I hate it when I get to that point where I've got several games to finish, that I want to finish, but to get in there and play feels too much like work. What am I supposed to do then? Well, I go to some other game, and spen time with it so that I can rebuild anticipation again. But that doesn't work, and I keep cycling through other games until, what do you know? a half of a year has gone by and now I'm picking up this unfinished game again. But hey, you know what? It's been a while since I've played this; I should probably start a whole new game save in order to catch myself back up with what's going on.

.....It's the worst.

1.3
The fall had come, the soft warm of the summer calm replaced by the soft cool of autumn. Our room now lays silent and abandoned, it's occupant gone, seemingly for years even though it has only been a few months. The room is no longer the mess it was; tidiness now reigns supreme. Yet the tidiness is wearing away at the edges; the signs of the chaos and disorder of the last occupant still show through in some places. Sadness pervades the room, something was here and now is gone, is gone from all of us. We sit on our couches, but it pervades us all, and the darkness and sad calm of the room affects us, but we try to fight it and forget what shouldn't be forgotten. The leaves slowly fall outside, sometimes the shadows shine through the room's windows, through the shade, which has been pulled down. Footsteps echo from outside, growing louder as they reach the room, entering into the sad calm, a calm that spreads throughout the world, the universe, all universes.
1.4
She enters the room and stands, not in the doorway, but in the room itself. The room is quiet and so is she. thoughts of summer, and the gleeful solitude of streetlights and smells are gone, could not be further away. The sad calm is originating from the room, and if she thought that if she could avoid it she is wrong. She doesn't want to avoid it though. She takes the sad calm and allows it to enter her, to enter the depth of her being and existence.Small tears begin in the wells of her eyes, small, quiet tears that are appropriate for the sad calm of the room. She stands for a while longer, accepting the sad calm instead of rejecting it; it is her and she is it. She waits for a moment longer, then takes what she has come to get and leaves. She exits the room without a look behind and the room has now become memory, she will never see it again, the materialness of it melting away from the world the further she walks away from it. The The source of the sad calm dissapeared, as it no longer exists, the discordant notes it was spreading gone, the sad calm only remains in the minds and memories of those who knew the man of the room. Our girl walks to her car, and since the room is gone, it's silencing effect no longer holds; tears stream down her face and she cries loudly.
1.5
The town is mostly oblivious to the man of the room, as are those who attend his final farewell, a farewell that is in no way final, as those few there who truly remember the young man encased in front of them will never truly stop saying goodbye, not in their minds, inside the deepest parts of their being, until the day that they themselves are bid farewell by others. Gone, gone, gone. Most cry, and though they are sad, they don't accept the end, they don't feel the nuances of the calm, will never feel the calm until they themselves lose something that has affected them deeply. Our girl, who stands not with the family but hidden, unseen and unknown amongst the other people, crying deeply as the memory of the sad calm, and that of the warm calm, which is what makes this so much worse, resonate in her very bottom of her soul, is who the this is about.

So, I entered that mode where I just can't stand playing anything new and desire more than anything to play something old and familiar, even though I have over eight other games that I haven't even finished. And after about an hour of sitting in front of my games and trying to decide what to play, I settled on FF8, which I thought was a good decision. I have a lot of new music to listen to, and I'm MORE than familiar with all of the music in the game; this will provide me with a good oppurtunity to work out my nostalgia fix whilst catching up on my tunes. Plus, maybe playing through another RPG will get me set for finishing the others that I have yet to finish.

Also, since I went to the effort to post part of it here I guess I better take the trouble to mention it.(Oh the trouble! Typing! It's so HARD!) I sat in on a friends college class and spent the entirety of it working on this story one thing. I've good some more stuff and I'm not too disgusted with it yet, so I'll put it up once I get it transcribed onto the computer.

I don't know how regular I'll do this, i prefer to do this blog type stuff on my Facebook, and that is in no way frequent. But who knows. .....whatever. I'll play it however it rolls.

