Chicago 2012 (Part 4) - Later That Night...

To be honest after the Speakeasy I hardly remember the night, I think we went to another bar around the corner and got a few drinks. I think it was about done and then we headed to this other kind of bar that was really packed but it was opened til 4:00am and not having that kind of bars in Des Moines, I thought that would be cool to go to. I got a beer there and we were pretty much done for the night. We then went to some burrito place and took the train back to our hotel.

I do remember the ride back because there were a lot of bums down there and on the train. We don't really see that many homeless people in Des Moines so it was interesting seeing all those people just trying to get a good night's sleep in a somewhat warm shelter. I feel bad but what can you do? Also I was pretty gone so we got back to our hotel and I just passed out.

 

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Chicago 2012 (Part 3) - Sub and Speakeasy

Night out in Chicago was actually fun. I've been to this city quite a few times but never out with a person who knows the place. Most of the time we're just out and about trying to figure out what to do. I didn't really know where we were at to be honest so I can't tell you much details. We started out taking the subway to the location. I've never taken a city subway before so it was a whole new experience for me and it actually felt pretty cool to experience public transit in a city as big as Chicago. We actually got to our destination pretty quickly so I would definitely suggest taking it as it's much cheaper than a cab or finding parking and using your gas for your own car.

The first place we went to was a Speakeasy. I'm not exactly sure which one it was but from what I googled I believe it was the Violet Hour in Wicker Park. I've never been to a speakeasy before so I wasn't really sure what to expect, we waited a few minutes getting in but once we were in the place it was only lit by candlelight from the tables. From what I remember seeing were a lot of curtains separating rooms and awkward tall chairs. They had a strict no cell phone policy so I didn't get any pictures inside either way it was pretty dark in there so I don't know if I would even get anything good. The drinks on the menu were pretty rough, they were straight up hard liquor which works out for me because I was on a mission to get crazy that night. I don't know exactly know what I drank but it was some whiskey drink which did the trick to tip me over. I'm not sure if it was the scene with some of the friends I was with but I must say I actually like the place as it was a real chill place where you can have great conversation with friends.

Weird thing was is that later in the night my friend Elida thought it would be fun to challenge the table next to us to arm wrestling. I just don't remember how it got there or even if we were even talking to anyone the next table over but somehow it lead to that and she lost miserably. Yes, what a great start this night was. haha...

Chicago 2012 (Part 2) - Hotel and 312

from left to right (Ferida, Ashley, Lida)

So we got to Allegro Hotel, it's a pretty nice trendy looking place with odd shaped furniture and retro wallpaper. I was in a room 2 of my female friends, Lida and Ferida and was expecting to have two queen sized beds but that didn't happen they got us in a 1 king size bed but they were "nice" enough to send a cot... The room was pretty tiny and our view out the window was parking garage but if you look past it, you can see parts of the city. I wasn't aware but another female cousin of theirs, Ashley is also coming down and joining in our fun. I've met her before so I didn't mind that but it would make for a much tighter spot for us in the room. We settled in the room a bit relaxing with a few drinks and shots we slowly got ready for dinner. One of the sisters went to concierge to find out a place to eat nearby and suggested the restaurant 312 that was attached to the hotel.

The restaurant 312 in my opinion wouldn't be the place I would have picked to go to. It was chain restaurant quality disguising itself as upscale. The food wasn't terrible by all means just for the price of it I can probably find the same quality for less, and the waitress we had wasn't too catering to us. She would come around every once in a while but not enough to fill my water or ask if I needed another glass of wine. She did read us the specials which I went ahead and got the NY strip. Ferida and Elma also got the same thing but they ordered their steak well done. Okay, me being kind of a foodie was so appalled that anyone would order their steak well done. I mean that's all the flavor you're cooking up and all the natural juices. Sounding like a food snob I automatically judged them for not ordering a steak correctly; funny thing is my medium rare steak was sickly looking to them. Once we were finished with our meal we went back to the hotel and try to figure out what to do afterwards. We later got a call from Bruce that he'll be on his way to hang out and take out in the city.

