Technically Jon doesn't turn 30 till Friday, but he came down from Mammoth a couple days ago and tonight a bunch of us all got together out at Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach to say hello and to get him hella drunk. I can safely say that we accomplished both of those things. Jon's been living up in Mammoth working as a snowboard instructor, and is sporting a bleached mohawk and working on qualifying for his level 3 instructor credentials (it's quite an achievement, evidently).
When he left to go up there back around my birthday, he wasn't really sure what his plans were gonna be beyond this ski season, but he said he was gonna take the winter and figure it out. Well, apparently he's figured it out, as he basically plans to travel a lot after he leaves Mammoth in late June. Between then and around the end of September, he said he plans to go to Chicago a couple times, come down here to LA a few times, go to Europe, go to Australia and New Zealand, go to Hawaii and go to South America. Then after all that he plans to rotate back here to LA for a bit, then head back up to Mammoth again for next winter's season. This means he's not going to be an LA resident again until May/June of 2006 at the earliest. I've been missing Jon, so that means I'm gonna miss him some more, but he does plan to take trips down here, so I will get to see him (I hope). Anyway, he does seem extremely happy, so I'm very happy for him.
Towards the end of the night, after he was well on his way to being three sheets to the wind, he decided that he and I should attempt to call the number I had got a long time ago for one of our old college friends, Collin Terrell. So Jon got out his cell and called Collin (whom we haven't either of us spoken to since 1997) and from what Jon said Collin answered the phone by saying "What's up, Chicago." Which is truly remarkable if you ask me, being that Jon is, of course, from Chicago. Collin was leaving one nudie bar and heading to another one, so we just briefly chatted with him, but we all agreed to talk more later, and Jon and I may make a trek up to Portland to see him at some point this summer. Who knows.
After that, Jon insisted I buy him a shot for his birthday, so I asked him what to get him and he said "anything you want." Now, I don't drink, and never have, so I don't know what the hell a good shot is. In fact, the only ones I've ever heard of that have stuck in my head were the ones that were supposedly notoriously bad (cement mixers, 151, praire fires, etc...), so I told Jon I was gonna get him a shot of 151. He was drunk as a lord, so he said sure, so off to the barkeep I went and ordered it. I brought it back, and clearly this was a serious shot I ordered, because everyone wanted to have a look (and a smell) before Jon drank it, so it got passed around before settling back in Jon's hands. Jon seemed very confident and just slammed it back, then told me in a hoarsey whisper "thanks man." He seemed to take it ok though, although about 2 minutes later he kinda fell off the short stool he was sitting on when some girl held up a lighter and asked him to breathe on it to see if he'd make a fireball :lol
Shortly after that, most of us left, but it was a great time tonight, and it was even worth sitting in mad traffic for about an hour and 45 minutes to get there. Happy early 30th, big guy. I hope you're not too wrecked tomorrow :grin