Reunion.

I like to pause and soak in moments as much as possible, focusing on small details that will help me remember. We were in the Townsquare Diner, after a failed attempt to vi for the Sizler. Suits me, I didn’t want to go there anyway. I was noticing the panes of glass. The various mirrors. The juice machines. Girl attempting to go on break.

But, more importantly, I was just trying to soak in the moment of being with the three people I hold so dear to my social life. The smiles on everyone’s face, and the one that couldn’t help but form on mine. It’s been a long time since the four of us were out together. Or so it’s felt. As I stated to them tonight, the reason we used to hang out more often was because I was motivated to get us together. I remember the reason why I was motivated to do so. I was so utterly lonely in college, that seeing them was… It was something that made me happy. I had no friends in college. I still find it funny that we didn’t start hanging out until I graduated High School.

There’s a lot of names that I hear of, people that I’ve never met before. And frankly, that’s probably a good thing. Danny knows a lot of odd people and tends to get himself into trouble. Clifford went to school with a lot of really odd people. Tracy1 probably exemplifies that. And Erik, well. The other people he socializes with aren’t exactly. *shrugs* I, myself, probably know a ton of people that they’ll never meet. Point is, the four of us will always remain a unit, somehow.

We all need an environment where we feel we belong. I just. Feel it. I felt like myself tonight.

I hadn’t seen Erik’s little sister in ages, but apparently, she’s um. She’s deep and stuff. …*laughs* She strikes me as the type that would bash teenybopper diaries while lacking content herself. If that makes any sense. We were randomly in the computer room (they have two computers) when she yelled “I HATE RICH PEOPLE.” My reaction was suddenly, “Hmm, makes me want to be rich.”

I pondered this line of thought, the state she’s in, and the state I’m in. I said out loud, “We rebel against that which we hate, then later rebel against ourselves and become what we hated.” Maybe, just a thought. It’s much easier to hate something if we can relate to it in a personal level. By hating ourselves.

Well, whatever, thoughts.

I was in my last hour of a nine hour shift when Cliff, Erik, and Erik’s girlfriend showed up at Panera. Kind of caught me off-guard, but I recovered fast. Erik used to work at Panera – and now does again. It’s.. interesting working with a friend.

Cliff’s shtick with Panera has always been that it’s shit you can make at home. So I thought of something he can’t have at home. The most bizarre thing I could think of was the Bacon Turkey Bravo on a toasted cinnamon crunch bagel. I’ve had it before, it’s GOOD. He enjoyed it. Seeing as how I’ve never had visitors before (Sorry, Valerie), I was throwing free stuff at them. Well, I did make Cliff pay for his sandwich. Kind of can’t get around that. Erik sampled my IC Chai, and Cliff sampled my Chai with a shot of espresso.

Yadda, yadda.

An hour later, I finished making sure bakery was good to go. We never have plans. I said that I wanted to go home and change. Half an hour later, I think we made it there? *smirks* I finished dressing while we played Smash Bros. The epic battles continued. Cliff was having XBox syndrome and kept hitting the start button. We attempted to contact Dan, in vain. At some point, I had some spaghetti my mom made. I noted how I’ll forever miss Paige’s spaghetti. God. Damn. She made good spaghetti.

Moving along, we stopped over at Clifton’s house so Erik could retrieve a movie he lent him. Or something, I wasn’t entirely sure. Clifton would be the one I work with. At Erik’s, I notice Jessi’s blue hair and otherwise monochrome attire. So glad I never took to dying my hair, goddamn that looks so stupid. For some reason, I was expecting her boobs to have grown. But, no. Hey, she’s fourteen, boobs grow at that age. Unfortunately, her IQ hasn’t risen either. She’ll grow up, someday.

Erik’s mom most clearly missed me. That woman loves me, it’s so obvious. She was making burgers and tossed me on one. …No that’s not proof she loves me, I’m just stating that she made me a burger. She calls me “Timberly”.

Somehow, we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit. Which was.. fun! Last time I played it was when I was last over at Carolyn’s. *smiles* We played a speed game because Ashley’s parent’s would have tore off Erik’s nuts and put them in a jar if she wasn’t home by ten. Or something graphic like that. So much for the stapling his nuts to his forehead.

Dumping the female cargo, we were deciding where to go eat. Nevermind that I’d already eaten twice. (Nevermind my break meal.) Somehow, they decided upon the Sizler. I went there once a LONG time ago. And. I remember it being so horrible that we were NEVER TO RETURN AGAIN. Frankly, Sizler reminds me of that Weird Al song Albequerque. “I made employee of the month when I put out that grease fire with my face! Yeah, everyone was really jealous of me after that, I was getting all kinds of attitude.”

It was past 10:30. Cliff reasoned that by the time we reached any other option, it would be closed. So, being in New Jersey, diner it was. *smiles* I’ve never been to this diner before, but the interior was pretty nice. I couldn’t eat all of my eggs and corn beef hash. Well, I ate all the eggs. Dan had never had corn beef hash before. He ended up liking it and finished it for me.

Stories shared among friends. Erik heard from her mom that they’re going to put in a Hooters were Chi-Chi’s was. …*laughs* How fitting, no? We all know Cliff would have a hell of a time teasing me if we frequented there. “Tim? Tim? Are you even listening to me or are you starting at the ass of some girl behind us?” Ah, memories. I reminded Cliff of the time we were discussing how guys should never sit down while flushing on a plane. The suction will create a seal which will .. Um. Something about getting your genitalia caught in the suction and not being able to get free until you land. Anyway, the lady behind us leaned back at some point and said

“This is the greatest conversation. Ever.”

*laughs*

She meant it completely. I suppose she’s honored, we’ve had some hilarious conversations over the years.

Rectal breach. Sounds like an anime move, no?

Oh yes, we’re quite full of low-brow humor.

After diner-ing, we went back to Erik’s to watch an obscure movie called “Equilibrium”. It had the misfortune of being caught in the post-Matrix wave of action films. Thing is, that movie kicked so much ass. It’s about a post-WWIII society where all emotion is purged. The passing of hate-crime legistature is cited as the starting point for all of this, so to speak. I couldn’t help but enjoy pointing out inconsistencies. There’s definitely something emotional about somebody banging their fist on a table. How the hell can you procreate without emotions? I was very unsure how the movie was going to proceed from the beginning. But. It. It kicked ass. *laughs* HA HA, I BEAT YOU WITH THE BUTT OF MY GUNS WHILE YOU DANCE AND FLALL!

Ashley commented that she likes us more than her own friends. That no matter what happens to us, we always seem to just laugh it off. That.. That’s really true of us as a unit. Dan has that tendency to just get himself into trouble. Yet it rolls off. Cliff and I have had our hands full of shit, and we can’t help but laugh it off. Same with Erik. Life hands you a big pile of shit, you can’t help but chuckle, “Wow, *laughs*, that’s a big pile of shit!” I think of how we’ve been individually, and how we’ve been collectively. I know Erik’s been seriously depressed for a long time since I’ve known him. Same with Cliff, on and off. Same with me. But whenever we get together, those problems seem a distant memory.

I love my friends.

1: She would be the girl that enjoyed having guys lick her anus. And to think there was a time when this actually disturbed me. Ha. She actually had a boyfriend who would lick her anus. But, in typical female fashion, she grew bored with him.