What a nice coincidence today is. Another friend of mine has a birthday on October 29, my friend Doc, aka Lee. He is pretty significant in my life and indirectly with some of you because Doc is the guy who convinced me to move to Austin instead of returning to Milwaukee 15 years ago.
We originally met 19 years ago at Marquette but I’m saving that story for later since it’s pretty funny. We became fast friends during the Summer of 1989 and I stayed in touch as he soon left my alma mater for another school in Beaumont, Texas. Within a year he moved to Austin to pursue his dream of attending film school. All his letters, pictures and phone calls made the city sound interesting yet I only thought about visiting.
As I stated in an earlier post about Helen’s 25th birthday, I decided to return to Milwaukee in 1994. It was the last place I remembered being happy and I realized how much I couldn’t stand living in a big town masquerading as a city; or what another friend called Bloomington-Normal, the suburb with no actual city attached to it. The last visit during Helen’s birthday weekend really amplified those feelings.
A couple weeks after the decision, I called Doc on his birthday. I wanted to wish him well, see how film school was going, how was his Japanese progressing (he started this in 1990 at Lamar University), etc. Somehow my desire to return to Milwaukee came up. I probably announced it knowing my mindset then. What shocked me was how much Doc disliked his two years there. He proposed moving to Austin; he could convince his boss with the private dorm to hire me on as a leasing assistant. The response wasn’t very open minded. I said, Austin? I’m already living in a college town the only difference is yours is also the capital of Texas which also makes it a sleepy government spot, much like my old home Springfield. Doc countered on how those impressions were untrue in the Nineties plus my perceptions were colored improperly by what little I had seen on Austin City Limits on PBS and my mother’s visit in 1983. He made a decent argument at the end of the call. I said I would consider it. The following week pushed me over to the Austin camp; yet another run-in with my psycho co-worker Celli. You know the rest of the story. Mainly the end result.
Today, tonight and maybe part of tomorrow (I am posting this rather at a rather late time) is all about my friend. May his birthday be a relaxing, festive occasion he gets to enjoy with his wife Masami and his pets (I don’t know which cats are his lately).
Should you know him, drop him a line. If you don’t, feel free to wish him a happy birthday here…before I have to shut off the comments when the spammer hits this post, I give it one week.