but i kept it anyway.
the next morning, i arrived to work and found three fortune cookies sitting on my desk.
it was like the first fortune had called all his fortune cookie friends and told them to hit me up.
two of the fortunes spoke a series of bullshit about SUCCESS, and the third was mildly correct about my future vacation and "crossing great waters." but nothing was too magical.
those cookies weren't the unusual gift.
no, later, i was asked to do a print pick-up very near the academy of art. inside my head i dreaded passing the school because i didn't want to run into anyone i knew and have to explain why i no longer take classes at their real estatey university.
it was jeff edwards; my original dorm-mate in the city; a football-playing missourian; brilliant illustrator, and the first person to ever draw on my face while a drunken me slept in shoes.
if i had to name fifty people i thought i might run into, jeff would not have been one of them.
i was immediately happy to be picking up prints-- they caused the run-in-- i hadn't seen jeff in years, and he was with his mom and girlfriend. it's fact that family + girlfriend always assures something important is GOING DOWN.
"that's where it is!"
i felt a sudden peace inside my body. i'm still missing pineapple express, and constantine. but it's not about losing the dvds as much as it is wondering where they are. it was nice knowing the new home of family guy.
"shoot," i said, "no. i don't."
"AHH," he screamed, "I KNEW IT."
"hey, i kept them with me through two moves, but i had to get rid of them when i heard you moved back to missouri."
i'd only thrown them out during the move to my current apartment. so close.
"you got me," i said, "i sold them because i needed money TO BUY FAMILY GUY: SEASON ONE."
whatchuwant!?
we CAUGHT UP, as they say. i was asked briefly about the whereabouts of my ruffle shirts only before being informed jeff's art [and jeff himself] would be exhibiting at wondercon. his girlfriend had bought three-day passes, but wound up receiving an exhibitor pass for dating jeff. so it was no time before she put the extra three-day pass in my hands and smiled a great smile.
sometimes i wonder if i attract coincidence and chaos. my good luck is as good as my bad luck is bad. and i absolutely love it all.
that was the unusual gift: revisiting a vanished friend, hearing tales of his success, and a pass to a weekend of wondercon.
i knew jeff would succeed the day i saw him drawing spider-man. i had always said tobey maguire knew nothing about being a spider-man fan-- or being spider-man-- because of how he held his hands. a true spider-fan walks with his middle and ring finger held together-- in case he needs to websling quickly. tobey maguire didn't hold his hands ready to fire. but jeff's spider-man did. because he knew.
he was a football player and weightlifter, so most people would assume he couldn't draw. but it was those experiences that aided his precise understanding of muscles, and helped him draw accurate superheroes. he could explain to me why wolverine should have large forearms, and shoulder muscles, but only moderate biceps.
it's no wonder he made it to wondercon.
i love me a good convention. they're like classes: you walk into a world of fanatics, all celebrating their superbowl. be it whiskyfest, macworld, dodgeball, or the exotic erotic ball-- you get to see the SERIOUS ONEs in their own environment, and i love it.
the only thing i love more is watching an ambitious artist succeed.
so i grabbed the three-day pass, my planner, and i penned in "wondercon and jeff".
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