Beach Boy
Really Really Experienced
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2004
- Posts
- 318
I set my cup down and gazed out the window at the students milling around on the grassy University Quad. Huge old beautiful shade trees, as well as park benches, lined the parimeter and gave it a calm peaceful feel. The Quarter had just started and the Student Center was packed with people. It was as noisy as a popular bar at happy hour.
"Can we join you?" Two cute young girls I guessed to be about eighteen -- but looked about fifteen -- asked. One was a blonde the other a brunette, and they were both incredibly skinny. The brunette wore a shirt that read 'Pura Vida'.
"Sure."
A third girl approached the table carrying a tray that held a sandwich and a chocolate milk. "Poo-ra vee-da!"
I figured it was spanish. I didn't know a word of the language.
"You guys are so lucky that you got to spend the summer in Costa Rica." the blonde girl said.
"I know." the girl wearing the 'Pura Vida' shirt smiled. "It was totally cool!"
All I knew about Costa Rica was that it was somewhere south of the border and close to the equator. The girls talked on excitedly but I tuned them out. A vision of a hot humid jungle filled my mind. I sipped my coffee and looked out the window not really focusing on anything in particular.
"Excuse me.. Excuse me sir!" The girl in the 'Pura Vida' shirt called to me. "What's the most killer first date you've ever been on?"
I wasn't sure how to answer.
"She means what sorts of things do you like to do on a date." The blonde girl helped out. "A movie? Dinner? A casual date at a coffee shop? Some sort of big huge ginormous activity?"
"Like ziplining in Costa Rica!" the girl in the 'Pura Vida' shirt suggested excitedly.
"I don't know." I shrugged. "I don't think that it really matters. I think that if you enjoy the other persons company you can do anything and you'll enjoy it. You'll just enjoy being together. It's not really that much different than being with a best friend."
The girl in the 'Pura Vida' shirt seemed amused by me. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-six."
"Are you a grad student?"
"No just an undergrad.."
"Are you married?"
"No I'm single.."
"Relax I'm not trying to like totally hit on you or anything!" She laughed but I sensed a little uneasiness.
I tried not to show any emotion but she apparently noticed.
"Wanna go outside?" She asked her friends. They got up without answering. "Nice talking with you."
I glanced at my ring finger. It seemed strange that I wasn't wearing a ring. It had been only a little over a year since I'd lost her and I felt that it was time to try and move on. I don't know if there's life after death, but it's a scary thing to think about. I was much more religious when I was younger.
In High School I'd been a top basketball player -- at least at the little High School I went to. And basketball was a big deal in Indiana. I wasn't good enough for a full ride scholarship to a University but I was good. I was the captain on the basketball team, Homecoming King, and I was the main student speaker at graduation. I was a good speaker. People told me I had a gift. I loved speaking and people seemed to love listening to me. I was the student leader of the Youth Group at our church and I decided that I wanted to focus on the ministry rather than college. College could wait. My dad was a successful contractor, he'd never gone to college. Besides I had worked with him a lot -- since I was a little kid -- and I knew I could always get work in one of the building trades.
My family had taken a number of vacations around the country but I'd never been outside of the US, so when the Pastor called me into his office and gave me the proposal I was terrified -- excited but terrified! It almost didn't seem real at the airport. My family seeing the little group of us off. I'm tall -- six feet four inches -- and I've always been very broad shouldered -- like my dad -- but even if I look like a man I don't always feel as confident as I imagine a man feeling. Our group was made up of only one other guy, and four girls. All about the same age as me. I guess it's the sort of thing that you do when you're young. We were going to Vietnam to help build an orphanage. Why Americans send -- well basically kids -- to foreign countries to help the apparently imcompetent natives do something as complicated as build an orphanage I'll never know.
Vietnam was profoundly different than anything I'd ever experienced. I had my drivers license but everybody in Vietnam seemed to favor motorcycles. I'd never riden one in my life. If I felt tall in the US than I positively felt like a giant in Vietnam. I stayed at the home of a family that belonged to the church that was building the orphanage. I don't think that they knew what to make of me. It was just a small village and my clothes were going to have to be tailor made. And I honestly didn't know what to make of them. There had been one black guy in my High School -- and no Asians. I know some people find Asian women attractive but I'm more attracted to women like my mom -- who is a tall blonde Norweigan.
I was with Kim and Bethany at the local Market. Bethany was a fairly tall brunette, about five nine, and a little overweight. But she seemed to have an intense crush on me. She would sometimes stop mid- sentence when talking to me. I guess you could have described her personality as bubbly.
Bethany tugged at my arm. "What sort of fruit is that?" She pointed to a table covered with large basketball sized spiky fruit.
