Lakes, Noodle Salad, and Being Ready

One of my favorite movies is As good as it Gets. I especially like certain dialogue passages:

Carol: OK, we all have these terrible stories to get over, and you-...

Melvin Udall: It's not true. Some have great stories, pretty stories that take place at lakes with boats and friends and noodle salad. Just no one in this car. But, a lot of people, that's their story. Good times, noodle salad. What makes it so hard is not that you had it bad, but that you're that pissed that so many others had it good.

Melvin Udall: I might be the only person on the face of the earth that knows you're the greatest woman on earth. I might be the only one who appreciates how amazing you are in every single thing that you do, and how you are with Spencer, "Spence," and in every single thought that you have, and how you say what you mean, and how you almost always mean something that's all about being straight and good. I think most people miss that about you, and I watch them, wondering how they can watch you bring their food, and clear their tables and never get that they just met the greatest woman alive. And the fact that I get it makes me feel good, about me.

This is my favorite quote from that movie.

And what I said on the street (pause) it was a bad thing to say. It made me sick to my stomach--it was a...bad thing to say. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say...that I enjoy your company. But the truth is that you do bother me enormously, and I know that it-- think that it-- I think that it’s better that I don’t have contact with you because you’re not ready! And you’re a pretty old guy not to be ready and I’m too old to ignore that. But there were extraordinary kindnesses that did take place. So anyways thanks for the trip. Goodnight! Goodnight...