Chicago 2012 (Part 1) - Leaving

I have to say I'm pretty good at preparing for packing day and would make a list of what to bring and make sure I'm ready to leave at the time I've been given. I hate people waiting on me for something that would mess up an entire schedule. I actually washed all my clothes and packed the night before so all I had left were my daily routines and head out out the door. We were all to meet at my friend, Ferida's house around 9 but I didn't want to leave my car over there during the entire weekend so I had my cousin, Rosie pick me up so we can have a quick breakfast and drop me off at the house.

While we got our breakfast at McDonalds' drive thru and ate in the car I arrived at the house with no one there at all. I called Ferida on my phone and she was actually just taking her dog for a walk and she'll be back in a few. That's fine a little wait wouldn't matter to me I thought but where is everyone else? I decided to wait til she gets back to question about that. I was told later that they're still packing and getting ready and she still had a dog so still had the errand of dropping off her dog at her cousin's house. When we got back to the meeting place, the others still have not arrived which I guess worked because she hasn't started packing in the first place. So I just hung out and watched TV until another sister arrived.

We finally found out that we'll need to pick the last sister, Elma at the house so once we're all packed and ready to go we loaded up in the car and drove to the last sister's house. Luckily there wasn't a lot of waiting on that part as she was already packed and ready to go. So after all of that morning madness we were finally on our way to Chicago. Seems like no one else had a chance to eat so we ended up at another's McDonald's where it was no lunch time. The drive wasn't so bad but traveling with a little 8 year old can be well... well another form of birth control as I would never want one in the nearby future. Because of our late departure of the day we ended up being stuck in traffic for a while. As fast as they drove we ended up getting there around 5:00 so just right at the start of rush hour so we spent a couple hours stuck behind miles of cars. I'll continue on the next entry.

I Voted for Barack Obama

It’s a day right before election day and the president himself, Barack Obama was going to be here before heading home to Chicago to get us to the Polls and just have one last talk with us Iowans. I was so determined to try to get there early so we can get a good view of all of who was going to be there. Unfortunately getting there around 6:00pm was not early enough and ended up still being too far to see Bruce Springsteen, Michelle Obama and Barack himself. 

image from CNN

Either way I really loved my experience at the rally. The way these people talked really does make me feel like they’re all working for me and making a better future for all of us. Sounds corny and all but just listening to the President speak about his stories before becoming president or his views for America really had me inspired and feel really good about my country I live in and what we’ve accomplished in these past years. I’m not going too deep into the whole political thing and what i believe in but obviously I am a Democrat and I do stand behind my president. I am voting tomorrow and after tonight it really makes me even more excited to vote for Barack Obama.

Bought Myself a MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display

So I’ve been looking online for a while and thinking of buying a new MacBook Pro. I already have one I got back in 2008 and recently it’s been moving kinda sluggish. Last weekend I went ahead and got one. I bought a 15” MacBook Pro with Retina display. Let’s say I spent a lot on it but I am one proud boy. This thing is a beast and super fast and the display is ridiculous! 

Money Progress

I really don't have much to write about these past weeks. I really haven't done all that much but work and hanging out with my cousins on the weekends playing Resident Evil 6. I guess my status of saving for Europe hasn't been the greatest. Obviously I've spent money on an iPhone that set me back around 500 bucks but I do plan on going in Spring of 2014 so I still have more than a year left to save as much as I can also noting that it would include some tax refunds as well.

I did just finish paying off my school loans and almost done with a credit card so that's some debt I can cross of my list. It feels really great to finally pay off a loan, I really felt like it would take me forever to finally get some of these cleared. I was an addict of retail and working for something like a long trip to Europe is actually helping me hold back on mass spending.

