remembrance
years ago....portions of my life were spent somewhat homeless. not sleeping on the sidewalks pissing myself homeless but...for example...one year on thanksgiving i was chased out the house by my folks and i spent the night sleeping at a bus-stop in the snow. well part of the night. i may have mentioned this already so i'll skip the rest of it.
during this time there was a house (which was actually a series of houses) and they were all called Norm's house. cuz Norm lived there...everyone else fluctuated. i have to say that Norm was one of the craziest people i have known and one of my favorites too. he's quite possibly the only one i know who could answer the door by taking his penis out and waving it to complete strangers and still be well liked.
at one point in his life he ended up in ....well let's just say he lost his license and was on probation for as long i could remember. there's a story here that i might tell some other time. he worked at the 7-11. and his means of transportation was this, when a kid walked into the store, he would tell him/her/them that there was a party going on at his house that night. if they wanted to come to meet him back at 7-11 when he got off. in other words there was a non-stop constant party going on in his house for years.
the people that showed up....included, vagrants, homeless kids, criminals, straight edge hardcore kids, hare krishnas, bikers, ravers, bi-polar lesbians, latino gangstas, white power skinheads, SHARPs (skin heads against racial prejudice), musicians, skaters, punks, metalheads, goth kids, junkies, tattoo afficionados....you get it, right, fringe sub-culture types. many of them were good friends. many of them i wouldn't trust, but i was old school and chill so people left me alone.
i ran with this group for years until i left for college. i've lost touch with just about all of them now. some of these guys were astounding drinkers (finish off a case of beer a night plus a fifth of rum) some of them gambled all night long on anything they could (blackjack, cutting cards, craps, RISK) and hundreds of dollars would pass hands every night. the majority of the group was pretty protective of the people and surroundings and for the most part kept the trouble away. sometimes the cops came looking for certain people. most of the time they were already gone/kicked out.
the place was a haven for troubled kids. i guess similar to gang cohesiveness without the beating in. these guys helped me out of some tough spots. and for the most part, i remember them fondly.
the other day, someone blogged about the passing of someone they knew. and this is what it brought to mind. there was someone who had lived with Norm from before the eternal debauchery. for convenience sake i will call him 'Jeff'. he and his wife were notorious for going to bars and approaching women with "we think you're pretty cute" etc etc. i got on pretty well with him. didn't know his wife much but i've got a pic of her giving Norm the finger. (maybe i'll dig some of them up later)
one year while i was away at college, the two of them went on vacation down in mexico. i never got the full story of what happened but there was an accident and it left him damaged. he had the brain capacity of a 15 year old is what i heard. after a year i guess his wife couldn't handle it anymore and left. and then i guess he couldn't handle it anymore either. they found him in a park where he'd hanged himself. i found out a year later.
hope you found peace kid. still thinking of you.
during this time there was a house (which was actually a series of houses) and they were all called Norm's house. cuz Norm lived there...everyone else fluctuated. i have to say that Norm was one of the craziest people i have known and one of my favorites too. he's quite possibly the only one i know who could answer the door by taking his penis out and waving it to complete strangers and still be well liked.
at one point in his life he ended up in ....well let's just say he lost his license and was on probation for as long i could remember. there's a story here that i might tell some other time. he worked at the 7-11. and his means of transportation was this, when a kid walked into the store, he would tell him/her/them that there was a party going on at his house that night. if they wanted to come to meet him back at 7-11 when he got off. in other words there was a non-stop constant party going on in his house for years.
the people that showed up....included, vagrants, homeless kids, criminals, straight edge hardcore kids, hare krishnas, bikers, ravers, bi-polar lesbians, latino gangstas, white power skinheads, SHARPs (skin heads against racial prejudice), musicians, skaters, punks, metalheads, goth kids, junkies, tattoo afficionados....you get it, right, fringe sub-culture types. many of them were good friends. many of them i wouldn't trust, but i was old school and chill so people left me alone.
i ran with this group for years until i left for college. i've lost touch with just about all of them now. some of these guys were astounding drinkers (finish off a case of beer a night plus a fifth of rum) some of them gambled all night long on anything they could (blackjack, cutting cards, craps, RISK) and hundreds of dollars would pass hands every night. the majority of the group was pretty protective of the people and surroundings and for the most part kept the trouble away. sometimes the cops came looking for certain people. most of the time they were already gone/kicked out.
the place was a haven for troubled kids. i guess similar to gang cohesiveness without the beating in. these guys helped me out of some tough spots. and for the most part, i remember them fondly.
the other day, someone blogged about the passing of someone they knew. and this is what it brought to mind. there was someone who had lived with Norm from before the eternal debauchery. for convenience sake i will call him 'Jeff'. he and his wife were notorious for going to bars and approaching women with "we think you're pretty cute" etc etc. i got on pretty well with him. didn't know his wife much but i've got a pic of her giving Norm the finger. (maybe i'll dig some of them up later)
one year while i was away at college, the two of them went on vacation down in mexico. i never got the full story of what happened but there was an accident and it left him damaged. he had the brain capacity of a 15 year old is what i heard. after a year i guess his wife couldn't handle it anymore and left. and then i guess he couldn't handle it anymore either. they found him in a park where he'd hanged himself. i found out a year later.
hope you found peace kid. still thinking of you.
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