Omega19x

6:24am: Some days you're the Samouri, some days you're the target.
I don't think I've had a night this off my game in months. Every time someone rose their sword to fake, I met it, leaving myself wide open. Every time they lowered theirs, I fell for it, leaving myself wide open. And every single opponent took advantage of that, naturally. Hell, I would too.

Oh well, at least there's still a little arm on my bruises.

And that will make for some good conversation when I go up to see my best friend and her new baby tomorrow.

Ow... my elbow hurts.

Current Lips: gold and silver gradient blend

8:02pm: The greatest gift in life... is having her as a friend.
Ah... my bags are packed, the presents are wrapped and I burned an entire CD of awesome Road Trip songs. Tomorrow, I leave for Oklahoma, to go visit my best friend. Her second born son is having his baptism and baby shower (they have a habit of having the kids before they get a chance to have a shower...) and I wouldn't miss it for the world.

She is, and will always be, my best friend. We shared everything together, the good times and the bad times.

Top 10 Best Friend Memories:

10. You know someone's your best friend when they're still your best friend after you give them a black eye.
If that's the acid test of friendship, then ours passed with flying colors. We were in high school at the time, having a sleepover. I had a full sized bed, so we both slept on it. To this day, we don't know who started it, but somewhere in the middle of the night, someone kicked someone else. And that other person kicked back. Apparently, we traded blows for a while, kick after kick. There was just one catch... She was awake and getting annoyed. I was completely asleep. Finally, she gave me a good hard kick in the legs. I followed it with a backfist to the face. When I woke up the next morning, she was on the floor with a blanket and a black eye. She was mad at first, but when she realized that I was telling the truth, and that I had absolutely no idea what happened... we still get a good kick out of that one.

9. The phone is merely an extension of your ear.
We used to talk on the phone for hours every single night. The conversations ranged from fortune telling games, to sharing our adventures, to advice about guys, school, extracurricular activities we were both in. She got me through some rough times, and I got her through some tough relationships.
And sometimes, the phone would sit in the couch for hours, with or without her there. Yes, her younger brother used to have a habit of hiding it from her and not letting her know someone had called. He has since matured, of course. Last I heard, he was overseas in Germany, serving in the military.

8. The vacation to Lake Jackson
I think it was our sophomore year in high school. My family went down to visit my grandmother in Lake Jackson, and my best friend came with us. We spent the entire week having fun on the river, going to malls, going fishing, and just goofing off. We also bonded over our hatred of a particular mosquito that kept hiding in our room and biting us. We named him Jeordie/Geordi. (It sounds the same, but obviously one was named after Marilyn Manson's bassist, Twiggy, and the other after an engineer on Star Trek: the Next Generation.)

7. The Murder Mystery Party was just the beginning.
Her sisters planned a Murder Mystery Party for her when we were back in high school. They drew everybody's parts out of a bag, and I ended up being the drunk. Needless to say, this is when I learned that I have no acting skills, unless I'm trying to be drunk or be dead. And it served as the blueprint when I planned a murder mystery party for one of my own students this year!
And this was just one of the many parties we shared together. There was broomball on ice, medieval times, Paint n Party, NASCAR simulators at the Galleria. We were always coming up with something. Even now, when she comes through town, we always do lunch, or dinner, or dessert, or whatever we can think of.

6. You stuck up, half-wit, scruffy-looking nerfherder!
My best friend also takes the credit for getting me interested in Star Wars. And it was a love we shared for years to come - watching movies, playing Star Wars monopoly, the Star Wars customizable card game... But my favorite time was Halloween.
On multiple Halloweens, we'd get together and go to parties dressed up as Jedi. She was always Princess Leia. Her hair was long enough to pull off the donuts on the side of her head. I usually dressed as a dark Jedi, a Dark Lady of Sith, if you will. The costume happened to double as Mary Magdalene if you happen to be going to a religious party BEFORE the Star Wars trick-or-treating session.

5. Vroom Vroom, checkered flag!
Something else she introduced me to was NASCAR. We used to sit on the phone together and watch races every Sunday, cheering for Jeff Gordon. While I can't watch every race anymore, it's still one of my favorite sports!
And her second born... can you believe this? Born on the exact same day as Jeff Gordon! It's fate, I tell you. Fate.

4. The birth of her first baby
Hilariously, it happened just a few days before the scheduled baby shower. So when I got up to Oklahoma, I got to hold a baby that was just days old! Can't say I've ever had that experience before. And it'll probably be a very very long time before I have it again.
But it was such an enjoyable weekend. I remember walking around her new neighborhood, watching movies late into the night, and getting mistaken at a fast food restaurant as the mother of the days-old infant. My best friend was a little taken aback by that... 'Does she LOOK like she JUST HAD A CHILD?!' We laughed about that for a while.

3. My Best Friend's Wedding
It was such a lovelly ceremony. The entire weekend was just filled with so many memories - her vows, her co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party in which I spent a considerable amount of time on the couch because I'd gotten sick from the kiwi-passion fruit liquor she bought, the reception with the Almighty Cheetos Cards. I was honored to be her maid of honor. And I hope that someday, when it's my turn to walk down the aisle, that she will serve as my matron of honor.

2. How we met.
We met at All Region choir in 7th grade, when she came up to me asking for directions. Granted, I have the directional sense of a root vegetable, but that didn't hamper us starting up a conversation. We bonded over a shared pizza lunch, our favorite episodes of Power Rangers and our mutual crush on Jason David Frank. I think that's the last time we ever had the same taste in men. How were we to know then, that our friendship would develop into a lifelong bond...

1. The memories we're going to make in the future.
Because, face it. There's gonna be some great ones!

Current Lips: gold and silver gradient blend