I was determined to get out of town this weekend. I had even written on our calendar next to the front door: “Out of Town”. So, Adolfo made all this noise about taking me out for dinner, but I thought it would be better to get out of town Friday instead of Saturday…

I wanted to go camping. It’s still ficking HOT in this damn, god-forsaken city so I figured camping this late in the season was not such a bad idea. Mt Charleston is said to be 30 degrees cooler there than here at any given time.

I would a web site discussing camping locations and I picked the furthest one, which looked to be within 2 hours travel time:

Friday:

Packed car about 6pm. During this process almost every neighbor we ever met stopped us to talk. I think there was this plot to delay our trip…

On the road with nearly a full tank of gas, Adolfo inthe passenger seat, and Tom in the back of the truck. We still needed dinner so we were looking for a place on the way. So we decided to go to Sante Fe Station because they have a cheap buffet… right?

(Station Casinos have been advirtising special ‘locals’ rate for buffett and they are typically not bad)

Annnnnnnnyway, we go to Sante Fe Station and are met and come into contact with soooooo many rude people, ruching people, pushy people. Then, I discover there is no buffett. We go to another cafe in the casino and there is an hour wait to be seated. ergh! nothing decent can be found so we go to Quiznos … neither of us got what we ordered. They were too overwhelmed to complain and we just ate and left.

In the parking lot… I have a flat. I have oversized tires (I’m told) and I am looking at this truck like it was a space ship… changing a tire huh? It was sickeningly comedic watching me change a tire. It took nearly two hours. This was like something I never saw before. The replacement tire was normal sized and I saw very quickly we had to trop home and get the tire fixed in the morning.

So, from the north-east edge of the city I trotted home at no more than 35 miles per hour.

Saturday

Woke up and took the truck over to get the tire fixed. Cost me $113. and while it was being fixed we had breakfast with Kieth, sister Karen, and daughter/niece Shikara. This was a good thing.

We headed out immediately, delayed by neighbor chat again.

Drove two hours to themiddle of no where. Found the site and it was nothing like I expected. It was not technically a campground. It was a camp site at the base of the mountain and had a couple of great hiking trails. Took advantage of one.

The site said charcoal fires could not be used so we decided to venture on. This iste was off of nevada Highway 156. We connected to 158 and found a good campgound but it was closed. I was getting totally irritated.

We drove on and I saw a sign for a ranger station. So I turned onto 157 to go to it where I spoted another campground that was also closed, BUT there was a lot of people out there camping.

I had enough and we took a space and set up.

Now, we have a new tent we bought and never put together before. I felt like such a fag. I finally did get that tent up, but it was shaky.

I forgot plates and salt, so when I cooked dinner on the grill I was wondering how it would tast. I had a whole chicken, halved, and seasoned plus potatoes, and fresh french bread. I put the potatoes onthe charcoal grill, then the chicken and ti tasted SOOOOOOOOO good. It grilled perfectly!

However, the night up there was FREEEEEEEEZING. We cuddled all night long and I had some odd dream with Jennifer Anniston and Phoebe (from Friends)… we were lawyers and not much other detail… odd huh?

We frogot breakfast, so we drove into Vegas (less than an hour away) and raided Mccy D and Starbucks before returning to the site for another hike.

All in all, we had a good getaway. It was expensive… so much for the choices made. We were on the fence for visiting my mom v. going camping. We chose the caping ption to save money… uhm yeah.

I went to a food show at the raceway this morning and it was kinda boring. It was for U.S. Food Service and there were a tone of food samples sitting around. Yawn… the only exciting thing was that it was on the Las Vegas Raceway and I could see cars going around the track.

Oh well, I am working for Bally’s today and need to go over there. I’ll be there from 1 to 9 tonight ish… I thought I needed to do jobs like this for school credit, but I found out that was not the case. Glad to hear that!

Now, I am wondering about doing this for work. I was more fulfilled when I was training. Joe, save me.

Anyway… talk soon…. Scott

I am tired, stressed, and other stuff. I just got home from school – then the gym – but could use a nap. No real mney schedueld to come in and it is stressing me out big-time. Scott

Sometimes I feel very lost in this world. Sometimes I feel like I wish I was not here. Sometimes I feel like I am so alone and in spite of Adoldo being around or hundreds of people in the gym, around, whatever… I would give my right arm to be with my freinds at a BBQ or something like that.

Most of my life I had someone that close around that I was not sleeping with… which is a key diffrence. In high school I had Terry (Hi Terry: he pops into my board once in a while), then after the air force I was often with Ed: ToplessEd who almost never reads my diary, and in Boston I had pals Rick and Maureen.

What I would not give to have access to these people again on a regular basis and to be able to pop open a BBQ on a Sunday afternoon like today. Have a beer, and just fickin’ chilll out.

Ergh… I am dreaming a lot lately again. It is so wierd.

Last nights first dream was me in a food competition. I find I am dreaming a lot about cooking and food competitions. Last night I had to make a vegetarian dish and I was struggling with each of the factors of a properly plated dish. There is a requirment for protein, starch, and fat that need to be represented on the plate. My first problem in the dream was the starch… I was trying to figure out if the veg Jicama would work. After I got passed that I was struggling for my vegetarian starch. I knew beans and/or lentils were good but this lasted for a couple hours of restless tossing and turning.

