shennanigans for the fourth (prologue)
a long time ago, when i was still in the air force, and living in alaska i met a guy who shall heretofore be referred to as rudehead, and we became friends.
there is something about being in the borderline frozen wastes of fairbanks, ak, and being a young guy in the military, that brings people together and makes them fast friends. not that all of those friendships always last, but a few of those that i count as my dearest friends i met in alaska.
at the time i was married to my ex (the practice marriage), but i think we both knew that it was going sour. we'd been okay in california, where we both had things to do that kept us from spending too much time together and therefore preventing us from annoying the shit out of each other, but not so alaska.
when the day finally came, my ex packed herself and her daughter up, and they left for utah. technically, we were still married (our court date wasn't for another month or two), but i was already a free man in my own way of thinking.
now, i needed to find a place (i had been living on base in a house, but would be unable to continue due to my divorce), and i needed it to be inexpensive. in essence i needed a roommate. so i went to rudehead (who i knew was living by himself in an efficiency--essentially he had a living/dining/kitchen room and a tiny bedroom), and asked him if he wanted a bigger apartment for less money, the catch being he had to share it with me.
so we moved our shit together into some of the dumpiest apartments i've ever seen. the parking lot was unpaved, and during breakup was a mud pit. bogged down in the mire were numerous huge 70's cars that hadn't run probably since they had left the assembly line. our neighbors across the hall smoked so much pot that it wafted into our apartment, and my wife worried about pissing positive just through contact.
but here, i began my life anew. i was beginning to live my life for me for the first time. rudehead and i would play soccer in the common area, and i was always diego maradona. he would flip me shit about argentina being out of the mundial "already" having lost to england. (if anyone reading this knows anything about argentina, they would know this is the worst insult that anyone could lay on someone who loves that country) of course, they were actually still in the mundial, and rudehead was just giving me a hard time. we watched movies, we talked about life, and friendship, we went to fred meyers and pissed the day away just acting goofy around the store and buying star wars action figures. my wife (then my girlfriend) moved in, and the good times were multiplied by ten. she would cook, and we would do "no-shower sundays" where we would all sit around in our pj's and play games and watch movies, or watch and make fun of porn together. they were easy times; simple, pleasant, uncomplicated.
in the ensuing year, rudehead, my wife, and i became crazy tight friends. no, it would be more accurate to say we were family. then he got out of the military and went back home to texas. i distinctly remember standing in the small terminal in fairbanks at midnight (all the flights out of alaska seem to leave between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am), fighting back tears as rudehead openly bawled and hugged all his friends goodbye. we managed to stay in touch, and even met up in vegas the next year for a week.
time would pass, and occasionally we would relocate rudehead and give him a call and catch up on what was going on.
then in june, i called rudehead again, and before i knew it, we were planning on me coming down to austin for the fourth of july weekend.
and i'll leave you right there for now, o beloved reader, but felt all this prep was necessary to really do my fourth of july weekend justice.
until then,
darth sardonic
there is something about being in the borderline frozen wastes of fairbanks, ak, and being a young guy in the military, that brings people together and makes them fast friends. not that all of those friendships always last, but a few of those that i count as my dearest friends i met in alaska.
at the time i was married to my ex (the practice marriage), but i think we both knew that it was going sour. we'd been okay in california, where we both had things to do that kept us from spending too much time together and therefore preventing us from annoying the shit out of each other, but not so alaska.
when the day finally came, my ex packed herself and her daughter up, and they left for utah. technically, we were still married (our court date wasn't for another month or two), but i was already a free man in my own way of thinking.
now, i needed to find a place (i had been living on base in a house, but would be unable to continue due to my divorce), and i needed it to be inexpensive. in essence i needed a roommate. so i went to rudehead (who i knew was living by himself in an efficiency--essentially he had a living/dining/kitchen room and a tiny bedroom), and asked him if he wanted a bigger apartment for less money, the catch being he had to share it with me.
so we moved our shit together into some of the dumpiest apartments i've ever seen. the parking lot was unpaved, and during breakup was a mud pit. bogged down in the mire were numerous huge 70's cars that hadn't run probably since they had left the assembly line. our neighbors across the hall smoked so much pot that it wafted into our apartment, and my wife worried about pissing positive just through contact.
but here, i began my life anew. i was beginning to live my life for me for the first time. rudehead and i would play soccer in the common area, and i was always diego maradona. he would flip me shit about argentina being out of the mundial "already" having lost to england. (if anyone reading this knows anything about argentina, they would know this is the worst insult that anyone could lay on someone who loves that country) of course, they were actually still in the mundial, and rudehead was just giving me a hard time. we watched movies, we talked about life, and friendship, we went to fred meyers and pissed the day away just acting goofy around the store and buying star wars action figures. my wife (then my girlfriend) moved in, and the good times were multiplied by ten. she would cook, and we would do "no-shower sundays" where we would all sit around in our pj's and play games and watch movies, or watch and make fun of porn together. they were easy times; simple, pleasant, uncomplicated.
in the ensuing year, rudehead, my wife, and i became crazy tight friends. no, it would be more accurate to say we were family. then he got out of the military and went back home to texas. i distinctly remember standing in the small terminal in fairbanks at midnight (all the flights out of alaska seem to leave between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am), fighting back tears as rudehead openly bawled and hugged all his friends goodbye. we managed to stay in touch, and even met up in vegas the next year for a week.
time would pass, and occasionally we would relocate rudehead and give him a call and catch up on what was going on.
then in june, i called rudehead again, and before i knew it, we were planning on me coming down to austin for the fourth of july weekend.
and i'll leave you right there for now, o beloved reader, but felt all this prep was necessary to really do my fourth of july weekend justice.
until then,
darth sardonic
posted by darth sardonic at 7:53 AM
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