I'm glad 

Instagram

wasn't a thing back then. I would've been super annoyed with the amount of pics that we would have to take to make ourselves look cool. We still took photos, but not as many. But funny thing we did was we would just en masse post them. After filtering out the useless or crude naturally. 

There would be a photo album on 

Facebook

that Sylvia would dump and people we knew -- and few we didn't -- would surf through them and comment or like them. It was different from Instagram in that we didn't desire to connect with strangers through these photos. The most we wanted was to strengthen an existing bond that had been formed some other place in life. Either in class or maybe a party where we met.

Someone today might argue that people you meet on the internet is real life too. I get that. Time's changed. But back then people you met on the internet were still not people you knew.

There was one connection I made though from Sylvia's photo album. There was a picture of me doing something silly in the hotel room and somebody I'd never heard of commented.

"Funny shoe!"

That turned into a Facebook message exchange.

This is the story of how I met Jean Gras. At the time my testosterone raging version of myself would wish to tell you that the Facebook messages led immediately to us getting together but that's not what happened. The thread eventually died and of course I would try to shoot her a like or comment here and there. But i wouldn't abuse the minimal connection that we had. I wasn't going to become that overbaring creepo.

Eventually though we just didn't have enough connections. Until I ran into Kenny at

Rust Bar

my senior year.

"Hey... isn't it my favorite mother fucker?"

"Kenny?!"

"The one and only. Here let me buy you a drink. Legally!"

It turned out that Kenny and I had barely talked after freshmen year. We chatted on and off via Facebook and text sophomore year... still felt close to him. But by junior year it was gone. Not like it wasn't amicable or something. Just divergent paths. I'd gone the route of buckling down on my studies more, fitting in more with the standard student crowd, whereas Kenny diverged more into the subculture. More drugs and more obscure majors and specializations and less focus on career. 

I guess I thought this would be a story of me and Jean Gras, but I guess I can't tell that story leaving out Kenny. The one and only. No last name required.