The Shoe Goblins

This, my dear friends, is the tale of two goblins... In a desperate attempt to entertain themselves.

I think it's worth mentioning that I worked at a kid's camp this summer in Oklahoma, and that this particular day in history happened to be my day off. Now, first off, I should introduce you to my partner in crime. My bro from another mo.... Rylan Schmidt. 

Rylan is on the left... Not to be confused with the other dummy in the middle...

This tall, tan, 15yr old man is my best buddy. He's quite a character and loves to do adventurous things. Funny story, Rylan is extremely athletic and is trying to convince me into doing P90X with him... (probably not gonna happen) So, now with that bucket of knowledge under our belts, on with the story!

Twas was the night before Christmas, err... I mean... my day off. Goodness! Let's start over please. [cue the rewinding sound] ...Twas the night before my day off, and in a secluded area of camp, Rylan and I were starting to plan things we could do the next day. I can only imagine the mischievous grins that came over both of our faces when we started talking about pulling a prank... Not familiar with the term "prank" are you?  Don't worry. I'll explain it to you. When I say prank, it means that someone is going to do something to a certain person that will either A: Make them laugh hysterically. B: Frustrate them to no end. C: Force them to hate you. or D: All of the above.

Say "Hullo Jazz!"

Now, the prank we decided on was intended towards a girl named Jasmine. She worked in the souvenir shop during the summer and we both decided that it was about time that she got pranked. Therefore, Rylan and I talked to her coworkers and asked them if, while Jasmine was sleeping, they would steal one shoe out of every pair shoes that she owned and give them to us. It was a pretty epic plan, and they agreed to it. What was pretty mean about it was that Jasmine would have to go to work with mismatching shoes... *insert evil laugh*

So on the morning of my day off, we acquired a nice position to view the done deed, and waited for what seemed like an eternity outside of their dorm. We waited so long that if we could grow beards, it would be time for us to shave them. But  finally, they group of girls (minus Jasmine) walked outside of their dorm with happy smiles on their faces, yet, nothing in their hands. Rylan and I exploded from across the street, shouting such things as "WHERE ARE THE SHOES??"  "WHAT'S THIS BUSINESS?? and "WE WOKE UP EARLY FOR THIS!" We were quickly informed that  1: They woke up late.  2: They wanted to be on time for work.  3: Jasmine was still sleeping.  and 4: It was Jasmine's day off...

Baffled by what we had just witnessed, five minutes later, we were still standing there in silence. Silence only to be broken by the sound of Rylan's embarrassed voice asking me "What are we gonna do now?" Good question. What could we do? I'm not gonna lie. I had half a mind to just give up right then and go watch Phineas and Ferb do some cool things on tv. I was incredibly disappointed, bummed out, even frustrated. But instead of shrugging our shoulders and wallowing in self pity, we put our heads together and came up with a better prank. We thought to ourselves, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we turned the tables around and had Jasmine steal half of her coworkers shoes??"

As a result, we convinced some unnamed female housekeepers to go inside, with Jasmine's consent, and steal every right shoe inside their dorm! It took a long time, but when those housekeepers came outside with trash bags full of shoes, Rylan and I couldn't have been more excited if it had been Santa Claus himself with bags of $20 bills! Then we proceeded to sort the dollar bills... I mean shoes. And counted a number around 75ish... (girls own alot of shoes!)  After that, we hid those shoes all over the campgrounds and left clues of where to find them with handwritten notes that were identically signed ...

"-THE SHOE GOBLINS"

Sometimes, whenever things don't go according to plan, you just gotta roll with the punches and improvise. Most importantly, keep your chin up!

Waffles, Anyone?

There I was. Guitar in my hands, microphone in front of me, and a full band behind me. Sound like a concert? Sorta. It's more like a concert practice...

Practice. It was 10:00pm and we had 7.5 songs to go through. Little did we know that we would be there until 4:00am practicing...

After packing up our equipment, we went to Waffle House. That's right. Waffle House. The cool 24-hour diner kinda deal. The place where sleep deprived truck driver's go to get a good meal. Have I ever been there before? Nope! But I was willing and ready to try it! 

