later that same night...

after my flight from palm beach international airport, i landed in a much less exclusive locale--namely, pensacola. my motive? one last romp with college friends, a night dubbed movie night 2005. this was a moment that this group of students--namely, team group--had been planning since the semester's onset. as those familiar with the workings of a certain independent-fundamantal-baptist-bible college know, it is impossible for a group of students to "hang" together off-campus, especially after the darkening hours of 11pm.

the semester had ended. the rules could be broken. team group could now frolic in the glory of their unchaperoned bliss, deep into the hours of the night. despite (or perhaps in spite) of an administrator's--namely, joel mullinex--warning that the hours between 12am and 6am are frightfully evil hours, the group of students charged their way into a reckless evening of merriment.

after a victory parking lot dance awaiting my arrival in a neighboring city--namely, fort walton beach--we headed for dinner. a fender bender and a few showers later, we were sitting down to our first meal together outside the bounds of the school. in darker and later hours, we went for a visit to the movie theater, starbucks, destin's largest christmas tree, krispy kreme, *-mart in pajamas, sweet-wannabe-karaoke, etc., etc.

not least in the night's reveling was a visit to fort walton's own 40º beach at 2am. this was perhaps the crowning moment of my night, as i began to realize the true significance of not having done laundry for the last week. due to my lack of underwear, i was still wearing my speedo from the morning's airport misadventure: perfect for a chilly dip-in at the beach. certainly, this could have been performed au naturel; however, i decided my new swimsuit deserved its own christening.

one by one, each team group member dropped off to sleep or into his car to head to the airport. the friends were fantastic, and the frolicking was fun. a true blossoming moment after a disasterly autumn of a semester.