Punkie's Pals
I am blessed with a LOT of friends. Some of them have web pages, some of them don't. You can look at their pages in my chum section, but here are my personal faves of my friends over the years. There are more scattered through some of my essays and even reviews.
Have you ever had a moment in time that you wish you could freeze forever? This picture is one of them for me, Fall of 1986. These were two of my best friends in high school, Kate and Julie. This picture was taken just a few months before everything went to hell for us. Kate is now a associate professor at a University, and Julie is a biochemist, but they still don't talk to each other. Sigh...
My friend Jason is a friend I am still in major contact with since High School. I look up to this man. He wanted to be an astrophysicist just like me, but he actually succeeded and then some! He now teaches, cooks, decorates cakes, climbs mountains, hikes, bikes, plays the banjo, and is one of the most interesting people I know.
Brad, Master Thespian. I met Brad when we both were in the comedy group, "Prune Bran." He remained my friend regardless. He usually travels with us on our vacations because he is such a cool and interesting guy. He is also one of the most skilled in the IT Networking field, and makes gobs of money. We knew him when he was a struggling actor and worked at Pizza Hut and Kemp Mill records, and we can say money has not changed him.
When we had the Beach Trip of Hell 1999, Brad took us to Busch Gardens, which was really uncrowded for the same reason we fled Hatteras: incoming hurricane. Brad LOVES dragons, and stayed with the kids (my son CR and Kiki) for the Dragon show. I got this picture of him with the other actors. He's still a ham!
Bruce? Turn down the jacket! Actually, this is Bruce Evry, head of FanTek, and a good friend since 1987. He's been with me through good times and bad, and I would not be the person I am today without him. Bruce is also known for wearing very interesting things at his conventions (which are more like 3-day parties that he throws), like dressing as a purple pirate, a Goth, and here, in his new holographic sequin suit.
I have known Tracie since Prune Bran as well. I knew her when she shaved her head, wore a nose ring before it was cool, and was really, really artsy-punk. Now she's a respectable resident for Texas, and comes to visits here a lot. She still does art, and I have several of her pieces hanging in our house. She took this photo with my web cam when she was here last, in a vain attempt to flirt with someone online. Hahaha! Now I will post it for all to see!
Sean I have known since Prune Bran, and we both work at the same company in the same building. We used to *be* the the International QA Team, until they split us up and absorbed International into Domestic (in an attempt to become "global"). Here we are with Japanese QA guy, Wataru-san.
Here we all are at our company Christmas Party in 1999. From left to right are Jen, Sean, his wife Lou-ann, Christine, me, and in the back is a man who was a professional Liberace impersonator. No, I am not kidding this time. He had the voice, accent, and mannerisms down perfectly, but he didn't look a thing like him.