I think I've just about finished putting all of my Facebook writings lup on the blog here, everything except the final segment of the Weekend story; Gamespot seems to have an issue with cursing on the blogs, and it's making it hard to post it. I'll get over it; I don't plan on posting on here that often. I also just finished putting the finishing touches on the game list. Outside of one or two titles, I think I've pretty much put everything on there. I don't think it's that shabby of a list. And I think I've put most of the games that I want on the wish list. Hmmm...that's about it.

1
Martin. Who? A name. I don't know. He's a person, like any other, but I don't know. Maybe not. I hate you Martin. I love you martin. You piss me off. But what else? I just don't know. What else can be said about you. More? Is there more? I know there should be, but I just can't think of anyhing. I wish there was more that I could say, but I just,,,can't,,,,think. he was the product of a different place, one that has since moved on without him, his prescence unfelt and unknown, even by those he knew. Where are you Martin..... America is a big place, the world even bigger, and I just can't think of where in the giant mass of earth he could be. I wonder sometimes, when I'm alone, sitting and watching nothing of interest on the television. I just wonder, where, where, where. And sometimes I think I can feel him out there and alive and doing whatever it is that he does. And sometimes I get the feeling that he is gone, not dead, but just gone, and I can't feel him, but only the void of nothingness, the void of space that he isn't filling. What was I talking about? Six months. Short time to know somebody. Has he had that big of an effect on me, that I would think like this about him, so long after I last saw him? I....didn't even know him. Who are these people? He is something, something I can't explain. He wasn't special....Martin, I hate the way you make me feel about myself. I hope you're dead, so your toxic prescence can't contaminate anyone else. Oh god I don't mean that....Martin, why did you have to be the person I was closest to? You were such a bastard at times, but I guess we all are. I'm done reminescing. I'm going to bed.
1.1
There is a slight whirring. The ceiling fan. The blades swoop slowly in a circle, distributing a thin air current. Strange silence from everything else. No, the computer. Small clicking and moving sounds can be heard every now and then if one listens for it. The room is small, too small in fact, for all of the stuff that inhabits it. Scattered magazines on the floor. three jackets hang on the door, preventing it from being closed all of the way. It is calm. That is the feeling that room spreads. On slightly warm summer days, it is the rooms that show the most obvious signs of habitation that always seem the most calm. The window in the room is closed. you can feel, just almost, the sounds that are on the other side. trees that seem to scream in all of the silence that they fill. but inside, the inside has no such screaming. The room is at the end of a hallway, a short hallway, which comes from a larger room, one taht has less sound in it. The dust. The dust has sound, but not much, only very little sounds, ones that can barely be heard unless you are actively looking for them. The couch is green, but faded. Very faded. How long has it been there? The kitchen is nearby. Clean. The door to the dishwasher is open and the smells of the hot dishes can be felt and smelled in the room. The kitchen is very clean. The refridgerator has plenty of stuff on it, a deluge of objects that assault the eyes and doesn't relent. It must have taken many years to gather all of the objects. There is another hall way. too far. Too far away. Back to the room, to the familiar. There is a plate on the table the the computer is on, there is a fly in the room, and the movement seems too much for the calm, the fly is killing the calm and ruining it with its speed and directness. The fly doesn't care about the calm. It lands on the plate, and stays for a while before flying off to another location. A bookshelve, which a television is on top of is against the wall. the books are few, but hefty. the television is connected, but not on. Connected to the same plug as the computer. the remote for the tv is on the floor, by the corner of the bed. sound rips through the silence, tearing the calm in half violently. A steady, repititious beap. The calm scatters, then, slowly, after a little while, settles in around the sound, until the sound itself has been absorbed by the calm and has become a part of the soundscape of the room. An alarm clock. That is where the sound is coming from. The clock reads 11:13. The alarm is disregarded, a mere formality. The sleeping form on the bed has no need to get up, no obligations that require his attention. the alarm is a distant reminder of times when such things existed, times that have been left behind, like so many other things. The sleeping form stirs slightly, but does not wake up. After several minutes the alarm shuts off on its own. The calm scatters and reassembles again. the day rolls on. leaving the sleeping form behind.
1.2
Expaniding outward to the town. It has a calm of it's own, yet one that is very different from the room. The last days of summer seem to spread calm over everything that it touches. The banks, the fast food reastaurants. the buildings that fill the expanse of space that has been labeled as a town. The inhabitats move around. Many don't know the sleeping form, don't know about, and don't care about his existance. The idea of other people outside of the people that they know, the idea that those people have people they know with ideas and lives and stories that are as deeply complex as their own is an abstract thought that few of the people in the town had examined at a deep level. Though some have. A green car, driving slow and steady across the town, with it's windows down, pulling as much of the summer calm into the car it possibly can in its travel. Scraggly, yet somehow smooth blond hair follows the breeze, itself a part of the calm, it has a calm of its own! What will happen to the calm if the hair stops moving, stops absorbing and reflecting the calm? A part of the calm will die, a death not noticed by those who aren't looking for it, a silent death, but one filled with plenty of hope, as calm is everywhere, and can't be ended permenently, no matter what. The car hums smoothly, sometimes harshly, at the red lights. The driver knows the sleeping form, and has thought about the lives and stories of the people around her many time, will sometimes lose track at places examing the people around her whose stories seem the most complex, the most interesting. Who is that person? What brought them to this moment, to this point in existence? The one right now, that I and everyone else can feel, can experiance and interact with? What of their nose? What is the story of that nose? And then the people are gone and their story goes on and the girl isn't privy to what will happen to the person next, or where the person will be tommorow. She won't ever see that person again, they are gone, forever gone and outside of her inquiring gaze. She doesn't think like that at this moment, but sometimes she does. What is she thinking of? Her face contains a gaze of noihing, staring straight ahead into the world in front of her. There is nothing there, but that's not true; there's everything. Her thoughts are nothing. She reacts only passivly to the smell of exhaust. The smell is a part of the calm and she knows it. She enjoys it. The calm. The light changes to green and she moves again.

