Dan texted me yesterday, asking what he should be for Halloween. At the time, I didn't really have a good suggestion, but it occurred to me today who he should be: Michael Scott.
Dan once told me he liked Michael Scott, and that totally surprised me, because Dan's way better than that guy. But since Dan likes the character, and since it would be relatively easy for Dan to greasy his hair back the way the character did in the early season, I don't see why not.
The biggest problem is that Dan apparently doesn't own a suit. (I'll say it again: a total pity, as he would look great in one.) So maybe he needs to borrow one. And maybe he needs to spice it up by playing Michale's terrible Dick-in-a-Box costume, complete with a noose hanging around his neck.
I'm almost certain Dan's going to shoot this one down, but it's probably a better idea than some of the ones he's fielded.
I was advised to put the mail in the mailbox next to the subway, which I did. Since I was on my way out, this worked out surprisingly well.
As I was in the subway, I put on my MP3 player. The first song to come on? "Mercy Me" by Alkaline Trio. Just before I had left, I had a conversation about punk rock and I mentioned that I loved this particular band. Funny how life happens that way.
When I got home, I was all alone, so I played music loudly and enjoyed myself. I was reading some blogs online when one mentioned about a recent National Suit Up Day to celebrate How I Met Your Mother. I don't really watch that show, but Dan does, so I texted him.
"Are you wearing a suit?" I asked. I imagined him in one. Cut rightly, it would flatter him. The actually suit would have to be form fitted, and the pants would have to be the right length (covering the ankles and slightly covering the shoes), but he would look good and adult and mature.
"I don't own a suit," he texted back. Way to blow that fantasy.
I was a little surprised this was the answer, since Dan drinks gin and has elitist views about art. But I can't really think of a reason he would need a suit either. He's also an awkward science boy; he needs clothes he can use to trample around in the mud and whatnot.
Dan texted me back. "Do you know who does have a suit?"
I thought maybe he'd mention his roommate, who also has no particular reason to have a suit. "James Bond" I texted back.
"Glenn Beck," he answered. I actually had a hard time remembering what Beck wears. Usually I'm too busy being annoyed at him.
I decided not to text Dan further, just because he is anti-text message.
Inga came home, and we chatted about our days. Inga's an actress, so she told me all about how annoying her opera teacher is and how annoying this other actress in her class is.
Jackie, one of the other roommates, came in, and we chatted about boys. Jackie's boyfriend is thirty years old, which is way older than her and which I think is kind of creepy, though I don't think it's my place to tell her what to do.
Inga and I had dinner together. (Jackie's been sick recently and hasn't wanted food lately, though she had a little later than us.) We had a nice conversation about siblings.
I like my roommates a lot, but everyone goes to bed so early. Around 10:30 or 11, which is ungodly early, really. I am use to going to bed, at the earliest, midnight. And when I'm having sleeping problems (which haven't affected me much in the last week) I'm lucky if I make it to bed before 3 in the morning. One of my former roommates, Sam, had the same problem as me, and I can't imagine her living with these girls.
Since I don't have to be up as early as them, I've been staying up later. I go to another part of the building and work on other things, mostly catching up on email. I sat in one of the lounges as this girl watched Law and Order: LA. It's by far the most boring of the franchise, and this comes from someone who watched all of Conviction.
I went back to the room to go to bed, and I don't think I made too much noise. And then I crashed.
Camilla gets up around 6 or 7 to exercise, which is fine but she exercises less than a half foot from my bed. The first time I noticed it, my voice caught a little. I didn't quite gasp.
I had breakfast that morning with Jackie. I don't think we talked much, but we were both tired. I stole a box of Cheerio's and a bagel out of the caf.
The girls all left before I did for school. My schedule looks like it's going to be later in the day than most of them. After they left, I did all my usual stuff to get ready: brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, putting on my perfume, etc.
I worked on some things online as I waited for it to get closer to when I needed to leave. I wrote some notes to friends.
