Shane and I have been friends for 13 years now. During the summer of '95 we painted the town red, hitting clubs, dating girls, and living the good life. That fall he came with me when I went back to school. We bought and operated the Sonic Garden CD store together and roomed together at Aaron's condo. Shane even managed our band, Honeysuck, which eventually led him to his illustrious career of managing other bands and promoting local music festivals.
We've stayed close friends throughout the 12 years that I've been married. He comes over weekly to watch TV at our house on Survivor Night. We have dinner parties and game nights together. And just recently, we completed a 12 day trip to Mexico where Shane joined all of us to celebrate Christmas.
Invariably, as people I know meet Shane, the question arises: "how did you meet Shane?" The answer usually invokes laughter and some scorn for a few minutes following. So once and for all, let me make something very clear:
There was a moment in history, albeit very brief, when rollerblading was not gay. And during that moment there was another precise moment in history, albeit even more brief than the previously-mentioned moment, when it was very much punk and very much not gay for a man to have a pierced navel.
At that very moment in time - a veritable snapshot of time - I happened to be at the roller blading park having a very manly blading session and I overheard a guy - turns out it was Shane - discussing his plans to get a pierced navel. And as chance would have it, I already had a pierced navel and I offered some insights to that effect, and the rest is history.
And that's how I met Shane.
