So yesterday was Brandon's last day.

He was in remarkably high spirits, laughing and joking, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that he has completely fucked his life up.

We all went out to lunch at a Mexican joint, where Allison asked him some of the tough questions that had to be asked, like what exactly his plans where. "Well" says Brandon, "I got a party to plan..."

"You're going to ... plan a party... that'll take ... ummm"

"Well I also got some projects planned: Crystal left this big round table that her grandfather made. I'm going to take off the, the linoleum and engrave some playing cards into the wood, you know, and cover it with plastic or something, and then I'm going to have Poker Night!!!"

"Oh I see" says Allison.

Granted, there's nothing classier than a poker table with playing cards engraved into the top, but linoleum? Who the fuck covers a tabletop with linoleum???

"Also there's this new video game I want to try out and- "

"Oh, so you do have some serious plans then." I cut in, which made Scott laugh.

Since his house is being foreclosed upon and he's no longer paying the mortgage, Brandon sees no reason to throw himself back into the daily workaday grind. Enjoy a well-earned rest. He says he doesn't plan on looking for a job "for another month or so"- waiting for that busy holiday hiring season, no doubt, where all the good jobs are. In fact now that he's unshackled from the responsibilities of being a responsible person, he seems to view his post-Crystal future as being a non-stop whirlwind of parties, poker nights, and debauchery. New girls every night! Beer and porn! He's almost salivating with anticipation!

Admittedly, I'm no expert on the feminine psyche, so I'll have to put it to any female readers out there. What about it, girls? If you were to meet a guy who: doesn't have a job; is in the beginning stages of a divorce which is already getting ugly and only looks to get uglier; who is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings; who will run out of cash the moment the first child support payment is due; who will be homeless just as soon as the bank can arrange foreclosure; who displays such utter disrespect for his wife and the mother of his child; who has no ambitions beyond making a poker table- if you were to meet a guy like that, assuming you are not a crack whore with a side hobby in crystal meth, is your first reaction going to be "Dude! I want to party with YOU!!!"?

Anyway, I don't want to sound too harsh, because I do like the guy. And certainly, this is a major transitional point in his life and he is entitled to his moment of sunny optimism, and to take some time to contemplate the direction he wants his life to take. But it's hard to watch someone you care about make a series of such staggeringly bad decisions- decisions which will have major negative consequences for the rest of his life. He can carry on in such blithe disregard of reality for only so long, before reality asserts itself with all the sublety of a croquet mallet to the back of the head.

So I wish the poor delusional sap the best of luck. Friday was his last day at work, and on the same day it was reported that unemployment hit ten percent.