I noticed that Justin was online, so I chatted with him. Justin is about to turn 25, and he mentioned that some of his Chinese friends want to take him to a strip club. I still think this is a great idea, one that Justin should totally go for, but I don't think this is going to happen. I suggested that he get a couple of other friends together for this little outing, like Nick, Dan and Daniel. There were few things I could think of that would be as funny as those four trying not to be awkward in a strip club. They're awkward around girls dressed normally; I can't imagine them around the scantily clad kind. Justin had to get going to class, and I was leaving soon myself, so I let him go.
I finally got my stuff together, and caught the subway. Sort of. I went into the car, and waited and waited. Finally, three fire fighters came by on the platform, wheeling one of those cart things. I had enough time to think "Er..." before someone came over the intercom and said that a customer was sick and that they would be starting off soon.
And eventually we did get going, though they changed where we would be stopping. This didn't affect my traveling, but it did affect a lot of other people's, who got off.
When I got to work, Alex wasn't in, so I got started on a project that Alexander had for me. He wanted me to do some research and familiarize myself with some stuff on ecofeminism. I don't really know much about ecofeminism, so I got started on the project, reading the materials he gave me.
I guess for the time being this is what my schedule is going to be, which is weirdly normal. I don't know if I can handle having a set schedule and being normal and all that. I'm use to having nothing set in stone and getting frustrated. What am I going to do when I don't have to be frustrated all the time?
I told this story to Dan, Jimmy and Kristina, and I thought I'd share it with some of my other readers, since it's based on my experiences with real people.
"So, Alex is going to be a director and make movies. Every time there's a premier, Nick is going to be all 'God! Do we have to go to this movie!?! Alex is a terrible director, and he's an even worse writer.'"
'He's not that bad.'
'Oh, please, you have no taste.'
But Nick will always still go, along with everyone else who likes Alex. And every movie, there's going to be a character that is clearly based on Justin. The person who will hate these characters the most? Justin.
'That Trustin character was hella annoying. And fugly. If I knew someone like that, I would just slap them in the face.'
I would turn to look at Dan and we would exchange a look. 'Justin,' I would say, as gently as possible. 'Trustin was based on you.'
'No he wasn't! You're just being mean!'
'No, really, I think that-'
'You're wrong! You're just trying to make me feel bad!' And then Justin would march out, slamming the door behind him. And then-"
And then I stopped telling this story, realizing I was basically writing real person fanfiction. Dan once told me that I read too much fanfiction and that it was affecting how I looked at people, and I must admit, it is changing how I view things. But whereas Dan was viewing it as a bad thing, I'm thinking it's actually both a good and bad thing. It's bad because, well, there's something really random and potentially creepy about these thoughts. But it's also good because it allows me to take another angle at the people in my life. It gives me a way of analyzing them but in a more creative way. If that makes any sense. Possibly this is one of those things that makes sense only to me, like my surreal poetry.
And I think we should all be grateful that story was G rated. I think we all know I'm capable of writing stories that are totally not.
I collapsed into Jimmy's arms. It had been a while since I had a hug.
Someone observed to me a few weeks ago that Saturdays in the Fall are basically always holidays. And today it certainly felt like it. We were all going to watch football and hang out and have a good time. Even my sister was in town. She had asked me (me!) for advice on alcohol, so I got her some peach schnapps and orange juice and told her she was going to love Fuzzy Navels. Most women do.
The hallway flooded with various young'uns who were going to the game. They were dressed in their gear, and I got hugs from people I knew, all surprised to see me there. I met several of the new freshmen, one of whom is super proud of his Polish heritage. Man. Freshmen just keep getting younger and younger.
Paul, Jimmy, Kristina, Dan and I all sat in Jimmy's room, chatting it up. Apparently some of the freshmen girls decided to decorate people's doors with silly nicknames. For example, they're calling Jeff Diesel now, which just weirds me out, because I went to high school with a boy nicknamed Diesel and I hated him.
The nickname thing brings up how I have lots of nicknames for certain friends. I told everyone the story of how, over the summer, I had decided my superhero persona was The Giver, because I gave people nicknames. And then I told Jimmy he should be my sidekick, Sensitive Man, because then he could tell me if my nicknames were insensitive or not.
"And then," I said, finishing up my story "Jimmy goes 'Will you still call me Juicebox?'" Everyone laughed.