J.Knolling-section


This is a section from a story that I am writing. It is purposefully ambigous. Don't focus on the details, but instead on the characters. Do they sound realistic? Leave comments if you want. Thanks!

I finished slowly, and waited for what Benny would say back. I knew that whatever it was wouldn't be good. Things of this type never were. Benny slowly got up from his seat at the table. I thought he would walk over to me, to confront me, possibly to attack me. Whatever the possibility, I deserved all of it. He didn't however. He walked past me and sat down on the couch. I waited for him to speak. Every sound became clear to me; the birds outside, Knolling's lawn mower next door, two people talking casually as they walked by the house on the sidewalk outside. The sounds displeased me, caused my muscles to tense uncomfortably, in a weird expectation of the sound that I wanted and dreaded the most at the same time; Benny's voice. When he did speak, it released the flood of dread that was built up inside me. When it was over, things wouldn't be the same. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

"When did this start?" Benny spoke, a slight tremble in his voice. It was the question that I knew would come first; that I knew would hurt him the most.

"Last summer," I replied slowly. I wish I could say that I kept my voice steady, but for all my efforts, I can't remember whether I did or not

"A-At the beach house?" The tremble more pronounced.

"Yes"

"H-how could you-Why?" He was starting to cry, small droplets forming in the corners of his eyes.

"I don't know." I tried to create a sense of sorrow…sympathy…something with my voice, anything that would convey the horrible feelings that were running down my spine, the feelings that I have felt my entire life, that have plagued myself and everyone that I have ever come into contact with. I tried to convey this to with my words, but when they left my mouth they carried the same cold emptiness with emptiness. They were the words of a man who cares about nothing and no one, coming from a person who was exactly the opposite. Because after that night I don't know if I truly cared about anything ever again. This was the final act in the loss of my soul, my last chance to prevent what would come. Nothing would be the same after this day, nobody, especially Jenny, would see me in the same light again. It was my chance to correct my many wrongs and perhaps my last, if it's not possible here, chance for redemption.

