Superhero Week Day Two: Keys to the Fortress of Solitude
on Oct 21 in General by Dan
Long time readers of this blog will probably have picked up by now that I have an tendency to lose things. As way of an example the past six months have seen me lose my wallet, my iPod, my car’s tax disk, my work swipe card, my colleague’s work swipe card, approximately seven thousand scraps of paper on which I had written important bits of information, and about 37lb in weight.
No matter how hard I try, I just lose things. It’s what I do. As Whit would say, it’s how I roll. In fact I’m not even sure where my mobile phone right now. But up to press I have never lost my keys.
Oh sure I’ve misplaced them a fair few times. In fact I need to add roughly half an hour onto my morning routine just so I can look for them. But they’ve never actually gone missing never to be seen again.
I have evidence to back this up. On my keys is a key-ring that I’ve had since I was twenty years old. It was given to me in a characteristic act of magnanimously by a man who I considered to be my arch nemisis at the time. Mike Pickard.
I shared a house with Mike throughout my three years at Sunderland University in the mid nineties. We were good friends until half way through the third year when I fell out with him for a reason that I can’t quite remember.
Anyone who knows me well will tell you I have a tendency towards curmudgeoncy when it comes to spending prolonged periods of time with other people. This trait was particularly pronounced during my early adulthood, and to be honest it’s a wonder that I’ve got any friends left from those days at all.
As far as I can remember Mike was an OK sort of guy. Sure he had his faults.. He had an unnatural enthusiasm for Star Trek: the Next Generation, probably nurtured by the similarity of his last name to a certain Jean-luc’s. We once attended a seven film Star Trek movie marathon together and he wore full Starfleet uniform. For some reason I wasn’t particularly embarrassed by this. Probably because my mind was numbed by having to sit through Star Trek: The Motion Picture (I like Trek, but I still maintain that that film is the worst movie ever made).
But as I say Mike was nice enough chap; and my negative feelings towards him were probably completely unwarranted.
But despite my surly attitude he continued to be pleasant and polite towards me; even going so far as to buy me a present after a trip to the Warner Bros store in Newcastle. He told me he’d bought everyone else in the house a gift and didn’t want to leave me out.
What a bastard eh?
And in a strange twist of fate I’ve still got that present; the Superman keyring pictured above. In fact I think it’s probably the only possessionthat dates back from those days that I still own.
If this blog was one of those Chicken Soup for the Soul books I’d tell you that every time I unlock a door the sight of the key ring brings back memories of my unreasonable behavior in my youth. Reminds me that I should be tolerant and fair to other, treating them with the respect and the courtesy that is their right. After all, those are the tenants that Superman himself lives by: Truth, justice, compassion and understanding.
Yes, if this were one of those Chicken Soup books that’s what I’d say. But it isn’t. The truth is that I don’t think about those sorts of things at all. In fact I rarely even register that the key ring’s even there. If it does cross my mind my thoughts usually center around vague regrets that Mike didn’t buy me a Batman one instead.
Ahh, humanity. Don’t you just love it.
Still, I do regret my attitude towards Mike. I even attempted to look him up on facebook the other day so I could apologize but I couldn’t track him down. Last I heard he was a biology teacher in Whitley Bay. I hope that everything is going well for him.
And these days I’m a little better at controlling my curmudgeoness. I still have my arch enemies don’t get me wrong. And I’ll be the first to admit that these enmities are based on relatively superficial foundations. But these days I try not to be quite so petulant. I think it’s called growing up. I haven’t quite mastered it yet.
Related posts:
- Superhero Week Day Four: Comic Book Q&A
- Superhero Week Day Five: Why I don’t like heroes
- Superhero Week Day One: Top 5 Batman Villains
- Superhero week suspended
- Superhero Week Day Three: Video Pirates #2
« « Superhero Week Day One: Top 5 Batman Villains| Superhero Week Day Three: Video Pirates #2 » »
I thought this post was going to be about Superman just like you did Batman … LOL
Acakaduts last blog post..alicia witt
1. Would you like me to see if Mike is still a biology teacher at Whitley Bay – afterall it’s only a few miles down the road from me? Oh and the WB shop isn’t there anymore.
