Crawfish still scare me.

Dear Rachael,

I debated whether or not I should write this as it seems that everyone down there in NOLA has no idea what this whole thing is. But instead I will try to first summarize the idea, then proceed with the unfriending. I have given up on facebook, and I am getting rid of my account. I wanted a way to do so that would encourage friends on my list to find alternative ways to keep in contact, or if nothing show them that I wasn’t unfriending them for anything they did, or hard feelings or what not. Its just a thing, its silly in a lot of ways, but as sincere as I could make it.

That being said, I have the benefit of having Timothy as a connection between you and I. So long as Timothy and I are buddies, so shall we be (I am willing to wager that isn’t terribly comforting, but well, I do what I can:).

When I first heard Timothy was married I kind of took a step back. Not to say I never thought him as the marrying type, it is just that it was kind of an indicator / wake up call for how long it had been since I had spoken to him. In that time he had managed not only to meet a lady he loved, but one that he loved so much as to make it official. No matter who it is, that is a big step in one’s life so I knew I had to meet you.

I assume before we met Timothy did his best to prepare you for what I am like. It is always a crap shoot with me whether or not I will be liked. I have a personality that tends to rub some people the wrong way, and a lot of those traits are amplified when I am around Timothy because I feel more comfortable with myself. First and foremost I have to say you are leaps and bounds the nicest person I have met south of the Mason-Dixon line. I have heard so much about southern hospitality, but more often than not it was a sarcastic reference to the backwards nature of exchanges between Yankees and southerners.

The first visit I came down there I was a fucking bitchy, whiney mess. You by all means should have just told me to go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut, but instead you did your best to make sure I was comfortable. Dispite what I assume must have been a trying experience of having some dude all moaning and miserable on your couch for a few days, you made it look effortless.

You have provided me with countless laughs, and ofcourse beverages. You helped me branch out a little in the exploration of the French Quarter (well as far as I could handle anyways) and you were a phenomenal representative for your home. I do hope to make it down there again (perhaps when the heat won’t peel the flesh from my bones) and maybe do a better job of being a visitor. While for the most part I haven’t seen many things on your news feed that are relatable to me, your postings about people you care about in trouble speaks volumes to how much you care for those close to you. I hope that someday I will be able to be part of that circle, even if it is from a distance.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt

Comms Superiority

Dear Sean,

I wonder if you have taken over the Comms. world yet? The first thing I noticed about you when I started working for STAND was that you were universally liked by everyone. Being myself a somewhat polarizing character I always find this phenomena rather amazing. Most people tend to either really like me, or really dislike me. Though over the years I think I have become more of a “meh” on the feelings scale to most folks since I have toned down my antics. Once I did finally meet you in person I got it though. You are diligent in your work, crass when the situation warrants it, and above all a person that focuses on the needs of others over your own.

While I tend to see people with those traits as having dubious motivations for their behavior, you came off as completely genuine. I did not work with you nearly as much as I did the ladies, but while working with them you were one of the only areas where consensus was as much a given as a period at the end of a sentence. We would argue our way through materials, plans, and opinions, but when all that was finished it was off to Sean, like putting a baby to sleep.

I do miss the good ol’ days of STAND as I have said countless times, but it could be a nightmare somedays, and thankfully you were around to make at least one thing simpler. I have not seen much on your facebook which didn’t pertain to one cause or another and I think that again speaks to your concern for others. Most of us have a news feed clogged with copious amounts of self-centered “me me me” posts and the myriad of ham-fisted attempts at validation for our actions. I am sure you aren’t a superhuman, but you certainly make a good case for Facebook being used appropriately.

I don’t think I have chatted with you on facebook since STAND but, I always have you in my gchat list for whenever I need help with something. Really, if it wasn’t for the slew of you STANDanistas populating my google account, who would I turn too? Either way, I will continue to follow your career, and hopefully someday work with you again someday to give some merit to the little pictures I make for a living.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt

Yup, whatever dude.

Hey Chunky!

You are by far the most consistently NO BULLSHIT human being I have ever come across. You do not mince words, and are funny as fuck when you want to be. I remember first meeting you when I was working with Dave doing landscaping and catch all construction stuff. He said “Tomorrow you are gonna be working with this guy Chunky that works with us from time to time, just a heads up.” I remember hearing the nickname and picturing in my head some Neanderthal hayseed with a tendency towards violence and sister fucking. So you can understand my surprise when I met you in person. Working with you was pretty awesome. Most guys who work with their hands fall into three categories; Hardass,Slacker, and Grunt. The Hardass is the type of guy who always is always sweating and more often than not pissed off. He will bitch consistently about the efforts of others and frequently is the one who ends up walking off the job due to the “lack of professionalism” of the other members of the crew. The Slacker also bitches about the efforts of others but usually in the “slow down dude, we are getting paid by the hour”. Where the Hardass lives by the motto “do it my way as it is the right way” the slacker constantly experiments with the tried and true methods to try to find the way to do something that is the absolute minimum effort. This often results in more time spent experimenting than actually working. The Hardass spends so much time making sure everything is done his way that he often ends up being a middle management figure, as opposed to being a productive worker. The Grunt is for the most part in the middle and does a bulk of the work. I think you fall into this latter category. You will let the Slacker and the Hardass run their mouths all they want, but at the end of the day you know how to get your shit finished, and their horseshit is basically background noise, like the ever-present 80’s / 90’s rock music. You do this in part I believe because you know full well that this fucking job ain’t your life. It’s a job, when you are done with the days work there is beer and relaxing to be had, so who gives a shit about bitching and splitting hairs. Not to say you never bitched. We all do our fair share of bitching. But from what I noticed the only time you bitched is when one of the other two types started fucking with your workflow. I kind of picture the phrase “Take your bullshit somewhere else, I am trying to work here” coming out of you frequently.

