Smed Lurks About and Says, "Hello!" [ February 26, 2006, 4:30 p.m. ]

Hi, perhaps you know me. I�m Smed, purveyor of Smed�s Corner, and I�m glad to meet ya.

I was asked to provide a guest entry for Judith (hey, we�re all on first name basis here, right?) and I was struggling at times on what to write about.

Because she writes so sensitively and carefully, and me, well I just glop a bunch of words onto my word processor and see what sticks. Sometimes it�s steak, sometimes� it�s mush. And yes, I realize that didn�t make much sense as clich�d analogies go.

I was taken aback when she asked me to be a guest writer. We�re similar in many ways � we enjoy music, pop culture, and have a zest for fun (as opposed to a lust for kicks) and Girl Scout Cookies. Oh, and we�re both 40, on the button and we each have a tattoo.

We�re also different. She�s a Tar Heel � I�m a Hoosier. So right there are some basketball issues. She�s single, I�m married with kids. I love Thin Mints, she doesn�t. (Judith, I�ll take yours � I also love Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, so there!). She gets to go out and see concerts. I�m married with kids.

Yeah, jealousy rears its ugly head.

Back in my day, I used to go to all the shows in Indianapolis. I was within spitting distance of Mike Ness and Social Distortion. I was one of the nuts who broke the railing at the Vogue when Helmet was in town. I actually remember that it was the Four Horsemen that opened for the Black Crowes, and Urban Dance Squad opened for Living Colour. I even went down to Bloomington to see Prong and survived a night in the pit down there.

But I got married, and then my mind turned to other things � getting my MBA, working with a professional hockey team, and then ultimately fatherhood. So my days of being rock-and-roll fun are gone, for now.

So when she writes about her jaunts to see this show or that show or the other show, I wish I was there with her. Dang, woman, we could have had loads of fun together if only about 21,218 things in our lives turned out differently. Starting from basic things like living in the same town, or actually knowing that we existed 15 or so years ago. Oh, and if you only liked Thin Mints. (Heh! � that�s a joke � really � seriously!)

Oh, but we shouldn�t dwell on those things. (I mean, we could, and if no one dwelled on such things then there would be 86% less internet blogs and journals). This is the internet � we can be pals from a long way away. And it�s also the aughts, so even though we�re states away we can�t really be that far away.

Because one day, I may meander down to North Carolina due to business obligations (hey, it could happen) and see some friends (yeah, I have them too), and I�ll carve out a night. I�ll pop into her store unannounced, take her by the hand, and we�ll head to some sleazy joint sipping beverages, and watching a bar band playing old classic rock, or 80�s tunes, or some heinous combination thereof. She�ll witness first hand my oh-so-wrong attempts to sing like Steve Perry of Journey. We�ll talk about our favorite writers, and laugh about the people who are taking the band seriously.

And we�ll love every second of it.

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