I am recapping the weekend that was my vacation.

This picture right here summed up my vacation. More Greeks than you could shake a stick at (not recommended) and a lot of dancing. There were a few times that I even got out there and danced as well. I only know one of the dances, but I tried anyway.

There were kids of all ages doing their thing out there from the smallest baby who couldn't have been more than a year old doing his own zembekiko while a good fifty or more people stood by and cheered him on, to the elderly joining in the line.

...I want to take a vacation.

I want to take a vacation, but how do I go about this. I am short on cash right now, but I would really like to go back down to Tampa.

So, I started figuring shit out.

According to Google Maps...it is 1270+ miles to the Castle, from my house. Driving straight through, that would be about 21-22 hours of driving. SO....

my car gets about 32 miles per gallon... 1270/32 = 39.6ish gallons of gas to get down there. I have a 14 gallon tank... so 39.6/14 = 2.8 tanks of gas to get down there, and lets say that gas is at $4 a gallon just for fun... that's $56 per full fill up... $156 to go TO tampa... and $156 back.

shit. it's still cheaper to fly...

I need to do more math on this.

...I had a great vacation.

Cheesy smile FTW!

The vacation was a good one. I spent a lot of time with my daughter. It was necessary. I had a few people tell me that the daddy/daughter bond has to be strong and that it's good that I am doing these things with her even without the mother.

I have done quite a bit for this one, I will admit that. I had my lady take her out on her birthday to go shopping and get all done up back in November...why? The girl needed a bra. THAT I am not about to do alone. No way. But, this one was easier. We watched a lot of bad movies and TV shows, but that is good too. It's fun time either way cuddled up on the couch. We cooked, cleaned, brushed our teeth, and just had a good time. I'm not going to complain one bit about what I did or did not get done... it was my vacation... and hers too. I'm glad she had fun on it.

Tomorrow, I go back to work semi-refreshed. There's quite a bit of email to go back to (I peeked, turned off sync at the start of the vacation so I wouldn't look but it got the best of me tonight) and things to sort out. I'm ready, recharged, and able to take on all tasks.

As for Friday when I forgot to post, quick recap....Great time with friends. De/vision, Mesh, and Iris packed the house. Always good to see Sega out and about. Very happy to share a stage with Iris at the WTII minifest 2 in June. The lady looked amazing in her new corset (even if it did crush her ribs) and many of my friends came dressed to impress as always.

...there was an end to the madness.

I'm on vacation in a couple days. I have a lot of school work to get done, but there is always something about those last few days prior to a vacation. You have to get everything in order, and set for you to go. It is quite hectic actually. So much to prepare for, what if something goes wrong?

At least I know will have done everything I could to prepare and then some.

I also have a very loving lady in my life and friends who are fantastic. Tonight, after class, they told me to get my ass over to the place where they were doing food night and sit and eat with all of them so I didn't have to do my usual "Monday night fasting" that usually happens thanks to the schedule. It was really nice. I didn't think I'd get to see my girl until around this time NEXT week because of everything that is going on at home. But I got to see her tonight. She's also been keeping tabs on how my knee is doing. I tweaked it pretty bad yesterday to the point of having to get out the old Rebel99 brace (see picture on the side for reference on what this brace looks like). She's looking out for me. Her dad went through some pretty rough stuff with his knees, so she knows what I am possibly heading towards. I want to be able to run around and keep dancing with her. If this knee of mine gives me any more problems, I won't be able to. And that will upset me greatly.

BUT! Today was better, tomorrow should be fantastic as well... and that's the bottom line...

...it was a nice lazy day.

Sorry for the late posting, I rarely get an ACTUAL lazy day. One where I don't have to worry about doing anything at all. Now that the house is in order, I sit here going "now what?"

I've been in quite a whirlwind of doing things here at home that NOT having to do something seems foreign. Yes, there are things to do around here. But I don't have a bevy of dishes, or a whole house cleaning project to do at the moment.

The basement is next. I have vacation this week, so I am probably going to tackle that next. Get a lot of things out of there and to the alley for pickup. A lot of junk is going to go away once again, but it's been down there for so long that I sit there and ask myself "why didn't I throw this away ages ago?"

And now it's time to go to sleep... in bed with my lady.