Playing More Than One Game
January 17, 2006:
After the hour long journey of information into the world of Anthropology was done, it was time to head over to the Lakeside Café to get a bite to eat before embarking on the journey of experience into the world of life.
Meeting up with several friends, he talked about random things, joked about a video game he had never heard of, made fun of Darius for his choice of vocabulary and other pointless but enjoyable banter. After his meal was done, he left Lakeside, went to his room to gather his stuff for the trip and bid Statesboro fucking adieu.
Where was he going? Well, the geographic answer to this question is simple. He was heading to Athens for the night to watch a basketball game and see the girl who makes his life anything but boring, Karen. However, there is another context of that question that is harder to answer. Well… not harder to answer, but the answer is hard to define. If you asked him where the relationship was going… if you ask him where the night was going… if you asked him where his life was going… the answer would be simply “into the dark.” That word, “dark”, doesn’t carry a depressive connotation in this context. It is just used to express the unknown quality these things had. He had no idea.
He has no idea.
On the trip up into the abyss, he ran into a situation that he was glad to encounter. There was a big accident on the interstate. An 18-wheeler had tipped over or something like that. The details to what happened are not known, and really… they don’t even matter. What matters is that he was forced to get off of the interstate on a random exit. What was he going to do? The only way he knew how to get to Athens, at that point, has been eliminated. So he was going to have to figure something out. An alternative.
He went to one of the gas stations available and bought a road map of the state of Georgia. Thought about getting a road map of Florida, but felt that would have been inappropriate, seeing that he didn’t really need to know how to get from Tuscaloosa to Tallahassee at the moment. So he settled with the Georgia road map, which proved to be the best choice in the end.
After a nice look at the map, he figured out where he was and where he needed to go in order to get back onto the path to the mysterious destination. And onto the road to Athens too, of course. He studied that map for a good 5 minutes, deciding a careful combination of ‘back roads’ and state roads that will lead him back into familiar territory.
And it worked. This was a huge victory for him. This was a very simple experience and a very simple thing that happens every day… but it had never happened to him. He has never been in the situation where he had to literally figure out something like that in such a situation. Being lost in a city… no big deal. But being lost in a state? That’s pretty big. And he passed the test. He figured it out with no problems. This was a real-life experience he had never had before… and now he has. As simple as it was… it made him feel like a real person. A real person who can feel and do real things. And not fail.
After he hit the halfway point, the sky got all emo and started bawling uncontrollably. So, of course, he had to deal with that shit. What a pain in the ass…
Once he got there, he called that girl and she met him downstairs to let him into the dorm building so he could lay his hat down for a few moments before they head off to enjoy a meal together.
During dinner, there was a fairly comfortable air between them, but he wasn’t feeling 100% (had been coping with a cold all week.) they talked, joked, laughed, smiled, shared, ate, and then paid. Then they left.
Now, I’ll take a break here to explain why this night was so important, and why everything was so unknown and whatnot. See… earlier in time, the two of them had a pretty deep and impactual conversation. The specific details of this talk will remain in his memory, but they won’t be expressed here. Only a few choice elements will be explicated, just so you understand the full intensity of this night and these events.
Basically, the two of them decided that their actions would no longer be separate from their feelings. This means that there would be no more ‘holding back’ between the two of them. If one of them wanted to act, there would be nothing preventing them anymore. Hold hands. Hug. Cuddle. Kiss. Anything. It’s open now. Of course, it had to be wanted by the other person at the time, but that would really be determined after the action took place. No one would get offended if the other acted against their will (unless it was completely inappropriate, but neither of them have the balls to go that far.) So it was a very open decision.
But this night was the first time it was going to be put into play. This was going to be the test night. Do they both really want that? Are they comfortable? Can they do it?
That’s what tonight would decide.
Let’s see how it goes.
The rest of the night would be ultimately devoted to a certain basketball game. Being in Athens, it’s obvious that one of the teams playing is the Georgia Bulldogs. The other team, however, was the Kentucky Wildcats. Now, if you know anything about Philip, you know that he is a very hardcore Kentucky basketball fan. So this was going to be a great thing. Watching his Wildcats play basketball. Even if he had to sit in the UGA student section… who cares?
The walk to the arena was nice. Just the two of them, side by side, in the rain but under umbrellas, talking about this, that, and the other. Not small talk by any means, though. They were sharing and listening. It was really a sweet and real moment. Two real people talking about real things. And really caring about each other.