(Julian Smith quotes are part of my everyday lingo)

After we walked in, and were happily greeted by the cook, I had a seat with the rest of the band. The waitress walked by and said "Can I get you guys something to drink?" Of course, at 4:30 in the morning, I ordered a nice, tall glass of 2% malk. (I wish my friends would've said "Just give the man his freaking mulk!" but unfortunately, they didn't)

 The next question awaiting me came from the calm voice of the waitress (contrasting the slap happy, annoying, "we're-not-high-on-drugs" voices coming from our table full of exhausted musicians) asking us if we were ready to order... I was not ready for this. I was too tired. I was confused. I consulted my menu full of delicious foods and outrageous prices, and met the waitress with a blank stare. "I'm not sure..." I said, "Do I want a waffle? Or something on my waffle?"  The rest of the table roared in laughter! The guys, on the account of being slap happy, found my reponse to be hysterical. I asked the waitress how long she would wait for me... dumb question... And long story short, she moved on to another table. (I don't blame her one bit)

When she came back, I was prepared. I was ready. I was ready to order like a biscuit was made for gravy. I proudly said "I want... a waffle. A waffle with apples and cinnamon." No, I didn't want twelve... (oh snap! 2nd julian smith reference!) I just wanted one waffle. And it was the most delicious waffle I've ever eaten.

The moral of this story is: When you're tired, it's hard to think. So don't try to think when you're tired. Otherwise, you'll come up with something that looks like this blog post...

If it's late at night, whether you're hungry or not, got to Waffle House. It's worth it. I speak from experience.

Got a Dream?

Alrighty... Well, here we are. Just chilling like a villain on the spot of blogs. Yup. And this is where I shall write something interesting that you would want to read about... 

Topic: writing. Yes. I said it. Never thought that it would come to this, but this blog is my first step to becoming a writer. Who'd have thunk? I'm not much of a writer. (if you can call what I do writing) But I'm aspiring to be a writer that someone would actually want to read. Why would anyone want to read this? I'm not sure... Because you're probably thinking "Well this is lame."

Okay... Let me try to fit you in my shoes. Have you ever wanted to do something? Suppose playing football, be able to paint, or learn a musical instrument? Or needed to do something in order to do something else? Like having good grades to stay on a sports team, being able to sing before you start having concerts, or growing facial hair before you can pick up a girl? (I'm not sure if the whole beard thing is true, but it seems to work in the movies) Well.... That's my predicament. Not the facial hair, but the fact that I need to be a writer so I can express myself without this beautiful voice that I may or may not love to use too often... (somewhat conceited moment... my bad!) I can always come up with creative ideas that I would like to share! Yet, when I try to convey those thoughts with a pen or a keyboard, it sucks.

BUT, onthebrightside, I think that my only problem is actually my thinking. Thinking. Thinking too hard about it; trying to force it into making sense. Could it be? That if I just randomly put my thoughts on a piece of paper or say, a blog, that I can actually write something that's worth editing and reading? I doubt it... but at least it's a form of writing that at least I can understand! This sounds like an idea. 

*cue soundtrack music from Tangled*

(embarrassing fact: I love this movie...)

I've got a dream! I've got a dream! Yes, way down deep inside I've got a dream!  

Wow.... I might regret putting that on here... But hey, I'll leave it on just because I can.... I'm not ashamed... "I've got a dream." What a novel concept here! Consider the movie Tangled for a second. Mainly focus on following dreams. Don't we all have dreams? Even the nasty, ugly, brutal ones of us. We all aspire to be something that we aren't currently. And in Tangled, after the princess Rapunzel has her dreams come true, the movie ends. Happily ever after. Bla bla bla... (doesn't every fairy tale end that way?) But in real life, our stories don't end. So when we achieve goals, we acquire new ones! And then we work on those dreams until we reach them and so on and so forth... 

Personally, I've got a dream to become a better writer. That's not my only dream, but it's an achievable one for right now... And once I become a better writer, I can move on to another dream and say "Thank goodness I started that blog!" So with that in mind, I shall venture out into this new world of blogging... Seeking the adventures that await me, and (hopefully) finding something interesting to write about...