old friends, new beginnings. or whatever.

the summer before i came to peabody, which now seems like a hundred thousand and one years ago but was actually about three and a half, i went to a pay-to-sing opera festival called, of all things, Opera in the Ozarks. if this wasn't enough, it was held at an artists compound called inspiration point, the very same compound to which i'd won a scholarship in 8th grade to go to a singing camp. a jazz singing camp, more specifically, where everyone except me knew each other because they went to the same high school. yep, i made some great friends during those two weeks. oh wait, i spent most of the time hiding in my top bunk, dreading when i'd have to shower in the communal showers and wishing that our dormitory building had doors so that vermin and spiders would stay out.

my summer at opera in the ozarks was different, though. first of all, i wasn't scared of the showers anymore. i suppose that i'd been naked in front of enough people in the preceeding eight years that i just didn't care anymore. the biggest difference, though, was the people i met. they were people i still think about even though i've lost contact with all of them. particular people made such an impact, in fact, that i think i'll never forget them. marybeth mccolloch, for instance, was among the craziest southern girls i've ever met. she grew up with lance from n'sync and crazy farrar in mississippi. the last i heard she was going to CCM. there was tae mee, a post-punk costumer who was half white, half korean and all hot. she had reproduction sailor tattoos all over her before they were hip and then passe. she'd grown her hot-pink mohawk into tit-length shiny black hair. she wore skimpy, too-small cowgirl tank tops. she was oversexed, over-cigaretted and we got along incredibly. when my phone got stolen i lost her number and any way to ever contact her again. jesus.

my reason for writing this whole thing is that, through the wonders of myspace, another of my friends from that summer, amanda, found me. her myspace page is dedicated to her clothing line, chintzy couture, and if i weren't such an approve-anyone myspace whore i wouldn't have ever known it was her. but since i wildly click "accept!" everytime anyone offers to be my myspace friend, we're back in contact after three years. maybe she has tae mee's number.