Now, I will not go into the details of the game. I know none of the readers really care, and the details don’t matter. They do not contribute to this story. They are all documented in the game books anyways, so there isn’t even any need for them to be documented here.
But the feelings of the game are important. He was loving it, and the fact that she was right next to him just made it better (even if she was cheering against him, but it wasn’t any further than a case of ‘supporting one’s own school’, so it wasn’t a big deal.) They were having a great time together, and they were experiencing something quite new to both of them. He had been to basketball games before, but not in the same way. She had never been to one, so it was all alien to her, really.
Kentucky won.
He was feeling completely ecstatic. So many wonderful things going on. He got to see UK. They won. He was with her. they were enjoying each other. He was in Athens. Life was wonderful. Little did he know it was gonna get even better within the next hour or so.
The walk back was just as wonderful as the walk there. At one point, he did something that made him seem very much like a little bitch. No one really needs to know what he did… but let’s just say he was genuinely scared for his life in a moment he should not have been. Damn Dane Cook.
They joked, she called him a bitch, they laughed, and they had a good time walking in the water that was in puddles throughout the city.
They arrived back in her dorm room and started to settle down. The sleeping places were delegated. Her on the top bunk, him on the bottom, and the roommate and her boyfriend on the floor (by choice.)
He had hoped she would be sleeping with him… but wasn’t let down that it didn’t happen. It never happened before, and even though it was “more possible” now, he still did not naturally expect it.
But he couldn’t sleep. It was now 12:30AM. He was going to have to get up at 5:30AM in order to leave early enough to make it back to Statesboro in time for his first class. And he knew he wouldn’t be getting sleep any time soon. So, around 1AM, being of a logical mind, he decided to go ahead and hit the road. He figured that he would take advantage of his body’s refusal to sleep and drive now, so by the time he got back to Statesboro, he would be ready for sleep and could go ahead and do that.
So he packed his stuff back up and put his shoes on. The noise woke Karen up, and she turned on the light and asked him what he was doing, so he explained. She did the normal “are you sure?” thing. He assured her he was sure. Of course he was… time is important, and the key is managing it.
She walked him out the door (to her room, not the building) and they talked for a short bit and then said goodbye and hugged. She went back in her room and shut the door and he walked away.
He took about 5 paces, stopped, and turned back around and went back to the door. He knocked. She said “come in.”
He opened the door, and asked her to come out for a second.
She came back into the hallway. He looked her in the eyes and said “I just wanted to do this.”
Then he kissed her.
He kissed her.
He smiled, she smiled, and then he turned back around and began to leave.
As he walked away, she said “Good boy, you got guts!”
He just looked at her and smiled and head back on his way.
Wow. He did it. He straight up did it. He did what he has wanted to do for many moons. He finally did something he wanted to do. And it felt great. And she liked it. She went with it. It worked!
It’s amazing the power one small decision can have. It’s crazy how much of an impact something can have on one’s self esteem. Their confidence. Their outlook on life. Take chances. You never know what is right around the corner. All it takes is one smile or one joke or one kiss to change everything for you. One small detail that can be your key to a better life. A better you.
The drive back was ripe with experiences of its own. Of course, he did get tired about an hour into the drive. So the other 3 quarters were spent trying to stay awake. Loud music. Great music. Conversation with a good friend via cell phone in the areas with signal. The occasional near death experience involving an 18 wheeler, wet road, high speed, and a sharp turn.
He made it back to Statesboro around 4AM, which actually would give him more sleep than if he had stayed and fell asleep at 12 (even though he didn’t get up for/go to his 1st class of that day, getting about 10 hours of sleep that day.)
So another adventure comes to an end for this kid. His life was forever changed. He was happy. He was much closer to realizing who and what he wants to be. What he wants. And he’s closer to getting what he wants. And it’s all because of a few small decisions. This was all a result of the things that went down on New Year’s Eve. Everything is related. Everything leads to something. And in this particular kid’s experience… chances are, that something is good. Life is so much better than it gets credit for. You just have to know how to do look at it. You have to believe that life is good. You are in control of your life. Your attitude decides how it treats you. So just love it, and it will love you back. Change yourself if you don’t like yourself. Change your life if you don’t like it. Don’t sit and wallow in the bad. Stand up and bask in the good.
