Til Kingdom Come

The time between this entry and the last has been monumental. First off, I have a girlfriend now. This is my first serious relationship. Second, I missed Moutheater's record release because of her after promising that I would go. Finally, my back still hurts after a month (i'm actually kinda worried about it). This ugly summer has put on a new face and is starting to look up.

Her names Amanda Leigh Schmitt. I have known her since the 7th grade, and spoker to her only a handful of times in the past 6 years (if I could remember them all, I could probably count them on one hand). I saw her recently at my good friend Cole's birthday party where I again said hey whats up and continued about my business, but my memory decided to remember her the rest off the night. I don't know why, but I wanted to talk to her. She looked like she was having a bad time though and I didn't want to be the guy to have a drunken conversation with a sober girl (if I wanted to make a jackass out of myself, there are plenty of other ways that didn't involve her).
As I drove home that night I wondered if I could get her number and start talking to her that way. Me being me I immediately assumed the worst and tried to predict the future of things. I would text/call her and either of the following would occur:

A. She would already have a boyfriend. This was a long shot because she wasnt with anyone
at the party and Facebook said she was single (yeah I lurked her Facebook page, so
what? Wanna fight about it?)

B. She wouldn't realize that I was trying to date her. Instead I'd be the dreaded guy friend
who is really nice and too good to date.

C. She wouldn't be attracted to me. Complete rejection and utter destruction of my self
esteem would ensue. Ten 12-packs of Dr. Pepper later, I would go about my life
like nothing ever happened.

The first time I went to her house I was so nervous. We planned to take her dogs for a walk to the park, and then get something to eat. Having my luck there was an obstacle. My dad called me on my way to her house. His office building's AC wasn't working so they were sending everyone home and since he takes the bus to work, he needed me to take him to home. At the time I thought this was like a thorn in my eye. "It the first time we're hanging out/getting to know each other and we have to go get my dad from work and ride back with him in the car? NOOOOOO!!!" Granted, reading back what I just wrote I realize how ridiculous my thoughts seem. I don't know why I thought of it as such a big deal. I got to her house and told her that there was a change of plans and we need to be in downtown Portsmouth in fifteen minutes. We raced down there to see my dad getting off the ferry connecting Portsmouth to Norfolk. Of course, the worst never happened and the ride by to Chesapeake was painless. We had a great time playing with her dogs and I took her out to Chik-Fil-A, which is one of her favorite places to eat. I asked her to come to my friend Willie and Andi's July 4th party and she agreed. I was so happy that she agreed to come. It meant to me that there may have been some connection. Then again, it could also be the nightmarish B Situation (See ABC above for the B situation. Did cold shivers run up your back? Me too).

July 4th was great. I cooked out at work and was on the clock most of the time. After stuffing my face at work, I went to Willie's uncle's house and swam, ate, and drank. The water was warm and the beer was cold. Paradise. After awhile we decided to head to Willie and Andi's townhouse and take a nap before the party started. I decided to go home because I'd rather nap in my own bed than share a couch with 2 other guys.
When I returned to their house I was recharged and ready to party. I let Amanda know I was coming to get her soon. I was nervous and excited. I really hoped she would like all my friends (I think more of them as family than friends). I picked her up and took her back to the party. She was wearing this intoxicating perfume that drove me crazy (and on top of all that she is gorgeous. I never would have thought in a million years I would have her in my car taking her to meet my friends).
Amanda is a liqour person, while I'm a beer kinda guy so she didn't want to drink anything that we bought haha. She was a sport and played the drinking games we played, but she wouldn't drink when we weren't playing anything (so I had to drink for her). I honestly couldn't care what other people may say, but alcohol truly is liquid courage. I wasn't planning on asking Amanda out after the second time we've been seeing each other, but good ol' Natural Ice had a different plan. I took her aside and told her that I was crazy about her and have had a long-lasting crush on her since the 7th grade. To my suprise, she felt the same way and I couldn't help but kiss her....and kiss her... and kiss her. I didn't want everyone to be peeping in on our conversation/necking so we went out front to talk about everything. That night was easily one of the happiest nights of my life (much higher on the scale than losing my virginity and lightyears past playing the Norva when I was 14).
After kissing more and talking things out, we knew we had to go back inside. Back into the house filled with my friends who knew exactly what was going on. That made me even happier and i'll admit, I got emotional (I forgot liquid courage dissolves into estrogen). I warned her that I was going to shout out that we're dating to everyone, and she didn't care (lovin' it!) I held her hand as we walked back inside. Everyone stood there looking at us. Dead air. I broke the silence with excitment.
"GUESS WHO'S GOT A GIRLFRIEND!?!?!"
Willie pointed at me and yelled "YOU DO!"
The room erupted as my closest friends cheered. It was memorable to say the least. Amanda and I hung around a little longer until she felt like leaving. I drove her home and I couldn't help but get emotional again and kiss her profusely. It was like a dream came true. I was on Cloud 9 (I still am).

I met her parents last night and stayed over at her house watching movies and cuddling on the couch. My mind had been so flooded with Amanda thoughts that I completely forgot about my friend Andrew's band, Moutheater, who was having their record release that night. I accidentally left my phone in the car all night, so when I left I saw that i had about a dozen text messages from people asking 'why the fuck aren't you hear?' It all rushed backed to me and I felt so bad for forgetting. The least I could have done was told people that I wasn't going to make it due to my new relationship. I let Andrew know that I felt terrible for not showing up and leaving everyone guessing as to my whereabouts (Andrew, being the great guy he is, understood). Fortunately, the owner/founder/operator of the record label they're on is an old friend of mine and lives near buy so I plan on getting their Lp sometime soon.

I'm completely changing gears here and I gotta talk about my back. Ever since I was fired from Chesapeake Bay Tree, Inc. my lower back has been killing me. The doctor said that I had overworked it and my muscles are contracted (and stuck like that). I've been taking muscle relaxers and doing these stretches, but its not helping. I hope I didn't permanently screw my back up. That would really put a damper on things.


- Currently listening to: Coldplay - X&Y -
...When you write an entire entry about how head-over-heels you are with a girl, you can't help but listen to 13 love songs...