Well, Holly is here and we are slowly chipping away at getting her situated in my room. Her dresser is in and full of clothes, I compacted my undergarments and pajamas to make room for her undergarments, her suitcase is out (finally. I can fit in there comfortably), and we're adjusting to life in the same room. I am continuously trying to think of ways to move my stuff around to make her more comfortable It usually requires me defragmenting my belongings, but that's okay. I usually end up getting rid of a lot of stuff when I do that and that is something that I sorely needed to do. So I am. :D
Holly, meanwhile, has repeatedly expressed her belief that she will very much love New Jersey. Indeed, she's told me several times that she already loves NJ, which is nice. I'm glad that she's happy here.

Caryn's birthday was yesterday, and she wanted to go to Atsion Lake for the day. So we did. Corey, Caryn, Holly, and I packed up our stuff, threw some chairs in the back of Epyon (Caryn's second-hand Nissan Pathfinder, a new acquisition for her from her parents) and drove down. I had automatic shotgun because I was the only one that knew how to get there.
"See that bank?"
"The one after the light?"
"Yes. You're turning left onto the street right after the bank. It's Jackson Road."
"Okay..."
"And then you just drive."
"Just drive?"
"Trust me, it'll be really obvious where you have to turn. There'll be a four-way stop, flashing traffic lights, and big houses on either side of the road. It's a ways down."
"Okay."
We made it there easily in one piece. You make four turns to get there from here, including the one you make to turn into the parking lot.
We set up our stuff, Caryn looked at me and said, "Shall we start our castle?" And we did. It took us about three and a half combined hours with all four of us working, but we built it. Not just a castle, but an entire sand county. There was a castle, with a raised road to a nearby town, surrounded by mountains and outlying farmland. The castle itself was four floors with two towers. There was a church with a graveyard on the castle grounds, as well as kennels, stables, and a jousting field. We named it Castle McEmo, because it was historically accurate and no one cared because it wasn't artistic-looking. We did start a trend, though. Once people saw us (all eighteen or older) building this huge thing, they started to, as well. At one point there were four other groups building along the beach near us.
Unfortunately, Holly can't find her camera cable, and my computer doesn't read xD cards, only sD, so I can't show you pictures. Needless to say, it was amazing and I will eventually find a way to show pictures. Holly says she thinks she knows which box the cable is in. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
At about three o'clock we packed up our stuff again because Yami wanted to be home a bit early since she was going out to dinner with her parents. We get our stuff in Epyon, get in, get buckled, watch Caryn put the keys in the ignition.....and watch Epyon fail. It didn't start.
After many different phone calls, and many attempts to get some help, we managed to get Caryn's dad to head over to help us out. We tried to get people to give us a jump, because maybe it was the battery. The park police drove away as we were getting out to flag them down, one woman turned us down because she had a "brand new saturn" and god forbid she do something as COMPLETELY HARMLESS as jumping another car. Jeeze.
It was getting hot in the parking lot, so after a while we pulled out the blanket, some bottles of water, the chips, and sat in the shade of the playground off to the side, reading or playing gameboy. Round about five thirty, Caryn's dad reaches us. He messes around with the car for about 45 minutes, can't get it started. We get help from a bystander with some tools who seems to know what he's doing. He confirms our fears: it's the starter, and there's nothing he can do.
Caryn's dad calls the tow truck (he's on the police force, he gets tows for free) and around quarter after seven, he gets there. We gather our belongings from Epyon, which has been renamed Failzilla, and then pile into the back of Caryn's father's car.
... he brought his police SUV.
Which is how we got to be driven home in the back of a police cruiser. It was kind of cool, but not my first time in the back of one. Though I was never in the back for anything other than a ride home from somewhere... it pays to know the police force in your town.

We are all very sunburned on our backs and shoulders, though most of mine has turned to tan already. It almost always does after a day. All that's red now is the very center of my back, where it's the worst. :D Some lotion will fix that, though.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

"I swear to god, I'm going to shank you with my Gyarados!"
"...."
"......"
"I'd really like to see you try that."
"It'd be easy. All I have to do is make Gyarados stab it with its fang."
"No, because that's Gyarados shanking it with its fang, not you with a Gyarados. You'd have to pick up Gyarados and stab it with him."
"I'll do it."
"I would dearly, dearly like to see that."

~Holly and I talking about Pokemon this morning