See?

I did do good.

Everytime I start to feel like my life is shit, occasioanlly the gods come and give me news that makes things less offensive.

This evening, it was drinks with a friend and his lady friend.

Amusingly, we grew up in the same hometown, and she even went to my high school for a year -- we suspect we shared a class. Even weirder was that we moved in similar circles, knowing the same people as we grew up.

She still lives in That Town I Never Returned To. And this evening, she fired off a flurry of tales about mutual friends and acquaintances that served a very good purpose.

I like my life where it is. I got out.

And in all honesty, it is something of a miracle.

When you hear of old comrades out making babies in loveless relationships, sitting in jail cells or institutions or still dating the people they dated when they were teens (and working in the local arcade?! Ai ya)... well, you can't help but thank the gods for giving you enough sense to get the fuck out when you did.


One thing most people never understand... how far I have indeed come.

It's unsettling.

I will return to my home town in the next few months, with laptop in tow and ready to declare war on my past. But for right now, it's nice to know I left most of it -- with a few persistent ghosts -- behind.