Posted by giveawayboy on March 06, 2001 at 19:21:41:
In Reply to: here's how you do it..... posted by giveawayboy on March 06, 2001 at 17:15:41:
Now how do we apply this to roomies?
Well, let's see:
I have never had a roommate I didn't feel GREAT about! I have been real blessed in this area. For instance my first roommate John Sexton is responsible for me getting to know John Vaughan better. By living with John Sexton I got to see John Vaughan on a regular basis. It was really cool! Now, some 10 years later we have alot of great memories that might not have ever been there. Thanks to John Sexton they are. But John Sexton was a real cool cat himself. Here is where another real twisted novel could begin. But I'll spare you guys. I really love that guy.
Sal and Chuck and John and Nancilee were great roomies. I knew them all mainly through Calvary Temple although Nancilee is an exception, but introduced her to Sal. So there's all these neat connections. There was nothing like living in GA. Except for the fact that I really missed my friends here, especially Robert Colon and Nathan Hornsby, which I considered like family to me.
After this was Steve, Cari and John Vaughan. Funny, living with John Sexton I got to know John Vaughan. Now I would be able to live with him soon. This would be quite an adventure! Steve and Cari were excellent! We were like a family. I mean it! There was nothing like life with Cari. She was always finding some kind of fun. Steve was just too cool! He never stopped complimenting me and John on little things we did that he thought were cool. And, that Burger Street bedroom was all the rage. I mean once Steve canonized it as the 'holy of holies' everyone HAD to come see what was hidden behind the veil. It was just a bunch of boxes but Steve had a way of creating interest where there was none. It was alot of fun! Not to mention Karen (Over the Rhine) coming in the morning to wake me up with two Weimeran-whatevers jumping into my bed and sniffing and walking all over me. I used to love mowing the yard at the Burger Street house. I would turn up my cds....Rhythm Saints can you believe it (?).......and most likely The Cure. Now, Steve and Cari were so cool, since they were into music anyway, we always had music going and they were always so cool about it. I can't think of one time when anyone complained about music. The Meigs were great to live with too. This includes Sarah, who stayed with us at different times. Steve used to take me everywhere when I first came down and was looking for a car. When Win passed away, I was given his car and that helped us so much. But, Steve never complained about helping me--and he offerred. I just want people to know how cool he was. Then when we moved to Lutz, it was magical. I lived upstaris in LOFTHAVEN. Michael Cleary was the one who named it. It was amazing--like living in some magical city in the sky, only you had to drive through Lutz to get there. We lived on Rivendel Road too so that had a nice ring to it. Rush was another one of my favorite roomies, plus all the ferrets and skunks and cats and dogs and iguanas......We had all these roommates at both houses. I loved Cari cleaning the house and listening to the Pixies and Violent Femmes and other real neat bands. Yeah, those were good days!
Then for a brief stint I lived with Chris Ross, now Brother Isaac Francis. I was introduced to him by my friend Hubert. Hubert was my sponsor when I joined the Catholic Church. Brother Isaac was a great guy. Those of you who knew him might remember his friendly chats, his Billy Graham crusade efforts, his praise and worship music, his high school teching....etc. Chris was a great guy and I lived with him for about two years. Then something really neat happened when he joined the order. Tim Ogden moved into his bedroom. It was so cool. Tim adopted many of Brother Isaac's things. He even left alot of them on the wall....but Tim brought his own special flavor. Tim is such an awesome brother. I loved living with him. I know at times I might have stressed him out, but at the time I was going through lots of weird car problems and also was struggling with other things in my life that are much less of a problem now. Tim was never a problem. We really put God first in our household. One day Tim and I discovered that a bottle of milk we had both been drinking from for over a week was still almost full. It was amazing. At the time neither of us had much money. We really acknowledged that it was God providing for us. Tim was always a pleasure to have around. I regret that I had him under the same roof and that I didn't spend a hell of alot more time with him.
I will try to learn from that. I also remember his antics, his Marvin K. Mooney, his spontaneous musical outpourings, the stories of his friends at work, and the guys up north that he missed and cared about. I recall Stephanie's visits, and her CAKE! She made the best cake for my going away party and I swear it was the best stuff. Especially the icing. She got me to eat a kind of frosting I don't normally eat and I liked it ALOT! She has the perfect touch. Leaving Tim was hard. Leaving Tim was weird too, since I sort of left one day when he was gone. It was like a weird anti-climactic thing. I want the whole world to know that Tim Ogden, a guy who wears my art on his body, is absolutely fantastic!
And then there's Marc. Man, I love that guy! Before we lived together we had always been acquaintances and I would even say friends through Crossover. It was usually some combination of Steve Holland, Ryan, Marc, Chris Kingsford and I. Anyway, something real wonderful started happening before Marc and I moved into the Pink Palace. Marc and I started spending more time together. I enjoyed our talks about Latin America especially. Plus, we would often attend Mass together. So we started to have these natural Catholic and Latin American connections. I loved it. One night I remember Marc and I talking on this dock near my old house. It was right before I moved to Boulder. Funny--I had no idea as I was telling him goodbye--that within 9 months he and I would be living in Palma Ceia together. Well, God gave us this apartment. We both knew it once we found a special bookcase in it. Marc came here one night before me. The night I moved in Skydancer and Bufallo Bob came over by surprise. It was real cool. It was like we had visitors from the very beginning. Since then we have had Skydancer, Bufallo Bob, Kumar, the Little Dragon, Ryan, Terry P., the McGees, Tim, Steph, Michael Scott (old Crossover pal) and many others. The legacy of the Pink Palace is one of incredible peace and joy. I love it. Living here is like living in a little hidden holy place. It's almost like a little monastery without monks, just normal everyday people like Marc and I. But the coolest thing about the pad here is Marc himself. Although he and I sometimes have quirky conversations and don't always understand each other, we have genuine love and we support each other. Plus, he can always whip out the Psychedelic Furs or some other real cool band and we just love to listen to those CDs. It's alot of fun actually. We have had two or three bonafide powwows here too, inside the house. Also, Marc got us a red lightbulb for the backporch which illuminates one of Stephanie's sculptures. The best night of all though was the night that Marc was playing the Violent Femmes and me and Marc and Ryan started dancing and then Ryan and I wrestled each other until we were both too tired to breath. Then I think we just fell asleep in the corner and Marc just kept dancing. It was so cool!
So, I have been real blessed with great roomies, and at least 6 of them were through our circle of friends. I am so happy.
Bill