Monday, July 02, 2007

Here's To Us. Who's Like Us? Damn Few.

Last Thursday, I left work a little early and took the Blue Line up to O'Hare to meet up with my old friend, Lance.

Here he is sporting the cutest smile ever seen...




I've known Lance since my college days back at the University of Tennessee and I am constantly amazed by him.

This is the man who has a letter of recommendation from theatre legend Hal Prince which simply reads...

"To whom it may concern: Give this kid a job."


He's spent time in Orlando working for "The Mouse."

He's spent years in South Korea teaching English and writing about his experiences on his blog, seoul-ful.

He's taken up the art of photography and has been approached to publish some of his photos of Korea in calendar and book form.

Best of all, he's a friend who I haven't seen or been able to hug for over 10 years and the second I saw him at the airport, it was as if no time had passed whatsoever.

Why was he at O'Hare? Another adventure, of course.

Lance was en route to Sidney, Australia where he will be studying for the next year to receive a Masters Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language.

He had problems making his flight to Australia once he landed in San Francisco (the fault of the airline, so he was promptly upgraded for his international flight), so he spent the night in San Fran last Thursday night.

He called me Friday afternoon to tell me that he was walking down Castro Street, passing the time before his now First Class flight to Sidney.

I told him to go "get him some" there in the gayest neighborhood in the known universe and Lance responded with a loud laugh that rivals my own - - a laugh full of life and love - - a laugh that demands to be heard - - a laugh that dares you not to laugh with him.

Then, he said the funniest thing about "getting some" on the Castro and afterwards flying First Class...

"I'm gonna get pounded and then I'm gonna get pampered."

Words to live by, eh?

I love you, Lance. Best of luck in Sidney.

Do those Australians know what's about to hit them?

8 comments:

dirk.mancuso said...

"...the second I saw him at the airport, it was as if no time had passed whatsoever."

Friends like that are rare, Stephen -- cherish the bond you guys have.

This post was so sweet it even moved that tiny lump of tar they call my heart.

Stephen R. said...

Dirk - You have a very big heart. I have never even met you and I know that. Your big heart comes across in your writing.

And you're right - friends like Lance are indeed rare and I do cherish the bond that we have. Maybe I'll have to save up and take a little trip to visit him in Sidney. :)

Anonymous said...

"Do Australians know what is about to hit them?" No, they do not! Yay, Lance!

Stephen R. said...

Lance's Friend - They have no idea!!! He's going to take that country by storm!!!

Danifesto said...

awwww! That's such a cute picture! You really captured him in this post. Well his essence at any rate. From what I hear though, his "essence" is pretty easy to come by- HEY!
the pounded/pampered quip- leave it to Lance to turn a literary device like double alliteration to serve his own purposes! I Heart Him!

Stephen R. said...

Danifesto - Thank you! It was so wonderful to see Lance again. That man can do anything he sets his mind to accomplish. And he does it all with flair and a fabulous Southern accent! I love him, too!

Lance Noe said...

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!

Thanks for all the kind words. It was soooooo nice to see you too. I loved it and your ass looks great too!

"damn few" ABSOLUTELY!!!!

I LOVE YOU, MATE (see i am already becoming an aussie)

Stephen R. said...

Lance - "Mate!" I love it!!!!

Thanks for the ass compliment!!! I know I got a lot of it, but it's nice to know that it's still something fun to look at!!!

Take some of those incredible photos of AU and send them on to us! And fill us in on what's going on "down under."

And I do mean "down under" in every possible sense of those two words!!

I love you!