how you know

How you know that you are amongst friends :

• when the lizard who likes to hide on the garage door nearly lands on someone's shoulder and no one flinches - they just reach gently for the lizard and try to move him away from the path of the car
• the fact that the lizard is a REGULAR elicits a response of "cool" and "I wish we had a lizard friend"
• when, at Rudy's Mexican Restaurant, you decline beans, in favor of rice, loudly pronouncing that beans make you gassy, and no one raises an eyebrow
• that while discussing a local cajun restaurant it is mentioned that while it was a bold and delicious choice to include gator in the menu, it just isn't going to be a hot ticket item and no one thinks twice about why or how you know what gator tastes like
• when you can maintain an open discussion in the midst of the museum on what is art and what is decoration
• ...and you can openly criticize "while I can understand that it must have been difficult to make, it's still ugly if you ask me" and even when they disagree, no one calls you an ass
• when theories of space men as catalysts for human intelligence, borrowed from Eric Von Daniken, bully their way into a conversation on the need to make art and to explain the gods to future generations
• when you can quickly scan the room of "collage art", pronounce it to be "crap" and move on immediately without fear of offending anyone -- including the art snobs surrounding you, carefully studying each melted doll arm and matchbox on display
• you can stick your tongue out at the stairwell hog who refuses to let you pass and laugh and laugh and laugh when one of us hisses "actor" under their breath
• when you plan to come inside for just a "few minutes" because you really should be home at 6:30pm-ish [90 minutes from now]
• when at 7pm passes and you're engrossed in the conversation which ranges from close personal friendships with Neil Gaiman, the profound message of Art Spiegelman's book, the idiocy of the current administration, to hot rod cars and the commercialization of Von Dutch
• when you get home and you re-live the whole day, moment-by-moment, again and again. "so what exactly did he say when I was out of the room, I mean, what were the exact words?"