Benny didn't say anything. He looked quietly at his hands for a while before looking up at me. The look of his eyes breaks my heart when I think about it. His last word he ever spoke to me was burned into every facet of those eyes. I tried to speak, but no words came. My mouth never even opened. Benny looked away. He sat still for awhile before getting up and leaving the house. I didn't try to stop him. I didn't try to stop him….I stayed quiet for a long time. At some point I went to lie down on the couch. I don't remember when. I fell asleep slowly some time later. I was told the next day by Arthur that Benny was dead. His body had been found in the alley behind the bowling alley by a person who had been taking out the trash. He had killed himself by cutting his wrists.

Kyle's house was on the exact edge of the city limits, and Matt quickly expressed his disappointment about the fact that they wouldn't be going into the actual town. They pulled slowly into the house's driveway. Tim slowly walked up the driveway, with Matt and Sara following him.
Tim sighed heavily. "I haven't been here in a long time."
"Me neither," Sara said.
Unlike Sara, Kyle's house was only a single story, and was, overall, quite simple. A large double pane window was in the front of the house allowing the guests to see what was going on inside as they passed. Kyle was visible; sitting on a couch playing a guitar.
"Uh-oh," Tim said upon seeing Kyle's actions.
The inside of the house was cluttered with with furniture, which Kyle explained was form his parent's room, which was being remodeled. As if on cue, his parents then entered the room. "Tim!" his mother said. "We haven't seen you in forever.
"Yeah, I live in Lebanon, so it's hard to come up here."
She turned towards Matt. "I'm Nancy, Kyle's mother. And this is his father, Larry."
"I'm Matt. It's nice to meet you."
"Well it's nice to meet you." They left the room.
"So what are you doing here?" Tim said after they left, indicating Kyle's guitar. Matt and Sarah both sat downon nearby chairs.
"Nothing. I was just messing around with this."
"When did you get this guitar? A Univox?"
"Yeah. I got it about three months ago. I bought it from James Short."
"It's a nice guitar." Tim said.
"It's a cheap guitar," Kyle corrected.
Tim leaned down to look at Kyle's amp. "Silvertone?" Tim said incredously. "Who do you think you are, Jack White?"
"No, it was the cheapest thing I could find. It doesn't even work right. Like this switch here is broken. It doesn't do anything."
"So," Sarah said to Matt as Kyle and Tim examined the amplifier. "do you play the guitar?"
"No," Matt replied. "I just listen to the music. I don't take part in the making of it. I don't really have the energy to learn. I'm too busy trying to express myself in other ways. Trying."
"Yeah, what do you do?"
"Well, I kinda consider myself a writer. I guess. I don't know. I try."
"Is that what you're going to school for?"
Matt sighed heavily. "Yeah I guess. I don't really know."
"Not everyone can be some fancy pants doctor, Sarah," Tim said.
"What? I didn't say that!"
"Sara," Tim sighed. "We all know that you think you're better than us."
"I never said that!"
"You're gonna save lives, so everyone else is inferior now huh? I know your game Sarah."
"Okay Tim."
"So,' Tim said, clapping his hand together. " What are you guys doing tonight?"
"Everybody's going out to Mitch's house tonight," Kyle said. "I was going to head out there."
"Okay," tim said. " Let's take my car."
The house was located in the dirt roads about a mile outside of Bethany. The house was very small, and the yard unimpressive. People were milling about outside, talking to one another. One car had a large sound system in the back and was playing music out of it. Upon arriving the group split up, Kyle and Sarah going to talk to people and Tim talking to a friend of his that he hadn't seen in a long time, Jake Taylor.
Matt didn't know anyone that was there, and had only met Jake Taylor's brother, Nick once. He stood nearby to Tim, and watched him and Jake talk. Jake was talking fast, his face and his hands moving with his voice. It was erratic and out of control. Either Matt couldn't or didn't want to become involved in the conversation. Several other people came up to Matt and started conversation, but the conversations always died quickly, with Matt adding little to nothing to it. He would continually look over to Tim without saying anything.
After about an hour and a half, half of the people at the party, Jake included, decided to get into a car and go backroading. Tim and Matt asked confusedly what backroading was, and Kyle explained that it was simply driving on the dirt or 'back' roads while drinking. Matt and Tim said that they didn't understand it, and Kyle agreed that it didn't make much sense. They all decided to go back to Sarah's house and hang out there.
