I bumped into a verrrrrrrrry old friend twice in two days. His name is Frank and I haven't seen him in seven years - probably longer. He and I were friends back in my college days. We used to go slamdancing at the local clubs and we drank a lot of booze together.

Now he is married and thinking about kids. Frank told me about another old punk rock friend of mine, Paul, who got married in 1998 and whose wife is now pregnant.

I read Andy Hall's online journal about a friend named Karen who is ten weeks pregnant.

Last but not least was my friend Jeff who married a woman with two kids and whose wife just had one more by Jeff.

I note these happenings with amused curiousity (I found out about all of them in the past two weeks) and intentioanl disregard of my own single, childless situation. To their credit, the rumors that filter back to me are good ones - my pregnant and married friends are happy and still go to punk shows, Paul still has a mohawk, and Karen is hosting poetry events in Las Vegas. Jeff has mellowed considerably.

I am intent on failing to see how any of this affects me personally.

DID YOUR DOG NOT HEAR THE HIGH NOTES? NO, HE DIDN'T LIKE THE CHOREOGRAPHY.