18.5 hours of david

Saturday, Aug. 02, 2008 | 3:24 AM

i'm gonna post things out of order here. david and i hung out last friday (not the one yesterday), and then again on tuesday. i'll write about friday, but in the meantime, here's what happened on tuesday...

he called me around 8:30 am, telling me that he was going to be late. i sucked at talking on the phone to him. he called me again later, saying, "i'm outside your house." he was a little earlier than i thought he would be, so i rushed real quick to get whiley's backpack on him before leaving.

it was our first car ride, and a little awkward, since i sat in the back with whiley. sometimes he gets carsick, so i had to hold a bag in front of his face in case he threw up.

we first went to powell butte, where i used to spend tons of time walking with my mom and my first dog, cassie. i hadn't been there since cassie ran away.

we started off at the entrance that i used to go into. first we walked across to another opening, just so i could see if the horses that used to live there were still there. when walking with my mom, i would pet them and give them carrots. i didn't see them, though, so we walked back and began to walk up to the main area.

when we reached it, we looked at a map and i used the bathroom, and then we walked up to the summit. there we found some nice, climbable trees.

the first tree we climbed was a little hard to get into. david didn't have much of a problem, but i had a hard time. i had to grab his hand and have him help pull me up. we hung out there for a while, trying to throw pieces of bark at whiley and passing strangers, and carving "spiffy" into a branch with his key. he then also helped me when getting down.

we found another tree that was more climbable, but it was still a little hard for me to get into. i had a hang from a branch like a sloth before pulling myself up onto it. he wanted to take a picture of me in the sloth like position, but i couldn't hold it long enough while he got the camera ready. he said, "oh," in a disappointed sounding way. it was so cute that i had to climb up again so he could get the picture.

we hung out in this tree for a longer while, throwing moss at each other and taking pictures. it was very nice and peaceful.

when we were done hanging out in the trees, we headed back down. we ended up walking in what was sort of a ditch, except it was made of concrete, and it was dry. as i walked behind him, i picked a long piece of grass and tried to poke him on the back of his head with it. we began trying to poke each other, as i tried to grab his pieces of grass from him. it was just like something tara and i would do.

at one point while we were both tugging on a chunk of grass, i fell to the ground. we sat down there, as our poking turned to tickling. it got rather intense. we reached the point where we were sticking the long pieces of grass up each other's sleeves, pant legs, and even shirts in an attempt to reach the most ticklish spots. it was so funny to see him laughing so much and kicking his legs in the air. it was great to see him so uninhibited. he seemed to enjoy hearing me giggle like a mouse. i had no idea that being tickled could be so much fun.

we had a moment where we both stopped and just laid there. in the tickling frenzy, i had ended up leaning up against his side, and his arm was oh so gently resting on me. it was a great moment, but very new to me. the uncertainty got to me, and i had to move away. unsure of what to do next, i just continued our ticklefest.

this somehow went on for a couple hours, though it seemed much shorter to me.

after standing up, i realized that i really had to pee. he did also, and went off to do it in some tall grass or trees or something. i was thinking, that's so not fair. as i waited for him, i realized that there was no way i could make it to the bathroom. so after he returned, i too went off to do it among the trees. it was the first time i'd done that in several years, and i'll tell you, it's really difficult.

we walked back down the car, and he drove me home to drop whiley off. then we went to a scary restaurant, called "dots."

it was a noisy restaurant, with loud music and people talking loudly over it. it was also extremely dimly lit. if i hadn't been with david, it would have been much scarier. i'd have sat there nearly shaking the entire time.

when we were done there, we went to a mall called lloyd center, where we ice skated. it was really hard, and i sucked! i liked it when david took my hand and helped pull me along. it's too bad we didn't have more time (we got there just 45 minutes before they closed), though my ankles were hurting pretty bad by the time we stopped.

it was just after 9:30 when we left the mall. neither of us wanted to go home yet, so we headed downtown, to the river. we walked across the hawthorne bridge, and then out to the end of a dock. we laid down there on our stomachs, with our chins resting on a metal bar that outlined the dock. we looked out at the lights of the city, and their reflections on the water. it was beautiful.

i was getting pretty cold at this point, so he gave me his jacket to wear.

after a while, we kept walking down down a walkway along the river, part of which was floating. david stopped every so often to take awesome pictures of the city and it's lights.

while on the floating walkway, we stopped and laid down again. we were tired. while trying to get comfortable on the concrete, i asked him, "do you feel like a homeless person?"

i don't remember what his response was, but as we continued walking, he said, "i'm going to have to do something that homeless people do."

