Everyone Needs a Little Bromance

Or at least these two do. This is Joe and one of his best friends, Cody. Cody and his fiance, Carla came to visit us after Christmas, and we all hung out for about a week. It was a really good time. We checked out our minor league hockey team and really enjoyed all the fights. For New Year's we tried to enjoy a supposedly upscale steak house, and while the service was so poor that it rendered our entire meal free, we still managed to hang out and have fun with each other....for four hours. We did sushi together, walked around the Riverwalk, and video gamed until we all needed new glasses prescriptions. Yes, it was a lot of fun. However, part of me wonders if the guys would have had a better time without Carla and me.

Yes, seeing Joe and Cody hang out was an eye-opening experience. Joe was not quite the Joe I'm used to. From my perspective, he was louder, more boisterous, especially in his talk of things Army and HK USPs, and operated at a maturity level below that of his norm. I've also never seen him light up quite the way he does around Cody, nor have I seen him play so many video games. I almost wondered if he'd be happier if he and Cody lived together. I mean hookers aren't that much. They could probably order all their food in and play video games nonstop. I dunno who would clean or do that laundry, but I'm sure someone could be hired, what without the added costs of significant others. (With all that a possibility, I'm not sure why I'm necessary, but I'm assured I'm wanted.) And more than their deep and undeniable love for each other, is each of their need to be entertained...constantly. I've known this about Joe - hell, I live it, but I didn't know there was someone else who shares almost identical needs. If we were at the house they needed to be gaming - either on Cody's Wii or Joe's 360. When they broke from that, they were either reading, on the laptop, smoking cigars, smoking pipes, etc. BUT THEY HAD TO BE OCCUPIED IN SOME WAY AT ALL TIMES. It exhausted me to watch, and the longer they spent together the worse it got. Carla and I had a good chat amidst it all, though, and I think we helped each other to stay sane.

Cody and Carla left Saturday, and thus the bromance has gone back to being long-distance in nature. Things here are returning to normal as well. We've put most of the Christmas stuff away, took the tree down, and of course Joe is back to work. I'm doing massive amounts of laundry today and am trying to get the house cleaned and reorganized. I have a plan this week to start a serious job search. The feeling of dread finally lifted yesterday, and it finally feels like it's time to get my part of this life rolling again. That said, I feel ready to hit the gym again too. Perhaps instead of being functionally depressed, I'm returning to just being functional. Well, as much as I can be.