Who needs a unifying theme anyway?

What it comes down to, I guess, is that I am ok with admiring people. I think of all of the people that I really love and they are in many many ways better than I am. Erin’s funnier and (despite appearances) kinder. David’s not just smarter, but also more thoughtful. My Dad’s more insightful and my Mother’s blessed with more clarity. Tom’s a good father and is single-minded about his career. Jason’s simply the nicest guy you will ever meet.

I was talking to Tom a week or two ago about another old school friend. Let’s call him Geoff. We’ve both known Geoff since we were 12. That’s 25 years. 25 years! Geoff’s a dick. Geoff lies even when it doesn’t advance his cause. Geoff asked me to make a music video for him for free, and then when his record hit the top ten, told me I should thank him for the exposure. Geoff married someone famous, and when a magazine offered Geoff money for their wedding photographs, he was only too happy to ditch Tom as his best man and install someone else more suited to magazine sales.

Geoff, my friends, is a prize cock.

And yet Tom remains firm friends with Geoff. He asked me last week why I don’t make an effort with Geoff. “You’ve got to,” he said, “I mean we’ve known each other since before we hit puberty.”

Thing is, that’s not enough. I can meet another Geoff tomorrow. Today even. I’m not interested. What I want from people is to be able to really like them. To admire some quality about them. That is the stuff.

The way I look at it is I’m 37. But 17 was fucking yesterday. Yesterday! I am going to blink and be in a retirement home. I am damned if I am going to waste my time on another moment of Geoff, when I have so few left with Erin and Tom and David and Jason and anyone else who matters.