The four talked together at Sarah's table, where her Tim and Matt had been talking earlier that day. Sarah produced feta cheese and some crackers, which the four snacked on while they talked about whatever came to their minds. Sarah was continually asking the group what their favorites were, such as their favorite cheese and their favorite flower. The crackers were stale, but that didn't stop them. Nuts were also provided.
"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" Sarah asked.
"We were going to go down to Kansas City, Matt's never been there before," Tim said.
Sarah looked at Matt incredously. "You've never been to Kansas City?"
"Well, I've driven through it, but no, I've been into the actual city," Matt said.
"We were going to go down there, grab something to eat, maybe go to the Plaza or Westport or something."
"I live pretty close to the Plaza," Sarah said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. You know how they do the Christmas lights? I can see them from my place."
"That's pretty cool," Tim said. There was a pause in the conversation. Tim stretched his arms and yawned. " What time is it?" he asked.
"Uh, 3:45," Sarah said.
Tim looked to Kyle. "I think we're going to head off," he said.
"Yeah," Sarah said. "I think I'm going to work on some homework for a while, then go to bed."
Tim, Matt and Kyle all said goodbye to Sarah and then left the house and began the drive back to Kyle's house.
"So," Tim said to Matt. " Sarah's a nice girl huh?"
"Yeah. She's pretty cool." Matt responded.
"I just enjoy hanging around her. She's interesting to talk to," Tim said.
"Yeah, she came down this weekend because you guys were heading up," Kyle said.
"Yeah, I know," Tim replied. " She left this bizarre message on my phone. She says something about a swimsuit. Me and Matt couldn't figure it out."
"It makes absolutely no sense," Matt said, looking out the window..
"How's Matt dealing with the fact that she's living in KC now?" Tim asked Kyle.
Kyle looked at Tim confused. "What? They broke up."
Tim looked back at Kyle. "Really? When did this happen?"
"I think it happened about two and a half weeks ago."
"Really," Tim said looking forward again. Matt had moved his gaze from the window and was now looking atTim. "I had no idea that they had broken up. Why did it happen?" Tim asked.
"I'm not sure. They had an argument about something I think."
"Wow…." Tim said. Matt looked at Tim a while longer before moving his gaze back to the window.
They arrived back at Kyle's house sometime later. Together, they took some pills, and, after tripping through a movie, fell asleep.
SATURDAY
Kyle was the first to wake up. Matt awoke soon after, but didn't get up, instead he listened as Kyle moved around. Sometime later he did get up. He asked Kyle where the shower was and proceeded to take a shower. Tim woke up while Matt was in the shower. He went out to his car to get his cell phone and made a quick phone call. No one picked up, and Tim came back into the house.
Matt got out of the shower and qalked inot the living room where Kyle and Tim were. He sat down in a chair. Tim looked at him.
"Are you tired?" he asked. Matt nodded. "Yeah, me too."
"Those pills will do that to you," Kyle said. "You'll probably feel groggy all morning."
"But it was fun though," Tim said. "There was a point in the movie where this hand was throwing this ribbon, and I thought that it was coming out at me. How were you?" he asked Matt.
"I don't know. I didn't really see anything, unless there was a lot more going on in that movie than I thought there was," he laughed."No, I just, became really aware of my body, and that I was lying there. Ya know?"
"Yeah, yeah." Tim said. "overall good though?"
"Yeah," Matt responded.
Tim yawned. He looked to Kyle. "What do you have planned today? Are you working?"
Kyle shook his head. "No. I'm off all weekend. I think I'm going to go to the skatepark in Trenton." He cleared his throat. "So are you guys going to head back to Lebanon after KC?"
Tim shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. We might come back again tonight. We're in no rush," he looked to Matt. "Allright?"
Matt shook his head. "As long as I don't have to pay gas back here. Not part of mine."
Tim nodded his head.
They were on the highway to Kansas City a short while later. It seemed that the gloom of Columbia had caught up with them, and though it wasn't raining yet, it was definantly cloudy. Tim and Matt talked about last night, and about what Bethany was all about. They were interrupted by a phone call on Tim's cell phone.
Tim answered it quickly. "Hey Sarah," he said.
"Yeah, me and Matt are headed to Kansas City right now."
"I don't know, we were talking about Arthur Bryant's, but we have no idea how to get there. We might just do cheesecake factory."
"I'm joking Sarah."
"Westport?"
"Yeah, well, we're going to walk around for a bit."
"Uh, no I think we're going to come back to Bethany tonight."
"Yeah, I thought it might be nice to stay for one more night. Hang out with you and Kyle again."
"Yeah, well, I'll give you a call when we get back and we can all hang out again or something."
"Yeah. I'll see you later. Bye."

