September 14, 2001
New Hampshire - Day 8: The Convention Begins
-Friday, July 27, 2001-
9:36 a.m.
We are now on our way home from the barn, where we saw the wild horses and donkeys—or burros, as Leen referred to them. They didn’t look especially wild, but I guess they don’t show their wildness when they’re in small, fenced-in areas.
2 p.m.
We’re on the road to Manchester now, after stopping at the barn. There were a lot of cars there because of the wild horses, and the auction isn’t even until tomorrow. This is the furthest east that such an auction has ever been held, and it was being promoted as far away as Boston. After that, we stopped to get gas, and it just barely reached eight gallons, the minimum number of gallons you must buy in order to get a free Reese’s candy bar. Leen tries to only go to the gas stations offering that promotion.
“Smithereens” is a cool word, and I discovered that “smitherleens” is a funny word.
2:20 p.m.
Sam just asked if I had written this part down. I hadn’t, but I’ll do it since he’s so proud of himself and it was funny. We were saying that the weather is perfect, and Leen said maybe we shouldn’t say too much. I agreed, adding, “Knock on wood,” then looked around jokingly for wood. Sam then knocked on my head and received a, “HEY!” and a funny look in return.
We’re at the Comfort Inn in Manchester now.
2:32 p.m.
We just met Cynthia! We went into the Comfort Inn but couldn’t get into our room yet, as it was reserved under Amy’s name.
2:37 p.m.
We’re at the Econo-Lodge hotel and looking for Matthew and Maryam, but our search is unsuccessful.
3:35 p.m.
We returned to the Comfort Inn and sat in the lobby for a while. It’s got nice furniture, but there are about five feet between each chair. We occupied four chairs and waved at one another across the distance.
Cynthia just made us laugh when we were talking about a friend who is creating a huge game. He’s doing massive amounts of coding for it, and Cynthia said, “It makes me want to go feed him!”
4 p.m.
We’re across the street from the Comfort Inn at BagelWorks. Leen got a bagel with cream cheese, and all three of us are sitting at a table, hearing about Cynthia’s cooking adventures, and her family’s opinion of her culinary skills. “They don’t let me cook anymore,” she said.
5:55 p.m.
Stephanie and Amy arrived half an hour early, but we happened to get to the airport before they arrived.
We’re checked into the Comfort Inn now, room number 320. Amy is providing entertainment for us by imitating her attempts at mowing her lawn. Her mower is very “janky,” a word that is apparently similar to “junky.”
I’ll try to catch up on more things now. Okay, no, I won’t. We’re having too much fun.
7:45 p.m.
Leen and Amy went to Burger King, then came and met the rest of us at Subway. Amy made her cup into a hat, and I took a picture. We went back to the Comfort Inn, checked at the front desk, and people had been looking for us. The room was reserved under Amy’s name, but people were asking for Sam. The lady behind the counter said the people had gone across the street, so we went back across the street yet again. There we finally met up with Stephen, Stephanie, David and his wife, and Heidi. Heidi made a running dash for me and gave me a big, long hug. She saw a lady and her red-haired son and exclaimed, “Oh, look! You’ll have red-haired kids like that, too!” Yes, this was Heidi.
Then David and Jacqueline went to eat and Heidi, Stephen, and Stephanie headed to Boston to see the city and eventually pick up Dave at the wonderful hour of 1 a.m.
8:32 p.m.
David and Jacqueline just came up to our room, so we’re all talking. Sam just gave Jacqueline another hug, but said he wouldn’t hug David. Then he changed his mind and gave David a hug, too.
9 p.m.
Maryam just called from the Econo-Lodge, and she and Matthew are on their way over. Apparently they left a message for Sam much earlier, but the hotel never figured out where to deliver the message.
9:15 p.m.
We were just talking about my fear of bats, and Amy just told us not to sit “real hard” on a certain spot on the chair because something is poking out of it. That amused all of us.
And now we’re discussing “pants,” which are underwear if you ask Matthew and jeans if you ask Americans. Amy was thoroughly confused and asked Matthew, “So what do you call the things that are longer than my shorts?” That discussion came to a natural end when Matthew had the last laugh by saying, “Will you please stop talking about my pants!”
-Saturday, July 28, 2001-
12:40 a.m.
I’m going to have to settle for taking notes and writing a longer account later. We’re in our hotel room, and Amy is asleep — or nearly asleep — to my left. On the bed to my right are Sam and Darleen. All three of them lay down and went to sleep almost instantly.
Maryam, Matthew, Thomas, and Cynthia went to Subway while Sam, Leen, Amy,
and I went to the nearby Store 24 for ice cream. After some hard decision-making,
we made our purchases and went back to Subway. Sam talked to the other group
while Leen, Amy, and I sat at a nearby table. Amy was very tired, and Leen began
to react to the sugar in her ice cream, so our table was full of senseless,
fun laughter. We eventually went back to the hotel, and Cynthia soon went back
to her room for the night.
Photos:
Go back to the New Hampshire Journal Index
Return to theSmudge.com main page.