some move away to make a way

AL and I have never exchanged a sweet word between us, no declarations of undying friendship or love. But yesterday, I got a message from him on my phone. He'd sent me a picture. Of himself. Mugging his goofiest expression into the camera while holding up a sign that said "Happy Birthday." Then today, he sent me a video of some dude who inadvertently set himself on fire while trying to blow out his birthday candles.

To me, he embodies the best of EBF. Which is funny because he didn't actually grow up with me. We met much later, but we were both from the boondocks, and more importantly, he reminded me of little pieces of people from my childhood. I suppose he represented all the things I had always hoped were true of those people from my childhood. Because EBF was such a cold place, such a hard place in so many ways. Compliments were not handed out with the abandon that they're given out here on the West Coast. But every once in a while, all those people I used to hang around with in high school would betray their soft underbelly- mostly it was in their actions.

I suppose I'm still partial to that. I'd rather a friend never said a flattering word towards me, but knew when I was upset and actually knew what to do with me when I'm the seething, silly mess that I can sometimes be.

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In other news, I don't know if it's the effect of being surrounded by 23-year olds, or of being mind-numbingly fixated on school, but it feels like my taste in things is going down the toilet. I'm listening to Live Your Life by TI without a hint of irony. One of my classmates gave me a copy of Twilight and I read the stupid piece of crap (although, in fairness, I was aware, even while reading it, that it was a stupid piece of crap). I wonder what is next- will I be convincing myself that I should watch Grey's Anatomy? If so, I'm calling AL, because I'm pretty sure his response will be, "Is that a television show?"