WE USED TO RAVE THE NIGHT AWAY

Waking up is hard to do when you've spent the entire night with strippers on your lap and your mouth parched from panting like Pavlov's dog (this last sentence is a good example of alliteration for your English majors out there). So as usual, I spent the day sleeping. I barely remember Rich tapping me awake and asking for the bullet. Poor guy - he has to work again today. It's the last of the yay but I gladly hand it over to him because he's gonna need it today. He has an engine to rebuild.

When Rich gets home, he says that two days of staying up and then having to work the next day was pure hell. It has to be the most excruciating thing and I know how he feels because back in the day, we used to party like this all the time. In the late 90s, we used to live in the Bay Area (Northern Cali). Times were good because the technology gold rush was running full steam. So many people from other parts of the country were moving to Silicon Valley. There was a mixture of energy and a new way of thinking about what work was about.

Drum 'n Base, Jungle, Techno and House - electronic music was on a comeback and raves were raging again. Ecstasy was the drug of choice and 1015 Folsom was the club to be in. We would scour the Internet (www.sfraves.org) for underground scenes and preach peace, love, unity and respect. We threw parties that expressed our gratitude and happiness for the world ahead of us, the seemingly endless and hopeful opportunities that were all around us. Then the bubble burst and within a year, unemployment was prevalent and the scene had gone away.

Although those times are but a memory, our memories help us define who we are. Our past experiences shape us and help us create a sense of what we want to be. A wise friend once told me that he wasn't ever afraid of making mistakes as long as he didn't make the same mistake over and over again.