I'm not even gonna try . . .
. . . Because there’s so much happening in this update, that even if I pack every word with meaning no one knew was possible for one word to have, it’ll still run super-long. So Momma in her kerchief and you in your . . . uh . . . head had better settle down for a long summer’s read.
Before we get into the main events of this post, there was an event between my last actual update and the Torrey Banquet. That Monday, which happened to be Memorial Day, Mom graciously gave me a day off from school. I was, therefore, just hanging around wasting time as I always do when I don’t have school.
And what should cut into my wasting of time but a phone call. The Megaman theme played loudly, and I pulled my phone off of my belt and looked to see who was calling me. The number was one I didn’t recognize (I should have, but my phone was being stupid and didn’t list a name with it, so I didn’t). I debated for a moment whether I should pick it up or not. In the end, I decided that the number did look familiar, although I wasn’t sure what it was, so I answered the phone. “Hello?” I said. The response was quite sudden and made me jump: “MARK HARBISON!! “ Let me tell you . . . if Megan ever dials a wrong number, someone is in for a terrible shock.
Anyway, she invited me to join her and Hanni, Carly, and Caroline that afternoon to play a game. She told me that Carly was inviting David, so I wouldn’t be “alone in my guy-ness.” I accepted the invitation. Moments later, Megan called me again to tell me that David wasn’t going to be coming, so I would be alone in my guy-ness after all. I sighed, but went anyway.
The game turned out to be a game that didn’t have a name. Someone (I think it was Megan, but I can’t remember) dubbed it “Repeat” in a great burst of creativity. The easiest way to describe it is that it’s basically several people acting out the premise of the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. We just repeat the same thing over and over and over again. There really isn’t any point to it, but it’s fun to see people’s faces when they see you having the exact same conversation you had five minutes ago. Or, in Caroline’s case, to get weird looks because you’re acting like a total madman.
So we did it twice, for about 45 minutes to an hour each time. Once at GFE, once at Starbucks. So really, it didn’t cut into my wasting time at all, it just put it in a different location and had other people doing it with me. But it was lots of fun.
The next significant event was on Tuesday. Mom and I left the house, Mom proclaiming to Uncle Ted (who was in town, if you’ll recall from the last update) that we weren’t coming back until I owned a suit.
Our first stop was Men’s Warehouse in San Bernardino. We went in and walked over to the coats. We were then approached by a man with a tape measure around his neck who offered to help us. Fifteen minutes later, I had a suit. It was truly amazing. Three hours the Thursday before, fifteen minutes on Tuesday. We were very happy, though. Keep reading and you just might see more about that suit . . . (That’s called foreshadowing, kids!)
On Wednesday I hung out with David and Sarah for a while at Yogurt Paradise, just talking and eating (and talking to AJ briefly when he called). Really nothing to tell there . . .
Friday was the big day. Packing, then going up to Fullerton. We dropped Jersey off at Coventry Pet Resort (that’s right, it’s not a kennel, it’s a pet resort), then went up to Fullerton. We went to the Train Station and dropped my stuff, then went out to lunch at Chipotlé. We then headed over to Rosepointe Apartments, where Mom co-signed for AJ’s new apartment while I read the sports section of the newspaper in the lobby. It turns out that one of Cal State Fullerton’s baseball players (CSUF has an awesome baseball team) had gotten hit in the face with a 87 MPH pitch a while ago, and that since he had come back from that, he’d been awesome. His name was Justin Turner, and his nickname was Red. Keep reading and you just might see more about that guy . . .
After that we went back to the Train Station and hung out for a while with AJ and Stephen. We read a couple of AJ’s essays (on things that AJ and I had discussed earlier in our lives), then sat there and talked for a while. Andrew showed up somewhere in there, I think . . . anyway, as we were preparing to get dressed and leave for the Banquet, Stephen told AJ that he thought he’d discovered a way to get his NES working again (it had apparently stopped working at some point). As I walked out the door, it was strewn all over their table.
But I didn’t just walk out the door in any old clothes. No, I walked out of that door on the way to the Torrey Academy End-of-year Banquet! I had to be properly attired. I, therefore, looked like this:
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http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/darthharbison/MeinSuit.jpg
The Banquet was a lot of fun . . . a lot more fun than I had expected it to be. It’s kind of weird to know people exclusively by their voices, then to actually see them and hang out with them for a while. They’re cool people, though . . . I could show you pictures of them, too, but that would take up quite a bit of space, so if you want me to you can petition me and I’ll post them on Sunday. If not, don’t bother and I won’t.
Anyway, I didn’t win any of the awards (not surprisingly), nor did anyone else from my class. Two of the three winning essays came from people studying under Mr. A, though, which was cool. There were a bunch of speeches from different people . . . three of them were reflections on Torrey Academy and what it’s meant to them and all that stuff. One of them made me very happy.
“Two books in my first year had a major impact in my Christian walk,” he said. “Ironically, one of them was Descent Into Hell. […] Of course, disagreeing with Charles Williams is a mortal sin.”
They also had an award called the Aston Moffat Award for Excellent Scholarship, which was cool, especially because Mrs. Hartenburg said that “We were going to have a Wentworth award, too, but . . .”
