I don't know why you say goodbye I say "safe travels"

Today I had dinner and watched some movies with a few staff members including Banana Slug, NIN, VG Anteater and Suite Buddy, who has my partner in crime in the buildings we help supervise. I'd say Suite Buddy and I are tight. Back in September, we planned a whole retreat for our teams together and at the end of the day, our teams still barely knew each other but we were Suite Buddies for life. When the times were stressful and we were literally banging our heads on the walls, we had each other to commiserate with.

Well, today I suddenly realized this would be the last time I saw her before she leaves for her new job across the country. I was saddened by the departure of my friend and ally here at work. And as I gave her a big goodbye hug and she walked away, she said "Goodbye" and my response was "Safe Travels."

I walked to my car thinking about those parting words. It's something I ponder a lot in general. What do you say for a goodbye, whether temporary or permanent? If you could choose your last words, what would they be? I am reminded of a Terry Pratchett character who realizes that he is about to die and decided this would be a good time for his final words. "I really wish I wasn't here" he says. I think the quotes on my Facebook if you want the full thing. But really though, what would my last words be. The last lines of a book or especially a movie are a really big deal. Many characters are remembers for their parting thoughts whether it was "Frankly my dear I don't give a damn" as he walks out the door or "NOOOOOOO" as he falls to his doom. It sums up a person's character.

If you want, post some of your favorite last lines in the comment sections. I'm trying to make this blog more interactive and I don't think you need to sign up to comment.

Knowing that life will most likely bring Suite Buddy back to me or me to her if I manage to get out to visit (I have been meaning to travel...), I feel satisfied with my wish for her to travel safely. This is not a goodbye, which I supposes means nothing really but goodbye. Rather it is a "practical" wish for my friend to be safe so that I can see her again. So I ponder what makes a good goodbye and how I think its an underlying denial that anything could possibly be a permanent goodbye that makes me hesitant to be offer something so definitively an ending.

So "though I'm not normally like this" I will offer a special shout out to my Suite Buddy and may her new job be wonderful and may she travel safely back home to us here soon. Its not goodbye but it is ta ta for now.

On a totally different note, I was walking up the hill to my car today, and a pristine tennis ball came rolling down the street to me. I thanked the Easily Amused gods and picked it up, playing with it until I accidentally through it in a rose bush.

And then I found 10 dollars...

I wish. Well in honor of my Suite Buddy, I will share the Times story I've been promising. We recently went to a dinner show called Medieval Times. Myself, along with Banana Slug and Vg Anteater joined the rest of the graduate students which included NIN and Suite Buddy among others. No JD did not come despite it being one of his favorite places ever!

After totally stressing out over being late and going through traffic and not being able to see the GF before I left, I finally arrive before most of the others. Naturally. I proceeded to not know how to get into the building and therefore walked in the back through the employee entrance. A few of the squires looked like they were going to get up and stop me, then said eh, whatever and sat back down.

So yea, I single handedly invaded the castle and I didn't even have a sword!

After meeting up with everyone and purchasing a nice stein of rum and coke (I don't do beer), we were able to watch the show, eat a whole chicken with our hands, and root for the Green Knight who was the villain in this film. Besides epic knight duels, jousting, swordplay, and mediocre acting, there were a few real treats. For one, the main host was pretty funny and kept alluding to pop culture references while still maintaining a medieval air and accent. There is something hysterical about a knight quoting Lady Gaga. Also, the was falconry. And while I love birds of prey (I mean they are RAPTORS afterall) and think animals should be respected and cared for, both free and in captivity, I laughed just as hard as the next person when this majestic bird flew elegantly around the arena and promptly smashed into the protective plastic wall surround the jousting pit. The bird was fine but its dignity was forever marred. All in all though, especially in comparison to the jousts I saw two weeks earlier at the Renaissance Faire, the show was good and fairly well acted and battled. Too bad we were the bad knight. We were the coolest but it was inevitable that we'd betray the king and try to overthrow the kingdom, ultimately losing to a prince. Better luck next time Macbeth.

All in all the night was lovely until, upon leaving the Times, I was pulled over for talking on a cell phone and got a $150 ticket. Worst of all, I was calling my mom! Sad face. Part of me was angry that the cop wasn't out taking on the drug dealers, hit and runners, and angsty teenagers with their graffiti cans, part of me was just relieve that I have a high tolerance for alcohol and only had one drink that night a long time before I met the officer. Worst part, my initial reaction was to call my mom and tell her what had happened. Yea, that woulda been dumb.

Changing gears, I haven't done a good Brock's Block in a while. This is in part because he hasn't done anything particularly out there that I have been present for. That is mostly my fault since I've been devoting a lot of time at school and hanging out after hours a lot too. He does sleep at an unreasonable 10pm many nights. That said, lately, he's been up until 12 or later and I shed a tear because I'm so proud of him.

One thing you should understand about Brock is he enjoys alcohol. But he's querky about it. He likes to drink alone. He likes hard cider and wine the best but he is also the only one in our apartment who drinks beer. So often I will come home to find 3 or four beers/hard cider bottles or an empty bottle of wine sitting at our coffee table and think we had people over before realizing its just Brock. Even stranger, if people are coming over, Brock will drink BEFORE they show up and then stop once everyone else starts to drink. He likes his buzz but he doesn't like to share it I guess. This often leads to situations where Brock is drunk and everyone else is just starting or not drinking at all. You can understand now why I have a quotebook of things he says.

One particular night not too long ago, we were celebrating a one of our local sports teams, the Streamers, winning a big game, and went to dinner after. Brock was drinking throughout the game and decided he was unable to drive, so I drove his car to the restaurant. He works in the area in a fancy business building so we parked in his garage parking lot. Upon returning a few hours later, Brock is still a bit tipsy and we find the gate to our structure down. As in those wall gates that lower from the ceiling. We were going crap, how we going to get our car... Brock being less than sober, still manages to say he knows the security guard and sobered up enough to ask for help. He was not sober enough to manage the swipe access card or the elevator and I was worried for a sec that the guard wouldn't help these young drunkies but it ended up working out fine. We decided that Brock is one of the luckiest guys we know, not just for the chance that he knew the night guard for the job that he'd been at for 6 months but also just in general. He has a good job, has been to good schools, and gotten good scholarships and positions in various organizations and also put himself in a lot of wacky, zany, ridiculous situations without much negative consequences. I still chuckle at the time I got a phone call at 2 in the morning from Brock saying "Hey, I jumped on a random bus to see where it would take me and the end of the line is here in Dangeroustown. Can you tell me where the bus back would pick me up because I've been wandering around and people are looking at me weird" For the record, Dangeroustown is a minority neighborhood known to have crime at night and Brock stood out like a sore thumb. But it all ended fine with only a strange homeless man bothering him. Go figure.

Well, I'm glad he's lucky and I'm glad he's my roommate. Next time, I think I'll have fun analyzing the differences between Clark and Brock. They have so much in common and yet, so little. I'll also tell you about Alejandro and Sassy Gay Friend.

I leave you with this Brock quote: (Regarding the purchase of Sarah Palin's book) "I want something to seduce Conservatives."

Listening to: Bulletproof by La Roux (random I know but her accent is really catchy)

Playing: Fire Emblem Sacred Stones

Reading: Sherlock Holmes

(Look I finally am playing and reading the same things in a row!)