I know I haven't updated for a while... I seem to thrive on pain and sorrow and that drives me to write... lately however, i'm not thriving.
Last night, a workmate friend of mine and I went downtown for the cliche friday-apres-work-drinks.
It's not uncommon for him and I to do that, and it's also not uncommon for us to end up at The Railway.
So we did.
What was different tonight though, was that I ran into an old old friend down there that I realized I totally missed. This guy brought me back to who I was so many years ago... pre-R.
My workmate and I were just sitting at the bar suppin our pints and generally bitchin about things that are bitchable at the office, and I saw this familiar figure stand up from the heads seated and suppin behind us in the crowd.
He is the son of a local political figure, (or even a national political figure) and he and I share this same fishy sign. We are both slave to these scales, but I had almost totally had forgotten about him. forgotten who I was in the stories he had to tell about who I was...
No -- who I am.
Way back when, like 15 years ago, this guy was up an inspiration for me. At first he was some anonymous competition, and I did not like him. My roommate and I were publishing a magazine here in town, it was geared towards the alternative crowd and was designed as a tourism guide for people coming into Vancouver from the states so that they could find all the little out of the way shops and cafes and tattoo shops etc. This guy and his friend were publishing another book that was almost identical in theory, theirs was called The Black Pages.
Bastard, Better name.
Ours was simply Alternative Vancouver. I didnt know who they were, but every time we approached a shop to sell them an ad in our rag, the common response was we are already advertising in the Black Pages. It was always a tough sell to explain that we were distributed in Hawaii, california, alaska etc.. and I just didnt like those black pages guys.
One night in 1990 or something, I was standing at the urinal trough at a club thats now gone called Graceland. I was taking a piss, and some dude was standing beside me also taking a piss. ( which is probably good, because why else would he be standing beside me while I was taking a piss? ) He doesnt look over at me, but he says
hey, youre that guy from Alternative Vancouver
yeah I say. howd you know that?
Im the Black Pages guy he says.
I turned to say hi, and pissed on his leg.
(-- ok, no I didnt do that but I just realized that would be funny if I did.)
Anyways, him and I started chatting, and I brought him over to our table to introduce him to my business partner/roommate, and we actually hit it off. Strange how that happens somebody you dont even know that you think you dislike, ends up being totally cool.
We became good friends and ended up hanging out for years. But of course, with me going off to the middle east, and then coming home and finding R, I hung out with him less and less and less.
Over the decade that followed, we kinda lost touch.
Last night, I watched as he stood up from his table, and watched as he then saw me and a big smile spread across his face and he came up with his hand outstretched towards me, he said my last name all drawn out like. I shook his hand, then stood up and gave him a hug and then introduced him to my workmate. It was like the last time we hung out over beers was only a couple months ago.
The three of us grabbed a table, and ordered another round, and another, and he brought up stories about things that happened to me that I had totally forgotten about, grounding stories.
Anyways, that was cool. I came home with a bit of smile on my face. He mentioned names of people he still hangs out with that used to be in my circle of friends way back then, and all those people sound like they are doing really well in various creative industries movies, art, publishing etc He even mentioned some names of people he hangs with now that are names of people that I used to hang with in Calgary before I moved out here in 89, and I think some strange portal just opened and I feel quite excited about that.
Last night, a workmate friend of mine and I went downtown for the cliche friday-apres-work-drinks.
It's not uncommon for him and I to do that, and it's also not uncommon for us to end up at The Railway.
So we did.
What was different tonight though, was that I ran into an old old friend down there that I realized I totally missed. This guy brought me back to who I was so many years ago... pre-R.
My workmate and I were just sitting at the bar suppin our pints and generally bitchin about things that are bitchable at the office, and I saw this familiar figure stand up from the heads seated and suppin behind us in the crowd.
He is the son of a local political figure, (or even a national political figure) and he and I share this same fishy sign. We are both slave to these scales, but I had almost totally had forgotten about him. forgotten who I was in the stories he had to tell about who I was...
No -- who I am.
Way back when, like 15 years ago, this guy was up an inspiration for me. At first he was some anonymous competition, and I did not like him. My roommate and I were publishing a magazine here in town, it was geared towards the alternative crowd and was designed as a tourism guide for people coming into Vancouver from the states so that they could find all the little out of the way shops and cafes and tattoo shops etc. This guy and his friend were publishing another book that was almost identical in theory, theirs was called The Black Pages.
Bastard, Better name.
Ours was simply Alternative Vancouver. I didnt know who they were, but every time we approached a shop to sell them an ad in our rag, the common response was we are already advertising in the Black Pages. It was always a tough sell to explain that we were distributed in Hawaii, california, alaska etc.. and I just didnt like those black pages guys.
One night in 1990 or something, I was standing at the urinal trough at a club thats now gone called Graceland. I was taking a piss, and some dude was standing beside me also taking a piss. ( which is probably good, because why else would he be standing beside me while I was taking a piss? ) He doesnt look over at me, but he says
hey, youre that guy from Alternative Vancouver
yeah I say. howd you know that?
Im the Black Pages guy he says.
I turned to say hi, and pissed on his leg.
(-- ok, no I didnt do that but I just realized that would be funny if I did.)
Anyways, him and I started chatting, and I brought him over to our table to introduce him to my business partner/roommate, and we actually hit it off. Strange how that happens somebody you dont even know that you think you dislike, ends up being totally cool.
We became good friends and ended up hanging out for years. But of course, with me going off to the middle east, and then coming home and finding R, I hung out with him less and less and less.
Over the decade that followed, we kinda lost touch.
Last night, I watched as he stood up from his table, and watched as he then saw me and a big smile spread across his face and he came up with his hand outstretched towards me, he said my last name all drawn out like. I shook his hand, then stood up and gave him a hug and then introduced him to my workmate. It was like the last time we hung out over beers was only a couple months ago.
The three of us grabbed a table, and ordered another round, and another, and he brought up stories about things that happened to me that I had totally forgotten about, grounding stories.
Anyways, that was cool. I came home with a bit of smile on my face. He mentioned names of people he still hangs out with that used to be in my circle of friends way back then, and all those people sound like they are doing really well in various creative industries movies, art, publishing etc He even mentioned some names of people he hangs with now that are names of people that I used to hang with in Calgary before I moved out here in 89, and I think some strange portal just opened and I feel quite excited about that.
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
but so does answering questions like, "what's up?"
Funny how people remember parts of us that we don't isn't it? God it's so weird sometimes.
Everything for a reason yet again. How very cool, very.
We are here to remember. Sometimes more than once.
I enjoy you.