American Standard ... and stuff and stuff

I have a friend. His name is Matt. Matt is in a band. Check them out here and here. (He's one of the guys in the picture. Yes, really.)

Man, every time I talk to Matt, it's like ... well, we have a lot of catching up to do.

Me: "In April, a guy I've known online longer than I've known Paul decided he was leaving home to hitchhike and be free and shit. So he came and lived with us for six weeks. Then he and I drove across five states. I came home alone. My best friend came to Memphis to see me; I went to Jacksonville to see her. I changed meds. I started therapy, I stopped therapy. I blogged a lot, I gamed a lot ... I don't know, it's just been weird."

Him: sounds intense. listen to elvis costello ... that always makes me smile.

Okay, okay ... I guess most of the catching up is on my end. But then again, it usually takes getting him alone for a while to make him open up.

It doesn't take a genius to realize things aren't going to be the way they were in college, that we — all of us — will still juggle the way we always did, but that we'll juggle different things. In different places. And eventually some things will become stupid heavy and we'll drop the things that don't seem so important, and well ... like I said, things are never going to be the same.

Matt had a way — has a way — of keeping me sane when I'm about to lose it. He's like Klonopin without the sedation. There were times when he'd say, "Just calm down," and I'd want to scream, "No, dammit," but I never did. I just ... did my best to calm down. Most of the time, it worked.

And he's the one who'd hang up the phone for me when I couldn't do it myself. I need more people like that in my life.

It's strange, how he's retreated into himself the same way I did. I guess we all do at some point. It's just hard to discern the foggy outlines of the things you missed when you were busy finding yourself. The world doesn't wait. I wish it did; I wish it had for me.

Urm, I posted about Matt in April, before most of you knew the goodness that was Kate's Ink. ::grins:: More about his music later. I'm going to get out of the office now that traffic's subsided. 6:30 p.m. on a Friday. Can't say I'm not dedicated to work.