Everyone needs friends like these

Still my safe harbor

When we got back from Taiwan, everyone wanted Western food.

But, oddly, after just a few days, we were all missing some Taiwanese food, so we headed downtown to Taiwan Pork Chop House, our local dive Taiwanese joint, and ordered a ton of food.

What was cool was that the Surgeon and his family were out and wanted to join us, so that was even better.

In some ways, I’m going back to some of my old ways in that I’ve been more social again during the holidays.

To wit, I met up with a buncha people from my gym the other night around the way…

…and also went to celebrate the holidays at a neighboring building.

Her: I like that we have this little tradition.
Me: Same.

Just like last year, I managed to meet up with my old college buddies at the same place we went to last year as well.

As always, the food was absolutely killer…

…and it was great catching up with everyone.

Me: I gotta think that someone we know has a kid in their 20s.
Him: Young’s got a 25-year-old, I think.
Me: Jesus Christ, that’s right. They got married right outta college.

Alla them, I’ve known at least 33 years but one of the guys, Cappy, I’ve known 35 years.

I hope my kid has a buncha friends like these guys.

One of them, Ricky, always likes to tell the waitstaff that it’s our buddy Gar’s birthday, like he did two summers ago.

But this time, it was half for him and half for me.

See, when it was time to pay, I pulled out my wallet like usual but the fellas wouldn’t let me pay.

Rick: This is a double celebration – you got married AND you hit a million followers on YouTube.
Me: Goddammit, I shoulda ordered that crab.
Him: Too late now.

They printed up a series of real and AI generated things to celebrate Scenic Fights hitting a million subs, which I found amusing.

But, they also all wrote and signed a lovely card for the Firecracker and me to celebrate our getting married.

When I first started this blog two decades ago (!) I wrote about them in one of the first entries ever:

They’re a bit like my safe harbor – I find comfort in the fact that no matter how dreck-ish my life becomes, they’re always there to push another bottle of beer on me and tell me to cheer up.

It was true then and it’s true now.

Like I said, I hope the kid meets fellas like these.

Everyone needs friends like them.

Location: A snowy rooftop, yelling at the kid to not run
Mood: stuffed
Music: These old wings just gotta be good for something (Spotify)
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