Beaches, Babies, & Bonfires

Jason and Jaime were the next to showcase their hosting skills, but I must give Jaxson the MVP for giving up his nice big bed for Kent and I to sleep in. Parker gets partial credit because he also vacated the room for the two of us. He was a top runner for the full award, especially with his uncanny ability to spit up on cue, but the screaming set him back a few points.

San Diego also offered us some beautiful weather, with a day by the pool and another on the beach. Jason even patched up his $10 surfboard so Kent could give it a try. I thought at some point I would try it myself, but those waves were much stronger than I had expected and I could barely make it out far enough. On our first full day there, we were treated to a bonfire on the beach. That was a first for most of us, and a lot of fun. It took the Boy Scouts a little while to get it going, but once lit, it was on! These older guys drove up with a truck full of wood palettes and left them piled up for everyone to use as firewood. Let me just say that wood palettes burn big and bright. On the way back from the beach, Kent and I drove by the San Diego temple, which looks just like a fairytale castle. It is definitely different from all the other temples I have seen.

We also traveled into the city to watch the Red Bull Air Race. Which, sadly I must admit, sounds more interesting than it really is. Or maybe if they had bleachers to sit on instead of everyone standing crowded together on a flat, grassy plot of land, trying to watch racing planes maneuver through a race course with a row of trees in front of us. Not to mention it happened to be one of the hottest days yet, with not much of a breeze to offer relief. I think my favorite thing was that at the "refreshment" stand your options were bottled water, Red Bull, or beer. Hmmm...which would I choose? I get that it's a sponsored event, but they can't partner up with, say, Coke? We watched for a while, and then Jaxson and Parker seemed to agree that enough was enough. I mean, once you saw each of the 12 pilots go once, was it really worth standing there to watch them go another round? It would be cool one day to watch the Red Bull Flugtag (or so I think it's called), where people build their own flying machines and roll off the end of a pier to see if they can fly. That's entertainment! Not to worry, Kent still got to stop by the ballpark to establish his presence.
On this trip to California we definitely had our fill of sun, windblown hair, sand, spit up, and hospitable friends. We also had a decent helping of BBQ ribs, which I hadn't realized were so popular in California. Oh, and LAX. If I never see the inside of that airport again, I'll be happy. California won me over, so this just means that we'll always have to fly in somewhere else...While California has a lot to offer L.A. was not dressed to impress.

Now I'm just going to put in a shameless plug for Jaime's blogging talents. Especially now that I have written this pathetic attempt. She always seems to be able to perfectly express herself and sound totally cool at the same time. Not only is she an awesome writer, she is also an impeccable hostess, and yes Jason, I'm giving your wife most of the credit here. She made us dinners, packed us lunches for the beach, and even made us pancakes for breakfast. Amazing! And I won't just tell you which link goes to her blog...you'll have to figure it out for yourself and maybe meet a few of our other friends/family along the way.

California Love

Kent gives me a hard time about taking so long to do our "vacation" posts, but when I uploaded the photos from the camera and realized we had over 200 pictures, I was a little intimidated. Despite that, I press on...

This was my first trip to the big C-A and I must say that I got to see quite a bit. The game plan was to first visit San Francisco, drive down the coast, and then visit San Diego. And we would only accept the most fabulous weather because California needed to make a good first impression on me, as does everyone.

We left Boston bright and early on a Friday morning, non-stop to L.A. The flight itself wasn't too bad - starting off on the right foot. Then we went to wait for our bus to the rental car office. We waited, and waited, and waited, all while we watched multiple (at least 5) buses for every other rental company pass us. Finally our bus pulled up, just after a fully packed one passed us, with another equally packed one right behind it. Now, if you do the math, that meant that 3 buses fully packed with equally tired and anxious travelers arrived at the rental office at the same time. Oh yeah, fun...but we got a sweet Mustang convertible out of the deal, so California managed to save some face there. Naturally we had to immediately shed our Boston-wear, and put on some more sunbathing-while-driving attire.

We made the 6 hour drive up to San Fran, shooting through Central Valley, which was beautiful in its own right. I had pictured California as all sunny, sandy beaches and here was a wide expanse of green fields, tractors, and pick up trucks. This side of California won my heart a little as I imagined all of the delicious, available produce just waiting for me on the side of the highway.

