[pictures: the past, part 2]

While looking for pictures, I dug up even more than I thought, meaning this is going to be three posts, not two.

This is Janica.

And my finger.

This is Janica, again.

Todd, a friend of mine at the time, used to host a yearly pool party at his grandparents’ house. This is from one of them, and as such is a nice snapshot of a lot of people, though certainly not all of them. I wonder how many of these people I can actually still name, either by handle or real. Let’s see..

Starting in the lower left:
Donno (but I remember him now), donno, Tom (semi-dated Laura after we broke up, worked with my mother, and we were always wary, but wound up getting along well), Naomi (full of spunk, she was great), Corri/Morrison (standing–friend, screwed her life up with drugs and alcohol), donno who dark-haired kid by Nao was, but i remember him being there; the girl next to him was his gf, the boy above her was with Corri, Todd/Sigmund (shirtless, his story is one that’s sad and long and doesn’t belong here), Rachel/Pandora, Troubled Dude Who Dug Me whose name I can’t fuckin recall, Eddie (sitting), creepy guy who wanted to hit everything that had boobs, Roxanne in football jersey was ok, emo guy on floor not sure, above him shirltless was Joe/Eeyore, just a wondergul guy who I really wish I could have been even better friends with, then Sarah (Tom’s future wife), kid I remember but don’t know, Jaime/Guinevere (my seventh wife, I remembered as I perused pictures. In the Offworld days, I was pretty popular, and had a harem of women. Janica was wife #1, and the others lined up, though it was all just in good fun. Now I admit I’m trying to remember who they all were. I think I had 8.), then Me (yay!), then Galia (Nao’s sister).

Man, so many people are missing, too. Shoulda taken this photo earlier in the day. There’s at least 10 people who should be here.

Some of whom are here. This is Kathie, Mike, and Cathy. We frequently hung out and had Cathy/Mike/Kathie/Mike nights. Yes, the silly things amuse me.

Kathie and Mike were brother and sister. Cathy was my best female friend.  I’ve mentioned before the times when you meet people whom, had circumstances been otherwise, you would have had a relationship with? Cathy was mine. We were never really available at the same time, but were very close, and remained so for a very long time. Eventually, she married a wonderful man, Tim, and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding.

Yes, you read that correctly. And no, I didn’t wear a dress, but I stood on her side and was quite proud. We’ve largely fallen out of touch in recent years. Once I moved to Washington and was unable to visit her in Kansas City (or see her when she came into St. Louis to visit her family), we were forced to rely on e-mail, and it’s too easy to slip into the embrace of procrastinance. She and Tim have two children now that keep her running in circles.

It’s impossible to describe how much love I have for Cathy; even though we’re estranged now, she was there for me during the roughest times. I miss our almost nightly walks when we lived near each other; I miss her family, which I was virtually a part of. I miss her massages–yes, they were platonic, but good lord, she’s the only person I’ve ever met who could successfully unknot my back. But most of all, I miss our conversations

A few more Offworld people. Well, there’s me–and heck, I actually think it’s a fairly good picture–and Michelle, and Sean, and Kathie again. I have no idea who the child is, or why she’s staring at me evilly.

I think this is from Tom’s wedding, but I’m not entirely sure. I can’t look at it without thinking of the relationship dynamics. Michelle was a good friend to Laura and myself; she was very short, and I used to call her my midget Jewish lesbian friend. Which she was. She also loved sports, and used to go to baseball games with me, or talk about the Cardinals. She had a crush on Laura, and wound up dating Kathie, whom none of us knew was bisexual until one day Michelle was like, "Um, yeah, so I’m with Kathie now."  This shocked us, not because we cared one way or another about their sexuality (there are few things I deplore more than bigotry), but because it seemed so out of the blue.  Sean became a very good friend of Laura’s, and also had a crush on her, but it was never really requited. I became pals with him as well, though, and appreciated his role in her life, which really didn’t blossom until she and I had broken up.

That was Offworld in a nutshell, really. Relationships, dynamics, crushes, friendships, constantly changing and evolving. A microcosm.  I find it amusing that I remember the relationships so well.  I also find it amusing that, now that I think about it, everyone had a crush on Laura at some point. Go figure.

Fittingly, the next set of pictures is Laura/me.