And it’s all good.
After the hour long journey of information into the world of Anthropology was done, it was time to head over to the Lakeside Café to get a bite to eat before embarking on the journey of experience into the world of life.
Meeting up with several friends, he talked about random things, joked about a video game he had never heard of, made fun of Darius for his choice of vocabulary and other pointless but enjoyable banter. After his meal was done, he left Lakeside, went to his room to gather his stuff for the trip and bid Statesboro fucking adieu.
Where was he going? Well, the geographic answer to this question is simple. He was heading to Athens for the night to watch a basketball game and see the girl who makes his life anything but boring, Karen. However, there is another context of that question that is harder to answer. Well… not harder to answer, but the answer is hard to define. If you asked him where the relationship was going… if you ask him where the night was going… if you asked him where his life was going… the answer would be simply “into the dark.” That word, “dark”, doesn’t carry a depressive connotation in this context. It is just used to express the unknown quality these things had. He had no idea.
He has no idea.
On the trip up into the abyss, he ran into a situation that he was glad to encounter. There was a big accident on the interstate. An 18-wheeler had tipped over or something like that. The details to what happened are not known, and really… they don’t even matter. What matters is that he was forced to get off of the interstate on a random exit. What was he going to do? The only way he knew how to get to Athens, at that point, has been eliminated. So he was going to have to figure something out. An alternative.
He went to one of the gas stations available and bought a road map of the state of Georgia. Thought about getting a road map of Florida, but felt that would have been inappropriate, seeing that he didn’t really need to know how to get from Tuscaloosa to Tallahassee at the moment. So he settled with the Georgia road map, which proved to be the best choice in the end.
After a nice look at the map, he figured out where he was and where he needed to go in order to get back onto the path to the mysterious destination. And onto the road to Athens too, of course. He studied that map for a good 5 minutes, deciding a careful combination of ‘back roads’ and state roads that will lead him back into familiar territory.
And it worked. This was a huge victory for him. This was a very simple experience and a very simple thing that happens every day… but it had never happened to him. He has never been in the situation where he had to literally figure out something like that in such a situation. Being lost in a city… no big deal. But being lost in a state? That’s pretty big. And he passed the test. He figured it out with no problems. This was a real-life experience he had never had before… and now he has. As simple as it was… it made him feel like a real person. A real person who can feel and do real things. And not fail.
After he hit the halfway point, the sky got all emo and started bawling uncontrollably. So, of course, he had to deal with that shit. What a pain in the ass…
Once he got there, he called that girl and she met him downstairs to let him into the dorm building so he could lay his hat down for a few moments before they head off to enjoy a meal together.
During dinner, there was a fairly comfortable air between them, but he wasn’t feeling 100% (had been coping with a cold all week.) they talked, joked, laughed, smiled, shared, ate, and then paid. Then they left.
Now, I’ll take a break here to explain why this night was so important, and why everything was so unknown and whatnot. See… earlier in time, the two of them had a pretty deep and impactual conversation. The specific details of this talk will remain in his memory, but they won’t be expressed here. Only a few choice elements will be explicated, just so you understand the full intensity of this night and these events.
Basically, the two of them decided that their actions would no longer be separate from their feelings. This means that there would be no more ‘holding back’ between the two of them. If one of them wanted to act, there would be nothing preventing them anymore. Hold hands. Hug. Cuddle. Kiss. Anything. It’s open now. Of course, it had to be wanted by the other person at the time, but that would really be determined after the action took place. No one would get offended if the other acted against their will (unless it was completely inappropriate, but neither of them have the balls to go that far.) So it was a very open decision.
But this night was the first time it was going to be put into play. This was going to be the test night. Do they both really want that? Are they comfortable? Can they do it?
That’s what tonight would decide.
Let’s see how it goes.
The rest of the night would be ultimately devoted to a certain basketball game. Being in Athens, it’s obvious that one of the teams playing is the Georgia Bulldogs. The other team, however, was the Kentucky Wildcats. Now, if you know anything about Philip, you know that he is a very hardcore Kentucky basketball fan. So this was going to be a great thing. Watching his Wildcats play basketball. Even if he had to sit in the UGA student section… who cares?
The walk to the arena was nice. Just the two of them, side by side, in the rain but under umbrellas, talking about this, that, and the other. Not small talk by any means, though. They were sharing and listening. It was really a sweet and real moment. Two real people talking about real things. And really caring about each other.