I noticed a strong sweet rotten garbage and onion sort of smell. One had been pulled open and the insides almost reminded me of the guts of an animal. A young Vietnamese woman with long jet black hair stood behind the table smiling at us. Her eyes were beautiful. "Doo-ree-un!" She pointed excitedly at the fruit. "You like try?!"
"Can we join you?" Two cute young girls I guessed to be about eighteen -- but looked about fifteen -- asked. One was a blonde the other a brunette, and they were both incredibly skinny. The brunette wore a shirt that read 'Pura Vida'.
"Sure."
A third girl approached the table carrying a tray that held a sandwich and a chocolate milk. "Poo-ra vee-da!"
I figured it was spanish. I didn't know a word of the language.
"You guys are so lucky that you got to spend the summer in Costa Rica." the blonde girl said.
"I know." the girl wearing the 'Pura Vida' shirt smiled. "It was totally cool!"
All I knew about Costa Rica was that it was somewhere south of the border and close to the equator. The girls talked on excitedly but I tuned them out. A vision of a hot humid jungle filled my mind. I sipped my coffee and looked out the window not really focusing on anything in particular.
"Excuse me.. Excuse me sir!" The girl in the 'Pura Vida' shirt called to me. "What's the most killer first date you've ever been on?"
I wasn't sure how to answer.
"She means what sorts of things do you like to do on a date." The blonde girl helped out. "A movie? Dinner? A casual date at a coffee shop? Some sort of big huge ginormous activity?"
"Like ziplining in Costa Rica!" the girl in the 'Pura Vida' shirt suggested excitedly.
"I don't know." I shrugged. "I don't think that it really matters. I think that if you enjoy the other persons company you can do anything and you'll enjoy it. You'll just enjoy being together. It's not really that much different than being with a best friend."
The girl in the 'Pura Vida' shirt seemed amused by me. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-six."
"Are you a grad student?"
"No just an undergrad.."
"Are you married?"
"No I'm single.."
"Relax I'm not trying to like totally hit on you or anything!" She laughed but I sensed a little uneasiness.
I tried not to show any emotion but she apparently noticed.
"Wanna go outside?" She asked her friends. They got up without answering. "Nice talking with you."
I glanced at my ring finger. It seemed strange that I wasn't wearing a ring. It had been only a little over a year since I'd lost her and I felt that it was time to try and move on. I don't know if there's life after death, but it's a scary thing to think about. I was much more religious when I was younger.
In High School I'd been a top basketball player -- at least at the little High School I went to. And basketball was a big deal in Indiana. I wasn't good enough for a full ride scholarship to a University but I was good. I was the captain on the basketball team, Homecoming King, and I was the main student speaker at graduation. I was a good speaker. People told me I had a gift. I loved speaking and people seemed to love listening to me. I was the student leader of the Youth Group at our church and I decided that I wanted to focus on the ministry rather than college. College could wait. My dad was a successful contractor, he'd never gone to college. Besides I had worked with him a lot -- since I was a little kid -- and I knew I could always get work in one of the building trades.
My family had taken a number of vacations around the country but I'd never been outside of the US, so when the Pastor called me into his office and gave me the proposal I was terrified -- excited but terrified! It almost didn't seem real at the airport. My family seeing the little group of us off. I'm tall -- six feet four inches -- and I've always been very broad shouldered -- like my dad -- but even if I look like a man I don't always feel as confident as I imagine a man feeling. Our group was made up of only one other guy, and four girls. All about the same age as me. I guess it's the sort of thing that you do when you're young. We were going to Vietnam to help build an orphanage. Why Americans send -- well basically kids -- to foreign countries to help the apparently imcompetent natives do something as complicated as build an orphanage I'll never know.
Vietnam was profoundly different than anything I'd ever experienced. I had my drivers license but everybody in Vietnam seemed to favor motorcycles. I'd never riden one in my life. If I felt tall in the US than I positively felt like a giant in Vietnam. I stayed at the home of a family that belonged to the church that was building the orphanage. I don't think that they knew what to make of me. It was just a small village and my clothes were going to have to be tailor made. And I honestly didn't know what to make of them. There had been one black guy in my High School -- and no Asians. I know some people find Asian women attractive but I'm more attracted to women like my mom -- who is a tall blonde Norweigan.
I was with Kim and Bethany at the local Market. Bethany was a fairly tall brunette, about five nine, and a little overweight. But she seemed to have an intense crush on me. She would sometimes stop mid- sentence when talking to me. I guess you could have described her personality as bubbly.
Bethany tugged at my arm. "What sort of fruit is that?" She pointed to a table covered with large basketball sized spiky fruit.
I noticed a strong sweet rotten garbage and onion sort of smell. One had been pulled open and the insides almost reminded me of the guts of an animal. A young Vietnamese woman with long jet black hair stood behind the table smiling at us. Her eyes were beautiful. "Doo-ree-un!" She pointed excitedly at the fruit. "You like try?!"
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