Of Bad Guys and Good Guys

(Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego returning from the fiery furnace)

• Okay, so I have these two buddies. No, I have these two very good buddies from across the seas. Jass and Jeep. One is a reformed man while Jass and I are still in pursuit of the meaning of the 'perfect numbness'. We still are.

• Let me start with Jass. I met him circa 2002 in KL at a meeting. I know this is so gay, although I have to qualify myself here that I do not hold anything personal against gays in general, but we were coincidentally put in an apartment unit for the three days we were there. I don't like sharing rooms with other men but due to our different meeting schedule, we were never in the same room at any one time except late at night or very early in the morning when I got back from my usual drinking binge.

• I know he looks good here but four years ago, he wore a turban. But he looked cool then too. Even with a turban.

• I remember our last night in KL when I was out drinking without him. He said he was tired. As usual, I came back way past my bedtime and knocked on our apartment door. I had one too many that night and could vaguely remember stumbling out of the lift.

• The door swung opened and this most ugly thing stood there, hair flowing all the way down to his waist-face covered by more hair, hairy chest, miserably thin - the whole nine yards of everything ugly. Honestly, I have never seen anything so grotesque and repulsive looking in my life. I was speechless and I remember just staring at his being.

• In my drunken stupor, I mumbled something and checked the room number for the second time. Unsure if it was the right room or if I was even on the right floor, I offered my apologies for giving the thing a rude awakening.

• I was about to walk back to the lift when the thing finally spoke and he gruffly said, "Bro, its me. Jass laaah!".

• I swear my feet went wobbly.

• We had a good laugh after that but not before a spate of curses in every language known to me was hurled towards his general direction. One of which had to do with all turban wearing persons in the world.

• He's one of the bad guys. Like me.

(Jeep isn't in this one because he has taken the oath of abstention)

• Jeep, I was introduced to just very recently. This was at the Rainforest's Music Festival. He and Jass went to school together. He is a reformed person and have sworn off everything ethanol and numb inducing. He's one of the good guys.

• I had my reservation when Jass told me of his coming. More so when he said that he was very reformed. But I was in for a pleasant surprise.

• The coolest thing about this brother is that he doesn't mind hanging out with us bad guys knowing very well how stupid we bad guys become afterwards. He even volunteered to perform the art of dissecting and rolling of certain herbal constituents for us bad guys. He's blessed with steady hands. He joins in the fun and never, in the few days he was here, have I heard him complain. He shouldn't be because he was once a bad guy. He knows the game.

Jass and Jeep, my brathas from different mathas, I love you guy's.