Makes me remember starting college. And going to a Christian school. And a lot of other things.

You know, to this day I am achingly glad that I met Rie and Al-X when I did. Elric too. *grins* Although Elric/Evita was a very strange person.

But... yeah.

Met Armand then. Met Scott then. It was a pretty good time, when compared to the years that I'd had to go through before it. New friends, new faces, a chance to escape my parents and the tiny shitty closed-minded town I grew up in.

Small towns are NOT good for kids, no matter what parents like to think.

Nothing to do but drugs... and if you were me, trying to warp the minds and sexual habits of everyone around you 'cos it was amusing.

Nothing to be but a rebellious punk - the adults all assumed you were anyway, after a couple years it became easier to just go along with it, after all, they're already blaming you for everything, you might as well have the fun that comes with DOING it all.

Nothing to want but a chance to get OUT of there. And there's lots of ways out... sharp knives, strong pills, high cliffs, we were a well-equipped town.

So I grew up trying hard to be goth-punk in a town where cow-tipping and cowboy boots and bright green "John Deere" tractor logo basebal caps were the norm. I grew up rebelling not just against my parents and their stifling religion and their anal-retentive control habits, but against the redneck society I saw, against the retired-community mindset, against girl scouts and organized religion and haybales.

I think I'm tired of this update.