Derec Scott: One Strange Cookie

T and I were out of town for a week over Thanksgiving break. We both wanted to go explore the beautiful country around the Southwest and were unsure of where to go and rather late in the game decided that we'd like to visit several of the national parks and monuments in southern Utah. We also wanted to run into a friend of his whom he hadn't seen in several years who was flying into Las Vegas on Wednesday night.

So, Tuesday night last week we were still undecided on what exactly our plans were. T suggested that we stick around in town until Friday then head to Las Vegas then on to Utah. I wanted to leave as soon as we could in order to maximize our time in Utah. We went to bed still without a solid plan in mind for the week.

Wednesday morning came and went and finally in early afternoon we were both up and I went online in search of room rates in Las Vegas for that and Thursday night. I found a really good deal at the Stratosphere so I convinced T that we should reserve the room, quickly throw together our things and head out. He reluctantly agreed and around 3:30 that afternoon we were on the road. As Thanksgiving traffic would have it - we were stuck trying to get past Phoenix for a couple of hours and ended up arriving in Vegas about 8 hours later - about an hour after his friends flight was supposed to arrive and two hours after his friend called to let us know that she didn't make her flight and wouldn't be arriving until Friday night...

Anyway, even though neither of us wanted to be in Vegas over Thanksgiving we tried to make the most of it. Thursday morning we woke up to rain - lots of it. The streets were flooded so we took a taxi to the opposite end of the strip to go see the Bodies Exhibition which T had been wanting to see since he missed seeing it in Phoenix (just like I did). After that we headed back to our hotel and had dinner, returned to our room. His ex-roommate who had just moved to Vegas shortly after we met dropped by and visited for a while. After that we headed to to top of the Stratosphere tower and rode the Big Thrill (twice). Unfortunately the ride cameras weren't operational that evening and so we don't have any of those photos I wanted...

We decided that since we spent two nights in Vegas anyway we should go ahead and stay another so that we could see his friend (who did in fact make it to Vegas Friday night). On our way out of the hotel Friday morning we were stopped by a woman who was giving free show and dinner thickets to couples who would attend a sales presentation. At first she didn't think to ask us if we were interested, then at the last minute she stopped us and asked if we were in town with our “beloved”. When I said that we were, she asked where they were. I pointed to T and replied, he's right here. The woman replied, “Oh...” However, she did try to make her deal work for us, but we couldn't quite qualify. Oh well, Las Vegas has been no good to me in that regard every time I'm there... We spent the rest of Friday shopping for food and the gear we needed for the camping we were looking forward to. Friday night we met up with his friend and spent an hour or two with her before heading to his ex-roommates place to crash the night.

Saturday morning we finally headed out for Utah. Our first stop was in Zions National Park. We took a short hike a bit before sunset and ended up hiking in the dark. We ran into a group of people who had some light and apparently knew the correct trail to take out and made it back to the car.

From there we headed out towards Bryce Canyon National Park. We were hoping to find a campsite to stop at but all of the campgrounds we were seeing were either closed or off the main road - under snow and mud - conditions I was hesitant to drive my car through. Finally around 11:30PM we decided to give up hope of finding a campsite and pulled into the gas station of the nearest town and stayed there overnight (in a room over the convenience store).

Sunday we explored Bryce Canyon - it's perhaps the most beautiful place I've been to. I say that even though it was covered in snow (not completely though). We did manage to find a camping site for that night which was car accessible and setup camp - preparing for the expected 20 degree or lower temperatures we'd face that evening. We had a fire going, made some hot chocolate and prepared dinner. It was pretty late when we ran out of wood for the fire and crawled into our sleeping bags in the tent. Surprisingly, neither of us (mostly me) was cold that night.

Monday afternoon we headed out and began our trip back to Tucson. We stopped at a trail along the highway and hiked away from the road to see some toadstool formations.. Then we stopped at Lake Powell, the Glen Canyon Damn, then a short distance further in Page, AZ for dinner. The rest of the trip was uneventful - except for running out of gas (literally right after the low gas light came on) about a mile and a half outside of Flagstaff, AZ and the nearest gas station. We ended up calling the highway patrol who came out and took T to the gas station and brought him back with some gas... That cost us a little over an hour but we eventually got back on the road and were home by 1:30AM Tuesday morning.

I took quite a few pictures, some of which I think turned out rather well - others I think were a waste of the electrons used to record them. In any event, I'll get pictures up one of these days in the not too distant future!

I got the results of my ultrasound and they didn't find anything in it, so it seems that I've only had an infection of sorts... Thankfully, the symptoms are also clearing up and I'll be back to normal soon!

The time for some serious medical tests to see just what's wrong with me. It's been roughly a year and a half since my last round of ‘gee, what caused that’ followed by a visit to the doctor and subsequent medical tests. Well, as it happens for at least a week and a half I've been aware that something isn't right inside of me when I discovered blood where it doesn't belong...

I've been to the doctor - after arguing with the receptionist while trying to make an appointment. She told me that my doctor wasn't in the office the day I wanted to see a doctor (even if not mine) and that the earliest he could see me was on the 30th (which was way too long to wait to begin treatment) and that she wasn't able to let me see another doctor because it was against the rules (which is retarded). Anyway, she did put me on a list so that a nurse would call me and discuss the issues I'm experiencing. When the nurse called she immediately scheduled me an appointment to see a doctor that day.

