the young lady on the far left posted this pic yesterday

it’s one ive never seen before, and even though Isla Vista was a pleasant blur, I sorta remember that day

i was new. i didn’t know anyone. i was in the dorms. i was a transfer student coming into ucsb in the winter quarter. everyone had met and befriended everyone, but not me.

very quickly everyone was super nice to me, a trend that would go on all my time there.

they said hey we are all driving to a chinese restaurant. i was all, sure i’ll go.

the guy in the long hair and green sweater would eventually become my roommate. we had each been assigned these wild water polo frat boys who i tolerated but drove John crazy, so we traded roommates after a few months. he was into punk rock, the replacements and good books. i ended up annoying him too but we had respect for each other.

the young woman i dont remember at all but she not only remembers me clearly but swears we hung out more than i remember. over the last few months she has been a patreon of my podcast.

of not are my glow in the dark leopard print Converse hi tops which i got at the Converse outlet on Westwood Blvd near UCLA. back then the Village was poppin and brands often experimented with short runs of things to see if the kids would like them.

after i went nuts on facebook over the pic she posted this one from that same day

thats me at 21. very few pics show me that close up at that age. who knows what happened to that sweater. it disappeared like the hair 🙂

i have had such a blessed life surrounded by the coolest people who have always been so nice to me. i thank God for the experiences i have had. pics like this blow me away because we took so few photos back then and i am shocked when some surface knowing people have had these for decades,

now i wonder what else is out there.