Jackie Wang
Period 6
9/18/03
Narrative
The most memorable summer yet
The last few hours of the day of school I stared at the clock in anticipation and anxiously waited for the arrival of 2:50. All my final exams were completed, all my work was turned in and I felt the stress slowly relieve from my shoulders like a deflating balloon. It felt as if I had been carrying the weight of the world all year. Whereas most of my previous summers were drawn out and dull, the summer of 2003 was not the case. It was filled with everything from vacations to relatives. It was the most memorable summer yet because I had a lot of free time, I went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and got to visit my favorite place, New York.
There was no question at all that summer of 2003 was the best yet because I had a lot of free time and therefore got to hangout with friends, got to concerts and indulge in specific areas of interest such as computer graphics. The beginning of the summer was misleading. Many events occurred which lead me to believe that the summer would be disastrous. Prior to summer break, the group of kids, which I refer to as “The Tarpon Kids,” became my regular group of friends, mainly because they’re friends with my boyfriend. The Tarpon Kids consisted of Roger; a goofy looking kid with white hair who somewhat resembles a clown; Clint; a Columbian super-genius who dresses mod; Pete; a freakishly tall Egyptian kid with thick black curly hair; Travis; a 19 year-old unemployed bum with model-quality looks; Nina and Natalie; the hip, fashionable, intellectual twins; and my boyfriend Brett; the most average Joe you will ever see. Although they live somewhat far away, I saw then on a regular basis. While still in the early days of summer, I ended up dumping my boyfriend. This was a regretful mistake because there was just a misunderstanding between us. It put a damper on both of our summers and as a result, I didn’t get to see my regular group of friends. I would have to say this was the absolute low point of the summer. For about two weeks I was a helpless wreck. Sure I had many other friends, but the mere thought of him out having fun while I was in grief over him was even more displeasing. After several days of tension between us we were on good terms again and within a couple of weeks we were back together. This was a big relief. The summer was rarely ever boring. Just about nightly I went out with friends. Among them were Josiah; a tall stud who looks like he could be the 5th Beatle; Yanni; a skinny Greek artist/Steak n Shake employee; Brian; a tall blonde-haired boy who wears buddy-holly glasses; Louie; a bald ethnic guy who loves poetry and anime; and one of my best friends, Crystal; a funny Puerto Rican girl with good fashion sense. The usual late-night hangouts were Denny’s, Steak n Shake, Sims Park, and various people’s houses. There were also regular trips to St. Petersburg and Ybor to go to concerts. One of my favorite places to go was The Globe, which is a coffee shop in St. Petersburg. Over the course of summer I went to so many concerts that I can’t even remember them specifically but there is one concert that really stands out in my mind. One day my friend Joe Fawls and I were bored so we decided to look up things to do. We found out that the B-52s were playing in St. Petersburg so at the last minute we decided to head down there to catch the show. It was no surprise to find hoards of middle-aged women and men dancing and flailing their arms in the air like wild orangutans.
Going on the Carnival Cruise was a significant part of summer because I got to eat food of diverse cultures, I felt like a celebrity, and met people from various places. One of the greatest things about cruises is you have unlimited amounts of food at your mercy 24 hours a day. I consumed more food within the course of those few days than I ever had before in my life (in that amount of time). On cruises, you’re free to devour plates and plates full of food and not have to worry about additional charges. Not only that, but there was free room service 24 hours a day! Every night there were formal dinners where you had to dress up and were served high-quality food presented in an elaborate manner. While some people dislike dressing up, I enjoyed it very much (being I have so many dresses that are appropriate for the occasion). The cruise was fairly large and contained many activities. Looking at the other cruises docked next to us I was in awe at the massive structures. Among the things to do on the cruise was gamble in the various casinos (of course I could not), play life sized chess, visit different clubs, play video games in the arcade, play board games in the game room, karaoke, basketball, ping-pong, etc. There were so many things to do that my brother Danny and I hardly slept at all! During the night we gazed at the ocean and were mesmerized by the moon’s glare on the surface of the dark, murky water. There was no sight of land in any direction, making the ocean appear endless. It was, by far, the most gorgeous sight of the summer. We stayed up nightly to watch the sunrise. In addition to having buckets of fun, I also met many fascinating people.
New York was a somewhat bizarre and irritating experience mainly because of the drive to New York and my annoying relatives. Overall it was good one because New York City is my favorite place. Varying from time to time, New York fluctuated from good to bad. The drive up was, quite blatantly, horrendous. My aunt Janet and her two children, Christopher and Jonathan, had driven down from New York to visit us in Florida. We were to drive back to New York with them and fly home to Florida. Jonathan is the biggest nuisance I have ever met in my life. Words simply cannot describe how obnoxious this child is. He would scream and throw fits while in the car. He did anything and everything he could do to tick you off, whether it be hitting you or yelling in your ear.
After the torturous ride up we final reached our destination. My expectations for the trip to New York was very high considering I love New York and made many plans to attend different places such as Greenwich Village, various records stores in the city, an art museum, concerts, vegan cafes, etc. Unfortunately, the only place I was able to visit was China Town. Even that was cut short by torrential rainfall therefore I spend a total of about one hour in the city. The trip to New York consisted of going back and forth from my Aunt Anna’s house in Valley Stream, My Uncle Johnny’s house in Franklin Square, and my Aunt Janet’s house Massapequa. My Uncle Johnny’s house was not pleasant at all! Being that he is really old, there is absolutely nothing to do at his house. No computer let along even a CD player! It was the last place a kid would want to find himself.
