Evan

I met Evan in 2006 when I started working at a great little Greek place in the Midtown Plaza food court called Opa! Souvlaki Of Greece. He and I spent the next 12 months embracing each of our (friendly) regulars at the kitchen, learning the secrets behind each one of our rivaling kitchens, regretably becoming informed on our gay boss' attempts at relationships, and telling some of the most unrepeatable jokes known to young men anywhere. The opportunity arose in March of 2007 to join forces at a different employer - Harden & Huyse Chocolates. We both understandably defected the Greek place, finding ourselves (sometimes scrambling to be) learning how to craft chocolates while listening to the most tedious collection of classic love songs on MAGIC98.3FM. Harry, our chief chocolatier who hails from Singapore, piously fuels our day with a consistent dose of Bryan Adams (at least 3 a day), Chilliwack, Michael Buble, and Barenaked Ladies. I have learned over this time working with him, however, that this is only to harness his and our senses of humor. After 200 listens to Colbie Callait "Bubbly", one can either scowl in paramount disgust or chuckle to oneself that "yeah, it could be worse... I could be that dj who also has no choice but to listen every day... but who also has to make it sound like a "hot new song" every other time. Brutal job.

I kinda took Evan under my "wing" when his dad died while we worked together at Opa!. I thought at the time about what it would be like losing my dad, and how we haven't yet had a good chance to spend time with each other on some kind of friends level. So Evan became the person I made the most effort to be a good friend to. Once I could see that he was getting back on his feet again I think we made a concious decision to make every day at work together really zany and hilarious. Things could be really dreary working for two and a half years with the same guy but not with Evan. I'm not sure we connect on a lot of levels; since he is a skater and I am a musician, our conversations sometimes make as much sense to each other as a hot dog vendor parking right outside the sally-ann. But I have gotten him interested in bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and oddly, Rush somewhat. He's a great friend, simply for putting up with all my strange idiosyncrasies and musical rants. I rarely get the chance to hang out with him after work, since we live on separate ends of town and riding the bus in this city can take an hour and a half to get from end to end. I can't say I'd want to work with anyone else as closely, as we've gotten pretty deep into each others lives from just chatting on the job. Evan, I love you buddy and I hope you find something that makes you happy.

Readers, you may want to refill yer teacups. I'm feeling a groove here.