Fun is fun, right? I mean fun is... it's anything you want it to be, right? There's nothing wrong with fun if you're not hurting anyone, and you can't hurt dead peop-
Whoops, getting ahead of myself. Anyways, it's a good thing I don't believe in hell, or I sure as hell would be going there.
I woke, to my own antipathy, a little past noon to EJ's phone call; the one he told me I'd be getting at 9 AM. I was flipping out for not waking up on time, but as it turns out, no one else did either. So I rushed to get ready, and EJ was going to come get me, Christian, and Dreidel.
Once I was ready, it turned out my mom was on her way to my cousin's house, which meant that I couldnt pretend my cousin was taking me and go with EJ. So, thinking EJ was rapidly on his way, I called my cousin Dennis to take me to Forest Lawn, where we were going to visit our friend, Paul Michael Alindog.
Well, as always, I gave my friends too much credit. As I sat in the dreary heat of Forest Lawn's, uh, lawn, EJ idled at Christian's house, having yet to pick up Dreidel and meet me at the mortuary. We were going to go eat afterward, so I walked across the street to check the price of the Korean BBQ.
Turns out the BBQ closed from 3-4, and afterwards the dinner price would be $15 that I could not pay. So we decided to eat first. When the gang showed up some 45 minutes later [angry face], we went in to eat.
A tiny grill and four hungry people were not a good match. I of course built up a giant plate of chicken, the only meat I eat, and loaded it onto the grill while the others piled on their beef, beef, and beef. Of course they cooked about 3 rounds of beef before my batch of chicken finally started to finish up; but damn, it was worth it.
While waiting I grabbed some sushi, but Dreidel stacked up whole plates of authentic nihon food, complete with chopsticks and cute Asian squeals of embarrassment.
EJ and Christian got caught up at one point in a deep conversation about Yu-Gi-Oh, the freakin show. Dreidel and I stared intently at them and called them stupidass shitfucking faggot douchefucks until they noticed, which, actually, they didn't.
So yeah, we ate, EJ sprinkled orange juice over the food, and then we cooked the Jello. I'll tell you now, if you've never cooked Jello before, DO IT, it's amazing. It just disappears. Er… melts. Whatever it's cool!
What’s cooler than cooking Jello? Well that would have to go to EJ sucking it up right off his plate.
After we ate we headed over to Forest Lawn (across the street). Paul's grave was easy to spot; the headstone plague hadn't been put in yet, but an array of flowers, pinwheels, and his picture marked the spot. We sat down and talked for awhile, generally reminiscing. The flowers they brought were dying, tiny, and pitiful in comparison to the large, ornate ones surmounting his resting place, but I can only assume he wouldn’t really mind.
It was an incredibly peaceful place, Forest Lawn. I guess they really take that RIP stuff to heart (which is good). The tranquility of that place… well, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like it. It was like being underwater, in a sense. Well, maybe that’s how he feels…
Anyways, we sat there for awhile talking, and EJ wanted to go walk around the mausoleum for a bit. They got up and Christian gave Paul a hug, either to his chest or to his crotch, we weren’t sure.
I hung behind for a few minutes to talk to Paul myself. What I said was…
Hey Paul… I hope I’m not bothering you…
I wanted to tell you that… I’m sorry this world has to be this way. I’m sorry people like me live so… easily… and the good people like you carry our burden… because you… truly were a good person. I wish it wasn’t like this. I wish I could meet you on better terms. You know… you make me believe in heaven. Because if there weren’t, it’d be an injustice to you.
Anyways… I should go catch up with them now. I’ll come back. You’re alright, right? This is a nice, quiet place… but I know that can get lonely. We’ll come back, you know… I’ll see you next time Paul… Don’t go anywhere, yeah?
So I headed off to catch up with the others. We walked up the mausoleum steps and went into the left wing, because I said so, for no reason. It’s amazing what the tiniest hint of decisiveness can do for you when no one else has a bit.
