Yours truly with best friend from my Elementary school years, Paul Bounds. Paul and I were really good friends when I first moved to Texas, and we shared similar tastes in Sci-fi and Fantasy topics/books, etc. We were both unrepentant Anglophiles and spoke in our best imitations of British accents when we were together, as if we were British schoolboys and chums at Eaton or someplace. I remember we both liked the animated feature Watership Down and I think we both liked Ralph Bakshi's animated version of Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, Paul's parents worked for a major oil company, which meant he had to go wherever they went, and not long after starting Middle School he went with his dad and mom to Saudi Arabia--though before that WE had moved down the road a bit to Sugar Land, TX, and another school district. We did our best to stay in touch, and he did come around to visit a few times, like in this photo, but time and distance ultimately separated us. I met Paul for the penultimate time right before I was to start my Freshman year at Texas A&M; he was a year older and had just finished his first year at A&M but had to come back home because of academic trouble--but it was Paul who recommended I join outfit P-2 (and not A-2, his old outfit, because if he did come back , he'd be back in the Corps and be unable to acknowledge our friendship until my fish year was over). It was solid advice. I met Paul for the last time working at a bookstore in the local mall in Sugar Land. I think he did ultimately make it back to TAMU and graduated with an English degree, but I've never heard from him since. I really miss our conversations and our childhood friendship. I wish we could've carried that friendship over into adulthood, as I think we'd've gotten on quite well as adults, too.

~H.Jackson Brown Jr What the heck, lets throw in another one as well, while I'm at it. This is moi, in my green winter coat, sliding and sluring around Tallinn. There were barely any other people around the old town, only lots and lots of snow, and lots and lots of very icy cobblestones. What shoes did I have? A pair without any friction whatsoever. Bad choice? You bet. Especially if you're trying to get forward on anything at more than a 15 degree angle. Hanging onto railings and odd bits and pieces here and there became something cool. Or well, that's what I tried to tell myself it was. Nevertheless, I was proud of myself. See, I was the only one from my entourage who actually got off the boat in the morning, and into Tallinn. And that was quite an achievement considering I had been partying until 5 o'clock in the morning. Being up and about at 9am was quite remarkable. Of course, it's possible I was still drunk... Indeed, that would explain things... Anyway, I dared the storm, got a couple of pictures and was back on the boat two hours later, limping and thoroughly soaked. Great trip. (As a sidenote, I'm very very rarely drunk, maybe twice a year, and that includes being tipsy. Just to make that clear.)