I just found a poem, also a sort of compact and fragmented autobiography, in one of my many nameless notebooks. I wrote it some time ago while thinking of many profound memories, recent and distant, with places, people and events of wide variety. Some I spend every day with; some I don't see so often, and still others I will never lay eyes upon again. Chances are, if you and I have ever interacted as friends, you're somewhere in this.  Hopefully, you will see your name, read the memory, and smile. If you're not here, it doesn't mean we haven't spent a fun time together...perhaps it means that we may do so, in a similar fashion, again. If not, then welcome to a big part of who I am. Get to know me a little better and maybe you'll be in the next one of these I write, who knows how long from now down the road.

For those wondering, family does not typically appear here because the memories are simply too many.

The informal end of the summer, this is a night for thinking back. I hope this interests you.

NEVER AGAIN

Never again will I swing in the morning sunlight behind our old house on Mockingbird Drive, relishing my day off from school.
Never again will my brother and I stay up late every Friday night, waiting for Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast to come on.
Never again will Matt and I skate at Northaven.
Never again will I watch skate videos in Dustin's apartment with the Louisville crew.
Never again will I skate across 10th street to get to the still-unfinished Jeff skatepark.
Never again will I stand by the stage in TekWorld with Carrie, James, Kristen, Scott, Corey and Mike, waiting with aching back for the next band to play.
Never again will I sit in bed with the lamp in the headboard, covers pinned between the headboard and the wall, listening to A Perfect Circle's new album while reading about Norse mythology.
Never again will I sneak upstairs late on a school night to watch The Crow for the first time.
Never again will I go to Dee's secret art place at the hotel.
Never again will Corey and I eat french fries while watching Dimmu Borgir.
Never again will I go to Glow Bowl with Matt, Mike, John and others to make asses of ourselves and nearly get kicked out.
Never again will I watch "Beloved" at Bailey's house.
Never again will I work on ceramics with Bailey, Kat and Erin, looking over just in time to see Shane nearly kill himself by standing on the pottery wheel and turning it on.
Never again will Levi and I torment the hell out of two girls that loved HIM way too much.
Never again will thoughts whirl through my head in the darkness like they did on June 4, 2005, while listening to Pearl Jam's "Release."
Never again will Nik and I run around like little kids at the first Gigantour.
Never again will I hear Dan tell a native Ohioan, "We're not from Ohio, so we don't give a fuck!"
Never again will Sara and I take pictures with Nevermore on their tour bus.
Never again will there be another night like the first Metal Party.
Never again will Ashley, Chris and I have so much fun in a Wal-Mart.
Never again will I laugh in the darkness with Bethany and Cecily, talking to Sara and Lawrence through the wall while Amanda demands to see Bethany's underwear.
Never again will I sit on the bed of a trashed hotel room in Mokena, Illinois with Will, Laura, and Eric, wishing it wouldn't end.
Never again will I watch a certain stunning woman wander through the crowd at Headliner's and wonder how to approach her.
Never again will I watch a band play beneath the sun at Waverly Hills, surrounded by friends.
Never again will I see Chris defy the laws of physics by getting a running start before plummeting straight down into a ditch no more than a foot wide.
Never again will I look across my German class and make faces at Erika and Chandra.
Never again will Keisha and I buy each other so many White Russians in one night at the Mag Bar.
Never again will Tad, Sonny, Ray and I leave in the middle of a Morgue meeting to get Spinelli's, laughing the whole way there and back.
Never again will Kasey and I walk away from the Tap Room laughing as three guys sitting outside with no drinks and no dates tried to make fun of me for having long hair.
Never again will Stacey and I almost get called out by Dr. Zorn for laughing in class about some guy's stupid t-shirt.
Never again will I arrive at Rose Island for the first time to wander in humbled awe.
Never again will I fall asleep at the top of Abby's stairs.
Never will I have these experiences again.
Never again will any collect them all, but I.

-Russell