Thursday Thirteen

Thursday Thirteen seems to have a new hub here, so I'm going to make a list today. I escaped from my house last night long enough to take my birthday gift card to Barnes & Noble and finally spend it. Even when I don't actually buy books, there is something therapeutic for me in browsing the shelves there or any other book store, really. Last night, my mind seem to dwell a lot on things I wish I had done or, at least, had done differently during my younger years. Some were sad, most were funny. This blog has already done sad this week, so here are 13 fun things I wish I had done, or done more often, when I was younger (though it's probably better that I didn't):

1. Somehow, someway smuggled in an anonymous gift-wrapped copy of Sex For Dummies to my church boyfriend's wedding reception. Needless to say, Dave and I were NOT invited; but we knew many people who were and I think we could have managed it. I really wanted to at the time, but I didn't. Had I known how ugly and awkward he was going to make my first summer back in Oklahoma when we were all in the same family ward, I totally would have. Of course, I DID come to really like his wife as time went on...but I can't imagine she would have done anything but thank me for it later. (The boy had a super-high IQ and a perfect ACT score, he needed a little humbling.)
2. Gone toilet-papering or played hotel tag with John and the rest of the boys. While John, Chris, and I had many fun adventures; for some reason we were always excluded from those two activities. The only time I ever TP'd a house was for a friend's birthday and her mom knew in advance we were going to do it. Where is the thrill in that?
3. Let myself get auctioned off as a "virgin" (someone who has never seen the show before) the first time I went to Rocky Horror. I've regretted it so much I thought about lying when we all went to see the show last Halloween, but since I was all dressed up and buying a prop bag when they asked me; I don't think I would have gotten away with it.
4. Along those lines, I also wish I had (just once) dressed up in character and acted out the show up front while it was going on-we didn't really go often enough in my youth to justify that, but I still wish I had done it.
5. Two words: Cloud-busting, or is that one word? (See the movie The Fisher King for reference)
6. Gone to OU/Texas or even OU/OSU games while I was at OU. Granted we didn't have the best team during my years in school, but what was I thinking missing those? I worked at the stadium or used the days off from classes, which were often cancelled on Fri. around those games, for other road trips. Those were fun too, but still...I missed out.
7. Eloped to Florida and honeymooned at Disney World. Dave and I were so worried about stepping on everyone else's toes when we planned our wedding that I don't think either one of us really got what we wanted out of our parents' (and by "our parents," I mean "my mother's") plans. Not to mention my church Branch President's-if I had it to do over again...but it's probably for the best anyway since I might find myself pulling a Jamie Buckman (Mad About You's last season) if I did.
8. Gone out dancing/gone to more parties with my sorority sisters. Sometimes I did, but not nearly as often as I could have. This doesn't mean I wish I had done more drinking and acting stupid, but I should have done more dancing and socializing.
9. More impromptu road trips-I still laugh about our middle of the night jaunt to Muskogee
10. OK, now I'm running out of funny things to write here. Umm...tried harder to get my driver's license since it turned out to be such an easy thing when I actually did? (Not that it sounds fun, but neither was needing everyone else to give me rides all the time.)
11. Gone to a Blazer's hockey game or the races Remington Park back when they were new, exciting things to do. I did see a Blazer's game last year (which is good since they are leaving here now), but you could tell it was no longer THE thing to do in Bricktown. (Thanks OKC Thunder) So I'm afraid that Remington Park would be just as underwhelming for a girl who spent her childhood watching Seattle Slew race on TV sitting next to her Uncle Johnny. Maybe I should see a Thunder game while that's still fun-though I think it will be for at least a few more years. (Ironic that the word "Seattle" comes up in an entry about the OKC Thunder? I think so too, and it absolutely was not on purpose.)
12. Gone to the Tumbleweed in Stillwater, just once...it was always on the to-do list. It just never happened. But I'm sure I would have loved it.
13. And finally...I really wish I had told one of my other ex-boyfriends EXACTLY what his shortcomings were. He dated me when he was a senior in high school and I was a freshman in college. He was overweight, awkward, and had a very bad haircut. I was an adorable college freshman honor's student looking better than I ever would again in my life. But, he was a talented artist and had beautiful eyes so I gave him a chance making HIM the lucky one, right? Apparently not because 6 months later he told me I was "getting chubby" (which was rich coming from him) and that his mom really didn't like me and neither did his friends in Missouri (he had just taken me there to introduce me to them) AND that he never had really liked any of my friends (even though we met because he was trying to get one of them to date him). There were a lot of things about him that were disappointing as well (am I being ladylike enough in the way I put that?) and I never, ever got enough nerve to tell him. I SO wish that I had. He had no problem ripping me to shreds and unceremoniously dumping me. Why oh why did I have to just sit there on the other end of the line (yes, he did all of this BY PHONE-classy!) and take it? So...Sean Walkup, you were a JERK when you were 19!! There, I said it. I feel better now.