of my life working in a Burger Hut.
kitties and puppies, which lasted until the puppies made me so sad I had to leave. I found a bus downtown that would take me where I wanted to go (very exciting. I’m super bad at buses. and would have expected the word ‘buses’ to have another ‘s’, but spellcheck says no.) and, after getting dropped off about a block from Becky’s house, lounged on the grass with my laptop and an open WiFi connection until close enough to game time that I felt it was okay to drop in. I also discovered that the ‘picnic = ants’ trope is totally true when I left a bag containing a sandwich unattended on the grass for a couple hours.
fracture my kneecap on the walkway stones in our yard.
On Tuesday, I had my eye appointment with not Mr. Jerkface. My new optometrist was a blonde female who looked like she sort of belonged in a hospital drama show, or at least in Gyno or Pedes. She was super nice and did lots of tests (unlike Jerkface) and in the end concluded, ‘Gee, it looks like you need stronger contacts, which is what you have been saying all along! Lets get you some — we don’t have the special ones we want to try you on in, but we can give you the stronger prescription right now and see how the work.’ She even checked to find out if I had back-up glasses with me before taking my new ones away to get re-ground (unlike JF). I wore my new contacts all of yesterday afternoon and all of this afternoon and, aside from one incident with a contact loosing itself in the inside corner of my eye…the difference is incredible. My vision still isn’t perfect…especially for stuff like going on my computer…but it is SO much better than before. The real difference is that I don’t feel the the way I did with the last ones — before, my eyes were straining the whole time I was wearing contacts and by the time i took them off, my eyes were so tired I needed a nap. These, after an extended period, start to get a little scratchy and I take them out, but my eyes are relaxed and comfortable the whole time I’m wearing them. It’s MAGICAL.
(super sweet) Dexter cow while Anna milked her.
all, ‘Say WUT?!’, and he was all, nonchalantly, ‘Didn’t you know? Futurama is on again, on Comedy Central. The new episode just came out. Wanna watch it?’ and I was all, ‘HELLS yeah.’ So we did and it was awesome. Then I goofed online again until my brain started melting a little, and watched the first episode of my freshly downloaded Ouran High School Host Club! (Kristin and Heather, if either of you are reading this, you both 
need to watch this…adorable, silly, girly anime in the genre of Fruits Basket and BoF. Dan, if you are reading this and Becky Omega hasn’t watched it, she should too.) It was cute and silly and everything I wanted in a girlie anime. Then I was all, ‘Rei, you have not blogged in EVAR…or at least a couple weeks. All your devoted spammers will be wondering where you are and needing a new blog to post spam on. You can’t disappoint them. Also, you apparently can’t spell disappoint, even though you KNOW how it is spelled.’
