Good times, for the most part

This past weekend, from the 22nd through the 25th of July, i threw a big trip to my cabin with most of my friends, and some people i had newly met.
My cabin is located in Ely, Minnesota, and currently my most favorite place to be. We went there under the guise to play airsoft, which in essence is like low powered BB guns. A cheap form of paintball if you will. The ride there is long and boring, a 250 mile trip, usually takes about 4.5 to 5 hours with a stop. So, we get there about mid-day friday, and basically chill out at the cabin for a bit. Heres a pic of my buddy Matt on the way there http://img346.imageshack.us/my.php?image=matt4vi.jpg

Carrying on. Later friday rolls around, and I decided I wanted to get fucked up. Love where this story is going eh? Alright, so we aquired a lot of alcoholic beverages from town, went back, and started us a bonfire. The sad thing is, out of the 11 people that came with me, only 2 of us were outside at that fire, and 2 more were hopping back and forth.
http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=friday7ot.jpg
In that one you can see the locals there. Joe is the one in red, Dusty has his finger in there, Matt is the other dude on the bench, and Paul is petting the dog.

http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dusty4av.jpg - Dusty with the double shocker, and vodka at his feet

http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=joe7wk.jpg - Joe taking a pull at that Vodka

http://img337.imageshack.us/my.php?image=paul4ec.jpg - And Paul just sloshed as hell. He and Matt decided that they were going to save the world through electrical engineering. Somehow they involved me in their plan, so i need to become Pope in a hurry aparently.

A lot of that night went by fast. A lot of my friends didn't even want to be outside with us while we were having drinks. I don't understand why. None of us were mean drunks, and there was room for them all. My plan of thought is that they don't like to be around alcohol, and strange new people... but then, what are parties for?

Saturday Rolls around, and I feel like a million bucks... thats been put in a vice and shredded ten fold. No biggy. The day carries on and my head gets better, and we go all out and play some airsoft. Capture the flag is where its at by the way. SO we do that for a good amount of time and i had a blast. Hell, i even bloodied myself and didn't care. Check out this gash on my nose http://img328.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gnarlygash5rn.jpg . That happened when i was retrieving our flag back from a dude that stole it... In all fairness, i totally kicked his ass at getting that flag back. I hadn't realized I'd cut my nose open on my goggles till i got back to our flag and my buddy Luke informs me that i'm bleeding. No big deal, i got our flag back, I feel like a damned hero. That picture is current, i wish i had one where it was still all bloody and open... I felt like a badass.

Saturday night rolls around, and once again, party opportunity. 4 of us go with Dusty, and i get sloshed again. We all start to realize that this guy Jared that came with us is hitting on Laura hardcore (this is Laura http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=laura4ya.jpg ) Saying things like "hey pretty lady" and "hey baby" not to mention the not so subtle staring. Being as I'm drunk and chilling at a party, I give Laura two things to hold on to. One, my cellphone; I do dumb shit with it when drunk. And two, my brass knuckles; something a lady shouldn't go without. So, here we are, Me and Matt and Mike all saying how we'll beat his ass if he does one dumb thing. Any dumb thing, and i would have gone ape shit on him. She calls her boyfriend on my phone and walked off. When she came back I offered her my bed in this room me and Matt had to ourselves, I could sleep on the floor. But she said it was ok, the loft would do fine.

We left that party fairly early, and headed back to the cabin to find that everyone was still awake, but chilling inside again, which i thought odd, but what did i know, i was drunk. So we get back and i just lay down on my bed, they're carrying on a conversation in which i try to edge my way in, to participate, but it appears as if they can't hear drunk people. I wasn't drunk enough to not remember. So, I decided whatever, and rolled over about to sleep, when Laura comes in, leans over and whispers "thanks" all the while she has this vivid impression of my knuckles in her front pocket. I mumble something like no problem, and i end up getting a hug. I missed hugs. Not five minutes later and i'm out.

Sunday morning, around 9:30 AM. People start waking up, and talking loudly, loudly enough for the little men in my head to get back to mining my brain for precious ore. After about 10 minutes of that i couldn't take it and literally yelled to the rest of the cabin "Shut the hell up!" It got quiet again, and it appears the little men went back to sleep. Later that day, hang over well over with, we went out to this place called Miner's lake. It's an old quarry thats been filled in with this nice, cold, deep water. Heres one Laura had requester of her jumping in from the 14 foot drop http://img328.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jump7kt.jpg . I did that one several times, and then me and Matt proceeded to climb up to the 40 foot one. Thats one hell of a jump, and i tucked on the way in and landed ass first. Let me tell you that isn't pleasant.

Sunday night comes, and once again, party time. Only no one wants to come with me this time. No one. I was disappointed, mainly because no one even tried to convince me to stay back. I probably wouldn't have, but whatever. So, Joe throws this kegger on an island, and we go. Half way through we get this idea to go and get Joe's brother ( did i mention Joe is my cousin, and i get along with him better than my own brother?) Brian, who is currently an hour away... lets get him. We pull up, and Bri is going crazy, he didn't think we'd get him, and I haven't seen him in well over a year and a half. To catch up, we go back to the island and have a grand old time. I didn't bring my camera with for that, i'm sorry to say.

Monday, we come back... end of the adventure. Time for the pondering. I could rant on and on about the antics between me and Laura, I believe she is something similar to Az's "demon." Someday, it'll come to me and i'll realize i have a good friendship with her, and should quit wanting more.

On the way to get Bri, me and Joe had this big talk about how the night before (saturday) i really wished i had someone to protect. Frankly i don't care what happens to myself, i'd much rather make someone else feel safe. I would have taken a bullet for her that night, it might have been the combination of booze and courage, but those together are an unstopable pair. If that prick were to lay a hand on her, I would have gone nuts. I didn't want anything in return, i just wanted her to feel safe.

Now i'm dwelling, and she isn't mine, and it is indeed a good time to finish this post. Thanks for reading my rant.