Victory is driving all the way home without hearing a commercial

Just got home from a show/party/event thing we did for the band. It's late. I have a couple of extremely poorly structured thoughts I'd like to capture.

PART ONE: MY CAR
Today I signed a lease, along with my three housemates, for a new house in a wonderful location that is close to things.
This upcoming move, combined with other life changes and upcoming possible life opportunities and the fact that my car's headlight is out, has led me in recent days to contemplate life without a car, or at the very least, life without my own car.
This evening, I contemplated how wonderful it is that I have my own car. Truly great.
Take tonight, for instance. It's Mardi Gras, apparently, which means the roads were insane. We were also playing a show at a bar, and frankly it would probably have been a more enjoyable experience with a few drinks in me - but I was driving, so I didn't drink. "Waa waa waa," you might think. Indeed.
BUT. It was a crazy night. Things happened. It had highlights and low times and things wound around and much excitement and so on - and I got to control it. I was able to control my own evening's destiny, because I HAVE A CAR. And it's mine. And I can leave whenever I want to.
This is true most of the time now. Sure, my boyfriend has a car. But he would prefer not to drive it. And sure, I say I would prefer not to drive mine... but I usually end up driving. Which means he has to put up with my choices of where we go and how we get there and when we get to leave. Deciding when to leave is a big one.
Other things I like about having my own car:

• It is a place that is truly mine. It belongs to me. I can leave stuff in it. I can hide things in it. 
• On a similar page, I can drive it anywhere and be alone. I can drive it around and explore, aimlessly, answering to no one. I've done this a lot recently. I've even done this with my boyfriend in the car. He seems ok with it, but it would drive me crazy.
• I get to decide what to listen to on the radio. No loud punk rock music for me. That stuff gives me a headache. 

PART TWO: CREEPY DUDES
Something that happens a lot to my sister and I, particularly at shows we play, is that we get approached and involuntarily caught up in conversations with creepy dudes. I was planning to make a list of things that creepy dudes do that are NOT OKAY, but I just realized that that is just going to make me all angry and worked up before bed. So instead I am changing the name of this topic.
PART TWO: CREEPY DUDES THE PIRATES ARE COOL

First, a brief explanation: there is a pirate crew in our town. They show up at bars and sing, sometimes they are hired to do this, to make places fun: they also have a pirate ship/stage thing, and they perform at festivals and parties and stuff, being all pirate-like, because this makes pretty much any event a lot more surreal/awesome. Run-on sentence. We are friends with the pirates, because one time they showed up at a show we were playing and were like "we respect your nerdy music" and we were like "we respect that you're dressed as pirates." That's how friendship happens, folks.
When we go places with the pirates, there is often a lot of alcohol, there is frequently a good deal of standing outside, and we sometimes run into creepy dudes. They approach us and they do not leave us alone.
Thankfully, the pirates have PLANNED for this.
Story One: The first time I realized this was when we were at the Space Room, where the pirates go to get really really drunk sometimes, and a couple of fellers were there, totally wasted, with another of their friends who was a fan of our band and less wasted and sorta shy.
The wasted dudes decided that they were going to make the fan guy's night by making us talk to him. They got really fixated on this idea. It was a stupid idea. We just wanted to dance, and they just sat there staring at us and trying to get us to approach their friend... blablabla and so on.
So the pirates are observant, and at one point they asked us what was happening and if we wanted the dudes to go away. And I said yes, not having any idea what this would entail.
Two things happened. One: I think they got one of the guys kicked out of the bar for being a drunk idiot and, among other things, almost following me into the bathroom.
Two: In an epic movie-like music sequence, The Awesome Pirate, as he will be called - did a sweet dance all around me. It was hilarious and weird. I think the intent was to show that I was "taken" and wanted to be left alone. The intent was also to show off that he is an amazing dancer, which he totally is. I don't know if this was an effective strategy, because getting a guy kicked out of a bar tends to have a pretty big effect on how much he's able to hit on people who are in a bar... but it was kickass. I love the pirates.
Story Two: This is a short one, but tonight, at the show/party/event thing, unfortunate stuff was going down with a persistent creepy guy, and the pirates did this:

• Approached us and asked if we needed help getting the guy away.
• Walked us to our cars to protect us.
• Showed us the secret signal they have devised that means "please help me with the situation I am in."

And that, my friends, is why the pirates are awesome.