November 27, 2008
Posing for a picture—pre-Flickr days—in Rockland, DE in December 2000 with only a blue Russell Athletic to keep me warm.  Remember cargo pants?

Posing for a picture—pre-Flickr days—in Rockland, DE in December 2000 with only a blue Russell Athletic to keep me warm.  Remember cargo pants?

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As rad as your life might be, I guarantee that you were not given two crappy poems by someone at a Borders the Friday night before you took the SATs in April 2000.  Even if you said so, I’d think you were lying.

As rad as your life might be, I guarantee that you were not given two crappy poems by someone at a Borders the Friday night before you took the SATs in April 2000.  Even if you said so, I’d think you were lying.

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My maternal grandparents’ house on Henry Street in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ (July 1996).

My maternal grandparents’ house on Henry Street in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ (July 1996).

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Inline skating “aggressively” in May 1997.

Inline skating “aggressively” in May 1997.

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This is Alex and me playing guitars at something called “Chilifest” (foreshadowing!) at a boathouse on the Christina River in Wilmington, DE in December 1999.  FYI, we are probably covering a Weezer song.

This is Alex and me playing guitars at something called “Chilifest” (foreshadowing!) at a boathouse on the Christina River in Wilmington, DE in December 1999.  FYI, we are probably covering a Weezer song.

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November 26, 2008
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Before I left for college in August 2001, a number of my friends and I decided to meet up at a Chili’s in order to say some temporary final goodbyes.  After eating, and before we left for good and made it to our cars, my friend Alex—with whom I started my first band ever and shared many other great memories in just the three years he had moved to Delaware from San Diego—brought me aside and thrust an envelope into my hand.  The dude ended up at Stanford so I think it’s fair to disregard the spelling/punctuation/handwriting! Inside the envelope was a letter.  And a guitar pick.  And a concert ticket for Weezer in 1997, right at the peak of Pinkerton’s critical and commercial failure/misunderstanding.  Seriously, for as much as Weezer is begrudged these days (and backhandedly revered with respect to only their first two records), I chose my friends in high school strictly based on whether or not they could explain to me honestly which half of Pinkerton they dug more and why.  Extra points if they could play the rhythm part to “The World Has Turned” from The Blue Album on guitar. So I don’t think I understood Alex’s decision then, in that Chili’s parking lot, and how amazing it was that his parting gifts to me were two treasures of his own.  Right when we hit it off sophomore year, I recall him telling me about this Weezer show in Santa Ana and how he was close enough to the stage to strum on Matt Sharp’s bass strings.  He had savored the memory by placing the pick dropped by Rivers that he was able to grab and ticket stub from the show in both soft and hard baseball card sleeves.  And that is where they will stay until perhaps I get the chance to pass them back to Alex. — Kevin Arnold

Before I left for college in August 2001, a number of my friends and I decided to meet up at a Chili’s in order to say some temporary final goodbyes.  After eating, and before we left for good and made it to our cars, my friend Alex—with whom I started my first band ever and shared many other great memories in just the three years he had moved to Delaware from San Diego—brought me aside and thrust an envelope into my hand.  The dude ended up at Stanford so I think it’s fair to disregard the spelling/punctuation/handwriting!

Inside the envelope was a letter.  And a guitar pick.  And a concert ticket for Weezer in 1997, right at the peak of Pinkerton’s critical and commercial failure/misunderstanding.  Seriously, for as much as Weezer is begrudged these days (and backhandedly revered with respect to only their first two records), I chose my friends in high school strictly based on whether or not they could explain to me honestly which half of Pinkerton they dug more and why.  Extra points if they could play the rhythm part to “The World Has Turned” from The Blue Album on guitar.

So I don’t think I understood Alex’s decision then, in that Chili’s parking lot, and how amazing it was that his parting gifts to me were two treasures of his own.  Right when we hit it off sophomore year, I recall him telling me about this Weezer show in Santa Ana and how he was close enough to the stage to strum on Matt Sharp’s bass strings.  He had savored the memory by placing the pick dropped by Rivers that he was able to grab and ticket stub from the show in both soft and hard baseball card sleeves.  And that is where they will stay until perhaps I get the chance to pass them back to Alex.

— Kevin Arnold

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My first digits in Fall 1998.  I’m pretty sure that was not real”l”y her name.

My first digits in Fall 1998.  I’m pretty sure that was not real”l”y her name.

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