People are crazy and times are strange
I talked to my mom the other night for the first time in a couple of weeks; it wasn't a long conversation, since she called me at work, but it was enough for a brief catch-up session. Everyone's fine. Mostly we talked about one of my sisters and one of my brothers. This particular sister of mine is currently in New Zealand, if you'll recall, going to a Christian, non-denominational missionary school. She apparently talked to my parents this past weekend, and the conversation drifted (forgive the pun) to the subject of the tsunami. My sister, in her newly-found Christian charity, declared that all of the people who died because of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami are going to Hell, as they (she presumed) had never heard of Jesus. Amazing. Travel half the world to learn how to Spread The Word, and then condemn a whole host of people because they don't meet up to your exact specifications.
The conversation about my brother was somewhat shorter, mostly because my mom hadn't talked to him since, oh, Christmas. He lives in Lafayette, which isn't that big of a town, and he still manages to not see them. (I've recently decided it's ironic that my all my brother wants to do is get out of Lafayette, but can't seem to, while all I'd like to do would be to settle in Lafayette, but can't seem to.) I had been planning on calling him for a while, and with renewed vigor after talking with mom, I rang him up Thursday night.
The phone rings and I hear, "Hey man!" There's some girl talking rather enthusiastically in the background.
"Hey, what's ---"
He cuts me off with, "Shut the fuck up, Nicole!"
Needless to say, I was taken aback. Slightly. "Uh, what?"
"Nothing, hold on." I can tell he's covering the phone with his hand now. "I said shut your fucking mouth, Nicole." I've never heard of this Nicole in my life. I have no idea who she is.
"Er, who's Nicole?"
"No one. Some crazy bitch." He sounds like he's pacing and out of breath. "Dude, you won't believe what just happened. I get home from work just now and there are three cop cars in my yard."
My brother lives in an old rented house in a shady part of town. "Are you serious? What's going on?"
"This Nicole chick is my roommate's ex, right? She came over unannounced and saw my roommate with his current girlfriend and got all pissed off and started breaking windows."
I was laughing. "What the fuck, really?"
"Yeah, man. She broke the window on the front door and the window in his room. Stupid bitch," he spat. "So my roommate calls the cops because the bitch won't leave." He sighs. "Now my roommate's a dumbass, I've told you that before, right?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Well, the dumbass had a bench warrant out for his arrest."
"Dude, are you fucking serious?"
"Yeah he told me when we moved in that he had had some warrants but that they'd all expired or something, I don't know. But guess what, the cops roll up, run his name and there's an outstanding warrant. So they cuffed his ass and he's sitting in the cop car not ten feet from me."
"Oh man..."
"But that's not all," he continued. "They decided to search the house when they found the warrant, and they found his pot stash, his pipes, bongs, scales, all that shit."
Oh fuck, I thought. "Oh fuck," I said. "Was any of that shit in your room or anything?"
Must have been a stupid question. "No, man, what do you think? But when I walked up to the house the first thing the cops asked me was, 'Do you smoke pot?'"
"And you said, 'No,' right?"
"Well, no, I told them, 'You know, I'm gonna be honest with you, yeah, I do,' but they were cool with it."
"You didn't. What the fuck do you mean, 'cool with it'? They're fucking cops, man, that's your ass."
"Naw, they were joking around with me about it. I think they were more worried about the warrant." He kinda giggled. "Shit, I'm leaning against one of the cop cars now talking about this shit. They didn't arrest me."
Sure enough the cops left a few minutes later while we were still on the phone. After they drove off he told me that his roommate actually has a court date next week for throwing a tire iron through the windshield of a moving vehicle. This guy's been in court, and jail, before --- as a matter of fact if he's convicted for the tire iron incident, it will be his third conviction --- and so he's probably going to be heading to jail for a while now. Which leaves my brother without a roommate, with broken windows on the house, working at Chili's for $9.25/hour, driving the car he was supposed to give back to our parents at the end of December, and as a known pot-smoker to the police.
I'm worried sick but there's not much I can do. We all have to learn our lessons our own ways; I've done the shitty roommate thing a couple of times now. As a matter of fact those of you who read Pen got to watch the dissolution of a friendship with a former roommate this past week.
Lately I've been feeling that life's too short. I'm only 26 but sometimes I feel ancient, like I will die soon and have accomplished nothing; and what's even worse is that I don't know what I was supposed to accomplish. Life is too short to claim to be Christian and then be hypocritical; life is too short to live with unbalanced, wanted roommates; and life is definitely too short to waste on two-faced backstabbing so-said "friends." Maybe I won't go to Portland; maybe Jacksonville is the blank slate I need.
