Driving is not my forte.

Most people who know me also know the intensity of my driving habits; whenever it's late and I'm not tired I'll ask Ashley if she wants to go for a drive with me. We always leave the GPS behind at the apartment and make it our goal to get back home without any help. It's a great way for us to get to know the area and is usually a lot of fun - except for when we get lost. Sometimes we drive towards downtown Raleigh, sometimes Cary. This past Friday, though, we somehow found ourselves all the way in Durham. Before we get into what happened, though, let's do a review on the things I've hit with my car since I received it two years ago:

• a parked car at school
• yellow pole at McDonalds
• cement parking block 
• multiple curbs
• metal basketball pole
• steel mailbox
• flower pot holder

I'm pretty sure that's it. But even if I forgot something you get the idea. So Ashley and I head off towards Cary; we've been talking and listening to music for a while when I decide it's time to go back. Unfortunately we don't recognize anything around us like we usually do, but we're not worried because we always find our way back somehow.

As we're driving along I look to my right and my eyes widen.

Me: Ashley, we've been here before.
Ashley: What? No we haven't.
Me: Yeah, we have. I've passed that sign before and I've driven on this road earlier tonight.
Ashley: Are you sure?
Me: Yeah, look - there's Lowes.. again.. and we're on Maynard for the second time.
Ashley: Shit!

So we keep driving and take a different way, knowing that this time it'll lead us right back home to Wolf Creek. Then I start looking around again and I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. My mind goes back to when I was a kid and I watched that one episode of Twilight Zone where the Army battleship has that evil Commander who kills innocent people; but for some reason he and everyone else on the boat couldn't escape.. no matter where they went they always ended up back on the boat. At the end they found out they were in hell for killing so many people and now they're stuck on that boat for eternity.

So when we found ourselves back at Maynard yet again, I told Ashley we were doomed to drive around forever until we ran out of gas, and that when we try to buy gas we'd get shot. I don't think she appreciated this scenario as she tried to calm me and herself down. The road we are currently on is completely deserted so I'm going at a fairly fast speed when I see something up ahead.

*hop* - pause- *hop* - pause- *hop*
Nope, not a rabbit. A raccoon, we think.

I scream and slam on my breaks, causing Ashley to scream just as equally (or possibly more) loud as me.

Me: AAAAHHHHHHHHH!
Ashley: AHHHHH! WHAT!?! WHAT?!?!?
Me: An animal! Over there! I almost hit it but I didn't! I think it's a possum! *points*
Ashley: That's a raccoon! Damn Ashleigh I thought you were going to hit a person or something!
Me: My bad. I didn't want to kill it!
Ashley: I didn't know what the hell was going on!

And so we keep driving, not much else we could do. Fortunately we're getting more confident that we're headed in the right direction at last. I'm jamming to some music hardcore when..

Ashley: ASHLEIGH WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? THIS LANE ENDS!!

I look and sure enough, it's a right turn only. Before I crash into the large yellow signs at the end of the lane I take a sharp right turn into a school parking lot. My heart is pounding like crazy - this is one of many times tonight (and other times) my driving has almost ended my life or severely mangled my car. I park the car and try to calm down; when we both feel better it suddenly dawns on us how freaking creepy this parking lot is. Of course we're the only ones here, and everything is deathly quiet. Just then, the street lamp directly in front of us shut off.

We head out of there like it's no tomorrow and somehow manage to get back home; I have a feeling I won't be driving around at night for quite some time.

This is not how a Sunday should go.

This past Sunday was definitely not one I'd like to repeat anytime soon. Mind you, there were some parts that I found particularly enjoyable; however, everything that occurred in a nutshell was mentally and physically draining.

Let's start with Sunday morning, seems pretty logical. I wake up and feel very productive, so I decide to start putting together flashcards for my Animal Science practical that will be coming up in a few weeks. When I'm working I need to have everything laid out over a wide expanse of space and placed in a certain order so that I can have access to everything I need. My desk is too small and I'd be tempted to go back to sleep if I worked on my bed, so as usual the floor became my workspace. I was doing pretty well at getting a lot done when I thought I saw movement against the wall out of the corner of my eye.

*scuttle* *scuttle*

I shrugged it off, thinking I was just seeing things.

Just a few seconds later..

*scuttle* *scuttle*

This time I looked over and caught the culprit. A large Brown Recluse. I found out later that day when I was telling someone else this story that most people around here don't know what a Brown Recluse is.. must be a Burke County thing to know? Anyway, it's a spider. One of the two deadliest in NC (alongside the Black Widow). Here's what they look like, in case you're a visual learner:

When I realize that this huge spider is scurrying around my room I let out a very loud gasp; I don't believe in killing things myself so what do I do? Run to my roommate Ashley, of course. I bang on her door like there's no tomorrow and a disheveled Ashley answers.

