June 1st, 2004

Pre-trip and leaving Oswego

Tuesday was to be spent getting ready for my trip. I found that my suitcase somehow didn’t make the trip up to Oswego last year as I thought, so I borrowed a duffelbag from Kev, which was probably better. We went over to the bank for money, me to have hotel money and food money for the trip, him to pay three months rent (and that was an awesome wad of cash there since he somehow has no checks). We also went to Wal Mart since we both needed a few things. I got batteries, some VHS tapes to tape stuff while I would be gone, and a birthday card for Jeff (my younger brother). Kev then brought me home so I could pack, and when I got home I talked to Kere a bit about my trip and she was nice to let me borrow her camera, I got packed up, then walked over to Kev’s, since Smalls (aka Aaron, only Bill calls him by his name) was going to be the one giving me a ride to the train station, as Kev had a class. I chilled with Smalls, Sean, and Bill until it was time to go, and all three came along in the car to drop me off then go eat and meet Kurt somewhere.

I got to the station and felt lost. I noticed where someone was checking in baggage, and checked the duffel bag in to pick up in Dallas. Got a breakfast sandwich from Dunkin Doughnuts for dinner, and went to the train lobby to wait for the train. In the lobby, I saw someone that looked very familiar in a cowboy hat. After a lot of thinking, I finally figured out it was the manager of Microplay, the video game speciality store across the street from the mall. It felt pretty weird seeing him there and recognizing him, would’ve probably talked to him if I was over there more often (like this past fall) and if the last time we saw each other was a better visit than it was (basically, this past November since I was there so often I pre-ordered the DDR Ultramix bundle, but they didn’t get it in on release so I demanded my money back and bought it at the mall’s EB. He was very sorry about it which was good, but to not order in a game that came out on the day all the Christmas rush games came out on is unacceptable, so I’m never pre-ordering from there again, only used games and rentals). I never heard a boarding call for the train itself, but luckily for me it was the only train that late and that everyone in the lobby was going there, so I followed them and got on the train just fine. On the boarding place, I noticed another person I recognized, it was a girl a class below me in high school who played piano in both of the jazz groups. If I noticed her any sooner, I probably would’ve talked to her for a bit, but everyone was getting on the train so I didn’t get the chance. It was fairly late when we all got on, so I couldn’t get good light for my GBA, and SM Solitare on the laptop (the train had an outlet ^_^) got tiring after a while, so I eventually just fell asleep.