( 1 ) I was talking to my friend about our favorite bands, and I had suggested Story of the Year as a band he should listen to. That got me singing some of my favorite songs by them, which reminded me of a time back in high school when I was visiting my cousin. The two of us were sitting in her spare bedroom, playing Flicky on the Sega Genesis. A boy at school had developed feelings for me, and he had gotten upset that I didn't see him the same way. While my cousin and I were playing our game, laughing and having fun, the boy called me. I let it go to voicemail, then checked the message he left me. He had said that he had the perfect song to describe how he felt about me, and proceeded to play the song on the recorded message. It was "Till the Day I Die" by Story of the Year.
( 2 ) The previous memory actually reminded me of this one. In a very "high school drama" fashion, as networking between teenagers typically goes, I became close friends with my ex-boyfriend's sister, who asked me to talk to her ex-boyfriend for her, who in turn then wanted to introduce me to his cousin. I was shown a picture of him, and he seemed kind of cute. I agreed to talk to him, and we got to chatting online. He seemed to be a nice guy, until after two hours of talking he told me that he loved me and was so glad to have met me. Instantly knowing he was definitely not the kind of guy I wanted to go out with, I politely turned him down and asked to just be friends. He then proceeded to call me at least four times a day every day, and each time it went to voicemail he left a recorded message saying he loved me, he missed me, and he continuously played Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together". I still hate that song.
...am I the only one who sees a pattern there? Anyways, moving on.
( 3 ) I was playing my favorite online game, World of Warcraft, and I was running through a low level raid (a challenging series of boss fights with special attacks and spells that a large group of players must use tactics and coordination to defeat). One of the final bosses is a life-sized chess game, in which players must use their wits to defeat the other king. Well, in this chess game, the enemy "cheats". It got me thinking of the first real chess game I ever played. It was against my stepdad, who had just taught me how to play. I got up to get a glass of iced tea, and when I sat down, we finished the game -- I won. It wasn't until after winning, however, that I discovered my stepdad had cheated by removing my queen from the board entirely.
( 4 ) Driving down the gravel road with my friend, we pass a Christmas tree. A year ago, someone threw it on the side of the road after the Christmas season. No one ever picked it up, so last year my sister-in-law stood it up straight, decorated it, and put a few fake presents under it. It is still there now, and as we drove past it, I was suddenly back in Band class, in middle school. Our class took a field trip to the airport where we stood in front of the big Christmas tree that goes up each year, and we played Christmas music. We were encouraged to be as festive as possible, and we each wore a hat. Some of us decorated our instruments with garland or ornaments... I chose to go all out, and wrapped a short strand of Christmas lights around my clarinet, connected to a small battery pack that sat beside me. Everyone loved it, and it was nice to get into the spirit of things for once.
( 5 ) I really don't remember what made me think of this, but when I was in high school I was very self-conscious and often kept my eyes on the ground when I walked. Occasionally in large groups people would brush by me, and I would mutter an apology. Well, one day I was off in my own little world and walked into a wall. I backed up and apologized, only to then realize it was in fact a wall, and not a person. *embarrassed*
( 6 ) While cleaning the house one day, with my iPod on shuffle, a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers comes on. Suddenly I got much calmer, and felt as if I had slipped into a normal routine. It reminded me of when I had been in the Navy. Some of my roommates were on the same crew as I was, so we often carpooled. Our driver, fondly referred to as "Junkie", played RHCP every single morning on the way to work. It became a normal part of our day, regardless of how sick of it we got. We asked him to change it up once, and he began playing Metallica every morning. After a week, we gladly accepted RHCP back into our hearts.
( 7 ) Looking at where life is now, reminded me of meeting my husband. Not just the typical "this is how we met" flashback, but of that lovey dovey time together before we got married, when we planned out our dreams and wishes. Sitting together in his car, listening to country music on an mp3 cd that he burned for me, leaning in real close with a notebook and watching him draw an outline of a floor plan for our dream house. Planning where we wanted to travel to, where we would live, and how life would be. Drawing each other's names out in different styles and pictures, and putting our names together in a heart, or my first name with his last. It might not have been realistic, but it was very romantic and sweet.
( 8 ) The summer heat has arrived in spring this year, so over the weekend we set up the swimming pool. Staring at that clear, sparkling water, memories of last summer were reflected back at me. My sister came to visit last year, which is the entire reason we bought the pool when we did. We did tricks and flips in the water, we chased each other around, we got thrown in and just laid back and relaxed... we even taught my son not to be afraid of the water, and to enjoy his floatie. I can't wait to make new memories this year.
( 9 ) I was talking to my online friends the other day through a voicechat server hosted by a service called Mumble. I ended up talking about how when I signed up for the Nuclear program in the Navy, the way it was described to me so I knew I would "fit in" was a series of questions based on things "nerds" would commonly be known for doing... such as 18 hour long movie marathons. It reminded me of just after joining the Navy, a few times in which my friends and I, in all our nerdglory, stayed up full weekends long to watch Lord of the Rings, X-Men, Harry Potter, and Dune. Gotta love those movie marathons!
( 10 ) The last memory I will list, although not the last random memory I have had recently, is not a distant memory at all, but rather one that is a combination of a past time as well as a time just yesterday. In World of Warcraft, you can form what is known as a "guild", which is basically just a club, in which you and other members share an inventory bank, gold for armor repairs, and a special "guild chat". Two years ago, my guild used to be very active and friendly, and there was always a fun interesting chat going on. I made so many friends, and we were always excited to see each other. Sadly, over the years, the guild sort of fell apart, everyone going their own ways. I still own it, however, and over the last 6 months I have been recruiting new members, as well as a few old friends who have returned. It is even better now, with the addition of our very own guild Mumble server, in which all guildies can actually talk to each other while playing. We had a full group of us in Mumble yesterday, talking and laughing and having a good time. It made me so proud of my guild, and I felt so blessed to know such amazing people.
Guild pride runs deep.
The Chosen One
Alliance
US-Icecrown
Memories are amazing things! My memories can be triggered by the most random things- the color of the sky, a particular smell, a stranger's resemblance to an old friend.
ReplyDeleteNumber nine sounds like it was fun!