We made it to San Francisco in fairly good time and were treated to a nice BBQ rib dinner with Sam and Vanessa. Our hosts were kind enough to offer us our own private room and bathroom

which has since been occupied by their first baby girl, Leah May. I have to give credit where credit is due, and for being so pregnant, Vanessa was a good sport and still helped us find the sites. On Saturday we awoke to sunny skies and a cool breeze. The four of us started out with brunch at a local diner and moved on to the scenic Muir Woods and Sausalito. Naturally we drove up to see the view of the bridge and take our tourist photo. This would also be the day all of us got sunburned sitting in a convertible all day. Well, all of us except for Sam who was smart enough to wear the sunscreen.

On Sunday we traveled to Davis to visit Grandma and Grandpa Broadbent. This was my first time meeting my grandparents-in-law and it was a pleasure. Both of the them are amazing people and together they are quite the pair. Grandma showcased her prowess in keeping up with family affairs and caught Kent and me up on the recent births, break-ups, illnesses, and job changes within the family. They kept us laughing over the ham dinner Vanessa prepared, with the story of how they met, Grandpa's jokes, and Grandma's attempt at jokes. I think my favorite comment was when Vanessa and I were telling Grandma how sunburned we were and how not sunburned Sam was and she said, "Well, that wasn't very nice of him to not share the sunscreen with you." That's right Grandma...how selfish of Sam to not force us all to lather it on. It amazed me how active and involved they were with everything. I hope I get to see them again.

The next day, while Sam was responsible and went to work, Kent and I got to spend the day wandering around San Francisco. Again we were lucky to have a sunny day with no fog. It was nice not to have a set itinerary and just walk around at our leisure to see what we saw. We hit Fisherman's Wharf where we stocked up on cheap sunglasses and salt water taffy. Behind it we found this "Museum" that was filled with dusty, old, miscellaneous amusements, like Laughing Sally, who Kent stopped to share a laugh with. It was weird but interesting. We walked up and down hills and found the steepest road in the city.

At the end of the day we met up with our gracious hosts and caught a ball game. Kent almost caught a foul ball, but his mitt wasn't quite big enough. We rode the slides and the trolley, all within the ballpark...amazing! As always, there was the token crazy foreign guy who didn't fully understand the criticism he was receiving for his method of cheering. No offense, but maybe cultural groups should stick to their particular national pastimes.

Then it was time to head due south, following the twists and turns of Highway 1. We had a beautiful day for the drive, and I must admit that having a convertible really kicked the sight-seeing up a notch. You could see so much more than you normally would and it gave us time to work on our tans. We stopped in Monterey to have breakfast and tried to imagine what it looked like during Steinbeck's time. We also forked over the cash to drive along 17-Mile Drive through Pebble Beach. They had a map that outlined the important sites to notice. Although the coolest was probably Bird Rock - a huge rock sitting off the coastline that was covered in sea birds and barking seals. Near the end of the route we stopped to see the oldest Cypress tree still standing, over 200 years old. That's pretty impressive considering it's lofty perch on top of a rock along the coast.

After miles upon miles of coastline, it did start to look the same, but it was an enjoyable drive. We also stopped at the Hearst Castle in San Simione, upon the recommendation of our dear Bowling Buddy. This was one of the homes of William Randolph Hearst, the big newspaper guy. For a second or third home, that wasn't used a lot, it was pretty extravagant. Sometimes I wonder if people with multiple houses like that are really able to enjoy them. The guide told us that he was an only child, and nicknamed "Wasteful Willy" which makes sense when you see the size of his outdoor pool. After touring the estate we drove a little farther south to Morro Bay which was our stopping point for the day. We just vegged out in our motel room, enjoying the chance to stretch out and not be in a car driving.

The following day we continued our trek south spending some time in Los Angeles to fork over some decent cash for a studio tour and drive down Rodeo Drive to gawk at the Beverly Hills mansions. I have to admit, since I'm being honest, that L.A. didn't impress me. In fact, I could do without it. I can't figure out it's appeal...is it that it's supposed to be cool? I don't know...maybe I'm not trendy enough. The studio tour was a success in the sense that we saw Jimmy Fallon stroll by as we ate ice cream sitting along Main Street, USA. No pictures though, so you'll just have to take our word for it.

