I have easily the coolest friends on Earth. They say friends are the family you choose, and damn did I do a great job choosing. They are wide and varied and hilarious, they are wild and vivid and honest. They are perfect in the only way something truly can be: via its imperfections. The aggregate total of the imperfections of my friends make them accessable, beautiful, insane, fun, and lovable.

I say this because I had a bunch of them over tonight so that I could say goodbye to them. I took tons of pictures with my new digital camera, so you can see who was there. I got a picture of everybody, despite their constant complaining. I am just continually struck by how much I really love my friends, from the ones I haven't seen in what seems like years (Kevin, Paul, Emily, Jackie, KD, etc.) to the ones I see everyday (Nate... Nate...), and even the ones who didn't show (Walter...). I am so blessed by their very existence and my relation to them. I look at this whole trip, and I think "Wow, I'm really spoiled. No one else gets to do this," but, really, I've been spoiled for a long time in the same regard because no one else in the world is lucky enough (crazy enough?) to have my friends.

Nate's survival pack was... interesting. As usual. Thanks, dogg.