How Awesome Are Our LIVES!!!

Well, there's one more in the archives for "Goat Cook-Off's Lived Through." Like my friend Rachel has said, they are a little more tame than in years past. In college, there were GCO's that could have easily been spliced into some Spring Break party reel, without anybody being the wiser, and believe me, my crew probably pushes the limits more than any other, but even we have been docile, by our own standards. This year could be classified and summarized in one single word..."strange."

Strange in the way that home almost doesn't feel like home anymore...not the home of family and territory, but home in the sense of people. The people you used to know and how they have evolved and in some cases, not at all. Maybe the biggest change is my perspective, and how I've changed. My priorities are MUCH different than that of my former peers now. A great number of them have taken one turn in the road, while I have taken the exact opposite. I may turn down that way one day, but not now. There are so many of my old peers who have these life changing turns of event taking them in a different direction than I.

It was weird in a way to hear these people that I used to know talk of things that are completely foreign to me. Babies, marriage, loss, despair, unemployment, gainful employment, signing up for war, just coming home from war, and so on. It definitely seemed to vary between the stable and unstable...and it's funny the times of night that you run into the majority of both of these groups. One early and the other late. So what does that make me? Somewhere in between or just a passing spectator who can't sleep because he doesn't want to miss anything? Who knows...

The strangest part of GCO was definitely a run-in with an old acquaintance who I used to be real close to, but have grown far apart from over the years. And by far, I mean hopelessly non-existent. It's hard to see someone who used to be a part of your life, a once decidedly large part of it, in the folds of despair. You want to help the person, but at the same time, it's also one of those things that you want to say, "Hey, you made your own bed...I guess you're the one who has to lie in it." Only a complete idiot would touch the situation I was presented...it's basically a wildfire waiting to burn me to ash, and there's absolutely no way I will involve myself in anything with relevance to it. Not to mention the fact that I have no desire to, but it's almost sad to see someone in this state. Dillusional, and flailing. Odd the scenarios in our heads are. I guess the lesson to remember is that no matter how far along you've moved from someone or something, there is always someone who is holding on to you...and how things were at that time...for better or for worse. It's really sad, and not sad in a pathetic way (although, I guess it could be perceived that way), it's more sad as sympathetic for that person's well-being. Believe me, this person is in a bad place and they want me to help them out of it, but there is absolutely no way I can help this person...none. It's really sad...

Anyways, enough about that. I've got to get some sleep, because I probably consumed somehwere in the neighborhood of 60-70 beers this weekend and slept a total of approximately 7 hours total from the time I got off of work on Friday till Monday night. A good question was asked this weekend by one of my friends, "Cory, do you think we'll ever grow up?" No...no I don't...and I will do everything in my power to keep from it...

Cory Will