with summer in full effect nina and i decided to take a vacation. we were discussing a trip to ocean city at willy’s house when his (now ex) girlfriend saunda proclaims she’s never been to the beach. so we invited her to come with us.  in ocean city we stayed with one of my dad's old navy buddies (since hotel prices are astronomical these days). the first day was awesome, the weather was nice, the beach wasn't crowded, and we ate at spiffy italian place. day two however was rainy and overcast. so we decided to kick it on the boardwalk. we ate some uber-sweet cotton candy, i bought an aqua-teen poster, nina and i laughed at saunda’s failed attempts to be funny. after a while we were just chillin' on a bench trying to decide what to do next, when out of nowhere we see this dude with a pink mohawk and a fu manchu. then i realize, “hey i know that guy”, it's sean mccarthy and natalie from jester's court!  we ended up at a bar called the bearded clam with them and met up with other people from pittsburgh. things got crazy when they found out that nina had only recently turned 21. there were toasts to pittsburgh, to nina, to the oc, it was a blast. but after that it got better. nina was annihilated, i tried to buy her a veggie-sub, but all she would eat was the bread. she was trying to toss green peppers into my mouth, but ended up just throwing them on/at my face. saunda was rolling on the sidewalk laughing at us, and got all kinds of dirt and vegetables all over her. the final day we went to the beach in the day (gorgeousness) , then hung out with this guy mccarthy introduced us to in the evening. turns out the guy is an awesome artist who makes metal sculptures. he did most of the art in my favorite restaurant madmex. the return trip was just that, a trip. When the time came to leave, i saw the car’s reflection in a shop window and noticed we were a padiddle (one headlight). we drove around forever until i could find an auto parts store to get a replacement. then, of course, the setup under the hood made me remove the entire battery just to get access to the driver’s side headlight matrix. finally, street ready, we hit the road. after waking up from a nap, both girls proclaimed they had to pee. at first i didn’t see a rest stop or gas station for miles, then i kept missing exits, or be passing other cars, or passing other cars, until finally we ended up at this crazy redneck gas station in wv. they had a singing deer head mounded in the bathroom, so when you wash your hands it sang like country roads or something. a hilarious end to a great trip.