I've Been Journaling

I don't know why I'm saying this here but if the inevitable comes, I just want to tell you that all my files are on my Macbook and iCloud account. I started journaling a while now and have kept my older files on this computer but the transition to my hard drive to the iCloud have been quite annoying so I haven't uploaded them. From here on out though I have been writing my journals to the iCloud because it's much easier to just put them over there. Just wanted to inform you so if I ever go you can find some of my things there if you want to read about my not so thrilling life.

I guess I never know maybe someone will find it amusing.

I Got My iPhone 5!

Just this past Friday 9/21/12 was the release of the iPhone 5 and I woke up around 6am and got ready to wait in line at the Apple Store. I didn’t want to wait by myself so I had my cousin wait in line with me even though she did not get one herself. The doors at the Apple Store opens at 8am and we got there a little before 7 so we had an hour wait. I didn’t think we needed to get there that early because well, let’s face it I’m in Des Moines, IA and we’re not into all hype or the latest thing. We’re always a year behind until a fad or music gets to us anyway. 

It was like any release day of Apple products, they had workers there offering coffee, water, and cookies and made small chat with us. You may call me a fanboy or whatever but I swear I always get great customer service with Apple. They had a worker go through the line and giving us a card of the iPhone and carrier you’re getting so when you get one of those you’re sure to have one. Once the door opens the line went pretty smoothly with everyone’s purchase of the iPhone, it was such an exciting day for all of us.

I think the Apple worker that helped me was named, David but I made it pretty easy for him. I knew what I wanted and know how to go through all activation and iCloud so he kind of sat back and just charged my card. I really enjoy my purchase, the phone is really thin and light. I’m in love!

Waiting on iPhone 5

You know what I’m excited for this mid September, it’s all about the iPhone 5. It’s 9/9 right now and this week on Wednesday, Apple will be officially announce news and features of the latest iPhone. You can call me an Apple fanboy but I’ve had every iPhone that has been released from the first gen, 3g, 3gs, 4, and now the 4s.

So what I’m hearing before the news is obviously having support of 4g LTE and a bigger screen. Which hopefully they pull in some great internal stuff because I’ve been beta testing iOS 6 and have not been really impressed with the updates. Pictures and rumors also saying that they’ll be getting a whole new port as well. For me it’s kind of a bad thing since I have so many apple chargers and USB cords that I’ll now have to update all of my stuff to support the new phone.

Either way we’ll all know what’s up on Wednesday September 12. Hopefully there’s some surprise updates and not everything that I’m reading. Please give me a “one more thing.”

Kansas City (Part 5) - Evening then Dim Sum for Lunch

We only hung around the cabin for a short while just to use the restroom then we headed back into the Worlds of Fun park. The sun was setting and so all of the lights on the rides were coming on. The night time was actually beautiful, they had Christmas lights decorated all around the park. We went on a few rides that night, mostly just the thrill roller coasters. Everything else just seems to not be of interest to us. We were on the way to roller coaster called the Patriot but there was a small stall on the ride because they were about to shoot of fireworks so they weren’t allowing anyone to board the ride until they are finished. Which wasn’t a big deal we just took that time and rode on a few more rides. 

The roller coaster we went on was an old wooden one called the Timber Wolf. It was a fast coaster but was such a rough ride. I think I might have bruised my rib on that one, when we boarded the fireworks came on so that was kinda fun being on the coaster while there was also a show in the sky. Once we got off the Timber Wolf we headed back toward the Patriot. I have to say that ride was pretty amazing, it’s my first roller coaster that had the one rail and my feet were dangling. The park was about closing time and before we ended the night we went back on the Mumba again. We just thought it was nice to start and end the day with the same ride. Back into our cabin we mostly just chilled, showed, and chatted about our day and other things going on with the family and such. It was a great time hanging out with my cousins that day and hope to have more to come later. 

Next day we headed down to the Plaza Shopping Districts where grabbed some Dim Sum at Bo Lings. I have to say I really love dim sum experience, I think the best I’ve had was in Las Vegas. Anyway we feasted that day on everything that seemed just a tad bit interesting and for 6 of us our bill came out to around $130.00 not too bad actually. 

