Old friends.
I've come to realize that old friends, in which your relationships with them are dead and buried, are just a hinderance. Like my mom said: there's a reason why some people are in your past and others are in your present.
As most of my friends are fully aware (except for the ones I don't talk to anymore), this trip with Alli has been in full effect for over five months now, and the idea itself has existed for much longer than that (though the initial plans didn't include her). So I guess it was a bit of a surprise that a couple of old friends who I haven't spoken to in a while Facebook me today, asking if I would like to go out to dinner with them like we did in the old days before Barbara moved out of town. Me, Ryan, Barbara and Lisa used to go to dinner about once a month together and just shoot the shit (we liked to think we were sophisticated and grown-up), and when we left high school, we all sort of went our separate ways (except for me and Ryan, obv.), and it's been fully like TWO years since we've spoken to or seen each other. So I get up this morning, checking to see whether or not Alli has left yet, and I have a message from Barbara and Lisa asking me to call Ryan so the four of us can go out to dinner, because Barbara is home from Montreal for two weeks. So I send them a message saying, well, maybe, but I have a friend coming to stay for the week, so it would have to be much later in her stay than what they were asking for, at which point the shit begins.
Barbara answers, pointing out that she is ALSO my friend from out of town, and that she's not sure whether or not she'll be able to accommodate my plans. I respond saying that we'll just have to wing it, then, because I'm not canceling five-month-old plans with a good friend so that I can meet them for dinner for two hours, at which point I also noted that she should talk to Lisa personally, because she wasn't responding at all to the messages. Okay, not a big deal, right? So then in swoops Lisa, guns fucking blazing, being all, "WHEN DID THIS TURN INTO A BLAMEFEST BLAARGHAGHARABF RAGE" and just generally being unnecessarily rude over NOTHING. "IF YOU ALL WANT TO PLAN SOMETHING, THEN MAKE YOURSELVES AVAILABLE FOR THE DAY THAT WE'RE DOING SOMETHING, NOT JUST OVER FACEBOOK MESSAGES."
..What? Where did that come from? Sorry, buddy, but I don't actually remember making plans with you and then breaking them, so I don't understand the reference to not making myself available for the actual meeting. AND ON TOP OF THAT, WHAT THE FUCK? It's been TWO FUCKING YEARS and you expect me to drop all my plans just because you're coming into town for a week? No, that's not how it works. It works by picking up a phone and calling me, e-mailing me, dropping me a line every once in a while, not by DEMANDING that we get together while you're in town and then getting pissed off and accusatory when I have better things to do. No, sorry, but we've been planning this for five fucking months, and quite frankly, some people who never even bothered to contact me after I left don't mean a whole lot to me, anyway, as compared to a friend with whom I'm extremely close. You have NO right whatsoever to come charging in and get all bent out of shape over the fact that I'm not interested in canceling a weeklong plan for two hours of fucking dinner with people who don't even call me for my birthday (THOUGH I ALWAYS CALL OR WRITE THEM FOR THEIRS). I don't think they're in the proper place to get indignant over it. I MEAN, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY'VE BEEN IN TOWN DOZENS OF TIMES OVER THE LAST YEAR AND NEITHER OF THEM *EVER* CONTACTED ME. Why now? All of a sudden you give a fuck? You don't have the right to pick me up and drop me whenever you want and then expect me to comply with your every whim. No, we're not friends anymore, and I'm not sure we ever were.
In conclusion, Alli is way more cool than you, and it isn't even in her nature to like someone for as long and we've been friends. But I guess it helps that we understand each other, as neither of you ever understood me, nor wanted or tried to.
As most of my friends are fully aware (except for the ones I don't talk to anymore), this trip with Alli has been in full effect for over five months now, and the idea itself has existed for much longer than that (though the initial plans didn't include her). So I guess it was a bit of a surprise that a couple of old friends who I haven't spoken to in a while Facebook me today, asking if I would like to go out to dinner with them like we did in the old days before Barbara moved out of town. Me, Ryan, Barbara and Lisa used to go to dinner about once a month together and just shoot the shit (we liked to think we were sophisticated and grown-up), and when we left high school, we all sort of went our separate ways (except for me and Ryan, obv.), and it's been fully like TWO years since we've spoken to or seen each other. So I get up this morning, checking to see whether or not Alli has left yet, and I have a message from Barbara and Lisa asking me to call Ryan so the four of us can go out to dinner, because Barbara is home from Montreal for two weeks. So I send them a message saying, well, maybe, but I have a friend coming to stay for the week, so it would have to be much later in her stay than what they were asking for, at which point the shit begins.
Barbara answers, pointing out that she is ALSO my friend from out of town, and that she's not sure whether or not she'll be able to accommodate my plans. I respond saying that we'll just have to wing it, then, because I'm not canceling five-month-old plans with a good friend so that I can meet them for dinner for two hours, at which point I also noted that she should talk to Lisa personally, because she wasn't responding at all to the messages. Okay, not a big deal, right? So then in swoops Lisa, guns fucking blazing, being all, "WHEN DID THIS TURN INTO A BLAMEFEST BLAARGHAGHARABF RAGE" and just generally being unnecessarily rude over NOTHING. "IF YOU ALL WANT TO PLAN SOMETHING, THEN MAKE YOURSELVES AVAILABLE FOR THE DAY THAT WE'RE DOING SOMETHING, NOT JUST OVER FACEBOOK MESSAGES."
..What? Where did that come from? Sorry, buddy, but I don't actually remember making plans with you and then breaking them, so I don't understand the reference to not making myself available for the actual meeting. AND ON TOP OF THAT, WHAT THE FUCK? It's been TWO FUCKING YEARS and you expect me to drop all my plans just because you're coming into town for a week? No, that's not how it works. It works by picking up a phone and calling me, e-mailing me, dropping me a line every once in a while, not by DEMANDING that we get together while you're in town and then getting pissed off and accusatory when I have better things to do. No, sorry, but we've been planning this for five fucking months, and quite frankly, some people who never even bothered to contact me after I left don't mean a whole lot to me, anyway, as compared to a friend with whom I'm extremely close. You have NO right whatsoever to come charging in and get all bent out of shape over the fact that I'm not interested in canceling a weeklong plan for two hours of fucking dinner with people who don't even call me for my birthday (THOUGH I ALWAYS CALL OR WRITE THEM FOR THEIRS). I don't think they're in the proper place to get indignant over it. I MEAN, ESPECIALLY SINCE THEY'VE BEEN IN TOWN DOZENS OF TIMES OVER THE LAST YEAR AND NEITHER OF THEM *EVER* CONTACTED ME. Why now? All of a sudden you give a fuck? You don't have the right to pick me up and drop me whenever you want and then expect me to comply with your every whim. No, we're not friends anymore, and I'm not sure we ever were.
In conclusion, Alli is way more cool than you, and it isn't even in her nature to like someone for as long and we've been friends. But I guess it helps that we understand each other, as neither of you ever understood me, nor wanted or tried to.