Afterwards, we drove down to Newport Beach to live it up MTV-style and pretend like we were cool enough to be a part of their world. Again, I will admit that the beach was really cool and HUGE. We got there as the sun was setting and Kent did his magic to capture a few good shots. Our main purpose for this stop was to meet up with The Fabulous Corey who left me here in Boston for the glittery appeal of Huntington Beach. She introduced us to Carnitas for some excellent mexican cuisine and as always we had an excellent visit. With all the extracurricular activities this girl does we were lucky to get a whole meal out of her. On full bellies, we headed down to San Diego for the next leg of our vacation.

O Ye Hypocrites

Thanks for everybody who commented on the last Terrence episode. There were quite a few good responses, and it'll be hard to pick the best one out of them.

I bought the newest "Death Cab" album off of iTunes. I say this because I don't really think it's that great, not like "Plans". There are a few pretty good songs, but no completely awesome ones. Save your money on this one.

Today's post is purely to get a few things off my chest. I will mention 3 points and then tie it all in at the end, hoping that it makes sense.

1. In today's world, everybody loves to celebrate diversity. I have no beef with diversity. Diversity is great. However, today's definition of diversity is focused almost exclusively on race. The business world spends all sorts of time and recruiting to make sure that their office isn't filled with white bread. They don't spend any time embracing diverse personalities, in fact, it seems that the subservient, put-your-head-down-and-white-knuckle-through-this-project employee is pretty much the model that Corporate America is looking for, and if you'd rather do it another way, well, you'd better get a new job.

2. The Religious Right is frequently targeted as an intolerant group. The rest of the world has come to accept homosexuality, living together out of wedlock, casual sex, drinking and partying, etc. They say that they accept everybody no matter what and scoff at the religious nuts who believe that such behavior will ultimately lead to unhappiness.

3. At work, almost all of the "constructive" feedback I've ever received has been about my style of communication using these adjectives most frequently: blunt, abrasive, curt, know-it-all, arrogant. I should first say that I am indeed trying to change my communication style to appropriately fit my audience. It seems that no matter how much I think I've changed, I still get the same feedback: Kent's communication style is too forthright and blunt.

The reason why I bring this up is because I have recently received a calling into the Young Men's Presidency in my ward. There are only about 5 to 10 active boys ages 12 to 18 in our ward, and only a couple of them have strong parents in the church. They are pretty rowdy (as I was at that age), and their testimonies are still in the infant stage. Since I have received the calling, multiple members and missionaries have come up to me saying how excited they were to have me in the Young Men's. When I asked why, almost all of them said it's because I'm a very no-nonsense person who tells it like it is and I am very confident and secure in who I am. The things people have said to me in the last week has been some of the nicest things I have heard about myself in a long time.

Here's the final tie-in to my 3 points above: I realized that even though my diverse way of communicating isn't appreciated by my immediate managers (it should be said that the audit managers love my style), the church does. There is a place and a calling for people of all skills in the church, and I know that the Lord gives us different gifts that we can use to make the world a better place. The people that are so-called intolerant accept and celebrate my personality, while the people that are supposedly tolerant don't accept the fact that I communicate differently than they, and they continually frown on my behavior.

So there it is, off my chest. The California post should be coming soon, and then we can get back to the nonsense of the Terrence Show.

Terrence part IV

I apologize for the large delay (specifically to Jaime), but it always takes a while to get back "in the swing" if you will. If you won't, then too bad. Mel will hopefully start chipping away at the California vacation posts soon. The trip was great fun and Jaime, Jason, Sam, and Vanessa deserve special shout-outs for being great hosts. I recommend staying with them.

Here is the latest Terrence installment. WITH further ado, I shall now explain my process so far for plotting each Terrence:
1. What will be the choice at the end?
2. How do I get to that point in a reasonable amount of writing?
3. How do I make it funny and entertaining?

For this particular chapter, I realized that most of the choices at the end will always be the same types of questions: Should x take out y? Should z ask for a's phone number? Etc., etc., etc. I can't exactly have cool choose-your-own-adventure questions like, "Should Terrence fight the monster in the cave?" or "Should Annie save Terrence from the fiery car crash?" I bring this up to prepare you all for the inevitable realization that most questions at the end will be more or less the same. I apologize for that, but when it comes down to it, that's what dating questions are like: Should I give my number to Jimbo? Should I go out with Jimbo? Should I go out with Jimbo again? Should I date Jimbo? Should I get married to Jimbo? You get the drift. I am fairly limited. I say this to try and encourage more voting, which had a slight drop-off last time. Last time it was unanimous, 12 votes for Terrence to ask out Annie.

