Royal Rainbow

Yesterday was a friend of mine's birthday. I call him an old friend, because we first met some 7 years ago. I remember the moment exactly- we were in class together, and we were writing our first Visual Basic program. The program was a fairly simple one- as first programs in any language you learn typically are- it was a program that took the names and ages of two people, and told you who was older than who, and by how much.

Because we were sitting next to each other, and because we didn't know anyone else in the class, we exchanged information. I was 26, G was 18. That freaked me out. He certainly didn't look like he was 18. He certainly didn't act like it, either. We became friends and worked well together in several classes, including several large projects. We kept in touch after school, I went to his wedding a couple years ago, and we had a barbeque at his house just before my most recent knee surgery, we're always in fantasy sports leagues, too, but we don't get to hang out much.

Last night, when I walked into Piece at about 8, in jeans and a sweatshirt with a backpack full of cycling jerseys over my shoulder (I had told them that I would be late as I was running around getting my team sized for their jerseys) and felt immediately out of place. Imagine if you will a Shakey's redone with today's modern yuppie asshole in mind. That's what I walked into, save for the fact that the pizza was far worse.

Fortunately, I found my friends right away, and already knew where I was going to sit: his family was to one side, all us school friends on the other. We shared a pleasant evening, I kept watching the Frozen Four and laughing and drinking with friends, catching up and eating sub-par pizza. I quickly lost track of time.

I still had one more person to get sized for their jersey, so I made some phone calls and walked to her house, played with the dog and kept a close eye on the time. It was late, late for me on that kind of day, and I needed to get home. She was gracious enough to give me a ride home, and I walked in, exhausted, and wondering what else I had to get done before I went to bed. I decided to give up and just go to bed, which was probably for the best. I had to wake up early and get those jerseys packed up and ready to ship back, and I had to get myself to work by 6, yet again.

I was having a very pleasant dream, nothing too out of the ordinary. I was walking around a Katamari Damacy world with a bunch of Stormtroopers from episodes IV-VI, but they were the good kind, you know, before Order 66 was issued. It was cool, just a bunch of folks hanging out. I realized that I wasn't supposed to be asleep anymore, that I had earlier hit the snooze bar a few too many times. Realizing I was in danger of oversleeping, I turned to the closest Stormtrooper and said "Royal Rainbow, Commander."

"Right away, sir!"

Sure enough, I woke up, and it was good that I did. I had just enough time to shower and hop a cab to get here on time.