Spin the Black Circle

It's amazing how easily I divorced myself from LSI. Almost from the moment I skipped my last day to hang out with Jen the weight of that world was lifted from my shoulders. Rugers is demanding, and I work hard, but the pressure is not all on me for a change, and it's a good change. This job swap was a good decision, and I'm glad that Jen forced my hand in order to get me out of the hellhole of LSI. Given that I nursed a FMC obsession for years after I left there, I thought something about LSI would strike a nostalgic chord, but there's really very little space in my brain taken up by that place right now.

I also thought I would miss the people more. I do miss a few of them. Starr was my friend, and I enjoyed her shitty attitude, but I believe she and I are going to drift apart now. She called me the Sunday after what would have been my last day to let me know that she was going to miss me, and that she was upset that I didn't show up to finish my last day. She also invited me to a party that was supposed to take place the Saturday after the 4th of July, and said to bring Jen along, too. When I called her back on the 4th to find out about this for sure, it turned out that the party had moved to her sister's house elsewhere. Oh well. Instead Jen and I went on the almost ass-hopping adventure that day.

I miss sitting at our break table, too, and talking to Skip. He's perhaps the most foul-mouthed bastard I know, but he's completely hilarious. When I used to sit there with him before work he would have some remark to make about every single person who came into the parking lot, and he's one of those guys who would tell you exactly what he's thinking at any given time.

I miss June, too. She always used to look out for me. And she was instrumental in helping Jen and I weather some bad times. If anyone knew exactly how valuable I was to that department, it was her.

And Stacy. She's the one, if you remember, who became something of an ally of me and Jen during the war. I was worried about what might happen to her after the both of us were gone, and let me say, especially after I was gone. In only a short time I kind of adopted her like a kid sister, and I treated her really well when she worked with me. I know that would not be the case when I wasn't there. Turns out I was right. She talked to Jen sometime on Saturday, and apparently she went to the head of her own department and said if they were going to continue to send her to Sue's department she was going to quit. I guess Starr hasn't been too nice to her, which is kinda predictable. Starr wasn't terribly kind to Jen a lot of the time either.

Also, Stacy wants my mailing address because apparently a wedding invitation is forthcoming. She has a little baby, and I guess the father is who she's marrying, but from what I hear he's kind of a jerk. Jen and I were discussing that, and no sir .... I don't like it. But if they make it all the way to next March or May (I'm not sure) I'll be happy to go to her wedding. She's a little goober, but I like her a lot.

Ok, I guess I miss Ian, too. He's kind of a doofus, but after a while he starts to grow on you. I've been extremely critical of him in the past, and his work attitude, but he was a good guy and fun to discuss things like Heroes or Resident Evil 4 with. I have his e-mail addy, but I haven't used it yet.

Other than that, I plan to disappear for a while. There's a decent chance I'll run into people from there now and then while I'm in town, but I'd rather leave it at that. I left there in a pretty good blaze of glory. I had a reputation for being a hard worker, and really for being the anchor of that area. That's not just me talking; a lot of people believed that. Now Starr isn't going to tell me that she can't hack what I used to do, but according to Stacy they are *hurting* there now. I bet Skip finds that hilarious.

But here's my LSI legacy, and really why I want to ride off into the sunset and disappear. I'll put it in Skip's words, too, paraphrased a little bit: I was one hell of a worker, and I did everything out there. There wasn't anyone else who would do what I did. But I was kind of a pussy and let Sue push me around, and I'd never say boo about it. Then this girl came along and stirred up a whole lot of trouble --- most of all, getting me to quit. And on my way out I finally stopped being a pussy and made Sue's life miserable. People saw what I could really be like, and a lot of them were surprised by what they saw. And then that girl took me out of there, and good luck trying to replace me, motherfuckers.

One thing that I know for sure is that I'm very hard to replace.

Maybe Jen will figure that out, too, before it's too late.