Friends and assorted

The three loves of my early twenties life, though I'll admit that Lars and Liam, however cute, didn't hold quite the same attraction for me as their daddy did. Jim and I dated for nearly five years (with some time off for good behavior); even if we didn't work out for the long haul, he still rocks my socks off. He's an awesome cook, roleplays, and codes like a rabid monkey.

Once upon a time Brandon and I lived together (in dreadful sin, or at least I'm sure his mother thought so) but later we just try to make time for regular Indian food dates. He's from Pennsylvania and went to a scary Christian school that somehow managed not to warp him beyond repairability. We're not sure how that worked out, but hey, he's beyond good natured about my nuttiness, so how can I not help but appreciate him, even if he's a commie vegetarian?

How did Kelly manage to insinuate herself so quickly into my life? We went from bare acquaintances to confidantes in the space of a single marathon chat session and just like that, I had another female friend. That makes three over the last, oh, decade or so. She's smart and passionate and funny and sports a tinfoil hat like a champ. We'll keep quiet for the moment about the whole hand-stapled-to-the-forehead goth scene thing. Until the mocking becomes necessary.

Craig, my brilliant and enigmatic spaz. Be it Web design or magic, Macintosh or tarot, electronica or beer crafting, he knows it. But who would think it to look at him that he was so obessed with silly teeny bopper movies? The most interesting conversations come packaged at one end with mystery and at the other with hilarity. My favorite lunch companion and trader of books.

Patrick thinks he looks like a member of Wham! in this picture. I'm inclined to disagree, but ah well. Once upon a time, he refused to eat Altoids because they have gelatin, which might have horse hooves and stuff in it. Yet he ate eggs and drank milk. The mysteries of half-assed veganism resulted in much mocking of him on my part. But he's put up so beautifully over the years with lots of sobbing and tv watching from me, and I think that should make up for not eating Altoids. Mostly. He was instrumental in getting me to not wear shapeless bags for clothing as much as I used to, for which I think I thank him.

Jeff is crazy. We met because he wanted someone to roleplay with and contacted a friend of mine... starting a whirlwind friendship that resulted in him rooming with me and Richard one year and still being one of my dearest Puzzle Fighter companions. But he's still crazy. He lives in a cave now and is rarely awake during the day, watching "training videos" at his AT&T graveyard shift by night.

Spoiler alert: In 2011 I ended up marrying this man, who no longer lives in a cave.

I've never met John. He's counseled me past 1.5 breakups, I've house-sat for him multiple times, I've wrestled with his dogs, and he's been the most constant friend and advisor in my life since October 1999. Have I mentioned I've never met him? Had he not reached out through email to comfort me when Brian dumped me from Japan, I'd be a lot less rich in friends than I am today.

Kenny and sunburned Seth in Vegas. Kenny is a good guy that I roleplay with, but don't see much. Notable is that he spent much of the Gulf War in Kuwait playing first person shooters in the communications buildings. Seth, I make every effort to see at least once a week. I love Seth dearly; in the many years I've known him, he's moved from acquaintance to friend to older brother that I never had. He has impeccable taste in books, amusing taste in movies, a knack for creating characters that mine always work well with (or fall in love with), and the astounding ability to be the only person I feel truly comfortable watching TV together with in silence. He can also pop his jaw, which is just downright weird.

Kate is a dear woman who was the first girl in college to remind me (after many years) that not all girls were psychotic bitches out to get me. I'm not really exaggerating about that opinion. She likes computers, likes meat, likes shopping, likes gossiping, but most incredible of all, likes me. She's from Yakima, which we try not to hold against her too much.

UberDM Jason, racking (heh) up the con babes. Jason is Seth's roommate, and has been my DM in countless games and campaigns since I came to college. Sweet and endlessly creative, Jason's mind is a hotbed of wackiness at its best. I'm not really sure how he puts up so forgivingly with their apartment being host to dozens of roleplayers and gamers a week, but I'm grateful to him (and Seth since they moved together) for providing the stablest hangout in my life.

My life is full of strange boys, and Chris is no less of one. He used to be the network admin at my job, and was a dear friend to me until he transferred to WSU because the CS department at the UW are a bunch of dickheads. He's one of the kindest souls to be housed in the body of a homicidal leprechaun that I know, and is the one running the server hosting this page. He puts up with more shit from me than he should, for which I'm very thankful.

I've known Richard (here with his girlfriend Jessie) since I was in 8th grade and he was in 6th; that would make it about a really freaking long time now. He moved to Florida for a while and only visited his Dad in Seattle every six months, but came back for college and we lived together for a year. I learned a valuable lesson that year—don't ever share an apartment with a good friend who's just as stubborn and opinionated as you are. He's a dear, though, and the most guruingest of unix gurus that I know.