The night before last I had a simalar struggle. I dreamed I had to produce a meal using only chicken stock. That was IT! oi vay…

But that was not all, I had a few dreams last night and I could recall everyone of them an hour ago. Suddenly I am blank on the others. Odly enough they were just as odd.

Otherwise things have been okay here. I am stressing over a few things and I talked to Adolfo about it. I suggested we both write down all the things that are on our minds and free ourselves a bit.

Usually, Money is the only thing that can really distress me. At least I finally got the whole school issue under control, but there are things brewing to change that. I have the chance of going to another school for a few months outside the country and THAT is stressing Adolfo and thus me.

I am on a school break this week, then back to classes next week. GOD I cannot wait to be finished at AILV… Chef Hoffmeister is a good man but this school is for the birds. Unless a reputation devlops no one will know what a zoo this place is. Most of his teachers are absolute freaks, but what are you going to do about it?

6 months to go of school unless I get the externship in Singapore; which means I would be there for 3 to 6 months max. SO, don’t ask me about it. I mean don’t ask me everytime we talk what is happening with it… because as soon as the Singapore thing happens or doesn’t happen then I will let people know.

I need to write more often here… but then again I am uncertain ANYONE IS LISTENING????

In my previous update I forgot to mention that we had a lot of visist from family in that time. Not on Adolfo’s family… as I think I mentioned… but also my cuzin and her handsome hubby were here for dinner. I was thrilled when I found out Raechel was in town and I made them a super nice dinner.

I have finals next week and I am a little stressed over it. Just one major project due and then a single week off. I am also trying to get my portfolio together for www.halonet.net …..

Lot’s of plans going on, and I need mailing addresses for people, too. Big party planned for the end of March. E-Mail me at scotters1964@hotmail.com ….

Scott

Oh it has been a while since I wrote. I have been busy and lazy at the same time. So here is a quick review:

Adolfo and I went through a big fight in the middle of August following when his family left. He spent days being as nice as pie, but in the week that followed he transformed into Satan and I really had a hard time with him. We very nearly broke up.

One day he went to work and I put all of his stuff in the second bedroom and moved my office into the master bedroom. When he got hom he cleaned ALL of his stuff from the apartment and locked it into the second bedroom and it stayed like this for a couple days. Well, eventually we sewed things back together and we have had very little issues since then.

I quit my job at Sur La Table at the end of August. I wanted to put a gun in my mouth rathe than show up there dealing with ALL THE FUCKING DRAMA in that place. The manager of the store is a sloppy, stupid cow with the managerial capacity of a teenage girl. ARGH! Oh, how I could go on with the disgusting behaviors there! I digress….

I took a “on Call” position with the Venetian’s Banquet department that started 9/4. I worked for a week, but am waiting for a call back. I think I made a good impression on them and hope they will use me again. It was an excellent experience.

Ed and TVD came to Las vegas and we had dinner together a Caluccios next to the Libaraci Museum. Stay away from that place. Oh my God the service was sooooooooo terrible and the manager was an asshole. The food was decent, but the wait staff does not know what is on the plate. As cheap as the food is, they cut corners so badly that the food is marginal at best.

It was GREAT being with the guys. They had a pal Georgia who ate with us and she is a showgirl with the Penn&Teller show as well as Jubaliee. She knew a lot of people who I also knew or knew of which was really cool. What a fun girl!

So now I am trying to get caught up on all the things I let drop over the last month because I was too busy! I want to take Adolfo out for a romantic dinner tonight but I fear the money is not all there. I also just got an e-mail from United Airlines for an excellent special for a Dinsey package to Orlando I want so bad I can taste it!

Well… there ya go… that’s the update. Right now Adolfo and I are trying to decide what we plan on doing together in the next year. Move to Boston? Seattle? Somewhere else? When? Right away? April 2004? When?

Oh my goodness… what will I do?

Money emergency just made it… I ended up borrowing some money from someone I knew aho was kind enough to trust me. Otherwise we are making it okay.

I also had a wierd dream the other day and I still wonder about it. I was in my room and it had a large window overlooking a school yard. I could see a spout of oil coming out of the ground in the distance and feeling concerend about it being there with all these kids running around. The school yard was full of them. Then, somhow the oil ignited and all the kids ran away… no one got hurt. But the fire kept burning and burning in the school yard. I was sitting on the bed, sad about it, when Sophia Loren appeared at my window and was looking in at me smiling like the Madonna…. WHAT WAS THAT????

Anyway, I have been having problems with Adolfo ever since his family left here. He has been an absolute bitch. I am starting to get really sick of it.

Things are really tense right now. Stressing over money. Rent is hanging in the balance and it feels like it is driving a wedge between Adolfo and I.

On the other hand, I lost 11 lbs and am working on the other 30. Argh!

Life is very busy… so much so that I am not keeping up with everything very well. It does not help when (on occasion) I waste time. School is going well, but I have another instructor who is tripping me out. I have to wonder if it is me or these teachers that Chef Hoffmeister is hiring.

Chef McBride is his name… he seems way way too fixated on me and reacts to me in strange ways. If he is attracted to me or replused by me I am not sure. Either way, he pays too much attention to me in completely unproductive ways! Ergh!

Adolfo’s mom and neice have been staying with us for a week. His brother, sister in law, and cousin were here for the previous weekend. This weekend his sister, another neice, nephew and some guy who is a family freind are here to shop and hang out. I just found out that everyone is leaving Sunday.

Anyway, I have to run. Trying to get my FAT ass to the gym and then am off to work until 11 pm tonight.

Later Tater!