I was going to do a second half of shotgun burst opinions on the US Open, and I still might, until a friend emailed me and reminded me of something humorous. But I should back up. A few weeks ago, an old friend of mine, Larry, had posted a link to a picture from my trip to Herrang, Sweden. It was 2005, I was barely 20, if that, and I was there for the worlds largest Lindy Hop camp. It is still a bundle of some of my most fond memories. I built strong friendships there (Mike and Em and so on), had great adventures (helping out behind the scenes and performing and training), and have a cavalcade of stories I'll always treasure (Tom). It was a rich and unforgettable six and a half weeks that I feel helped me grow as a person.
So, when Larry posts a link, is it to any of the aforementioned things? Is it a memory that enriched my soul? How about a friend that I need to contact or a tidbit of inspirado? If I may: Fuck. No. It's a picture of me, freshly out of the sauna with my American friends at 5AM, buck ass naked with a booze bottle in front of my junk. I laugh about it and curse the person who posted it to Hell, and chalk it up to "being a 20 year old dumb ass" and lament trusting someone to keep there word of, "I'm totally not posting any of this when various picture sights become popular."
Truth: I'm a little bitter. But I'm an aspiring writer, an artist, and in what way could a mildly embarrassing picture (so not posting it. feel free to hunt it down), from one of the greatest times in my life that was full of raucous laughter and memories, both beautiful and tragic (truth)? It can only feed my soul.
Then John emails me. This is a direct copy/paste from the chat:
J: hey dude, not sure if it's you, but i ran into this as i was browsing through swing stuff on reddit. figured you should know it's out there if you didnt already. segment of interest being around 8:15 mark.
Mr. Jackson had linked me a youtube show put on by some folks I used to know in my Lindy days, hosting a Lindy Hop talk show. And there it was again, on an episode titled Naked Lindy Hoppers. My first thought was: "There is so little going on in the world of Vintage American Vernacular Jazz Dance that they have to report on an 8 year old naked picture of a guy they probably don't remember if ever knew?" The funny thing was that it's a blip in the show...okay, I didn't watch the whole show because it was kinda boring, but I think it was just a blip. Meh.
It all just made me look back and think what I am proud of (a great deal, actually), what I am ashamed of (a couple of things), funny bullshit (this), and where I am going from here. As annoyed...Yeah, truth, I was/am a tad annoyed at whatever dingus posted an 8 year old picture of 20 year old skinny as hell me, but can't go changing what's already happened. So, as annoyed as I was, it's sort of pushed me to look back and forward, where I was and want to be, and not re-evaluate, but appreciate everything. In a really unexpected way, finding an embarrassing picture of me on the internet forced me to grow. Heh. Grow. It's funny cause it's a naked picture. Ha.
Don't get me wrong, who the hell ever posted that thing is a douche, simple as that, and the SwingNation talk show really needs better topics. If they'd like, I'd be happy to work out for a couple weeks and post another for their news real (I don't actually want to do that, nor do I think they'd enjoy seeing it). But still, it really is the strangest things that help folks see what's good and then take a gander toward the future. So in a way, thank you, random ass hat from 8 years ago. You've helped me grow as a human. You're still a douche.
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