evolution

From Joel:

1. I own an electric guitar. It’s a 1995 Gibson Les Paul Studio, with the customary three-position pickup switch. I bought it with my high school graduation money. I always wanted to be in a (non-high-school) band, but we could never get all the instruments necessary in one place. I’m out of practice, but if pressed, I can play it.
2. My primary role at work is that of tech support. Among my duties, however, is the operation of a small library. I’ve learned a lot in the last few months about what librarians do for a living.
3. In my early twenties, I read a lot of Taoist literature. I went around telling everyone I was a Taoist. I doubt real Taoists would do some of the things I did when I was twenty, like go to house parties with a half-gallon Thermos and fill it with Keystone Light. Five times.
4. I stole my favorite t-shirt from the still-smoldering wreck of a burning building. This was also the first and only time I tried pot.
5. Freshman year at K-State, I had a crush on a pretty girl who worked at the same Dillons. I saw her a couple of times after that: once years later when I was drunk and sitting in a pizza place — and once right after I quit that Dillons; I was drunk, naturally, and lying face down in one of those sidewalk tree grates in front of Pizza Shuttle, puking and trying to make conversation. (There seems to be a common theme for my college years.)
6. I have never — intentionally, accidentally, or through neglect — killed an animal with four legs or less.
7. I once worked in the Dillons seafood market on 23rd Street in Lawrence. I cannot stand the sight or smell of fish being prepared, and the thought of eating it is revolting to me over a decade later.
8. Count all the words in this blog. For every word I’ve written here, I’ve written two — be they in poetry, journal entries, short stories, et cetera — that will never see the light of day.