That was Tuesday. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic - hoping that I simply have a case of prostatitis. However, there's a possibility that the symptoms I'm experiencing are the result of testicular cancer so I've been scheduled for an ultrasound this coming Tuesday. Anyway, that's my excitement for the moment. I can't wait for my ultrasound results...

This weekend has been a challenge to get through. It's the first my boyfriend and I spent apart and, as if that weren't enough, none of my close friends were available to help me pass the time. I felt a bit confused - like I wasn't sure what to do with myself all weekend (I'm not too sure what to do tomorrow although I do have a few ideas).

Anywho... We drove up to the airport early Friday morning and after a quick bite to eat we parted ways with him heading through security while I headed off to return to Tucson and work. That was the last time I saw him - a bit before 4AM Friday...

We've spoken several times since then. Unfortunately, I missed the first few calls he placed to me; however he left the most incredible voicemail messages which, when I listened to them, really cheered me up.

Anywho... He's scheduled to catch an early morning flight which, if all goes well, will have him back about 16 hours from now. I'm so excited to see him again that the weekend has seemed to be an eternity; regardless of what I do time just crawls. It's similar to the anticipation I had as a child on christmas eve only much more intense - very nearly painfully so... 16 hours to go...

My boyfriend is heading to Virginia next weekend to attend a wedding. I'm happy that he's able to go; he has been looking forward to it but wondering if he'd be able to make it or not. We had briefly discussed the possibility of me flying out with him but for various reasons that didn't seem practical. We hadn't come to a firm conclusion so this morning I asked him whether he'd prefer that I go with him to Virginia or, instead, we take a weekend trip together after he returns - suggesting Six Flags Magic Mountain as a destination. My preference is the weekend trip to Six Flags; partly because I enjoy that park but mostly because it'd afford more time together than me accompanying him to Virginia. He decided on the weekend trip to Six Flags (he's so good). The only downside is that, while he's gone, we'll be spending our first weekend apart...

I'm taking the rest of the day off and driving out to meet a friend of mine (from Virginia) in Yuma, AZ for dinner. She's there on a business trip and will be returning home Friday and since I had plans which I couldn't back out of over the weekend, we are left with only time for dinner. Oh well, it's been nearly a year since we've seen each other so I'm excited and looking forward to it.

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to purchase an original work of art which struck my fancy when I first saw it. Anyway, I've taken it to be framed and have been looking forward to bringing it back home to hang over my couch. It was supposed to be available today (well, the estimate was today).

Rather than just go to the store and pick it up I called to see if it were ready and apparently it isn't yet. There's a ‘chunk missing’ from the frame so they've rush ordered replacement framing materials and expect that the replacement will be available and installed by Wednesday. Ugh, the painting has been gone for over two weeks and now I must wait another 2 days... Yes; I am that impatient sometimes.

This last weekend, the one during which T and I finally met again, was chock full of new experiences, adventure, and plenty of excitement. It turned out to be a 4 day, 2 night adventure. Early on he warned me that he'd corrupt me if I hang around him long enough (which apparently only took a day or two). Oh well, it was worth it. I had to miss a second day of work this week and my readers know how desperate I am to use my vacation leave, I can't think of much better way to spend it than with someone like T. Continue reading "An impressive weekend..."

I'm back to my not-sleeping phase, boo. Yesterday I woke up at 2:30AM but thankfully got in a little ‘nap’ before leaving for work. Today I woke up at 1:00AM and didn't get a nap in before going to work.

Anyway, I called T this evening, we were on the phone for over an hour. We've made plans or made plans to make plans for most of the weekend so that's pretty exciting.

I'm too tired to write more, so I'm going to try one of my Lunesta's and hope to get some sleep.

Not too long ago Trina worked some magic to initiate communication between T and me via MySpace. We haven't talked a lot; he's been sick, I've been away, etc. Anywho...

He sent me a message recently to the effect that he's getting over whatever it was that he had and hopes that we can meet sometime soon. Sounded good to me, so I drafter a rather lengthy reply in which, amongst several other things, I said (after my little hospital incident) that I was happy he's feeling better and suggested that we plan a hike for either this upcoming or the following weekend.

I was a little bit disappointed when I read his response last Thursday. There were two lines (really, only two lines?), which basically said, gee, it sucks to be us, I'm sorry to hear about your (hospital) incident. No mention of getting together. It just didn't make sense; he's at least as interested in us meeting as I am. His previous message even suggested that we do so and he responded positively to Trina's stalker phone call the day we met so I was confused by the lack of follow-up to my hike proposal.

It turned out he did have more to say. However, for reasons unknown to me, when I logged into MySpace on the computer to read his message, only the first two lines were displayed. It wasn't until today when I logged into MySpace on my phone that I saw the rest of his message. Ugh... What's that all about?

Anyway, he did respond to my suggestion that we go hiking (this Sunday) and has separately brought up the topic of a caving trip. Sounds like a lot of fun!