See You Later, Long

Long left Savannah today.

It's hard to explain why. He went into his building on Wednesday morning (after not signing up for classes) and said that it made him feel terrible. He didn't want the same teacher again. He wanted to see America. He needed a change. He wanted a bigger city.

Regardless of what it was, Long got on a bus to Atlanta at 5 pm today where he will be going to SCAD Atlanta (at least, we think he will).

Long is a complicated guy. He just does things. Or does what he feels. He lives life differently from everyone I know and, because of that, it's hard to understand the things he does. However, there's a small part of me that kind of admires that he's able to live on the go like that. I know I never could.

I'm sad Long is gone. He made things really entertaining around here. It's hard to give a favorite memory of his time here. So I'll just list some that come to mind:

- The time he cooked plastic in the oven

- The time he tried to eat the pizza he cooked on the plastic

- The time he explained that he wasn't afraid of muggers but that he would give them his wallet immediately if ambushed

- The time he admitted that he only dreamed in black and white

- The time he realized he loved hamburgers

- The time he took shots with my dad and with my friends (separate occasions)

- The times he used the F-word with such passion

- The time we taught him the meaning of the word "bitchin'"

- The time he suggested we kidnap a boy

- The time he was really afraid of water

- The time we went to a strip club

- The time he fell down, cut his hands and stated that it was the first time he had bled in America

- The time he danced with everyone in my class and on the stage at the Crypt Pub

- The first time we went to Kroger and he bought things he had seen eaten in American movies

- The time when he thought iHop looked like the restaurant in Pulp Fiction

- The time that he tried to order beer with his pancakes at iHop

- The time he called hotels in Savannah and asked how far they were from the SCAD library

- The time he threw cake

- The time he went pumpkin shopping and would hold them up and listen to them, trying to determine which was the right one

- The time he absolutely butchered his pumpkin with a knife

- The time he tried to dip and failed

- The times he was drunk (that counts for all of the times)

- The times we ate BBQ with Tom and Erich before a school week started

- The times we went and played pool

- The times we watched scary movies

- The time he told me about his heart going "thump, thump, thump"

- The time he wore his bathrobe to the theater to see The Town

- The time we watched Saw 3 and Long told us that Jigsaw was "a real artist"

- The time we went through the haunted house and he tried to kick all the people that jumped out at us

- The time he walked to the airport, asked for one ticket to New York and it worked

- The time when he told me Bruce Lee was God (a.k.a. the moment I realized we were friends)

I took Long to the bus station earlier with all of his luggage. He had five bags and had to check in three of them. The other day I saw him leave with a lot of his clothes. He said he was going to sell them all. He then returned without any of the clothes but with all the luggage you see above. Just another weird / wonderful Long memory.

Long refused to say goodbye. He doesn't believe in goodbyes. Instead, he said "see you later." He believes we will meet again in the future. I hope he's right.

See you later, Long. Living with you has been quite the experience.