Afterglow 2010

I know that you have all screwed over your buddy before in various ways. Whether you slept with his girlfriend or got him fired from work, you have done something. Hopefully it was something more innocent like offering them a ride then pulling away once they grab the door handle and making them chase after the car, like we did to Kevin.

I think that it goes without saying that we drink a lot at Afterglow. Sure, it may damage our livers in the long term and piss off our mothers in the short term, but it is what we like to do. Even so, I find it inexplicable that we had to venture in town on only the second day to buy more booze. Wow. I think that we may have set a new record.

We always make sure that the person driving is sober(ish) but the rest of us are pretty liquored up. In the Northwoods you always need to be on animal watch, even in the day time. But none of us saw the baby deer that crossed the road and met up with Timmy's car.

Besides grabbing some more booze, there was another reason why we had to go to town - to buy fireworks. When Uncle Mike used to come up here he bought the loud expensive ones, but I shop in the kids section and walk away with snakes, sparklers and roman candles.

The remainder of the ride home was quiet and unsettling. We all pondered life and death and realized that life is a fragile thing, and we never really know when Timmy is going to drive by and murder you. And the poor little thing didn't even see it coming! But life goes on, even if one of the creatures saw his life end that day. Life goes on.

Brian was passed out in the backseat so he can't really be accused of allowing Timmy to get a Deer U I (which is what killing that deer became known as). But the rest of us saw one of God's forest creature's lives end that day, but there was nothing we could do about it. Just like in Happy Gilmore - he shouldn't have been standing there.

Kevin and I (through our band Back Alley Burners) that the best way to pay tribute to the fallen deer's life and continue his legacy was to record a song about that day titled Deer U I. We are currently accepting donations for a scholarship in his name for deer college.

When we got back to cabin #2 we saw that everyone was sitting around playing games. How could they sit around and play Scrabble when life is such a delicate thing to waste? That deer should not and will not die in vain! Each of us will carry on his life in our actions.

Kevin's Mom captured pictures from this recording session using Carol Zoom, but you had to be right down there on the dock with us to capture the true insanity that unfolded. I can't erase what I said that day, and I am particularly ashamed of saying that Timmy is responsible for killing the dinosaurs and all of the other extinct species with his car. He feels terrible about it, and assholes like Kevin and I just kept pouring salt in the wounds. After all what are families for if not to kick you when you are down?