Aside from that you and I have had quite a few good counter chats, and every time I see you I feel like talking to you, which might not sound like much, but trust me it’s kind of a big deal in my world. Our Facebook relations have been more or less nonexistent, which is as it should be. I prefer catching up to you in person, and facebook seems kind of laughable in comparison. All that said, I will certainly see you around town, and hopefully smoke and coffee some more in the years to come.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt

Logically...

Hey Jason,

You know somehow I thought I would have seen you again by now. Either I would have come out there or you would have visited here (which you may have). For some reason I have not had the chance. I have been watching a lot of startrek lately on Netflix. I know you must be wondering what that has to do with anything, well here goes. I have always struggled to classify what it is about your personality that made me like talking to you so much. And I think startrek has helped me here. In the startrek world there always seems to be atleast one or two ballast characters. Be it holographic doctors, or Vulcan navigation officers, androids, or what have you these characters are a the happy median balance of the crew. They are always cordial, thoughtful, and precise in their speaking. While they tend on the whole to be rather unemotional, it is not because they lack them, it is more that they play their emotions close to their vest. When other folks are on other ends of the spectrum you were always a great, reliable beacon of calm. I have pushed your buttons a few times to see if you would react, and a couple of times you did, but I counted it a success when your temper rose slightly above tepid, so it was a small victory.

In either case, all Trekkie nonsense aside, I do very much miss that. You were an extreme rarity at the café, a great sounding board, and a cool head. While a majority of the people there (myself included) were more or less shit tossing primates. I will obviously make my way to the big city someday; I just hope I can do it before you and Emily forget who the hell I am.

I don’t think we have chatted on facebook, and I am fairly sure you never use it, or do so infrequently, so no biggie in losing that. I will be catching up with you on the flipside.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt

Nice Fabric Choices

Dear Allison,

You are the one reason I wish I would have worked more on my Kowerk project. It would have been wonderful to see what you could have done with the space. The ideas you had, and the amount of effort you put into your ideas actually made me rethink if I was professional enough to move forward on the project, which I assure you is a good thing.

When I first met you in class you were a fairly unassuming character. You were stationed at a table of ladies that more or less embodied all I dislike in college, but you stuck out by not sticking out. I remember your mask project in that class was something else. That class aside, seeing you in the hallway of one of my other classes in Kohrman was a highlight of my day. I was always kind of panicked about it. I felt like maybe I was breaching some form of college protocol; just because I talked to you in one class does not mean I am permitted to engage you in a hallway setting. In any case you were nice to me, though I suspected for a majority of the time you did not know my name.

That is kind of how college goes anyways, we need not know each other’s name, “guy from 2d” or “chic from arthistory” suffice in most cases. It is kind of weird to me seeing you on fb and in person, versus what I saw in school. In school you always seemed so polished and proper. For lack of a better term rather preppy. But in person you are a rather organic type of person, quick with a smile and kind. The kind of person you would want to see if you were having a bad day, or maybe hurt yourself somehow. I think this is one of the cases where Facebook was a benefit to me. Were it not for facebook I am fairly sure I would have known very little else about you, or would have never contacted you again outside of school.

Colorado seems like a state made for you. I remember talking to you about places you would like to be, and that place really does have you covered. It’s weird, of all the folks I have known that have gone out there, you seem like the person who could be from there. Open spaces, mountains, nature, beauty…yup that’s you alright.

In anycase, while I will not be seeing you around anymore, I will most definitely be shooting you the occasional email just to see what’s doin. I venture I will want to visit Colorado one day, and if I do I will put you on notice as one of the legs of my tour. I will certainly miss your news feed updates, but I assume at somepoint you will have a website, so I guess I will just have to wait.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt

Show-Nuff

Dear Rich,

You know you and I never spent much time together. We never really made plans to go anywhere and do anything. But I know this I always had a good time talking to you and there never was a time where that happened that I did not laugh. You always have a smile on your face, and even if you were having a pisser of a day, you talked about it in way that made me crack up.

