Quest

Most of you know, or at least have heard, that much of my accademic youth was squandered on rough-hewn scribbles and sketches, in box-frame format, upon poor-quality blue-ruled note book paper.

It started innocently enough, I believe, in Mr. Contreras's English class. Maybe it was Mr. Ihsen's history class. I'm not sure.

It started as a juvenile note, passed in class, a continuation of, and elaboration on, an earlier thought. It was Dave, I believe, who I forgot to mention by name in last night's video... It was Dave who passed the first incarnation. The first draft. The embrionic concept...

I imagine it has been the same in other places and other times. Perhaps John Belushi and Harold Ramis sat stoned, half conscious, in a room smelling of stale pizza and bong water, when John suggested that they could make a movie about a fraternity...

Perhaps Bill Murray and Chevy Chase lay about a fetid bachelor pad in Soho, up to their asses in coke and whores, when Bill got a half-cocked epiphany about making a golf flick...

Dave passed the first draft.

It was a poorly drawn pencil-sketched comic book cover. The moronic action-posed characters were recognizable. They were us.

Well, sort of.

In the beginning, there were four. Tom, Dave, me, and Mark. "Mark?" you ask. Yes, Mark. He has visited the Lounge, but not often...

"But what about Dr. Brian??" Shut up! I'm getting there...

We called it "The Quest." It was a serially-drafted collaborative graphic narative (comic book) and it was drawn, with varying degrees of talent, by Tom, Dave and I. This was late in our freshman year. I was doomed.

In the years that followed, many many many volumes were created. For no reason obvious to us, other folks found some interest in the work, and well-worn copies were handed about for subversive consumption. Guest contributors came and went. New friends were made. Eventually, pre-dental Dr. Brian joined the cast. However, the three core authors remained the same.

Collaboration. It was the key. We fed off each other. We riffed on themes and challenged each other's narative prowess with rediculously loose ends. Alone, it would have never happened. It would never have been anything like what it was. The whole became far greater than just the sum of its parts.

(Which isn't to say that Dave's comic, Dead Honkey, isn't spectacular. In fact, he's starting it up again HERE. For you new readers, yes, the "Brian" character is based loosely on me. "Dave" is a characture of Dave...)

And so, we come to Tom's comment from yesterday, and I have to stop and ponder the appeal. Collaborate with a team to perpetuate the Lounge? Fresh material daily to satiate the masses? Fewer nights spent scanning crapass news sourses looking for filler?? It appeals. Greatly.

Also, though, it brings about an unexpected wave of anxiety. The Lounge has been my baby, subject to my sole direction and design. To bring on a team means to give up control. But perhaps it is a sacrifice worth making to let it live on.

The question is, "who?"

I have ideas. I think I know who has the pazzaz; the Lounge ethic; the twist of lime, as it were...

But, I'm currious. Who would you want to read? Who would bring you to the Lounge? Maybe this is nothing more than an ill-fated boondoggle of hurt feelings, bruised egos and resentment...

Then again, those things are nothing new here in the Lounge.