"You know how you call me Honey?" I asked Dan.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Everyone in my family does that. We call each other all of those names."
"Oh no, I'm not angry about it. I was just going to tell you that I like it when you call me Honey. It sounds nice in your voice."
And then the conversation shifted to something else, and I never got a chance to tell Dan that I had been working on a nickname for him, and I was thinking about calling him Dan Nobilissimus. It is Latin for most noble, and when I had been reading about it, it had kind of struck me as an appropriate faux title for him. I had considered going with Christianissimus (Most Christian) after reading about the title for Kings of France, but decided that I'm unclear about Dan's religious beliefs, something more secular was in order.
We decided to go out to one of the bars, so after getting all dressed in appropriate wear, we headed out. (Nate had given me the key to his room by "accidentally" losing it in Paul's room.) Being a pseudo-holiday, everything was in full swing. Walking along, I was so excited and happy. We stopped for a little while to hear the band play some songs. I danced a little.
We ran into Justin and talked briefly. He looks great, as always. I can't believe how adult and grown up he is.
As we walked along, I even spotted one of my TAs from four years ago. We greeted each other.
We went really early to the bar because we were afraid of getting seats, but we waited less than five minutes for a hightop table. The one lone guy standing there looked completely out of it, and his buddy came over and yelled at him. (Something about a cell phone, it was hard to hear.) And then they left, which of course means a woman came over and sat a large glass of beer in front of me.
"Should I drink it?" I asked everyone. Everyone voted no.
We had a nice time. I scared everyone right off the bat by drinking two shots of whiskey in a row. And then following it with a Long Island Ice Tea.
Being as I am a fan of Long Island Ice Teas, I have them a lot, and they are not all equal. This particular bar had ones that made me happy, so I knew I wanted to have one. Paul ordered one too, and I thought for a moment about how this was the bar where I first turned Paul on to these. I know just about nothing about alcohol, so it's strange that anyone would take my advice on the subject.
We watched the first half of the game there. There was a lot of excitement and cheering. I nearly hit a waitress in the face when I threw my arms out.
We had planned to leave at halftime and walk home, but Paul left early. Paul's sometimes does that, and I didn't think anything of it. I just enjoyed my wings, fries, and Red Headed Slut. I've had really good Red Headed Sluts, but this one was terrible.
We did leave home at halftime. I paid about twenty four dollars for four alcoholic drinks, pop, wings, and fries, which is by far the best I've done at a bar before. This was gloriously good.
Meanwhile, behind us, several guys were hanging out. They were drinking, but they weren't drunk. One of the guys was getting his friends to slap him across the face. When this group of guys saw that we were about to leave, they asked for our table, and we happily gave it to them. After all, that's how we had gotten the table and I'm a big believer in East Lansing manners.
As we were about to leave, I turned to the guy who was taking slaps. "Can I slap you?" I asked.
"Sure!"
I pulled back and whack! right on his left cheek. I aimed it perfectly, my fingers just hitting the area above his beard, getting my upper palm right on the thickest part of his face. It pleasantly stung my hand. Dan, Jimmy and Kristina looked at me like I was crazy.
Lisa was backing her car up.
"There's a cop there," I noted, watching him walk past and then in back of the car. We hadn't even gotten in the door yet, and there were police officers. Was this foreshadowing?
Once we got in, it definitely felt like we were early. There was a ton of noise from the music, but almost no one around. Two people came out and yelled at us, clearly both having a good time.
I got a Long Island, because I have decided they are how I am going to judge a place. Madison and Lisa both got the same thing, something fruity. (I do not like coconut, which is why I do not drink things with coconut flavored rum.) Madison said she wanted something that would get her really drunk, which is why a Long Island was really a good choice, but Madison likes fruit drinks.
We found a place to sit near a billiard table. It was this tiny little table, but the three of us squeezed in. Madison had wanted to come here, but Dan had also suggested this place. It was actually hard to imagine Dan hanging out here, but only because he likes to drink in the privacy of his own home.
