back east

I don't care that it's campy and predictible, because the ending of Good Will Hunting, for me, is faultless. Elliot Smith's "Miss Misery" combined with the cinematography of east coast turnpikes create a sense of internal, yet overwhelming contentment. After a summer-long stint living and working in Pennsylvania a few years back, this particular bit of the film fills me with nostalgia and reminds me of solo life adventures once taken.

I'll fake it through the day
With some help from Johnny Walker Red
Send the poison brain down the drain
To put bad thoughts in my head
Your two tickets torn in half
And a lot of nothing to do
Do you miss me, Miss Misery
Like you say you do?

A man in the park
Read the lines in my hand
Told me I'm strong
Hardly ever wrong I said man you mean

You had plans for both of us
That involved a trip out of town
To a place I've seen in a magazine
That you left lying around
I don't have you with me
But I keep a good attitude
Do you miss me, Miss Misery
Like you say you do?

I know you'd rather see me gone
Than to see me the way that I am
But I am in the life anyway

Next door the TV's flashing
Blue frames on the wall
It's a comedy of errors, you see
It's about taking a fall
To vanish into oblivion
Is easy to do
And I try to be but you know me
I come back when you want me to
Do you miss me, Miss Misery
Like you say you do?