So, now that most folks think I have a new blog, I have the good fortune of being able to write my more atrocious thoughts here and not have as many of my friends commenting back to me about it.

Today, I barely left the house, except to go to Kinko's to make some CD covers and then to House of Records and Museum of Unfine art to drop off some completed CD's for $$$$. I like the idea of being able to actually sell home made CDs vs selling blood for that much-needed, post-holiday, "I broke as a dirty rat" cash. Oh, and I left the house for coffee. But that was it; really.

I spoke with a buddy from high school last night for the first time in 11 years. Matt Bier and I were part of the same dysfunctional peer group for most of high school - dubbed the "Jun Hoard" by some wise-ass or another. Actually, I wasn't quite D & D enough to be considered a part of the Hoard, but they were my closest buddies anyway. Matt, myself, Shannon "Slug" Sapp, Matt Ashcraft, Wayne "Moose", Clay Pierce, Jimmy D. Chastain, Danny _____, the brothers Tuan Do and My Do and, our indisputable ringleader, Justin DePew. This was the kind of group where blood was often drawn, any and all drugs and/or alcohol consumed ('cept for me - the token straight edge kid), windows broken, deadly dares of suicidal proportions were embarked upon. We're talking the Stand By Me movie populated by a bunch of masturbating, self-immolating, self-loathing losers who used each other as punching bags and were in turn spit upon by the jocks and elite kids at our high school. Scarred for life. That's what the Jun Hoard did to me. I still haven't recovered.
Anyway, it was great to talk to Matt and get the lowdown on where these guys are at now. Turns out pretty much everyone is alive, at least (actually, I'm not sure about Moose - forgot to ask). Matt was one of t6he good guys; not only a good and honorable friend, but funny as hell in a deadpan, Monty Python kind-of way. An extra-hard worker, he finished out of high school a year early and enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday and also married his girlfriend at the time , Nancy, and had a daughter by the time he was 19. I visited him in Kansas once.
Up until this week, I hadn't heard from him since he'd gone to Iraq for the first gulf war. I'd known he had also gone to Kosovo in the mid 90's. I'm glad he didn't get his ass blown off.
Someday, I'll write about the time we drove to Arcata with Justin to go see the Meat Puppets and Justin got lost and wasted and we somehow picked him up on the highway 30 miles north of where we had last seen him...Aw, shit; that's a WHOLE different story.

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