4/20: The anniversary of the best game ever and the time I met death’s eyeballs. maybe.

Duddddeee…

So I was sitting here earlier and thinking about about things, and how about 6-8 years ago I had a truly epic day on the anniversary of tomorrow’s date, 4/20. I know this day might mean different things to different people, but to me.. it was a day of fun. It was a day of laughter. It was the day I have never been more sure that I was going to die. And I’m not even sure how much of this actually happened.

It’s one of those tales that has been told so many times to so many people, that the details have gotten hazy. Or maybe the details were hazy to begin with. Probably you’re  going to think this is a tale that you really just had to be there for.. and you may be right… but still. I’ll let you be the judge, mmmkay?

The night before this epic day, one of my friends and I had gotten MIP (minor in consumption) tickets for sneaking shots at a bar. It wasn’t fun. I called my dad to tell him about the ticket and he was so angry that I was sure that he was spontaneously combusting on the other side of the phone. “Good God Carissa, another ticket? Do you know what you’re doing to me, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING TO ME?” I know my dad  well enough to know that when he gets like this the best thing to do is to cry. It doesn’t do any good, but he’s a sucker for tears and usually will at least cease with the yelling. Plus, like most times that my water works start a flowing, these were genuine tears. We got off the phone and I hung my head in guilt, but found some comfort in the fact that he would probably still love me regardless of the fact that he thought of me as a delinquent. My friend’s fate was a little worse than my own… Her parents decided that it was time that she move back home.

There was really no choice in the matter, the situation called for a little day time get-together to try to ease our depression. Unfortunately, one of my roommates had a bug collection due for a Biology class the next day, so she somehow talked the group of us into helping her out. At the time, I didn’t really love bugs, but obliged for the sake of friendship. (I really really REALLY love bugs now) (EXCEPT FOR ANTS) (AND COCKROACHES).

We split into teams of three or four and headed our separate ways in search of some bugs.

I remember this part clearly. There was a huge storm a brewin’. The wind had that electric feeling… the kind that makes you want to stand on top of the roof and Tarzan yelp. The kind of wind that makes you feel like an engine has revved up inside your soul and makes you want to run around an apartment complex naked.

Only what we did was so much better.

Although my friends will argue still about which of us truly came up with the “game,” I know it was me though. I don’t know how I know for sure, but I do.

So there we are, walking around looking for bugs with the electricity flowing through both the air and our souls, when I started singing “Looking for bugs in all the wrong places…”

And then it was born.

“The Bug Game.”

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but on that afternoon, and on many afternoons for years to come, “The Bug Game” provided my friends and I with hours upon hours of entertainment. And yet it’s so simple. Basically you just substitute the word “love” in any song for the word “bug.”

Examples: “And I will always bug you.”

“Gonna have to face it I’m addicted to bugs.”

“I don’t wanna lose your bug tonight”

“I’ll make bug to you, like you bug me to.” (You can really replace any word with bug, and it doesn’t have to make sense…)

“More than bugs to show you feel… that your bug for me is real…”

“I just called, to say… I bug you”

“You’ve lost that Bugging feeling..”

Ok so I could go one for years. Play along if you’d like, I dare you not to.

Moving on.. So yeah, this big storm is a brewing. We had long since quit collecting bugs, and put our main focus on “the bug game,” when we noticed that the sky had gotten even darker. I have always wanted to be storm chaser, but even these wall clouds got a fear going in my belly that have never since been met. The sky literally started swirling. We stood there with our mouths wide open as the tornado formed above us. That’s when the alarms started sounding. If you’re from the south, you know that although the tornado sirens are not uncommon, they have the ability to raise every hair on your body- even on the clearest of days.

Once the rain and hail started pouring down, I got my ass in the laundry room as fast as I could. For some reason (or a very obvious one) I knew that this was it for me. I gathered every pillow in the house and my cell phone and started shaking uncontrollably. All I could think of was my dad, and how I was going to die while he was so angry with me. So I did the natural thing and called my parents to tell them goodbye. Through tears I told them that I was about to die.

I think.

Anyway. The bug game? It’s really fun. You should try.

Related posts:

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2. I Can’t Brain Today
3. My many faces
4. Love my life! But a little bit of FML (Because it IS Friday!)
5. I owe it all-a to my momma. Hollah!