So withOUT further ado, here it is:

Chapter 1: Super Cute Sunday
Chapter 2: Ward FHE
Chapter 3: Double Your Pleasure

Chapter 4

HGW

Sunday, September 14, 2003

11:53 AM

Piled in the back pew with the Steves and Franks, I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen in sacrament meeting. You see, Terrence had acted quickly after his date on Friday with Annette and asked out Annie for Saturday night. He had tried to be secretive about it, but the King had informed us that he had seen Terrence walking out of Annie's apartment around noon on Saturday with a huge smile on his face and then he was gone all evening. To make things even better, Annette had come looking for him with a big plate of cookies, but we didn't know where he was. She slunked off, leaving no cookies behind. I realize that "slunk" isn't a word, but it seems to be perfect for the way Annette walked while holding a plate of cookies and moping about a boy that she likes.

Terrence came home pretty late last night, past my 2 am bedtime even, so I was shocked to see him take off an hour early to church by himself. The Steves, Franks, and I had an impromptu gossip session to discuss what exactly was going on. To be completely honest, I was a little bit worried that things were going swimmingly with Annie, which of course would destroy my chances with her. She was definitely a girl I was still interested in, but I had to stick to the plan, which was to not make any moves until after the draft. At this point, however, Annie was out of the draft as Terrence had signed her as a free agent.

Sac meeting was to start in 5 minutes and still no sign of T or Annie. Annette was parked on the left side, about 5 rows back from the front. She kept looking around anxiously while Melba shot me sheepish grins. These were not the actions of someone who should be hating me, and that worried me. Only a couple rows ahead of me sat the Hottest Girl in the Ward (HGW), someone that the whole apartment had been pining for, hoping to get the first pick of the draft. We knew a little about her: she lived in the Rich Girl Apartment building, drove a VW Jetta with California plates and a Roxy sticker, and worked as a server at PF Chang's. The hot servers are the worst because you know they are constantly being picked up on.

She was your typical HGW and she knew it. She walked around with her nose in the air, rarely giving anybody a second look (what I like to call being "aloof"), always wore trendy Hollister clothes and had a perfect tan. If you were lucky enough to talk to her, she would act uninterested and rarely make eye contact. Every girl in the ward constantly shot her hateful, piercing looks. She was pretty much unattainable and every guy in the ward knew this. This stopped no one.

Already we had heard she'd gone out with most of B8, the apartment in the ward with the Elder's Quorum Presidency. There were no second dates, and we heard that she'd even ripped out a few hearts already with her 50 dollar manicured nails. If she wasn't working, she was out on a date. You had to act early with her, get on her schedule way in advance and bring your "A" game. Whatever you do, you can't be yourself. Be prepared to talk about Coach bags, Us Weekly, and all of her ex-boyfriends who were either football players or black guys. I would give ANYTHING to go out with her. I had to make myself known to her.

Just then, Terrence and Annie walked in, and walked to the front pew, the only available one left. Much to Annette's and my relief, they were not holding hands. Annie sat down next to the wall and Terrence's huge frame landed next to her, obstructing Annie from my view. Terrence was clearly in FCP mode, and it was too early to tell if Annie was a willing participant. Annette moved over a couple of spots to get a better view, as well.

The meeting went by with no real developments. Terrence was taking notes diligently as some High Councilor rambled on about his family's last vacation. Annette constantly cleared her throat to try and get some attention. Melba had pretty much positioned her entire body to face me, which is to say she was almost sitting backwards. She was a starer, and there are few things worse than starers. I had to make a conscious effort to not look in her direction and every so often I would look to check to see if she was still staring. She of course was, which meant I made eye contact and now she thinks I'm checking her out! Not good.

4:23 PM

Me and the Steves were watching football when Annette invited herself in with Melba. She looked around in a panic and asked, "Where's Terrence?" while simultaneously balancing the Tupperware containers in her arms.

