Many moons have passed overhead during my friendship with Carol. So it is fitting that on her birthday, I should write something about her.
Carol is actually anxiously awaiting to see what sort of birthday greetings she will receive via this virtual networking Frankenstein creation called Facebook but I know that secretly she was waiting to see what I would have to say on this space right here.
Let’s first talk about how I now realize how a lot of you are disappointed when there isn’t anything of substantial…Palmer inside these postings. For example, Carol said she was craving some good postings this week and all she got was a posting on how CD sales are dropping! Lame! Mike also piped in and told me how Palmer’s World is his sister’s drug of choice – she can’t get enough.
Well, this has redoubled my efforts into making this an entertaining space for the masses! Not only shall I redouble my posting efforts, but I will once again just spew random thoughts onto this page; more than you wish to read about!
Anyhow, back to Carol’s birthday.
Fast fact – Did you know that Carol’s phone number back home corresponds with her birth date? That is awesome.
Carol and Danny arrived last night (which I didn’t know about or else I would have taken the day off) and we had a few beer and called it a night. Carol was talking about how it’s been a decade since we left school. This is true…it’s been ten long years since we’ve left the good halls of KDHS. I can probably pinpoint that ten years ago around lunchtime I had a grilled cheese sandwich and some fries along with Carol. Or maybe she was laughing at me printing out a t-shirt with the Palmer Platter. Carol, if you’re reading this today and I’m not around, go into my bedroom and in my top drawer you will find the Palmer Platter t-shirt. Perhaps I’ll wear it out tonight.
Carol is one of those hidden gems in life where she is this great person who is caring and fun to be with but you don’t realize how MUCH you depend on her until she goes away. This is how I felt when we went our separate ways to college. She’s the one who not only thinks about you and wants to know what’s going on in your life, but makes you feel good about yourself (and rightly so!). I just hope that everyone around her (including me!) make her feel the same way. Because she’s THAT good.
Now, seeing that it is her birthday, I suppose we should come up with some random memories of Carol.
- Let’s us not forget the fabled time where I visited her in Oshawa and her roommates bed was empty but Carol would not allow me to sleep in it, or on top of it, hence I had to sleep on the floor. Watch it Carol, this may happen to you tonight!
- Carol + Internet were the same word essentially back around 1995-96. Let’s be honest. We all were into it. But I bet Carol had a gazillion friends via the IRC channels which blew me away.
- I remember how she introduced me to I Mother Earth by having the Scenery and Fish album on one day and I caught Earth, Sky and C and was blown away. Heck, while we’re on it, she also lent me her Siamese Dream album which created the monster which we know day (aka the Smashing Pumpkins fanatic that I am).
- The constant times where we were hungover at Wal-Mart and she had refuge in the back room of the shoe stocking area. I definitely hid out there a few times in my life. Let’s talk a little bit about Wal-Mart shall we? We were reminiscing last night about our times at Wal-Mart and Mike told us of how one day he was covering Sports section early in the morning and was feeling pretty rough so he unrolled a sleeping bag and slept ON TOP of the counter and then the manager comes by and asks what he’s doing. Classic. Man, I had a good laugh last night when he told me that!
- Flashback: Oshawa circa 1998 when I was in a club and Carol told everyone to keep an eye out for a crazy dancer and they would find me. Pshaw.
The coolest thing nowadays is the fact that we see each other a little more. I think we stumbled upon the fact that just because we went to different towns during college doesn’t mean we have to stay separated all the time. So I occasionally end up in her town and she occasionally ends up in mine and all is good in the world.
Happy Birthday Carol! I invite everyone to trade tales of Carol on her birthday. Or, (as she would prefer) send her a birthday wish via FaceBook!