That release party had an influence on me to the point that I have yet to write anything about it and I'm not sure when I will. I think I will have some testing done first to check for residue and trace amounts of pharmaceuticals left over from my younger "daze" that may be interacting today.

As far as Rick's influence goes though, I will gladly say a few things if for no other reason than to balance out some of the crappola already mentioned. Most of you seem to be off on tangents already extolling the virtues of the man and you have skipped what is the core, the center, the very heart of Rick Fielding and without acknowledging the base, all your wonderful flights of fancy have no root, no foundation in bedrock.

Stripped of all else and left with nothing but the central cortex, Rick is a weirdo. He's an experienced weirdo, an Admiral of Weirdocity, a real weirdo's weirdo......a weirdo for all seasons. We came to the 'Cat at about the same time in '98 and soon were PMing each other. Probably because we were both so inexperienced on the net we began sharing a lot of intimate details and soon realized that the other was a damn weirdo. Regardless of what each wrote on the threads, the other would often point out in a PM what he knew he meant! Weirdos all share a common trait. They are and can be very passionate about one or a hundred subjects but in 3D are often pleasant enough folks happy to share. It's only when through questions or additional expressed interest that they "go off" and all of a sudden you realize just how in-depth their knowledge is and you question why the hell anyone would invest so much time in the pursuit of "whatever." There are many factors that make up the weirdo. Rick has them all.

Allowing for that made me realize that I was very susceptible to his nutso ideas even when they intruded. The best example of this comes from the Reg Boys. I had been trying to explain Cletus, Paw, and Buford, to the denizens of Mudcat and hoping to get some help in taking them off my hands as my life had been hell ever since they showed up. Rick had never mentioned them at all and one day did the true weirdo thing to do. He deftly and briefly told of his three half brothers, all named Reg and then immediately sent them my way where they have been ever since, refusing to leave. I now have 6 dimbulb motherfuckers instead of 3 hanging around most of the time and this has been going on for 4 years. It takes a real weirdo to screw up another weirdo's weirdness to such a degree.

So before you go off singing and picking his praises, remember this fucker is a weirdo......a real weirdo......I know......I'm not lying about this.........he's friggin' weird..........Got it?

Oh yeah........A real weirdo always needs an extremely sweet and pleasant companion capable of ignoring the weirdo completely if needed

Spaw