We all shrugged. I pretended to be entranced in the lame Bronco's-Chargers game that was a blowout in the 4th quarter and I had no fantasy players involved. This didn't stop Melba from plopping herself practically on my lap.

"What's for dinner?" asked a Steve which a famished look on his face. He had just eaten 5 frozen burritos, too.

"I WAS going to bring Terrence over some food, but apparently he's avoiding me now! I made some delicious Funeral Potatoes and ham especially for him. Chris, do you know where he is?"

"Maybe you could refresh my memory with some of that food." Melba snickered.

"Don't laugh at that, Melba. This is serious stuff. My heart..." Annette started to choke up, "...is about to be broken!"

Melba immediately put a sad look on her face and snatched my hand in a death grip and said in the most annoying cutesy tone, "Isn't she a sad widdle girl?" I was no longer hungry.

"I think he's over with that Annie girl in P5," said a Steve, desperately wanting to get rid of the girls that were obviously not sharing their food with us, and thus, it was not necessary to be nice anymore.

Annette's eyes lit up with fire, "Let's go, Melba!" and stomped off.

Melba got up still holding my hand. "Come on, my widdle wuvver!" This Melba was a strong one.

Annette barged right into P5 still cradling the Funerals and ham. Terrence was on the couch fraternizing with Annie's roommates with Annie nowhere to be seen.

"Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?!?!?!" Annette opened the closet door, checked under the coffee table and hopped behind the couch as if Annie had been forewarned. Terrence just chuckled.

"Hi, Annette! How are things? Who ya lookin' fer?" he asked with an innocent smile on his face.

"You know who I'm looking for! Your new girlfriend!"

Just then Annie walked in the room. "Oh, hi Annette. How are things?"

"DON'T YOU 'HOW ARE THINGS' ME!"

Annie stepped back, startled. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

Annette slowly and firmly stomped towards Annie, in a subtle crouch not unlike a linebacker preparing to make a tackle. She lowered her voice and said through gritted teeth, "You go on one date with my boyfriend and I will END you." She slowly raised her pointed index finger and touched Annie lightly on the nose. The overly dramatic antics of Annette had created an awkwardly comical atmosphere in the room. I was highly amused. It was too tough to call whether the room was to erupt in a brawl or a fit of laughter. Melba walked up to Annie, still holding my hand.

"Can I use the bathroom?"

This was too much. Annie bowled over laughing, and her roommates on the couch did, too. Terrence was laughing the "I'm not sure what's so funny but everyone else is laughing" laugh and I let a few chuckles go myself. Melba sat there patiently, stepping in place as if she had to use the toilet, which of course was the case. Annette's face just got redder and redder, and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She instead turned around and headed over to Terrence and waited for the laughter to subside.

"Terrence, I need you to make a choice-RIGHT NOW-between me or Annie as your girlfriend."

"Okay, I choose Annie."

This news did not seem to please Annie. "Annette, I don't think it's a good idea for Terrence to have to make a choice right now. After all, I've only been on one date with Terrence and I don't really know him well enough."

Annette turned to Annie. "I don't care what YOU think. This is Terrence's decision."

"Not entirely," retorted Annie, audibly starting to lose her patience, "I have to decide if I want to date Terrence and I don't know if I do."

"Why not?" asked both Annette and Terrence in unison.

Annie looked around the room with a "Are you fetchin kidding me?" look on her face when she finally noticed that I was there, with Melba's mitts still holding my unwilling hand. This made her smile a Mr. Grinch-style grin, only going up on one edge of the mouth. "Well, I don't like to jump into relationships like some people in our ward do," she said mischievously, not breaking eye contact with me. I KNEW she wanted me!

This pleased Annette and seemed to calm her down some. "Well then. If anybody wants delicious Funeral potatoes and their name rhymes with 'Bearence' then they can come over to my place for dinner." She marched out with Melba and I close behind.

10:32 PM

It was finally here--the draft. We got the menu at Ward Prayer and we'd all had a few minutes to peruse and make up our pre-draft rankings. It was discovered that HGW was Anita--the girl from Tennessee who Terrence had considered asking out. Of course he hadn't, so that means she was still up for grabs. We rolled dice to see who got to go first, and I was the luckiest! HGW was mine!