So yes. Lots of fun Descent jokes. Yay. I also got a certificate saying that I completed the first year of Torrey Academy and got to stand up on the stage and be applauded. Then I got pictures with and of lots of cool folks, and then went back to the Train Station.
I expected to see the NES still strewn about the table, perhaps with Stephen leaning over it, perhaps with Stephen having given up and doing something else entirely. But for the first of many times, I realized that I don’t know Stephen all that well. I entered the room to see Stephen and AJ playing Double Dragon, a game that AJ and I used to play with Uncle Tom all the time when we were little, and a game that is played on none other than the NES.
Eventually, Mom and Dad left, and Shiloh came. I think he went to bed or something, because I don’t remember him being present for the rest of the night, but I know he was there when Mom and Dad left. After AJ and Stephen beat Double Dragon (keep in mind this is NES, so the games are only an hour or two long), AJ started playing a game called Blaster Master, and Stephen worked on hooking me up with a way to play NES games on my computer. This is the kind of thing that never works for me, no matter how hard I try to get it to, so I wasn’t too surprised when Stephen failed to get it working.
But once again, I discovered that I don’t know Stephen all that well. When my computer failed, he headed in to AJ’s room and got it on AJ’s computer. He then whipped out his thumb drive and transferred it onto mine. For the second time that night, I realized that Stephen is a fair deal more knowledgeable about these things than most people I know.
Anyway, I think Rae showed up shortly afterwards . . . but maybe that was later . . . I don’t remember. But she showed up at some point. Jessica also came home from work at some point and came in.
AJ and Stephen then decided that it was high time I started watching Star Trek. Rae wanted to see the pilot episode of TNG, so that’s what we did. It was . . . interesting. Quite amusing, too, and often unintentionally. AJ and Stephen both told me that it got better as it went on, and decided that I had to watch an episode from Season 3 before bed. It was indeed much better . . . AND there was swordfighting in it, which means that I got to see John (although I didn’t think of it at the time . . . I was too busy noticing how wonderfully the fight was choreographed). When that ended, we all went to bed.
On Saturday, after getting up, I just hung around for a while, then Rae made us all Dutch pancakes. You know all that stuff I was saying (or at least implying) about Stephen, and how great he is with technology? Yeah . . . switch the name to Rae and switch “technology” to “cooking,” and that will save me the trouble of having to do it myself. As we ate, she put Memoirs of a Geisha on, and we watched it. It was okay . . . I didn’t think it was anything special, really . . . and it had a happy ending, which is strange for a Japanese movie (although it was apparently written by an American guy, so . . .).
After that, I went grocery shopping with AJ and Stephen, which was actually fairly enjoyable. It’s always fun to see two people of somewhat respectable ages turn into a frozen foods aisle and run towards the burritos like a child running for the bus at the end of a school day. And then after that, running for the toquitos (sp?) with the same speed and enthusiasm.
We got back to the Train Station and unloaded everything, then hung around for a while (there was a lot of this during the week). Shiloh and I then accompanied AJ to Embassy Suites, where he played the piano as background music for the guests (and Shiloh and I, who just took advantage of the free food).
When we got back, we ate dinner while AJ played Duck Hunt. His intent was to beat the previous community high score, set by Shiloh. In the end, he beat it by about 80,000 points. Then we watched a Star Trek movie, Star Trek Generations, which was a lot more enjoyable than Memoirs. Slightly different genre, but hey . . . anyway, it was cool. There was a flat-out fist fight at the end involving Captain Picard, and it was fairly obvious that it was John and not Patrick Stewart for a lot of it, which made me happy.
On Sunday, AJ and I went to AJ’s church. The pastor was in Oregon, so they had another guy speaking. He was only okay . . . I didn’t like him that much. AJ and I got home from church before everyone else. Rae was having a pool party that afternoon, but since no one was back yet, we just changed and decided to play Double Dragon until the time had come.
We conquered. Then we ate. Then we hung around with everyone. Then everyone went away, and I went swimming while AJ played his guitar out by the pool. I discovered he knows a lot fewer U2 songs than I expected he would. After we came back from that, AJ showed me an episode of a TV show called The Office (he had it on his computer). He then showed me a scene from Moulin Rouge which contained a song we’d been talking about earlier and that he’d downloaded.
Then he wanted to download another song, and enlisted my “help” in choosing which version of it to get. Eventually he freed me from this torture and I ate dinner.
Jessica and Rae came down and decided we should watch Unbreakable, which we did. For any of you who might not know, it’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. For any of you who might not have seen it, do so at the first possible opportunity.
It made a serious bid for the best movie I’ve ever seen. You can read all about it on AJ’s blog, but I’ll give a quick summary of my reaction to it here. The story was great. The acting was fabulous. The cinematography was simply amazing. And Shyamalan paid so much attention to detail that everything fit together so perfectly that it was almost scary.
And of course, best of all, Samuel L. Jackson had hair. Not just any hair, either. Funky, dead-animal hair. And one of the coolest canes I’ve ever seen.
