upton-like

we met the new people who live in the upton house. they were cool. well really it was one guy and his friend. but later we spied on them from rabbit's window. i don't think i could do this without rabbit.

we had lunch, like i said yesterday, in Sam's honor. it was, and still is, really nice. let's see if i can break it down:

i brought some sushi and edamame
chris and jo brought beer bread and this crazy salmon thing that chris made
aaron came, went home to write a paper, gave up, then came back
mike was here in spirit
rabbit and ashley made japanese curry, rice and pie. and potatoes
brian and sadie came after they got off work
allison and kaylie came, bringing High Life and corn on the cob. and brocilii and cheese
hart and katie didn't leave until they had a few minutes to spend with us.

it was a good afternoon. now it is about 6 and the guys are playing munchkin, ashley is playing some PS2 game and josephine is wishing no one was playing munchkin. i'm listening to one of the best and underrated dylan songs ever, "the man in me".

i'm a little suprised that no one brought up Sam. i thought that we would have a toast or something. but maybe the night isn't over. we checked out the tree that grows in his ashes. it is not doing very well. i hope it does not die. in any other situation, i would not have a problem with replacing the tree, but in this case, his ashes are at the bottom of the pit we dug for it. and that isn't a piece of ground that i want to disturb. in the words of the bad guy from rocky iv: "if he dies, he dies". But that won't happen. we'll feed it and water it and it will be a 'big strong man' someday.

i've had a really great time today. one of the best parts of the day was the familiar feeling of me sitting on rabbit's bed talking to him about dead prez and badass tattoos we'd get if we were really RBG.

The long nights of sad and happy drinking and the packed parties and the roaches and the times we cleaned it up. and the LAN parties the cops the girls the secrets the grudges the problems the dreams and visions.
Long live Sam. Death to Cruisers! Long live the Upton flag, in its many pieces. And long live the ties that are written in stone with the lifeblood of that house.