Internet Cafes and Old Friends
I admit it, I haven't done much writing today. I left at O-God-Hundred for the coast ... unfortunately I overestimated the amount of work the state had done on the roads since the last time I drove down. I swear, the construction area has not moved one millimeter in all those months!
Basically, there are two main ways to get to the coast from the upper part of SC. One is to take the interstates, which is the more crowded and frustrating way to get there. The other involves a couple of smaller state roads which wind through the countryside -- I like that one. You drive through farms and cotton fields, and with the construction you get to see dump trucks the size of houses and steam shovels tossing loads of earth larger than your car around.
For some reason, instead of taking the beltway around Columbia, I took I-20 through town and ended up catching the secondary road 10-15 minutes further north than I usually do. This resulted in my driving through the town of Rembert, which resulted in my thinking of a guy I went to college with named Rembert. I have no idea who the town is named after, or even if the Rembert I knew was named after the town or after Rembert Dennis the politician. However, Rembert was a character, to say the least. The poor boy's parents gave him no first names. He had four names in all, and every one of them was a last name: Rembert Baskin Fitzthum Shaw. I kid you not. I would have sued my parental units for mental anguish and suffering, and made up a first name for myself. Rembert, as can probably be expected, was a nerd ... actually a nerd's nerd. Black military glasses with tape on the nosepiece, ink-stained pockets, nasal voice, the works! He was an uber-nerd! I liked him, but he was one of those nerds who are so far out in space that he never quite connected with what was happening down on the earthly planes of college life. He walked around with a semi-permanent puzzled expression on his face. I can imagine two possible futures for Rembert: A) he's invented some amazing space device and is a multi-millionaire, or B) he went postal sometime in the late 80's when a co-worker mocked his eyeglasses and is now on death row.
The only problem with the construction site not having made any improvements that I could see is that, with trying to enlarge a two-lane road to a four-lane, there are many flagmen and one-lane areas, plus the huge dump trucks tend to travel at low speeds and block traffic. So it took me about 40 minutes longer than I'd anticipated to get here. Now I wonder if they are even working on that road at all -- I suspect it is all a ruse and they are just pushing dirt from one side of the road to the other and getting paid for it!
Anyway, I got here, and have had a nice day with my best friend and his ten-year-old son. I forget how much I like the coast until I'm back down here. I even sort of miss the seagulls, though they really are rats with wings. I miss the smell of salt water most.
I've been thinking about it, and I think I have a good explanation of what a best friend is.
When You Are Best Friends:
1. You never have to explain your jokes
2. You never have to ask "do you like that sort of thing?"
3. You never have to wonder if they're telling the truth
4. You know they'd let you know if you had spinach between your teeth.
5. You'd do the same thing in the same situation.
and the best thing about having best friends with kids:
You think their kid is the greatest!
Well, we're off to dinner, then back to his mom's place for last minute gift-wrapping and probably sappy old Xmas movies!
Happy holidays everybody!
Basically, there are two main ways to get to the coast from the upper part of SC. One is to take the interstates, which is the more crowded and frustrating way to get there. The other involves a couple of smaller state roads which wind through the countryside -- I like that one. You drive through farms and cotton fields, and with the construction you get to see dump trucks the size of houses and steam shovels tossing loads of earth larger than your car around.
For some reason, instead of taking the beltway around Columbia, I took I-20 through town and ended up catching the secondary road 10-15 minutes further north than I usually do. This resulted in my driving through the town of Rembert, which resulted in my thinking of a guy I went to college with named Rembert. I have no idea who the town is named after, or even if the Rembert I knew was named after the town or after Rembert Dennis the politician. However, Rembert was a character, to say the least. The poor boy's parents gave him no first names. He had four names in all, and every one of them was a last name: Rembert Baskin Fitzthum Shaw. I kid you not. I would have sued my parental units for mental anguish and suffering, and made up a first name for myself. Rembert, as can probably be expected, was a nerd ... actually a nerd's nerd. Black military glasses with tape on the nosepiece, ink-stained pockets, nasal voice, the works! He was an uber-nerd! I liked him, but he was one of those nerds who are so far out in space that he never quite connected with what was happening down on the earthly planes of college life. He walked around with a semi-permanent puzzled expression on his face. I can imagine two possible futures for Rembert: A) he's invented some amazing space device and is a multi-millionaire, or B) he went postal sometime in the late 80's when a co-worker mocked his eyeglasses and is now on death row.
The only problem with the construction site not having made any improvements that I could see is that, with trying to enlarge a two-lane road to a four-lane, there are many flagmen and one-lane areas, plus the huge dump trucks tend to travel at low speeds and block traffic. So it took me about 40 minutes longer than I'd anticipated to get here. Now I wonder if they are even working on that road at all -- I suspect it is all a ruse and they are just pushing dirt from one side of the road to the other and getting paid for it!
Anyway, I got here, and have had a nice day with my best friend and his ten-year-old son. I forget how much I like the coast until I'm back down here. I even sort of miss the seagulls, though they really are rats with wings. I miss the smell of salt water most.
I've been thinking about it, and I think I have a good explanation of what a best friend is.
When You Are Best Friends:
1. You never have to explain your jokes
2. You never have to ask "do you like that sort of thing?"
3. You never have to wonder if they're telling the truth
4. You know they'd let you know if you had spinach between your teeth.
5. You'd do the same thing in the same situation.
and the best thing about having best friends with kids:
You think their kid is the greatest!
Well, we're off to dinner, then back to his mom's place for last minute gift-wrapping and probably sappy old Xmas movies!
Happy holidays everybody!