Past Has Passed
1.3.6
They say that what's past has passed, and there are times when this becomes a painfully obvious truth in life.
The New Year's party Saturday was, for the most part, a success...despite a smattering of cancellations and early-departures. There was one uninvited person, however, who proved to be the proverbial liquor spill on the white carpet that was my party.
This person was a friend of mine from years ago named Tia. She, in fact, had been an attendee at the very first AVD back in 2000. We had never been all that close in the first place, but she had apparently been invited to the party by Q (One of my friends with less than perfect judgment).
I gave her a chance, but in the end I realized that there may be reasons I no longer keep in contact with her.
As the night progressed, Tia became more and more opinionated and belligerent. She thought she had the answer to everything, and apparently wanted to make sure that everybody knew it. By 11:30 she had taken it upon herself to fix everyone's problems.
The biggest problem, though, was that there were no problems until she came along. Every idea suddenly became complicated by her incessant interference.
Danielle needed to get home to her boyfriend, but Tia insisted that she could call Danielle's boyfriend and convince him otherwise. This was despite the fact that Danielle was perfectly content with going home to him. Q and his girlfriend were going to give Danielle a ride home, but didn't want to be in their car when the ball dropped. Tia successfully held them up long enough to where they no longer had any other option. Actually...they did discover a secret third option. This option was to spend the last moments of 2005 standing outside my apartment, arguing about the level of bitchiness inside.
It progressed like this all night...
Everyone was expected to take a shot with her when she wanted them to. I was pleaded with several times to allow her to smoke pot in my apartment. This continued even after I screamed at her, "Look...I hate pot. Stop fucking asking."
Finally, we made our last desperate attempt to get rid of her without hurting her feelings by simply packing the party up. While she talked and talked, I cleaned up the kitchen and started turning the lights back on. It was like last call at a bar.
Eventually she decided that the party "sucked" and left to go find another one.
This wasn't the only time in recent memory that I was confronted with the realization that the past was best left alone.
A few months back my old neighbor quietly moved out in the night. I didn't even realize he was gone until I heard the sounds of new neighbors moving in one day.
I did what any person would do. I spied on them through my peephole. It was then that I saw something that made my heart sink.
Nicole Ferringer was another long forgotten "friend" of mine...and she was moving in next door.
I could tell right away that she was no different from the useless teenager I knew in high school, so I spent the next several days hiding from her and her roommates. Each time I walked by their balcony, I made it a point to look the other way. If I didn't need to leave the apartment, I didn't. It wasn't that I was afraid of them...it's just that I knew that if they saw me, they'd want to talk to me or (even worse) "hang out" sometime.
Eventually she did catch me coming home from work, and we had a few moments of torturous conversation.
"Hey. Long time no see," she said.
"Uh...yup."
"Yeah...I'm a single mother now."
I attempted to sound surprised. "Oh yeah?"
"You smoke pot?" she then asked.
"Not even close."
The first three sentences out of her mouth were, "Hi. I'm a single mother. You smoke pot?" Those three statements seemed as if they could sum up her life quite nicely.
That was the last conversation I ever had with her. It was less than a month after they moved in, that they were evicted. I have to admit to being pleased by this turn of events. I had actually considered moving out myself last month, simply to avoid living next to the pot smoking single mother any longer.
I suppose it just goes to show: The past should be a learning experience. You go through the things you do so you can grow from them.
Those that don't will eventually be left behind.
At least by me...
