sometimes the VET occurs during a normal year. sometimes the VET occurs during a tropical storm. sometimes the VET occurs during an attempted takeover of the US government from the people. sometimes the VET occurs during a global pandemic.
…the VET occurred during three of those four things. can you guess which?
this was the VET of the mask. the VET of rarely getting out to do anything. the VET of eating gas station food in our car. needless to say, it wasn’t a traditional VET.
i awoke early with nicole, showered and got ready for the day’s proceedings. i would be driving this year, so in the days prior to the holiday i also spent time spiffing up and cleaning my car, which has seen little driving action this past year due to HORRIFIC GLOBAL PANDEMIC. i drove on down to ol’ monsoon’s place, listening to moby. MOOOOBYYYYY.
we set off on adventure, armed with masks for protecting the world from devastation. but of course i did not remember to turn on the GPS tracker app, so a portion of our travels were lost.
we made our way northward through carrollwood via dale mayberry. as we traveled down backroads and through small towns, we discussed my recent delve into the past through livejournal. through a fair amount of conversation, we realized that we both used to be idiots.
we drove down to a park of some sort, but then 180’d away as we realized it was all boaty and weird – fort island gulf beach fishing pier. we discussed quarantine depression and the hardships of being zany old hermits. it seems cool, but it’s not.
we then made a couple back-to-back stops at gas stations, one for gas station goodies, and the next for a delicious gas station quality lunch. while at the first, we yelp’d some good food, and figured sandwiches/salads would be ideal. yelp told us a cool gas station was our best bet. it was not.
one disappointing meal (and like zero masks worn in public) later, we were off on adventure again! we made our way eastward, near ocala, following driving instincts and generally avoiding big honking roads aka interstates. it paid off in the form of few sights to see (i.e. the “scenic” route).
we then moved southward, stopping by a weird cement pier on the great lake harris. it feels cold and utilitarian, but it would comically turn out to be the visual highlight of the trip. it was nice to get out, sans masks, and just stand out on the water. the day was dark from clouds due to tropical storm eta, but that served us just fine. we discussed our past and present friendships.
our journey continued southward. our next stop was (surprise!) another gas station, following an encounter with some never-say-die trumpers and followed by a candy shop visit. at edmund’s rancid candy barrel, i obtained fruit gemmies, some various chocolates, and a guava wine. we also got to see and elderly couple without masks. they were cool/will die soon. oh and there were robots.
we continued along our way. at some point we discovered that my playlists, littered with custom tracks i had put together, were not complete; the custom tracks had not downloaded locally (despite indication that they had… grrr…..). this was made up for by a bit of mad manual phone DJing while we ate some actually very good windows (wings) from bufalucca, who lives in sebring.
south, then west, then north, then homeward. we listened to corey’s samplin’s playlist to close out the evening, calling it early due to fear of mega stormination (which was scheduled to come to a head at 10 PM). i dropped off corey around 9 or 9 15, and that was the end of it.
i can’t say it was the best VET ever. i could guess that it was the worst one (it’s probably true). but what i can say, confidently, is that it was a much needed break from a dismal year. no, we couldn’t put everything behind us, as there were reminders everywhere around us (including on our fucking faces). but it was the first real-world social contact either of us had outside our living situations since basically the beginning of the pandemic, which puts it at about eight months. it was much needed human warmth. a breath of fresh air. a hint of normalcy. and i’ve been able to live off that sweet sweet hit for a few weeks running now.
let’s hope it lasts me through next year.