DAY 46: PALS

It ain't easy having pals.


They rib you, insult you, exploit your insecurities and foibles. Generally giving you the gears. Like a living diary written in indelible marker they never let you live down the embarrassing goofy stuff you have done in your life, like the skin tight leather pants or the drunken dance-floor makeout session with a 300 pound cougar who left her cheap ruby red lipstick all over your face like you'd been bobbing for pistachios.


But all that really means is they know you, and accept you for who you are. Regardless. 


My blood relatives put the func in dysfunctional, so over the years I have invested in my small circle of friends in lieu, and consider them my family. They are a good bunch, albeit somewhat damaged, each in their own special way. Like a Super Team, each member with their own unique ability, thankfully minus the spandex....except Josh, but what happens behind closed doors is his business.


I have a milestone birthday rapidly approaching, and this merry band of miscreants helped me celebrate the other night by partaking in the time honored tradition of getting me shitfaced.  This is the gift that keeps giving as it is still making itself known today, like a house-guest that sleeps until noon and uses all of your toilet paper, and although I feel as though a pig has shat in my brain, I'm smiling. I've got good pals.


In addition to plying me with copious amounts of alcohol, mi amigos also presented me with gifts. Anyone that scoffs at the idea of grown men purchasing gifts for each other as being gay only does so because they don't have anyone in their lives that cares enough about them to buy them cool shit. Now if my pals had purchased and signed a birthday card, that would have been totally gay.


The group gathered was a good mix of childhood, highschool, and newer friends, and the gifts were representative of the mix. All the geek staples were covered: comicbooks, Star Wars, Lego, Thundercats, rockabilly, and t-shirts a-plenty! Including the painstakingly crafted handmade 100% cotton masterpiece featured above. This tee is the equivalent of the birthday card a parent receives from their kid that is crafted out of macaroni, glitter and Elmer's paste, and as it's proudly mounted on the refrigerator you can't help but fleetingly wonder if the child might be a tad slow. 


Future frackin' awesome Shirts of the Day also gifted included Deadpool, Charlie Brown, Robo Cop, and Han Solo! What makes this drenched in awesome sauce is that this group of friends don't speak geek, well at least not fluently. They don't get an obsession with pop culture rooted in the realm of sci-fi and superheroes, comics and cartoons. But they do get me. And that's what makes them pals.


I think William H. Bonney summarized it best when he said "See, you get yourself 3 or 4 good pals, then you've got yourself a tribe. And there ain't nothing stronger than that".


To my tribe, to my PALS!


THANKS!