~That's why they call it "heat".

In May and June of '87, the stomach problems I was having at the time put me home from school. Drue was home from college. Drue was wanting. 1 + 1 = hell yes. Hell. Heaven. Both.

In the beginning of June, after some stomach x-rays the same day, I went to my "prom", which was basically a dance in the loonytute gym where all the students, both inpatient and day school students, showed up for a few hours. I played in the band. I wore what I usually wore. Jeans, a t-shirt, a ratty long sleeved shirt, biking gloves, and my leather jacket. (I wore Chuck's instead of boots that day because of the drumming, not because of any other reason.)

I was sick and full of barium (Did you know that barium makes your poop white? White! I kid you not! It's the coolest thing in the world!), but I was there.

My "prom" picture is of me, Alison, and our friend Brian, who was also the bassist in the band. It looks nothing like a prom picture. I'm glad it doesn't. The whole "prom" thing was not only something I found to be completely nauseating at the time, but completely ridiculous when you're talking about a school whose graduating class that year was 10 students total. I liked drumming. Drumming made it a good day.

Also in June, I hit graduation... a few days prior to which, my grandfather died. I was a complete wreck. I read a poem for him at my graduation ceremony. Wish I had a copy of it. Well, leave it to me to put any group of people into a state of depression on what is supposed to be a happy day. Gotta be good at something, right?

I had to continue school for another couple of months before I got my "real" diploma, but that was no big deal, really. Technically speaking, I did 4 years of High School in 3, so the extra couple of months wasn't too high of a cost.

Drue was home, I could love her again, everything was just perfect. Right?

ummmmmm....


This is my life, remember?

No pain. No gain.