So Very Dark

But not these ones:

<–Brendan     
<–Heather

Because, with some measure of regularity, they BOTH comment on my blog!  Now…lets find out a little about these enchanting characters!

I met Brendan in high school, but we were really just part of the same crowd until about 2 years later.  When I was 20 years old, (shortly after breaking up with my first boyfriend who would not have been okay with me having male friends regardless), Brendan got an apartment with his friend Sammy, and invited a bunch of us over to hang out in his groovy new pad.

Goofing off on his computer, Brendan and I hit it off like we hadn’t before, and in the culmination of a bizarre chain of events ended up going to the Santa Rosa Plaza Mall parking garage to wage a boffle battle at 3am.  The security guard kicked us out right when it was getting epic.  So we went to Denny’s and drank free coffee refills for hours, until 7am or so, then we went to my house and he set me up with my first (stolen)  internet connection of my very own before he took off for work.  We IMed for hours, and then, in the hot mid-day, he decided to take off early so we could go to the river.  While we were out, his stalker ex-called and threatened my life for spending a long period of time hanging out with him.

That summer, ‘Bent’ by Matchbox 20 was playing about once every 3 songs, and it always makes me think of Brendan when I hear it.

Since that epic hang-out session, Brendan and I have been friends, bonded through geek weaponry, sleep deprivation, and being yelled at by his ex girlfriend, and I’m often thankful for whatever force brought me to Brendan’s apartment that night (I believe it was Shawnie) because being friends with him is something that makes my life better.  He has been there for me during hard times, has a really weird sense of humor, makes me watch bad British TV shows and feeds me french bread and minestrone when I’m down (or up, or just hungry…it’s not a combo you can argue with.).  He is the one with the crazy schemes…it is because of him that I have gone on spur of the moment trips to SF with no plan (and sometimes, no pants) and I know I’m not the only one who has adventures to remember because of him (Taco Bell in Novato?).

He’s a Pisces with his birthday just a few weeks ahead of mine, and his parents listened to the same weird music my parents did.

We have been each other’s stand in dates for boring events and tried to keep from giggling out loud when absurd comments about the other attendees were made to keep the boredom from getting to us.

I miss hanging out and having my keys (or clothes) stolen so I can not go home and sleep when I have to go work the next day.

I always smile when I read the comments you leave on my blog, usually explaining the horrible ways in which I will die because I don’t live in Cali any more.

I owe you a picture with a motorcycle and hot chicks.

Heather was the girl who moved into my circle of sisters while I was living in Oregon.  For years I would chat with my Cali girls and hear about Heather and her contribution to escapades, new stories that I was not a part of.

When I moved back down and was living with Shawnie on Petaluma Hill Road, I finally met her.  She came over one afternoon, and, according to her, I was drawing on the sofa, looking awesome and intimidating and she thought I was super cool.   Little did she know.

She and I were, for a while, in much the same place that Brendan and I had been — part of the same group, but not close, and perhaps with the innate wariness of each other that females tend to have, hidden beneath sweet smiles.  Or perhaps that was just me…I have trouble making friends with girls–especially pretty ones with large breasts and a solid place in my group of friends, nickname, funny stories I was not a part of and all.

This all changed for us, however, again…shortly after I had broken up with my boyfriend and I was eagerly reconnecting with the outside world.  Heather, 2 years younger than me, was a senior in high school with a wicked curfew.  One night, hanging out somewhere (I don’t recall the exact venue) Heather and I ended up chatting for hours and she suggested that I sleep over at her house and come with her to school the next day.  (Surely doing nothing to dispel her sisters’ suspicions that my motives in being her friend were far from pure.)  We ended up, in the tradition of all good sleepovers, staying up until some obnoxious hour chatting and discovering all the things we had in common; from books we had loved to places we had gone, to movie stars who’s love child we wanted to have.  The next morning, she took me to Wolf’s to get a quadruple-shot mocha.  Around the time it kicked in, she suggested we ditch school and go shopping.