Now before we give a little taste of what a ward draft is like, I should note that the major players in our apartment are me, the Steves, and the Franks. One of the Steves is really good-looking, the type of guy who want to have around to attract the hot chicks, but also the type of guy you DON'T want to have around because the ladies always want him more than you. The good thing is that he's as dumb as a rock and super boring, so the ladies end up disenchanted pretty quickly. The other Steve is the complete opposite. He's one of those guys you love because they are funny, always up for crazy antics, and great at everything. Fortunately he's really ugly, so therefore a perfect wingman.

The Franks are identical twins who are so identical their parents just gave them the same name. They are relatively attractive (I hear) and seem to pull in a decent amount of ladies. Frequently they will just switch up who goes out with who because the girls never notice the difference. I don't even know the difference. It's like having a clone.

So me getting HGW was clutch because if Dumb Steve got her, none of us would ever have a chance. If I flame out with HGW, then the others draw straws to see who gets the next chance. Dumb Steve never flames out quickly because he's so hot. Girls will keep him around for a while, constantly giving him extra chances because they are so attracted to him. Of course guys do the same thing with hot chicks, except guys will give the hot chicks double the chances and even marry the girl hoping she will eventually turn around. Anyway, because Dumb Steve takes so long to flame out, it usually qualifies as "dating" and you can't take out someone your roommate has been dating.

So let's have a live look-in at the draft:

Me: With the first pick of the 2003 Fall Semester Draft, I take HGW, real name Anita of BB5.

Steves and Franks: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooo!!

Me: Like you didn't know that was coming. She's a top prospect. Tremendous upside. Needs to work on: personality, friendliness. You're next, Steve.

Cool Steve: I'll take Red Dress Chick from the Meringue House. (Consults menu) Bekah.

Frank 1: Ouch. I wanted her!

Me: A bit of a two-face. I saw her at FHE...not looking good.

Cool Steve: Hey, I'm a bit of a no-face, so I'll take what I can get.

Frank 1: Okay, I'll take Sara from BB12. (Frank 2 smiles)

Me: We should limit the Franks to only one pick between them per round, because they always just swap based on preference.

Cool Steve: I second that motion. Steve?

Dumb Steve: Sounds good.

Anyway, just replicate that conversation for the next hour and you have the draft. Here was my haul:

1. HGW
2. Miss Sandy
3. Cell phone walk n talk
4. Ski ramp nose
5. Vince Carter
6. Michelle Cougars
7. Arianna
8. Cardboard Lindsey

After 8 rounds, you're really reaching, so we called it.

The rule with any first rounder is you need to take immediate action within a week. It doesn't have to be a date, but it needs to at least involve a phone call, a pop by, or some sort of effort where she knows you're making a move. If you fail, you no longer own the rights. I wasn't worried about that, though. I was excited to get that Melba stank off, so I called Anita right away.

I looked up her number in the menu-no cell phone posted. Gonna have to call the apartment, which is always risky. I dialed it in.

"Hello?" Feminine voice with a little pep and excitement. Good start.

"Hi, is Anita there?" On the other side there was a prolonged sigh/groan and any excitement was lost.

"Yeah, I'll get her." Pause. "ANIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!" Breathing, faint tapping of the foot. About 10 seconds go by. "ANNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Hello?"

"Hi, Anita?"

"Yeah."

"This is Chris from the ward. I live in B4."

"Ok."

"Anyway, I, uh, was, uh, wondering, you know, well, so, do you, uh, like sushi?" This was not going well. My knees were knocking, I was completely off my game. In my head before the call I had all these funny things to say. Everybody's got a plan until they get hit.

"Nope." Oh geez. Rejection city.

"Awesome! I was just taking a sushi survey. Haha!" I'm pretty sure I heard a tumbleweed blow by on her side.

"So, Kermit, is that all you're calling for?"

"Well, I wanted to know if I could take you out for sushi, but I guess you don't like it, so that kinda bombed. I guess we could go somewhere else, though, if that's okay with you."

"Are you asking me out?"

"Yeah, I guess."

WHAT DOES HGW SAY TO CHRIS? DOES SHE LET HIM TAKE HER OUT? AND WHAT DOES SHE SAY IN RESPONSE? THE BEST ANSWER WILL BE CHOSEN BY ME AND USED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!! HOW EXCITING!