csix // chuck dwells here

Every weekday I drive along San Francisco’s waterfront to get to the office, and I always look to the rocketship at the end of Mission street. For some reason I decided that if there was a bird perched on the warhead, it was gonna be a great day. If not, all bets are off.

I’m not particularly superstitious. I don’t knock on wood or throw perfectly good money into water fountains. I do the salt-over-the-shoulder thing , however, because the consequences involve me being undead. Which is unsettling. But anyway.

I don’t think it matters either way, because less than three minutes after passing the rocketship this morning I got cut off by some speeding jackass in a van and went on to flip him off.

Yeah, it’s gonna be an interesting day.

I tend to keep a lot of my receipts. Not because i’m a pack rat or anything, I just like to hold on to certain memories.

I mean, some receipts I can do without. Like the six times a week I get coffee. Or every tank of gas. Random trips to Target. Who cares?

But the important ones, even if I lose them eventually, I’d usually find again later and they’d trigger a great memory. Like that time we went to go eat and had foie gras. Or When I got you that really cool present you still use today. Or when we visited an establishment in Vegas whose receipt only had the letters “SR” at the top. Yeah.

Because some things are worth hanging on to, if for a time.

So this past weekend I was invited to a birthday party for an old college friend. I caught up with a few people, met a few more, drank and had a pretty good time.

It’s weird to think that I graduated college (undergrad) about eight years ago. Not long ago I still remember working at the mall and taking the bus everywhere for lack of a driver’s license. Things have certainly changed.

And while I appreciate being invited to see old friends these days, it doesn’t seem like I’ve held onto my old friends as tightly as I should have. I see people hanging out with the same groups they were in high school or college. They’re going to happy hours and snowboarding trips and taking part in each other’s weddings, throwing bouquets and all.

I barely talk to the old homies, seeing them maybe once or twice a year for a 4th of July barbecue which would awkwardly feature a coworker of theirs i dated, or a club party which i’m thankful for being invited to but can only really tolerate for about 20 minutes due to the noise and yelling and proliferation of ghetto G’s. I’m not being invited to the things that “close” friends are invited to, no matter how close the friendships i had with the participants were in the past.

I mean, I don’t see it as a problem. There isn’t a requirement anywhere out there that says anyone has to have a very tight-knit group of friends that you’ve known for years and years. Personally, I’d get sick of seeing the same people over and over, but other people don’t see it that way.

Still, though, when you see people you know having a great time without you, it makes you think.