Can anyone wonder why I adore this girl?

From that day forward, we have been great friends.

Not to say we haven’t gone through hard times…but we have gotten through them.  Like when I agreed to be Heather’s guardian at Faire.  Wow.  I sooooo should have known better….;)

And yeah, there was a year or so that we didn’t talk, but I know I was miserable without her in my life and she claims she missed me at least a little bit too.  And after all, it seems that our falling out was largely because we have the same taste in so many things.  Including men.

And to me, the fact that we have gone through times when we made each other mad, or argued, or fought, and still wanted to be friends says a lot, at least to me.  I hate confrontation, and if I fight or argue with someone, it’s kind of traumatic and devastating.   Heather might be the one friend that I can get into petty sniping matches with, get angry, then get over it and be fine.

Living far away, I miss her to death, and I keep the Zippo she gave me in my purse, even though the moon has to be aligned with Mercury and Pluto and in the 3rd house in the dark of moon in order for the damn lighter to work.

And I know she is busting her butt, working and going to law school…but she still posts me long, rambling comments, that sometimes make sense and well, sometimes, I figure…she must just be tired, with that schedule…;)

HONORABLE MENTIONS  –

  Adam doesn’t leave me comments as often as I would like, but he IS the reason that So Very Dark exists.  He got tired of my Myspace blog and insisted I had my own, after flattering me with talk of how I wrote, like, important things that the world needed to see.  Like comments on how that ‘To the Left’ song is stupid.

Anyway, Adam is another person in my life who qualifies as THE SHIZZLE.  Sometimes I want to strangle him, but he is an awesome friend who had been there for me in a hardcore way and makes me smile.

He also says nice things about the pictures I draw and does funny funny improv. 

Adam is my homeboy to the max and I miss chillin’ on his couch and fighting to get him to leave the lights on while we watch a movie so I can draw.  He and his (awesome) girlfriend, Carrie, took me to sushi when I was in town last.

  I have known Kristin since 3rd grade.  In elementry school she used to try to ‘poison’ our friend Aub. In 7th grade we would hang out all day, then, in that inexplicable way of adolescent girls, chat on the phone for an hour or two after I got home from school.  When I was living in Oregon, she would send me long long letters (I think she had to tape the bulging envelopes shut) that had me laughing my butt off as I read about Lenny Jones, Tim Ghallager, Noah Nunez and the White Button Down Shirt.

Thorough our lives, we have grown close and apart time and again, but have that ‘lifetime friends’ thing…so even if we aren’t in the same place we will try to be there for each other.  Once she came and picked me up when I rode my bike to the old Faire site in Novato and I realized that it was WAY too far for me to make it back home.

Kristin doesn’t comment as often as I would LIKE…but she comments and I know she has her hands full with a new house, a boyfriend and…oh yeah…a small child.

K is a hardcore rockstar, and even if she doesn’t listen to me when I talk, I love her anyway.

Crissi is awesome.  She’s Heather’s sister and I (unfortunately) only started getting to really know her right before I moved.  Fate! I spit upon thee!  Anyway, she’s a superstar, and totally leaves sweet comments on both my blog and my Myspace front page on a pretty regular basis.

She is awesome and funny and irreverent and writes well.   You should read her blog if you get the chance. 

My mom.  I met her a bit over 27 years ago and…

Anyway, though she rarely comments directly on my blog, she reads it and sends me emails pertaining to the contents.

And even though she makes me crazy a lot of the time, I love her.  And I think that’s what mom’s are SUPPOSED to do.

She tries to make me care about politics and I try to make her care about Buffy and we both come up against brick walls….but I love talking with her.  She recently reawakened my coffee addiction, which has lead to me stooping to drinking the awful coffee at work and my boyfriend ridiculing me and implying I don’t love my tea anymore.

If I were ever on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ she would be my lifeline.  She knows about tons of stuff.

* if you don’t think you got mentioned enough in this blog, try leaving me more comments next time, BITCHES!