Tim and Matt arrived back in Bethany five hours later, full, exhausted, and slightly wet. They pulled into the drive of Kyle's house to find him outside setting off fireworks in a large tub of water. Matt got out of the car first, and walked to the front porch where Kyle was at. Tim held back for a second in the car. Matt looked and saw him sittning with his phone to his ear. Tim got out of the car a short while later and walked to the porch.
Kyle's mom had went out and purchased fireworks for Kyle's young nephew, who was now waiting for night to arrive so that they could set off the more impressive stuff.
"How was KC?" Kyle asked.
"Oh, it was fun," Tim said. "We walked around the Plaza and Westport. How was the skatepark?"
"It rained so I didn't go."
"Yeah, yeah," Tim replied. "So what are we doing tonight?"
"I don't know," Kyle said. " We're going to set off these fireworks for him and then I thought that we might head back out to Mitch's house." Tim nodded his agreement.
The night fell quickly and they set about setting off all of the fireworks. They experimented with different combinations of fireworks, and tried to make a really loud bomb. Periodiacally Tim would walk out to his car, and check his phone. He would always head back immediately. The show was over before it had really even begun. At Kyle's suggestion, they took his car this night.
Mitch's house was a shadow of what it had been the night before. There were half as many people there, with nobody that Tim recognized. They wondered aloud where everybody was hanging out this night, but nobody else seemed to know. There was a mention of a party happening in Gillman City, a small town about 7 minutes outside Bethany, but Kyle dismissed the idea of going there quickly, saying that it was the kind of place where they were likely to be beat up for their long hair.

The video store was cheap. The carpet had noticeable wear. Matt was amused by the fact that the video store doubled as a tanning salon, a fact which Tim said signaled their proximity to Bethany. The store was empty. Kyle was sitting in a fold out chair, watching the parade roll by when Matt and Tim entered.
"Hey Kyle," Tim said as they walked into the store. Tim nodded towards the parade. "Just another day in Trenton, huh?"
"Yeah, It's **** horrible," Kyle said apathetically.
"You've met Matt," Tim said.
"Yeah," Kyle said. "Superman 64 guy right?"
"Yeah, that's me. Me and Tim were wondering what this parade could be for. There doesn't seem to be any kind of….purpose for it. We were thinking that maybe Trenton just has parades for no reason."
"Sequecentennial," Kyle said promptly. "But it's still pretty meaningless. So what are you guys planning on doing tonight?"
"Oh," Tim said. "We were just gonna hang around Bethany. I was going to show Matt the town. We're flying by the seat of our pants. Probably hang out with you and Sara tonight."
"Where are you staying tonight?" Kyle asked. "I was talking with Sara and she said that she thought you were staying with her, but she didn't know for sure."
"I don't know. I think we might stay with you tonight. If that's not a problem."
"Oh no it's fine."
"I just was thinking that it might be not good for us to stay at Sara's house."
"She said you guys are welcome to stay."
"Yeah, I just thought we'ld be more comfortable staying with you. Just guys and all you know."
"Yeah, I mean it's no problem. You guys will have plenty of places to stay."
"Good," Matt said. "I wasn't looking forward to the possibility that I might have to sleep in the car."
"No, you don't want to sleep in our car in Bethany," Kyle said.
"Yeah, that's what Tim said. I'm not quite sure that I understand. What could possibly happen?"
"Bethany's a strange town," Tim said.
"Yeah, you don't want to sleep in your car." Kyle put in.