We caught up with each other. I had already talked about what was up with me in the car, so there wasn't much for my to say. Lisa talked about how her and Michael have started looking at engagement rings. Even though Michael hasn't proposed yet, they've looked at rings, which really surprised me. They've been together for years, and I figured they had thought about it, but I feel like you've kind of ruined the surprise of getting married if your partner knows you've been looking at rings.
Madison talked about her crappy week at work. She's been really stressed out. She got reprimanded for a mistake. Poor thing.
As I was drinking the Long Island, I was struck by how hard it was hitting me. I should have had something better to eat before we went out. Like a hamburger.
Tori joined us after about forty minutes. She had a family dinner so she couldn't come earlier. She got her hair cut, and it's one of those super adult short cuts that makes her look very momish.
Tori complained about how her aunt harassed her at this family reunion over her hair. And then she talked about her cousin, who doesn't speak any English. We were sitting near a window, so we enjoyed watching various people on the street. There were a lot of bachelor and bachelorette parties wandering by and in and out of the bar. One young woman was carrying a huge blow up penis. She put it up against the window near where Lisa was sitting.
In the meantime, I got a shot of whiskey and a Fuzzy Navel. As I did the shot of whiskey, the man standing next to me at the bar was really impressed. When I do whiskey, girls are totally ambivalent, but guys are always both scared and impressed.
Madison wanted to check out the club next door, so we wandered over. I decided not to order a drink right away, and I was really glad I didn't, because they were ten dollars. (Who has that kind of money?) All three of them got martinis of various kinds. Tori's was bright neon blue and Madison's tasted like a thin mint liquidized.
The only good thing about this club was that they played Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance."
I walked with Dan to the ice cream store. We were going there to meet Justin. I hadn't seen either of them in so long, but just walking with Dan made me feel like it was old times.
We got there before Justin, so we waited outside for him. When he appeared, he looked kind of the same, but all grown up. He had on his lightweight frames and his black shirt and pinstripe pants. He looked very fancy, but also very adult. We exchanged hugs.
We went inside. I didn't really need ice cream, since I had already far too many sweets, but I agreed to get something. I went with some peach ice cream. I honestly hadn't been in this shop since I went with friends and my then-boyfriend freshman year, so I'm not familiar with what they had. Both of the boys got smoothies, which is what I should have had.
Justin and Dan and I talked. Justin talked about work. He seems to really love his job and be really enthusiastic about it, which makes me happy for him. He deserves those good things because he's worked so hard.
As we were sitting there, Johnson came in and went in the back. I wanted to have a nice conversation with Dan and Justin, and sometimes Johnson can be a little much, so I was praying that he wouldn't notice us.
No such luck. Johnson called me from inside the store. And he came down and sat with us.
Dan's going to be moving into an apartment with an old friend. Dan's a little worried, since the friend's only tie to the area is his girlfriend, that the friend's not going to stay long. I told Dan, since I knew this friend, that he shouldn't worry because the friend wasn't the kind to stiff him. This particular person strikes me as the kind to not always have long relationships, but the kind that would probably find another girl, and another connection, to make it work.
Justin also mentioned his family a little, since his parents are celebrating their anniversary. Justin sadly won't be around this weekend because he's hanging out with them.
They also discussed another mutual friend, Nick. They were saying what a jerk he might actually be, but that everyone liked him. I really like him to. He is kind of bitchy, but he also has this deeply honest thing going on that makes me like him more.
Nate then texted me, asking me how I expected to get back to his place. Okay then, guess that's my cue to leave, I thought. I said goodbye to people, had more hugs, then I got in the car and we went back over to Nate's place.
Back at Nate's place, we began to wind down for the night. Nate worked on an online quiz for a class. Megan got ready to go to bed. I wrote in my journal.
After Nate finished his quiz, we went out for a late night walk together. It was really beautiful. There was a crescent moon hanging low in the sky. We wandered through mostly darkness, Nate leading me since he was familiar with the area. We trampled through some rough parts, making me regret (just a little) wearing flip flops. There was even one small spot that felt like a swamp. But as we walked I thought about what an exciting day it had been and how glad I was to have come for a visit. Spending time with friends like this always makes me so happy and both nostalgic and enthusiastic for the future at the same time. As we walked, we spotted a small kitty darting by an apartment complex.
