Yoo 379 - Harold: The Post-College Years

The post-college years have been a little rough on Harold.

First, my roommates had some protests. Again about his hygiene. Yes, he was purchased at a thrift store. But he's been sent thru the wash and re-stuffed with BRAND NEW stuffing at least 3 times since then. He's clean!

They didn't believe me. And were bored one night. (i'm sure i was out on a date...or something...).

Poor Harold.

As if being saran-wrapped wasn't bad enough, he was forced to wear a Hannah Montana training bra.

And underwear. Not to mention the demoralizing signs.

I must admit though, I do kind of like the Groucho glasses on him...

Harold never really gained acceptance with most of the roommates. But he did make it down to the beach a time or two! (please notice bin's little fishy).

The one roommate that loved Harold with her whole heart was the Alishafriend, of course. Actually, I pulled Harold out on our first road trip together and she was insanely jealous of how comfortable I was sleeping in the car with him. So it was a jealous love. But we're OK with that and have since realized that if one person has something, the other person will probably just buy it too.

This has been proven with jackets, pants, hiking bags, shoes, books, electronics, and stuffed fish.

Meet Dlorah Uvalde. Harold spelled backwards plus the name of a random town we saw on a camping trip.

Harold and Dlorah have been great travel and camping buddies. They've almost been to as many states as we have! Minus our most recent trip. Dlorah made it but Harold was undergoing surgery. (more on that down below).

Harold's seen his fair share of airports. It's surprisingly simple to get him thru security too. Only a few raised eyebrows...

The Smilmiester is basically a mini-Kyoo (only a lot smarter...) so I made sure to get her a Harold of her own. For the record, they don't make them quite like they used to...

Did you know Harold was there that fateful summer I started dating the Gregbeau? Duh he was there. He'll probably make a wedding shot or two, too. (harold, and greg, i guess...). I'm not asking for permission to take him on the honeymoon. More like he'll get packed and I'll ask for forgiveness later.

Let's not forget the Tinafriend (doctor) throughout all this and the miraculous surgery she performed months ago on a very defeated Harold tail.

Also, she has really nice fingernails.

Does this seem creepy yet? Like that episode of "My Strange Addiction" where all these adult men and women get their Cabbage Patch Dolls together for a legitimate play date?

It's not that bad. I promise.

More like Harold is my travel pillow. And what a cool travel pillow to have!

Harold spends most of his non-traveling-flinging-himself-at-passing-cars days now guarding my bed. With Boris.

Do you think that when some family dropped Harold off at the DI so many years ago they could fathom the kind of second life he's had?? I wonder if I've ever donated anything so cool that it became another person's Harold...

I sure hope I have!

Here's to many more years with my random fish buddy.

*fist to fin pound*

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 378 - Harold: The College Years

I feel very passionately about this post, so do not discount that. And Harold reminds me every time I see his pleasantly plump, newly-stuffed body sitting on my living room floor that he has not seen much of the blog limelight in a while. Or been on many adventures, for that matter.

But oh how that needs to change! He's a new fish!

Remember how he was forced into a semi-retirement when his tail started falling off and leaving Hansel and Gretel trails all about my house? You probably don't remember that because it never got mentioned. But now you know! And it was the saddest thing!

And also perhaps you are wondering who Harold is? You must be new around here.

Harold in 5 sentences:

1) Girl at summer youth camp had a stuffed fish.
2) I loved it.
3) Years later in college I saw a similar stuffed fish at DI (like Goodwill).
4) I loved it.
5) Two dollars later and Harold was mine.

That's all there is to Harold. Oh, and all of this.

Harold sunbathing at the Grameez house. (shhhh...don't tell him he shouldn't be under the shade tree...he tries but i don't want him ruining his perfectly white fish belly).

Harold and I studying. Unfortunately that clock was reading am....

Harold and I and Steffer. Did I ever mention that she is the reason I have pierced ears? True story. (harold's ears aren't pierced).

Harold definitely made the Canyoneering class trip packing list. Along with just about everything else that I owned, apparently...

He also found his way into my carry-on luggage to Hawaii.

If you've never sent a stuffed fish thru the security scanners then you have not lived.