2. I’m going to look up the word curmudgeoncy because I’m sure I’m a curmudgeon too. Especially when anyone comes to visit for more than half a day.
3. I only read that far incase you’d sneaked Johnny Depp in there again, but this time it was a good read – thanks!
gails last blog post..A small scary creation
Are you kidding me?! A week of comic book themed posts?! Dude, you are my brother-in-geekdom! I love it.
I have all sorts of old trinkets from the glory days of collecting books, and many of them carry specific memories of people or places. These days I pretty much just read my comics and don’t really care about letting the kids page through ‘em and mess them up. But I’ve got a box in the garage that they can’t go near!
Raging Dads last blog post..I’d rather have a paper doll to call my own
When you find him can you get him to buy me a few of those keyrings? Cause I want to attach them to stuff I keep losing, cause Dude that thing has magical powers!
And a star trek suit thing? *shudder*
Kelleys last blog post..Even a Michael Jackson mask won’t save you here.
Does this mean we’re not getting any soup?
Whits last blog post..One Bad Egg
You lost your iPod? Who knew?! ;o)
Penelopes last blog post..The Ten Million Dollar Question.
I remember a certain story about archnemesis’ at work ..
I haven’t really lost any stuff except the occasional toy that probably got lost during moving from one house to another…
Arjans last blog post..Disturbed @ Amsterdam
I lost my camera about a month ago but I refuse to buy a new one because I don’t think I “lost” it as much as “misplaced” it – and I fully expect to find it somewhere soon. But the rub is… when are you supposed to admit defeat and just give up and buy a new one? In the meantime, I am missing out on millions of life’s Kodak moments because I won’t give in. D’oh!
I’ve several things I’d like to lose–no matter how hard I try, they keep finding their way home! Damn kids!!
Mr Pops and I went to Whitley Bay last year and we didn’t see anyone in either a Starfleet uniform or in a jacket with leather elbow patches….oh wait doesn’t that stereotype only apply to geography and sociology teachers?
When I got married my something borrowed was my brother’s superman key chain… just like the one in that picture.
CamiKaoss last blog post..whatever, you can’t read this anyway…
Acakadut – Nope, just about my favorite subject – Me.
Gail – You could try to look Mike up for me if you didn’t mind. he’ll be the teacher in the full star Trek uniform.
Raging Dad – I only have one box left full of treasured possessions myself. I do all my comic reading digitally these days.
Kelley -I never considered they might have Superhero powers of their own. Now i’ll take even more care not to lose them.
Whit – Not chicken soup anyhow.
Penelope – How dare you! I only mentioned it a couple of hundred times!
Arjan – Ah, the dastedly Ian, he is indeed one of my mightiest foes.
Jeff – I’m convinced to this day that my ipod will turn up under the sofa or something.
Ed – Have you tried driving them to another state then throwing them out of the car?
Morticia – I’m not sure what stereotype biology teachers have. In my school they all appeared to be lesbians (even the men) but I think that was a pretty localised phenomenon.
CamiKaos – That’s a pretty cool “something borrowed”.
He buy a guy a cool superman keyring and that is the thanks he gets? You are a crumudgeon man! Hey Crumudgeon Man, what a great new superhero idea. Never be quite as cool as Aquaman though, lol.
Jamess last blog post..Phone Home
As a fellow loser (of things) I sympathise. I’ve lost countless wallets during my adult life. Well, not totally countless. It’s somewhere under 14, because I’m on my 14th Switch card and I’m sure at least a few of those were because they wore out or expired!
I’ve lost my wallet twice on the bus, but both times I got a phonecall from someone who found it (with everything still in it, including the cash).
I lose stuff a lot too. And I think most people forgive the mistakes we make when we’re young. And wow on the 37lbs.
Jo Beaufoixs last blog post..Happy Birthday Ms Holly
Allegra without prescription