Talking Hair Dye

One of my most favorite things to do is to just drive around with Shane and sing with him while doing so. We perform crowd favorites such as "What I've Been Looking For" from High School Musical, "I Wish I Were In Love Again" from Babes In Arms, and basically whatever lyrics we can understand off his Metro Station CD. It is so much fun. We're usually horribly off-key, and ridiculously annoying, but it is still in my top 10 of things I enjoy most in this world.

I think I met a boy tonight. His name's Brian. I know, I'm ridiculous. I went to this improv show with Toby and Jon at St. Bonaventure's tonight, and it was pretty hilarious. Brian was the MC of the show. I'd seen him before in improv shows down at the Livery Theatre, and I remembered really enjoying his performance even then. He was very charming. I got to meet him after the show and I was of course extremely awkward cuz I wouldn't be Aly Bennett if I wasn't. I told him he was way talented and that I'd seen him at the Livery before. He said thank you, and then I asked him if he was a student at St. Bonnie. He said he used to be, but graduated and now teaches improv at the school. Needless to say, I could definitely relate. He asked me for my name and shook my hand, and I blurted out something that might've sounded like "Nice to meet you" or whatever, and he said the same, and then waved goodbye and walked back into the theater to give his students notes on their performance. I immediately looked at Toby and screamed, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?"

Toby and Jon and I hadn't eaten anything, so we took a brisk walk across the street to this Mexican place I'd never been to. We literally walked in, stared at the menu awkwardly in the doorway, and then walked out. It was incredibly pointless. We walked further down the street to VONS, where I got some sushi, Toby got these chips he wasn't exactly sure he would like and wanted to know if it'd be ok to sample them before buying [I told him it was not], and Jon bought a Dr. Pepper and a bag of chips. We then walked across the parking lot to a Subway, because they had some tables and chairs set up outside. We sat down, and then I decided I needed some water, so I went inside Subway to get a bottle of water. I decided to get a package of sliced apples, too, just cuz it sounded good, and while I was waiting in line with water and apples in hand, this guy gets in line behind me. Toby then stormed in and asked me if he could borrow $2. I told him I'd think about it. He started to plead and I told him to go outside and quit annoying me. Toby left, and I heard the guy behind me chuckle. We stood there for a couple minutes, and then the guy said, "Apples and water, eh?" I looked at him almost stunned and said, "Yeah, I already ate earlier, so this is all I want." He said, "Well, it's healthy!" I laughed a little and then said, "Ha, yeah..." SILENCE. It was one of the most awkward encounters I have ever had. I was like, "Really? Really? Did that conversation really just happen? What the hell was that?" I paid for my apples and water and as soon as I got back outside, I threw $2 at Toby. He went inside, and then came back out and said he needed another dollar, which I also gave to him. Ugh. That kid.

We stayed outside for a little bit until it got freaking cold, then we got a booth inside Subway. We talked about a lot of things: Power Rangers, Jon's jacket being the gateway to Narnia, Jared the Subway guy and his enormous pants, among other things. Jon then left around 9:45. He'd told me earlier that he had a friend at Bonnie who was in the improv group, and could most likely hook me up with that Brian guy. I thought about it the entire night, and then as soon as he left, I texted him and said, "Dude, if you can, hook me up with Brian. Ha ha ha." I made it seem like I was half-kidding, but I really wasn't. He IMMEDIATELY called me back and asked me if I was 100% sure, to which I said yes. I mean, I don't see the harm in it, right? So he apparently called his friend, got some info, and then texted me later telling me said info. Brian is 20 and single. I said "Perfect." Then I proceeded to tell Jon how amazing he is and left it at that.

So there's that. I don't know what will ever come of it, but there it is.

After that, Toby and I went back over to VONS and had far too much fun. No one should ever have that much fun at VONS. We strolled the aisles just looking at shit and saying that's what she said to certain slogans that were posted on signs all around the store. We spent like 15 minutes messing around with those goddam cards that play music when you open them. We looked at all the DVDs they had for sale, and were swept away by a movie entitled "Ice Pirate" or something like that. Then, much to my dismay, Toby took a couple of the boxes of men's hair dye and made them talk to each other. It was pretty gay. He did it again when we walked by the women's hair dye, too. I was so mad.

Then we hit up the alcohol aisle. It was pretty ridic. We read all of the weird names that were on some of the bottles, like "Brut" and "Arrogant Bastard Ale." We actually put together a group of wines all sharing similar characteristics name-wise. They are as follows:

- Beefeater
- Mountain Gay Rum
- Cockburn's
- Gnarly Head
- Knob Creek

We thought we were SO HILARIOUS, and we took pictures of all the alcohol together. Ugh, it was too much fun. We were being such children. Then Shane showed up FINALLY [we'd been trying to hang out with him all night] with his other friend also named Shaine [spelled differently; I swear I'm not making this up], and we drove to In N Out after pretty much witnessing these two guys trying to steal alcohol. Toby said we should tattle, to which I said, "Why spoil their fun? Come on, let's go. They'll get caught." I'm almost certain they did, too.

We got to In N Out and it was PACKED. The line was literally out the door. Apparently a bus full of kids from Thatcher school had decided to stop there. We stood in line for about 2 minutes after Shane asked one of the kids if he knew our friend Cameron, because he goes to Thatcher. The kid knew him, so we said, "Oh...cool...", and then left. It was another pointless entrance into a restaurant. I thought it was weird that we did that twice in one evening.

We decided to go to Carrows. Shane ordered some fries after giving our waitress a Valentine he had leftover, and the other Shaine ordered one Belgium waffle. Toby and I stuck with water and then mooched off Shane's fries when they came. The guys were pretty inappropriate while we were there, and I was almost embarrassed to be sitting with them. We kept getting looks from the other customers [especially the woman sitting behind Shane], because they kept making these high-pitched squeaking sounds. I buried my face in my menu. I freaking love those guys.

We left Carrows at about 12 am, drove Toblerone and Shaine home, and then on the way to my house, Shane and I sang the songs I mentioned earlier at the top of our lungs, over and over again. Another thing I love when I'm with Shane is when he sometimes lets me take the wheel. I remember the first time he let me do that, I freaked out. He was all, "Uhhhhh Aly take the wheel", and then picked up his phone and started to text. I of course had no choice but to do so, so I reached across and grabbed the wheel while screaming and asked him over and over if I was doing ok. He laughed and said, "Yeah, if we want the people behind us to think we're drunk." He showed me how to control it better, and now I love doing it. In fact, I just love driving with Shane in general.

I'm starting to feel a lot better.