"Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life."

I thought I'd share this song with you all. It's called "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and it's by the great old boys of Green Day. Why do I share this song with you? I'll explain. But first, I must set up the scenario.

I haven't been getting much sleep of late. It's been a battle trying to grapple me into a state of slumber, the computer chair often winning out over the pillow and bedsheets. And the sleep I do manage to get is ravaged by dreams and nightmares of various degrees. Ranging anywhere from dreams of future-past to nightmares of things that are often accompanied by the all too common term "what if?". Taking a new step in life can often incur such states. Almost like a sickness - a contagion if you will - that spreads from the situation in question to your very soul, infecting it with a haste known only by cheetahs and other fast animals of the sort.

Upon one of these stints (the very stint that I am using to write this now) I sat down and listened to this masterpiece of a song. I had listened to it in the past and had heard its lyrics. But never before now have I actually HEARD the lyrics. Never have I listened to them as I have now. And upon hearing it for the first time...TRULY hearing it...I realized how relevant it was to me. How true those faithful lyrics seemed. How truly poetic it is to hear in a time like now. It seems all too strange to actually hear the song when I feel it's lyrical effects on me.

I have often grappled with the words I would use to say "Goodbye for now". So I share this song with you now to give you those words. Because of what was stated in the last journal I wrote only a short time ago now, I needed a way to finally say this. But Green Day, bless their hearts, have found them for me.

So while I doubt this will be my last journal here ever, I do wish to use this opportunity to say "thank you one and all". If you read this then you know me, either as a reader of my comics or as a friend via-chat (or some combination of two). I want to thank you all...thank you for being a valued part of my development. Without this place of venting, this ranting space, this sacred ground of emotional release, I would be lost. And without you guys, each and every one of you, I would have no way to tell that I am not alone. So I say this to you sincerely when I say...

"...I hope you had the time of your life."
-Flantics out