Kansas City (Part 4) - Dinner @ Ameristar

It was quite a while ago when I went to Worlds of Fun with my family and we stayed at the Ameristar Hotel which was a hotel/casino. My family likes to gamble so that was the obvious choice to stay. What I really like about those hotels is the buffet (except for the Excalibur buffet in Las Vegas... more info here) I remember we had the most amazing buffet there and we ate so much that we were gassy the whole night. (Believe me, that’s a good thing.) Well we decided to go there again for dinner and fill ourselves up. The place was just as I remember with the fake clouds on ceiling and the sounds of slot machines ringing. 

We headed to the Horizons Buffet, since there was Prime Rib and Shrimp the cost of the buffet was $19.99. It was a little disappointing because the Prime Rib was so fatty that it had almost more fat than meat. I’m cool with the marbling on steaks but this was just big pieces of fat. The good thing about buffets is that there’s so many other different things to eat there. I really wish I didn’t fill up on the fatty steak and went for a lot of other things but the thing that I would always go back for is the mashed potatoes. For some reason I just really love their potatoes and with a few lumps in it you can tell that it was actually mashed and not some fake potato. After our meal we walked around a bit around the hotel and then headed back to our cabin. 

Kansas City (Part 3) - Cheap Lunch

We drove around a bit trying to find some place to eat for lunch, we were Googling and Yelping things but couldn’t decide on what to eat. We drove around and Yelp this restaurant that was in a house. I forgot what it’s called but it had a lot of good reviews. We didn’t eat there though because it was getting late and we didn’t want to spend that much since we’ll be eating a little later so we settled on McDonald’s. We just got a few things from the dollar menu and by the time we were done we went back to check into our Cabin at the Worlds of Fun Village. 

The lady that we got our tickets from was still there so she remembered me and got my key card ready for me. I have to say check in to that place was much more simple than other hotels so the people working there were real nice. We got our cabin and when we entered it was so cold in there which is just perfect since it was around 100 degrees outside. We settled in there for a while watch some TV use the restroom, some of us went to the pool for a dip. We took some pictures together and then finally it was around the time for dinner... continued.

Kansas City (Part 2) - Worlds of Fun Morning

image of "The Mamba" from coasterfanatics.com

We got a package deal at Worlds of Fun and we rented a cabin on site for the night. The thing was is that we wouldn’t be able to check into our cabin until 4pm either way we went to the offices to pick up our tickets to get into Worlds of Fun. The way we went into the park wasn’t through the normal entrance but through the way of Oceans of Fun. You know for some reason I was expecting to see some great bodies passing by there but instead I've seen more cellulite and body hair than I would care to ever see. The first ride we went on was "The Mamba" good thing too because the line was short and the ride is just straight up AWESOME! It was just a regular steal roller coaster, no upside down loops or anything but it was fast, and hilly. A ride we went on that was a real disappointment was "The Detonator" it was one of those lift rides that shoots you up real fast and drops you again. There's many variations of that kind of ride on popular one is on top of the Stratosphers in Vegas. I don't know what kind of problems they were having at the place but it seems like they had issues with them launching. So we would have to wait longer in line while they would have to shoot one of them up at a time with not full seating. For a ride that was less than a minute it was definitely not worth the wait.


It was very hot that day, I believe it did hit 100 degrees and it shows as we were walking to the next ride sweating every step we took. What I really dislike about amusement parks is the water rides they have. Yes it does people cool when it’s insanely hot outside but I feel it also removes any deodorant they had on prior so all you would smell is their BO once they start sweating again after the water ride. It was around lunch time and we were debating where to go and if we were wanting to eat there or someplace else to eat... continued.

Kansas City (Part 1) - Wake up!

Woke up Saturday morning by a knock on my window from my cousin Camrein. I had a heavy night before of drinking, clubbing, and a friend that went to jail and I had a drive to Kansas City ahead of me. We were suppose to leave Des Moines by 7:00am but instead I woke up at that time and threw a few clothes into a backpack and showered real quick. I still had a slight hangover so I swallowed some Aleve contacted all my cousins that we’ll be leaving a few minutes. Got things in the trunk of the car and we’re off to Kansas City to spend a day at Worlds of Fun. 