So yes . . . if you haven’t seen it, see it. Now. If it doesn’t seem like the kind of movie you’d like, see it anyway. If you absolutely despise both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, get mental help then see it.
Monday was a pretty uneventful day. The first thing that happened was my accompanying AJ to Embassy Suites. I listened to AJ playing, and ate the free food, and other such things for most of the time, then about half an hour before it ended Jessica showed up and sat with me. She drew pictures of me, and wasn’t happy with the way they turned out . . . which just enforced my realization that I can’t draw to save my life.
Mary, the person AJ kind of works for at Embassy Suites, had discovered that I was AJ’s brother when I went there before. So when Jessica sat down next to me, Mary passed by and said, “Are you the sister?” To which Jessica promptly replied, “Yup.” And so it was decided that Jessica is my older sister.
When we came back, the girls’ mentor, Doreen, was visiting, so I went up with AJ and Jessica to meet her and hang out for a while . . . both of which I did. She was cool. After that, we came downstairs and watched Conan, and activity which became something of a ritual while I was there (in that we did it every night).
I learned a life lesson on Tuesday: watching an android and a borg queen make out is NOT pleasant. We watched another Star Trek movie (obviously), which was also good . . . I actually liked the first one better, although this one was a better movie. And that makes no sense at all. But the first one was more enjoyable to watch.
On Wednesday, I had rehearsal, so AJ drove us back to Redlands. We listened to Billy Joel on the way (and on the way back), and I discovered him anew. Quite an amazing guy . . . not U2, but still amazing.
Rehearsal was quite fine . . . a choreography review. After it was over we went back to Fullerton and hung out with Jessica upstairs for a while. We watched a number of short little thingys on her computer . . . first we were watching Macintosh ads, which drove Stephen absolutely nuts. Then we watched various funny things . . . we watched an SNL skit, which was hilarious (it was a rap song about the Narnia movie), we watched Take 5 commercials, which are always hilarious, and we watched the Talking Photo Booth, which was also hilarious.
Thursday was a fairly uneventful day, but an eventful evening. Went to Embassy Suites with AJ again, then came home and saw Stephen and Andrew playing Star Wars Battlefront II. Naturally, I was intrigued, and stopped to watch them. *whiny voice* I want Battlefront II . . . *sniff* Stupid Lucasarts . . . not making it for Gamecube . . .
Anyway, it was Shiloh’s last night at the Train Station, so he was given a send-off. We went to Golden Spoon and got some great frozen yogurt, then walked around aimlessly for a while. I did a little movie thing on my video camera with everyone except Andrew, who thought it was dumb and walked away. Eventually we decided we needed to do something, so we decided to play Rock-Paper-Scissors Infinity, which is a variant of Rock-Paper-Scissors which is a lot funnier, a lot more creative, a lot more fun, and a lot more logically slanted all at once. Rae videotaped it, so next time you’re around me and I happen to have a fully charged video camera on me with that tape in it, I can show you how it goes.
Friday was the beginning of the end of the Train Station. AJ, Stephen, and Andrew spent most of the day packing, and I’m not entirely sure what Doug was doing. Rae played me an awesome song that was a collection of John Williams themes with Star Wars lyrics . . . it rocked greatly. The rest of the day is kind of a blur until 5:30.
At 5:30, I was standing in the main room of the Train Station Underground (aka the guys’ apartment), wondering what to do. Just as the thought, “What should I do?” crossed my mind, Stephen walked by. He stopped as he passed me, turned towards me, and said, “Hey, I should force you to play Psychonauts.” So I played Psychonauts for a little while . . . you know, the next five hours or so . . . fun game, that. Although at one point you’re basically in a 70’s club and you stay there for AGES and it’s terrible. But you get a handy power for the torture, so it’s okay.
While I was playing, Doug randomly sat down next to me and started a serious discussion about change. I’ll talk more about that later, but wanted to mention it now so that it doesn’t seem out of place later.
Anyway, Rae offered to cook AJ, Stephen, and me dinner, which of course we all agreed to. I’m not sure how to spell what she cooked (even though it’s French . . .), but, like all of Rae’s cooking, it was awesome. We watched Roxanne while we ate, which wasn’t that good . . . it’s a Steve Martin romantic comedy, but it wasn’t all that funny. If you ever have the choice to watch either Roxanne or Unbreakable, don’t hesitate for an instant, choose Unbreakable.
Saturday was a very, very busy day. It was draining both physically and emotionally. I’ll get to the emotional stuff later, at the same time I get to Doug’s conversation, but we’ll do the physical stuff now.
Quote of the day for Saturday: “It’s beautiful.” This, of course, is not funny at all, as most QotDs are, but it was said so often that it simply has to be. This was in reference to AJ’s packing up of his car.
AJ moved on Saturday, with my help. I helped him disassemble his bed, then borrow a truck, then load up that very truck with all the big furniture. After we had put everything in it, we came to a horrible realization: some of the stuff was too long, and we couldn’t close the back!! We also only had one half-decently sized bungee cord, which didn’t provide much security for keeping stuff from falling out.
We were perplexed, wondering what to do. Jokingly, I said, “Well, I could ride in the back and make sure nothing falls out.” AJ’s response: “I like the way you think.” My next thought: “Oh, crap.”
