Earlier this year, around February, I received a call from an old boss I hadn't heard from in years. The job I held when I worked for him was my last "regular world" job before I quit it to pursue a career in television and film. When he discovered I was trying to find other work while employed there, he got royally pissed, and I ended up quitting not long thereafter. That was 10 years ago.

Needless to say, I was surprised to hear from him. (For the sake of this posting, I'll call him "Bob"). Bob and I had been quite friendly when we worked together (there were only 5 of us in the office), but I wouldn't consider us to have been friends. Bob sounded desperate. This, too, did not surprise me. Everything was dramatic for Bob, from his divorce to his gambling problems to any situation that pretty much involved Bob at all. He told me he was in the process of getting a divorce (not the same divorce I had experienced previously), that his soon to be ex-wife had done something or other to his money or his accounts and he had nothing at all, not even cash to get him through the week. As his story unfolded, it became clear he was calling to ask me for money.

I knew that a "loan" to Bob would likely never be returned but weighed that against my desire to just get him off the phone. Since he'd mentioned not having any cash, I thought that's probably what he wanted - something to cover groceries and gas until his accounts were cleared up in a week. When he inevitably asked for some money, I said, "I guess I could give you something if you're really in that bad of shape..." "Great!" responded Bob. "How much?" "Err...I don't know, maybe a hundred bucks or something?" Silence from Bob. "Well, you know," he began,"I've seen on TV that you're a big editor now..." (only maybe 1 or 2 of my episodes had aired and he had seen my name) "...so I was hoping you could give me like $5,000."

I was aghast. Clearly, he had something else going on that he wasn't sharing with me. I got him off the phone as quickly as I could with a, "I don't know what you think editors make, Bob, but I don't have that kind of money to give out."

Now, I'm fairly free with my money with close family and friends, but the thing is they almost never ask for it. And I certainly wouldn't loan or give that amount of money to anyone who wasn't in my very close knit circle. Has anyone else had an uncomfortable experience with friends asking to borrow money?

I have another game tonight. I've decided to bypass the showers this time.

I heard the song of the day on the radio today and couldn't help but crank it up in the car. It's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana off their 1991 album Nevermind. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and lived there when grunge music broke all over the place, many of those bands from Seattle. This song knocked me on my ass the first time I heard it, not because of its crashing guitar licks or quirky lyrics, but because of the raw angst emoted by front man Kurt Cobain. I would remember later that my friend, Jason, had tried to play me something by them months before and I couldn't get into it. I was introduced to this later version of the band by my friend, Melanie, and MTV when it still played videos. I love the music from the 80s, but is very clearly of that decade, and I welcomed the sound of this angrier, dirtier, rockier music and musicians who were breaking their stuff all over the stage again. And damn if that song still isn't still just as great.