Bethany was a short fifteen minute drive from Trenton. They made it in twelve. Matt was interested in seeing the main part of the town, but Tim turned off onto a side road, which led to Sara's house. They were going to stop at Sara's house and wait there until Kyle got off work and came back to Bethany. Sara's house was hidden in the back roads behind Bethany. It was an impressive house, three stories, with a large sprawling deck. Matt, who considered himself a coniseur of nice decks, was quite impressed. Tim was unsure of the whether or not the house was truly Sara's, a feeling that was helped on by the lack of vehicles in the driveway, and a large dog that came bounding up to them when they stepped out of the car. Tim and Matt agreed that they weren't quite sure why the dog didn't work in the favor of the house being Sara's, they were only sure that it didn't.
Tim walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell. They waited for several seconds. Tim looked at Matt, who said, "Ring it again."
Tim pressed the doorbell a second time, then looked at Matt again. "I don't think it's ringing," he said.
Matt moved up next to the door and put his head close to the door. "Ring it again and I'll listen."
"But what if it does work?" Tim said. "then I'm ringing the doorbell an excessive amount of times. On what might be a random stranger's house."
"Ooh," Matt said quickly. "That's very true." They both stood in contemplation for a little while until they heard a door open from the back of the house and someone walk out onto the deck. Matt shot Tim a surprised look as Tim looked expectantly towards the corner of the house, which Sara quickly appeared from.
"Tim!" She said excitedly. "I haven't seen you in ages! It's nice to see you!"
"It's nice to see you too," Tim replied. He sounded slightly stiff.
"Well come on in," Sara said leading them around the deck towards a large patio door on the back side of the house. "That door doesn't work."
"This is Matt, by the way," Tim said as they stepped into the house.
"Hello, Matt," Sara said.
"Hello," Matt replied. They both shook hands.

Weekend

FRIDAY

The light drizzle continued to pour out of the sky, much like it had been doing for the past five hours. Matt was asleep. He was also wet. Columbia was a dreary landscape. Orientation and ****registration was in full swing, but the bright, cheery mood that was presented by the yellow sun on the banners was betrayed by the foul weather. There were not very many people wandering around the campus, a fact that Matt had found out first hand. He had become bored much quicker than he had thought that he would. Sleep was the only alternative that he knew of.

The parking garage was silent, a reflection of the campus that it was next to. It wasn't absolute silence, but a subdued one that did not fit well with the area it was located. Footsteps and a car engine were heard every now and then, but not in the quantity that was expected or desired. Matt awoke quickly, in a way that if someone had been watching him, they would not have been able to tell the differiance between asleep and awake. He tried to go back to sleep but was unable. He was uncomfortable.

His cell phone rang some time later. Matt picked it up quickly. He glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Tim. He opened the phone. "Yeah?" he said quickly.

"Hey," came Tim's voice from the other side of the phone. "I'm sorry that I took so long. I had troubles scheduling ****s."

"So you're ready to go?"

"Yeah."

"I'll drive the car down to the outside and wait for you. Right?"

"Sure."

After brief troubles with starting the car, Matt swerved it quickly out of the parking garage and outside. He searched quickly for Tim, found him, and drove to him. Matt got out of the car and switched into the passenger seat. Tim entered the car, throwing a bag that was full of various book packets and such into Matt's lap.

"Bam!" He said loudly as he sat down in the seat.

"Bam!" he said again as he brought his seat belt down and buckled it.

