Thanks Caniprokis... It means a lot that I and everyone else mean so much to you. Ya know I was thinking about the beginnings of my friendships with all of you just this morning... funny you'd post this. Since I sort of created the better part of this social circle, I'd like to share my impressions and memories with you.
Calliander- Out of everyone I currently hang out with, Calliander is probably my oldest friend. We were part of the same social circle in elementary school, we've been hanging out with ever since 3rd grade. Calliander was the whipping boy in our Quasi-popular group of friends, even I routinely made fun of him. But one day we were both shit-canned by that group of friends. I wandered around the school for the better part of the 7th grade with now real friends of my own, except for Bean, who went to school in East Haven. It was a horrible, angry time of my life. Then one summer day, I bumped into Calliander at a sidewalk sale at a local strip mall. We hung out, went back to his house, and I found we had a lot in common. We liked the same bands, we had similar opinions, and we were both angry young outsiders. We both started growing our hair long and by the time we hit High School, we were inseperable. He also reunited me with Blood, who I used to hang out with in 5th grade, and lost contact with.
Stone- I met stone in the third grade in a school program. I had been falsely labeled by everyone around me as "the smart kid". In reality, I was just much more mature than everyone around me, and I had an insane vocabulary for someone my age. When I met Stone though, I was astounded by him. I'd finally met someone who was as mature and verbose as I was, and I was astounded. At first meeting, Stone struck me as one of the most brilliant people I'd ever known, and still does to this day. We were friendly acquaintences for years until High School when he, Pappy and I started playing Magic together. In short time he became a part of our little family.
Pappy- I'd known Pappy for a number of years, but my first strong impression of him was when we were bunkmates at Nature's Classroom. The cabin we were in held 10 people. Oddly enough we seemed to have 5 people who were "popular" and five people who were... not. Guess what group Pappy and I were in? The first few nights I was on the Popular side of the cabin, trying Oh so hard to fit in and be accepted by them, even though I hated most of them. I was kicked out of their side by the second night. Well, I moved over to the other side of the cabin, and started talking with pappy. I'd just gotten a 35 MM camera and had no idea how to use it, and his hobbie was photography, so I asked him how to work it, and he gladly helped me out. Like Stone, I was friendly acquaintances with pappy until High School, when we really started hanging out.
Spo- Spo and I had been bitter, bitter enemies in middle school. He was a stereotypical nerd, and I had to make fun of nerds, because I didn't want to be viewed as uncool. Because I was hanging out with Pappy and Stone, I was now roleplaying, and through that I started hanging out with Spo. Things were rocky at first, I started out by murdering his character. Then one night we went to see the first element together, everyone had ditched us, and I didn't feel very comfortable hanging out with him on a one on one basis... I didn't feel I knew him well enough. But after the movie, we just sat around, amazed at the phatness of it. That night I came to call him friend. When he met his first girlfriend, he introduced me to Sara Wilson. I was supposed to go out with her, but I wasn't into it... but spo, his girlfriend and Sara Wilson and I sort of became our own little clique. Thanks to some very important adolescent memories, Spo will always hold a very important place in my heart.
Caniprokis- As earlier noted, we didn't hit it off right away. The first time he started hanging with us, he was part of an ugly dispute between Stone and Blood. This pissed me off to no end. Then for a long while, even though he hung with us, I wouldn't accept him. My alpha male sense was going off because we were waaay too similar... but once he explained that he wasn't trying to replace me (I was out of the state 8 months out of the year) He too became part of my family.
There are others in my family that I'm not mentioning here, but that'll have to wait for another day because I have to study, and I'm running out of time now. Peace out, and I love you all...