So I rode all the way across Fullerton in the back of a truck. The other people on the road weren’t too happy, because we were driving 35 or slower the whole way. Let me tell you people, 35 might seem slow if you’re riding in the car, but when you’re stranded in the back of a truck it’s awfully fast. But once I got past the gripping terror and the prospect of a gruesome death, it was kind of fun.
We spent the rest of the afternoon moving most of the rest of AJ’s stuff. That night we went to a baseball game with Jessica, Rae, Andrew, Tim, and Jessica’s father and stepmother. This baseball game was the Cal State Fullerton Titans vs. the Missouri Tigers. The winner of this game went to the College World Series. The loser went home.
Final score: 9-1. Titans. We all had a blast, even AJ. I was sitting with Rae, AJ, and Tim, and that always leads to interesting conversations. You’ll see some excerpts from them later.
After the game we went back to the Train Station and loaded up the rest of AJ’s stuff into his car. We then said farewell to everyone who was around (which was Stephen, Rae, and Jessica). Then we departed to AJ’s new apartment and went to bed.
We went to church the next morning, then assembled AJ’s bed in the afternoon. We met Mom at Coco’s at six or so, and she took me home from there, ending a thoroughly enjoyable week.
So now I’m going to get more serious than I usually dare to get here. It was really interesting staying there the last week . . . seeing the way everyone reacted to the end of the Train Station. Particularly seeing Jessica’s face when she was saying goodbye to AJ. And having Doug randomly decide to tell me about how hard change is, and how it can seem really terrible when it’s happening. And even seeing how much guys really do try to cover being sorrowful about something. I doubt it was even a conscious thing, but I noticed that all four of the guys were trying to act all happy and normal the last few days, but were obviously very upset about it. Specifically (and I apologize, AJ) AJ, because I know him better than any of the other people there, and I can read him fairly well, I think. He was just as happy and cheerful as ever, but deep down it was clearly very hard for him.
So yeah . . . I don’t really know what else to say, or even really why I said that. I just felt that I should. And to all of you Train Station-eers who read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hospitality and allowing me to be present during this time. You’re all awesome people, and I sincerely hope that AJ and I both continue to communicate with you.
*Whew* Okay. Now, obviously, I can’t end on that sort of note. Therefore, may I present: THE QUOTE FILE!!
The whole time I was at the Train Station, I took note of the interesting and humorous quotes that were made. I saved them all, and present them now to you. Some of them require no context, and to those that do I shall do my best to provide it. But in any case, here they are:
(while watching Star Trek) “Awww, they’re holding . . . pseudopods.” — Stephen
(“To boldly go where no man has gone before” . . .) “Ahh! A split infinitive! NOO!!” — Stephen
“I’ve never seen a pear that wasn’t somewhat questionable.” — Stephen
“So the primary thing that made up for Captain Kirk being in this movie was that he died.” — Stephen
“Some people call us a race of listeners. We . . . listen.” — Dr. Soran from Star Trek
“Oh no, universe, where did you go? This could be awkward . . .” — Stephen
“McDonald’s does soda like M. Night Shyamalan does movies.” — AJ
“Beethoven! No, wait . . . Hannah!” — Doreen
“Gravity? Or the best candy bar EVER?” — Take 5 Commercial
(On evolutionists saying that fossils show body parts improving) “I mean, you see the same thing with cars.” — Stephen
(On the guy who crawled into a cage and got mauled by lions after claiming God would protect him) “Afterwards, God said ‘Sorry, but the lion had been praying for days that an idiot would crawl into his cage.’” — Conan
(Describing the Terminator plot) “Judgment day. It happened in 1999, if you’ll remember.” — Stephen
“Two Morons? Or the best candy bar EVER?” — Take 5 Commercial
“Please throw your daughter in the air to activate camera.” — Talking Photo Booth
“I’m sure we can prove logically that mosquitoes don’t exist.” — Lucas
“Whichever ad agency is responsible for that needs to be firebombed. Now.” — Stephen
(While trying to think of something to do) “Let’s mug someone!” — Stephen
“Change is hard. Stay doing what you’re doing now for the rest of your life.” — Doug
(On Tori, a stuffed elephant) “It doesn’t have a sex! I didn’t give it a sex!” — Rae
“Theological smackdown!!!” — AJ
(Describing Mike) “This is the guy who created awkwardness.” — AJ
(After my saying “Do feel that you’re closer to everyone?”) “Do you feel that having my feet near your face will be a problem?” — AJ
(On people who are into College Baseball)“Why do you care? STOP CARING NOW!!!” — AJ
Comments:
Rae: Yeah, Hugh Jackman has already signed a contract for a Wolverine spin-off. And imagining you as Dark Phoenix . . . *shudder*
AJ: Yeah . . . well, as you can tell by this post, shortness isn’t a big deal at the moment. Have you seen the movie yet?
David: Argh!! I knew I missed something . . . the Snakes on a Plane preview was that something.
Stephen and David: Alright! Alright! So maybe it was useful! So complain to Mr. Burton, not me! I’m not doing any math that I don’t have to!!