"Bam!" he said finally as he jerked the gearshift into reverse and backed quikly out of the parking spot and onto the road. Though his words held a lot of energy behind them his actions held little; at least not nearly as much as his words.

Matt hefted the bag, which had a large illustration of a tiger on the front. He found that it was quite heavy. "Jesus christ, what's in this thing?" he asked.

"SWAG!" Tim replied. The 'a' was slightly prolonged, making it sound like swaag.

Matt's mouth split into a grin. "Seriously?" he asked incredously.

" I could decorate my condo with all of the SWAG I got!" Tim said. This merited a hearty laugh from Matt.

Matt rumagged through the bag. "Tim, this SWAG sucks." he said.

"It's SWAG," Tim said. "It all sucks."

"Well you know, some SWAG is better than other SWAG."

"Wrong. All SWAG is crap."

"Well I really think you're wrong." Tim didn't respond to this. Matt threw the bag into the backseat, then emerged a few seconds later with a different bag. "Want some candy?" he asked tim as he pulled two boxes of candy out of the bag.

"When did you buy candy?" Tim asked.

"While I was at Walgreens buying water. I think the question you should be asking is 'Why' I bought candy."

"Why?"

"They were on sale three for three dollars. It would have been stupid not to buy it."

"I'm not sure about that logic."

The car pulled onto Interstate 70. Matt was glad to be out of the city. The drizzle was lessening. Matt thought that it was stuck to the city like a bad scar. The sky was a bleak gray. Matt found this, along with the rain, to be foreboding messeges about the journey. He expressed this to Tim who replied quickly with, "Well, Bethany's a depressing town, so it makes sense."

The weather held no sway over them however, and now that they were on the highway, they were both giddy with excitement. The road ducked and curved across the landscape, which was becoming increasingly sparse. Matt's mind turned to Bethany, the goal and final destination, despite the fact that they were returning home the next day. "Alright!" Matt exclaimed. "Finally. Back on the road. I was getting bored in Columbia."

"Why? Columbia is a cool town."

"Maybe when it's not raining and there's stuff going on."

"I thought you were gonna walk around campus."

"I did, but I can't walk around for four hours, especially not in the rain."

"I'm sorry it took so long," Tim said apologetically.

"No, I'm not complaining, I knew what I was getting into. " Matt paused and looked out the window. "How did the ****stuff go? What did you do?"

"Ehhh," Tim said. "Signed up for ****s. I guess I'm a philosophy major."

"Is that what you decided to go with?"

"Ehhh," Tim said again, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess. Whatever."

"You can always change it later."

"Yeah. I know. I'm not too worried about it. So," Tim began. "we were walking around the campus and there's this big tiger statue that you should probably ride as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I saw it while I was walking around and I stopped and seriously thought about riding it, but there were some people around and I really didn't want to get in trouble, so I didn't."

"Too bad," Tim said cynically. "Now you'll never be able to ride it ever."

"Yeah," Matt sighed. "I know." He stopped talking and then said angrily,"Damn. I knew I should have ridden it."

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The two became increasingly enregetic as they became closer and closer to Bethany. The gray sky pulled away to reveal a shining yellow sun, akin to the ones on the posters at the college, and the cool temperature went away, leaving a warm summer heat in it's midst. They had left the interstate some time ago and were now driving down a long, two lane highway. The roadside was flatter than ever. They occaisionaly passed small towns with populations that were so low, they both concluded that incest must be happening. The towns sent shivers down their spines. They were the things of your worst nightmares, where Deliverance was an everyday, and normal occurance. They would not have stopped in those towns for anything.

The road was what they loved, and with the newfound warmth it became even more enjoyable. At Tim's request Matt put Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? into the CD player and they both jammed as loud as they could. They arrived in Trenton confused. There was a parade going on, blocking their only way through the city. Tim called Kyle, and found that he was at work at the movie rental store there. They drove to the store hoping to find some refuge until the parade ended.

First post on this. Anything that appears here will also appear on my Facebook page, and I will post the stuff from there here.