Personal Memoir: "Simple Times"

Michael Gomez

Simple Times

An amazing experience can happen without effort or premeditation. It can arise without cultivation or temporary keeping. Winning a championship, graduating from school, getting to see other places, and finding love are things that people cherish and wish they've done. For me however, they are just an objects of thought. My personality is not well planned and may sometimes lacks social graces. That is the main reason why some of the best moments in my life have been siting down with a group of friends talking.

Talking is a form of communication using words to express yourself. But many times this ability gets it purity destroyed by bigots, imitators, and others who can't handle the truth. So when ever I can let go and speak freely while sharing my stories with others who feel the same way as I do, I feel a great sense of indulgence. And because my personality is so complex I don't fit in well with many people, however it's okay because friends like mine are hard to find.

About a year ago I came home from a sporting event, it was around two in the morning and my friends where hanging out in my brother's bedroom playing video games while my parents slept in their room. In any other house this would have been awkward and unacceptable but my home and others have never been alike in character. Sitting there was Josh, Joseph, Javier, and T.

I greet them and ask how they were doing and then I mention how I had to be at work at seven thirty which was just a few hours later.

T: Man to hell with working. You should be more like me. I don't work, I don't do anything my life, I'm not in school, and all I do is smoke weed.

“Yeah but you need a career sometime” I tell him.

T: To hell with that, as long as I got my weed, liquor, women, and parents supporting me I'm happy. I'm thirty five years old and I've been living this lifestyle for over forty years I know what I'm talking about. I may be a loser in the eyes of most but at least I'm not miserable due to some job.

Josh: See see look at you, this is what happens when you take an Asian and raise him around a bunch of blackies.

Javier/Joseph: O no here we go again.

Joseph: What's your problem, man? You're black yourself.

Josh:Hey, hey, hey watch your mouth! I'm only black on the outside. Deep down in my heart, mind, body and soul I'm different. This is why I'm not a drug addict who has been to prison and has four kids with three different women.

Joseph: Not all blacks are like that just look at...

Josh: Shut up. What you where going to say? Obama? First of all he's light skinned. Secondly he doesn’t utilize black talk. Third he's smart enough not to hang out with spooks like you.

No one knows why Josh was so racist. We fell that his upbringing has caused a lot of pain in his life thus why he is so self hating. But then again there was a story of him being kicked out of white castle for being too black and maybe that was the prime moment of his life that made him the way he was. I start complaining about stress and work and how difficult it is the work with the public. I then I ask Javier and Joseph what it's like to work fast food since they are both employed by McDonald’s.

Javier: I don't want to be judgmental but people are so stupid! This lady buys three big Macs and large fries and has the nerve to order diet soda. With all that geese you're eating you mean to tell me that you're worried about the calories in soda? What an idiot.

Everyone in the room laughs.

Joseph: Man, once we let this lady in the bathroom and noticed twenty minutes afterward that she was still there. We then gave her another ten minutes and felt something was wrong. After the door got open we found her hugging, caressing, and kissing the toilet.

Me: Damn I guess ugly women want love anyway they can get it. (Again we all smile and have a great laugh)

Javier: “This once lady come to my register right. And she orders a hamburger with cheese. So I rang up a cheeseburger. But when I gave her the order, she got made because she didn't want a cheeseburger but rather a hamburger with cheese.”

Everyone in the room: WHAT! HAHAHAHA

Me: “So what did you do?”

Javier: “I just changed the paper from the yellow one to the white one.”

T: “I once had a car but I soled it for gas money”

Javier: “What does that have to do with anything?”

Joseph: “Yeah what does you being a moron have to do with anything?”

Josh: “It has to do with the fact that he's a nigga lover. He didn't even have a license because he can't even pass a urine test let alone one given by the state. I bet he can't even read.”

T: “Shut up dude! You're blowing my high, man. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm toasted right now you'd get beat up.”

Josh: “Yeah whatever. Hey you know who else can't read”

Everyone in the room: “Who?”

Josh: Stevie Wonder. “You know why?”

Everyone in the room: “Because he's blind.”

Josh: “No idiots, because he's black!”

Javier: “You're an idiot but I still love you, man. I'm pretty sure you don't get that a lot.”

Me: “You don't get much love either don't you.”

Javier: “Not really. My girlfriend left me because I'm not a college student and people have always looked down on me for not being the best academically. What can I do? I'm just not good with school, I'm better with my hands.”

Joseph: “People judge and accuse me of things I never do. There are rumors of me being a coke addict. Time and time again I keep telling people the truth but they won’t hear it. I mean I don't sniff coke, I just like the smell of it.”

Me: Liar. “I bet your going to say you drink either with that nice bottle of liquor in your hand.”

Joseph: “Shut up curly. I don't drink to get drunk I simply taste different alcoholic beverages as a form to escape to another world where most people like me.”

Me: Wow you can never take responsibilities for you acts (Laughing).

Joseph: (Smiles) “You know me.”

The conversation lasted until seven A.M since I had to leave for work. I had such an amazing experience and there weren't any roller-coasters or special events. The room was filled with the same kinds of people that exist outside of the walls we were in. And yet we are outsiders. Funny isn't it?