Think I'll go out to Alberta, weather's good there in the fall.
I ran yesterday, ate pretty good and feel better about it now.
After reading yesterdays post, I realized I made it seem I didn’t have a good time in Edmonton. On the contrary, I had a fantastic time in Edmonton. I used the phrase “Not very good news to report from Edmonton” only in the context of the eating/exercising. The music was wonderful and entertaining, and the company I was in was enlightening with spirited discussions on just about every topic on an almost hourly basis (when we weren’t soaking in the great music.)
I was sitting at one of the side stages on Sunday, which was the only rain free day of the whole music festival, listening to Gabriel y Rodrigo, these two guitar virtuosos from Mexico, and realized how amazing it was; not just the music I was currently listening to (which was amazing and almost unrealistic in how these two knew how to play together so perfectly), but the whole festival and how I came to visit that place 8 times in the past 9 years. What set of events had to fall into place so perfectly for me to be able to enjoy that moment.
In 1989, I met Brad in college. He was really nice, very smart and, unlike me, he seemed to be shy – have problems meeting people. But I did notice that he was in several classes with me and seemed to keep to himself. So, one Sunday when I needed some information from one class, I sought him out and we talked. For hours. And then days. And then it seemed like we were inseparable for months.
I’d had some problems being out at school. I went to a Christian college in a time when being gay meant having AIDS and dying. My freshman year (1987-1988), I told a few people…and it didn’t go over so well. Not that they shouted it from the rooftops, but they were cautious around me. And I lost a few friends (oddly enough, one friend turned on me on a school trip to Florida, and later ended up being gay and we sort of dated for a few weeks. He is now living out the dream in California.)
Come my sophomore year, I decided not to be completely out to anyone else. Let the rumors fly about me and not say more. I become friends with Brad, and all is well. I won’t go into anything now that might have happened to hurt the friendship, but it was all the basic things that any long term friendship weathers, and when we graduated, we kept in contact. I went to graduate school in PA, he went to graduate school in OH (he finished his English as a Second Language degree, I am a graduate school drop-out.)
In 1995, Brad went to South Korea to teach. While in South Korea, I tried to keep him up on what was going on at home, big & small. Most of it was through snail mail as the internet was still running slow and was not as easy to get a good connection at that time. One of the things I remember telling him about was my new favorite music group, the Barenaked Ladies. I had bought their first major label album the day it came out in 1992, and kept him abreast of them as I thought I’d stumbled across an excellent group (still believe that and eagerly await the release of their next album next month.)
Well, I made one comment to Brad that the Barenaked Ladies were playing at a music festival in Edmonton in like 1995 or 1996, I don’t remember which one. He writes back that he worked in Korea with a man from Edmonton who talked to him about the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. I thought that was interesting as until I’d learned about BNL playing there, I’d never once thought of Edmonton since Gretzky left the Oilers in 1988, and here was Brad, on the other side of the world, working with someone who was not only from Edmonton but was a regular attendee of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. This was Eltee.
In 1997, Brad attending the festival on a break from work in Korea, to see Sinead O’Connor. Brad spoke so highly of the event, and he told me Eltee had invited me to come up, that in 1998 I went and had a wonderful time. Brad moved back to the USA in 1999, and started working at our alma mater as a teacher and coordinator of the international students.
Brad is one of those friends I mentioned earlier in the blog that has disappeared from my life for no reason. Well, not exactly disappeared, as I know where he works and what his address is, but he just…stopped e-mailing me, and from our few mutual friends, I have learned that he stopped communicating with all of them. It actually started several years ago. Brad, Holly & I went to Edmonton together in 1999 & again in 2000. Then in 2001, it was just Holly & I that visited Eltee for the Folk Music Festival. And Brad just didn’t e-mail with any regularity.
And then I realized in 2002 that Brad had written me like once in the prior year, and Holly & Eltee had stopped e-mailing him altogether as he hadn’t communicated with them at all. And nowadays, I get like 1 e-mail a year from him, at random times.
But, beside the sad fate of Brad & my friendship, Eltee & I have remained friends and grown as friends. He even met me in Bangkok in 2004 and acted as a wonderful tour guide, as he is retired and winters in Thailand, and he will do the same next February with my nephew & I when we go to Thailand.
So next year, at the second weekend of August, I fully expect that I will be on the hill at Gallagher Park in Edmonton, swaying to the music and having a wonderful time (and hopefully biking more), despite the unlikelihood that I would ever have such a good friend in Edmonton.