I had my cousin Rosie drive the way there to Kansas City so I can catch up on a little sleep and recover a little from my hangover. She didn’t have no problems with that so I slept probably for an hour on our way there. My cousin Camrein thought it would be great to snap a picture of me while sleeping. Thanks Cam. 

The closer we got to Kansas City to get gas and coffee. I forgot what the gas station was I should have been better at documenting all of this but it’s whatever we got a lot of other video footage that I had my cousin Ona recorded on one of my camera so I can edit and put together later. 

After a little more of a drive we finally got to Worlds of Fun... continued.

July Weekend of Friday 13

Had another tamed weekend, just hanging out with my cousin. So just this past weekend I tried to keep it not he down low since next week we'll be doing a road trip to Kansas City for Worlds of Fun.

This Friday 7/13 I had dinner with my cousin and we went to 801 Chophouse. Typically we really wouldn't be spending that much on dinner but there was a Groupon deal for $40.00 we're given $80.00 to spend so just double our spending. We started out with fried calamari which included zucchini and squash. The dipping sauce that was included was so great, I don't really know how to describe it but believe me if you decide to go there ask for extra sauce. For dinner I went with a 16 oz Ribeye (medium rare) and my cousin got her favorite Prime Rib. For the sides we got Boursin Mashed Potatoes and Baked Creamed Spinach that's served out to share between both of us. I really love going to steakhouses that knows how to cook steak because when I asked for medium rare it was definitely medium rare and simply just melts in your mouth. It could be the USDA Prime Beef but I think I just ate the best steak I've ever had.

Saturday was pretty a chill day, despite the 100° weather we went to my favorite place for pho, "Pho K&K." I'm definitely eating well these past days because especially that day the pho was so on point. The broth was just right that I barely used any other fix-ins in it, just a little Sriracha and Hoisen Sauce. We all seem to enjoy our pho today here is a before and after pic below.

Sunday we had a late lunch/dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and stopped by Pete Crivaro Park for some snow cones. So perfect for this hot weather we're having this summer. Later in the day we ended watching some movie on Netflix and to where I am today typing up this blog entry. Good night everybody, hope you had a great weekend and a great Monday.

What are you reading?

I'm moving slow but I'm just starting the second book in the Hunger Games series, "Catching Fire." According to my kindle I'm 30% of the book and I definitely have to say this is already more to my liking than the first one.

I've just been in the reading mood these days. What book do you recommend checking out? I'm pretty open to anything and would read any genre of book. So comment below on any suggestions.

Summer's Eve

Right now I'm sitting outside on my porch, feeling the the slight breeze that comes, browsing the web and enjoying a Heineken in this 95 degree weather. One of the great things I love about summer is how long the days are. It's almost 9:00 right now and there's still light out!

I don't know what else to say in this entry just that I'm finding peace right now in this warm summer night. I don't need anybody else just me, myself and I.

Bored of my Job

Okay, so I've been at my job right now for a couple years and I think it's gotten to the point of boring me. I really don't see a future at the company so I think it's definitely that time to try to look for something else. The thing is though is that I don't really have a college degree, even though I had 'some college education' that doesn't really impress many other businesses or companies. Obviously I'll be there for possibly a few more months maybe another year but I think that's about all I can really take of this constant same work. 

I'm more interested in a work environment that keeps moving, that has a lot more excitement and surprises. I've been working in office environments for so long that I'm just finally getting sick of it. I need more thrills in my life and that's what I will try to aim for in my next job. Any suggestions?

Planning a Trip

I wanna go on a trip but I'm not sure where to go. I was planning on a summer trip but now that it's June I feel like it's kinda late to save up some money right now and plan a trip. I would like to be a person who just all of a sudden just get up and go but I too cautious that I feel I need to plan beforehand and be sure I'll be safe financially. I think the safest place to go is Los Angeles since my sister and her boyfriend lives there, I'll have a place to stay for free and a guide. 

