strange dreams:

i had [have?] a friend who recently got released from jail. his story makes me so sad - mostly because he's forever tainted with a certain life-ruining label simply because he was an idiot who wanted to act like a child instead of an adult. i knew him well before he got arrested, and knew that, moron though he was, he would never intentionally hurt or take advantage of anyone.

he was arrested my sophomore year of college, and i went to see him several times before he was moved from the county jail closeby to somewhere too far to visit. he was always laughing and joking...and really accepted everybody - something that did me well to see, judgemental bitch that i was. i remember i was driving through hutch one evening and it started raining so hard that the roads were flooding. i ended up right by his house, so called him and came over. we went ... well, basically swimming through the streets, laughing at people trying to drive in the torrential flash flood. i spent an hour sitting on his couch, wrapped up in a comforter waiting for my clothes to finish in the dryer while we watched music videos and he told me stories of the stupid things he and his roommate had done that weekend before.

we went to see norma jean in lawrence at the beginning of my sophomore year of college with his cousin, another friend of mine. i, like an idiot, got way too close to the mosh pit and ended up getting punched in the face and getting a bloody nose. i thought that both of them were going to find the guy who [accidentally, mind you] hit me and kill him. i used my friend as a human shield for the rest of the show, and he dutifully stood there while i cowered behind him.

i had a dream about him last night...it didn't just involve him, but the other people who have been a mutual part of our lives. he had gotten out of jail and was spending a lot of time in his woodworking studio [because apparently he's an artist now?]. i had walked by there several times and not had the guts to go in and talk to him - afraid that we would have changed so much in five years that we would hardly recognize each other. so i took a deep breath, walked into the studio and nodded hello to some random guy sitting in waiting chairs there. there was my friend, sitting on the floor making some table or chair or something and absolutely covered in sawdust. he stood up and smiled at me, and i burst into tears and he hugged me and we just stood there.

and the strangest part? he was only wearing basketball shorts and roller skates.