Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Drama from Upstate New York
Over the weekend, my friend here, Dave, mentioned that he had a series of friends whom, if he didn't make the effort, they would lose touch. Well, that got me thinking, and I'm going to try and make the effort at reaching out to old friends whom I haven't talked to in awhile. Yesterday, I sent e-mails to an old boyfriend who now lives in Delaware, and to my best friend from law school who (I'm ashamed to say this) works in Colorado for the same company I do and so there is no good reason for the months that have passed without talking.
Last night, on the hour long drive back from work, I called my best friend from when I lived in Rochester in the late 80s: Bump. He was self-conscious about his last name at first, but I don't know if he is so much anymore. As soon as I knew that was his name, I always called him Bump. I met him in 1989 -- I've known him fourteen years now. When I called, he knew who it was as soon as I said hello.
Anyways, we got caught up. Or maybe I should say I got caught up, Bump did most of the talking. I heard about his ex-boyfriend Ronnie, who has slowly deteriorated in his mental health to the point where he was jailed for eight days after losing his temper and acting out by pitching a rock through his sister's glass door. In the last nine months, Ronnie also started hallucinating about people following him, or taking pictures of him, or being up on his roof -- and when he started up about the roof people a few days after his release, a friend who was with him at the time called the cops again. They said they were tired of seeing his name come up on their call monitor and that he needed help -- so into the psych ward went he. I told Bump I thought that was the best thing. He agreed, but he's also stressed out about it: He talked about Government agencies that could care less -- hospitals, jails, psych wards. Worse than the withdrawal from all the meds, though, is the fact that New York just passed a law prohibiting smoking. For Ronnie and Bump, this is the last straw!
I also got the scoop on one of my ex-boyfriends, DC. Bump and DC weren't talking for a long time, it was over something petty. I think DC laid into Bump for not voting in the last election and Bump had said "what for?" They've just started talking again, but it's not a walk in the rose garden. Bump's car is in the shop right now for a new water pump, and DC won't even help pick up or drop off to Bump's work or help with a few chores. (Somewhere, I have DC's number, and I feel like giving him a piece of my mind. What a bunch of high-maintenance babies! ---Except, that would be going against the intent of reaching out and touching old friends, etc., wouldn't it?) Because of the amount of smoking, DC has had some pretty nasty bouts with cancer recently, including chemo. It's so strange for me because I still think of us all in our 20s.
Bump's also discovered X. He's been "rolling hard", he says. (At one point I had been curious to try, but I never have, and right now, I don't know if I care I ever do.) Even after a few months, he said the highs are getting less intense, and he's left feeling disappointment. (Kinda like showing up for work -- not!) I reminisced about the first time I met him, he was wearing one of those wife-beater shirts, jeans and black tennis-shoes. We were the hot items at this neighborhood bar ---sniff sniff. Well, that was then and this is now.
As we were talking, I made tentative plans to visit in October. I'm definitely looking forward to it!
Stay tuned as I get caught up with more of my old friends!
On an unrelated note, our company has been hit by this virus / worm that's been publicized this past week. It's pretty insidious, it slowly attached itself to various programs of our company, and yesterday I noticed that all the on-line screens slowly deteriorated, as if something was literally eating the graphics away. I can hear people in the conference room behind us discussing its impact on a server. I've been amazed that a company as technologically advanced as ours couldn't catch something like this to begin with.
Well, I've been a diligent little employee in the last week and finished all my training (remember Blog Post #1?), scheduled a couple of meetings on the G project build, and cornered a few intractibles to woo them over a spat regarding ownership and cost centers.
Later.
Last night, on the hour long drive back from work, I called my best friend from when I lived in Rochester in the late 80s: Bump. He was self-conscious about his last name at first, but I don't know if he is so much anymore. As soon as I knew that was his name, I always called him Bump. I met him in 1989 -- I've known him fourteen years now. When I called, he knew who it was as soon as I said hello.
Anyways, we got caught up. Or maybe I should say I got caught up, Bump did most of the talking. I heard about his ex-boyfriend Ronnie, who has slowly deteriorated in his mental health to the point where he was jailed for eight days after losing his temper and acting out by pitching a rock through his sister's glass door. In the last nine months, Ronnie also started hallucinating about people following him, or taking pictures of him, or being up on his roof -- and when he started up about the roof people a few days after his release, a friend who was with him at the time called the cops again. They said they were tired of seeing his name come up on their call monitor and that he needed help -- so into the psych ward went he. I told Bump I thought that was the best thing. He agreed, but he's also stressed out about it: He talked about Government agencies that could care less -- hospitals, jails, psych wards. Worse than the withdrawal from all the meds, though, is the fact that New York just passed a law prohibiting smoking. For Ronnie and Bump, this is the last straw!
I also got the scoop on one of my ex-boyfriends, DC. Bump and DC weren't talking for a long time, it was over something petty. I think DC laid into Bump for not voting in the last election and Bump had said "what for?" They've just started talking again, but it's not a walk in the rose garden. Bump's car is in the shop right now for a new water pump, and DC won't even help pick up or drop off to Bump's work or help with a few chores. (Somewhere, I have DC's number, and I feel like giving him a piece of my mind. What a bunch of high-maintenance babies! ---Except, that would be going against the intent of reaching out and touching old friends, etc., wouldn't it?) Because of the amount of smoking, DC has had some pretty nasty bouts with cancer recently, including chemo. It's so strange for me because I still think of us all in our 20s.
Bump's also discovered X. He's been "rolling hard", he says. (At one point I had been curious to try, but I never have, and right now, I don't know if I care I ever do.) Even after a few months, he said the highs are getting less intense, and he's left feeling disappointment. (Kinda like showing up for work -- not!) I reminisced about the first time I met him, he was wearing one of those wife-beater shirts, jeans and black tennis-shoes. We were the hot items at this neighborhood bar ---sniff sniff. Well, that was then and this is now.
As we were talking, I made tentative plans to visit in October. I'm definitely looking forward to it!
Stay tuned as I get caught up with more of my old friends!
On an unrelated note, our company has been hit by this virus / worm that's been publicized this past week. It's pretty insidious, it slowly attached itself to various programs of our company, and yesterday I noticed that all the on-line screens slowly deteriorated, as if something was literally eating the graphics away. I can hear people in the conference room behind us discussing its impact on a server. I've been amazed that a company as technologically advanced as ours couldn't catch something like this to begin with.
Well, I've been a diligent little employee in the last week and finished all my training (remember Blog Post #1?), scheduled a couple of meetings on the G project build, and cornered a few intractibles to woo them over a spat regarding ownership and cost centers.
Later.