You kind of remind me of someone I should be related too. I mean the red hair, the pale complexion that always seemed to be tinted red with some form of exertion or another (I think to think it was the effort of suppressing the urge to strangle morons, which is something I can relate too). You are a good drinker, and make for some of the best passing remarks one could hope for.

All this and not to mention the depths of your geek-minutia knowledge. If ever I felt old, or weird, or just plain out of place for some random 80s reference, there you were to not only laugh at the joke, but probably one up me on my weirdness. An example:

Counterperson: “…these kids were like somekind of weird cult that worships 4loko.”

Me: “Sort of like the Berenstain Bears of the ghetto.”

Rich: “Nah I saw em, they are more like the Monchichis.”

This would be followed by blank stares from everyone at the counter, punctuated by you and I laughing and probably a couple of “jesus” comments thrown in. Its not easy getting older, and its even harder to feel like you are socially relevant to anyone under the age of 30, but luckily for us there are a few of us out there that can still talk like we are 14 sitting around a table of maps and dice drinking mellow-yellow.

I don’t know how much I will be seeing you around since I don’t tend to get out much, but I think the next time I see you I am going to make you sit down and play the “How big a nerd are you” game with me for a spell.

We have never used facebook, but it has been a blessing seeing your news feed that is often filled with the type of humor that seems tailor made for me. I will certainly miss this, and will have to comb through it all before the unfriending and cull all of your website sources. It won’t be much of a substitute, but hopefully there will be more in person interaction to back it up.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt

Leadership...it happens

Dear Scott,

Man it has been for ever since I contacted you. Way back when I started with STAND it was always a mixed bag of projects and deadlines. On occasion we would have those late night, quasi-booze fueled conversations about life, and by life I mostly mean girls and work (which at STAND those things were often one and the same).

I remember when I first met you in person my first though was that you were far too tall to be so young. Being the fossil I was at STAND, it seemed like everyone was atleast a decade younger than me. I mean I had Hampybags to keep me company, but he couldn’t hold my hand all the time. You were great because you carried yourself more like a full-fledged grown up than I ever have. You also had that wonderful talent where when you said something it sounding like it came from years of experience (even if it was self-admittedly bullshit). And well, there was the tall thing, and having a 5 o’clock shadow at noon.

My strongest memory of you or I has to be the “Night STAND almost ended” as it came to be known. It was you. There were three or four of us walking back to the apartment after some meeting, and it was ridiculously hot, it got up to like 100 degrees that day. It was so hot in fact that were we all kind of in auto-pilot mode, wandering through the streets of DC, which if ever there was a town where you needed to be on your toes, it’s DC. Anyhow, we were all chatting and bitching about some form of STAND drama or another, just kinda zoning out. In my head what happened went like this. You were walking infront of me with Maggie and you guys were kind of droning on about something or other and I was kind of just watching the back of your heads. We came up to an intersection, it was one of those DC intersections, a cluster fuck of like 8 streets converging on this crosswalk gauntlet. We had crossed one street and were waiting for the walk sign to change over. Just standing there, sweating, and staring and the little red hand waiting for the little walky dude to pop up. When the sign said walk, we all started walking into the street. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of lights, and my hand instinctively went up in front of me. Then with a WHOOSH! this SUV roared past our faces, about two inches from our noses. We all just stood there for a second. Stunned. We started to cross again, and about 5 steps on the other side of the street, we all kind of stopped independently from one another. I remember one of us saying something like “holy…SHIT!” and then the lights came back on in our heads and we all realized just how close we all came to dying. I looked down and my hands were shaking like crazy, and I felt kind of a rush of panic. That SUV had to have been going atleast 40 miles an hour. If we had taken one more step, that would have been it. Road pizza out of all of us. Jesus. Then someone said, “I know this sounds bad, but could you imagine what would have happened to STAND if all three of us got whacked?” That’s when the laughing started. The kind of laughing one does when the only other expression available to express what you are feeling is to shit your pants, and fall to the ground. While I am unsure if it would have indeed been the “End of STAND” it would most certainly have been the end of STAND for all of us, and would have put a severe damper on the rest of the retreat festivities moving forward.

I recount this long story, which you really had to be there to get the feeling for it, simply to illustrate a point. The leadership, and atmosphere that you had created (for me specifically anyways) kind of made me think of STAND first and foremost, and I am fairly sure most of us on the MC back then felt that way. Foregoing sleep, school work, our occupations, we were driven to make sure the organization, and its larger purpose succeeded. I think a lot of that was due to you. I always felt like if I did my job properly, and diligently, it would give you ammunition when you were representing us to the world of people out there that could help us achieve our goals.

I don’t really know how much of this is nostalgia, and how much is fact. But I still feel convinced that someday I will be voting for you, and have more hope in the action that I have in a majority of my life.

In anycase, you have my email, and obviously a backlog of a bazillion gchats and mail chains if every you need something, or just want to play the remember when game. Our Facebook relationship was really just a standard thing and we never really did much with it. But I guess on the bright side of things, I had an excuse to write this.

Today was a great day, but tomorrow our FBfriendship will end,

Curt