We've Got More Adventures than Lewis and Clark

"May: The Month of Movie Madness" is over. It's been over for awhile, actually. Anyway, I watched at least one movie each day for a grand total of 35 movies in the month. It actually became a chore of sorts toward the end of the month. I was sincerely glad when the month ended and I could set aside the responsibility to watch a movie every single day. It was a good run.

The second slurpee adventure of the summer took place this week. It started, like the first, after Sunday night expired into Monday morning. Four of us (myself, my roommate Aaron, Elyse, and her roommate Kelli) all piled into Kelli's car and hit the road. We decided to visit the Springville 7-11 so we could rock out a little longer. We were also hoping it would have different flavors than the University Avenue 7-11. Variety is the spice of life - especially when it comes to slurpees.

My excitement was off the charts; Elyse looks pretty excited too. (This was actually before we took off in Kelli's car - it's my pre-adventure face).

I was in a great mood, full of energy. Listening to some stellar tunes along the way, courtesy of Elyse's iPod, helped get me pretty hyper. The 7-11 in Springville is nicer than any 7-11 in Provo. It feels more spacious and was really clean. Once we got inside we basically ran to the slurpee machine. They actually had some different flavors. Unfortunately, their unique flavor had the dreaded blinking red light. We were not meant to partake of the Twizzlers Strawberry flavor. Alas! Elyse and I held a mini-conference and decided that we needed to go to another 7-11, this one on 300 South in Provo, to see if they had any new flavors. By the time we announced our intentions, Aaron and Kelli had already obtained their own slurpees. Oh well.

Oh yeah, while all this was happening. We were trying to set up Elyse's camera on the nacho cheese machine so we could get a shot of the four of us near the slurpee machine. One the employees, a middle-aged woman at the end of her shift, saw us and told us if she'd show us where to take a great picture. She then walked to a little alcove behind the counter and uncovered a very large and very green cardboard cutout of the hulk. We then took the picture.

As we were leaving and Aaron and Kelli were paying for their slurpees, I noticed a bunch of donuts on the counter. I asked the cashier if they were discounted because they were old, and he said they were indeed. Buy one get one free. Probably my favorite promotion of all time (can anyone say the Malt Shoppe?). Elyse and I each got one of the pink sprinkled donuts. The cashier called them Sprinklicious, and we all laughed. Then I saw on his little price chart thing that they are officially called Sprinklicious, and I was astounded at that awesome fact. It was delicious.

At the 7-11 on 300 South and Freedom things were a little different. It's closer to the tracks, the streets are a little darker, scary things might be going on. (Lest any assume I'm serious, I'm not. Earlier that day I had spent some quality time on the other side of the tracks visiting my former roommate Don Giovanni and his wife Dona Tessa). Inside the store, the cashier had techno on, and that was pretty cool since we'd been listening and grooving to similar music in the car. The cashier would even bust out some dance moves from time to time; she did the robot as I approached the cashier to pay for my slurpee. This 7-11 also had a unique flavor that wasn't ready for consumption: the Jolly Rancher green apple. It sounded appetitizing, but no matter how long we waited, and Elyse waited pretty diligently, the blinking red light would not turn off. I decided to settle for the Crystal Light cherry limeade flavor. It was tasty and sugar free so as to not put me into a diabetic coma. I guess that's a plus.

Elyse finally settled on a mixture of flavors, Aaron refilled his slurpee cup now empty, and some people even bought some taquitos to eat. We got back in the car and decided to go visit the 7-11 near 500 West and Bulldog. Elyse told us about an employee there, Mullet Man, who, get this, has a mullet. We wanted to see him, but he wasn't working when we got there. Not wanting our adventure to end, we decided to swing by a park in Orem near my grandpa's house. As we pulled in, I wondered if the park had a curfew like all Provo City parks. 11 p.m. curfews are lame. We had just found a parking spot and turned the car off when a police car pulled into the parking lot. My curfew-suspicion was correct, and we left the park without even getting out of the car. The cop stayed in the parking lot to highbeam the two cars still there, and we thought we were free. Later, as we pulled to a stop sign, the cop pulled right behind us. They apparently don't have much to do late at night. We soon left Orem and returned to Provo, and all was well.

The slurpees were soon vanquished, and the night's adventure came to an end.