This post brought to you by Wonderful Greece!!
(Final Count: LONGEST POST EVER! Pages: 9 Words: 4517)
Before we get into the main events of this post, there was an event between my last actual update and the Torrey Banquet. That Monday, which happened to be Memorial Day, Mom graciously gave me a day off from school. I was, therefore, just hanging around wasting time as I always do when I don’t have school.
And what should cut into my wasting of time but a phone call. The Megaman theme played loudly, and I pulled my phone off of my belt and looked to see who was calling me. The number was one I didn’t recognize (I should have, but my phone was being stupid and didn’t list a name with it, so I didn’t). I debated for a moment whether I should pick it up or not. In the end, I decided that the number did look familiar, although I wasn’t sure what it was, so I answered the phone. “Hello?” I said. The response was quite sudden and made me jump: “MARK HARBISON!! “ Let me tell you . . . if Megan ever dials a wrong number, someone is in for a terrible shock.
Anyway, she invited me to join her and Hanni, Carly, and Caroline that afternoon to play a game. She told me that Carly was inviting David, so I wouldn’t be “alone in my guy-ness.” I accepted the invitation. Moments later, Megan called me again to tell me that David wasn’t going to be coming, so I would be alone in my guy-ness after all. I sighed, but went anyway.
The game turned out to be a game that didn’t have a name. Someone (I think it was Megan, but I can’t remember) dubbed it “Repeat” in a great burst of creativity. The easiest way to describe it is that it’s basically several people acting out the premise of the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day. We just repeat the same thing over and over and over again. There really isn’t any point to it, but it’s fun to see people’s faces when they see you having the exact same conversation you had five minutes ago. Or, in Caroline’s case, to get weird looks because you’re acting like a total madman.
So we did it twice, for about 45 minutes to an hour each time. Once at GFE, once at Starbucks. So really, it didn’t cut into my wasting time at all, it just put it in a different location and had other people doing it with me. But it was lots of fun.
The next significant event was on Tuesday. Mom and I left the house, Mom proclaiming to Uncle Ted (who was in town, if you’ll recall from the last update) that we weren’t coming back until I owned a suit.
Our first stop was Men’s Warehouse in San Bernardino. We went in and walked over to the coats. We were then approached by a man with a tape measure around his neck who offered to help us. Fifteen minutes later, I had a suit. It was truly amazing. Three hours the Thursday before, fifteen minutes on Tuesday. We were very happy, though. Keep reading and you just might see more about that suit . . . (That’s called foreshadowing, kids!)
On Wednesday I hung out with David and Sarah for a while at Yogurt Paradise, just talking and eating (and talking to AJ briefly when he called). Really nothing to tell there . . .
Friday was the big day. Packing, then going up to Fullerton. We dropped Jersey off at Coventry Pet Resort (that’s right, it’s not a kennel, it’s a pet resort), then went up to Fullerton. We went to the Train Station and dropped my stuff, then went out to lunch at Chipotlé. We then headed over to Rosepointe Apartments, where Mom co-signed for AJ’s new apartment while I read the sports section of the newspaper in the lobby. It turns out that one of Cal State Fullerton’s baseball players (CSUF has an awesome baseball team) had gotten hit in the face with a 87 MPH pitch a while ago, and that since he had come back from that, he’d been awesome. His name was Justin Turner, and his nickname was Red. Keep reading and you just might see more about that guy . . .
After that we went back to the Train Station and hung out for a while with AJ and Stephen. We read a couple of AJ’s essays (on things that AJ and I had discussed earlier in our lives), then sat there and talked for a while. Andrew showed up somewhere in there, I think . . . anyway, as we were preparing to get dressed and leave for the Banquet, Stephen told AJ that he thought he’d discovered a way to get his NES working again (it had apparently stopped working at some point). As I walked out the door, it was strewn all over their table.
But I didn’t just walk out the door in any old clothes. No, I walked out of that door on the way to the Torrey Academy End-of-year Banquet! I had to be properly attired. I, therefore, looked like this:
The Banquet was a lot of fun . . . a lot more fun than I had expected it to be. It’s kind of weird to know people exclusively by their voices, then to actually see them and hang out with them for a while. They’re cool people, though . . . I could show you pictures of them, too, but that would take up quite a bit of space, so if you want me to you can petition me and I’ll post them on Sunday. If not, don’t bother and I won’t.
Anyway, I didn’t win any of the awards (not surprisingly), nor did anyone else from my class. Two of the three winning essays came from people studying under Mr. A, though, which was cool. There were a bunch of speeches from different people . . . three of them were reflections on Torrey Academy and what it’s meant to them and all that stuff. One of them made me very happy.
“Two books in my first year had a major impact in my Christian walk,” he said. “Ironically, one of them was Descent Into Hell. […] Of course, disagreeing with Charles Williams is a mortal sin.”
They also had an award called the Aston Moffat Award for Excellent Scholarship, which was cool, especially because Mrs. Hartenburg said that “We were going to have a Wentworth award, too, but . . .”
So yes. Lots of fun Descent jokes. Yay. I also got a certificate saying that I completed the first year of Torrey Academy and got to stand up on the stage and be applauded. Then I got pictures with and of lots of cool folks, and then went back to the Train Station.