The mausoleum was beautiful. It truly amazes me that the greatest buildings mankind can conjure are for… dead people. It’s about respect as Dreidel says, and I understand that, hell, I condone it, though maybe not advocate.
Anyways, the building was quiet and dim, with light music playing in the background. The floor was white carpet and marble, the walls made entirely of elegant marble as well. There was one man in sight but he left quickly and we were alone in the building.
The echo was enough to hear my own breathe played back to me three times over, and I tentatively whistled Epona’s Song to an incredibly beautiful effect. Zelda’s Lullaby had a similar allure.
We wandered the mausoleum, finding families and couples in the walls. It was oddly engaging, and no one really had any desire to rush out.
Once we explored the whole building we went outside and looked around more. At some point we hit a break in the beautiful courtyard, where the marble turned to… rock. And more rocks. Turns out Forest Lawn was still expanding, and we hit the edge of the construction. Well, being adventurous and all, we went in for a look.
It was like a secret backyard of rubble and dirt. There were supplies lying around, like poles and slabs of stone and marble. There was a half completed mausoleum wall in which we could see the holes being dug out inside for more bodies. I told EJ to get in it, but damn that little guy gets feisty.
We walked down the rocky path, and Dreidel freaked and grabbed my arm when a wild dog scurried through some rubble to the side of us. Eventually we hit a fork in the road, and there was a freakin coffin lying in the middle of all the rocks. We all flipped out and cautiously proceeded past it, where we ended up outside again by Paul’s grave.
Anyways, that was fun. Like crazy hella fun, I don’t know why, and we even agreed to go explore the other Forest Lawn mausoleums.
…okay, that’s just kind of creepy.
Maybe there’s something wrong with us. Staying away from dead people is the general, natural inclination, right? I mean I have some weird friends, but I always just thought they were crazy. My New Yorker friend and Maria; I think they called it “forensic science” or something like that.
I guess I should stop thinking about it.
After the mortuary, we headed off to Town Center.
We wanted some drinks from Juice It Up, but they were closed for “a freezer issue”, so we went to Ben and Jerry’s. My dolphin senses exploded on sight of the angel behind the counter. EJ and I clicked like crazy for the rest of the day.
Christian bought me a delicious strawberry lemonade smoothie, and EJ got a scoop of cookies and cream. Christian did ghetto spinning moves with my pen and completely dicked me out by pretending to throw it in the air >>”
My mouth was actually in pain from laughing.
We sat in the store for awhile after we ate until dolphin girl left, and we went outside and played with the uh… what do you call that thing? Not the fountain, but the pool-like thing with water flowing off the sides. EJ pulled some pebbles out from it and we skipped them across the water. I managed to make mine skip across the whole thing.
It was almost time to go home, so I fetched a dime out of the water-thing for Christian to take the bus home. He ingeniously tried to skip it across the water and failed, so I fetched him out a quarter. Looking in the water, it seemed there might be enough quarters to buy me a game of DDR, but having gotten my shirt wet enough already, I decided not to.
So EJ went off on his way, and I took Christian to the bus stop and Dreidel to her house. It was a fun day, probably more fun that it should’ve been, when I think about it. And Paul, I sure hope heaven can exist without hell, cos if it can’t, one of us is getting screwed.
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Words of the Post
Antipathy – a feeling of intense dislike
Surmount – to be on top of
Condone – to allow or accept
Advocate – to support or argue in favor of
Quote of the Day
Shadow
you guys better take me to some parties this year
EJ
of course xD
but obviously we can't drag you in there 100%
if anything
we'll take you 30% of the way and its all up to you from there
Shadow
yeah
or you could suck me in 70%
Current Song Addiction
Howie Day – Collide
All around awesome song. It’s romantic and it has a wonderful melody. The verses are okay to me, the chorus incredible. I sang it for Serena, but God knows I can’t sing, so, sorry for making your ears bleed :/