Harold's lived. All been-there-done-that-like.

Harold gained many friends in college too. Some were nice.

Others were not-so-nice.

And here we see that stuffed-fish abuse is a real thing.

Here too.

But not here. Though he looks ragged and all but fileted, he isn't dead. He's getting a bath, duh!

There were always complaints about Harold's hygiene. But really, he's a fish. What can you expect?? There would be complaints about your hygiene too if you only got bathed once a year. But he did get bathed once a year. The trusty Nicole roommate would pull out all his old stuffing and wash him. And then I would count my pennies and beg for a trip to Wal-Mart to buy a couple new bags of stuffing. And then Nicole would plump him back up and sew him shut.

And that was that. For another year.

Harold went on every college adventure with me. I speculate he went on some of his own as well. At least one week, in the police report, I read the following:

Complaint of subjects throwing stuffed-fish at moving cars.

I mean, what is the point of that if not to speculate that Harold was some kind of night bandit? Or maybe we could speculate on the state of my college town considering that that was the top story in the police report?

Either way, that's a brief synopsis of Harold's college years. Don't you worry though, he's still around! More to follow...

Have a great day :-)

Yoo 350 - Packing Rules and Early HELGA Shots

We're in Chicago. Laying in bed. In a nice hotel. (i want to steal these pillows!) The same hotel that the touring Lil' Kim is currently calling home, actually. (we haven't seen her yet).

The point of this trip is to pretty much do whatever we want and go wherever we want. And right now, laying in these cloud pillows debating just when we want to saunter downstairs for breakfast is just want we want.

Did you know there are rules when the Alishafriend and I vacation together? There are rules. Mostly revolving around what you can and can't pack.

Make-up? Off-limits. Leave it at home!

All of your crazy handkerchiefs can come though. As long as you promise to tie them around your head in the most ridiculous of ways.

This is a T-shirts only trip, too. The kind of T-shirts that you got from state volleyball in high school and a myriad of road races and oyster reclamation projects.

Basketball shorts (or pants) are to be the only bottoms. Extra points if they have pockets. Jeans are forbidden! (though i had to break that rule, heading straight to the airport from work and not packing a change in easy reach...).

Aviators and adventure bracelets round out our look.

Essentially, comfort and low-maintenance is key. It's a vacation from work clothes too!

Where has this bag been all my life?? Kyoo mom...add that to the Christmas list.

It's tradish when I fly Southwest to turn to the back of their seat pocket magazine and follow their dollar bill folding tutorial. This month it was bow ties!

(yes, alisha is wearing my ring...but i can explain! a creeper guy with a huge, bloody gash in the side of his head sat next to her and started laying on the (not so) charm. It was our only option! and it was my turn to sacrifice since i stole window seat...)

I still have the armadillo I made whilst flying to Portland last year. It took me all 3 hours of that flight to finish it...the directions get complicated fast!

We sat outside Chicago Midway with our copious amounts of luggage taking up an entire bench while eating cookie dough, people watching, and wondering if we'd recognize our hotel shuttle van when it came by.

(ps, do we look over 21? yes?? we definitely got carded while trying to claim free VIRGIN drinks at the hotel bar last night...the lady didn't believe us and made us trek back upstairs for our ids. then. then! she had another guy double check them because she was sure they were fake. hello lady! shall i point out all of my gray hairs individually or will you give me that sprite now?)

We might eventually get out to explore Chicago. Probably at noon checkout. And we do have to pick up a rental car and get somewhere before tonight, hopefully nabbing a state sign. But right now we don't know when or where.

It's kind of the best thing about our road trips.

In other news, the Tinadoctor is currently performing surgery on Harold.

His tail fin started falling off and he was losing a lot of blood stuffing. She's already given him two transfusions and he's taking it well so far. I'm hoping she can patch him up so he's ready to join me again on my next adventure! (he can come on the honeymoon Gregbeau, right?)

Don't worry though, the Alishafriend brought her fish, named Dlorah (harold spelled backwards), so we still have a scaly counterpart to start conversations with and make a scene.

(thanks again tina for taking on harold as your newest patient!)

Have a great day :-)