I expected to see the NES still strewn about the table, perhaps with Stephen leaning over it, perhaps with Stephen having given up and doing something else entirely. But for the first of many times, I realized that I don’t know Stephen all that well. I entered the room to see Stephen and AJ playing Double Dragon, a game that AJ and I used to play with Uncle Tom all the time when we were little, and a game that is played on none other than the NES.
Eventually, Mom and Dad left, and Shiloh came. I think he went to bed or something, because I don’t remember him being present for the rest of the night, but I know he was there when Mom and Dad left. After AJ and Stephen beat Double Dragon (keep in mind this is NES, so the games are only an hour or two long), AJ started playing a game called Blaster Master, and Stephen worked on hooking me up with a way to play NES games on my computer. This is the kind of thing that never works for me, no matter how hard I try to get it to, so I wasn’t too surprised when Stephen failed to get it working.
But once again, I discovered that I don’t know Stephen all that well. When my computer failed, he headed in to AJ’s room and got it on AJ’s computer. He then whipped out his thumb drive and transferred it onto mine. For the second time that night, I realized that Stephen is a fair deal more knowledgeable about these things than most people I know.
Anyway, I think Rae showed up shortly afterwards . . . but maybe that was later . . . I don’t remember. But she showed up at some point. Jessica also came home from work at some point and came in.
AJ and Stephen then decided that it was high time I started watching Star Trek. Rae wanted to see the pilot episode of TNG, so that’s what we did. It was . . . interesting. Quite amusing, too, and often unintentionally. AJ and Stephen both told me that it got better as it went on, and decided that I had to watch an episode from Season 3 before bed. It was indeed much better . . . AND there was swordfighting in it, which means that I got to see John (although I didn’t think of it at the time . . . I was too busy noticing how wonderfully the fight was choreographed). When that ended, we all went to bed.
On Saturday, after getting up, I just hung around for a while, then Rae made us all Dutch pancakes. You know all that stuff I was saying (or at least implying) about Stephen, and how great he is with technology? Yeah . . . switch the name to Rae and switch “technology” to “cooking,” and that will save me the trouble of having to do it myself. As we ate, she put Memoirs of a Geisha on, and we watched it. It was okay . . . I didn’t think it was anything special, really . . . and it had a happy ending, which is strange for a Japanese movie (although it was apparently written by an American guy, so . . .).
After that, I went grocery shopping with AJ and Stephen, which was actually fairly enjoyable. It’s always fun to see two people of somewhat respectable ages turn into a frozen foods aisle and run towards the burritos like a child running for the bus at the end of a school day. And then after that, running for the toquitos (sp?) with the same speed and enthusiasm.
We got back to the Train Station and unloaded everything, then hung around for a while (there was a lot of this during the week). Shiloh and I then accompanied AJ to Embassy Suites, where he played the piano as background music for the guests (and Shiloh and I, who just took advantage of the free food).
When we got back, we ate dinner while AJ played Duck Hunt. His intent was to beat the previous community high score, set by Shiloh. In the end, he beat it by about 80,000 points. Then we watched a Star Trek movie, Star Trek Generations, which was a lot more enjoyable than Memoirs. Slightly different genre, but hey . . . anyway, it was cool. There was a flat-out fist fight at the end involving Captain Picard, and it was fairly obvious that it was John and not Patrick Stewart for a lot of it, which made me happy.
On Sunday, AJ and I went to AJ’s church. The pastor was in Oregon, so they had another guy speaking. He was only okay . . . I didn’t like him that much. AJ and I got home from church before everyone else. Rae was having a pool party that afternoon, but since no one was back yet, we just changed and decided to play Double Dragon until the time had come.
We conquered. Then we ate. Then we hung around with everyone. Then everyone went away, and I went swimming while AJ played his guitar out by the pool. I discovered he knows a lot fewer U2 songs than I expected he would. After we came back from that, AJ showed me an episode of a TV show called The Office (he had it on his computer). He then showed me a scene from Moulin Rouge which contained a song we’d been talking about earlier and that he’d downloaded.
Then he wanted to download another song, and enlisted my “help” in choosing which version of it to get. Eventually he freed me from this torture and I ate dinner.
Jessica and Rae came down and decided we should watch Unbreakable, which we did. For any of you who might not know, it’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. For any of you who might not have seen it, do so at the first possible opportunity.
It made a serious bid for the best movie I’ve ever seen. You can read all about it on AJ’s blog, but I’ll give a quick summary of my reaction to it here. The story was great. The acting was fabulous. The cinematography was simply amazing. And Shyamalan paid so much attention to detail that everything fit together so perfectly that it was almost scary.
And of course, best of all, Samuel L. Jackson had hair. Not just any hair, either. Funky, dead-animal hair. And one of the coolest canes I’ve ever seen.
So yes . . . if you haven’t seen it, see it. Now. If it doesn’t seem like the kind of movie you’d like, see it anyway. If you absolutely despise both Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, get mental help then see it.