Now, I will not go into the details of the game. I know none of the readers really care, and the details don’t matter. They do not contribute to this story. They are all documented in the game books anyways, so there isn’t even any need for them to be documented here.
But the feelings of the game are important. He was loving it, and the fact that she was right next to him just made it better (even if she was cheering against him, but it wasn’t any further than a case of ‘supporting one’s own school’, so it wasn’t a big deal.) They were having a great time together, and they were experiencing something quite new to both of them. He had been to basketball games before, but not in the same way. She had never been to one, so it was all alien to her, really.
Kentucky won.
He was feeling completely ecstatic. So many wonderful things going on. He got to see UK. They won. He was with her. they were enjoying each other. He was in Athens. Life was wonderful. Little did he know it was gonna get even better within the next hour or so.
The walk back was just as wonderful as the walk there. At one point, he did something that made him seem very much like a little bitch. No one really needs to know what he did… but let’s just say he was genuinely scared for his life in a moment he should not have been. Damn Dane Cook.
They joked, she called him a bitch, they laughed, and they had a good time walking in the water that was in puddles throughout the city.
They arrived back in her dorm room and started to settle down. The sleeping places were delegated. Her on the top bunk, him on the bottom, and the roommate and her boyfriend on the floor (by choice.)
He had hoped she would be sleeping with him… but wasn’t let down that it didn’t happen. It never happened before, and even though it was “more possible” now, he still did not naturally expect it.
But he couldn’t sleep. It was now 12:30AM. He was going to have to get up at 5:30AM in order to leave early enough to make it back to Statesboro in time for his first class. And he knew he wouldn’t be getting sleep any time soon. So, around 1AM, being of a logical mind, he decided to go ahead and hit the road. He figured that he would take advantage of his body’s refusal to sleep and drive now, so by the time he got back to Statesboro, he would be ready for sleep and could go ahead and do that.
So he packed his stuff back up and put his shoes on. The noise woke Karen up, and she turned on the light and asked him what he was doing, so he explained. She did the normal “are you sure?” thing. He assured her he was sure. Of course he was… time is important, and the key is managing it.
She walked him out the door (to her room, not the building) and they talked for a short bit and then said goodbye and hugged. She went back in her room and shut the door and he walked away.
He took about 5 paces, stopped, and turned back around and went back to the door. He knocked. She said “come in.”
He opened the door, and asked her to come out for a second.
She came back into the hallway. He looked her in the eyes and said “I just wanted to do this.”
Then he kissed her.
He kissed her.
He smiled, she smiled, and then he turned back around and began to leave.
As he walked away, she said “Good boy, you got guts!”
He just looked at her and smiled and head back on his way.
Wow. He did it. He straight up did it. He did what he has wanted to do for many moons. He finally did something he wanted to do. And it felt great. And she liked it. She went with it. It worked!
It’s amazing the power one small decision can have. It’s crazy how much of an impact something can have on one’s self esteem. Their confidence. Their outlook on life. Take chances. You never know what is right around the corner. All it takes is one smile or one joke or one kiss to change everything for you. One small detail that can be your key to a better life. A better you.
The drive back was ripe with experiences of its own. Of course, he did get tired about an hour into the drive. So the other 3 quarters were spent trying to stay awake. Loud music. Great music. Conversation with a good friend via cell phone in the areas with signal. The occasional near death experience involving an 18 wheeler, wet road, high speed, and a sharp turn.
He made it back to Statesboro around 4AM, which actually would give him more sleep than if he had stayed and fell asleep at 12 (even though he didn’t get up for/go to his 1st class of that day, getting about 10 hours of sleep that day.)
So another adventure comes to an end for this kid. His life was forever changed. He was happy. He was much closer to realizing who and what he wants to be. What he wants. And he’s closer to getting what he wants. And it’s all because of a few small decisions. This was all a result of the things that went down on New Year’s Eve. Everything is related. Everything leads to something. And in this particular kid’s experience… chances are, that something is good. Life is so much better than it gets credit for. You just have to know how to do look at it. You have to believe that life is good. You are in control of your life. Your attitude decides how it treats you. So just love it, and it will love you back. Change yourself if you don’t like yourself. Change your life if you don’t like it. Don’t sit and wallow in the bad. Stand up and bask in the good.
And it’s all good.