I recently had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend who moved to California.
We used to be in the same class. In a small school (there are currently 5 people in my class including me), you get to be very good friends with your classmates. This guy was no exception. He was really fun to have as he is extremely talented at art and very imaginative. During study halls (and, more often than not, literature class), he used to draw the coolest comics. And he used to make them excessively gory, which in a strange, perhaps sadistical, kind of way made them all the more funny. One such comic was a 24-episode series called Toothville. It spanned 8th to 10th grade if I remember correctly. To paraphrase the idea of the comic, it was basically about a lot of walking, talking teeth that did random stuff and somehow were filled with blood and guts which showed themselves profusely when they were injured or killed by nonsensical events. Good stuff. Another comic, called Rice, was about a guy who had such an intense craving for pork fried rice he stabbed another guy's eyes with chopsticks in order to get his rice. Upon arriving at the terrible realization that the guy with the rice had already eaten it all and the Chinese restaurant where the rice was purchased had run out, the guy with the craving ordered the other guy (that guy this guy: very specific ain't I? ) to barf up his rice. Instead of the rice the guy barfed up a small TV, something else I don't remember anymore, and a bunch of minature versions of the craving guy which attacked the craving guy and tore him apart.
Like I said, good stuff.
Comics weren't his only area of expertise. My friend was also the best person I knew at making movies. His movies tended to be, again, horribly violent. He even made a stop-motion animation Lego movie series. I'd make a link to the series here, but the X-treme violence (yes even with Lego guys) and the disturbing nature of the storyline hinder me. If you somehow are really interested in seeing it, ask me and I'll tell you where to go to watch it. But as a fair warning: it contains excessive, unneccessary violence, it's main character is a drug dealer, and it has a vicious ending. However it still makes you marvel at his skill at making the movie.
Oh yes, he also dabbled around with making video games.
Anyway, this talented guy was also very smart and could have done very well in school except for one thing.
He didn't care a thing about school or about anything other than what he found some enjoyment in.
His philosophy was, "Life is short, why waste it on responsibilities?"
And thus, as can be seen by the nature of his movies and comics, he was at times depressed.
And eventually, in the middle of 10th grade, he dropped out of high school.
And he moved to California where he works on video game reviews and edits commercials and such things. Last time I saw him was last December, and that was only for a day or two.
Until yesterday, when another friend and I found out he was here for a week and a half for his brother's wedding and set up a trip to the Topsfield Fair. And so we went with this guy to the fair and had a good time talking and buying overpriced food.
At least he's still the same guy after almost 1 year of not seeing him at all, a little happier it seemed but that might be due to the fact that he's finally able to be spending time with people around his age, which he never gets a chance to do in California as he lives with his older brothers and only gets to socialize with their 20-30 year old friends and co-workers.
Aside from stories about what it feels like to be high on this certain drug and on that drug and on this one (I was dismayed at the list of drugs he talked with experience about, some of which I hadn't even heard of) and stories about getting "drunk outta my mind" (his own words), I had a great time listening to him come up with hilarious and wierd situations his strong imagination actively cooks up. I'd explain what they are but for me to repeat some of them would only make them sound stupid as they aren't funny told by another person; you really have to see him telling them and hear how he says it for it to be funny.
Anyway, that's my little blurb about a friend who isn't around very much.
Who knows how long it will be until I see him again?
Aside from Monday as I might be doing something with him then. (Columbus Day is awesome! :D)
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