Monday was a pretty uneventful day. The first thing that happened was my accompanying AJ to Embassy Suites. I listened to AJ playing, and ate the free food, and other such things for most of the time, then about half an hour before it ended Jessica showed up and sat with me. She drew pictures of me, and wasn’t happy with the way they turned out . . . which just enforced my realization that I can’t draw to save my life.
Mary, the person AJ kind of works for at Embassy Suites, had discovered that I was AJ’s brother when I went there before. So when Jessica sat down next to me, Mary passed by and said, “Are you the sister?” To which Jessica promptly replied, “Yup.” And so it was decided that Jessica is my older sister.
When we came back, the girls’ mentor, Doreen, was visiting, so I went up with AJ and Jessica to meet her and hang out for a while . . . both of which I did. She was cool. After that, we came downstairs and watched Conan, and activity which became something of a ritual while I was there (in that we did it every night).
I learned a life lesson on Tuesday: watching an android and a borg queen make out is NOT pleasant. We watched another Star Trek movie (obviously), which was also good . . . I actually liked the first one better, although this one was a better movie. And that makes no sense at all. But the first one was more enjoyable to watch.
On Wednesday, I had rehearsal, so AJ drove us back to Redlands. We listened to Billy Joel on the way (and on the way back), and I discovered him anew. Quite an amazing guy . . . not U2, but still amazing.
Rehearsal was quite fine . . . a choreography review. After it was over we went back to Fullerton and hung out with Jessica upstairs for a while. We watched a number of short little thingys on her computer . . . first we were watching Macintosh ads, which drove Stephen absolutely nuts. Then we watched various funny things . . . we watched an SNL skit, which was hilarious (it was a rap song about the Narnia movie), we watched Take 5 commercials, which are always hilarious, and we watched the Talking Photo Booth, which was also hilarious.
Thursday was a fairly uneventful day, but an eventful evening. Went to Embassy Suites with AJ again, then came home and saw Stephen and Andrew playing Star Wars Battlefront II. Naturally, I was intrigued, and stopped to watch them. *whiny voice* I want Battlefront II . . . *sniff* Stupid Lucasarts . . . not making it for Gamecube . . .
Anyway, it was Shiloh’s last night at the Train Station, so he was given a send-off. We went to Golden Spoon and got some great frozen yogurt, then walked around aimlessly for a while. I did a little movie thing on my video camera with everyone except Andrew, who thought it was dumb and walked away. Eventually we decided we needed to do something, so we decided to play Rock-Paper-Scissors Infinity, which is a variant of Rock-Paper-Scissors which is a lot funnier, a lot more creative, a lot more fun, and a lot more logically slanted all at once. Rae videotaped it, so next time you’re around me and I happen to have a fully charged video camera on me with that tape in it, I can show you how it goes.
Friday was the beginning of the end of the Train Station. AJ, Stephen, and Andrew spent most of the day packing, and I’m not entirely sure what Doug was doing. Rae played me an awesome song that was a collection of John Williams themes with Star Wars lyrics . . . it rocked greatly. The rest of the day is kind of a blur until 5:30.
At 5:30, I was standing in the main room of the Train Station Underground (aka the guys’ apartment), wondering what to do. Just as the thought, “What should I do?” crossed my mind, Stephen walked by. He stopped as he passed me, turned towards me, and said, “Hey, I should force you to play Psychonauts.” So I played Psychonauts for a little while . . . you know, the next five hours or so . . . fun game, that. Although at one point you’re basically in a 70’s club and you stay there for AGES and it’s terrible. But you get a handy power for the torture, so it’s okay.
While I was playing, Doug randomly sat down next to me and started a serious discussion about change. I’ll talk more about that later, but wanted to mention it now so that it doesn’t seem out of place later.
Anyway, Rae offered to cook AJ, Stephen, and me dinner, which of course we all agreed to. I’m not sure how to spell what she cooked (even though it’s French . . .), but, like all of Rae’s cooking, it was awesome. We watched Roxanne while we ate, which wasn’t that good . . . it’s a Steve Martin romantic comedy, but it wasn’t all that funny. If you ever have the choice to watch either Roxanne or Unbreakable, don’t hesitate for an instant, choose Unbreakable.
Saturday was a very, very busy day. It was draining both physically and emotionally. I’ll get to the emotional stuff later, at the same time I get to Doug’s conversation, but we’ll do the physical stuff now.
Quote of the day for Saturday: “It’s beautiful.” This, of course, is not funny at all, as most QotDs are, but it was said so often that it simply has to be. This was in reference to AJ’s packing up of his car.
AJ moved on Saturday, with my help. I helped him disassemble his bed, then borrow a truck, then load up that very truck with all the big furniture. After we had put everything in it, we came to a horrible realization: some of the stuff was too long, and we couldn’t close the back!! We also only had one half-decently sized bungee cord, which didn’t provide much security for keeping stuff from falling out.
We were perplexed, wondering what to do. Jokingly, I said, “Well, I could ride in the back and make sure nothing falls out.” AJ’s response: “I like the way you think.” My next thought: “Oh, crap.”
