I was still working midnights for Shayne's mom at her gas station. My shifts were Sunday, Monday, & Tuesday 11pm-7am. Working a mere 12 days a month basically gave me enough money to cover my portion of the rent and bills, but I didn't have much money for anything else. Thankfully I had some extra curricular activities that were earning me a second income and allowing me to live life comfortably and the way I wanted to.
As the months passed by it seemed more and more friends were coming out of the woodwork. I had been hanging around with Sanjai again quite a bit, my best friend from middle school. One day we had plans to hang at the house and he said he was going to bring a surprise by for me. I had no idea what it was, but I was excited none the less as I love surprises. When the doorbell rang and I went to answer the door, I couldn't believe my eyes and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Sanjai was standing there with our old third partner in crime Jay Poole. I literally hadn't seen Jay since about grade 9 or so, which was now roughly six years in the past.
Jay had moved to the east coast shortly after we started high school, either Halifax or Nova Scotia, I can't quite remember. I do remember at that time thinking I was never going to see him again, and now here he was standing at my front door with his huge trademark smile em blazed. I was flipping my lid with excitement and we were both genuinely stoked to see each other. You can always tell a true friend when you haven't seen each other in ages, yet when you do cross paths again, you have the ability to pick right up where you left off like it was yesterday. Our three man crew of chaos was reunited once again and it felt great.
Another new friend came into the fold through my roommate Shayne, and his name was Scott Kornack. I honestly have no recollection of how these two crossed paths or how Scott ended up at our place one day, but I never questioned it. I was a bit apprehensive of him at first, as he was a clean cut jock type...the type of guys I loathed in high school. Scott had been a football player and a rugby player, and he was quite a big guy. He was a really laid back, nice guy though, so I put my judgements aside and surprisingly we ended up hitting it off very well, to the point where we became closer friends than him and Shayne had been. To me it was a trip to get so close with someone who was such an opposite parallel from myself, yet we had so much in common. Scott introduced me to the world of "japanimation" or "manga" exposing me to classic films such as Akira, & Fist Of The North Star. Being the art lover that I am, it was inspiring to be exposed to something new that opened my mind to more possibilities.
Speaking of friends, another golden oldie resurfaced while we were living on Homer square. Steve Waller, former vocalist of Epileptic Brain Surgeons, had returned to Ontario from Vancouver. Steve moved out west somewhere around 91' I believe and I think I had maybe seen him once when he was visiting and attended a Grasshopper show in late 92'. Waller was back for the summer and I was totally ecstatic. I told Steve he could stay with us anytime and for as much time as he liked. Steve had other places to stay but he did end up crashing on one of our many couches on numerous occasions. Steve and I went out skateboarding quite a bit, and it was nice to have a skating buddy once again, as most of my friends had grown out of it. Steve also taught me about the importance of suspenders, and I swore off belts from that point on. He also taught me about creating graffiti tags, so I was now expanding my artistic side even more.
Living in this place with these great friends was truly a blessing. Everyday was an adventure, as you never knew who might drop by or what may lay around the corner...
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