1/8/08 Dream II

AL an i are going to go canoeing - she's going to meet me at the launch point, which is an hour drive south down the potomac. I get there first, later in the day on saturday and do the paperwork for the rental. At first the guy rents me a single seater, but i remind him i have someone joining me. It's now two hours before the place closes (7pm) and AL still hasn't shown up yet. I call her, and she says that she's on her way. Even though she dosen't say it, i realize that she rented her own canoe at the put in place up river, an hour drive away, and she's trying to canoe down to meet me. There is no way she will make it in time, and also she's going to end up in the wilderness after dark by herself with no provisions on the river. I try calling her back, but she has either turned her phone off or is out of cell reception. It is clear that she won't be here in time to use our reservation for tonight, so i cancel with the guy to the deak. Even though i just made the rental, the cancelation fee is $119 (out of the $200 original rental). This sucks, but has to be done. I keep calling and caling and finally ge through and ask her what she's doing? She says that she was going to paddle the entire way down, in fact was going to paddle the entire length of the potomac. I tell her that it took me an hour to drive here, so there's no way she's canoeing here by tonight. She didn't realize that.

PART II

Now AL and i are driving somewhere, but she needs to ship some stuff, so we stop at a UPS store and she goes in but i wait in the car. It takes her forever it seems, and traffic is getting worse and worse. Finally i drive off, just to get some movement because i'm tired of sitting and waiting. I drive down the road a bit, and traffic is pretty bad, but i manage to cut across and go into a residential neighborhood. I drive though there and come to a pedestrian bridge that goes back to the downtown place where the UPS store is. I get on a bike and ride back to the store, and call her on my cell on the way. When i arrive she comes out and is clearly distraught. The clerk comes out and explains that while she had said the cost from the store would be $5.50, there is an 80 pound box that she wants to ship, which costs $4.40 per pound, which ment the total cost was very expensive, and AL either didn't have the money for that or didn't want to spend that much. I ask what's in the box - it'ss audition videos and head shots to send to hollywood for her dream of acting. I realize that she can't stop her dream just because of this - i say, what if i pay for the shipping, even though i don't know if i can afford the cost either.