6.22.02
(So,
Er….I forget.
(Bullshit. You just don’t want to tell me.)
You sound like my mother. Except for the ‘bullshit’ part.
(Well, you’ve clearly been busy, or you’d’ve updated.)
I’ve been talking to myself a lot lately.
(You’re doing it right now.)
Oh, right. Hm. Let me get my calendar and I’ll see if I can figure it out.
(You’re amazing. Y’know that?)
Why thank you.
(That’s not a compliment. Here’s a hint: you last updated on the tenth. Today’s the twenty-second. Get moving.)
Why is my internal voice such a smartass?
(Acorn…oak…you know the deal.)
Right. So I intended to go up to Colonial Forge’s graduation on the 12th, since that’s when a few friends of mine graduated. Unfortunately, I couldn’t talk Mom into letting me drive on the interstate by myself, so I stayed home instead. And since I’m [still] working on that wall design for Kenji, I stopped by there that afternoon to get some dimensions for his wall and do a basic sketch. Since I had time to kill between then and swimming, I dropped by Stephen’s for a bit. He was cleaning his room, so I chilled there for a bit. There was really no purpose in my saying hi, but he’s one of the few friends I have who’s in town this summer, so there.
(Indeed. What then?)
That night I went climbing with Kitz. It was nice to climb with Kitz and even nicer to see Jeff there; we hooked up to see ‘Sum of All Fears.’ We’d been tossing the idea back and forth for a week or so, but we finally crossed paths and got around to it. We drove to the theatre (across town) from the gym, and at one point he pulled into the turn lane and yelled to me that he’d left some stuff at the gym and would meet me there. Being a cynic, I honestly didn’t expect him to show up. I spent the entire ride to the theatre convincing myself that I was cool with that and figuring out what I’d say to my parents when I showed up at home two hours early.
(There’s no stopping your pessimism, is there?)
Correct.
(Did he show?)
He did. And all was right with the world. Except that I got home and realized I’d left my climbing shoes at the gym. No big deal; I’d gotten a new pair the Sunday before, but I love my Anisazis.
(Did you ever find them?)
Yeah, when I went into work the next day.
(Ah, okay. So what else has been going on?)
Not really that much. I saw ‘Rent’, which was, as expected, an awesome show. Stuck with me for the better part of the day. I regretted that I missed the Clockwork Grace show, but according to them, it sucked bigtime.
That night, on another note, I was cleaning my room and found old IM conversations I’d had with Michael. I wrote him a card that night, suddenly missing him immensely and wanting to see him again. I sent it off and a few nights later, while reading in my room, the phone rings. It’s Michael, who I hadn’t really spoken to in a year. He wanted to get together. So we did.
(Aww, isn’t that sweet.)
Shut up. It really was quite nice. I thought he hated me. He thought I hated him. We both missed each other. He was my best friend – my only friend – for a long time…and I don’t think he really knows how much I did miss him.
(You’re sapping on the keyboard. Move it along.)
I hate this guy. Not much else of import has really happened. I’ve hung out with Stephen and Allen and Sno and Carter and Jeff…Oh yeah, Carter had a party at her lake last Tuesday, and I dragged Jeff with me. I gave him a ride because hey, why not? It was all good until we wound up at Kitz’s house, watching Chasing Amy (a very good movie) and I ended up leaving Kitz’s with fifteen minutes to go before curfew. The problem? Jeff lives some twenty minutes from Kitz and some twenty minutes from me. Oops. I lost my car until Saturday.
(You do that a lot, don’t you?)
I have unrealistic parents. And I couldn’t tell them I’d been with Jeff because they didn’t know him then, so I substituded ‘Noah’ for ‘Jeff.’ It just sucked all around.
(That’s what you get for lying…)
Oh, be quiet. Thursday and Friday I worked Passages, which was an all around wonderful experience. The kids were fun, the climbing site (where I worked) was in the shade, and I got to play outside with some very cool people. Thursday we played a six-acre game of ‘Capture the Flag’ with flour-bombs. I was fine until I got back to camp and John asked, very politely, if he could powder me.
(You should know better…)
I should have. I wound up covered. I hunted down Jeff and gave him and his green t-shirt a very white hug; the staff then commenced to chase each other down and pelt each other with flour. It was in our eyes, noses, hair, all over our clothes…and the kids just sorta watched.
(Betcha y’all scared ‘em.)
Most likely. That night Jeff came over and we watched Vanilla Sky – another very, very good movie. A little odd, but good. We were sorta looking at each other and wondering if, were we awake, the movie would make more sense. We decided no, it wouldn’t.
Friday was just as much fun.
The kids we were working with (‘we’ being me and Jeff) were fun; at
one point, we were just hanging out, and Jeff and I were bantering back and
forth like we do. One observant
little girl commented that she thought we had crushes on each other.
“I think you like
(Is he?)
I hope not.
That night, Amy and I saw Amelie, which was playing at the Byrd. (The local $2 theatre.) I loved the movie the first two times, and loved it just as much this time. And while Amy fell asleep, I didn’t.
Work on Saturday was fairly boring. Grahm broke the ladder, then fixed it, and it broke again today when I came in for a party.
(Silly Grahm.)
Indeed.
(‘S that all?)
‘Is that all’? I’m on page four, smartass.
(Exactly. Is that all?)
No.
(Sorry I asked.)
You won’t be when you hear the story. Last Tuesday, I went out for about an hour with Carter to chill at the mall. That was fine. When I got home, Jeff had called, I'd missed him, which sucked, but whatever. So I’m sitting back here, updating Softspoken Lies, minding my own business, and I hear a rhythmic tapping from behind me. I assumed it was mom, whose bedroom is above me, and shrugged it off. It tapped again, and I wandered out into the kitchen to get some ice cream and see what mom wanted. She had no idea what I was talking about.
(Oh! So was it a ghost?)
Hardly. It was Stephen, who came by to say hello. Being the considerate person that he is, he didn’t ring the doorbell because it was too late to come in the normal way; he figured I'd get in trouble. So he did what he does with his other friends, and tapped, ravenlike, on the window.
(Of course. It’s only logical.)
It’s Stephen. For him, it was. And it made sense to me, too. But my parents, who read the subsequent IM conversation over my shoulder, flipped out. Not only did they try to forbid me to see or associate with him in any way (I told them, in brief, to shove it; he’s a good friend and I can always use IMs), they called his parents the following day, said if he ever did it again they’d take legal action, and got him in trouble.
(Okay, they’re nuts. I believe you now.)
It took you this long?
Anyway, that’s the big thing.
Hanging out with Jeff, hanging out with Stephen (even though I’m not
supposed to) and swimming. Yeah,
I’ve been sucking at meets, but whatever.
I’ll get over it. And now
I’m going to bed. G’night.