So I rode all the way across Fullerton in the back of a truck. The other people on the road weren’t too happy, because we were driving 35 or slower the whole way. Let me tell you people, 35 might seem slow if you’re riding in the car, but when you’re stranded in the back of a truck it’s awfully fast. But once I got past the gripping terror and the prospect of a gruesome death, it was kind of fun.
We spent the rest of the afternoon moving most of the rest of AJ’s stuff. That night we went to a baseball game with Jessica, Rae, Andrew, Tim, and Jessica’s father and stepmother. This baseball game was the Cal State Fullerton Titans vs. the Missouri Tigers. The winner of this game went to the College World Series. The loser went home.
Final score: 9-1. Titans. We all had a blast, even AJ. I was sitting with Rae, AJ, and Tim, and that always leads to interesting conversations. You’ll see some excerpts from them later.
After the game we went back to the Train Station and loaded up the rest of AJ’s stuff into his car. We then said farewell to everyone who was around (which was Stephen, Rae, and Jessica). Then we departed to AJ’s new apartment and went to bed.
We went to church the next morning, then assembled AJ’s bed in the afternoon. We met Mom at Coco’s at six or so, and she took me home from there, ending a thoroughly enjoyable week.
So now I’m going to get more serious than I usually dare to get here. It was really interesting staying there the last week . . . seeing the way everyone reacted to the end of the Train Station. Particularly seeing Jessica’s face when she was saying goodbye to AJ. And having Doug randomly decide to tell me about how hard change is, and how it can seem really terrible when it’s happening. And even seeing how much guys really do try to cover being sorrowful about something. I doubt it was even a conscious thing, but I noticed that all four of the guys were trying to act all happy and normal the last few days, but were obviously very upset about it. Specifically (and I apologize, AJ) AJ, because I know him better than any of the other people there, and I can read him fairly well, I think. He was just as happy and cheerful as ever, but deep down it was clearly very hard for him.
So yeah . . . I don’t really know what else to say, or even really why I said that. I just felt that I should. And to all of you Train Station-eers who read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hospitality and allowing me to be present during this time. You’re all awesome people, and I sincerely hope that AJ and I both continue to communicate with you.
*Whew* Okay. Now, obviously, I can’t end on that sort of note. Therefore, may I present: THE QUOTE FILE!!
The whole time I was at the Train Station, I took note of the interesting and humorous quotes that were made. I saved them all, and present them now to you. Some of them require no context, and to those that do I shall do my best to provide it. But in any case, here they are:
(while watching Star Trek) “Awww, they’re holding . . . pseudopods.” — Stephen
(“To boldly go where no man has gone before” . . .) “Ahh! A split infinitive! NOO!!” — Stephen
“I’ve never seen a pear that wasn’t somewhat questionable.” — Stephen
“So the primary thing that made up for Captain Kirk being in this movie was that he died.” — Stephen
“Some people call us a race of listeners. We . . . listen.” — Dr. Soran from Star Trek
“Oh no, universe, where did you go? This could be awkward . . .” — Stephen
“McDonald’s does soda like M. Night Shyamalan does movies.” — AJ
“Beethoven! No, wait . . . Hannah!” — Doreen
“Gravity? Or the best candy bar EVER?” — Take 5 Commercial
(On evolutionists saying that fossils show body parts improving) “I mean, you see the same thing with cars.” — Stephen
(On the guy who crawled into a cage and got mauled by lions after claiming God would protect him) “Afterwards, God said ‘Sorry, but the lion had been praying for days that an idiot would crawl into his cage.’” — Conan
(Describing the Terminator plot) “Judgment day. It happened in 1999, if you’ll remember.” — Stephen
“Two Morons? Or the best candy bar EVER?” — Take 5 Commercial
“Please throw your daughter in the air to activate camera.” — Talking Photo Booth
“I’m sure we can prove logically that mosquitoes don’t exist.” — Lucas
“Whichever ad agency is responsible for that needs to be firebombed. Now.” — Stephen
(While trying to think of something to do) “Let’s mug someone!” — Stephen
“Change is hard. Stay doing what you’re doing now for the rest of your life.” — Doug
(On Tori, a stuffed elephant) “It doesn’t have a sex! I didn’t give it a sex!” — Rae
“Theological smackdown!!!” — AJ
(Describing Mike) “This is the guy who created awkwardness.” — AJ
(After my saying “Do feel that you’re closer to everyone?”) “Do you feel that having my feet near your face will be a problem?” — AJ
(On people who are into College Baseball)“Why do you care? STOP CARING NOW!!!” — AJ
Comments:
Rae: Yeah, Hugh Jackman has already signed a contract for a Wolverine spin-off. And imagining you as Dark Phoenix . . . *shudder*
AJ: Yeah . . . well, as you can tell by this post, shortness isn’t a big deal at the moment. Have you seen the movie yet?
David: Argh!! I knew I missed something . . . the Snakes on a Plane preview was that something.
Stephen and David: Alright! Alright! So maybe it was useful! So complain to Mr. Burton, not me! I’m not doing any math that I don’t have to!!
This post brought to you by Wonderful Greece!!
(Final Count: LONGEST POST EVER! Pages: 9 Words: 4517)
posted by Darth_Harbison at 11:16 PM
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