Summer movies

It's that time of year again. That time where people go out to the theaters to see explosions, fighting, a bit of romance, and a few laughs; it's summer movie time. Normally I look on this timeframe with excitement and anticipation, this year it is a bit less. This will be thw first year I'm going to see these movies without my dad here. Every summer since me and my sister were kids going to the movies during the summer was one of the things we always did. I can only think of two summers where we didn't and that was during the two years we lived with our grandmother in Pennsylvania. I'll admit that as an adult it happened less often, and my sister didn't go with us(but my brother did sometimes), but we still managed to go from time to time. Even if we didn't see a movie together we would always chat about them when we saw them. We always talked about our favorite parts and would speculate about where they could go if they made a sequel. Heck, after they showed Thanos at the end of Avengers and before they announced it, my dad was saying how they needed to make Guardians of the Galaxy. One of the things I would do sometimes is go see a movie and then if he asked me if I wanted to go see it I would lie and say I hadn't. I'd later tell him that I had already seen it afterwards and he'd jokingly give me shit about it. It's funny but even though I'm an adult, pay my own bills, and have a decent job, my dad almost always treated when we went to the movies. Even when I had money to pay for myself he would say "Aw man, you're good. Don't worry about it, you'll get me next time", and I would(if I had the money of course). Of all the things I'll remember about my dad, going to or talking about the movies during the summer will always be my favorite. So seeing the movies this summer is bittersweet. I'm enjoying them but it really sucks that he isn't here to either watch them with or talk to about them. I'm still going to go see them, as he wouldn't want me to stop just for that, but I really miss him. This summer is going to be rough, with Father's Day in June and his birthday in August. But you know what, I'll be ok. There are a bunch of great movies coming out that I'm sure I'll enjoy, and even though things are different, I know that he wouldn't have it any other way.

Driving

Well I have an announcement to make. As of today it has been exactly one month that I have been officially driving. Yes, you ready that correctly, I have been driving. I have a car and have been on the road. That's actually the reason I stated that I would be getting out more and how people have been able to see me more often recently. While this is the first time I have actually posted about it I haven't been all that secretive about it either. If I showed up to a place and someone asked how I got there I would mention it, but I also didn't go too much out of my way to bring it up(well until now that is).

It has certainly been a nice and interesting experience. I realize that there are a lot more assholes on the road than I thought as a passenger. I've also come to realize that apparently blinkers do not exist on most people's cars(I know they actually do but a shit load of people don't use them). I've also noticed that apparently there are a lot of Nascar drivers in the St. Louis area. As well as turtles with driver's licenses.

One thing that sucks is that while I have been driving a short time I already need to get a new windshield. I know you're probably wondering how that happened. Well about two or three weeks ago I was on my way to work; I was driving behind a truck with a bunch of junk in the back. As I'm driving either a rock pops up or a small piece of something fell off the back of the truck(which is more likely) and hit my windshield. When I heard it "WTF!?!" was my initial reaction. I looked and at the time it seemed that nothing bad had happened. Well a few days later I'm looking out my windshield and I notice a medium sized crack. Over the next couple of weeks the crack got bigger. The thing is big enough now, I'll probably have to get the whole windshield replaced. It sucks but will need to be done.

Overall it has been cool driving myself around, I just wish it had come about from better circumstances. The only reason I'm driving now is because shortly before he got diagnosed with Cancer my dad had bought a new car. When he passed it was decided that I would get the car. I needed to get my license in order to drive it and here we are. It's been hard sometimes when I run into friends or people I know and they ask me about the car or compliment my "choice" in car. With the people I consider close, I tell them the truth, but the people I'm not close with, I just say thanks and continue on. It really hurts when someone says to me "About time", because it just reminds me that the cost of this step forward in my life was too high.....

Sorry, that took a bit of a dark turn there. In all honesty, I have enjoyed driving, with the exception of the dickheads who are out on the road(and yes I'm aware that to someone else I am one of them). I look forward to getting out more and having the freedom to go to more stuff. Oh and don't worry, there will be a point where I make a blog post where I don't mention my dad(the next one is not ine of them). Until then, bare with me.