"what's that?"

"public urination."

he went down closer to the river, and after coming back, i asked, "now do you feel like a homeless person?"

"yeah," he said, "i think i peed on a homeless person's bed."

apparently there had been some stuff there, and some newspapers spread out.

"if you were a homeless person," i told him, "i don't think you would be well liked among the homeless community."

when we reached the end of the walkway, we walked back across the river. i had to use the bathroom, so we set out to find some place that was open that we could both go into. we found a place that called itself a restaurant and lounge, though it seemed mostly bar like to me. of course, i'd been been in a bar before, so what do i know? i wasn't carded on the way in, so i was able to use the bathroom there.

we then went back to the waterfront park, where we spent some time throwing the squidgie around. our outing would not have been complete without some squidgie throwing.

i had earlier unseriously asked him if he would carry me, because my knee and my feet were hurting. he decided, after our squidgie throwing, that he actually wanted to try it. so i stood on top of a large rock, and he picked me up on his shoulders.

i felt like was going to fall backwards, so i started screaming, "i'm gonna fall! put me down! put me down! put me down!" he walked over to a tree for me to grab onto, and instructed me to toss his hat onto the ground and hold onto his head. he then walked around in a circle around the tree.

i was laughing, and it was fun, but i still cried out, "i'm gonna fall!"

"i got you," he said, "you're not going to fall."

i still felt unbalanced and scared.

"i'm ok," he said.

"i'm not ok."

"you're ok."

after circling the tree, he set me back down onto the rock.

he then wanted to carry me using another method, which was to carry me in his arms. he picked me up from on the rock, walked a little ways, and then set me down on another rock. this was a lot less scary, and actually pretty nice, for me.

because the grass was too wet from the sprinklers that had been going, we laid down (yet again) on the concrete. a light was shining right in my face, so i said to him, "hey give me your hand," as i grabbed it and held it up such that it blocked the light. he held his hat in that spot, and actually kept it there for a while as we laid there and talked and stuff.

i was looking up at the grey, cloud covered night sky, when he suddenly said, "look at all the stars." it was hilarious.

we both ended up turning and laying on our stomachs. i was feeling very sleepy, and i think he probably was too. i'm not sure what time it was at this point, but it was after 1 am.

i had earlier taken off his jacket and returned it to him, because i had warmed up. as i was laying there i began to feel cold again, so he took it out of his backpack and put it over me like a blanket.

the temperature seemed to be dropping, and i was still cold, so he scooted up against me. i did not resist, because i kinda liked it. i snuggled into him for more warmth. he ended up putting his arm around me. it was so sweet.

my hand kept getting numb in the position that i was laying in, so i had to lay on my side. this made our warmth sharing less efficient, so he got up and laid back down behind me. he laid on his side and snuggled up right against me, with his arm over me. i wished that i could stop shivering, so his warmth sharing wouldn't be in vain, but i just couldn't.

the moment was disturbed when my phone started ringing. it was my mom, telling me that it was 3 am and she wished i would come home. i had no idea that it had gotten so late. again, time had flown extremely fast. i reluctantly decided that it was time to go home, and we got up and headed back to his car.

he had to stop and pee in the river, while i kept an eye out for any approaching people. if i saw someone, i was to say, "hey look, a boat."

i, of course, couldn't just easily pee into the river, and had to wait for a bathroom. this made the walk to the car a hard one, especially since my knee and feet were hurting as well. after finally reaching it, we stopped at a gas station for my bathroom needs, and then he took me home. it was about 4 am when we got there.

so, i spent about 18 and a half hours with the guy, and did not get the least bit bored with him. he claims he didn't get bored or sick of me either.

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