I've been in LA for a little bit but never really been there long enough to take everything in. I know flight from Des Moines to Los Angeles is not too pricey so I think it would possibly be best to go and relax on the beach drinking the day away. I would actually consider spending a whole day at the beach to people watch and drink Coronas all day. Right now it just seems way too perfect to do. 

I was also thinking of planning a trip to the East Coast to visit my cousin but the thing about that is that it's a lot more expensive of a trip and I don't really know what to expect there. 

Boone Scenic Valley Railroad & Museum

This last Sunday (5/27/12) I went to Boone with some of my cousins to go on this Scenic Valley Train. I didn't really know what to expect since I never really thought of Iowa much than a few hills and corn fields but it wasn't so bad. There's actually a few different rides you can go on, there's the basic Excursion Train, Dessert Train, Dinner Train, and Picnic Train. We picked the Picnic Train where we would bring our own food onto the 2 hour train ride. We just went to our local Hy-Vee and picked up some random stuff to eat on the train, I ended up getting a BLT wrap and a salad. 

      

  

       

I thought the trip was okay. I might have been expecting a little too much since for some reason I was having the feeling of Harry Potter and we were on our way for our first year at Hogwarts. For the most part of the train ride there was a lot of trees, so many trees that it would be all you can see. Probably the best part of the ride was going over a real high bridge. It was exciting to look straight down and unfortunately the pictures I've taken does not really show how high we really were but believe me it's quite fun to experience. I really enjoyed myself with the company I had but I just really wished it more scenic, I would think that the train ride would have more to look at come Autumn with all of the different colors so I would highly suggest to come during that time.

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Boone Scenic Valley Railroad & Museum

225 10th St

Boone, IA50036

http://www.scenic-valleyrr.com/

Pho and Beer = Love

I had such a craving of Pho last week and of course I have only one go to person when it comes to eating, especially pho. So I texted up my friend Cory and set a time to go to Rolling Wok later that night. Been to Rolling Wok few times and since I was with my homies I was thinking we need some beers with our dinner.

Apparently the restaurant does not serve alcohol but there is a little note on each table that they're okay to bring out own beer. Just so happens that a convenient store is in walking distance so we ordered our food and got a 6 pack of Heineken from the local QuikTrip. Definitely fulfilled my pho craving. :)


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Rolling Wok
1534 East Grand Ave
Des Moines, IA 50316

Stencil Artist at Liar's Club

My cousin's boyfriend, Robert Dencklau is a stencil artist and currently he's working on one of Des Moines's hottest clubs, "Liar's Club." I had a lunch with them last Saturday morning and he invited us to go up there during nonbusiness hours to check it out. Here's a just a few pictures.

  

 

Here is another one of his work at the "Gaslamp" 

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Liar's Club

216 Court Ave

Des Moines, IA 50309

Gas Lamp

1501 Grand Ave

Des Moines, IA 50309

Hunger Games is all Hype

I’ve read the first Hunger Games and I have to say, am I the only one who thinks it’s not that great? Everyone is hyping this book up thinking it’s the biggest thing ever but I just really don’t feel that way. I’ve only read the first book so and I just started with the next book. I know you’re probably thinking if you didn’t really enjoy the first one why continue? My answer is simply there’s only 3 books and I’ve already started one so I’ll just move on to the next one. 

Maybe it’s the writing or maybe it’s just too young for me perhaps? Which I don’t know if that’s valid because Harry Potter series was so great and kept me wanting more. I also watched the movie after reading the book. The movie is actually worse in my opinion, I guess people are just being told that it’s so great that they believe it. Either way I’m glad people are still reading. 

My little cousin Barry

Just met my little baby cousin Barry for the first time today. He was born yesterday (May 15, 2012) he actually came out with a lot of hair. Hopefully he'll be a well behaved kid unlike his older brother that we all aren't very big fans of.

