Rest in power Brother Dan

[Drunk Monk]

twas quicker to text...

[Greg]

But not easier to import.

[Greg]

From Syl

[Drunk Monk]

Just reread this thread. The D00M4M is such a fine repository of memories and feels. 

I'm thinking I'll don Dan again for Halloween/Dia de los Muertos. He hasn't been out in a while and will enjoy the festivities, even though I have nothing planned this year. However, November is looking busy already.

[Drunk Monk]

I've donned Dan. That's my only Halloween costume this year. 

Tis not so deep as a well nor so wide as a church-door, but tis enough, twill serve...

[Drunk Monk]

Dan and I shared a skull fetish for years.  It was akin to the 'weapon of the week' that Cole and I shared when we were teens. It goes back as far. Dan and I collected skulls and skull art.  We gave each other skull gifts and always tried to best each other with cooler skulls.  My skull tastes were more anatomical, or deadhead obviously (it was actually the skull art that drew me into the dead more than the music at first).  Dan's tastes were more heavy metal and dia de los muertos.  I put the bulk of my skull collection into storage when Tara was born - there are several moving boxes full of skulls at my mom's marked 'Warning skulls inside' prominently because I felt that was the way to pack them.  I only kept my best ones out, on my altar in my man cave at Ranch Macbeth.  But when we moved to the micro-bungalow, those went into storage too.  All except one. The real one.  I had a real human skull that I acquired through a medical supply company just prior to human bones being illegal to trade.  It was of an old woman - very fine, very fragile sinuses, no teeth and the mandible/maxilla were ground down flat.  I always treated her with the greatest respect.  When we moved to the bungalow, I gave her to Dan. After literally decades of our skull one-up-man-ship, Dan conceded. 'You win' he said with a grin.  He found her a nice cabinet box.  I'm not sure where she is now.  I never asked if he took her to Alaska.  

The skull has returned. Syl is going to move to Canada soon to be near family in Calgary. She’s lightening her load. She had told me she planned to return it to me. She confided that she bonded with it during a dark period in their relationship. She also sent a collection of documents Dan had kept including an original bound print of the D00M manifesto and assorted documents, plus a lot of old drawings and cards of mine that he kept. I’m going to need some space to process those so I’m holding off going through them. I’m too overwhelmed with deadlines right now. I need to deliver a lot of writing this week.

I was thinking a lot about Dan this weekend because I seemed to be the only person with an edc blade - my trusty skeletool from Dan. I treasure that and would be devastated to lose it, and a lot of people asked to borrow it at the end to make boxes for their trophies to take on planes home. I was rough from the weekend and having difficulty keeping track, but was the most watchful of that blade.

I’ve found a place for the skull on a high shelf. The clear plastic case was damaged but the skull is unharmed. She’s a tough old gal. I’m keeping her covered respectfully for now, but I already let go of her when I gave her to Dan so I’ll pass her on when I find another worthy guardian. I thought for a moment to make it a D00M skull - a relic - but since the previous owner is dead, I think that sets a poor precedent.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Or sets an eerie precedent.

[Drunk Monk]

She’s got a lot of energy. Always must respect that. I kinda want to keep her in D00M now. Seeing Dan’s cache of D00M clippings is like a subcious note. 

I thought about Marc Velez as he’s the third of the Big T’ree. He is in medicine. But he’s got a young son and she’s way too powerful unless your kid is Wednesday. Tara was the main reason I passed her to Dan. 

Anyone think they want to house her? It is an undertaking, a medieval monastic mortality meditation. In fact, that was why I acquired her. She’s a meditation.

[Drunk Monk]

4 years gone…

[Greg]

Ugh, I say.

[Drunk Monk]

Had a wonderful dinner with the friends of Dan - Syl, Raz (former director of Rock Med), Leigh (the true power behind Raz), Dina (evil twin), Tara & Bri (our legal defense). It was the Sphere squad, plus the hopeful youth.

Many memories of Dan were revisited. It's been five years. 

Syl has relocated to Canada and told us of her struggles to vote in Alaska. She's hoping to get dual citizenship soon. She's doing well. 

It was a bit of a coming out for Tara as the squad has all known her from birth but had not met Bri. I didn't get to talk to them much because they were on the other side of the table. Bri gets her bar results this Friday. Hopefully that will be a second cause for celebration this week but one victory at a time.

It whittled down to Raz's road crew - me, Dina, Syl, & Raz - the away team for Rock Med for many a festival. We went to the Red Room, a chinatown dive bar where Dina's dad used to drink. I don't think I'd been in there before (I usually went to the Buddha bar because I'm more touristy, or this other one that my aunt went to near Eastwind because I'd often find her day-drinking there during my AFS years). It was fun.

I drank a lot. 2 glasses of red at the hotel, a mark twain vodka cocktail at China Live, 3 shots of Jameson at the bar. I've been drinking a lot lately on such outings. It has me slightly worried, but I'll take that up on another thread sometime later.