"What?! What's wrong?!" she yells.

"A spider! HUGE! IN MY ROOM! Kill it!" I say back.

She shuts the door and returns momentarily with shoes on and her chosen weapon - a large pink hairbrush. I'm tempted to say something but hold back - she is killing a poisonous spider in my room, after all. I follow Ashley towards my room as she hunts down the spider safari-style; I point to the wall where I last saw it. After looking from the spider back to her hairbrush, she rethinks her artillery and pulls one of her shoes off instead. Within two very vicious whacks Mr. Spider is now extremely dead. Satisfied with a job well done, Ashley starts to make her way out of my room.

"Errr.. what about the body?" I hint.

Ashley sighs and disposes of the remains via toilet paper and flushing.

At this point we need to do something relaxing, so we decide to finish the movie we were watching the previous night, "My Sister's Keeper". I have to say that it was a good movie, but definitely way too depressing for my tastes. While we're watching my mom calls; she demands that, due to the very annoying problems I've had with service on my new phone, I drive to Sprint immediately and get my phone checked out. Grumbling, Ashley and I type in Sprint to my GPS and head off.

When we arrive at Sprint I explain my dilemma to the guy who was sadly assigned to help me. He tells me that for the first time in seven years, Sprint had an outage.. and it was right here in Raleigh. He says the problem will be fixed in a few days and not to worry. I believe him, but my mother doesn't. She calls my phone and wants to talk to the Sprint guy; I ask him if he would mind explaining the situation to her and he agrees. He assures her that despite the fact everyone in the area is having phone trouble, they'll run a synopsis on my phone to ensure there is nothing else going on with it.

He hangs up with my mother and hands me back my phone while informing Ashley and I that it takes a good hour for them to check one.

Me: So.. we have to wait for an entire hour just so you can look at a phone you already know is functioning perfectly because my mom said so?

Sprint guy: Well, we can just say you got it checked out..

Me: But I'm a horrible liar, my mom will know.

Sprint guy: I can even put it in the system, it'll look like we checked it for you.

The offer is tempting. But my super nerdy/good conscious won't let me do it. I tell the Sprint guy that Ashley and I will find something to do for the next hour.

Since we're in a large shopping complex we decide just to walk to all of the stores instead of driving. At the moment we're surrounded by restaurants, but we're not hungry. I can see stores in the far distance, across three parking lots. The only way to get there walking are small gaps randomly placed in between very nicely maintained rows of decorative bushes. To get through the gaps we have to shimmy sideways crab-style and get stabbed by the holly leaves. I'm not too excited about how we have to waste an hour pretending to shop until I see something that changes my mind - Game Stop.

I know I shouldn't walk into this store. It's a given that if I do, a huge chunk of my wallet will be left behind. But I can't resist - Ashley and I go in and browse for what seems like forever. When we leave I'm $100 poorer due to my purchase of three games, two memory cards, and a universal RF adapter. But on the plus side, I finally signed up for a Game Stop card so that I can build up my points and eventually start to save.

As we left Game Stop we came upon a man waiting outside a sub restaurant for his food to be ready. His dog was absolutely adorable so instinctively asked if I could pet him. Because I'm an Animal Science major and I'm trying to teach myself all of the dog breeds, I was asking him tons of question about his dog.

Me: What breed is he?

Creeper: He's a Sheltie.

Me: Awesome, he's super cute. I'm trying to learn all of the dog breeds since I'm interested in pursing a career involved with animals.

Creeper: Ah, I see. Do you know what his coat coloring is called?

Me: Tricolor..

Creeper: *looks to Ashley* Ohh, she knows her stuff!

Me: Welp, thanks for letting us pet your dog. We have to go now.

The creeper literally lets out a sad, "Awwh" as we start to walk away. Not long afterwards I realize his dog has caught up with me; he apologizes and starts attempting to talk to us again, so we continue to walk away faster and carry on a fake conversation to look busy. I suppose all types of people enjoy the companionship of an animal.. Regardless, I'm really glad I got to learn a little about Shelties; I never realized how small they are in real life, I assumed they were much larger. I definitely have a new appreciation for this breed.

After we spend some time in A.C. Moore we head back to Sprint to pick up my phone. What do you know? Nothing was wrong with it. I text mom and tell her the good news and drive Ashley and I back to Wolf Creek.

When we get home I see that I've gotten a text back from mom that read,

"We're switching to Verizon."

This is not how a Sunday should go.