Sunday Funday with my Cousins

A lot of Sundays I like to hang out with my cousins, most of the time we would find some restaurant to eat lunch at and the rest of the day would just be some random drive, movie, or a board game. I really do love being around them even though I wouldn’t really show it toward them but they mean a lot to me and I feel since I’m the older cousin I might just influence them or put them on the correct path. 

We started the day at Pho K&K in Ankeny, as you know Pho is my favorite dish and I would hardly ever say no to Pho. Nothing really much to talk about there just some random conversation over food and then paid or bill and moved on. It was kind of a chilly day but aside from that it was a nice day. I thought since it’s Earth day we would drive over to Saylorville Lake and go through this hiking trail in the forrest. Some pictures are below.

We end up driving a little further down and drove through Polk City and found Big Creek Lake where we hung out a little trying to skip rocks.

Car Problems and Iowa Weather

So something crazy happened to me last Saturday (4/14/12). I thought it was just going to be a regular day, I helped out my friend with scripts so I brought my MacBook to work and my iPad for some fun in between. I already heard before from the local weather that we’ll be having severe weather and a tornado watch. Anyway after we were done that day with some work we left the studio we were at and it was raining heavily!



 
Just moments after this video I decided the rain and hail let up a little so I thought it would be okay to drive home. Just a little ahead of me, I can make out a car and for whatever reason I thought it was stalled on the street. I continue my path on the road and finally realized what was wrong. I ended up driving into a major flood zone and before I can reverse my car it was too late my ‘check engine’ light came on and I was stalled. Rain was coming down faster and faster I was in the middle of a lake and panicking as water was seeping in through the bottom of my car door. I didn’t what to come of being in the car but I didn’t want to end up being those people in the news floating in the background.

I called my cousin who was also at the studio so I know she couldn’t have been that far away from my current location. I don’t remember exactly what I said on the phone but I think I did scare her and she was try to pull over some place to look out for me. I thought okay I need to get out of my car and get in my cousin’s car at least so I grabbed my bags with my things in it lift it up as high as I can and open the door. The water was coming so fast inside my car and water was to my waist I managed to close my car door and walked through the water and onto the side of the street. I took a quick look at my car and ran away on a mission to find my cousin.

As I was running around aimlessly through the rain, hail and the loud thunder I found a bus stop with a roof over it. In there I called my cousin again and I could hardly hear her through the ear piece, I think some water got into the phone because she sounded like she was very distant so with all of the noise from the rain. I may have been a little dramatic but I seriously felt like I was in a movie with the heavy rain, shouting in the phone and running for my life. My mother also called me during that time and I was trying to tell her the situation but after the going back and forth of all the “whats and wheres” I realized it’s not the appropriate time and hung up on her. After running a few blocks I did manage to find my cousin and I made it safely in her car. We drove around around for a while but then went back to my car.

The rain did let up now and so there was my car in the middle of the road with much less flooding around my car. There were police on site and asked me if that was my car, he asked if I wanted to try to start it to see if it’s able to go but as I thought it didn’t. They helped me move the car to a parking space to some State building as they are closed or the weekend so I would be able to work out my own towing later today or Sunday. I went ahead and left it there overnight until I can figure out what to do with my car.
I discussed all that has happened to me with my mom and she told me that her cousin works on cars and she can see what he can do with it and she’ll call him right now.

Next day he met me on site at my car to see if he would be able to do anything at all there. With all of his trying unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do anything then. He called his towing partner and came by to get it to towed to his house where he can have more time to work on it and see if he can get the car going again. At this time I was just thinking that my car is done that I’ll have to go through all of the insurance paperwork and go through the dreaded car shopping. Later that day he called my mom and told her that the car is in working order and we can pick it up. I seriously cannot believe it! My car is okay and he even was nice enough to vacuum all the water out of the inside as well. I’m so happy that this is the end result of my wretched weekend and that I would be able to drive my car to work the next day. Staying positive!