So by now I'm assuming you figured out I have friends. If not, you're about to get hit with them like a ton of bricks.

Some Interesting Tidbits About My Friends

They're nothing if not the most wonderful people in the world. Sure, they have faults. So do I. What makes them so wonderful is that they love me anyway.

They're spread out everywhere. They come from all walks of life. Diversity is a wonderful thing. Break the mold - see what you come up with!

I'm there for them in the same ways that they're for me. At least I try as hard as I can to be, because they've built me up from the person I used to be.

They're FUNNY. I don't know why they all think I'm so hilarious, because they leave me rolling on the floor. Whether some of us are in a chatroom talking about our matsturbatory habits ::coughcoughemscoughcough:: or others are sitting in Keri's living room on graduation night with a pint of ice cream each, or still others are wandering aimlessly through Fanieul Hall and Quincy Market in late December, or dodging Claude at the Chamber or writing smut at 30,000 feet, we're having a good time.

Some Quotes About Friendship
"But... If a man can be judged by the friends he keeps, I must be the luckiest man in town." - Jon Bon Jovi

"Freaking friends, freaking friends/Till we come to bad ends we're freaking friends." - Mystik Spiral (Thanks Abby!)

"A lifetime's not too long to live as friends." - Michael W. Smith tune called "Friends"

"And the best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously." - Indigo Girls tune called "Closer to Fine"

"It's your first month at college, and you haven't made any friends. Well, take it from someone who knows. You won't. Ever. You'll walk the Earth a sad, lonely, redheaded freak. Until one day, inexplicably, you'll be given your own TV show. Then people will have to talk to you. So hang in there." - Conan O'Brien

Some of my friends have web pages. Some of them don't. Some of my friends have pictures. Some of them don't. Trying to sort them all out would take forever, so I'm just going to list them as they come to me.

MANA

Mana is without a doubt one of my closest friends right now. I tell her everything and she still loves me.
Mana (her mom calls her Amanda, but I've known her as Mana since my pre-online days in 1997, when she was someone Keri talked to online) is a senior at Wittenberg University in Ohio. She's majoring in English and she's planning on looking for a job writing textbooks when she graduates. That's not a job most people plan on taking, but without them, we'd have no textbooks to lug around and give us all back problems, so I wish Mana all the best.
Mana and I are mostly online friends, though we send each other silly greeting cards (silly along the lines of a teddy bear farting in a bathtub or a dancing puppy) all the time. We've talked on the phone once, which was the day before we met! That was December 20 of 1999, where we hung out in Boston all evening. We would have had a good chunk of afternoon as well, but I got painfully lost getting there. Such is life, I suppose. We had a good time that night, though, whether it was playing with Zen gardens in the Discovery Channel Store in Quincy Market or looking through the "grown-up books" section of Tower Records. We also went to Urban Outfitters, where I got the coolest mittens ever. Next time we go there, we're getting the gummy boobs.

ALLISON

Allison is my sister. She's going to be 16 in August, and she's quite excited, so please send her birthday emails. She's the member of my family that I get along best with. Is it because we're the really random ones? Is it because our brothers are really from another planet? Or could it be just because we're very close?

My sister and I didn't get along all that well for a lot of years. We started getting pretty close when I got my license, though, and she and I would go off on our little jaunts to God knows where. Sometimes we ended up at Bealls, drinking iced cappucinos. Sometimes we wound up at Target. Sometimes we would go to McDonald's to irritate my coworkers. We made it all the way to college once - visiting Keri at the University of Tampa (which I will never do again with my sister in tow). I think our tendency for roadtripping is what I miss most about Allison, other than the general silliness and farting contests, which she almost always wins. I love her to death, and if you insult her, I'll get wicked peeved.

KERI Keri. Gah. How does one even begin to describe someone so mutifaceted? She's quiet and mopey. She's squeaky. She makes you choke from laughing at her hair, or her impersonation of a cat going by in a speeding car (remarkably acurate, I might add!) She supplies Terry and I with endless fodder to further our twisted imaginations. And so much more.

I realised a few weeks ago (this writing is 10 Feb 2001) that I've known Keri for about half my life. Kinda scary, when you think about it, but w've been through a whole lot together. We've also been through a lot apart. Keri (and Terry, her cohort) have become permenant forces in my life. Forces I wnat there for a long time. I know I never tell them, but I'm deeply appreciative of all they've given me and done for me, especially Orshilla, Pern and Bon Jovi.

Following Keri, we have TERRY. They kinda go together. Sort of like peas and carrots, if the peas and carrots were hockey fiends. There's not a whole great deal to say about Terry. She's very quiet and introspective. Or at least she was when we got to talk more often. I rather miss our late-night debates on why it would be acceptable for me to pummel her cat (I say yes) and the laughter that would erupt from her whenever I ate a buttered popcorn flavour Jelly Belly ($9 for a 3-lb bag at Sam's Club!)

Oh . The Jelly Bellies. I remember the Olde Towne Near-Death-Experience fondly. Never eat jellybeans in a motel room bed when your two friends are trying to see if they can get you to wet yourself.

JEREMY is a kind of newish friend. He IMed me one night, back in the dark ages when I still had AOHell, and we hit it off. A week later, we decided to meet so I visited him in the hospital. I haven't known Jeremy for very long, which is why he has a short blurb, but rest assured that when he and I do get o hang out, many, many, many references to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" are made. Many. ("Oh George, not the livestock.")

BREKKE is a totally wonderful awesome great person and if you insult Brekke I'm SO going to sit on your head and fart, then kick you until it hurts. I dig Brekke with a big spoon and as soon as I have the presence of mind to ask her for her web page address, I'll post a link.

ALICE is my good friend in Portland that I've talked to on the phone all of twice. She's a very very dedicated fan of the Dave Matthews Band and she hates Windows with a passion. Alice has a Cody, and they sent me a vibrator for my 21st birthday. ::giggle:: Not all of my friends are willing to buy me sex toys, so they get special mention for going the extra mile.

You don't /really/ wanna stay here forever, do you?