After reading yesterdays post, I realized I made it seem I didn’t have a good time in Edmonton. On the contrary, I had a fantastic time in Edmonton. I used the phrase “Not very good news to report from Edmonton” only in the context of the eating/exercising. The music was wonderful and entertaining, and the company I was in was enlightening with spirited discussions on just about every topic on an almost hourly basis (when we weren’t soaking in the great music.)
I was sitting at one of the side stages on Sunday, which was the only rain free day of the whole music festival, listening to Gabriel y Rodrigo, these two guitar virtuosos from Mexico, and realized how amazing it was; not just the music I was currently listening to (which was amazing and almost unrealistic in how these two knew how to play together so perfectly), but the whole festival and how I came to visit that place 8 times in the past 9 years. What set of events had to fall into place so perfectly for me to be able to enjoy that moment.
In 1989, I met Brad in college. He was really nice, very smart and, unlike me, he seemed to be shy – have problems meeting people. But I did notice that he was in several classes with me and seemed to keep to himself. So, one Sunday when I needed some information from one class, I sought him out and we talked. For hours. And then days. And then it seemed like we were inseparable for months.
I’d had some problems being out at school. I went to a Christian college in a time when being gay meant having AIDS and dying. My freshman year (1987-1988), I told a few people…and it didn’t go over so well. Not that they shouted it from the rooftops, but they were cautious around me. And I lost a few friends (oddly enough, one friend turned on me on a school trip to Florida, and later ended up being gay and we sort of dated for a few weeks. He is now living out the dream in California.)
Come my sophomore year, I decided not to be completely out to anyone else. Let the rumors fly about me and not say more. I become friends with Brad, and all is well. I won’t go into anything now that might have happened to hurt the friendship, but it was all the basic things that any long term friendship weathers, and when we graduated, we kept in contact. I went to graduate school in PA, he went to graduate school in OH (he finished his English as a Second Language degree, I am a graduate school drop-out.)
In 1995, Brad went to South Korea to teach. While in South Korea, I tried to keep him up on what was going on at home, big & small. Most of it was through snail mail as the internet was still running slow and was not as easy to get a good connection at that time. One of the things I remember telling him about was my new favorite music group, the Barenaked Ladies. I had bought their first major label album the day it came out in 1992, and kept him abreast of them as I thought I’d stumbled across an excellent group (still believe that and eagerly await the release of their next album next month.)
Well, I made one comment to Brad that the Barenaked Ladies were playing at a music festival in Edmonton in like 1995 or 1996, I don’t remember which one. He writes back that he worked in Korea with a man from Edmonton who talked to him about the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. I thought that was interesting as until I’d learned about BNL playing there, I’d never once thought of Edmonton since Gretzky left the Oilers in 1988, and here was Brad, on the other side of the world, working with someone who was not only from Edmonton but was a regular attendee of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. This was Eltee.
In 1997, Brad attending the festival on a break from work in Korea, to see Sinead O’Connor. Brad spoke so highly of the event, and he told me Eltee had invited me to come up, that in 1998 I went and had a wonderful time. Brad moved back to the USA in 1999, and started working at our alma mater as a teacher and coordinator of the international students.
Brad is one of those friends I mentioned earlier in the blog that has disappeared from my life for no reason. Well, not exactly disappeared, as I know where he works and what his address is, but he just…stopped e-mailing me, and from our few mutual friends, I have learned that he stopped communicating with all of them. It actually started several years ago. Brad, Holly & I went to Edmonton together in 1999 & again in 2000. Then in 2001, it was just Holly & I that visited Eltee for the Folk Music Festival. And Brad just didn’t e-mail with any regularity.
And then I realized in 2002 that Brad had written me like once in the prior year, and Holly & Eltee had stopped e-mailing him altogether as he hadn’t communicated with them at all. And nowadays, I get like 1 e-mail a year from him, at random times.
But, beside the sad fate of Brad & my friendship, Eltee & I have remained friends and grown as friends. He even met me in Bangkok in 2004 and acted as a wonderful tour guide, as he is retired and winters in Thailand, and he will do the same next February with my nephew & I when we go to Thailand.
So next year, at the second weekend of August, I fully expect that I will be on the hill at Gallagher Park in Edmonton, swaying to the music and having a wonderful time (and hopefully biking more), despite the unlikelihood that I would ever have such a good friend in Edmonton.
posted by Mike at 12:25 PM
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