I'm still mailing in my app, though. Better to have applied and been rejected than to never have applied at all, right?
In slightly less somber tones, I just finished watching Wonder Boys, and now I've got the music video for Bob Dylan's "Things Have Changed" looping. Katie Holmes is just absolutely gorgeous. She's got the most beautiful shoulders. The movie is very good; if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. Parts of it are like looking in a mirror for me.
The conversation about my brother was somewhat shorter, mostly because my mom hadn't talked to him since, oh, Christmas. He lives in Lafayette, which isn't that big of a town, and he still manages to not see them. (I've recently decided it's ironic that my all my brother wants to do is get out of Lafayette, but can't seem to, while all I'd like to do would be to settle in Lafayette, but can't seem to.) I had been planning on calling him for a while, and with renewed vigor after talking with mom, I rang him up Thursday night.
The phone rings and I hear, "Hey man!" There's some girl talking rather enthusiastically in the background.
"Hey, what's ---"
He cuts me off with, "Shut the fuck up, Nicole!"
Needless to say, I was taken aback. Slightly. "Uh, what?"
"Nothing, hold on." I can tell he's covering the phone with his hand now. "I said shut your fucking mouth, Nicole." I've never heard of this Nicole in my life. I have no idea who she is.
"Er, who's Nicole?"
"No one. Some crazy bitch." He sounds like he's pacing and out of breath. "Dude, you won't believe what just happened. I get home from work just now and there are three cop cars in my yard."
My brother lives in an old rented house in a shady part of town. "Are you serious? What's going on?"
"This Nicole chick is my roommate's ex, right? She came over unannounced and saw my roommate with his current girlfriend and got all pissed off and started breaking windows."
I was laughing. "What the fuck, really?"
"Yeah, man. She broke the window on the front door and the window in his room. Stupid bitch," he spat. "So my roommate calls the cops because the bitch won't leave." He sighs. "Now my roommate's a dumbass, I've told you that before, right?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"Well, the dumbass had a bench warrant out for his arrest."
"Dude, are you fucking serious?"
"Yeah he told me when we moved in that he had had some warrants but that they'd all expired or something, I don't know. But guess what, the cops roll up, run his name and there's an outstanding warrant. So they cuffed his ass and he's sitting in the cop car not ten feet from me."
"Oh man..."
"But that's not all," he continued. "They decided to search the house when they found the warrant, and they found his pot stash, his pipes, bongs, scales, all that shit."
Oh fuck, I thought. "Oh fuck," I said. "Was any of that shit in your room or anything?"
Must have been a stupid question. "No, man, what do you think? But when I walked up to the house the first thing the cops asked me was, 'Do you smoke pot?'"
"And you said, 'No,' right?"
"Well, no, I told them, 'You know, I'm gonna be honest with you, yeah, I do,' but they were cool with it."
"You didn't. What the fuck do you mean, 'cool with it'? They're fucking cops, man, that's your ass."
"Naw, they were joking around with me about it. I think they were more worried about the warrant." He kinda giggled. "Shit, I'm leaning against one of the cop cars now talking about this shit. They didn't arrest me."
Sure enough the cops left a few minutes later while we were still on the phone. After they drove off he told me that his roommate actually has a court date next week for throwing a tire iron through the windshield of a moving vehicle. This guy's been in court, and jail, before --- as a matter of fact if he's convicted for the tire iron incident, it will be his third conviction --- and so he's probably going to be heading to jail for a while now. Which leaves my brother without a roommate, with broken windows on the house, working at Chili's for $9.25/hour, driving the car he was supposed to give back to our parents at the end of December, and as a known pot-smoker to the police.
I'm worried sick but there's not much I can do. We all have to learn our lessons our own ways; I've done the shitty roommate thing a couple of times now. As a matter of fact those of you who read Pen got to watch the dissolution of a friendship with a former roommate this past week.
Lately I've been feeling that life's too short. I'm only 26 but sometimes I feel ancient, like I will die soon and have accomplished nothing; and what's even worse is that I don't know what I was supposed to accomplish. Life is too short to claim to be Christian and then be hypocritical; life is too short to live with unbalanced, wanted roommates; and life is definitely too short to waste on two-faced backstabbing so-said "friends." Maybe I won't go to Portland; maybe Jacksonville is the blank slate I need.
I'm still mailing in my app, though. Better to have applied and been rejected than to never have applied at all, right?
In slightly less somber tones, I just finished watching Wonder Boys, and now I've got the music video for Bob Dylan's "Things Have Changed" looping. Katie Holmes is just absolutely gorgeous. She's got the most beautiful shoulders. The movie is very good; if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. Parts of it are like looking in a mirror for me.